BOSTON CHILDREN'S PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

I wrote last week about our beach and the sessions I shot down there… and this was the second of three… and a really special one for a lot of reasons.  The primary reason is because I LOVE this family.  Well, I really just know the parents well, but for many, many summers I’ve passed by the kiddos thinking “Seriously, how good looking are they?  Wouldn’t it be awesome to photograph them?”  And so when I found out that they bid on and won a session with me, needless to say, I was THRILLED.  As you might know, our summer life — the few weekends we can spend in Quogue — is incredibly special for us.  It’s where Owen’s family grew up, and where I hope my kids will always have a home… whether it be swimming on the team, skim boarding with the kids, or sitting by bonfires at the end of the year.  It’s just special for us.  I watched Christofer sit so close next to Shane, and his new compadre Nathanial, and he was so excited, and intent, on watching the awards and he was beaming as his girlfriend Kal came away with an award… and we hugged and I said “Buddy, for sure, if you can just dunk that head under water I am SO SURE next year you can get an award too.”  [unlike his sister who will literally sit on the bottom of the pool, we have a hurdle or two to jump over with the Boy.].

I digress.

The Surf Club is just a special place for us.  My inlaws and Mandy and Owen thrown their blood sweat and tears — their entirety — into making it the place it is today… and we feel so blessed we can share it with our kids.  But the staff each summer does the same.  And so a few years ago, they established a Scholarship Fund where the kids who run the kitchen, the pool, the beach, so diligently can be rewarded for their hard work through scholarships towards their college tuition.  For the past two years, I have happily donated sessions to the cause, in hopes that people would bid on me in order to raise money for a great cause.  And so I mentioned, when I found out that Ann & Clarke bid and won I was so happy as I know that they also do so much for not only the Surf Club, but also the Village of Quogue (and equally special place).

So here are a few images from their session.  I am so lucky that I can not only have this family as a lifelong friend, but also that I can now put them up on the big screen in the studio!  Cheers!

If feels like summer ended months ago… I go through these periods of time warps where I cannot tell if things are moving too fast or too slow, if I am totally in the weeds or relatively caught up.  And the last month has been a bear.  I’ll write about that in another post (or maybe I’ll just digest it and try to move past it and not bore you all with a drawn out saga that really is just a first world problem anyway).

So we wrapped up the summer at the Surf Club and I shot three amazing sessions, for three amazing families while I was there.  We went from sun to rain to gross to sun to wind all in about 36 hours, so planning the sessions was a bit of a shot in the dark.  Add on top of that the Surf Club was recovering from the effects of Hurricane Irene, and so the beach just didn’t look like “our beach…” no benches, most of the greenery turned brown from the salt.  But as I’ve said time and again, you put beautiful people with gorgeous light in front of a dumpster and you have a winning image… The Surf Club, even less than it’s usual splendor, is still a fantastic beach.  Add to that the light of Quogue, which is like that of Provence (I imagine), and the beautiful families just shine.

I was so happy to be able to photograph this family.  We’ve played “tag” for dates for about a year, and finally, at the VERY last minute (I mean on Wednesday I write “I’ll be there Thursday…”) we were able to sync up and I am SO GLAD WE DID.  Not only do I love Megan, but I feel like I know yet another Surf Club family with beautiful children that mine will someday cause trouble with (well, her youngest two anyway… hey, maybe the oldest will be old enough to babysit by then!).

Anyway, to land the plane, and not disappoint, it’s yet another beautiful family.  I’m sorry, did you expect anything less?

As most people know, I have very few images of myself with my family. I also have very few images of my family that are actually edited. I had the best intentions of producing a slideshow for the kid’s birthdays in July, but at 1,300 “fav” images and about 1/10 of those edited, having not even reached 2011, I had to throw in the towel. In short, I suck. When get into those “God Forbid something should happen to me” modes, one of the first things I worry about is “who will ever edit all those images for my kids?” [Don't you worry, some of you have been named for the task.]

Anyway, rarely do I plan a session for friends, in advance, and have it executed to perfection. Friends, and I love you dearly, often have a habit of rescheduling, not really prepping, running in on short notice, or waiting until the last minute. As you all know, I live and die for my friends and so honestly, I am giving you all the business, I love doing your sessions no matter what the time or circumstances. But for this, Jen & Missy really planned. They brought dinner for the kiddos (big yummy cups of Mac-n-Cheese), delicious foccacia and spreads fresh from the market, and of course a host of beverages that made our red Silo cups proud. With that, we had some insane early fall weather, the most perfect sunset, and accommodating kids (excluding, perhaps, some moments with mine). I have long since believed that pretty much any problem in the world can be solved if you are barefoot with a stiff cocktail at the beach when the sun is going down… and not that we had problems to solve, but there is something about it that makes you not want to be anywhere else in the world.

It was such a fun night, and I happily handed over my camera so the girls could shoot some of me… and once we established that the “red dot” goes on the face (not on Bandit chasing Brighton in the background), we were all set and I am so happy we captured what we did.

I should note that the most willing participants of the evening were the four rockin’ rescue dogs we brought with us. We love our dogs. We saved them each from a different fate, but surely one that would have had a terrible end, and I think we can all say our lives are better for having them with us.

Admittedly, I am a terrible blogger. But lately I’ve actually had valid reasons. Aside from trying to resolve some serious color issues that plagued all my early summer clients (my laptop, my calibration, switching to Lightroom, switching back), I also decided to migrate to this site, which was not without it’s own challenges. Add to that a whole host of summer ailments (ear infection, poison ivy, freckle removal, kids not in school), well… you know my story.

So I am back in action, with this new blog format, and beyond excited to share some of my favorite images from sessions that I’ve shot during this crazy, hectic, time.

That said, I decided that I am just going to blog images, and not really do write ups for Seniors. I worry so much that I’ll inadvertently short change someone with a write up and it will be unintentional, but leave someone wondering why I would write a lot about one girl and not another, when really it comes down to time and what’s on my mind… and so Senior posts will be wordless…

I hope you enjoy!