Love the view of downtown Boston from the waterfront here:

While we were walking along I found this patch of pretty light under some trees … we were all thankful for the shade here too:

Mel and Scott are crazy good swing dancers …

Love this little spot in the streets back from the waterfront:

A few photos on a cool patch of grass:

Love this one!

And a perfect end to the afternoon – drinks at a cute Irish pub (love the red umbrellas against the red brick).

Thank you Scott and Mel for a wonderful afternoon. I loved getting to know you both!

We were blessed with gorgeous sunshine that lovely, warm afternoon at Olmsted Park and Leverett Pond in JP.  Thank you, Monique, for trusting me.  I hope you enjoy the results!

I am in love with those ducks!  And I love Monique’s bright blue eyes …

I was trying to get out of my open shade/backlit comfort zone with some of these shots – including the last image above …

Monique’s got killer shoes and a huge smile.  Love it!

(Seriously killer shoes …)

I’d love to know what you think – have you got any favorites?  And … if you’re a newly engaged couple wanting some kick ass wedding and engagement photos, view my portfolio here; if you’re more interested in kids and pets, click here; follow me on Facebook here … or contact me here!

Before the workshop I was struggling with the whole idea of learning to pose better … As a mostly candid/documentary photographer, I spend most of the wedding day trying NOT to pose anything; I prefer photographing the moments as they happen, from the sidelines.  Why, then, spend two days learning how to pose people – and not just pose, but fine-tune?  Because, at the end of the day, I do spend part of the wedding day posing people (the family portraits, bridal party photos and couples portraits) … and if I’m going to do something, I’m damn well going to do it well!

During those two days, we each had two ten minute slots to spend with a model, practicing what we had learned.  My first ten minutes were spent with the gorgeous and ridiculously charming Melissa Ghionis, Jerry’s wife.  Melissa was instructed not to give us anything that we didn’t deserve, but you couldn’t ask for an easier model.  I love these shots of her!

The image on the left (above) was the one I submitted for critique the next day.  It was tough choosing just one, though.

And maybe my absolute favorite of the set – I adore laughter!

During those two days of shooting, we learned about all different sorts of light sources.  The remainder of the images are from situations/poses set up by Jerry, unless otherwise indicated.  We learned how to work wonders with a little window light and a dark background – this is our fantastic model/photographer/new found friend Jennifer Kelly:

We were blessed with some damn fine looking models to work with, including Patrick:

Another image of Jen, this time looking all forties-glam with a video light:

Our third model, Tammy, had the most amazing red hair.  Love these!

Jerry demonstrated some good couples poses for super harsh sunlight using Patrick and Tammy:

For my second ten minute session, I decided to really challenge myself by using a male model (posing guys is so different to posing girls!) and by not allowing myself to use my usual outdoor lighting techniques of easy open shade or shooting with back light.  I feel pretty good about the result – although I have to admit to freaking out a bit at the time! 

And one final shot – a quick grab from the end of a demonstration of open shade posing:

I hope you enjoyed these.  Huge thanks to Melissa and Jerry for a great workshop.  I made some friends for life, and had a blast.  And, a week later, I’m just about caught up on my sleep again!

If you’re a newly engaged couple wanting some kick ass wedding and engagement photos, view my portfolio here; if you’re more interested in kids and pets, click here; follow me on Facebook here … or contact me here!

I limited myself to the confines of my home, and an hour of photography.  Oh, and all natural light.  I wanted to keep it simple, and focus on light and posing.  Here’s what we got:

Mirror images – probably my absolute favorite of the afternoon:

The bright red of the dining room wall made a great background, even in black and white:

One last image from the guest room:

I’d love to hear your thoughts; do these more posed shots sit comfortably with the rest of my work?  Would you like to see more?

After a number of super fun kid and family shoots over the last few months, I decided it was time for these sessions to have their own dedicated site – meaning, of course, that I can keep the focus of this blog firmly on weddings and engagements.  It all finally came together this afternoon, and I can’t keep it a secret any longer!  So, without further ado, here’s Boston’s freshest kids and pets photography site, Wee Beasties Photography!

Head on over, take a peek, and let me know what you think!  And if you’re a subscriber to this blog, you might like to check out the integrated blog over there, too.  Click here for the direct link.  And because no post is complete without a picture, here are a couple of screen shots to whet your appetite.

Porter, as a young puppy, features in the opening page slideshow:

Another screen shot from the home page:

The site is packed full of handy hints on what to wear, how to prepare for your session, and so on:

I enjoyed finding new names for my portrait packages to fit with the new branding.  How about the Wee Beastie Weekender or the Big Beastie?  Click here for a link to the pricing page.

Let me know what you think – and if you have any friends who are looking for a non-traditional portrait photographer, please send along the link. 

We spent 25 minutes or so in the UW arboretum, making strange noises, giggling and wrestling with Eli.  He’s the perfect age for photos – super curious, but not yet camera-shy.

Eli wanted to touch everything … including my camera, and some dirty moss …

I fell in love with his huge eyes, and his 101 awesome little expressions …

… and most especially that final expression.  Loves!  Then it was off to the Madrona Pub for a couple of pints of Manny’s and some tasty fries. 

I wanted to capture the spirit of this loving family, both as individuals and as they naturally interact.  It made for a challenging but incredibly rewarding session.  We started off with some fun hula hooping:

All four play instruments – I thought it would be fun to bring the music outside …

I love the look of concentration on Bronwyn’s face as she plays her cello, and on Linnea’s as she plays the ukulele.  We then grabbed some group photos (with and without their awesome doggies), and some couples photos of Eric and Ida:

The hammock was a great spot for some relaxed portraits …

Time for some individual portraits:

Eric is a professional musician and works many weddings.  Let me know if you’re looking for a guitarist – he’s a wonderful player and a great guy to have around on your big day. 

We ended the session with the girls playing on the monkey bars and horsey swing, and Ida with her lovely garden.  I can’t thank you all enough for making it such a fun, relaxed session.  I hope you enjoy your teasers as much as I enjoyed working with you all!

We started the session on the beautiful staircase just inside the front door.  The light there is strong and directional, meaning lots of good shadows to work with.  I also loved that I could change my perspective by photographing down from the second floor, shooting over the banister, or photographing straight on from the doorway.

I love working with both parents together during belly sessions – to me a belly session is about the couple, and their relationship, and the shared excitement of welcoming a new family member.  That being said, it’s always fun to get some solo shots of mom too – especially when she’s glowing as gorgeously as Barbara …

The front door made a great backdrop for some silhouette shots … and the living room was bathed in the most amazing light – it was so bright, in fact, that I ended up closing the blinds for much of the session.

We finished the session upstairs in the front bedroom.  I loved the clean white decor, and I totally loved the photos we took there.  We ended with some boudoir-style belly photos on the bed, and I’m hoping that Barbara and Ryan might let me show one or two when they receive their full collection.  Fingers crossed! 

Thank you both for welcoming this stranger into your home and playing with me for an hour and a half.  Good luck with the arrival of your new baby (due so soon, on February 12th!)

I loved the spots we found around Olde Mistick Village.  The bright blue wall of the aquarium provided a much-needed shot of color (it was very gray that day).

One thing I love about group shoots like this is that you can play around with techniques and equipment you don’t usually have time to.  After playing with my 85mm lens I switched over to a tilt-shift lens, which I used to create the next two images.

For the last two images above, I decided to see how my 60mm macro would work as a portrait lens – because sometimes you want to get really close in … and I love how it worked out!

I’ll have a couple more indoor shots to post, hopefully later this week.  Huge thanks to ShootStyle for letting me tag along, I had so much fun playing with you all!