Wow! My head is spinning a bit from the past week and all that happened. I was always on the go, but it really was so much fun! Not too many pictures. We brought our cameras but honestly we were so busy we didn’t even use them! I’ll include the few shots I got with my iphone. : )
We got in to Hartford late on Friday evening. Saturday we spent the day with Matt’s parents and did our customary trip to Lenny & Joe’s (yummy little seafood place in Westbrook) and then went to a baseball game.
Sunday we headed down to NYC to meet up with Kuri & George, who are getting married later this month at the University of Richmond. They booked with us after just a meeting over the phone, so we were really excited to finally meet them in person! They are so laid back and down to earth! We went out to dinner and a cute little tapas place close their place and had a great time chatting with them over sangria! Sadly, the rainy weather wasn’t favorable for a photo shoot, but it seemed to work out better. We got to just hang out with them and have great conversation!
On Monday, Matt went to the air museum with his dad while I began the rest of my trip on my own. Matt flew out Monday evening and I stayed behind to visit with some other people. My first stop was in Salem to visit with Katie Ring, a fellow photog who actually is one of Matt’s college friends. We went to her new favorite sushi place, Okea. Very good sushi at insanely cheap prices. I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I am that she gets to eat there every week! And on top of that she has a gorgeous condo overlooking the harbor where she can sit on the porch and breathe in the salty ocean air. I can’t wait to go up there again for a visit, next time with Matt so we can all go out and do touristy things!
After lunch with Katie, I headed to Boston to meet up with Ambika for some headshots. Ambika is a beautiful young choreographer with an Indian dance company and before even meeting her I could tell she was going to be a fun, energetic person to work with! Later, her fiance Manish met up with us and we did some engagement photos! I promise to post some of those phots very soon!
After having a fun photo shoot with Ambika & Manish, I drove down to Newport, RI to check into a bed and breakfast I made a reservation with. I won’t get into much detail, but my GPS sent me on an adventure that put me way past Newport and expected me to get on a ferry at 10pm! Yeah, the ferry was NOT operating as you can well imagine! I finally got to the B&B thanks to the help of the wonderful innkeeper. When I arrived she put a pot of hot water on so I could have a cup of tea and relax before bed. The B&B was called the Artful Lodger and they were very friendly. My room was small and cozy and comfortable. : )
(Pretty tree with falling blossoms outside of the B&B)
Tuesday morning, I woke up early and had breakfast at the inn. The breakfast room was on the 3rd floor and had windows overlooking downtown. It was such a peaceful way to start the morning! After breakfast I headed out to meet up with Jennifer of Zenobia Studios to chat and discuss her upcoming boudoir workshop in Jacksonville. I saw some of her wonderful boudoir work on her blog and suggested that she come down here to do a workshop. She does workshops for local photogs and for students at the Rhode Island School of Design on boudoir and is just so talented! She also happens to be super GORGEOUS! I’m looking forward to the announcement of her 2 day workshop that will help photographers in Jacksonville with all they need to get started in boudoir!
After a wonderful meeting with Jennifer, I briefly headed to the Newport Winery for some wine tasting. I ended up buying a bottle of their award-winning Riesling and got the complimentary bottle of wine offered by my B&B. I was disappointed with their red wines, but the Riesling was definitely worthy of the awards it has won. Very yummy and Riesling is one of Matt’s favorites!
Following the winery visit, I headed BACK to Boston to meet up with Ambika & Manish again! They invited me to come back up and go to dinner with them and we did a few more photos at Prudential Center and then grabbed dinner at PF Chang’s. We had so much fun chatting the night away that we didn’t realize it was after 10pm! Time flies when you’re in good company. I had to drive all the way back to Newport and be up early to head to New Haven in the morning, but before leaving I made plans with Ambika to meet up with her when she comes to Savannah next week! Sadly, Manish won’t be there but Matt is excited to meet Ambika. I couldn’t stop talking about her to Matt! She’s just such a doll!
On Wednesday, the final day of my trip, I made my way down to New Haven for brunch and a mentor session with the fabulous Justin & Mary Marantz! I won the mentor session through an auction for Thirst Relief International, an organization that brings clean water to thousands of families in need. Several amazing photographers were offering mentor sessions to raise money for this incredible organization, and I was so excited to have an opportunity to both donate to a very good cause and meet two people I so admire! They are my absolute favorite photographers, not only because their work is just gorgeous and so intimate but also because they are wonderful people. They share so much of their knowledge already with fellow photographers and they also support wonderful charities. They are the founders of Portrait House, a collaboration of photographers who donate a portion of their portrait fees to Habitat For Humanity. I just adore all the wonderful, positive things that they are doing for people through their photography and their charity work!
After a wonderful brunch and a chat about life and business, we strolled around the Yale campus and Justin & Mary took some headshots of me. It was so different being on the other side of the camera, but it was great to see how they team up together on a shoot. I also observed first hand how they make a client feel more comfortable during a shoot. I couldn’t help but giggle as people watching us wondered what on earth we were doing! Haha! Now I know how my clients must feel!
I’ll have more to share from my trip soon. I just couldn’t wait to give everyone a summary of my super fun and busy week! Thank you to everyone that I met up with on the trip. All the places I visited were definitely enhanced by the company I was with! Hugs to all of you from Florida! I hope to see you in my part of the country sometime! : )
