Witch Hunt

I'm not sure if I've ever actually come face to face with a real witch, however last Saturday's wedding in Salem, Massachusetts was surrounded by a very interesting crowd. The village of Salem turns in to a festival of witch's and warlocks for the month of October, creating among other things, massive gridlock. The wedding of Ryan and Erin had to be delayed for a while since so many guests were stuck in traffic.

The environment felt like a movie set with the streets and alleys overflowing with crowds of people dressed in all sorts of creepy attire. Despite the entertainment factor of what was going on, the village itself was dripping with history. Many of the buildings and the entire layout of the town date back to pre-Revolutionary War times. We even did a few photos at the harbour which is home to the three-masted Friendship, a 171 foot replica of the original ship from 1797 at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. It wasn't until after we were done photographing that not only did we not know we where on a National Historic Site, but we needed a permit to be there. The nice man in his green park ranger outfit equipped with a large side-arm made us aware of that. I'm still waiting for my ticket in the mail. Live and learn I suppose.

Erin and Ryan were awesome though, taking all the "trials" of the day in stride. Their ceremony was at the Salem Old Town Hall. Old Town Hall is the earliest surviving municipal structure in Salem, Massachusetts (dating from 1816-17) and an outstanding Federal Style building. The ceremony was held on the second floor of the building in the Great Hall, which has always been used as a public hall, and contained Town offices until 1837.

The reception was held at the beautiful Salem Waterfront Hotel.

Callie and Chris

Going away to Massachusetts for a week, I thought I would have some down time to catch up on my blogging. I was wrong. October 8th was the beginning of a marathon weekend, photographing Callie and Chris's wedding on Friday, then waking up early Saturday to drive to Massachusetts for a wedding Saturday afternoon in Salem and then a wedding Sunday in Hudson, followed by a wedding the following Friday in Spencer, MA.

I started the day on the 8th with Chris and his 2005 WRX STI before meeting up with the girls. For two car guys, I can't think of a better way to start a wedding with cool car photos and lots of turbo, within the speed limit of course.

I then shifted gears (pun intended) to photographing the girls in Bloomfield. In order for Chris not to have all the fun, the girls had their photos taken on a trampoline. They got some serious air time.

Chris and Callie chose to see each other before the ceremony which allowed us to get some great fall foliage shots. We were able to use their neighbors garden which was beautifully manicured with flowers and a pond. We finished the day with a reception at Mendon Country Club.

Not Your Mother's Wedding Album

For years we have shifted away from the standard wedding album, offering couples Coffee Table albums with a magazine style layout. We have now taken things a step further designing a new package, called the iPackage, which replaces your album with an iPad. The iPad comes packaged in a unique custom made box with your choice of several accompaniments. You can choose from 10 matted prints, a disc of images or a 5x5 hard cover book to go with your iPad. Preloaded on to the iPad will be your album layout as if it we created it for print, along with a multimedia slideshow set to music.

We recently purchased on iPad to show as a sample with this package and have fallen in love with it. We can watch Netflix movies on demand, use it to read iBooks, play awesome games and more. I have to convince my wife to let me pry it from her hands whenever I have a wedding consult. Along with my iPhone, it's quite possibly the best "toy" ever.

Fall Foliage Portraits

Ho Ho Ho!

Sweet Briar

I love when my GPS says with such authority, "You have reached your destination." No, I have reached a corn field, possibly a few cows and an excellent view, but I certainly have not reached my destination. My destination was the Sweet Briar B&B in Geneseo for Kristin and Brian's wedding and this certainly was not it. A quick phone call and several rights and lefts brought us there.

Kristin and Brian's wedding was held on the grounds of the B&B, overlooking a broad valley toward Letchworth State Park. It was a magnificent setting for an early Autumn wedding.