jennie + phil :: engaged

World, meet Jennie + Phil!

I have known these two love birds for quite some time now. Phil is a fellow New England-er and Jennie and I became insta-friends on Valentines day five years ago. It has been an honor to watch their relationship grow and blossom into what it is today. While the two of them appear from first glance to be complete and total opposites, the more you get to know them you will see that they simply fit together. Jennie the tall, blond, classy, teacher, very dutch girl-next-door and Phil the Irish-Italian, east-coaster, rowdy, sport-loving, military, mans-man. But like two puzzle pieces, like a good book and tea, like the patriots and the super bowl, like Price William and Kate, they go together. While they are very different, they do share many things. With the exception of when he is watching sports Phil, like Jennie has a quiet, introverted disposition, they have an equal passionate love for all things puppy related, they love Jane Austen, they are kind, loyal friends, and in general just beautiful people and they are both extremely awkward in front of a camera (well Jennie more than Phil).  I am so blessed to know them and to have the distinct honor of being ::in:: their wedding. While I will be busy bridesmaiding it up and will not be taking their wedding photos, I had the pleasure to take their engagement photos. So here they are, enjoy enjoy enjoy.

J + P, I love you both and am so excited to be apart of your wedding day and everything else before/after that.

lovelovelove

-L

:: N Y E :: 100th post ::

It is a shiny new year! This year comes with a sigh of relief that a new page has turned and a perfectly brilliant blank piece of white paper awaits us, awaits our adventures, awaits our new joys and victories. I have seen a lot of growth in myself and in my work this past year and there is no where else to go but forward and up. So here’s to continuing to grow in my photography and grow into who I am meant to be. This year, I couldn’t think of a better way to welcome 2012 by traipsing around the city with loved ones, so that is exactly what I did.  I hit the streets of downtown Boston with my dearest and dashing cousin Mike. Where we photographed strangers on the blue line and ate a good meal at The Globe in Copley Square. We were later joined by Jennie + Phil (keep a look out for their engagement photos soon). After dinner, with 5 minutes to spare, we jammed our selves in between hundreds of people outside of the library and a giant 2012 ice sculpture and braced for the countdown to midnight. This epic count down was not that epic, BUT none the less the clock struck midnight and we all turned into dancing, happy, kissy pumpkins. We rejoiced with a crowd of friendly and rowdy strangers at the promise of a new year, new beginnings, new goals, new, new, new. Then we danced. We danced our way into 2012 with joy in our hearts, good food in our bellies, and for some of us (jennie), bladders full to the brim. So here’s to the new and here’s to you. Hello 2012, I’m excited to get to know you.

P.S.  This is my 100th post! So that is fun!!

 

-L

Branden + Kristi :: Married

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this blog post finds you well and celebrating this day with your dearest friends and family.

This is a giant blog post, i suppose i am making up for the lack of posting on here, so here it goes.

In October, I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Branden and Kristi’s wedding along side my dear friend Johnathan Stoner (who is also newly married!!). I have known Branden from the start of my freshman year and we have had many an adventure together, including spending the fall semester of our senior year in Budapest, Hungary. So it was with great joy and excitement that I could document the beginning of his newest adventure, marriage. The day was nothing less than wonderful. It started the day before the wedding with a drive down from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Cincinnati, Ohio where us photographers bonded, chatted, slept in the back seat, and i got to know Laura (Stoners wife, who rules!)! The wedding day was kicked off at a salon where Kristi had her hair done and the rest of her bridal party got their nails done, all accompanied by lots and lots  of Starbucks. Lets just say right now, that Kristi is absolutely  stunning, i mean really, it should be illegal how beautiful she is. I’d like to think it has to do with her Greek heritage, which of course, we share. (p.s she makes the best spanakopita i’ve ever had.) Then the ladies and I went to Kristi’s home and Mr. + Mrs. Stoner headed out to photograph the men. At Kristi’s house the ladies got ready, hair, make up, the works. Also all of these ladies, so lovely and very photogenic. To top off the relaxing morning we were taken to the church in a limo, so fun! We met up with the groom/crew and did the first look, bride+groom portraits, and group photos, followed by the lovely ceremony in this amazing church in downtown Cinci, and the bride and groom were whisked away on a horse drawn carriage, brilliant. Of course the reception was just as lovely as the rest of the day and there was much fun and frivolity to be had on the dance floor. Oh! AND Greek dancing, which made my heart leap and made me think of home…and my high school graduation party (OOPA!). It was an honor to be apart of Branden and Kristi’s day. I am so very happy for them and am excited to see what adventures they have in store together! And as always it was wonderful and easy shooting at Jonathan’s side, we make a good photo tag team.

Enjoy these images, I am very pleased with how they turned out. Branden and Kristi I love you both andddddd Merry Christmas!

And you too reader! Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Enjoy.

-L-

Liz + Jody :: a wedding

I’ve known Liz since diapers, we grew up together, spent summers in New Hampshire together, played on the same high school basketball team together, and now she is married!! I attended this summer wedding as a guest, but being a photographer I couldn’t resist stealing the bride and groom away for a few minutes, even if it was just in the hotel parking lot, but hey, it was golden hour. These two make a beautiful couple and will make a beautiful family come December (be expecting some maternity photos sometime soon)! Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day:

 

-L

::Timişoara::

This past June I worked in a orphanage in Timişoara, Romania. It was the most rewarding, heart wrenching, beautiful, joyful, painful thing I have ever done and probably will ever do in my life. I think about those babies everyday and dream about them often. I find myself mistaking other babies cries or laughter for theirs. I’ve discovered that, like many mothers do when they hear any child cry, i begin to rock like I am soothing a baby, despite the fact that I am not a mother myself.  Those beautiful faces are always with me, they are always in my heart. While I would love to share images of the babies with you, taking photos of them was forbidden due to privacy and security reasons, so you will have to take my word that every single one of them absolutely was a glowing ball of joy. It was an incredibly intense experience, incredibly sorrowful and exciting, fulfilling  and draining, painful and healing. Caring for the 20 babies that lived in the two rooms my dear friend Ainsley and I were assigned to. Twenty babies just in our room. There were two other rooms with just as many babies, one of which was filled with beautiful new borns, some with names, some with out. Each one perfect and small. We fed them, changed them, burped them, played with them, danced with them, sang to them, taught them how to walk, how to sit up. Let me tell you, I had never changed a diaper before in my life and now I am a pro! I couldn’t even tell you how many diapers I changed.  Ainsley, myself, and two other women from Ainsley’s church went together through Bethany Christian Services a non-profit international adoption and child relief agency located on and aiding five continents. I am planning on going back next June, if not sooner, to continue to give to these children in some small way. And to satisfy your visual needs here are some of my favorite images taken during our time in Romania. I encourage and challenge you to get involved with Bethany’s mission trips and experience for yourself the joys of these children. It is so incredibly worth every cent, every hour, every tear, every bead of sweat, every heartache, every wave of joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romania is in my heart always.

 

-L

Puppy Adventures

 

 

Today Liam, Bella, Eva and myself went on a puppy adventure. First a stop at revere beach to run around, attack each other, and avoid eating dead birds. Then a trip up to Gloucester for lunch at the Cape Ann Brewery Company. Then a visit to a friend in Rockport with a spin around the down town area. It was a good day full of good conversation, adorable puppies, and good friends. enjoy the visuals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-L

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hibernation.

Well it certainly has been a while.

I have officially come out of hibernation and I’m stepping boldly back into the big blue blog world.

It is time to start up again, time to push forward, time to keep moving. It’s time.

Here i come…(again)

-L

The Graduate

I am offically a college graduate. I am  the first woman in my family to graduate college and the first to graduate a four year program.

Four years goes by fast.

Goodbye Calvin…

Hellooooo world.

Watch out

Here I come.

-L -

::BA in Studio Art::

Courtney & Luke :: Engaged

Courtney and Luke are getting married… and soon!!

In 2 days I will have the pleasure of shooting their wedding with the  help of the lovely Amberle Nicole.

Here’s a few from their engagement session yesterday — thankfully the rain held out!

enjoy:

keep an eye out for a preview of their wedding!

-L

The Holy Grail of Grills || Advanced Photo Gallery

Think of your idols, think of the worlds idols; money, sex, power, religion, food.  Food.  How often do we forget that we idolize food; we center our lives around it. We willingly raise up to the heavens our Big Macs and onion rings and in a way, worship them. We revisit the holy grail of grills three times a day, anoint ourselves with the greasy oils of the golden deep fried manna. We admiringly look up to our smiling self raised icons and walk faithfully to the golden arched gates of paradise where the king of processed meat awaits us.

We place these icons of fast-food glory as high as our religious beliefs. These portraits are a convergence of our glorification of food and the famed religious icons we encounter in worship. Our cartoon saviors wear the sacred robes of faith, these characters bear the load of being as equally influential as images of the Virgin Mother. In the images you see an absurd meeting of two worlds of icons, royalty, comfort, joy. However different religion and fast-food may seem at a first glance, these aspects of our daily lives share deep connections and when they connect, images such as these are born, created, and ready to be served with an extra large coke.

Come check out the whole classes work at Calvin’s Gallery : 106 Division  located in down town Grand Rapids