It’s been a wild ride this year, lots of up’s and down’s and back around’s.  Some got engaged, some got married, and some had kids… but we all were on this ride together.  I was fortunate to have an abundance of wonderful clients who allowed me to follow my creative impulses and make some of my favorite images yet.  The majority of this years top ten photos started as sketches in my note pad but some of them were just being in the right place at the right time.  I hope you enjoy them and please….. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Number 10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

Number 1!

Associated Press ran a few of my photos recently!  The photos were from a wedding I photographed this year.  Although the reception venue that this couple chose had to be changed last minute, Sarina and Brian’s wedding was really among the best I’ve ever photographed.  These photos, taken at Radius Restaurant in Boston, have been published in quite a few places.  I guess it’s a testament to creativity, good planning and attention to detail… as well as hiring the right photographer (i.e) ME!  If you’d like to read the story, here it is… and here too.

Check us out in the current issue of The Knot magazine’s spring/summer 2011 issue on page 62-64!

OK, I’m married now. The wedding’s over, we bought a house and if we weren’t so backwards we’d be working on having a baby… but we did that already (the baby is wonderful btw). In retrospect, there were definitely a few things that I hadn’t planned on in our wedding. What surprised me most was:

5. Oh the guest list – The politics of making a guest list is hard. Who makes the cut, where do you draw the line, what will that say to the people who aren’t going? Ughh! In addition to that, parents and family members may have too much to say about who should be invited.  I had to remind myself that it will all work out in the end.  After all, in 5 years will anyone care that Uncle Jimmy’s new girlfriend went to the wedding… probably not. Sometimes, you gotta let it go.

4. It’s always traditional – It became clear to me that our wedding was bigger than we are. Even though we wanted to have a non-traditional wedding, and consider ourselves to be more contemporary, the act of getting married is a traditional one. Weddings come to us with all this family history. As the meaning of what we did sets in, it makes me think of our own historical context and what this means to our children and grandchildren. We are all part of something old, cultural and human which is even more beautiful than I had previously thought.

3. The ceremony – clearly the most under rated part of my wedding. I thought the reception would be where it’s at! I knew the ceremony would be meaningful but I never expected it to be quite so strong. When I walked in and found my self circled by almost everyone who is important to me in this world… it was very emotional. I truly understood at that moment the greatness of what we were about to do. Picture me, a grown man, chin quivering, short breaths with eyes so full that at the next blink, they would erupt with flowing tears.

2. My flower tie fell off – So I had this other great idea to buck tradition and not wear a tie. So instead I had our florist (John LaRoche from blueGuava… amazing!) make me something that I could fashion around my neck as some sort of a decorative flower piece. The only problem is that just before my entering the ceremony, I had picked up my 2 year old daughter who squished my flower and nearly yanked it off. About 5 minutes into the ceremony it completely fell… I felt so embarrassed it was painful.

1. Time… what was it. I was so overwhelmed by the lack of time. Plan accordingly. I had heard plenty of times that your wedding day flies by. I was really struck by the feeling of continuously trying to grasp at connecting with people. There were so many people that I wanted to spend so much time with but just couldn’t. My biggest suggestion is this: before the wedding, make a dinner date to check in with the people who you haven’t seen in a while. On the wedding day, you won’t really have a chance to catch up with any one person…. Roll With It!

Hello folks!  Long time no post… I know.  My wife and I have been extremely busy with the recent purchase of our new multi-family home.  We’ve been renovating the units, screening tenants and packing all our furniture seeing as we’re moving into the building too.

Needless to say it’s been a challenge juggling all of that as well as the busiest wedding season of the year, and being the best dad that I can be… of course  : )

I will be answering emails on a limited basis for the next couple of weeks,  I’m really happy to share that I’ve been published on a book cover for the first time.  Dr. Eliana Gil, author of several popular books in the field of Play Therapy, has edited this one.  It’s always really great to see your own work on a book!

I have to give special props to Tom Bruhl, the DJ pictured here.  The music was bumpin’ , the crowd was jumpin’: he totally smashed it!  What was most impressive about him was that he plays all the music himself.  He plays so many instruments, I couldn’t even keep track.  Apparently, he records all of the instruments himself and lays all of the tracks together to form a perfect, in-tune and on-time, one man band that plays all of your favorite songs, unbelievable!  Check him out at TomBruhl.com

I love this first photo!  The flowers, the colors, a sweet summer day on a shady porch…. forget about it!    This is the first of a 3 part post of a wedding we photographed recently.  It was at the beautiful Zukas Hilltop Barn in Spencer, MA.  The colors at this wedding were strong and bouncy; full of energy, just like the reception!  The couple was also super cute with each other…. Yay! Love!

This was the wedding of my college roommate!  It’s been a few years since the good ol’ days, which made it really nice to connect with friends that I haven’t seen in a while.  I was also really happy to try out something new for me, photographically.  The l;ast photo pictured here is a light painting.  This technique has been used for many years in the fine art world, but not so much in weddings.  I did it with one of those July 4th sparklers that light up.  I made a 4 second exposure and had the groom wave the sparkler in front of the camera.  I have another light painting coming up in a few days that I also like, check back in to see!  Promises to Keep in Derry, NH was the venue, for more info on them check out the website here.