Volker & Carolyn's Wedding at Whitney's Inn in Jackson, New Hampshire

Fall down here in Boston has been kind of, well, blah. The foliage has been so-so, the weather has been even worse (IT SNOWED LAST SUNDAY). It's sort of like Fall just skipped over us.

Last weekend, I figured out where Fall went; to New Hampshire!

The drive up north last weekend was nothing short of spectacular and to think that I was a weekend behind the peak of the foliage. Sweeping mountainsides still covered in vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow made for a very pleasant distraction from my three hour journey up north.

It also made a BEAUTIFUL back drop for the beautiful wedding of Volker and Carolyn. They were married at Whitney's Inn, which is this adorable inn near Jackson Falls. They had their reception in a barn which has been turned in to a restaurant/pub. Adorable details where everywhere, including the giant moose head hanging over the fireplace!

Volker and Carolyn are such an adorable couple! You could definitely see how much they loved one another. Carolyn had a smile on her face the ENTIRE day. One of the cutest brides, ever.

While Carolyn was getting ready at the salon, I noticed this beautiful ring on her right hand. It was her fiance's grandmother's ring and she was given it to wear for the day! I love it when brides can incorporate bits and pieces of their family into their day. It's so sweet and such a great memory!

The boys had their picture taken just outside the salon on the other side of the cover bridge. Talk about a tough job trying to keep the bride and groom from seeing each other! The boys clean up pretty well, huh? :)

Once Carolyn finished at the salon we headed over to the Inn where she and her girls got dressed and ready for photos. Carolyn's flowers were GORGEOUS and matched perfectly with her fall, October wedding!

Doesn't she make the most beautiful bride?!

Her dress was draped in this lovely, delicate lace that I just loved.

Just outside the Inn was this beautiful tree that still had most of its leaves on. We took advantage. A lot.

Isn't her joy just contagious?!

Happily walking with Dad down the aisle.

I'm telling ya folks, that smile stayed on ALL day.

Married!

Despite the frigid temperatures, Volker and Carolyn were real troopers and let Spring and I have some fun.

Carolyn wanted to check out the reception before everyone else came in for dinner. We had to capture them next to this beam that was decorated in lights.

I'll leave you with this image I took towards the end of the night. Volker and Carolyn steal a quick kiss in between dances!

Congratulations Volker and Carolyn! And thank you Spring for asking me to tag along, it was a blast!

Life Captured: Spring's At Home Portraits

Here she is! After shooting a wedding with Spring this past Saturday, we spent Sunday photographing each other in her back yard. She had this awesome old orange chair that we had fun playing with. She wanted some images with her and her SUPER adorable pup Coby (named after Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury :)), so I placed the two of them in the chair and started shooting.Spring owns the 5d Mark II AND a 50mm 1.4!! I was like a little kid playing with a new toy at Christmas. Between the two of us we ended up taking 693 images in the span of an hour and half. Yes, we belong to over shooters anonymous!

And here is the awesome orange chair!

Beautiful lady:)

As you'll see later, Spring and I, without planning it, walked out of the house in practically the same outfit. White sweater, jeans, black shoes and a scarf. Hey, it was all we could do to not freeze in the 30 degree weather!

I love her pup Coby. He's more like full grown dog by now though... I just met his this weekend and we're best friends now. He even came to wake me up and cuddle on Sunday morning. LOVED IT:)!

I love these images! They are just so fun!Beautiful Spring!

A Preview of Volker & Carolyn's Wedding at Whitney's Inn in Jackson, New Hampshire

More to come from this beautiful wedding!!

A Preview of Spring's Life Captured At Home Portraits

Hey folks! I am slowly recovering from being sick and have a lot to get caught up on!

I had a great weekend up in Maine and New Hampshire with my good friend Spring! I am busily working on the images from this weekend, posts will follow shortly! Saturday we photographed a wedding in Jackson, New Hampshire and then spent Sunday out in her gorgeous backyard. Here's a sneak peek of what we were up too... check back soon for more!

Jessica & Aaron's Wedding at Main Street United Methodist Church & Bay-Waveland Yacht Club in Bay St. Louis Mississippi

Charged batteries? Check. Clean camera body? Check. Shootsac full? Check. Full tank of gas? Ah.. got to get to the gas station!I'm going through a check list of all the things I'll need this weekend. I'm stoked because I am headed up to Northern New Hampshire to shoot a wedding a good friend, Spring, of Concept Spring Studios. I love this girl. We were photo classmates while in college at Northeastern University, and have stayed in touch over these past few years. We are both building the foundations of our own businesses and it has been so great to exchange ideas, tips and tricks along with problems, solutions and advice. I'll be spending Saturday and Sunday with her so hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to post next week of both the wedding and our time together:)

The last time I shot with Spring was this April after she flew me down to shoot a wedding with her in Bay St. Louis in Mississippi, a small drive outside of New Orleans. It was so much fun! Spring knew several of the family members involved with the wedding; I knew no one. But after about ten minutes with these folks I felt like an adopted member of the family. They were so hospitable, kind and generous. Not only did they invite us to the craw fish boil (their rehearsal dinner) the night before the wedding but they also took us along to the after party following the wedding on Saturday.

It was a great weekend and I look forward with much anticipation for this weekend!

And because this wedding was so wonderful I thought I'd leave you with some images from the weekend.

We'll start with the rehearsal dinner, all of the groomsmen along with some close friends of the groom ordered these ridiculous pants online to wear to the craw fish boil. Needless to say, we had them model :)

Here is a picture of Spring and I with our craw fish. They had specific instructions on how to ear these little suckers. I won't post them online, it isn't the most pleasant thing. However they are SUPER delicious!

Now onto the wedding. Jess's dress was BEAUTIFUL! Full of lace and beads and just gorgeous detail. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it!Jess made an amazingly beautiful bride. Here's evidence:Ok so this isn't the most attractive picture of us (give us a break it was HOT!) But I had to post it! The bride got ready in a family member's home which had all of these unique details such as this awesome wall paper in the stairway!The bride and groom, Aaron and Jess decided to do a First Look (highly recommended) on their day. This means that they chose to see each other before the ceremony, which not only gives us time to do portraits before the craziness of the day begins, it gives the bride and groom a private moment alone together and it's always wonderful. So here is Aaron patiently waiting for his bride-to-be to finish dressing:) I just love how relaxed he is!This is just moments after Aaron saw Jess for the first time. I just love the emotion in this image.Before the ceremony we headed over to the Yacht club where the reception was going to be held for some formals with the bridal party. I love this one, they look like movie stars with their sunglasses on!This group knows how to party!The night ended with a beautiful sunset. What a great day!Looking forward to seeing you this weekend Spring. As always I love shooting with you, we are going to have so much fun!

Jeff & Amanda's Wedding at Emmanuel Church & Ocean View Inn and Resort

A Walk Through The Arnold Arboretum

On Columbus Day Dave and I spent the afternoon at the Arnold Arboretum with hopes of beautiful foliage, green grass and blue skies. Apparently it is a little to early in the season for beautiful foliage but we did get to see lots of blue skies, green grass. I really love this place, it's like an oasis in the middle of the city. Dave loves that all the plants have signs on them so he has something to read. Me, I just love the beauty of nature. The air was crisp and it was just a great, typical fall day here in New England. Our time was cut short as I started to not feel well and now have a full blown cold. But we had enough time to take some photos and just enjoy being outdoors together. Our walk started in this little grove of trees and the light coming through was just beautiful.

Like I said, not quite foliage time here in Boston.

But I did find this beautiful yellow leaf tree. I have no idea what kind of tree it is but it was gorgeous.Dave managed to grab these two of me right before we left. I told him he should second shoot with me sometime. He wasn't to convinced.

They are Here!

To me, getting a package in the mail is almost as exciting as opening a present at Christmas. When I saw this package on our front doorstep I rushed to it and opened it as quickly as possible. My new business cards were here! I'm so pleased with the design, thanks to my designer Tara Peterson of Stupendous Design. She's pretty much amazing! If you have any design needs I highly recommend contacting her. She's laid back, creative, super friendly and just really easy to work with.

Anyways, on to the cards. My first business cards I had were tiny, small and filled with pictures. They worked well for what I was doing before. But my needs have changed. For these new cards I wanted a simple and sleek design and I think the new ones match just that!

So now I begin working on my other marketing materials, but I think I have a great base started with these cards. Enjoy!

Here are the original cards. I ordered them from Moo Prints.

And now the NEW cards!

Check out this super cute business card holder that I bought at Target !

A Walk Through Boston

I'll be honest. I'm not one for details. I have the attention span of a three year old sometimes and it drives my husband crazy. I love to get to the end as quickly as possible. I'm horrible with recipes too. One time I made my mom a giant chocolate chip cookie for her birthday. I was so excited to get to the final baked product that I didn't read the measurements for salt correctly. My mom took one bite and tried to muster the best "yum" she could. I haven't been able to live that one down yet. Some time I feel that I shoot the same way. I'm one for the big picture. I think it comes from being a news photographer. I decided I needed to challenge myself, to push myself to shoot in a new and unique ways. To think and see things differently.

I came up with the photo walk. Each week, hopefully, I plan to spend some time outdoors or indoors looking for the things that don't necessarily capture my attention right away. Taking the time to carefully search for the little things (or big things) to photograph. Each week will have a theme. One week I might focus on small details. One week I might only allow myself to shoot with a single lens. Sometimes I'll shoot wide, sometimes tight. One week might be landscapes, another might be just people. You get the idea.

So for this first week I spent my time looking for small little things that I often pass by. We'll see what next week brings!

Life Captured: Dave's At Home Portraits

Dave and I moved into our house in June. We have been so busy since that time, that we haven't really had a chance to explore our new neighborhood. So two and half months after we moved, we found time to take a walk around. I love where we live. Right near the home of the best breakfast sandwich in town.  It's probably clear now why Dave decided we should buy this house! Next to the market is a large park that the whole neighborhood hangs out in. I feel like we are in the center of it all up here on our little hill. As we went on our exploratory walk around, Dave was a good sport and put up with me taking his photograph (even after he got a few cat calls!!)

Business Business

I've recently become a customer of White House Custom Colour and just ordered my business cards! I debated for a while as to what the design of the cards would be. Should I use just my logo? Should I have a photo? What information should I include? In the end I felt that the best design that would compliment my brand would be simplicity. Besides I just love simple, clean, design. Things are slowly coming together. I guess it is a step by step process. Little by little I am building the foundation of Deborah Zoe Photo. I can't wait to see what the future holds!

I can't wait to get these in the mail!

A Glimpse of Fall

Fall is when New England shines. The foliage, the weather, the pumpkins, the apples, the fairs. I love everything about Fall in Massachusetts. One of my favorite things to do in the fall is go apple picking. This weekend we made a stop at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stowe, MA. This place is so much fun! If your looking for a place to go apple picking, this place has it all. For a buck you can take a wagon all around the property, buy cider donuts (our highlight of the day), pick a punch of apples, go to the petting zoo area (sort of random) and just enjoy being outdoors. Yesterday the skies were blue, clear and beautiful. The air was crisp, cool and refreshing. We lucked out with our weather yesterday; it has rained ALL day today.

Hello world!

My very first blog.... Sort of.  I did technically start a blog several years ago for my husband and I as a way to stay connected with our families and to let them know what was going on in our lives. It was short lived. I probably posted about ten entries. The next thing I knew every made a Facebook page and that was the end of the blog. I also found that I couldn't manage updating a social network page along with a blog and adding a business blog on top of that. Talk about a lot of work!

So that brings me here. To my second first blog; a mash-up of my personal life, business life and assortment of what's on my brain. I hope this place will serve as a journal of my journey as a photographer, business owner, wife, daughter, etc. It'll be fun and exciting and I can't wait to see what the future holds. Stay tuned!