This fall, I had the great pleasure of doing an impromptu portrait session with my friends Forest and Bekki Page’s kiddos. They were actually at a birthday party I was at in Epsom, NH, and since it was a small party and it was a beautiful fall day, it was a perfect time to try to capture some keepsakes. Nate, Matt, and Lissy were all very willing subjects, but Lissy was the one that stole the show. Perhaps being the youngest, and a girl had something to do with it. I find generally that girls are much more relaxed in front of the camera than the boys, but there are always exceptions to that. I started off with some shots of the 3 of them together, my friend katie got them laughing and I was able to capture the 3 of them just being themselves. After some group shots, I wanted to capture each of them individually, now that they were a bit more relaxed in front of the camera. The key to good portraits is getting your subject to relax. Its not always possible, but I can usually get my subjects relaxed and comfortable, and it helps to bring out thier real personalities. I think I succeeded with these 3! I am don’t think Forest and Bekki had ever had pictures taken professionally of the kids before. Forest pastors a small church in Ascutney VT, and there is not much up there believe me! .I want to share some of Bekki’s comments I took off of her facebook about the pictures to some of her friends. I share these to show why I enjoy photography so much and taking portraits in particular. I love the joy that it can bring to a mom or a dad, or a bride and groom. When you can capture the emotion of a day, or the real personality of a person, it is very rewarding to know your photos have touched someone’s heart.
“I’m crying…thank you…they’re gorgeous. I never knew a camera could take pictures inside a momma’s heart.”
“Joe has a style I find particularly appealing. He was at a friend’s birthday party this fall and grabbed the kiddos for about 30 minutes for this shoot. I don’t even want to know how long he spent editing… I would have had them dressed up and slicked down had I known he was going to be there, so I’m glad it was an impromptu surprise. They look like themselves, and I will cherish these pics for a long time!”
“I was stunned…we NEVER get pictures like this of the kids. I’ve always liked his style, but knowing how hard it is to photograph our kids, I have a new appreciation for how very good he is!”
You can see a larger gallery here
Posted in Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, NH, best friends, birthday party, brothers, child, color, family, fun, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer | Tagged best friends, Boston, boys, children, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, family photos, fun, girl, model, natural light, New Hampshire, outdoors, party, photography, portrait, professional photographer | 2 Comments »
Winter in New England is not usually very conducive to outdoor photography, but New Englanders are also tough, so having to do a senior session last week when it was 15 degrees out, AND snowing, was not a big deal for Allie! I had been wanting to use the inside of the old barn on our church property for sometime, and I had the opportunity to use it a few weeks earlier for Matt’s senior session. We have been having a very cold winter here in Concord NH thus far, but I have done far more winter sessions this year than I did the last 2 years combined. The snow can present a challenge as well as create some unique photographic opportunities, and one thing I have learned this year is to embrace whatever weather gets thrown at you, and use it to your advantage. There are always great pictures to be made, sometimes you just need to dig a bit deeper and draw out the ideas. As soon as I saw Allie’s polka dot umbrella I knew we had to use it at some point during our session, and since she loves her car what better time? After we shot outdoors for about an hour, we needed to move the session to an indoor location, and the Mall of NH in Manchester had a carousel, I had been wanting to use for some time so it was the logical choice. The girl running the carousel was most helpful and even let us use it free of charge, and held off all paying customers for about 15 minutes while we got our shots. There is lots of natural light in the mall as there are giant skylights through out, and benches are places all around too. We were nearing the end of our session when one of the over zealous mall cops came over and informed us that taking pictures wasn’t allowed in the mall. Where is Paul Blart when you need him?! I think he would have been a bit more understanding. Without further ado here is Allie’s sneek peek!
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, High school senior, NH, beauty, family, fashion, fun, model, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, snow, umbrella, winter | Tagged beauty, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, fun, girl, high school, Manchester NH, model, natural light, New Hamphire, outdoors, portrait, professional photographer, senior, senior session, snow, teenager, umbrella, winter | 2 Comments »
If you are not from the New England area, you are probably wondering what in the world that title could mean. If you go here, all shall be explained. I absolutely love NYC, and am always up for a trip there anytime of the year. A few weeks back I had started the wheels turning to go in and see the city all lit up in it’s Christmas glory with a group of friends. Of course you can never predict what the weather is going to do in this region, and New England was in the death grip of a Nor East’r, but the weather in NYC said it would be fine. So I met up with my friends Jenny and Stephanie in Concord NH, and headed down to Salem NH to meet up with Jen and Alyssa who was celebrating her 20th bday. Could there be a more fun way to celebrate turning 20 than going into NYC for the day?! Boston is generally a little over an hour away, but the roads were pretty treacherous, and we met up with Jen and Alyssa almost 30 minutes late, which meant catching the 7am Fung Wah bus out of Boston wasn’t looking too good. My friend Dan called me from Boston, to say that he, Katie, Nick and Mike were able to switch tickets to the 7:30 bus and when we arrived to go the ticket counter and do the same, and they would try to hold the bus. We had to do a bit of jogging from the parking garage to South Station, in the bitter cold and snow, switched our tickets out, and then had to make a mad dash to the bus terminal as it was already 7:30! I had not really planned on such an early morning exercise regimen the day after New Years!
We arrived in Chinatown NYC, and the first order of business was to find some food-so we wandered over to Little Italy and ate a quick meal at Rudy’s. It was a little hole in the wall, but the pizza was extremely flavorful. Our next stop was the Brooklyn Bridge. Being out on the bridge exposed to the elements was exhilarating to say the least. From the bridge it was clear enough to see Lady Liberty herself. Always a treat. While at the bridge, we met up with Jenny’s friend Antoinette, and then proceeded over to Ground Zero. We stopped at St. Paul’s chapel first, which has become a memorial since 9-11, and it was very sobering to say the least. There are a series of memorials honoring the dead, and those who helped in rescue and recovery. It practically brought tears to my eyes as I looked at each memorial, and remembered the great loss of life as we were attacked on American soil all those years ago. It reminded me of why our brave men and women are fighting over in the Middle East now, and the great sacrifices they make to preserve our freedom. These men and women are my heroes.
Our group next headed uptown to Times Square. We met up with Katie’s friend Allen next, and it was great to have 2 native New Yorkers to help us navigate the complex subway system. Riding the Subway in NYC can be a an experience, and the terminals with the full body turnstiles can be a pain to operate if you touch it too soon, it won’t let you thru and you just lost 2.25 and have to swipe your card again. My last trip in, it cost me 8.00 to finally get thru one of them! This time I made it thru on one swipe, but at least 4 in our group weren’t so lucky, including one native New Yorker who shall remain nameless! It was kind of humorous. I think the city of NY needs to do something a about that.
We next walked down 34th street for a bit and saw the Empire state building,from ground level, and stopped at a Starbucks to get something hot to drink as it was incredibly cold yesterday. The wind was really whipping thru the streets of NY!
Since it was Alyssa’s birthday, I wanted to do a mini portrait session with her in NYC. Something I have been wanting to do with some one for quite sometime! NYC is incredibly picturesque and has some amazing places to use as backdrops. We didn’t take as many pictures as I had hoped, but I did try to take few at each of the places we visited. She is a terrific photographer also, and looks at things with a very creative and artistic eye. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with from our trip.
We headed over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the skating rink, and I was able to play around with bokeh a bit. I kept my 50mm 1.4 lens on the entire day, as it has become my favorite lens in my arsenal for now. I am very pleased with it’s performance and find it quite versatile. As time was getting late we had to start moving faster and visited Trump Tower, saw the window displays at Sax Fifth Ave, walked past Central Park, and headed back down Broadway into Times Square. It was a terrific day, and truly a whirlwind tour, but I really enjoyed pointing out some of the sights to some of the first timers in our group.
The ride back was on the bus was a little nerve wracking at times as it seemed we were flying on roads that seemed to be covered with light snow, but we had no mishaps. Once we had to head back to NH by car, we had to deal with even more treacherous road conditions and at about 5 am this morning was finally able to lay my head down to sleep. All in all it was a terrific day spent with some terrific friends and I enjoyed making some new friends too. Looking forward to our next trip when the weather gets a bit warmer! larger gallery at my fan page
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, New York City, beauty, best friends, brothers, family, fashion, fun, model, natural light, night photography, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, snow, winter, woman | Tagged beauty, best friends, birthday, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, fun, girl, light, New Hampshire, NYC, outdoors, photography, portraits, professional photographer, senior session, World trade center | 2 Comments »
Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of doing a family session with some very old and dear friends in Dracut Mass. Steve pastors Grace Bible Church in Dracut, the church I was attending when I became a Christian in 1978-79. I have many fond memories of the people there, and still maintain the old friendships. I have since moved a bit further north in NH, but always enjoy visiting the church there from time to time. Steve and Lorraine’s kids are all grown up now, Kim and Steph are married, and Ryan is in college. Kim and her husband Steve live in NC now, and were up visiting for Christmas, with their kiddos Drake and Tyson so there was a small window of opportunity to do the photos. I really enjoyed this session, as I have known the family most of my life, and it was so great to see such love and affection among them all. Steve and Lorraine laid a solid, biblical foundation with their kids when they were growing up, and it has carried over into their adult lives now as they begin raising their own kids.
I was definitely blessed with much warmer temperatures this weekend for both family sessions I did. I had an enjoyable afternoon with these dear friends, and it had been years since they had done family photos, and they really enjoyed it. The winter and the snow does present some challenges as far as posing goes, you can’t really ask people to get down on the wet ground, but we were able to work with what we were given and I am pretty happy with the pictures. Drake and Tyson were little hams and once again demonstrated that you never know what is going to happen when you start a session with little ones!
A session like this serves to remind me why I love photography so much. This dear family really loved the fact that they were getting some precious memories documented forever in photos. It was something they had really never done to this extent. Being able to help capture some of the love between this family was a very precious thing for me. I am so grateful that I get to do this on what is becoming more and more, a regular basis.
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, NH, beauty, best friends, brothers, child, color, family, fun, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, snow, winter, woman | Tagged beauty, best friends, Boston, boys, children, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, family photos, fun, girl, light, Manchester NH, model, New Hamphire, outdoors, photography, portrait, professional photographer, toddlers | 1 Comment »
I had the absolute delight today of doing another session with the Keith family today, but this time we added in Scott and Sennu, and her folks from Finland, and her sister Saina and husband Mike and their kiddos in Hopkinton NH. The weather report wasn’t looking too promising for this weekend, but other than a little bit of snow flurries, I had no complaints. The winter weather definitely provides a challenge when doing family photos. Things you could normally use to sit on, are covered in snow, or inaccessible because of the snow. My favorite shots of the day were the ones where everyone was just having fun and playing in the snow. When doing a session with kids, time is of the essence as they get bored rather quickly, and then look out! Surprisingly, the little kiddos held out much longer than the older ones did today! I was told little Braeden was shy, but I think I made a new best friend today! He had a blast sledding and I got some fun shots of him really enjoying himself. His younger brother Noah doesn’t really like the cold, so even though he was easily bribed through out the session with candy, he could not be bribed to take a sled ride down the hill! I think my favorite shots of him are the priceless expression of joy he gets as Saina bribes him for the first time with a candy cane. He loves his sweets, and they seemed to work every time we needed him to do something. I have to say this is one of my favorite families to photograph, the kids are always a joy and make me laugh. I am already looking forward to my next session with them! Enjoy this little sneek peek! Larger gallery here
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, beauty, best friends, brothers, child, family, fashion, fun, model, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, snow, winter, woman | Tagged babies, beauty, best friends, boys, brothers, children, Concord NH, cousins, DiMattia Photography, family, family photos, fun, girl, Hopkinton, Manchester NH, model, natural light, New England, New Hamphire, NH, outdoors, photography, portraits, professional photographer, quadruplets, sisters, snow, toddlers, winter | 6 Comments »
Yesterday I had the privilege of documenting the moment of Dave and Janelle’s engagement. Dave had asked me about doing this way back in August. I had never actually captured the moment a man asks a woman to be his wife, and Dave really planned this well. A week ago I met with Dave and we took a trip into Boston to scope out the area in the Public Garden where he wanted to ask Janelle to be his wife. It couldn’t have been a much colder day than it was though! The temperatures hovered around 25 degrees. I had asked my friend Jenny from Mindstir Photography to be my assistant, as it was going to be a late afternoon affair, and thought I would need her to be a human lightstand! Dave had planned a number of events that weekend to throw Janelle off the trail. Friday night he brought her to see Wicked in RI. Saturday was lunch at Top of the Hub, a horse and carriage ride around Boston, and then he was going to end the day by presenting her with a photo album he made up of their first year together. Dave had his sister Linda come in with the album and lay it at the foot of a certain tree. We spread out rose petals, met the violinist and got her all set up, and then we waited. The couple came in the complete opposite direction we were expecting them to come but Dave quickly got our attention without Janelle knowing.It was a sweet moment, and Janelle ended up not being really caught off guard, by the time he handed her the ring, but I think its safe to say she was a little bit in shock anyway. We then wandered over to Newbury street, and the Boston Public Library for a quick photo session. It was a great experience, and I am looking forward to doing this couple’s wedding this coming year!
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, NH, beauty, best friends, bride, engagement, family, fashion, fun, groom, model, natural light, night photography, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, weddings, woman | Tagged beauty, best friends, Boston, bride, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, engagement, family photos, fun, girl, groom, light, Manchester NH, model, natural light, New Hampshire, outdoors, photography, portrait, professional photographer, wedding | 12 Comments »
This past Weds, I got to do Matt’s senior photos in Concord NH. To say it was a cold day would be an understatement! It was frigid! Winter has finally hit the Northeast with a vengeance, and this week we have seen especially low temps in the single digits. As cold as it was on Weds, I was glad we didn’t wait any longer as it much colder the next day. I enjoy the downtown Concord area as it has many interesting nooks and crannies, to give each session a different look. We actually started Matt’s session on our church property as we have an old barn there. I like to do a lot of the guys photos in front of a certain doorway when we start. This time I decided to go inside and take a look around. I feel like I hit paydirt with the amazing light that was coming in from the windows all around the building. There was a variety of textures and colors and I got to give my new 50mm 1.4 lens a great workout too! I pretty much shot this entire session at 1.4 and with the 50mm lens. I retired my beloved 80-200 lens for this one session as I really wanted to see what the 50mm could do. I have decided it is my new favorite lens, and you will be seeing a few more sessions with it in the very near future. After we did some pictures in the barn we went over to the NH Capital building. Its absolutely beautiful inside, with lots of natural light coming in from a variety of windows. I had a great time doing Matt’s session. you can see the full gallery here.
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, High school senior, NH, family, fun, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, young man | Tagged Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, family photos, high school, light, Manchester NH, natural light, New Hamphire, outdoors, photography, portrait, professional photographer, senior, senior session | Leave a Comment »
So, as you can see I had a bit of a dry spell on my blog. Not because I didn’t have anything to post, but because I was absolutely buried with editing all my projects! (not that I am done mind you, but am starting to close in on the end of this seasons portrait sessions!) Saturday I went into Boston to meet with a client and when we were done, it was still early about 4:30pm, so I decided to wander the streets of Boston for a bit. I had my camera with me and my new 50mm 1.4 lens. I had it for almost a week and hadn’t really used it yet, so what better place to start than Newbury street? It was terribly cold out, and it was getting dark rather quickly, but I really wanted to challenge myself a bit and see what I could come up with. I was especially in search of beautiful bokeh! This search took me down Newbury street,where I got a great deal on a sweater at one of their high end consignment shops, thru the public garden, across Boston Common, down Tremont street and over to Fanueil Hall. I also proceeded to head over the North End, and indulge in an amazing cannoli from The Modern. Mike’s Pastry is possibly more famous, but The Modern has better canolli’s! I am a purist, so it has to be the Ricotta filling and no chocolate chips!
In case you are wondering what bokeh is, a simple definition would be the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.(took that from wikipedia) A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you look at the pictures below, you will see what luscious bokeh looks like. You can see a larger gallery on my flickr
Posted in 50mm 1.4, Bokeh, Boston, Concord, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, NH, beauty, fun, horse, miscellaneous, natural light, night photography, photography, portrait, professional photographer | Tagged 50mm 1.4, beauty, Bokeh, Boston, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, fun, light, Manchester NH, Mike's Pastry, natural light, New Hampshire, night photography, nikon, outdoors, photography, portrait, professional photographer, the north end | 1 Comment »
Saturday I had the pleasure of doing Ricky’s senior pictures. It was an extremely windy day. It felt like hurricane force winds at times! I was thankful I didn’t have a girl for my session as I think we would have had to postpone it due to the wind, and the problems it would have created with hairstyles! Ricky was a fun subject. He comes from a family of 13!! I have been friends with his folks for over 20 years, and his mom does not look like she has had that many children! He is very easy going, very personable and talkative. He also has mad texting skills! I don’t know how these teens text so quickly and without a keypad! I found some great spots in downtown Manchester NH a few weeks ago and this was my third time going to them. I think I am going to have to find some new spots the rest of the year! It was a fairly quick session about an hour or so, but it was very productive. Ricky was pretty natural in front of the camera, and that always makes my job easy. You can see a larger gallery here
Posted in Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, High school senior, NH, family, fashion, fun, model, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, soccer | Tagged Boston, children, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family, fun, Manchester NH, model, natural light, New Hamphire, outdoors, photography, portrait, professional photographer, senior, senior session, soccer, teenager | 4 Comments »
The senior sessions continue as the New England weather for this time of year is unusually warm. It was a bit drizzly today but not enough to stop the session. Alex is an interesting teen. He is a fairly laid back kid, and has lots of great ideas. I think someday he will become famous from some invention he has come up with! We did the session in downtown Manchester NH as I found some spots I really liked a few weeks back when I did another session there. I loved Alex’s look and had a great time doing his session. You can see the full gallery on my smug mug here
Posted in Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, High school senior, NH, family, model, natural light, photography, portrait, pose, professional photographer, young man | Tagged Boston, boys, Concord NH, DiMattia Photography, family photos, Manchester NH, model, natural light, outdoors, photography, portrait, senior, senior session, teenager | Leave a Comment »
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- getting ready to do a senior session on this chilly, but sunny, 28 degree day! 2 hours ago
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