Jamie: Twenty-one!

I just found out this pretty lady's birthday is tomorrow! So happy birthday Miss Sraet! You can find her here on Model Mayhem.

Keith Todd: Musician

I spent the whole day cleaning house in preparation for the arrival of my cousin and her new hubby who are staying the weekend to attend PAX East. They don't arrive til 11pm and I'm stuck at home feeling housewifey (a feeling I truly hate), so instead, I'm choosing to feel productive by updating this blog :)

This is from late last year, but never got posted anywhere as far as I recall. This is Boston-based musician, Keith Todd, who's headshots and album cover I had the pleasure of doing.

It was a foodie kind of week

So last week, I ran part one of Mark's 8th Annual Teen Photo Workshop. I think I may have had more fun than some of the kids.

Day one was spectacularly up my ally - we toured local restaurants in Central Square to photograph and talk to their owners and chefs. This first one is my favorite photo of the whole week.

Steve Johnson, owner and chef of Rendevous on Mass Ave. He was amazingly sweet, and very funny.

Tony Maws, founder and chef of Craigie on Main. I noticed he had a rubber duck sitting in the kitchen, and of course, with my penchant for duckies, I could not pass up the opportunity for this photo:

We also very serendipitously ran into Gus Rancatore, founder of Toscanini's ice cream (which, I have to say, has the most amazing spicy mango sorbet I have ever had in my entire life).

The next day, to continue with our food trend, we had the privilege of touring the Equal Exchange factory in West Bridgewater, MA.

"Equal Exchange has created Big Change since 1986. Our founders envisioned a food system that empowers farmers and consumers, supports small farmer co-ops, and uses sustainable farming methods. They started with fairly traded coffee from Nicaragua and didn't look back."

Our wonderful tour guide of the day, Brian:

I also loved all the crazy machinery everywhere, use to grind coffee, sort coffee, test for quality, etc.

This is a view of the sheer size of the place. Imagine how caffeinated you would be working here:

And lastly, some of my girls with the new line of Equal Exchange mini-chocolates:

I think they make good product models, don't you?

I think that will conclude this particular post. Things to look forward to: portraits of my wonderful interns, kids, and various accosted subjects; outtakes from the workshop; and, of course, a sampling from the beautiful mock wedding and engagement shoot we did.

Til then!

Puppy Love

Here is Jenna and the new(ish) pup, Maya!

These were taken at the Tufts Vet school field in Grafton - absolutely beautiful.

I'm posting this one large because I love it so much:

See the rest on my flickr!!

This post is a little rushed. I am currently working for my old boss this summer - the esteemed Mark Ostow - and this week I am running his 8th Annual Teen Photo Workshop. And when I say I'm running it, I mean, I'm running. All over the place. It's hectic and stressful, and at the same time, rewarding and so much fun. Today we photographed chef owners of local restaurants in the Central Square area (coordinated by yours truly!) with a few serendipitous encounters along the way. Those photos are what I'm currently involved with. Expect more soon!

Boston Marine Week

So after shooting with Mark on Tuesday, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the Downtown Boston area, just looking for people to photograph. Turns out that May 3-6 is Marine Week in Boston, with a concentrated focus in Faneiul Hall. They had dozens of marines in dress uniform and not, a a half dozen guns and trucks that I can't even begin to name.

Also, how entertaining is it to see tiny kids on gigantic armored trucks?








And of course, the marines themselves.










And this is Sergeant Timothy Hubert, who was kind enough not only to pose for a portrait for me, but also very patiently attempted to explain the huge gun to me which, of course, I attempted to process but did not retain. He was very sweet.

God bless in all your travels, Sergeant.

Rockport, MA

Hours have been scarce at the Portrait Simple front, and with so many days off, some of the girls and I decided to go on what will hopefully be the first of many photo adventures. This one took us to Rockport, MA.

There were way too many photos to choose from, so here's a little sampling:

And, of course, portraiture! Because, really, I am a people person at heart :)

Chrystine, Liz and Jenna choosing cupcakes at Rockin' Cupcakes.

Our wonderful, and very patient, cupcake guy.

Jenna and cupcakes!

Chrystine and cupcakes!

There was a beautiful and random tree formation on a cliff, so of course, we had to make use of that.

Jenna on the rocks. Like a margarita :)

Chrystine on the rocks. More like, tequila :)

You can find the rest on my flickr!

Buddha and a Bathtub

Because, Liz, you know you ended up not being the real star of this shoot :)

Just kidding.

I got to raid Liz's endless Disney props for this shoot, and though none of them made it into the final drawing, I had a blast tearing through all the costumes and paraphernalia. And, of course, there was Liz's mad skill of being able to keep her eyes open even with the shower blasting in her face.

And bonus! We got Buddha into the tub.

Who doesn't love a hot chic and wet, confused puggle?

Baby, It's Cold in Here

Special thanks to Chrys, for tolerating the freezing cold while long enough to get these shots! The bathroom we shot in was beautiful - white, beautifully lit with what I'm assuming would offer a variety of interesting lighting situations. However, it lacked heat - in the water or otherwise.

Hopefully we'll reshoot when it's warmer. Look how promising these are!

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