Category Archives: travel

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Wedding | Belo Mansion in Dallas | S & K

Once more in Texas – and getting a well received break from another north east cold snap.

The entire weekend radiated an absolute warmth; the bride and groom have known each other since a church group ski trip a decade ago, and their families have been unofficially united for years.  The wedding had the feeling of one large jubilant family, rather than two distinct groups coming together for the first time.

The evening ceremony was held at the childhood church of the bride and groom, First Methodist in Arlington.  The sanctuary itself was decorated for the holiday with poinsettias, and couple added arrangements of white flowers at the ends of the pews.  They invited their friends and family to participate in the service with readings and song.

Dallas’ Belo Mansion held the reception – The Pavillion Ballroom was a proper mix of modern and traditional. Food and dancing and cake and champagne.  Beautiful way to end a year of weddings.

Congratulations to S. and K!

Have an amazing trip to Belize!

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Days that begin with dancing dogs are definitely good ones.

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The dresses arranged under the garlands.

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A quick cleaning of the engagement ring before we head to the church.

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The groom, groomsmen and ushers – waiting and ready to go.

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Chasing the light before the evening ceremony began.

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First dance.

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Cutting the wedding cake, which was decorated to mirror S.’s wedding dress.

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Cutting the groom’s chocolate cake.

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The Frosted Football – part of the groom’s cake- being passed to the patient children.


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The mist over the Dallas, the courtyard at the Belo, the holiday wreath, a little dance move: it all came together.

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Same place, different angle, more video light.


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S. gets serenaded by her new husband and his fraternity brothers.

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Is this what they mean by ‘hairography?’

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Petal exit to car.

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A fistful of petals.

Wedding | La Jolla Hyatt | E & M

I was delighted to be asked to photograph this wedding by Melissa Schwartz of Organic Photographs: Best Sister of the handsome groom.

I shot the wedding alongside Regis Chen of Regis Photography.  The bride and groom admired both of our work, and asked that we do our respective things.  Both the ceremony and the reception were held at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla.  The Wedding Trolley took us over to La Jolla cove where we took the bridal party pictures before the Tish and Badeken.

Most of the family and friends flew in from the east coast, and spend the weekend at the hotel. The beautiful weekend ended with a scrumptious hosted brunch at the Mission at Mission Beach.

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Laughing it up with the groom, his groomsmen and the best-sister, in an elegant combination of gray and lime green.

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The moment of reveal during the Badeken, which the couple chose to share with all their family and friends before signing the Ketubah.

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The bride chose a fun velum scroll for the ceremony program.  I love this idea!

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The bride and her mother, gazing at the groom, steps before the aisle walk begins.

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Clapping and dancing and joy in the Ballroom.

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Dancing the horah to the band’s rendition of Hava Nagillah.


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First dance.


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Wiping the cupcake frosting off.  Some debate later on who ’started’ it.

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E., ecstatic, surrounded by her friends, family and new husband.

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The Mazhinka Dance. The groom embraces his new father-in-law.  The bride is clasping hands in the foreground.


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Standing limelight of his personalized wedding gobo, M. kicks back at the reception.

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Ending the night with a kiss. I love how their body language makes a heart shape as they embrace.

Wedding | Omni Hotel, Fort Worth | A & A

A very close friend, who shoots regularly in Fort Worth, invited me to come out and work a gorgeous wedding with her this past weekend.  As with most of the Dallas/Fort Worth weddings I’ve photographed, this was a elegant and formal evening wedding, beginning with a full mass and ending in a glamorous ballroom; progessing from a traditional conservative mood early in the evening to unabashed celebration and dancing as the clock crept towards midnight.

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White Manolo Blahnik feather-trim d’orsay heels.  Just the perfect amount of flirt.

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The hairstylist fashions a flower to the bride’s hair.

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And the veil goes on.

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Sunset as the church fills up for the evening mass.

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The Bishop, in pink.

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The Texas Ballroom at the Fort Worth Omni Hotel.

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The cake, nearly stealing the spotlight.

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A first dance, ambient rim light, and a great view of the back of the bride’s Monique Lhuillier dress.

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Rings, ribbon, program and video light.

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And the bride sang to her guests.

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Stealing a quiet moment away.

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Loved the interior architecture of the Omni Hotel.

Road Trip | Vermont

With summer wedding season in full swing, and maintaining a deliriously exhausting bi-coastal business, it’s been a while since Trent and Sadie and I had any length of pack tie. We  relived our cross country road trip experience a few weeks ago, when we drove up to Northfield, Vermont to attend a wedding celebration. That’s right, I didn’t take my camera out at all except to take a few landscapes.

We cooled off my jumping in Sunset Lake in Brookfield. Lake swimming – the perfect way to handle August.

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Wedding | New Hampshire | Loon Mountain

Last Saturday I got to rock out with the lovely and tall drink of water that is Boston photographer Margaret Singer.  I first met Margaret when she took photos of me at the Anti-Workshop in Seattle a few summers ago.  We’ve kept in touch, and since I’m back on the east coast, Margaret invited me to shoot a wedding with her at Loon Mountain.  It was great to be on the same side of the lens are her this time around.

Jill and Matt’s ceremony was held at the summit of Loon giving us a New Hampshire perfection backdrop of hazy blue mountains.  There were whipping, invigorating winds as we emerged from the gondolas that carried us to the peak.  All in all you can’t much beat a mellow, happy day in the sunshine on a mountain top.

A few images from the day:

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The bride getting ready.

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Toes scrunched as the dress goes on.

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Taking it very seriously, the flower girl, patiently watches her hair get done.

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The groom, waiting on the mountain.

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Lining up before the ceremony

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Waling down the aisle, looking at Dad.

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The guests gave their blessings and prayers for the marriage.

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The gondola ride back to the reception.

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A cannoli and a kiss, at the Octagon Lodge at Loon Mountain.

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The rings and a matchbox.

side note:  The universe is increasingly smaller and smaller.  It turns out that I went to high school with the groom.

Wedding | Los Angeles | Arcadia Presbyterian Church

The allure of Los Angeles persists. Not in the guide of televised glamour, the sprawl of endless freeways, the rolling coastline, but in the people who live there. People making-doing-being. Buoyed from the previos night’s backyard film screening, I greeted the summer solstice at the wedding of Dan and Grace bright eyed and centered.  As with the wedding that officially ushered in last year’s summer (Bronwyn and Jon’s), Dan and Grace’s wedding was one of these delightful pockets of the personal beauty of LA – a gathering of love and joy, people together that were alive with purpose, inspired by personal connections to the divine, and connected to a greater universal experience.

The wedding party met us before the service, and we caravaned it to Santa Anita Park, using the racetrack as a backdrop for an extended portrait session.Officated by the bride’s youth minister, the service, held at Arcadia Presbyterian Church, was accompanied by acoustic guitar. It was a joyful celebration of two souls  meeting each other with open hearts.

My clients tend to make weddings their own, imprinting their personalities in the occasion, while simultaneously nodding to traditions.  Case in point  -  when the LA classic Kogi bbq trucks pulled up, and I realized that this is what Grace and Dan arranged for dinner. And for desert, it was foregoing the traditional cake to dive into fresh strawberry Beard Papa cream puffs, filled on site and dusted with powered sugar handed out in paper sheaths to the happy guests. It turned out to be a cross between a strolling reception, and a plated dinner.  The guests were inside and outside, enjoying the food, the music and the sunlight on the longest day of the year.  Friends, Charlotte and Tom, emceed the evening, performing a rap that was a good-natured roasting of the bride and groom.

I was tickled by the straws bobbing in the long neck glass coke bottles that lined the head table – jaunty white lines held up by classic bubbles had an ebullinet energy much like the wedding itself. The fizzy delight of sipping coke through a long straw.

Best wishes to the newlyweds.  A toast to their new journey together, to their new home, to their continued love.

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on the road | Los Angeles | Backyard Film Screening

I flew in early in LA for Dan and Grace’s wedding, and the night before my friend filmmaker Kelly Sears invited me to a backyard screening.  Tucked away in a steeply graded backyard, a makeshift screen was set up. Popcorn was passed out, and we sat in makeshift bleachers while we watched a series of short films and animations from local filmmakers.

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Thanks for inviting me, Kelly. I love outdoor film going.

Wedding | DC | St. Matthew’s | Washington Club

It is a great delight, when I am able to shoot with another photographer.  Particularly when I get to shoot with Melissa Schwatrz of Organic Photographs, and while we have different approaches, our styles are in sync. When Melissa asked me to come down to meet her in DC to document the wedding of her good friend Lauren, Trent and I too a long weekend in the nation’s capitol.

Lauren and George were married at St. Matt’s and then celebrated the rest of the evening at the Washington Club in DuPont Circle.

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George on the elevator at the Mayflower Hotel.

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Waiting, out of sight, at St. Matthew’s for his bride.

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The bride’s sister joined in with the bluegrass band, to serenade the couple.

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Thanks Melissa for inviting me to shoot with you!

Road Trip | Sleepover at the Clarke-Fields

Hunter and I met while waiting for our respective graduate school interviews.  We met again the first day of school, and spent two years training to be art teachers at MassArt in Boston.  In the years since, both of us have migrated away from classroom teaching, but have remained good friends.  Hunter, her husband Bill and thier daughter Maggie opened their home to Trent last year when he was working the primaries in Pennsylvania, and we jumped at the chance to visit them as we drove north towards New England.

Hunter woke us up with the alluring smell of bacon, coffee and pancakes. The Clark Fields are a wonderful and warm family. Thanks again for giving the three of us a place for the night. There’s nothing like pancake eating in pajamas after nearly a month on the road.

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Road Trip | Washington DC

Even though we had several blissful hours in the sunshine enjoying DC, I took a break from shooting to take in the nation’s capitol.  One image that I did manage to capture: Trent and Sadie in the shade of a curving colonnade.

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Perfect image to show linear perspective – just in case any of my former students are reading this.  [Jeremy? Shaz?]