The Sweetest Reasons

Holy Whoa

Thank you, Jess. This is so worth it.

Click Click Love Contest

I have exciting news! Click Click Love (CCL) has partnered with 365 South Shore to have a give-away contest for one free family session! All the details are here.

In case you didn't know, my good friend Tara and I started CCL a year and a half ago, with the hopes to get back into photography after being full-time moms for so long. We both worked in the news business in Boston for many years before starting families and knew of each other, but weren't close back then. Other photographer friends of ours kind of pushed us together, and I'm so glad we finally listened to them. She has become one of my best friends and our families have become super tight. In fact, the girls are all coming to play today!

I love our little company. It's growing slowly because we wanted it that way, but now, as we enter our second year and our babies aren't really babies anymore, we are both ready to get creative and get shooting and this contest is just the sort of thing that will help us do that.

Please take a moment to check out our site, which is still evolving. Maybe pass us along to a friend or family you know who'd be into our work. A shoot with us is a lot of fun, I can promise you that. And the photos you get when it's over, you'll treasure for a lifetime.

And, most importantly, enter the 365 South Shore contest! Oh, and like us on Facebook too!

Good luck!

Field Guide

Hampton, NH, skatepark & Hampton Beach, NH. January 1, 2012. Midday and early afternoon.

Too wet to really skate, so we packed up and moved on to . . .

The always magical Hampton Beach. Hampton Beach, a place that I have connected with creatively since grad school. It didn't disappoint.

Her face says it all. Today was the best day.

Perfect

Solsitice.

We were in it together.

Latest Work

I have several shoots I'd like to share from the fall, but I need more time to get organized and get them up. Last week, I shot with Tara for our business Click Click Love. I love when we work together, no secret there. Double the eyes, the moments, the variety. Magic, she and I. We photographed a busy, young family near Boston, with two kiddos aged 9 months and 2.5 years. The same age difference of my two girls. And let me tell you, I can now remember why I hardly have any photos of the two of them together at this time: Both were speeding in very different directions, with little knowledge of the other at most times. Our shoot needed the two of us so we could take turns wrangling kids, keeping them occupied, and even smiling and looking at the camera. Thankfully Mom and Dad were two of the chillest, coolest folks we had ever worked for: They rolled with everything, happy to just try things out.

I think it shows. The photos are so lovely. At first I was nervous about what images I made. I felt like I wasn't really seeing the shoot the way I wanted. My camera felt a little foreign, even. This happens to most photographers from time to time, and it is nerve-wracking when it happens on a shoot. When I finally got to looking at everything, I realized, like so many times before, I was being too hard on myself. I think these photos show this family's love for each other beautifully.

I'm itching for more work. Our winter is pretty open, so please feel free to contact us for work at: info@clickclicklove.com

Hi!

I'm still here. I have been very busy. Houses have sold. Houses have been bought. Homeschooling was happening. Then it was not. Friends eloped. Photography jobs were done. We traveled a bit. Got sick. Got well. Did some yoga, though not enough. Watched it snow in October. Have been barefoot in November. Shared a sacred place with some very special people. I feel like I have either been shooting for days on end or not shooting at all. There hasn't been a ton of personal work lately. Too much packing to do. Lots of memory gathering too. So for right now, tonight (hi, Laura), I'll post a quick photo of a great memory. Get ready for the onslaught as this move happens. Didn't you know how nostaligic I can get? Oh, then you are in for a ride.

Right Now

I had just read this quote again:

“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” -Ira Glass

So I took my camera out, which I have been kind of ignoring lately. Two tomatoes from our garden were sitting in the pantry window. I thought I would recreate a photo my parents had in our house while growing up, a photo my dad took of several tomatoes ripening on a rainy windowsill. Well, if you didn't know it by now, I can hardly leave the room for two minutes without my two little shadows following right behind me. And it seems that for the first time ever, they noticed the stained glass hanging from the window in there (also, by my dad). So between Ira Glass and Jonathan Harris's project I posted about earlier, I got snapping again.

Hurricane Lessons

As hurricanes go, we were awful lucky that Irene didn't slam us too hard while on Long Island. We woke at 3 a.m. to a power surge and the storm began to rage. By 11 a.m. it was mostly gone. My sister and boyfriend were with us from London, and I think it was pretty special to all be together during that storm, if only for 48 hours. And I learned a little, I think.

I learned that living with power is a blessing, and we ought to be more grateful for it.

I learned that living without is truly wonderful too: reading by candle-light, playing card games, and talking, so much talk to each other.

I learned that a hurricane makes neighbors walk around and talk to each other, and help each other, and drink together. I think that's nice.

I learned that even neighborhood kids to look up at some strange lady taking their picture and totally get it: This is something we will never forget.

I learned that Sal D's will never close, no matter how bad the storm and the food is always, always incredible.

I learned that if my grandmother is still wandering around in the dark after 8 p.m., she wants to stay up and talk about her life. You should listen. Even if you heard these stories before. She won't be around forever to retell them, and each time I learn something new about her.

I learned that I am and will always be an Islander. A hurricane is like a badge of honor. I have now gone through two in my lifetime there.

I learned that I haven't shot spot or weather-related photos in nearly a decade, but I still totally have it.

I learned that if your oldest friend from childhood and your sister's oldest friend from childhood are both drinking at the same bar, that has no power, but cold beer, you better believe you and your sister are going to be there in a flash.

I learned that you need to cheer for LIPA when they drive by with their utility trucks because they will totally honk back at you and flash thumbs up!

I learned that Napper's hasn't really changed since high school and I like that.

And I learned that the sky after a hurricane is a sight to behold.

Crown of Daisies

She is Princess Tiger Lily, from Peter Pan. In Neverland, you don't ever have to grow up, she tells me. Oh, Bebe: Never grow up.

I love how Bea poses some in these. The hands placed under her chin. The rest are so natural and happy. So perfect.

Pictures of Librarians

Mark, you are one good sport . . .