• Cassandra and Co! {BOSTON PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER} •

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Cassandra, an American living and working with her fiance in London, got in touch with me before coming home for the holidays. She, her fiance, and her brother and his fiance, would be all together with their parents and they wanted to book a session.

I loved this! As a person who comes from a family of grown-ups and no grandkids myself, I know first hand how we can forget to update our family shots as the years go by, whether or not little ones are in the picture (pun intended).

Cassandra and Co were fun to work with, game to try anything, and so patient as we traversed the landscape of Menotomy Park in Arlington. Here's a small sampling.

 

 

Libby & Adam

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I was flattered and excited when my friend Libby asked me to shoot her engagement photos.  I've known Libby for many years, since we started working together during our stints at The Palm Beach Post.   An exceptional photographer herself, I was a little nervous about our session, but these two made it easy. We started our shoot on West Palm Beach where I lived for six years, taking advantage of the waning light and the massive banyans, and then we wandered over to Palm Beach (where I have never ever lived). Worth Avenue on Palm Beach was a lovely location as we wandered at the perfect time of day - magic hour! And then it was on to the beach where we were met by their dogs Doubleday and Kira.  Getting those two adorable slobberers (and I'm talking about the dogs. The humans followed direction very well) to look in the right direction was a hilarious feat, and a lot of fun!

Thanks Libby, for such a great honor, an awesome session, and a super fun visit in Florida!

Heather and Jeff

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I met Heather and Jeff on the Boston Common. I mean, I didn't literally meet them there...we planned it. Oh, you know what I mean! We wandered the common for a bit and when rain led us under a bridge (and a bunch of other people too, making it impossible to keep shooting) we chatted about this and that. Heather is a (saint!) second grade teacher. Jeff is a doctor. What kind of doctor?

A surgeon!

What kind of surgeon?

An orthopedic surgeon.

Oh? Where?

At Mass General.

Oh, yeah?

Yup!

Do you know Dr. Smith?

Yes, I work with him!

Oh, cause he put this in me! (here's the part where I over-share and pull out my keychain which has on it a small strip of metal which Dr. Smith put in years ago and then took out nine months later).

Fortunately, Jeff doesn't seem phased about this, or my game of "Can You Guess Where It Came Out Of?". He thinks for a while, but because of it's odd bend at the end, he is stumped and I win the game "My collarbone!" I spill the answer.

He is appropriately impressed as is Heather.

The rain stops and so does my talking about myself and my ridiculous injury and we get back to taking pictures of this beautiful couple. And I do mean beautiful. I have the pics to prove it...

Amanda & Billy

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A few weeks ago I got an email from Amanda, whose boyfriend Billy was coming home from his military duties in Pensacola to spend the weekend with her for her birthday. She also wanted their picture taken together while he was home. That's where I come in. After lots of back and forth to figure out the best spot to meet at and have a photo session, we settled on Powissett Farm in Dover, MA. I was a little concerned that meeting there on a Sunday would result in crowds but to our surprise, it was completely quiet on the farm (who wouldn't want to spend their sunday visiting pigs?). Photographing these two was great fun and for a pair who claim to not be "touchy feely", the did a fine job during their session!

What to do? What to wear?

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Wondering how to prepare for your engagement photo session?  Well, I was directed to a great blog entry HERE, which I'm going to share with you here almost in it's entirety, almost completely verbatim (along with some of my peanut gallery comments added in)! So, here are some things to keep in mind when you are prepping for your session (and in many ways, this is applicable for any session with CSP) 1. Outfits. There are so many different ways to go on this, and so much different advice out there. So I’m going to stick to the top three bits of clothing advice we like to offer.

a) Don’t wear a lot of solid white. Especially anything big and bulky and all-white. Just don’t do it. White adds ten pounds on camera. It’s an optical illusion at its meanest. Now, that said, this is not THE RULE. If you have a white outfit that you feel you look fantastic in and makes you feel gorgeous? Wear it.

b) Complimenting each other without being matchy-matchy. The key is to select colors that compliment each other and are in the same color family, but aren't identical. Showing who you are with your own personal style is important. Then, choose something for him that matches you.

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D)  Yes to color and yes to great shoes! And accessories! If you're looking for an excuse to buy that dress you've always wanted but can't find a reason to buy one, a photo shoot is a good reason.

2. Be yourself.

A) Be happy. Be in love. You know how PDA (Public Displays of Affection, for those who haven’t been to high school in awhile) kind-of grosses people out? It doesn’t gross us out. So squeeze each other tight. Let the joy in. Remember how you felt the first time he said I love you. Remember your first date. Whatever gets you to that happy place. These are your rite-of-passage-pictures! Work the love!

b) I stole this from Jasmine Star (don’t judge, haters. She’s the coolest person ever and you wish you were her). Smile with your eyes. It works.

c) Open up and let us into that bond that the two of you share. We all put up walls in public and with those we’ve just met to keep ourselves from being humiliated. But we WANT to see the real you. Goofy, dorky, the fabulous model you were in your past life, whatever you are. We can skip the I’m normal facade. You don’t have to be.

3) Enjoy yourself and have fun!

TAGS: esession, engagements, engagement session, portraits, portrait session, how-to, getting ready, clothes, couples.

Sonia and Chris Engaged

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The other night I went into Boston and met-up with Sonia and Chris, two MIT grad students who just recently got engaged. We all worked hard going from this place to that place looking for locations to shoot in. The Boston Common, the MIT Boat House, the MIT Campus and the building in which Sonia studies moon rocks (um, rad!), the Boston Public Library which was oh-so grand.