My photography can be summed in three words: color, energy, and personality -YOUR personality. I want to be the photographer that the couple trusts me to be a faithful storyteller. That is why I am driven by photojournalism, but also take inspiration from fine art portraiture, and I do love detail shots. My aim is to deliver more than just photos, I deliver an experience.

I was recently nominated as a finalist for an entrepreneurship fellowship at business school, and in my essay I wrote the following for why I decided to get into wedding photography: “I decided that I wanted to be a wedding photographer because I saw how people would often look back on photographs to remember happier times when they were sad. I wanted to create a business that provided in a very genuine way a positive experience for my clients.”

Since I come from a highly analytical business background at a management consulting firm, I’ve witnessed first-hand why some companies may fail and why some succeed, and I am going back to business school this fall for two years to learn even more – while still continuing wedding photography. It’s unusual for a wedding photographer to go to business school, but I am pursuing my dreams, and that’s an incredible blessing! Hopefully I can succeed in making a positive impact on other people’s lives. I think what this economy desperately needs are new businesses, new innovations, and talented people who can lead that way. I want to use my MBA education to further my business and also dream up something even bigger for the small business community. Here are some thoughts I think are important to how I run my business.

- I believe in being fair to all my clients

- I believe in being genuine and engaging in honest communication. I follow through. I believe in giving realistic timelines

- I believe in working hard. I aim high and push myself to be better every single day

- I believe in 360-degree feedback. I believe that we can all learn from peers, people below us, and people above. I take client concerns seriously and incorporate their feedback instantly into what I do next. I am ready to make quick changes to adapt to an ever-changing economy

- I believe in the value of giving and friendship. The people I love to work with either are or will become my friends. I refer a lot of overflow work to photographers who you may consider my competitors, but I consider really talented people I’m honored to be compared against and yet have as my friends

- I believe in meritocracy and in letting my work speak for itself – I don’t believe that success can be bought with money, bribery, or false fronts

- I believe in giving a lot and not expecting to receive in return

- I believe that the words “thank you” cannot be said enough

- I believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. I’m not terribly protective of my ideas or being imitated (just don’t steal!), because if someone can do it better than me, that’s awesome because it will benefit the client in the end. I don’t think that there are a ton of original ideas – only companies that execute ideas well. Google was a better search/indexing engine but remember we had sites like AltaVista, Facebook was a better social network but we had Friendster way back, Apple iPod was a better-designed device for listening to music though companies like Creative have been churning out MP3 players for years. None of those platforms in and of themselves were original, but there are reasons why some companies remain successful and some don’t.

I can’t stop repeating how excited I am to be able to explore what it means to pursue something for which I have a passion. My wish to all of you is that you’ll be able to do the same!

And for now, a preview of Rebecca and Naimish’s engagement session with the new watermark. Love it!

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Look at them, they’re too sweet!

I love those flowers she’s holding!

I love the quality of the background in this one

I love silly jump shots!

Yum, sun flares!

They wrote their wedding date in chalk

A GORGEOUS tree on the Esplanade (this might be my boyfriend’s favorite climbing tree, but I’m not sure)

Goooorgeous, btw, I think they coordinated their outfits really well

Watching the sunset

See more photos here. Congrats you two! Thank you for such a fun photo session! It was my very first official sunset session, but definitely not my last one!

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I like it when couples naturally laugh at each other

Love the intimacy here

Ruuuuun!!

Heehee, this photo cracks me up

This background is very painting-like.. Alex found it!

Love this park. It has so many beautiful places, and is a lot less crowded than the Public Garden!

See the larger versions, and see morephotos here. I can’t wait for your wedding guys!

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What I usually carry:

2 Nikon D700 cameras
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D lens
Nikon 85mm f/1.8 D lens
Nikon 24mm-70mm f/2.8 lens
Nikon 60mm f/2.8D lens
SB-900 flashes

Wish list:

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens
Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens

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Kicking it off with some details… Emily was incredibly prepared with baskets of emergency supplies lying around in the bridal suite and in the restrooms

I love this image of Emily getting ready

Right after she put her dress on

Coming down the stairs for the First Look..

Portraits outside

Being silly!

Group portraits

Right as Jesse began his vows… the handkerchief came out

Every dinner table was named after “Love” in a different language. How cool!

A very fabulous first dance!

I laughed so hard during all of the toasts. What a funny crowd!

A little back story to the cardboard cutout in this photo – one of the cousins could not attend, and so he sent along a cardboard cutout of himself that people could pose with during the wedding. He ended up crowd surfing the dance floor

Emily and Jesse, thank you so much for including me as part of your day. I couldn’t help but dance with the rest of you!

Vendor love!

Venue: Contact Jay at Union Club of Boston
Music: Jumpstreet Band
Violinist: Birdy Chou
Dance Floor: Boston Party Rental
Florist: Valerie Miller
Hair and Make-up: Mia Lisa Salon
Host Hotel: Sonesta Boston
Officiant: Jean Ellis La-Bossiere
Desserts: Modern Pastry
Rings: Peter Jon Studios

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I am biased towards doing photos before, but I’ll try to weigh both sides. When planning your day, remember to allocate time towards what you value. For some, it is photography, for others, it is spending more time with their friends at the reception, for others, it may be a very long and lavish, tradition-filled ceremony.

Photos before the ceremony:
Pros:
- You can allocate more time – usually up to 2 hours – which is especially helpful if you have a large wedding party or you want to travel farther for your photos
- Your hair and makeup will be just finished and perfect
- Help chase away those pre-ceremony jitters by spending quality time with each other
- You can then see your guests at cocktail hour – which is usually a much better way to see them than during a formal reception where you may be confined to your table for most of the night
Cons:
- If you wish to do family photos, they may not all be present by this time
- Seeing bride before wedding? I hope it doesn’t bring bad luck!
- You might also be rushed if your hair and makeup runs over

Photos after the ceremony:
Pros:
- You’ll be all happy and relaxed from having finished the ceremony. It shows in a beautiful glow on your face!
- You can include family members as well if they’re around
- If you have a particularly long cocktail hour, this gives you something to do while your guests relax and explore the area
Cons:
- Time! You may not have planned enough time between the ceremony and the reception, and these photos will end up rushed, you can’t travel as far
- You may need makeup/hair touch-ups
- If your wedding is low on resources, members of your bridal party may be needed to help set up parts of the reception
- You may not be able to spend as much time seeing your guests at cocktail hour

For all my clients, I understand that sometimes it’s best to plan your wedding without someone giving you advice every which way. However, if requested, I’m always happy to help review your schedule, make sure you are not rushing too many things, and make sure you have planned enough buffer time in between to allow for any delays during the day.

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Love her pink shoes! This is what I’m talking about in terms of accessories!

These chairs and umbrellas looked very European

Beautiful back lighting!

Does anyone else think she resembles Keira Knightley? I think it’s in the eyes

Yes yes, shoes again

Sultry

Man, the weather that day was so good

See more photos from the session here. Thank you Rachel for such a fun afternoon! Good luck next year (I’m sure the kids will ADORE you)!

Like Edlyn, Vicky also brought her graduation robe… er… just the mortar board. To be honest, Harvard robes (at least for undergrads) are pretty boring… just black. We don’t even get a colored tassle. You figure for a gouging price of $45 (or whatever it is now) you’d get something better than a polyester potato sack… But this photo is really fun. This was right before commencement so they hung all the banners at Widener Library

Deep down inside, we’re all big nerds.

A Harvard Square look

We crossed the busy crosswalk a couple times to get these action shots. Probably got a couple of stares from others. I LOVE them!

Candid. I’ve walked past that green door probably hundreds of times but it finally… spoke to me. Okay I sound crazy

This is near Kirkland. Yep. The site of the shooting.

It started raining so we went inside for some laundry room fun!

So hot!

Vicky, good luck in Hong Kong, please come back and visit sometime! See more of her session here

So we actually began in front of Suzanne’s freshman dorm, which happened to be my freshman dorm too!

We really wanted to incorporate Memorial Church into her session, but there was a wedding going on there, so we opted for the ivy-covered walls of the church building instead

This photo reminds me of a Lacoste ad for some reason. Love the movement!

Ah Science Center B… site of many a lecture I fell asleep in…. (I tried! but I functioned on maybe 4 – 5 hours of sleep a night in college).

Some lovely portraits in Cambridge Commons.. aren’t her eyes so beautiful!

Congratulations Suzanne and have a wonderful summer with all the things that are happening! See more from her session here

This location is awesome – a common room in the Tower dorm, it looks rather medieval actually

While taking this photo a family walked by and said Edlyn was a model!

A deliciously wonderful tree by the president’s residence

We walked a bit through mud by the lake to find this awesome garden that belongs to the Hunnywells (sp?) that had pretty cool sculptured trees

Thank you Edlyn for your wonderful friendship and for introducing me to so many amazing Wellesley women! The rest of her photos are here