the worst day of the year?

According to psychologist Cliff Arnall, January 22 is the most depressing day of the year. This time of year Matt and I always find ourselves daydreaming about beaches, mountains, remote Nepalese villages: in short, any sort of exotic destination to wake up the senses and give us a refreshed view of the world. So in that vein, we're recommending Matt's current read, a collection of vignettes about outdoor adventure published by Men's Journal. Okay, we admit, many of the so-called adventures in this book are mishaps of a grand scale, but they do make for a good read. Especially in the winter when we're holed up sipping cocoa and wishing we were shooting a wedding in the South Pacific.

Joyous Beauty

Need some help with your makeup strategy? Whether you need guidance for your ongoing skin care, or someone to give you that flawless dewy look for the big day, Joanne McDonough is nothing short of brilliant. She does flawless makeup, and also is a very calm and peaceful presence in the bridal suite. When we saw her at the La Bella Magazine party last week, she confided in us that she carries lavender oil in her makeup kit, and is quick to pull it out to provide calming aromas for a jittery bride.

Joanne provides skin care consultation to her brides from the moment they book her, to make sure that they have the most beautiful skin possible on their wedding day. Here are a couple of pics of our bride Sarah with Joanne's makeup:

We were impressed to see that Joanne got the guys at this wedding to wear makeup too! She put the most sheer powder on them, and covered a couple of minor blemishes... the results were awesome: no one could have possibly guessed that the men had anything on their faces, but they had no shine in the pictures, which meant virtually no retouching on their wedding party pics!

I love it when other vendors bring their own unique touch to the wedding day - it shows that they love their work and that they care deeply about making their clients' day special. Joanne works with signature style, using custom brush-cases handmade by her mother, which is quite appropriate since she blends all of her own makeup from scratch.


Joanne was kind enough to put together a list of skin care tips for us, which we are excited to include in our wedding photography planning kit for all of this year's brides. I'm highlighting my favorite tips from the list here... they're sort of common sense, but we all need a reminder!

Tip #2: Wear sunscreen all year long. Just because it’s a grey day outside don’t go out unprotected. Damaging rays from the sun filter through clouds as well.

Tip #6: Reduce sugar intake which causes a naturally occurring process known as “glycation”. Sugar molecules bond with protein molecules which creates a “glycated” protein. The protein molecule then becomes weak, brittle or fractured making it vulnerable to the dreaded free radical attack. ("More cake, Enna?"... "No thank you, I'm afraid I'll suffer a free radical attack!")

Tip #11: Schedule your makeup consultation early in the planning process.

That last one could go without saying, because we all know it's never too early to book all of the vendors for your wedding day! We're happy to share more vendor referrals with you - just send us an email or call and we'll share some recommendations and tips.

Click on the link below for Joanne's website, or give her a call at 603.534.3412.
Joya Beauty

In Print

We are a featured photographer in the current issue of La Bella Bride magazine - they chose to highlight Nadia and Fran, one of our most romantic 2006 couples. These two are such a sweet couple!





Last weekend we also went to the Launch Party for La Bella Bride, where we bumped into two of our very favorite wedding vendors, Kate Parker and Joanne McDonough. Kate Parker of Kate Parker Weddings is a wonderful event planner - she brings great exuberance and joy to the planning process and the wedding day itself runs like a well oiled machine. The other vendor we reconnected with at the La Bella party was Joanne McDonough, of Joya Beauty. Her work is absolutely fabulous, and we're going to feature her in our next blog entry! Here's our pic of Kate at Sarah and Eric's wedding last fall: you can tell from the photo that they are very happy with how the day went!

Hungry in London?

Look in the garden behind Parliament. That's where our nephew Jake planted some watermelon seeds from his hotel breakfast on a recent visit.



Jake and his brother Max and their parents just returned from a trip to Dubai to visit their grandparents. They saw some amazing sights and took great pictures. You can read all about the adventure on their blog.

Here are Max and Jake with their new camel friend:

fun with babies

I got to visit Jaden and Isaac and their mommies yesterday for some more pictures. Brand new babies are fun to photograph because they fall asleep and then you can pose them however you want and as long as they're well fed they won't complain.

Must Read: Seydou Keita

We've chosen this week's book in honor of our wedding clients Lesley and Paul who set off on their South African sojourn this week... they left their corporate jobs to become safari guides! We can't wait to hear about their adventures - hopefully we'll visit there someday soon!

Seydou Keita started his photographic career when he was given a camera in 1945. He made beautiful portraits of the people around him - many of his subjects are his own friends and family members. We like his work because of the glimpse it gives us of life in Africa in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and because of Keita's sensitive yet objective portrayal of his subjects.

Wow Wow Wow

I just witnessed my first birth, and it was absolutely amazing. Brenda gave birth to gorgeous twins Jaden and Isaac. She showed such stamina and patience and extreme strength, it was very awe-inspiring. In addition to me, Brenda and her partner invited their doula and two close friends to be present. Over the course of the 2+ days that we spent together, we developed a synergy, a very special chemistry of support and friendship and mutual wonder and excitement for what we were witnessing and participating in. When the babies were born and it was time to go home I had a sort of withdrawal, and found that I missed the babies, their parents, and their extended "birth family" very much. At the same time, I missed my own two babies very much while I was gone, especially little Will who had never been separated from his mommy for such a long stretch of time.

As soon as I have edited the photos I will share a select few here, with Brenda and Eve's permission. Photographing the labor and birth was an amazing experience - there is no other way to put it. I was flattered and honored that they were comfortable sharing the experience with me, their willingness to share allowed me to capture some very vulnerable and emotional moments. I will be reflecting on this experience for a long time.

Here's a picture of Jaden and Isaac:



During Brenda's long labor, I also had my dear friend Cassandra in my thoughts - she was due on the day that Brenda went into labor... and last night Cassandra's little baby boy was also finally born! Here's a picture of Cassie's little boy, Kai Alexander:



Kai and his proud new parents live in Washington DC, and hopefully we'll be able to visit them in the next month or so to take pictures.

Year of the Widget

We're playing around with new ways of sharing pictures on the web... if you stay tuned, you'll get to see some of our experiments! In this corner I would like to share "Exhibit A". Just click on the corner of the book pages to flip through a few of our favorite pictures from Karen and Andrew's lovely wedding. Enjoy!

Come out come out!

Being pregnant takes a lot of patience, but being the photographer waiting to document the birth takes a lot of patience too!!! Brenda is getting induced tomorrow and I can't wait to be there for her. Stay tuned for pics of beautiful twins!

Ollie-isms

Chicken Market = birth mark
Bobby Boom = Bob the Builder
Aunt Greg = Aunt Terry & Uncle Greg
Yo Yo = yogurt
Milky = milk
Fi-Sengine = Fire Engine
Woe = little brother Will
Earthday = birthday
One-One = another
Penguin House = movie theater

edit:
we heard one more fun one....

Slurpees = slippers

Let it Snow!

Enna bragged about the hand bag I bought her for her birthday... well here are my christmas snowboard boots! I started riding in 1986! Ouch, now I feel old. I had to get certified to ride different chairlifts at ski resorts and many wouldn't even allow us on their trails. I spent a few years in Jackson Wyoming and now have become a snow snob here on the east coast. Lets hope this warm weather yields some great snow!! -Matt

Baking Trends

I was visiting my favorite neighborhood bakery Blue Frog last month, where I happened upon their latest issue of Baking Trends... a trade magazine for professional bakeries. Foodie that I am, I couldn't help flipping through it and wonder of wonders it gave me the idea for Will's birthday cake! I read that the latest fad in made-to-order birthday cakes is the pull-apart cake, aka cupcakes... the cool twist is that you line them up really close together and frost them as if they are a single sheet cake. Then to serve, you just pull the cupcakes apart!

He loved the frosting, but most of the cake ended up on the floor.