michelle turner seminar

Mike and I are right smack in the middle of attending Michelle Turner's two day shooting intensive seminar in the Boston area- and we are having a great time shooting, networking and learning some new techniques.
There is nothing I like more than a refresher on anything photography related and Michelle is kicking our butts in the best way! She is high-energy and moves quick, kind of like Mike... :)

Michelle is an established and very talented destination wedding photographer based in Maine, check out her incredible work HERE

This shot is from a shoot we had this afternoon with our incredible couple Karen and Bobby. I shot this in between set ups and ran some fun post on it- minor adjustments in lightroom (high contrast black & white preset) then in photoshop I added a texture I shot today at our location of some stone; a Steve DePino PRO action, my favorite, Newsprint and Kubota's starburst vignette

Back to school!

Mike and I are at michelle turner's seminar in Boston right NOW!

kate + adam wedding at camp bournedale ma

Kate had red wedding shoes. Yes! She did! And did Mike and I love her for it...! So we shot these bad boys to death...they're patent leather! And Red! I put these in the shelf of one of the cabins and used Kubota's 300-esgue from his new Artistic Actions Version Four- bu I did do a little pre-action tweaking in Lightroom (lightened the whites, deepened the blacks and took a little of the yellow out before running my action- also vignetted it in LR)

There were clotheslines everywhere...it is a summer camp after all... so I just knew that would figure into some kind of detail shot, and I really like how this one turned out. Mike has a version of it as well, which I think came out terrific too!

Can't say I have ever shot my girls getting ready in a cabin.... and I LOVED it!

Make a mental note, here is where I first cried- there were many other times! This day was jam packed with emotion you would have to be dead, literally, to not have shed a tear... This is when Kate first saw herself in the mirror after putting on her veil and she realized that she is getting married to Adam TODAY, RIGHT NOW! It was such a quiet and powerful moment and despite the hustle and bustle in the room I felt like it was just her and me, and I was just observing and she was just lost, for a second, in her reflection and her anticipation of what was to come... it was so beautiful

I loved the back of her dress, she can sure rock the sexy back dresses, no?

Kate's Dad at the altar, giving her away, amidst many, many tears

During the ceremony

Kate, Adam and her brother who married them, getting DOWN during the gospel choir interlude... yeah, that's right I said it- GOSPEL CHOIR!!!

Said Gospel Choir, singing their hearts out- they were AMAZING and brought an element to a ceremony that I have not seen before. Despite the intense heat of the day I had CHILLS

Adam double high-fiving after the choir's performance!

Never a more passionate first kiss have I seen before...

...add to it the absolute pandemonium that ensued after their kiss- they were bum rushed by well wishers and family- it was beautiful and incredible and I LOVE this shot I caught of Adam's mother holding her little boy's face in her hands...

One element of post-wedding picture taking that I am adamant about is being able to shoot with my brides and grooms immediately after their ceremony if even for a few minutes- there is no way EVER you can replicate their very newlywedded sheer bliss- it's all over their faces, in their body language, it's everywhere! Kate and Adam were so intense and laughing and crying and kissing.... add to this the light they walked out into and Mike and I were like WHAT???!!! It was incredible

I just love how her veil is blowing to the left of the frame

Can you all appreciate the intensity here? So honest and real and I just LOVE it!


There is something about the backs of people during group and family shots that is very personal and loving- Mike shoots all of the family pictures and I flit around catching these little moments

Like this- Adam's Dad gave him a big smooch after they finished their pictures

And yeah, I got peonies for the THIRD wedding in a row! This time in 'blood red' and I was PUMPED!

Add to that her red shoes and you have some trouble!

During a toast by Adam's Dad they had a nice moment. I lit this with my Calumet Travelite 750's (well one of them anyway) I bring these and shoot with it remotely during toasts and first dances- it adds a nice dramatic side light and also kind of a crazy back light as well. Not the fastest recycle time in the world (if I had to buy new lights for this purpose I would get Alien Bees) but well worth the set up

During their first dance

Their DJ (who was AWESOME!) brought some crazy lights that I loved

And who doesn't love themselves a hora? Come on!!

One of my favorite bride and groom dancing shots, the lights, the tone, the black and white that just scream WEDDING!

There was a post-wedding bonfire and some sparklers.... pretty

Photo booth fun

Congratulations guys.... can't wait for you to come back from your honeymoon so we can catch up!


Make sure to check out Mike's incredible shots HERE!

Happy father's day!

I am at ichiro right now with my dad for father's day at the most
awesome hibachi and sushi restaurant!! (twice this week!!) it is
sooooooooo good! I have a special post coming up for my baby daddy,
daddy-o Dave Ten Eyck coming up...! Happy father's day to all the
pappy's in the house!

charisse + tom wedding at the inn at longshore

The first of our double header wedding weekend started off with one of my favorite couples, Tom & Charisse at the Inn at Longshore in Westport. We had such incredible weather and light, Mike and I were pumped!
I think this is one of my favorite shoe shots so far... my girl Charisse was awesome and brought something personal for me to incorporate into my detail shots since she was not getting ready at her home. So she brought T passes that Tom had saved from when they first started dating! How cool are they? I love them because they are so colorful and graphic but mostly because they are both incredible graphic designers themselves so I felt like we were tying in some elements here... not to mention I love the silver of the shoes and they are Jessica Simpson shoes! I hear they are SO comfortable, right Mike? ;)

I decided to try something new for me and shoot the dress from underneath. While I liked my first shots I felt it was missing the 'oomph' so I decided to change the white balance to tungsten to force the blues in the image since it is being lit by natural light. I then just punched it up a tad more in lightroom.

Charisse and her girls getting emotional after she read her card from Tom

Tom gave Charisse some beautiful blue jewelry

a nice quiet moment before we went down for pictures

I decided to shoot where the ceremony was going to be and take advantage of the pretty white chairs and lush green grass. Yes I was lying belly down in the grass :)

I absolutely LOVED this stone wall in front of the Inn! I could see that we were lucky that it was low tide!

How beautiful is Charisse?

Mike and I were tag teaming the guys like crazy! Mike would throw out an idea, then I'd be like 'OH! Oh! Do this!' then he's change it up then I would, it just kept getting more and more fun, it was almost like bridal party picture ping pong

Love this shot of Tom and his boys

Again, those chairs came in handy for some portraits... I really like them! But I also love this light on Tom

This is Tom right before Charisse came into view... you can't really tell but there is a packed ceremony right underneath the bottom of the frame- I liked removing Tom from the visual chaos and separating him a bit- kind of like, it's only him and Charisse there



Charisse's expression here is so freaking CUTE, the way her chin just dips down to her shoulder is just perfect!

Tom's cousins I think it was were very boisterous and kept shouting words of congratulations while we were shooting, they were hilarious!

Ask and ye shall receive..... I want peony bouquets? I get peony bouquets!!! And HOW! I just wanna put them in my mouth, like little baby toes and fingers but realize that it's completely inappropriate

love love love that rich yummy light

I also love their bridal party! They were SO chill and trusting and FUN and weren't ONCE asking us why Mike and I were taking pictures of their backs and not them smiling at the camera!!! (trust me we got those too but this one is fun!)

Tom, Dave, Brian and Rob got all cuddly it was a nice boy moment!

I love the walking away shots, add to it the light and the sail boats and that lovely rock texture....




Be sure to check out Mike's shots HERE, he got some INCREDIBLE STUFF!!!