We're breaking our blogging mold today by sharing one big post as a recap of the last few months of mini family sessions we've been doing. What's a mini session, you might ask? Basically it's a shorter version of a traditional photo session where families shoot for only 20 minutes with us and the shoot yields a fewer number of delivered images. Typically, we schedule a marathon day for ourselves when we do minis so that we can shoot 15-20 families in one weekend. We had a mini marathon scheduled for June in Somerville, Mass and the weather didn't cooperate. Wouldn't you know it that the rain date got rained out too. So what were we to do except reschedule everyone at various times of the year during our travels to New England and also take advantage of the studio for some sessions during the rain. Everyone was so flexible and wonderful in scheduling again so basically what would have taken 2 days ended up getting scheduled in a three month span.
Now that you understand the back story let me gush a little bit about these beautiful families. I'm part of an online parents group that I joined a few weeks before our daughter was born. The group capped off around 200 women and basically we share bits and pieces of our lives as parents and people and show support for each other in our various journeys. It's an incredible group of smart, talented, strong, thoughtful and compassionate women. When several of them reached out to me to photograph their families, I opened up the opportunity to the group to plan out a mini session marathon. Getting to meet many of these families and children whom I've only met online was such a treat. I'm sure you can relate to the phenomenon of online friendships and how interesting the dynamic is when you know so much about some people but have never met them in person. I tell myself it's sort of like pen pals of old. :) I'm needing to end this post so I'll end with this: never have I been given so much joy as I am gifted as when I photograph families. The love is immeasurable and eternal and it's such a gift to document. If that's not an impetus for creating art I don't know what is. Thank you, S1TM's for showing up with so much love.
Baby J
Be still my heart. What an honor it was to come into Sarah and Stephen's newborn baby bubble when sweet little J was just one week old. Sarah is very near and dear to us here on Summer Street, so when she and Stephen announced they would be welcoming a little boy into their lives in June, we were over the moon for them. These two are about the best parents a baby could get - so we are also thrilled that little J got so lucky. Sarah, you are just a natural. Your love for your family radiates from every fiber in you. And Stephen? You are going to make such a strong and gentle Dad. We can already see little J toddling around throwing a ball to you. Congratulations on your new arrival! We love all three of you to pieces!
Baby F
If ever there was a baby who will grow up in the best of homes, sweet little baby F is the prime candidate. We had the pleasure of photographing Kaitlyn + Ryan's New Hampshire wedding a few summers back, and throughout our time working together we were smitten with their creativity, loving hearts and genuine spirits. When they asked us to capture their newest addition to the family, we were on board immediately. Chuck joined the new family of three for an afternoon of photos and we are fairly certain he's developed a more beautiful and sophisticated photo approach with newborns than us at this point. We're obsessed with this collection of images! Lovely seems to capture it perfectly, which is entirely fitting for this family. Kaitlyn and Ryan, we are thrilled for you during this exciting time. Congratulations!
Baby P - Half Birthday
Is there anything sweeter than a six month old baby? If this thought had never crossed your mind until today, I'm convinced you are now persuaded after seeing baby P in her half-year old glory. I MEAN COME ON! She is just *waiting* for her debut as a Baby Gap model, isn't she? It's so rewarding working with families throughout the first year of their child's life. We started this journey last summer with Ashely and Adam's Expecting Session, then we met darling baby P in August, and now we are 6 months later. You'll see this family again when their sweet pea turns one, and then we'll create an heirloom album with all four of these photo sessions in them. I can't wait to hold that album in my hands and hand it over to these proud parents. If one thing is certain, time is the enemy of change, and babies are the number one proof of this. Kids grow and change so quickly - the first year especially - so this is such a treasure to share. We'll see these three on the blog in a short few months!
Baby D
This family. Don't even get us started. Morgan and Peter were married back in 2012 and we had to honor of getting to know them through their engagement and photographing their meaningful wedding day. We've kept in touch with them both personally and professionally (have we ever mentioned how smart and talented our clients are? It's always an honor to be *their* clients too) and every encounter with them has always been met with such kindness and thoughtfulness. When they asked us to photograph the next big milestone in their lives we were honored to say the least. After such a long winter in Boston, baby D was born between snowstorms and welcomed home into the lives and hearts of his loving family. Chuck managed to dodge snowy driving conditions and sneak down to the cape to capture some of the first days at home with their newest family member. We are loving the photos he captured for them and are so excited for this sweet family of three. Congratulations, Morgan and Peter!
2014 - IN REVIEW
For those of you still hanging around at the end, let's start with a high-five for being able to process all those images. We are well aware that this little annual tradition of our images in a yearly review format is entirely too big. Believe it or not, this is a highly edited version of some of our favorite images for the year. I suppose that's what happens when we shoot more than 50 weddings in a year, not to mention even more portrait sessions. There is just so much LIFE and LOVE that we get to witness! It's such an honor, guys.
Now you get to read our little acceptance speech of gratitude. First of all, none of these photos would be possible without the beautiful clients we get to have in our Summer Street family. Their lives and love are our constant inspiration, and without that we'd just be taking photos of pretty things with no substance. Next up, our team of dedicated photographers. Of course Matt and I started this whole crazy business, but we've picked up Chuck and Abby along the way as our sensationally talented Associate Photographers, and much of what you see above is their talented work as well. Next up we have the privilege of working with some of the finest in the industry as our second shooters and assistants for some weddings; Ashley, Katie, Deb, Bella, Dan, Olivia, Ellie, Jean and Vina - your talent behind the lens is clearly phenomenal and we're honored to call you peers. We are hybrid shooters (film and digital) so we have to thank our talented film lab, Richard Photo Lab, for their expert work in the dark room. This year we hand-trained a new talented digital editor as well. With the influx of a new market in the Midwest, Matt and I needed back-end support to help us deliver beautiful, consistent images to our clients in a timely manner, and we knew bringing an in-house editor to help us would be just the thing. Laura is now part of our team and has been an integral part of our back-end this year and helps all our images become what you see on our site. Talk about a talented group!
We have captured love in many places this year. From sandy beaches to historic estates. Ornate houses of worship and cathedrals in the woods. Childhood homes and mountain tops. All across New England and the prairies of the Midwest, we've gotten to step back and capture lives full of love. We've been able to tell their stories through photos that they will cherish for years to come. We are completely honored to call this work, and we toast to you all for supporting us along the way. Here's to 2015!
*In the mood for more photos? Previous years in review: 2011, 2012 (part I, II, III), 2013*
Baby F
You may remember Erin and Koji from their Wedding. Or perhaps their Maternity Session a few weeks back. By now, these two are old friends on Summer Street so it was a complete honor to capture their newest addition to their lives through photos. Chuck captured this sweet session and we are officially obsessed with the results. You can feel the love, can't you? The photo of the new family sitting in the nursery literally gives me chills. It's one of those images that wraps up the experience of having a new baby in your life. The world rushes around you, but in the middle of it all there is this tiny, helpless creature that teaches us how to give sacrificial love. The look on Erin and Koji's face in that image is just *everything*. Is it dusty around here? Erin and Koji, we are thrilled to see you as parents. That baby girl is one lucky human. Congratulations!!
Baby P
Remember a few weeks back when we blogged Ashley and Adam's sweet maternity session? Well their sweet little girl has made her way into this bright beautiful world and it's a better place because of it. I was honored to document her one week birthday recently and couldn't resist her sweet coos, big eyes and soft tufts of hair. Ashley showed me a photo of herself as a newborn and the resemblance was scary similar, which only means this little girl is going to grow up as beautiful as her Mama and as smart as her Daddy. This season of family life is such a roller coaster of emotions, so we feel especially fortunate to have a trusted place of welcome in our clients lives. Isn't Baby P just beautiful!? Congratulations you two. I'd say your genes are really great at making humans!
Ashley + Jamie = Max
This session makes us so happy. You may remember Ashely and Jamie from their classy wedding in the mountains of Vermont back in 2012. In addition to this job being our livelihood, we are filled in so many ways from the relationships we make telling love stories. Making friends along the way is really the cherry on the sundae, and this sweet family is just that. Ashley, Jamie and their sweet son Max have become dear friends of ours and when they asked us to capture this fleeting moment in their family life, we were all in. We joined them at their darling apartment in Cambridge to grab some photos of Max doing his sweet baby thing, and after slipped over to Fresh Pond, which is just steps from their house to capture some photos outside of the three of them (and keep Max awake since it was nearly bedtime!). We are loving the images from their session and hope you enjoy a peek at this beautiful family too.
Baby June
Okay. So if you made it all the way to the end of this series of photos and you have not stopped to say, 'awwwww' you should probably just get off the internet - because there is *no way* you're going to find anything sweeter than Meredith, Andres, baby June and their pup Eleanor. The belly button? The little tiny fingers? The giant puppy dog eyes? I just can't. Little June was clearly ready for her spotlight in front of the camera as the evidence above shows. She was an absolute peach during her session - no whining, fussing or crying (even after pulling an all nighter!)....just the sweetest little cheeks and fingers this side of the Charles. Welcome to the world, little June!