The holidays are coming quickly! Now through November 7th use the promo code HOLIDAY08 during checkout to get 25% off your print order of $100 or more!

I just got home earlier today from OneLight Workshop held in West Orange, NJ, which is run by the inspirational Zack Arias and it was AWESOME! I cannot say enough great things about Zack! Bryce York opened his home to our crazy group and hosted Zack and the workshop - thanks again Bryce!!! I am so pumped to put what I learned to good use! I met some great photographers and had a blast. We took lots of photos of our models April and Dan and then broke into groups and took photos of each other and played around with different lighting techniques in the dark and we basically goofed off and just tried a bunch of different things. Here are some of my favorite images that I took Monday (which were never even opened in Photoshop):

The adorable April with her Halloween nail polish:
April’s boyfriend Dan:
“Put the women in the foliage!” I love this shot of April - you would not believe how different this location looks when you see the whole space… it’s all a matter of composition and lighting!
This series is my favorite of the day - shot during “civil twilight”, which is after the sun sets, with “big momma softbox” - a 50 inch Westcott softbox. April & Dan are so cute together:
And here are some shots from our little group and afterward:

Here’s Mark Gardner:
And Ryan Estes:
And Neville (not sure if I spelled his name right and don’t know his last name):
Ryan
…Did I mention we were goofing off?
MarkThanks so much again to Zack, Bryce and their wonderful wives! Friday I’m off to Photo Plus Expo in NYC and then dinner afterward with a group of my photographer buddies at the famous Carmine’s… mmmmmmmmm……

I am ELATED to announce that we made an offer on a house today and it was accepted!!! Now we just have the nail biting anxiety waiting to secure our mortgage and close! With any luck we will be closing in early December on our first house which will be in New Windsor, NY which is in Orange County *just* over the Hudson River off of I-84 (easy access to CT!). Before anyone asks, YES, I am still accepting weddings in Connecticut - we still have lots of family and friends here and I love CT! So, I’m just going to gush a little bit… the most exciting thing about this house - it is BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW - built this year and never been lived in! It’s a split level 3 bed, 2.5 bath with a 2 car garage, living room, family room and dining room and it has a gorgeous custom kitchen with granite counter tops and hardwood floors throughout the upper level. We are beyond thrilled (and still in a little bit of shock)! It’s minutes away from a super cool outdoor sculpture park which we checked out today - I think that may be my new go-to place for engagement and family sessions because it is beautiful and has a lot of diversity as far as areas to shoot. So…. Connecticut clients - no worries, I’m defintiely still going to be around and if you know anyone in the Hudson Valley in New York, please spread the word! =) I’ll be posting pictures soon so stay tuned!

Last week Sean and I went to Newport, RI for a 3 day getaway - it was my first visit to Newport and I have a wedding scheduled there in January so I was so excited to go check it out! My first impression - no where near as small and remote as I had pictured. I envisioned a small island - a sleepy little fishing town with maybe one small row of shops and restaurants, a few mansions, a few B&B’s and hotels and maybe 30-40 beach houses. It was much bigger and more congested than I had pictured in my head but really cool nonetheless. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and checked in at our bed and breakfast - The Victorian Ladies Inn - and then immediately walked down to the famous Cliff Walk. It was a gorgeous day - great weather and crisp blue skies and textures galore. I take texture photos pretty much everywhere I go and I use them for overlays on my photos sometimes… I have quite a collection going and I’ve even got Sean into finding cool textures now! As we walked along the Cliff Walk we came to “Forty Steps” and went down to explore. As we reached the bottom of the steps I heard a waterfall so I started looking for it… it was in a little cave in the side of the cliff! Sean and I went to check it out and take some photos and we ended up photographing each other too because it was such a cool spot.

And where there is rock……there is a rock climber

I set my camera on a rock, propped up by my sweater and hit the timer for this one…

not so easy to run across the rocks and get in the shot before that timer goes off! I brought my tripod with me to Newport but all I brought on the Cliff Walk was my camera and one lens since it’s such a long walk and silly me - I only brought my biggest camera bag! We finished up the Cliff Walk and headed back for a delicious dinner at the Red Parrot. I was starting to come down with a cold and wasn’t feeling very well by then but the food was awesome. Wednesday I woke up to a raging cold and I felt horrible… Sean ran out and got me loads of medicine and tissues and I toughed it out and we walked around by the harbor a little bit, checked out the location where my January wedding is going to be and then went to a winery for a tour and Sean did a tasting. Afterward I was completely spent and feeling much worse so I tried taking a nap before going out to dinner but it was no use. I couldn’t fall asleep and I kept feeling worse so we had leftovers from the night before. Thursday morning Sean woke me up because we had to check out of the B&B and we were going to go to lunch but I wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl into bed so we left. I slept the entire way home (I never sleep in the car) and then went to bed and slept most of the day when we got home. I really wish that I had felt up to exploring a little (lot) more but it was still great. Still not feeling well but I had a fantastic wedding on Saturday and an engagement session yesterday that I’ll be posting some pics from soon! I can’t wait to get back to Newport in January for Christine & Brad’s wedding - hopefully I’ll be able to explore a little more then!

Single digital files are now available for purchase from weddings and portrait sessions! As a wedding client, your files are included with your package and delivered with your final album. However, many couples (or their friends and family) wish to get a file or two prior to this. Portrait session clients now have this option as well! Digital files are unmarked and printable to approximately 8×10. Just choose the image(s) you would like to purchase from your gallery, choose the “digital file” option from the “size” drop down menu under the “prints” tab and choose “pickup” as your shipping option (so you aren’t charged for shipping!). Your file will be e-mailed to you within 48 hours.

I can’t wait for the upcoming events - my husband comes home from Florida Sunday night, Monday we’re going house hunting again (fingers crossed that we find one!), Tuesday through Thursday we’ll be in Newport, RI (my first visit there), Saturday is Katie & Andrew’s wedding and Sunday is Linnea & Drew’s E-session! I am going to be a very, very busy woman for the next couple of weeks but I can’t wait!!!