Kim & Chad - NYC Engagement Session & Love Story

I had the pleasure of driving down to NYC this past weekend to do an engagement session with two simply fabulous people - Kim & Chad. It was instant chemistry when I met these two - their passion for not only each other, but life, is contagious. Their passion - coupled with their laid-back, fun loving personalities - make these two a great match and so much fun to work with.


Kim and Chad's road to engagement was not a simple one - it could be strait out of a romance novel. Over the years their lives both had many twists and turns - but ultimately they ended up right where they needed to be. With each other.

Kim and Chad first met at Hofstra University in 1991 where they became friends, but didn't date. After college their lives went in separate directions. It was a little over a decade later that Chad and Kim's paths crossed again at a holiday party. Kim tells me, "Chad made a toast to friends... he looked at me in a way I hadn't noticed before and I think that is the first time I think I really saw this amazing, loving, giving guy." They started dating for a few months, but then as Kim puts it, "Chad told me he wanted to take it slow." What Kim heard was he wasn't so sure about her. This miscommunication cost them years apart. Both heartbroken, Chad moved to California to move on and Kim stayed in NY.

Despite the geographical distance that separated them they stayed in touch over the years and eventually realized, against all odds, that they were meant to be together. In February 2008 Chad proposed in Flushing Meadow Park in what Kim calls "A total surprise!" Such a great story for two truly great people.

Our engagement session started out in Queens and ended up, appropriately, at Flushing Meadows Park. Here are a few of my favorites followed by a slide show.






Click on the play button to start the slide show. This slide show is a little larger than my others - but it is worth the wait! Hope you enjoy! :)

Tricia & Rollie - A Love Story

Knowing each of my clients is important to me. I don't want to be a stranger when I show up to photograph your wedding day. I am after a genuine story - whether it is an engagement story or a wedding story - how could I get that if I didn't know who you are?

I love to hear the story of how my couples met, how their relationship progressed, and of course, about the proposal. The delivery of the story is often half of the fun - observing the loving glances, the teasing about how one pursued the other, the story of when one figured out the other was "the one."

So here is my latest love story - Tricia and Rollie.

Tricia had just finished college and landed her first job working at Yale University. During the summer she took on a job working working at Lockwood Farm (she had a childhood dream of being a farmer).

Enter cute boy on the tractor - Rollie. Rollie grew up on a farm raising sheep and cattle - farming was in his blood. At a young age he discovered his true passion - beekeeping. A passion so strong that he studied beekeeping at Cornell University and is now one of the largest beekeepers in Connecticut. How cool is that?

One day Rollie brought home a goat for Tricia - and the rest is history. She now raises goats on the farm next to Rollie's hives.

Here's to following your heart's calling!

It was only fitting that we did their engagement session on their farm in Southbury. I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites, but here they are...


LOVE the texture of this red barn!


Rollie was nice enough to show me his bees - I now know all sorts of facts about bees that I didn't know before. For example, the males (called drones) can't sting - I can vouch for this, I actually held one. Who knew?


Tricia and Rollie were nice enough to leave me a jar of their honey at my local farm stand - thanks guys! It is fantastic! You can check out their farm web site at Honey Meadow Farm.

These two will be getting married in October - and we'll be trashing the dress shortly after on the farm (of course!).

Kelly & Chris - A Love Story

I met Kelly a few years ago while I was assisting Russell French (a fabulous food photographer) in his Portland studio. Kelly was, well, let's just say she was ready to take the next step with Chris. See, they had been dating a few years... okay, so it was almost 10 years, but who was counting?!?

Here is their love story in Kelly's words...

"Chris and I met over 11 years ago. It was the summer before our senior year of high school and I was working at the Smiling Hill Farm ice cream shop. Chris also worked there and I thought he was adorable. He was so sweet and so funny and very different from other guys so I asked HIM out. We've been together ever since.

In February of '07, over a month after our 10 year anniversary he (finally!) popped the question. It was an average Sunday we were going to meet our parents for dinner (a common occurrence since our families are close). We were on our way to dinner when Chris mentioned that he was just going to swing by Smiling Hill Farm, which turns into a x-c ski shop in the winter, and check out the rental shop for rates and hours. I had been talking about how I wanted to go over and ski sometime so I thought it was a great idea. When we pulled in it was just about closing time and I thought the people working there would hate us for running in. But Chris just walked in ahead of me past the rental counter and when I went after him I found him standing nervously around the corner. I realized then what was happening. He said some very sweet things (that I wish I could remember) got on one knee, pulled out the ring and the rest is history!"

You can imagine how thrilled I was when she contacted me to shoot her wedding!

When we were designing their engagement photo session we decided it would be fun to shoot at several meaningful locations. Here are a few of the shots we took during the session - which, of course, ended where it all started - at the ice cream shop at Smiling Hills Farms.







Want to see a few more, check out their slideshow...