Saratoga Springs was bustling. The population more than doubled as visitors came to enjoy Saratoga and opening day at the racetrack. It was lively, vibrant, and the peak of summer… and not only that it was Madeline + Tom’s wedding day. You know people love a place when they choose to have their wedding at a time when the location is equally busy. It allows those visiting to see all that a place has to offer and enjoy some of the other activities going on in a weekend as well. It was certainly a different city from when I visited last fall to photograph Madeline + Tom’s engagement session, and it was exciting to see everyone gathering for the races. Even more exciting was heading over to the Saratoga Golf and Polo Club, where I met Madeline to photograph the details of the day and the location before the ceremony. Right on the golf course, the evening view was breathtaking with the sun setting in the distance. Of course before that there was a full day of celebration and the joining together of two people, Madeline and Tom. They are certainly meant for each other and I had the absolute pleasure of documenting on their wedding day so I hope you enjoy as well!

Madeline found most of her accessories on Etsy and had the bridesmaid necklaces custom made to match!

her double veil – one in front and one in back was so elegant and romantic

her father and step father walked her down the aisle and grandmother gave one of the best readings from 1 Corinthians I’ve heard at a wedding

After the ceremony they were whisked over to the club which was dressed in shades of purple flowers and ready for the events to begin. We took some pictures on the course before heading in to celebrate and dancing the night away.

Madeline you are gorgeous! I love every detail you put in to the wedding and the finishing touches that made the day complete

… and they lived happily ever after.

That final scene in Pride and Prejudice always gets me. The early morning fog has rolled in and dew covers the ground as Elizabeth and Darcy confess their love for each other and the sun slowly rises and wraps them in a warm glow. It’s beautiful. As Becca and I planned her engagement session we discussed how amazing it would be to step into a scene like that and how we could make it happen. While shooting in the early morning would be our best bet for fog we decided it would be too hard to predict and could achieve similar results with gorgeous light in the evening. With the inspiration of Pride + Prejudice in the back of our minds we planned a session with personality that focused on landscapes, light and a tea party picnic under a grove of trees. We wanted the images to have a bit of Scotland – Bobby’s home, and where these two got engaged – and with the lush green grass and perfect light it came together beautifully. We photographed it yesterday and I can’t wait to share the rest!

I’ve been MIA from photography as last week I helped with the cross country and track camp at Houghton College. We had a great time but the days were non stop and included: getting up early (for me, I know- 6:30), morning runs, sessions, more workouts, stretching, meals, lots of games, and more. While following the regular schedule of camp I’m hoping to carry over some of the habits (keep up the morning runs?) and looking forward to getting back into a routine with work. Now that we are approximately 90% moved in to our new place my office is coming together and that will make things even easier. Doesn’t it seem hard to work when things are unsettled or out of place?

At the end of the week, which would only be yesterday, I met up with Alphonse and Samantha for their engagement session at Ontario Beach Park in Rochester, New York. It was fun to hang out and spend time with them and the image above is one that stood out as I browsed through their photos. It was just before sunset so the light was warm and soft and lovely! I’ll be back up in Rochester on Tuesday for several sessions and available for meetings – let me know if you want to get together and talk weddings!

Light streamed through the old wooden barn and created the most gorgeous texture. Colleen and Tristan had just been married, and I went down the road with them to the old barn that has been in the family for years. They stopped and picked some wild raspberries, and took a minute to let everything sink it. We headed towards the hayloft and they climbed up into the hay, which was stacked high on top of each other so it slide down at first, until they reached a spot to sit…

I had a great time photographing Tristan + Colleen’s wedding, which was the perfect mix of backyard, country, bluegrass, homemade, strawberry shortcake, lawn games, wildflowers, and family + friends. It also was moving weekend for Matt and I, so while I was busy photographing the wedding he was busy transporting everything (with the help of some great friends) into our new place. We had been living in a temporary set up for a month until we could move in, which of course meant 2 moves, lots of packing and re-packing, and even more chaos. We spent all of yesterday unpacking, which of course takes forever so we have several more days of unpacking to go. I know there are a lot of other people moving so you know what I mean – but isn’t it so hard to figure out where to put everything? I feel like in each new place there is some piece of furniture that doesn’t fit quite right, or something that we really need to get – but might not use again. I sound like I’m complaining and I don’t want to since really I’m so happy to be at the end of the moving process. I’ll have to have you over to our new place (and by have you over I mean post some pics on the blog) once we’re set up!

So, like I was saying this morning I had some of those same peaches for breakfast. Now, on a side note Matt and I been talking about a food blog for a while – although it’s mostly his thing. Something that’s personal and we can share with family and friends (if they’re interested), but most of all we want to chronicle all of the recipes we try and successes and failures so that we can look back on them. I don’t know how many times we’ve wanted to make something again only to spend 20 minutes unsuccessfully looking through food and wine magazines to find what issue the recipe was from. Sure, a blog might not be the easiest way to keep track of all of those recipes, but it will probably be the most fun.

Back to the peaches. They are delicious – if I haven’t said so already – and this morning was no exception. Because of the food blogging I have obviously stepped in as food photographer – although I don’t want to get your hopes up, cause I really haven’t been taking any groundbreaking pictures yet. Especially with cooking, since it can take some time to set things up and document the process while making sure you keep the camera clean. I have yet to figure out a good method for food photography, but I’ll be working on it.

Anyways, I took the peaches out this morning and thinking about how good they are, and I placed them on the counter where some light was streaming in. It made them glow. I grabbed my camera to snap a few shots from the front… and then I went to the side. (this is where I tie the post into photography) While the peaches looked good with the light streaming on them, I couldn’t resist them from the side with the light streaming through them. The back lighting was perfect and a completely different picture from the one I took at the front (as I’m sure you can tell).

Light can transform a photograph. You can use it in so many ways and get different results. I’m not a studio photographer, so in most situations I’m not in control of all of the light. Most of the time (because I work on location in faster paced settings) I work with the light that is given to me and add to it when necessary. It can be more of a challenge to shoot in so many different environments, but I like it because it’s always something new. Just to look back, here are a few different examples I found from my work when I used light in specific ways…

long exposures with different light sources

shooting for some flare

natural light – controlled through windows + doors

silhouettes

It started Thursday night. I thought, might as well paint while I a watch a marathon of nbc’s lineup. Matt had left that afternoon for nationals, so it was possible to have everything be a complete surprise. As with any redecoration it’s hard to know where to start, but I finally decided on the things I wanted to do:

#1 REPAINT  The aqua color was nice during the day (because of the light) but at night it changed and was too dark. It didn’t really pull the room together and I thought it was throwing everything off.

#2 CHANGE THE CURTAINS I wanted to hang the curtains to make the window look larger, and I also wanted a lighter color to brighten the room.

#3 ADD LIGHT I wanted to keep our couch in the same spot (it’s hard to arrange with all of the doors) but I thought be adding light behind the couch it would really brighten everything – this meant putting some sort of table back there.

Since I was starting with paint  I rushed to Lowe’s and made a quick decision on a blue ($31). Campy was ready to help so I had to choose something fast. I don’t usually do well with quick decisions, and this was no exception. I guess I had to take one step backwards before I could move forward; maybe it was more like 3 steps backwards. Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking, but I had them mix this blue that was so vibrant, so dark, well… you can see it below.

Of course, when I first put it on I thought – yikes! and then, maybe this will work. So, I kept painting until 1 am until I had almost all of the room done so I could really see what it looked like. I woke up the next morning and new it was a mistake. This time, I needed a new color – I thought “something blue-gray, kind of like a cloudy day.” I consulted a few diy and home decorating sites to hopefully point me down the right path, but since I was already repentant I knew I’d make a good choice this time. I went for more paint ($31)- only this time I went to home depot and not lowe’s – and found a color called ozone; I went for the behr paint + primer, since I knew I had a lot of color to cover. I was going to keep the whole project a secret from Matt but since it started as such a disaster I told him about the painting. You can see below the first blue was the middle swatch of the top stack, the second color the top swatch on the bottom stack.

Friday night I went to work re-painting, making sure to put it on thick so I only had to do one coat (it worked). I felt better already. At first the color looked  gray against the garish blue it was hiding, but when the room was finished it was the perfect combination of smoky blue I was looking for.

Painting behind me, I moved on to the building portion of the makeover. I thought building the table I wanted behind the couch would give me exactly what I was looking for, and I also settled on a valance to hide the hardware and expand the feeling of the window. After a trip to the farmer’s market I bought the wood needed ($60) to complete my projects and had everything cut to size. I used screws and some wood glue as reinforcement to put everything together, it was simple to create the pieces I needed. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without another set of hands so it was great to have Campy help – lexi watched on and wandered around as we tried to keep her away from the glue.

Next stop was the fabric store, where I bought what was needed to create an upholstered look to the valance and curtains for the side ($40). I also wanted to hang a fabric above the couch – I wasn’t sure how I would do it or what it would look like, but if it worked I thought it would add some nice interest and texture to the wall.

I covered my wooden valance frame in batting and then layered the fabric over it, using a staple gun to secure. Thankfully I cut the fabric in half, because like any good pair of dress pants, it needed two layers. It was at this point, that Matt arrived home early to a disastrous house with us mid-project. Oh well. At least he could help us now!

It was Sunday when we finished everything up. The table was painted white, the new blinds were hung ($80), fabric piece for the wall was made, and we all worked on hanging the valance. Of course the measurements were off the first few times, but after double checking and marking several times we got things right and secured the valance to the wall.

When all was said and done the living room make over was complete and now looks like this:

Do you love the transformation? It was a lot of work but honestly not that hard and completely worth it, especially for a grand total of $242 on supplies. Now we are ready to hang things on the walls, get a few new pillows, and start enjoying the space. Can’t wait for thanksgiving!

ps if you are going to start your own makeover start today! don’t leave it until the night before :)

Josiah and Rachael, the newlyweds that you may know and love, are friends from Houghton. I didn’t get a chance to attend their wedding and I wanted to give them a little something so took some photos for them! Time was limited so we worked with the rainy morning we were given and headed up to the barn. It turned out to be the perfect spot, minus the hole Rachael almost fell though – thankfully she was saved by her valiant husband. Since the light was limited, I worked with what was there and tried a few different things so enjoy!