Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has become a day of reflection for me. Am I on the right course? Do I live in the moment and truly appreciate the generosity of others, in their time, knowledge and spirit?

I feel extremely grateful for all the wonderful people in my life, and strive to express that gratitude whenever I can. It's so easy to get caught up in our own life plans and forget to be simply courteous to our own loved ones. It's fascinating that we can be polite, forgiving and generous to complete strangers and at the same time live with anger, resentments or complete disregard to those we really love.

For me, making a gratitude list is always good. It helps me to stay in the moment and appreciate all that I have accomplished, and all of the wonderful gifts and opportunities this life affords me. I urge anyone to try it. It's a good practice that leads to feeling that life is a rich and wonderful experience.

My thoughts and prayers go out to my dear friends, The Mendelssohn's. Adele has been fighting pancreatic cancer for some time now and she passed on Tuesday. I'll miss her "Happy Thanksgiving" phone call today. Adele selflessly helped many people in her time here and made us all better people. I am grateful to have had her in my life.

Wishing everyone a joyous, peaceful Thanksgiving.

Lifestyle session with Chad & Amy

This has been a strange Fall here in the Northeast. Late, and not terribly colorful until now when most of the leaves are down. I think that I nailed the last beautiful weekend of the season for Chad and Amy's session. We had gorgeous mild temperatures and the most incredible blue sky. These guys were terrific! Climbing trees and horsing around. They were surprisingly relaxed in front of the camera (which is always great). I can't believe how many shots we took. I'm still editing. No wedding date planned yet but when, (notice I say when, not if, heh heh) these guys decide to get married I will be so up to shoot their day. Thank you Amy and Chad for showing me the love. Here are some teasers until I can finish the whole session.

Dreaming of Key West

Last Winter my son and I headed to Key West for February vacation. I love it there! I took so many pictures, especially at the sunset celebration that happens nightly. One night on our way down Duval Street, we were startled by this guy who we thought was a statue. It was Charles in costume, being "White Mozart". Charles just emailed me to get some photos that I took of him. He has just arrived back in Key West and you can catch him nightly or accidentally lean on him while meandering down Duval Street. He is an amazing Mime Artist. If you see him, tell him hello for me. I'm wishing that I was somewhere warm. Seems like half my friends are just returning from tropical vacations or are currently on road trips. Can you tell that I'm just a bit envious?! BTW, I know of some lovely locations for weddings down there and can recommend the islands most popular party planner/caterer. Have gear-will travel!!! Get the hint? Book us so we don't have to spend the whole Winter up North freezing!

This is Charles.


And some more amazing scenery around the island.




Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden, a great place off the beaten path to have an intimate wedding.

I also stumbled into The San Carlos Institute, another beautiful venue that feels like a step back in time.

Catherine & Richard

I met Catherine & Richard through a mutual friend of ours. They got married this Summer in Denmark in a castle, (wish I had known them then, I would have been there in a heartbeat to shoot).
They were so gracious to do an after wedding shoot with me and they are adorable! So in love and it was soooo fun to shoot them. I could have taken them hostage for another few hours. I have to refrain myself from putting up too many images. My new web site is just around the corner so I'll have to keep some things a surprise. Thank you to beautiful Catherine & Richard for reliving the day with me.

These guys look like hired pro models but have that fantastic chemistry together that only people in love radiate.

Dorothy & Dan

I'm still catching up with some wedding posts from September. Shame on me. This was a gorgeous wedding at Harkness Memorial State Park where I worked again with Richard Esposito. This is a beautiful site to book a wedding at that I would highly recommend to brides searching for a venue.

Here are a bunch of my favorites from the day.










Then Tom Shields of DJ Productions really got the house rockin, complete with crazy hats for everyone to wear.

Tricks and Treats!

I think it started with smashing up my black Infinity on an invisible (well I certainly couldn't see it) fence post. After dealing with my insurance company and renting a car (which I stupidly am not covered for, but have since changed), the bills are mounting and I've yet to get my car back after two plus weeks. Yikes! I actually went back to the soccer field where I hit the post and discovered that what I hit is in fact a broken fence. So I do what any pseudo sane photographer would do, and photograph it. After a trip to Town Hall, I now can file a claim that might reimburse me (doubtful). But, at least the next guy won't hit this post from out-of nowhere and the town will get it repaired. Then, my husband finds a baby ring neck snake in the basement. After looking it up they apparently hatch in Spring and Fall, and like cool dark places. Glad to find it as a baby rather than when it's three feet long. My son loved it and wanted to keep it for a pet. We released it in one of our old stone walls and then moved on with the pet idea (which has been a topic in my house for over a year). We started by looking at a couple of local animal shelters for kittens. We were getting close to making a decision, but something told me that I should keep looking. I went to petfinders.com and discovered a Maine Coon mix kitten that was in a high kill shelter located in Tennessee. He was on death row and had about ten hours to live. Long story short, I was on it-he was the one!!! They have volunteers who drive cross country to rescue these beautiful animals. In three days I met a woman who drove all the way to Tennessee to bring us our new baby. He's gorgeous and has the most wonderful personality. We of course had to name him "Tennessee". I highly recommend dealing with animal shelters if you are looking for a pet.

The baby snake was actually very cute.

"Tennessee" in the lap of luxury.

Birthdays, Brooklyn & the [b]

Last week I was so excited to meet Becker and it was his Birthday! I drove in with my new PUG, (Pictage User Groups for those not in the know) buddies, Steve Depino and Richard Esposito. We had fantastic pizza at Grimaldis in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn and than ran around the area to shoot. Becker was free flowing with his techniques and time saving tricks and I was all ears. He even gave out some of Jessica Claire's Shootsacs. I was the lucky recipient of a new green cover that is MY green-Who-hoo! I am so grateful to both Becker and Jessica Claire for raising the bar in the wedding industry.


A shot of Marisa with her Shootsac



The Gang.










My new avatar.


This mom let her daughter skip school to meet [b]! How supportive is that!