Gathering photos for our end of the year recap is not an easy task. It involves searching through each and every shoot, wedding and personal folder to gather some of our favorite images. When I first started, I had gathered over 700 images. Narrowing down from there was not an easy task, so rather than relentlessly selecting *just the right photos* I decided to adopt the mantra "done is better than perfect." So, you'll be getting not one, not two but THREE separate blog posts today categorized into three types: Lifestyle (see above), Engagement and Wedding. We'll post all three today - so get ready for a lot of photos! It's been an incredible year filled with photography, so we hope you enjoy a small recap of the hundreds of thousands of times we clicked our shutter this year. The above photos include many personal projects (from Paris to Guatemala to the Badlands of South Dakota) and also a few snippets from the senior, family, baby and head shot clients we get the honor of photographing each year. The majority of these photos were taken on film, which is our preferred method of taking personal photos since it forces you to slow down and think carefully before you take the photo - something you don't always get the luxury of on a wedding day. We hope these photos make you as happy as they make us!
Holiday Mini Sessions
Looking for a fun and easy way to have a FABULOUS Holiday Card this year? I know what that's like. Usually I'm scrambling to find a decent photo of Matt and I from the year earlier and I'll be the first to admit that the tripod method does. not. work. We thought it would be a fun and convenient way for those of you who have wanted a family/pet/couple/newlywed/engagement photos to get to work with us for slightly less than our normal rates AND get some stellar Holiday Cards to start you out right.
E-mail us at hello@summerstreetphotography.com or though our Contact Form to reserve your spot and for all the juicy details including shoot location and rain date, Holiday Card details, suggestions for what to wear and more. We hope to see you there!
The F Family
When Laura contacted us just a few days after giving birth to capture her newborn's photos, we were impressed. I don't know about you, but most mothers of brand new babies that I know rarely have time to take a shower, let alone invite two perfect strangers into their home to photograph their 12 month old and their 12-day old. Yes you read that right, a 12 month old and a newborn. Irish Twins, as they say. When we arrived to photograph her sweet boys, the house was calm and bright. Perfectly bright in fact. Little baby C was an absolute dream to photograph as he quietly laid on the bed with no fuss. We later got to meet his one year older than him brother, little H, who was a ball of energy in the best way possible. We've enjoyed every moment of getting to know this lovely family, and can't wait to photograph them as their little ones grow.
The V Family
I don't know about you, but these photos are exactly what I needed today. Over the weekend, I lost a dear friend and when life slaps you in the face like that, one's priorities become very clear. I'm thankful to have a job that captures life's most precious things: life, love and families. I'm thankful to be able to capture life's little details and greatest moments to look back on as time passes by. I feel like there is nothing as beautiful as giving someone a gift of an artistic memory. This session represents that quite well. In November, we gave away a free photo session to a random entry of our first new blog post on our new website. Jacquie won, and she decided to have a family session done when we were in the Midwest next. We were able to capture the V family in St Paul, MN at the beginning of January with their darling little 7 month old boy. They were so precious together. Little Thomas was SO well behaved and I loved watching his face beam when his parents loved on him. Jacquie and her husband James are warm, loving and a bundle of fun. We couldn't think of better people to give this gift to. Thank you for letting us capture your darling family, Jacquie!
The C Family
The C Family are near and dear to our hearts. Their beautiful daughters, Morgan and Lauren grew up dancing with me, so it's safe to say that they are pretty much like extended family. There are many great things about growing up in a small community....for example you will probably know everyone when you go to the grocery store.....or when there is a high school (mind you, there is only one high school) football game, everyone goes. Anyone in my town would tell you that the C family are some of the sweetest people. They would give you the shirt off your back or whip you up an amazing bridal shower (I'm speaking from experience here....). When they asked us to take some family portraits of them our response was an astounding yes. Lauren, their youngest, has experience in front of our cameras as we took her senior photos a few years ago, so we knew they'd be naturals. One big event that happened in Yankton, SD recently was the conversion of an old draw bridge that used to house a major highway into a walking bridge. It's become quite an attraction and we thought it would be fun to take some photos on it. We think they turned out great, and enjoyed 'shooting' them at a nearby park as well. Thanks for being such great models, and constantly supporting our work on Summer Street, C Family!
The J Family
Since we are in our 'Off Season' right now, it gives us more time to do smaller photoshoots like family sessions, babies and those brave engagement couples who see winter as a time to cozy up with their sweethearts. Lucky for us, this winter has been unseasonably warm and snowless, so we've been able to shoot outside for most of our sessions. We met up with the J family when we were in the Midwest over the holidays. Mrs. J happens to be my old Dance Team Advisor, so we go way back. In fact, she was pregnant with her oldest when I was in high school. She has always been a joy to be around, so we had high hopes for their session. Her boys were SO patient and photogenic....(yes, even Mr. J!). We like to keep family sessions informal and fun so we started at the playground and played chase with the little guys to get them used to being in front of the camera. As it turned out, they didn't need anytime at all to warm up since they would both casually flash a smile and hold a pose for us every minute or so. It was like working with child models! We had a great time capturing their family and only hope the boys don't double in age the next time we see them!
2011 - In Review
2011 has been a truly amazing year. I think we will always remember this year with great fondness, as we ate, breathed and slept all things wedding. With the early part of the year leading me (Kendra) into the transition of being a full time wedding photographer, to the middle of the year when we got married ourselves (which has given us SO much more to truly relate to our clients and know exactly how they feel) to the end of the year when we shot 26 weddings, 42 engagement sessions (amongst other non-wedding related work) and got to meet the exciting bunch of 2012 Summer Street couples. With all of the wedding talk, gorgeous rings, adorable proposal stories and sweet moments, the funny thing is that we still can't get enough. There is something deeper than just a 'wedding' that keeps us artistically motivated. It's you. Getting to know our clients and having the honor of telling their stories makes us tick. We've never felt so at home. We say it a lot, but we truly feel blessed to have this job. Here's to each and every one of you who 'liked' something on our facebook page, commented on a blog post, encouraged us in our buisness, and trusted us to document your event. We are nothing without your support, and we can't wait to share 2012 with you!
The J Family
Since our new site launched, we've been experimenting with not including text into our blog posts. Our thought behind this was mostly to create a viewing experience where you guys could learn about the couple through images only. Since we are photographers, and we tell stories through photos, we wanted to try this out for a bit to see if it might be a good fit with our business. We did a little facebook poll and asked a few of our clients for their thoughts on this, and it was an overwhelming consensus that you guys like our text! So we're back....in written word. Like I told the previous few clients whose sessions were bloggged without text, it wasn't that we couldn't have gushed about them, it was simply an experiment.
We couldn't think of a better session to start writing than this one. The J family is expecting a fourth addition this winter, and we decided to take advantage of the final warm sun of the fall and capture their life before their new baby girl comes into the world. We met Mendy and KJ at Sarabina and Andrew's Wedding and enjoyed chatting with them during a few free moments at the reception. We were immediately drawn to their warmth and love they shared for each other, their little girl Jordyn and their excitement for little girl number two to enter their lives. During the family session I snapped a few photos of Mendy with her ultrasound photos (couldn't resist the black and whites for this series!) and then we jotted down the street to the elementary school that Mendy attended as a child where Jordyn played hard to get photograph until the last few moments where her true personality came jumping out (literally!).
The J family was an absolute pleasure to work with, and we can only hope that you'll be meeting their newest addition here on the blog after she's born (wink, wink..Mendy).
New Website!
Welcome to the all new Summer Street Photography website!!! We're delighted you stopped by, and we hope you take a moment to explore all of the new parts of our virtual home. It's still the same Matt and Kendra, but we've been working with some personal trainers of sorts to get our new site looking like a total and complete makeover. (psst....You'll want to read all the way to the end - there is a surprise down there as well! )
Let's start at the beginning. Meet Melissa and Jonathan, the master minds behind the Brooklyn based design firm, Makewell. They are getting married next June at her step-dad's farm in New Hampshire, and guess who gets to photograph it? Yep. That's us. Check out this too cute for words photo that Jonathan's brother took:
Photo by: Jordan Motzkin
Aren't they cute? When they contacted us this summer about shooting their wedding next June, I couldn't help but notice their work title line on the very bottom of their e-mails. Graphic designers you say? I clicked into their site. And fell in love.
And so it began. Our site was in need of something a little more cohesive and professional. A little more, 'design-savvy'. So We hired them. Well, actually, we hired each other. We started working on the new site in July, and now, almost four months later to the date, we have a new baby. A new, virtual baby that is. Melissa and Jonathan were amazing to work with. We got to help with the fun stuff, but they really were the masterminds behind the entire site. We love that the website is now much more technically fluid and functional; incorporating our portfolio alongside our current work as well as has handmade details like Melissa's calligraphy in our new logo and other parts of the site.
In short, we couldn't be more happy. Read on for a few new features, and then go see them in action! (p.s. if you're my mom, remember these images below are just screen shots, and you'll have to go into the main site to see them in action).
Here's the home page. Happy.
Oh hi. It's us. Bet you didn't know Matt does Karate. Venn Diagram for the win!
Jessica's dress and Abena's perfume. Part of the Portfolio sections. See that little portfolio icon to the left of our logo? Let you mouse rest on that and a drop down menu of various portfolio goodies will appear for your choosing.
More portfolio. Claire. Pretty, pretty Claire.
The new blog! We'll still be posting all of our recent work here, so this part of the site will be constantly updated with our new work. See those cute little handwritten links on the side? All Melissa. If you click on categories, a little genie will show you the various post categories. Nice and tidy.
The thing we're the most excited about with our new blog is the 'See More' feature. We'll be posting a single image from our shoots, and then you can click 'See More' to see the rest of the shoot. If you want to 'See Less' you can, with a click of a button. Also, something that we really really wanted was the ability to expand and collapse the posts without leaving the main blog page. On most blogs, when you click 'See More' or 'Read More' you're redirected to a new tab or window, and then you need to hit the home button or the back button to go back where you were. Not here. You can expand and collapse as many posts as you like without leaving the page. Amazing. Totally amazing.
Our contact page. Pretty self explanatory. This is how we get most of our inquiries, so now we're comforted by the fact that there is a nice photo of Jay and Lauren in a field instead of just text. win win.
So fun huh? We are head over heels in love with this new little baby. To celebrate the new website's arrival we've decided to do a GIVEAWAY!
We will be giving away one photo shoot to a random lucky recipient! If you win, here's what's in it for you:
-A 1 Hour Photoshoot with Summer Street Photography
-You'll receive 50 edited images on a high resolution disk with a photo release to use the photos for personal use
-Can be used for an engagement, newborn, maternity, head shot, senior, pet or fashion photo session. If we are shooting your wedding in 2011 or 2012, you can also enter to win an additional hour of photography coverage on your wedding day. Don't want to be in front of the camera? Gift your sister a maternity session! Win an extra hour of photography for your friend! You can gift your prize as well as use it for yourself. Shoot must be in the Boston area - but we will also be in Minnesota and South Dakota this winter, so if you're out there, you're eligible as well. As always, if you live in France, just fly us out and we'll shoot all day for free.
-Here's how to Enter:
-Like Our Page on Facebook, or invite three friends to 'Like" Summer Street Photography on Facebook. Once one of the three people you invite follow through, you have your golden ticket. Then those people can enter the contest as well.
-Leave a Comment here telling us what your favorite part of the new site is
A winner will be drawn at random and announced next Friday November 18th - or when we reach 1000 likes, whichever comes first.
Now go explore the new site! And come back this afternoon, we'll be posting two more fun posts!
The S Family
It’s not all that often that we get the privilege of taking family portraits. Like most of our work, we try not to take these sessions too seriously, especially when there are kids involved! Maybe our approach is relaxed due to the church directory family photo forever stamped along the wall of my parents house…me with overgrown bangs slicked back with more jel than the early 90s deserved….my brother, bowl cut and all, with one eye almost blinking…. Yep. That’s probably it. Those formal photos can be nice, but let’s be honest….kids look their best when they are in their element. The S Family has plenty of energy to go around with two spritely twin second graders and one adorable little brother. We enjoyed a summer saturday morning together at one of our favorite parks enjoying some croquet, swings and the good ole game of tag. It started sprinkling rain as we were wrapping up, which we think just added to the fun.
