Good things to come?

Apparently we have good luck coming our way. Look at the beauty that what was pouring down over our studio tonight! What do you think?




Are we going to win the lottery?
Become the most successful studio in the world?
Long life and good heath? End of hard times for all?
World peace finally?
Is the king of pop smiling down upon us?

What good things do you think are heading our way? We'd love to know what all you good people out there think ; ) And remember...stay positive....good things will come your way : ) You might have the luck of the irish!

When Irish eyes are smiling
Sure it's like a morning spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter,
You can hear the angels sing. When Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

New Year's Baby : Meet Little Logan

On New Year's Day my little nephew Logan came into this world greeted by his parents Becky & Joe (Joe is my little brother) and his big sisters Kali, Mikayla and Miley. You might remember little Miley from some past sessions I did of her during her first year of life. Well Miley's a big sister now! And I have a beautiful new nephew!

Meet Little Logan....



This little guy was the first baby to be born in 2009in southwestern Connecticut! The Danbury News Times did a front page article with a photograph of my brother Joe holding his new son! This little guy had his 15 minutes of fame the day he was born!

I visited my brother and his family to fotograph their new addition in the comfort of their home. Fotographing families in their environment, i.e. a "lifestyle session," is my favorite way to do portraits.

Enjoy!

Be sure to check out Logan's SLIDESHOW HERE!


I looked at about a dozen stores on my ride to Becky and Joe's place for a "Happy New Year" cone hat, because I had a vision to fotograph Logan sleeping with it on his bum....after about an hour of searching for one, and I was about to give up, I finally came upon some. Go figure....New Year's decorations apparently sell out very soon after the New Years. I'm so happy I was finally able to find one though!



The beautiful family....



Big sister Mikayla with her little brother....



Big sister's Mikayla & Kali with Logan...







My brother Joe admiring his new son....



Daddy kisses.....



I love snuggle fotos.....





One of my favorite from the day....



I know the next three are somewhat similar, but I couldn't resist. I just love how Logan put his arm around his daddy's face! To cute for words...













Kali with her little brother.... (another favorite : )









Little Miley after getting into her pjs.



Mikayla with her baby brother...Don't these girls have the most beautiful, expressive eyes?







Mama Becky with her first son...more snuggling : )



Becky had a wonderful antique rocking chair that was passed down to her from her grandparents.....we couldn't resist.



What a doll!











The girls were doing their homework while their auntie was there, and apparently Mikayla loves her big sister so much that she sometimes gives her neck rubs while Kali is studying. I thought it was such a beautiful expression of love.



Of course there are other expressions of love that are quite funny too....



Little wonderful, tasty baby toes!





Another favorite....well all of the images in this post are my favorites, but I LOVE this one.....





Don't you wish you could snuggle up on your sofa like this...



Congratulations to my brother and his family on their new addition....Auntie Krystal is looking forward to doing Logan's 3 month pictures very soon!!!

We Click 2009 Official Post

As some of you know we attended We Click 2009 married Photographers Retreat this year and had a blast. Matt and Enna Grazier started this a few years back so a bunch of us can get together and have a vacation before wedding season. We ate, drank, danced, took pictures;-), sat, soaked(in the hot tub), snowshoed, skiied or skied(can't find the correct spelling ?? seems to be both??) and talked.

Enjoy some of the craziness here and at the following bloggs:

Matt and Enna Grazier

Andy and Christine

Justin and Mary Marantz

Paul and Laura Eaton

John and Kim Sanderson

Tabitha and Larry


It all Started at a place in VT called...




Aren't We Cute :)





My cute little one eyed krystal.... Guess the lens before PUG and win... A hug:)




Pig Pile of the Wives




Kim and John showing us their moves...




Matt and Enna Nuggling :)




Enna's Reaction to Matt's Debauchery (I will Put a few up if they say its ok ;-)




I have no idea what is going on




John, Krystal and Mary are all listening to the same beat the rest of us ?




Foto Magic:)




View master has come to take us away!




Pillow Jousting of course!




A cake cutting... Of course




We are watching this... click here




Kim is obviously wishing she shot with canon because we were shooting with Paul Eaton's 50mm F1.0... yes 1.0 :) it was awesome!!!!



A Boy and his dog


Snowshoeing Crew on DeersLeap overlook VT


We made it!



Synchronized snowshoeing?




NOOOO Don't Jump :)




Justin and Mary... Aren't they Cute:)




Not another idea Matt:)




Team Photo




Thanks again to Matt and Enna it was such a good time.

"Paperless"

So a while back we signed up all of our bills to be "paperless". We pay everything via the internet and kinda of ingore the envelopes that just keep coming. I know RE from REPhotoDesign is just twitching at this point :)

So last night we made tea and attacked this box of stuff. We then noticed the box...come on! we had to take a photo:)

Sight, Smell, Hearing...WOW!

Paul's Walk to work.

So some of you know that I start my day with a walk to work. Its only about a fifteen minute walk or even a bit less. Everyday I pass the same thing and see the same stuff, but then about a week ago I starting seeing, smelling and hearing.

For those of you that don't know the downtown of Stafford Springs is like a Currier & Ives painting of a small quaint town built on a hill side. Krystal and I are lucky enough to own a house on just about the top of the highest point in the downtown area. While walking to work I look over the whole town and parts of Tolland winding through the river valley of the Willimantic River.



As some of your are all to well aware of, it's been right around 0˚F in the morning, for most of the week. A few days ago it was -4˚F and that's when I noticed a really awesome sight. The wind was only a bitter whisp of air that bit at any bare skin. The town was silent and wildlife was waiting, while the sun struggled to pierce through the bitter cold. All of the houses were silently breathing as far as I could see. Columns of soft steam, freezing as soon as it floated away from its warm environment and smoke rising out of every chimney dancing slowly with the breeze. The intoxicating smell of wood stoves floating on the winter air.

I then started becoming more aware of the sounds around me. First the scuff of the heal of my shoe as I walk on the sandy road, then the crunch of the salt and sand as I walk very carefully trying not to scuff my heal. While looking at my feet and walking down a quite steep hill (I know I probably look like a dork) I hear a wind chime that I must of walked past a million times...I stop dead to try and find it. When my eyes catch the cold black metal wind chime, I stop and close my eyes and face it. The sun is rising on my left cheek and I can feel a touch of warmth while my ears are listening to a mixture of the most beautiful chimes I have ever heard mixed with a bit of sounds coming up from main street as the town wakes. After about a minute I smile and walk the last few minutes to work.

Here are few images from other walks to work.

Guess what?

Guess what is happening in this photo? This is just to tease you guys...more to come very soon. We can't wait to share!!!

Love : Interpreted : A Women's Photography Show

Next Friday I (Krystal) will be having an photography art opening along eight other women photographers at the MAC 650 Artspace Gallery in Middletown, CT. My good friend and fellow photographer Nikki Nicole Rinaldi organized the show. The theme for our show is Love : Interpreted, and will be a showcase of our individual interpretations of love- with a requirement to think outside of the box. Because most of us ladies fotograph weddings, we are use to creating images of love for our clients, so it will be interesting to see the other ways that we all showcase love in our work.

I'm very excited to have the opportunity to be showing some of my personal art fotographs, because though I fotograph for myself quite often, most of the images sit quietly on a hard drive, waiting for me to create art pieces from them. I have not had a personal art showing since I graduated from art school, but this show is inspiring me to get out there and find other venues to show my work, so hopefully I'll have some other shows in the near future.

I will be doing a post about my pieces and the opening, after the show opens next Friday.

I would love to see you all there at the opening!!! Tantalizing refreshments and alluring beverages will be served, and it should be a great evening for all!

Sure, don't vote.... then what?

VOTE!!! This could be the most important election in at least my life! Thanks Robert Norman and Carla Ten Eyck for sharing.

Did Apple invent the flip phone idea?

OK so everyone knows I am kind of a technology nerd, but I am about to really out myself. I found this kind of randomly while looking through Google for some images. No I was not searching for it!! Its real as I can tell I looked up the patent # on the us patent office;)

Just picture this "Apple sues Motorola for the flip phone patent" ;) Anyway I thought it was kinda funny.

Guitar Under the Stars

Krystal and I don't get to go out much, but that's changing. This year at our Photographers retreat our friends and fearless PUG(Pictage Users Group) leaders, Justin and Mary from Justin Marantz Photography had us make a list of 101 goals to be accomplished in 1001 days.

So one my goals was #29, Spend more time with Krystal outside of work or making dinner or daily activities. So last night we went to "Guitar under the Stars" in Hartford right on the river front. This event is on its 16th year and was put together by the amazing Daniel Salazar. Over the past year we have become friends with Dan Salazar the III his son. After hearing about it we had to go....I mean a night of FREE yes free Latin, Spanish music Featuring the Hartford Festival Orchestra and the following:

Lorena Garay – guitar, Puerto Rican cuatro,
Carin McClure - violin
Esteban Arrufat - Latin Percussion,
André Balazs – keyboard,
Gene Bozzi – drums,
Roberto Clavijo - cajon, zampoña, misc. instruments,
Gonzalo Cortes - flute, quena,
Genevieve Rose - acoustic bass,(She dances all night while rockin' the bass)
James Hunt – trumpet,(Man this guys is amazing)
Daniel Salazar III - guitar

So now I am going to out myself. We do not own a point and shoot camera so bringing a camera to an event like this is a bit to do. I loaded one of our cameras with a battery, a memory card and a lens....then I thought it would be more advantageous to bring the camera with the flash and I swapped over all of the necessary things right;) Well...we get there we settle down on the grass and bring out our cheese, grapes, peppered salami, and other smorgasbord of snacks and then I notice our friend Dan is playing and I pull out the camera to take a shot of him. I focus and press the button...then the dreaded "no CF Card" message pops up and I realize while swapping cameras I forgot something important. Yes the Memory card is still in the first camera;) Oh well, Krystal and I had a great time, we bumped into some people we know and danced and laughed and just had fun.

So that explains the photo on the top:)

I highly recommend everyone goes to this. Its every year at the same place and there entertainment, food and amazing music.Connecticut Guitar Society

Paul + Krystal: Vacation Time!!!

Well, Paul + I are off to our annual little beach vacation at Humarock, MA! We head up there every year to get away for a little while to relax with friends & family. We can't wait to kayak every day or just chill on the beach with a Mojito or gin & tonic!!! We'll have lots of pictures to share when we get back!!! We'll be away through Monday the 25th....

Here's a fabulous shot I (Krystal) took last year in my kayak to give you an idea why we LOVE our little vacation spot so much!!!

Summer fun

So we are off to the lake home of one of my great friends Darrell. His amazing family welcomes us into there family's lake house every year. Ticket to get in a large bottle of Bombay and some sort of vodka for the amazing Judy. Here they are Dan Judy Darrell and Lisa almost a second family for a few days every summer.



Then off to an amazing photographers retreat to refocus and do some goal setting in the Berkshires :)