Kerry and James - Our Newport Newlyweds

Another great wedding weekender.

Gail and I decided to stay overnight for this one.

As beautiful as the wedding location was, we were both physically and technically challenged in ways we have not ever been.

The Bride and Groom were married outside on the water with the sun setting behind them and STRONG winds blowing right in our face (you might remember the “Mothers Day” winds). The wind was so persistent that at one point the bride and groom switched places just to keep the veil from beating up the Groom! Never the less it was a great ceremony!

I think we still managed to pull off some nice shots as well.


We were able to play off the sun for some great shadow shots.

The Ocean Cliffs is a beautiful facility with gorgeous woodwork inside.







The band they had rocked the house. What was really cool was when the brass section ventured out to the dance floor!



We were also blessed in the sense that we got to hang out with another past Bride and Groom who now have beautiful twin girls. Man starting to feel OLD! It was great to see them…ALL four of them = ).




Best wishes you two!








So the next day, taking full advantage of Nana (at home wioth the boys) and our location, we did what any married couple would do when the have a chance to get away without the kids for a weekend……WHAT EVER THE HECK WE WANTED! = ).



We went to the cliff walk and saw some of the mansions, then headed out into downtown Newport on foot--with cameras.




We came across this beautiful firehouse. No doubt one of the most unique ones I have seen. The wedged shape of the building meant that only one truck could pull out at a time or they would get stuck in the doorway. Hmmmm....sounds like one expensive game of chicken if you ask me = )

















The guys there were cool and let us snap a couple of shots of them. They were pretty used to it being in such a cool station in such a historic city. I would venture to guess that we were not the first cameras to stop in for a visit here.
Thank you guys!



















We finshed the day off at an awesome burger joint and enjoyed our first taste of Blueberry Beer! Sounds weird, but it was REALLY good!

That's a Wrap! -Another Theater Season Comes to an End

Our Theater troops and Schools knocked down some great shows this year. Some of which were even state final contenders. Let's see...."The King Stag", "The Terezin Promise", "Angels in America", "Beauty and the Beast", "Rent", "Aida","Peter Pan", "I Never Saw Another Butterfly", "Jungle Book", "Bugsy", "Aladin", "Honk Jr." and "High School Musical 2".

Just think we saw all these shows at least twice!


I have posted in this blog just SOME of my personal favorites...

Needless to say I have more than one show tune kicking around in the back of my head!


Here I am (left)with our Seniors from Tyngsboro High School for there last performance of Aida. We have been photographing them since middle school! We will miss all of you! Make sure to come back and visit us. You know where we will be.







































Gail and I attended Westford Academy Awards and for the first time we showed up at the Tyngsboro Theater Banquet. It was nice to say goodbye to all our seniors. We enjoyed, like the parents did, watching these kids mature into young adults and see how their talents sharpened and matured.

















This shot (right, despite the obvious watermarkings) was taken by our good friend Mr. John Schreiber. He has been working with us a bit to learn some of what we have about the theater photo business. "Nice Shootin Tex". Thanks for the help too!









Gail and I would also like to send a special shout out to Anna and Kelly, a couple of very ambitous young ladies, who ran a local independent theater troop called of A&K Enterpises. We have been shooting there plays for a couple of years now. They pretty much did it all, amazingly. Well, they our now headed off to High School. We wish them well and will keeping an eye on them for sure. That kind of drive will yeild them sucess in whatever they do.

Matt and Kate plus 8?

Kate and Matt were married at my old church. This has to go down as one of the easiest commutes we have had.


Both very popular with all the kids in the family Kate and Matt shared more than one dance with them.










A couple of firsts at this wedding.

During Formals I was almost struck by a stray golfball. It actually then rolled right up under the dress of one of the brides maids as she was lined up for a picture. I can't even begin to post the jokes that came out of that scenario.

They had a photo booth where people could go in, get there own pictures taken, then get a copy to take home. One copy went into the bride and grooms own scrapbook. The wedding guests shattered the record for number of people in the booth at one time. From 19 to 23!






We got to hang out with Curtis and Anna of Curtis Knight Entertainment. Curtis did a great job (as always) in getting the crowd on the floor for this shot and for a little "Sweet Caroline".


The Tewksbury Country club is one of the most unique facilities we have been to in terms or it's architecture. It poses a nice break from the more common rectangular reception halls. It is kind of a octagaonal shape with beautiful open wood beam constuction with a large stone fireplace on one side. This is all made even nicer by the fact that we live like 10 minutes away. Gotta love it when you can shoot a local wedding.






Best Wishes to Kate and Matt!

GOING CRAZY!!!!

Sorry I have not had an entry in a while.

With the winding down of Theater season, this means everyone is crossing the finish line at once. Throw on top of that three weddings (1 down 2 to go)our regular Studio sessions, bridal meetings, Westford Academy Awards, orders due like 5 shows.... OH! don't forget Soccer and Baseball for my two favorite athletes and June becomes instant INSANITY!

I will have to do a recap e-mail in the near future.

We had a great time down in Newport RI for a beautiful wedding at the Ocean Cliffs. Got some great pics that we will have to share.

We also had or first shot at Harvard's Bromfield school with their production of Peter Pan (with a flying cast!)

We will be down at Foxwoods in two weeks!

We will be the first photographers to shoot a full wedding at the MGM Grand Hotel!

We Can’t Wait!

Later!

ADOBE SMART OBJECTS CLASS - HOO RAW!

Another great day with one of my favorite teachers/instructors, Ted Dillard. Nobody I know can physically show the importance and advantages of the RAW workflow like he can.

It also show me that Adobe is starting to give Photoshop users the same RAW power that is Lightroom users have. Sweet.


A lot of the Smart Object interfaces are similar to the Lightroom controls.

We raffled off another Hunt Photo and Video card to a lucky winner as well as one of Ted’s RAW Pipeline Smart Object books.


And yet another big thank to JB from PPAM for letting me steal a couple of class pics off of him. He always has his camera at the ready.



As good as the class was I, as a host, got started off with yet another example of good old Murphy’s law in the morning.

This pictures shows both of the projectors I had on hand and that box in the middle is an extra bulb.

The night before I had BOTH working in that very same room with a witnesses. What could go wrong?

Take a guess what happened. The Epson lamp did not turn at all and the extra bulb I had was for the other model.

The other worked on my PC but did not on Ted’s Mac, where all the training material was.


GOTTA LOVE THAT! I was quite literally ready to bite my way through a freaking tree.

My last saving grace was our neighbors upstairs at Prize de Fer fencing club. The lent us there LCD TV.

Another BIG thank you to them for saving the class. A thanks goes out to the class as well for dealing witgh that situation.

Needless to say one of the class surveys asked for “better A/V prep”. Not to disagree from their perspective. I would have wrote the same thing, but damn it! From my perspective I could not have done anymore than I did. Two projector and an extra bulb! What the F&@#!

Once we were up and running it took me an hour and a half just for my blood pressure to return to normal. Another good war story I guess.

Another Theater season starting to wrap up…

A one-two punch at Tyngsboro…

The Middle School preformed “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” then the High School picked up part two of this story in “The Terezin Promise”.



Back to back shows that depicted the lives of Jewish youth during the Holocaust.





















John from John F. Schreiber Photography was there with me to get a taste of the Theater Photog life. He nailed some great shots!







Middlesex Community College's “Cabaret”

Shall we say… a little risqué = )

MCC once again transformed their compact performance area in to a swanky little German night club.








Westford Academy’s “Rent”

Everything is Rent!

The kids at WATA cranked out yet another BIG musical this year with “Rent”. Incredible set and lighting work and some unbelievable vocal performances put this show over the top.



Kudos to all the cast and crew!

Sam’s Back! - Don’t hit me Mr. Chicken!

Last year after Sandy Puc’s seminar, Gail and I took the big step forward and got into our new studio. Gail especially was affected by, if you will, “Puc Power”..OK, that’s bad.


Gail was also truly moved by Sam’s co-founding of NILMDTS and joined the local chapter shortly there after. NILMDTS is network of photogs that donate there time and work free of charge to parents of newborns that never make it out of the hospital. Very tough work, but extremely important to the parents that need it and ask for it.


Honestly and truly passionate about what she does, Sam is very easy to draw inspiration from, but foremost actual usable techniques and advice. I have been to other seminars that are full of hot air and I am p*&%!d off when I leave. This has never been the case with Sam and that is why Gail and I love her some much.

As for the chicken...to long of a story to type for me right now. Call me, I will tell you about it.