rockin the park & the town

On Friday I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Heather & Steve at Hartford's Elizabeth Park- yes, I said HARTFORD! West Hartford needs to stop taking credit for it, it's totally ours. It is also the oldest municipal rose garden in the country, super beautiful and a place that engaged couples LOVE to be photographed in! And why wouldn't they? It has so much character and so many nooks and crannies in it- there is this one part that really reminds me of the Lord of the Rings*, minus the orcs, of course! Heather & Steve were so super relaxed and did such an amazing job of getting comfortable fast. We talked about how they check out my blog (hi Heather!) and she said that it helped give her ideas and direction for her shoot, since she could see what I have been doing lately with other couples. Also I think that once people hire me they want to keep checking back to make sure that I am still, in fact a good photographer! ;) No worries there, can I get an AMEN!! Just a girl patting her own back here. So stop being quiet stalkers, girls! I KNOW you're ON! POST!! Show yourselves!

*side note on LOTR- Orlando Bloom- cuter as the elf Legolas or as the super hottie in Elizabeth Town? Pirates? Don't like him with facial hair? I want to know!! Seriously. And Paul & Stevedepino.com I already know your votes!! ;)

engagement shoot, deliverance style

Well, not really! I have never seen the movie Deliverance, nor will I EVER, especially after what Shawn told me about it! There was a wooded path, which we opted not to take based on our irrational fear of Deliverance-style hillbillies lurking in the woods of Sturbridge Mass! So, we ended up in Sturbridge Village for our shoot, which was so much fun! We saw a saw mill, horses, two HUGE pigs (but sadly no piglets), some sketchy sheep and a lot of people dressed in period costumes. Come to think of it, it was kind of like M. Night Shamalan's movie, The Village! I digress. We had a beautiful day of shooting, eating lunch and all out laughing on Sunday- I will have a fun flip book slide show to prove it up soon, so keep checking back! Thanks Shawn & Kristie for a wonderful day!

gayle + ted wedding at the interlaken inn lakeville ct

The wedding season has begun, and am I glad I am starting off on this foot! I had the pleasure of shooting the most amazing couple at the Interlaken Inn in Lakeville CT and it has some really cool nooks that we were able to discover. One of which was the street- I decided to lay on the actual street to get the best perspective and had Jean, my assistant, keep an ear out for cars, the road is pretty curvy and boy am I glad I did! I got up in time for a HUGE truck pulling a trailer to speed by! All worth it, I think it's a pretty rockin' image! Thank you Gayle & Ted for letting me photograph such a wonderful, emotional and beautiful wedding, I am so honored!

new CT photographer forum, sign up!

Hey all- my buddy Paul from Studio Foto had the wherewithall to create a new CT Photographer's forum where we can post ideas on things that can help us shoot, etc. It also is a bevy of info for upcoming PUG meetings etc. Sign up is required, so go on, do it, you know you want to!!

tis the season

Ah, the season is officially starting for me this Saturday! I say officially only because I have been 'unofficially' working since January- with engagement shoots and guest books that need to be in hand for the wedding! I just finished up Trish & Alan's Guest Book which I just shot about a week or so ago! I am really happy with the design and wanted to show clients and prospective clients what they can expect to see if they order one! The thing I love about them is they can be a guest book or they can just be kept as an album- I don't use the words 'guest' or any lines so that if you changed your mind no one would be the wiser! I also think the design looks more sophisticated that way, people also tend to write more than just their names when there are no lines it's also just my personal preference. Let me know what you think!

the happiest of mother's days

Mother's Day is this Sunday and if you haven't either gotten your Mom something or are planning on doing something, you still have a few days left! Now get off your butt and do it! In honor of Mother's Day, I am posting a mother's post. Confession: my son has a mouthful of cavities! Sounds like a silly confession, but boy did it make me feel like a horrible mother! To add insult to injury, the way the dentist told me made me feel worse- totally judged and basically like I am not taking my son's dental health seriously at all. In light of this I should have run for the hills, but I didn't. I stayed. Two hellish dental visits later, I called up and said I was changing dentists, that she and Jack were just not a fit. He was so terrified of going to the dentist- and why wouldn't he be? The last time he went he was restrained (sometimes a necessity, I realize) but drenched in sweat and screaming about how much it hurt him. She only used the topical jelly that is supposed to numb your mouth, tried some gas b/c the last visit was so bad and he still was in pain. You know what she said? That he was 'the boy who cried wolf' and that she KNOWS it isn't hurting him! I can't believe I didn't physically assault her- my gut reaction was to stop everything and leave. But I totally didn't! I felt like she was the professional and that I should trust her. This feeling has been shared by other client's of hers who agree that her bedside manner sucks and that she comes across as super judgmental. We have all left there with our parenting tails between our legs, feeling like losers! And then along comes Teresa Wagner, a wonderful friend and dental assistant who works with my new favorite person in the world, Dr. Neil!
We went to Shapiro Family Dentistry in Wethersfield and had the BEST experience with both kids! I brought Jack back for his extensive work and he was awesome- was so chill and relaxed. It was all due to Dr. Neil's demeanor and Teresa and Mr. Thirsty! They made everything fun and had Dora on to distract. He never saw any needles, and was just a doll! After the novacaine, Dr. Neil started to work and Jack said it hurt- what did Dr. Neil do? He BELIEVED MY SON, and gave him more novacaine! I was super amped up the whole time, actually on the verge of tears, truth be told. That last experience just really shook me up- I mean, I am supposed to be his protector, his voice! I felt like I failed him and now felt totally like I had redeemed myself! It was a very triumphant parenting day! If you don't have kids this can sound so trivial, but believe me, it isn't.

Another parenting issue I struggle with is wokring so much lately. While I think it is so important for my children to see their Mom being a positive role model, being creative and making it on her own as a successful business woman, at the same time I really struggle with leaving them so much. Having been a stay at home Mom since the beginning, this is a new and sometimes scary parenting journey for us, but I am confident that we will all come out ok in the end for it! It all goes back to one of the last letters I ever got from my Mom, who had devoted all of her time and energy into us kids, she said 'always give yourself a creative outlet- don't lose yourself totally in your kids, they will always be there for you but you also need something that is all yours.' I am trying to honor that for myself, for her and for my children! Happy Mother's Day!

i am stalking myself

In going through the rest of my engagement shots from this past weekend, I found a few more that I wanted to share! Nothing too deep about it, I guess! Just kidding, I guess there is- and it's something I am happy to share with my clients and potential clients. It is so easy to think that the work is done once the shutter is pressed- take the picture, that's it! It's a done deal. I was never taught that, from the time I entered RIT as a freshman to now. I used to piss and moan about having to cut museum grade archival mats for critique's in Dan Larkin's Photo 1 class, but honestly, I am the better for it today. Presentation is SO paramount to the success of your work as a whole. Some photographers may disagree, go ahead, have fun. But. I am SO right on this! I can take a great image but then if I don't do anything with it, who cares? If I present it to you as a print from CVS, it is not going to live up to its full potential as a piece of art. I use a professional lab who I trust to deliver top quality prints- then add in the computer side of things and you are cooking with GAS! (Although even though all us photographers know similar techniques of altering photos on the computer does not mean they will all come out the same- we all put our unique touches on each image and stamp our personalities on it!) Not to mention having a professional web site and super blogger and now you can enjoy my vision. I don't just see what I see when I am shooting you- I see the before, the during, the after. I see the colors saturated, borders, overlays, texture, music. OK, that's in my head only! Anyway- I didn't mean to rant but this is something that I am enjoying more and more each time I do it, trying new things, and really enjoying the end result- I hope you are too!

super sunday

Sunday yielded another beautiful day here in New England! Lots of sun = lots of sun flare, I was totally happy! Our first stop was at Loomis Chaffee where Trish and Alan met. Shooting places that mean something to my couples is so powerful- watching them re-live moments and share these memories really offers insight into their lives that not all photographers have the luxury of seeing on an engagement shoot. A wedding is different, of course! Super-high charged energy, every distant relative, raw emotion- yeah, it's different from an engagement shoot in many ways! ;) I wonder what other photographer's strategies are when choosing a location for an engagement shoot? Do you bring them places you enjoy shooting at or ask them for a suggestion? I saw an article in Professional Photographer Magazine where they had one couple do an engagement shoot with three very different photographers- the results were very interesting. The couple got to pick out their favorite image and the photographers did as well and explain why. That article really got me thinking and wondering what my collegues all do? And what do clients want? More or less control over the location? Trust the photographer's vision or trust the photographer's ability to roll with whatever you throw their way? Both are very important and each potential client most likely values each in a different way. So- what is most important? I am really interested to see what clients AND photographers say, so POST ON BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

m + o = love and balloons

Saturday was a stellar day of shooting on the beach with Michelle (m) and Omar (o)! There was a beach, and lots of colorful balloons. I won't lie, I totally got the idea from my shoot with Mary & Justin a few weeks back- Mary had a b-i-g bunch of red balloons, which added such a nice element to the shoot so I just knew I was going to bite that idea! I asked her first, don't worry! ;) Michelle discovered her fear of heights and I discovered Omar is really a ham and doesn't need any direction from me! Love it! Can't wait for their beach wedding in August!

props for my pops

On May 3 my Dad, Carlos Hernandez Chavez had an opening at The Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford of a body of paintings and photographs called The Skin of the Earth / la Piel de la Tierra. He is a pretty talented dude! Here is a brief synopsis of his artists' statement: "Created in the last three years, the paintings and photographic works in the exhibit honor the richness and beauty of Puerto Rico's rain forest. Setting up a remote studio deep in the mountain town of Guavate, the artist took a radical departure from his demanding academic training using the forest's native vegetation as his medium, with a bold, primal-like approach, and applied his trademark palette of intense color." Can you now see a correlation between his work and my work??!! BRIGHT, BOLD COLOR! He is giving a gallery talk on June 7th at 5:30 with music and appetizers, and it is FREE! His band is most likely playing, they are AWESOME! They play traditional music from the Americas, most likely Tierra Mestiza or some combination thereof!

hostile about hosta

This morning I got to get down and dirty in my front yard garden with my little Georgie right there helping. The hostas (or pasta, as Georgie calls them) had to get moved since we are removing a few h-u-g-e trees in the front. My Mom had planted them ages ago and would always yell at us to "GET OUT OF MY HOSTA!" My sisters and I referenced this quote at her burial last June, actually. It was so my Mom to love the weird stuff in life! I wanted to give my Mom a little shout out so I went through my old garden and picked various things to say that related to my Mom and her love of gardening and of life in general. She loved lamb's ear- it is so super soft and she loved to rub it between her fingers; I picked some mint to bring because she would always tell me never to plant it unless you wanted to have it take over your garden, which mine totally did; she also used to make this iced tea with it and purposely not add sugar so us kids would not drink her tea! how very slick of her in hindsight!; I brought something that I did not know the name of and most people would probably call a weed but to me it was beautiful. My Mom always said a weed was only a weed if you didn't want it to grow there. This is true of all us kids, us weeds, we were rag-tag and crazy, all from different backgrounds (five of us nine were adopted) but she wanted us all, and we flourished for it. So today Mom I moved those dang hosta so I can now yell at my kids to "GET OUT OF MY HOSTA!" and hopefully, someday, be just like you.