Central MA Family Photo Session - Waters Farm, Sutton

Hey ya'll ...it's been a long while since we blogged about our photography adventures, so here's one we thought we'd share because it's truly one of our favorites ever! 

In early October we spent some time with Amy and Matt at Waters Farm in Sutton, and wow, did we capture some awesome fall color that day!  The weather was gorgeous, and the children were a joy.  Here are what we believe to be the best of the bunch from their session.

Now that Christmas is here, the family is enjoying their gorgeous wall collage above the family room sofa as they sit by a crackling fire and reminisce about the fun times they've shared together.

 

 

Boston Post-Wedding Photo Session -- Jeff + Cesar

The summer wedding season is winding down for us wedding photographers, and although autumn is a super time to get married, when the cooler weather arrives we always seem to find a bit more time to sit down and assess how and what we've accomplished so far this year, and what we may not have shown you.

 

 
Looking back at our portfolio for the year thus far, we felt we just had  to show you one of the funnest "engagement sessions" we've experienced yet, only, this was more of a post-wedding, takin'-a-breather session for our fun couple.  You see, Cesar and Jeff were married in a warm, intimate and beautiful home ceremony (officiated by the renowned J.P. Geri Weinstein) at the start of the year.  Then in April, they hosted a catered event for friends, colleagues and neighbors to celebrate their union.  The morning before the grande fête, we accompanied them to their (our!) beloved Boston where Cesar and Jeff often enjoy the social scene.  (And in the late afternoon, we photographed their catered soirée.)

Here is a small collection of the images we captured for two of our favorite guys.   It was truly a bbbbbrisk morning in April, but ... do you think they look cold?!

We found ourselves at Boston Common first, and when the morning breeze became a bit too brisk, we made a bee-line for the Starbucks café on Beacon Street for a sweet warm-up.  Yum :-)

Strolling the streets of historic Beacon Hill was SO fun!

 

Best wishes always, Cesar and Jeff!  We know wherever you may travel, life will be so much sweeter for everyone you come in contact with.  Friends, feel free to comment here and leave your happy thoughts :-)

Cheers,
Chris and Vickie

Kelly & Dan's E-Session: Sudbury Grist Mill

Last Sunday we met our newest friends/clients, Kelly and Dan, at the renowned Wayside Inn Grist Mill for their long-awaited engagement session.  We don't think we've ever had a picnic in New England in March before, but this was a totally sublime day for it, especially with a couple so much in love.  The spring and summer tourist crowd hadn't yet arrived, so we took advantage of the relative privacy, and we had a blast!

When deciding where to stage this session, Kelly expressed that she and Dan are kind of casual, outdoors-y and unassuming, and it became clear that it had to be outdoors, in a country-ish setting.  We collectively decided we'd better leave their rather rambunctious Golden Retriever at home this particular day (tho we would have loved to photograph his adorableness!)


Having met the two of them a couple months earlier at Bocado Tapas Wine Bar in Worcester for a 'get-to-know-you', we discovered we shared a common love of red wines and savory food, so an Argentinian malbec and some sharp cheese just had to be part of the day's mix!

Kelly's got a real affinity for color and design (a mutual fan of HGTV!), as was apparent in her choice of props ... a client right up our alley!

We cannot WAIT for their wedding in September ~  it's bound to be a gorgeous affair.

Recharging Our Batteries and READY to Rock!

Even though the winter months are the slow season for wedding and on-location portraiture here in New England, we've gotta say we totally LOVE this time of year as it affords us more opportunity to plan and prioritize.  We can refocus and reaffirm for ourselves what we love about this business - what our strengths are (and how we can capitalize on them) and where our weaknesses may be (where we should step outside our comfort zone and aim to grow).

While reviewing our packages for 2012, we decided to revamp our price lists in order to offer more album selections and a variety of à la carte products.  We saw that we could actually reduce our photo reprint pricing too!  Just after we received our new marketing materials, we happened to attend a Boston wedding expo (the first of the year in this area), and man, were we pleased to find that we're extremely competitive in our pricing and when push comes to shove, we can offer more value for the dollar, more bang for the buck.  In all honesty, the pricing plans we saw at the expo were well over $3000, and we offer several options well below that.

I guess part of our "secret" (if there were one)  is that we keep our overhead expenses low.  Working from our home studio and office allows us the freedom to go "on the road" for weddings and on-location portraits, without having to rent  studio space with all the added expense that entails.  We essentially carry the studio with us when a client wants a formalized background, as is often the case in a baby session at the client's home, or for a high school senior portrait.  And this year we plan to expand our selection of indoor backgrounds.

{at our home studio where we meet with clients}

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The other day we bid a fond adieu to our dear comrade "Larry, the Large Format" ... if you didn't know, Chris buys and sells camera gear and knows the stuff like the back of his hand.  Larry, as we liked to call him, sort of fell into our laps when Chris purchased a large collection of gear from an amateur photographer who no longer had the photo "bug".  After some tender loving care, Larry was good as new and looked totally cool with our interior décor, if I do say so myself!

With the proceeds of the sale we were able to snag a lens that we've had our eye on for our Nikon D700 - a Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4 G ED VR.  The image of our living room (above) is the first from this new lens, and we can see it's totally gonna rock at our next wedding this February!

Vanessa & Rich's Engagement Session ~ April 30, 2011

Well it didn't rain on Saturday afternoon, thank you very much Mother Nature, and we were able to meet Vanessa and Rich for an enjoyable 'get to know you' E-shoot in Millbury.  The old train station, now the Millbury Senior Center, is a wonderful spot on weekends with virtually no foot traffic, and the old train, the tracks, the revamped "station" and surrounding garden make for an attractive backdrop.  This couple looks so great together - we're looking forward to August!