The above images are the results of a senior photo shoot Taylor and I did with my Daughter Maddie, who as you have seen has a style all her own. The session took place this past December in New Hampshire and in Brattleboro, Vermont at the Latchis Hotel and Theater. We would like to thank the Latchis’ staff for graciously allowing us to use their beautiful theatre! We are extremely proud of these images and they are most representative of our style and the direction we wish to continue in :) -K&Tay

So the next thing I know, I find myself at the rehearsal. It’s at the gorgeous Moody Mountain Farm on the Wolfeboro/Ossipee, NH town line. We’re standing inside what I’m guessing was once a livestock corral—you can supply your own jokes about being led to the slaughter—the fencing being a 3 foot thick stone wall probably dating back to the 1800′s. It’s now lined with yellow lilies along with other various wild flowers in full bloom and is where the ceremony will take place. I’m watching my little girl… <ahem> Lindsey, listening to Jalum (her Fiancé) and their officiant, Jason, discuss some final details and it happens. You know that commercial, the one where the father is talking to his daughter, sitting in the car, about all the safety precautions she needs to take whilst taking his car out for a drive? Yep, that one. They show the Father’s view of his Daughter and she looks to be about 6 years old…even though she’s really 16 or 17. I studied my Daughter there, saw her furrowed brow squinting out the sunlight, the quizzical look on her face, wondering what would be said next… I was sucked back in time and saw, not a 20+ year old woman standing there, no, it was my 6 year old little Lindsey. And you know what? Her facial expressions were exactly the same!

Two days later, still worried about not losing it during my duties, I walked into the farmhouse where my girl was waiting for me to take her on the walk of her life. Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I was about to encounter. I knew she would be beautiful, but my oh my, she was STUNNING! As soon as I entered the room there was the most amazing atmospheric transformation. The air was replaced with pure emotion. Lindsey, sitting in a pudgy living room chair, started frantically waving her hands and chanting, “Oh, no…no,no!” in an effort to will away the anticipated tears threatening her make up. I looked at her…I tried, I really tried. But that was it. Lost it. There she was, my little girl, looking SO amazingly beautiful. I had no choice but to lose it. A milestone. A moment in time I will never forget. It’s quite sobering. It’s like standing in the surf, watching a wave come towards you….your grandparents, your parents, you. The wave buoys you up, only for a moment, then continues on without you….your children, your grandchildren. It’s part of life though, so what else to do but embrace it? Relish it. The payoff of course, besides the memories, is an ever-expanding family and love. Lots of love. Welcome to my Family Jalum :)

The rest of the day was cake (pun intended). The trepidation of scattered showers dissipated into glorious sun and blue sky. As Jason gave his finest wedding talk, I just took it all in. To all you parents and parents-to-be out there yet to experience the wedding day of a child, I’ll repeat the advice I received from the MOB from one of the weddings we photographed last season. She said, “Just take it all in…it will be glorious!” She was right. The warm summer breezes stroking the fields of wild flowers, the mountains, the diving swallows, a soaring red-tailed hawk. Perfection. Lindsey was truly giddy with happiness and love as she repeated her vows. We ate, we laughed, we danced. It was a good day.

Of course, this was just my perspective that I’m offering you here on our blog. There are many others. We are so grateful to our dear friends, Kevin & Heidi (Kevin is Lindsey’s cousin) of Sweet Pea Photography for coming up from Pennsylvania to photograph and be a part of Lindsey & Jalum’s wedding, allowing me to just be “Dad” (you’ll ‘meet’ them in the second-to-last photo). They’re the ones to blame for Taylor and I becoming wedding photographers ;) and we can’t wait to see their perspective! (we’ll keep ya posted on that) The love of my life, Taylor, looked SO gorgeous this day and I terribly regret not taking a photo of her (K&H are you listening? :) but I thank her for taking most of the lovely images you’ll see below. We begin however, with a series of images I snapped with just my girl and I—no one else in the room (did I mention she was giddy?)—just before our walk down the aisle…

And lastly (above), the hard core crew (AZ representin’!) that stayed till the end. What great time we all had! Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making this an amazing event. And the wave rides on…

View Lindsey & Jalum’s Boston engagement session (with Tay and I at the helm) here. Oh, and thanks to the amazing vintage clothing store, Bobby From Boston for supplying my killer vintage seersucker suit!

Here is our little Best of 2010 offering, in random order. If you haven’t tried it on either of our portfolio sites, click the button on the slideshow nav to watch in full screen (click the icon again to switch back). Mouse over the “stage” to pop up the nav menu. Enjoy!

The spread highlights the wedding of Spencer and Jessica from San Francisco, whose wedding took place last August on Tuftonboro Neck, on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, just a bit north of Wolfeboro, NH. We had such a blast photographing Spencer & Jessica and all their wonderful friends and family, and we’re so happy that they in turn have received this nice bonus of being featured in a beautiful bridal magazine, something we hope many of our couples will get to enjoy! What a fantastic keepsake they’ll have, and several copies are on their way across the country. You can view more images from their wedding in our blog post here. We’d also like to acknowledge the great work of Dandelion Florist in Wolfeboro, NH, who made our job that much easier with their gorgeous arrangements. Thanks Guys!
If you’re looking for a wedding photographer and you think your big plans for that upcoming special day might be magazine-worthy, we can’t make any guarantees, but get in touch with us and let’s have a go at it!

   Our view of being photographers is not, “We do photography,” but rather, “We are artists.” The last thing we want to do is sound like snobs, but with the invention of digital photography and processing, it has become very easy for almost anyone to buy a digital camera, download a copy of Photoshop and call themselves a photographer. Now, there are endless discussions online about when and for what reason you can call yourself a “photographer,” but ultimately, a person’s photography speaks for itself. We encourage anyone who feels a passion for photography, or even someone who just wants to take better photos to absolutely go for it. Give it your all. We would never deny anyone’s right to pursue their passion, their dream. For us personally, we set our own bar very high. Not only because we present ourselves as professional photographers, and people invest trust and dollars in us for that reason, but also because we pursue excellence in every image that we produce. It’s a matter of artistic integrity.

How Does it Work?

   We have adopted a process already in use by many premier photography studios around the world. It’s very simple, really. If you like our art and would like to commission us to photograph you and/or your family, get in touch and we’ll schedule a pre-consultation at your home. During this time, we’ll get to know each other, something that’s vital to capturing relaxed, natural images during the actual portrait session. We’ll answer questions and discuss what your expectations and goals are, as well as which of our products will best suit your decor, wall space and overall style. Of course we’ll also schedule your session and discuss location, wardrobe and any other questions or concerns you may have.

   Next, the photo shoot. We’ll meet you at our predetermined location, which might be your home, a park, playgound, grassy field, woodland trail, the beach or an urban landscape—places that hold special meaning for you and your family or simply compliment your unique personality. Sessions will typically last about 2 hours, but could be shorter or longer depending on which session you have chosen. Newborns and young children’s sessions will usually run longer. We’ll spend the first few minutes or more scouting out the location, getting our gear dialed in and shooting a few warm-ups to get us all in the groove. After that, we’ll take lots of shots of the interactions that highlight the special relationships and moments that make you and your family unique and beautiful. We’ll likely do some comfortable poses and perhaps some more traditional ones. We’re also always up for fun and unique ideas and we hope you are too, but whatever you’re comfortable with. For family portraits, it’s fun to plan an activity that you can all enjoy together; baking cookies, playing in the back yard, taking a walk, etc.

   The fun continues… after your portrait session we’ll schedule your viewing/ordering session. We’ll come to your home and you’ll get to enjoy your images in a larger-than-life slideshow set to music! Then, in the same format, you get to choose which images you’ll have made into prints, storyboard collages and gallery canvas wraps for your wall. There are lots of great new products that will showcase the beautiful art we’ve created together, complimenting and enhancing your home decor at the same time. During your viewing session we’ll guide you through what’s available and how it will best work with the images you’ve chosen and fit your home. You’ll receive your portrait art 2 to 4 weeks after placing your order.

   It’s important to us that people notice our deep commitment to producing photographic art that holds beauty far beyond any other artwork you could display in your home. How so? Because it’s art created from the most precious people in your life, your family. We want to thank you for taking the time to read through this information and we think you’ll enjoy viewing our new Website and our galleries. We’d love to hear from you and apply our creative process to you and your family’s history. We are centrally located between the White Mountains, Seacoast and Lakes Region of New Hampshire. We regularly visit and photograph in the communities of Wolfeboro, North Conway, Jackson, Meredith, Laconia, Gilford, Rochester, Dover, Portsmouth, Newington, Rye and Hampton, New Hampshire as well as Southern Maine. Visit our “Hello” Page and we’ll get started!

Sun setting behind the stage, how cool was that? And this was pretty cool… there was a deaf interpreter onstage for the entire show. We think it might be an arrangement by LL Bean because we’ve seen this at other shows here. Oh, and LOVED the accordian! I really want to play some of my originals with an accordian player!

So there you have it.  What a great way to spend a summer Saturday night in New England! Here’s the video to one of our favorite Dar Songs, “As Cool As I Am.” See ya next time! –K&Tay

…as we made our way to Ogunquit Beach, we came across two really cool places, the first was the Old House Parts Company, a recycled building materials warehouse in Kennebunk, Maine. Tay and I (Kerry’s handling the play-by-play for this post, btw) love this sort of thing and they had a ton of great pieces, all extremely well organized. It was a great photo op (the photo on the right, below, was taken at this place as well as the 2nd to last pair of photos):

The next place we came across was the Johnson Hall Museum, a fairly strange—but interesting—privately-owned curio shop morphing into a musem of sorts (also in Kennebunk). There were lots of quasi-historic out-buildings in various stages of decay, but again, crazy photo ops. Tay was a little creeped out by this antique jail cell, but not enough to avoid posing in it for me! Most of these photos are hers, by the way, she has a great eye for this sort of photography.

As mentioned, a couple from the Old House Parts Co.

Ahhh, finally at the beach! The ocean is so reinvigorating. We always say we want to get to the ocean a lot every summer, but then don’t. In the past two weeks we’ve been there three times, yes! This was a fun series of images. We were on a boardwalk amongst the dune grass and wild roses. I wanted this shot, but had to sit on the opposite railing, hook my legs underneath and lean way back over the rose bushes to get the right angle. Let’s just say my abs weren’t quite up to the task and Tay couldn’t keep a straight face for very long! Of course, it was worth it and I’m still waiting to take a bad picture of her. Love this shot.

–Tay&K

Tay and I decided to step outside yesterday to taste a little preview of summer’s golden hour. It was a good day…

–k