The Graduate

I made a trip up to Maine last week with Ollie and Will for my sister Elise's graduation from college... at long last, after 5 schools and I'm not sure how many majors, she has finished! Here she is in her 3-season living quarters:

She bought this old bus turned camper and has been living in it during her senior year of college in Machias Maine, just about 20 minutes from the Canadian border on the seaside. Matt has appropriately named it the "Bouse". The above image is a collage of 57 photographs.


And here she is in her bath of rubber duckies (at Terry and Greg's house), courtesy University of Maine's graduation festivities... just to clarify, the bath wasn't part of the official festivities, the ducks were! Mom and Aunt Terry collected all the duckies from the pond on campus and brought them home for Elise's special surprise graduation spa:

The family enjoying some warm spring weather... which is a long awaited phenomenon in Downeast Maine! Elise, Izzy the Cat, Will, Terry B., Enna, Ollie, Mary, and Cameron the dog. (Matt spent the weekend in Connecticut documenting Richard Esposito's East Coast wedding festivities... we'll post pics from that lovely day soon!)

Preparing coffee in the Bouse kitchen suite:

Check out the mural Elise painted at the local bowling alley! In exchange for the mural, she was able to throw an awesome graduation party for herself AND she gets free bowling for life! What more could she ask for??? For those of you not familiar with the Downeast way of life, this is Candlepin, NOT ten-pin. Big difference... Candlepin's tons of fun and I highly recommend that you make a point of trying it out the next time you're in New England.

A Seattle Wedding

Kate and Jeremy recently tied the knot at Port Ludlow, just north of Seattle. Their wedding was beautiful and emotional. Kate works with my sister Ruthanne, so it was special trip for me. I got to photograph an amazing couple getting married and also spend some time visiting my sis. We all had a blast at Kates wedding and I just have to say that my sister has some rock'n friends! Kate was absolutely stunning in her dress and I loved photographing her and Jeremy in the tall grass.

An eagle landed on the totem pole just before the ceremony began. I slowly made my way over to the pole and was able to get underneath and get this cool shot of the eagle taking flight.

Kate and Jeremy

Kate looking amazing!

Jeremy was a bit camera shy, but we got him to loosen up:)

The wedding party

I love the excitement Kates friends had for her.

Kates dad was lovin every minute of it!

Thank you Kate and Jeremy for flying me out for your big day. It was so amazing how we instantly became friends the second we met. You two are so much fun and are going to have such a beautiful life together. Thank you!!
~Matt

Lovin the Daily Updates:)

Everyday we receive emails from the Mosaic School telling us what the kids did for the day. Recently they have been sending photos along with the email. Today I received this image of Ollie taken during their field trip to the Frankiln Park Zoo. I'm probably going to suffer some serious payback in a few years for posting this one!

Jackson Goes to School

This week Ollie's Pre School class is learning all about dogs. Our dog Jackson loves kids. He loves it when Ollie and Will pull his tail, climb all over him, and fall asleep on the floor cuddling with him. The truth is, when we went to adopt a dog, Jackson choose us. When we walked by the kennel he came running over and wanted to play with the boys. When we took him for a walk at the kennel and saw how happy he was with a 1 and 3 year old pulling his tail we knew we had our newest member of the family. Jackson was in heaven today with all the kids wanting to pet and hug him. This photo was taken and emailed to me by Kim who runs the Mosaic School. The most common observation by the kids, as is with most people when they meet Jackson, is how long his tongue is!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Should be the title of these blog posts! We've seen most of the Atlantic Seaboard in the past week, from Charleston SC to Machias, Maine. This post is dedicated to the "Trains" segment of our travels over the past month.

For vacation week at the end of April Ollie and I decided to take the train to New York City and visit my childhood best friend. Cassie (aka Cassandra) and I have known each other since the first grade, and we always feel like we've never been apart when we are together. Her son Kai is now 1.5, and he is super cute!

On one of the days of our visit I went into the city by myself to do three engagement sessions for three really great couples (stay tuned for more pics of those shoots tomorrow!), and Ollie got to spend the day with "Auntie Cass" and Kai. That day happened to be his 4th birthday, and I was so happy to get back to the house to find this:

The image on the left is just the crazy expression Ollie made as he tried to push his push-pop. And on the right... well, that's self-explanatory... I think this has to go into the "Ollie Brings His First Significant Other to Meet the Parents and They Proceed to Embarrass Him" album.

I don't know if I've seen a more doting dad (except maybe Matt, and even he doesn't play trains as much as Takeshi)... Takeshi is just a wonderful dad, and it was so much fun to watch him playing with his son.

The boys had a ton of fun together

Cass seemed pretty sure of herself when she told me that Kai only likes sweetened cheerios, but then I caught this photo of him eating all of Ollie's dropped Os, and I know for a fact that those weren't sweetened, so we have proof right here that Kai will eat regular Cheerios.

Cass is a very talented makeup artist and image consultant, and I did a really fun shoot for her make-up portfolio, so stay tuned for those pics tomorrow too (they get their own blog post!) She even gave my good friend Lauren Rutten a mini-makeover, but I didn't take any pictures because we were too busy laughing and catching up.

~ Enna

A Destination Engagement Shoot

Enna and I just spent 4 days on Sullivan's Island with Alison & Bryan who are getting married this June. They flew us down on the family plane (a Piper Navajo) - Alison's stepfather Kirk is a pilot. The trip was amazing! It was only about a 4 hour flight and their beach house, originally built by Alison's grandfather in the 1940's, is beautiful. It was such a treat to be able to step out onto the warm sand in the morning with a hot drink and watch the sunrise. OK, not every morning... I didn't get out of bed till 12pm on the first day:)

Thank you Alison, Bryan, Kirk and Sallie for having us down. It was such a great way to get to know each other and become friends! We hope we get to visit again.

Enna and I also had the rare opportunity to witness the parents of one of our couples meeting for the first time. We laughed at how it would be like "Meet the Faukers" but the truth is they instantly hit it off and we had a great beach BBQ and played bocce all night with drinks in our hands. ;)

Here are Alison and Bryan with Mimi & Dickie and Sallie & Kirk enjoying the sunset on the beach.

Alison and Bryan

Sallie giving Alison a big hug and kiss.

Bocce. Team Mimi and Matt won by one point!

Summer and Gibson on the steps to the beach house.

Summer has lost her sight, but amazingly walks around the house and the beach without a problem.

Enna's favorite restaurant in Charleston is the Hominy Grill. It is impossible for her to not go there when we visit.

Bryan took us out for a tour of the area on his fishing boat.

This is how I got my sunburn. Luckily it's faded into a nice tan now.

Pelicans are so much fun to watch: they have this clumsy way of diving into the water.

We made a pit stop to deliver some lumber via boat.

Kirk working on the flight plan before take-off.

Kirk, Sallie, Enna and I just before our return flight.

Enna jet-setting.

The sun setting over Maryland.

Now we are back in Boston and the wedding season has kicked off. It was really an amazing time and a much needed break. Thank you Alison and Sallie for inviting us! We can't wait to see you again in about 5 weeks at the wedding!!

Happiness!

Many couples contact us via email first, and we love it when the couple has a cool joint email address. Hanna and Eric's email address is "Happiness"! From the very first email, and for years to come, Enna and I have been and will keep calling them "Happiness":) They are an incredibly passionate couple madly in love and it was an honor to document their wedding.

I love this image of the ladies getting ready.

Hanna glowing in her dress just before seeing Eric.

Eric is a very cool guy. It was pouring rain outside but we found some amazing light in the hotel.

Moments after the ceremony.

I love how Enna lit this shot. The highlight on the champagne glass and the circles of light are fantastic. I also think it's funny that I'm in it:) Many photographers would edit a shot like this out due to the fact that I am in it, but I think it is a very cool image as it truly tells the story of the day.

Thank you Happiness for having us there! We can't wait to catch up and hear all about your honeymoon:)

One of our Copilots

Gibson the flying Lab!

sent from my treo

Rain

Here's the plane we're getting on for our trip to South Carolina.... It's pouring rain but we hear the weather will clear up after New Jersey...

sent from my treo

Lets Go Red Sox!!!

Our old roomate and Sonia and her husband Ravi surprised us with tickets to last nights game against Tampa Bay. It was a great game and they have great seats for their season tickets. Sox won 12-4. Thanks Sonia and Ravi!!

Ooooops!

Enna and I are heading down to SC for a shoot and I clicked the OK button too soon while setting my auto email reply. If you are getting these emails from me for old emails I apologize.

Amazing New Makeup Artist!

Ha ha... just kidding! I don't think anyone wants our Will anywhere near a bride on her wedding day - at least not when he's holding a permanent marker!