Goodwin Hotel is closing its doors Jan 1!

To say I am sad is an understatement! For several reasons- The Goodwin Hotel is a Hartford landmark, it is a beautiful architectural treasure and it is steeped in Hartford history and tradition. It's where all the ro0ck stars go to sleep when they come for a concert at the Civic Center for crying out loud! There's the secret tunnel they get to go through so they don't get mobbed that links direct to the backstage area!

Sad, sad, SAD.

OK, so you have a wedding coming up there? (I had several that had to find alternate venues) Here are some ideas for you to look into:

One of my favorites: The Gershon Fox Room in Hartford on Main Street- beautifully styled elegance



Another fave: The Bond Ballroom in Hartford- sweeping views of Hartford's Capitol building and downtown area with incredible sunset light the just pours in through the giant windows...and the chandelier? WOW!


The Old State House (pictured below) on Main Street- is great for ceremonies and for the reception- black and white floors and giant brass chandeliers with those stately columns...Plus at night the windows afford you quite the view of downtown Hartford all lit up! (I am working on getting updated contact info for you!)


The Bushnell! Can you get any more dramatic? I CAN! Book it, and then hire me!

The Pond House in Elizabeth Park in West Hartford- can you GET any closer to the famous rose garden? Not to mention they put on quite the show for you, impeccably decorated and serviced

The Society Room in Hartford on Pratt street- used to be the old Joe Black's but is a brand new place- run by the same people who run the River House in Haddam- with the entire space being dedicated to your wedding or event. Dana is who you want to speak with here!


The Hartford Club: I think you have to be a member but it's right by the new Riverfront and the Atheneum!


The Wadsworth Atheneum- surround yourself with priceless works of art right in the heart of downtown


Here's a new one for me: On 20- used to be the Polytechnic Club on the 20th floor on State Street in Hartford. Looks like a fabulous restaurant! I found that the Polytechnic Club used to host weddings and rehearsals and I called to see if they do weddings. And they DO! Michele Cormier, their event coordinator said they do weddings and a whole lot of rehearsal dinners as well- so give her a call and check it out!

I'll add more to this as I get more info!

my Super sweet sixteen on MTV

...well, not MY super sweet sixteen! Sunday brought the third super intense day of shooting this past weekend for Mike and I. Kiva Sutton asked us to second shoot this 'super sweet' gig with him, and of course we had to say yes!

This party was completely over the top- and a lot of fun as well! I really enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff we got to shoot as MTV was there as well shooting this for their popular show 'My Super Sweet Sixteen.' I have to say I was prepared for Cristina to be the biggest brat, as most of the ladies featured on the show come off as...but Miss Cristina was really actually mellow, poised as all get out for a 16 year old, and not at all bratty. From what I saw- it'll be really interesting to see how MTV spins this! Cristina's family was so nice to work with and Mike, Kiva and I felt really welcome and at home in their home.

Here are some shots from the day!
Cristina's party theme was fashion- so she had models hired to walk a cat walk down for her big introduction. Her house was filled with girls getting crazy make up and hair done for the party

Kiva getting a shot

At one point I looked through the fireplace and saw the paparazzi going to TOWN shooting Cristina- there's Mike, Kiva, and then two MTV shooters all in a row! She was so calm despite being under the glare of so many people shooting her!

Here she goes over the type of make up she wants with her stylist

While Cristina was getting her make up done and before the girls were whisked away to the party we set them up on the very cool reflective upper area of the house and grabbed some VERY quick shots- I like how this turned out

Once Mike and I arrived at the Aquaturf in Southington for the big suaree,we saw these lovely ladies dressed up as NY buildings and the statue of liberty! It was pretty cool!

These two cracked me up- once they found out they were being interviewed for MTV they freaked out!



The clothing designer from the shop hired these guys to act as the paparazzi and shoot everyone that came down the red carpet- they were really fun to work next to and never got in any of the 'real' paparazzi's shots! Which we totally appreciated it ;) You'll see why later....

The red carpet was very thick and comfy to walk on....

The boys changed for the big reveal- into these cute 'fashion police' shirts- I had to get a shot of Mr. Mike in the middle of the police ;) This may be a prime time to spot me and Mike in the show, we were front and center and right with the paparazzi!

Cristina's big entrance amidst confetti and streamers

I love me some disco balls!!! Add these cutie ladies and their fancy shoes? Super fun!

One of the big surprises for Cristina was Adam Saaks, a celebrity designer artist aka 'shirt cutter' who reworks Ed Hardy shirts into works of one of a kind fashion art!

Adam was a BIG hit and I was almost crushed in the rush of people! But I elbowed my way into the front and made sure I was able to get what I needed...!

Adam calls up one of Cristina's girls to get her very own Ed Hardy / Adam Saaks creations

Now there is getting SHUT OUT and there is getting an ASS IN YOUR FACE! I, luckily GOT BOTH! So I had to shoot it! What you DON"T see is her butt crack, thankfully I spared you. I know she is doing her job but goodness gracious!

I find the humor in it, for sure, but then? I find the shot! Who cares if is through her legs? Man I wish Mike got a shot of me shooting this- I am sure it looked like she was giving birth to me!!!

I have to admit that I LOVED the whole documentary feel to everything with the SCADS of cameras literally everywhere! I had to include them in my shots because it was such a big part of what was going on.

What's a super sweet sixteen without fireworks? I had fireworks for jack and Georgie... yeah they were sparklers but they loved them!! ;)

Now, anyone who watches the show KNOWS there is almost always a car involved! Well... Cristina got a car but it wasn't what she wanted AT ALL! I guess they had this family Lincoln that they told her that she would get once she could drive- and they followed up on their promise, much to her dismay! After seeing it she stormed off! It was funny!

Of course, she did NOT get the Lincoln...but a pimped out white BMW 328xi... can I say I was a major fan of this car? Am I allowed? ;)

I just loved the lights all night- I believe Sound Spectrum did them and man, they were AWESOME!!


Make sure you check out Kiva & Mike's shots too!

lori + dan wedding at the goodwin hotel

Mike grabbed a shot of me shooting the shoe shot below

I ran my three favorite action peeps on this- a Kubota Fashion Passion + a Steve DePino PRO Action Acwesome Curves + Newsprint Paper topped with a Jesh DeRox Mojave texture. I'd say those three boys play well with others, no?

While I was shooting the girls Mike took the guys and had some fun. I love this super serious military style set up he rocked.
You know I love my parent dances- so much emotion! For me AND for them!
Video lights are your friends, play around with their light while trying not to get in their shot... tricky but worth it!


This guy is PUMPED. I think he just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.
I had to SPRINT across the room to grab this shot- I heard the DJ announcing it, saw her swinging the bouquet about to throw it and snagged it, heart racing and camera firing like crazy!
I have shot at Hartford City Hall a bunch of times so I am always trying to see it in new ways- I really like this new take on city hall AND a feet shot combo.

While shooting I ran into Lunnell Troy of Troy Photography!

The railings and lights are some of the best parts of City Hall. Oh and the light itself. And the floor. And the atrium. And the stairs. I could go on!

Working that video light and the super high speed D3

Those two had me in tears, they were so emotional.

I know Jean is my reflection machine but I was feelin that loooong limo

Seriously? Where do I start? The light? The shoes? The length? The colors?

Oh and then it got better! The ladies were such naturals and really worked it!

This is one of my favorite places in City Hall- I never see enough people utilizing this spot, which is fine with me! :) Maybe because it is a very low light but romantic spot where using flash would ruin it, I think. I love it!!

My second favorite place in city hall- the elevator! I am liking the bridesmaid & bride combo as a new way to change it up

A little foreground background action- those colors were just calling my name all day long

Mike getting in my shot. Scoot over dude

a sort of silhouette of Lori that really grabbed me- it totally highlighted her veil, which was her mother's- it also kind of reminds me of the ipod commercials where they are kind of silhouettes but not really but sort of. But not really. But a little.

The back button continuous focusing really played a hand in the success of this image- that and the fact that they are wearing their hearts on their sleeves!!

Right after their first kiss these two just erupted in laughter, it was awesome!


As so it begins! My 2008 wedding season is now officially ON!! I can't be more excited if I tried, to be honest. There have been so many new things going on, all lining me up for quite the season.
OK, so I am going to go OFF in this post, prepare yourself.
Now, yesterday Mike and I tag teamed Lori & Dan's wedding, both armed with our spanking new D3's and 84 1.4's (which we both decided is never coming off our cameras it is like shooting with butter and salt baby- my 2 favorite condiments) Can you feel me on that? But being a realist, I know that you can't get blood from a stone, no matter what you are shooting with. I can't impress this on my current and potential clients enough- our relationship is a partnership- I work for your trust, hopefully get it, you in turn open yourself to me, show me what you're all about and BAM! We just make some magic stuff happen... ideally, of course. But the whole thing hinges on both of us giving. Lori & Dan? Well they just opened up immediately to me and Mike back at our engagement session in December- as we did to them, saw what we produced and trusted us even more. So their wedding at the Goodwin in Hartford was almost like picking up right where we left off.

They are two of the most expressive people I have photographed- so into each other and just so happy to be near each other. Their energy is contagious and their bridal party was the same way- full of positive energy and laughs all day- it made shooting all day a dream.


On a more technical note- I shot all JPEG large fine and the quality is NUTS. Not even once did I feel the pressure to shoot RAW. I admit I was a little daunted by the potentially huge file sizes and just invested in THREE 16 gig cards (thanks Jer for the sale tip!) But I honestly feel like I am pretty rock solid on my exposures and just trusted myself and my new baby to come through. This thing is so solid I only drained HALF of a battery on a 14 hour shooting day (with over 5K images collectively shot, btw) Not too shabby! Of course I was a paranoid freak and switched out my battery 8 hours into the day, just in case.

This camera enabled me to shoot far past my previous natural light norm and I feel as if I am going to be a far better photographer for it. It is just how I see things and to be able to say- 'see? THIS is how it was' with my images is just fabulous.