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Welcome

My name is Jay and I'm a photographer in Southern New Hampshire who specializes in...well, photography. I shoot weddings in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts - anywhere in New England or at destinations of your choosing. I do portraits, senior pictures, commercial, editorial and photojournalism. I also teach college photography classes. Pretty busy, I guess!

I've made my way around the country doing photography with stops in Maine, New York, Oregon and Minnesota. I don't have an accent from any of them but plenty of fond memories and great stories from each place and in between as well.

I've also got an amazing support system with incredible friends and an phenomenal wife, daughter ( both of whom are exceptional photographers) and son. Oh, and a dog, three cats, a bird and a guinea pig.

Who says I should have my head examined?

Last photos of 2011 – NH landscape photography

December 31, 2011 – 1:17 pm

Crazy light this last day of the year – at 6:45am it’s still dark with a foggy overcast. Heading out with the dog for his morning run, grabbed a camera knowing the light was too cool to pass up.

Fog is ever present on the trail – slow, slow shutter speeds but still shooting wide open, my favorite combination for shooting. Old and familiar all look different in this light, a light that happens rarely – even more rare to be in a spot to work with it.

No music on the way in, just the sounds of my steps on the frozen ground, the dog running silently through the woods. At the swamp its eerily quiet – no birds, no color, all life seems to have gone south or burrowed into a cave.

Walking back, now listening to Osher, seeing new light as the rain starts.

What a beautiful way to end the year…and prepare for a new one.

Happy New Year everyone.

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Krista – NH senior pictures

November 25, 2011 – 9:37 pm

One of the very first people I met when I arrived at Great Bay eLearning Charter School three years ago was Krista. She drove me crazy – always writing, drawing or doodling on her hands, arms, jeans. We would go round and round – her telling me all she wanted to do was draw, that she hoped to be a tattoo artist some day. I would counter with the age-old argument that ink from pens wasn’t a healthy combination with the porous skin of a human – but I’d have to admit that her designs and drawings were really really good.

Fast forward to this morning. I kept thinking about locations for her senior picture shoot. My mind’s eye kept coming back to graffiti and bricks, two elements that came to mind when I’d think of her. Off we went; I figured we’d do the graffiti first and then see how it went. Incredible, that’s how it went. So good I had to force myself to wander to other locations.

We had a ball – even shot some photos her Mother could use as a Christmas card.

The photo shoot will be the high point of Black friday for me – the shoot and the fact that I slept in instead of going out into the madness of the shopping extravaganza.

Here’s a few of the day’s photos.

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Rachel – NH senior pictures

November 22, 2011 – 10:40 pm

Shooting senior pictures is one of my favorite things to do – teenagers are just the best age group to work with. OK, they’re stubborn, filled with attitude, have the wisdom of youth and on and on. But they bring such energy to a shoot – energy and a willingness to risk pictures, to try new things. Totally refreshing!

Today I did a photo session with Rachel, who, by her own admission, isn’t exactly keen on being photographed. I think it took about 3 minutes before Rachel forgot she didn’t like having a camera staring her down. It was late afternoon – cold and windy, just a  typical end of a fall  day at the beach. We could feel the impending rain/snow storm heading in. Didn’t faze her a bit – she never even got cold ( wish I couyld say that for me!).

Heading home after the shoot, I was whistling – knew we’d gotten some pretty special photos. Here’s a sample of the day’s work.

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Tyler and Rachel – NH wedding photography

July 7, 2011 – 11:06 am

Met Tyler and Rachel a few years ago at Ben and Angie’s wedding I was shooting. Last year Tyler called about having me shoot his wedding. I was psyched – I remembered him from the wedding as a very carefree, easy going guy.

After meeting with he and Rachel, I knew this was a great match.

Tyler, by the way, is a brew master for a local micro brewery. I think he and talked as much about beer as we did about the wedding. Fortunately Rachel was there to keep us on track!

We met up again recently to shoot some engagement photos. Wandered around Dover poked around the old mill buildings – and were joined by a couple of guys walking down the street for a photo.

Great couple, tons of fun…the wedding is going to be great!!!

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William and Anisha – Massachusetts wedding photography

June 13, 2011 – 11:40 am

Wanting to post these photos before they get stale – but seem to be at a lot for words. Instead, I’ll just fire a few random thoughts:
The location was the Seaport Hotel at Boston’s World Trade Center – in a word fabulous! Beautiful facility, gourmet food, a staff that went beyond helpful and an event coordinator that defined professional. Don’t know what it costs, but check it out if you’re getting married. Here’s a link to the hotel.
The only thing that outstripped the facility was the couple! William and Anisha are truly an incredible couple. Quiet, understated, elegant.
A totally unexpected moment – Anisha who is part Indian, was given a Mangalsutra during the ceremony. She had no idea it was coming. The Mangalsutra is a necklace worn by Hindu women as a symbol of their marital status – the Eastern equivalent to a wedding ring. She had no idea she would get one – what a wonderful surprise.
So the bottom line is the wedding was wonderful – I left for the drive back to New Hampshire knowing I’d made a bunch of new friends and some pretty good photos as well.
Here’s a few from the day.

The Mangalsutra necklace.

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Baby Owls – wildlife photography, NH

May 24, 2011 – 11:40 am

So not all wildlife rehabilitation is about animals tangling with motor vehicles – and getting the short end of the deal.
Got a call recently from my wildlife buddy Jane Kelly – she was returning a fledgling barred owl to its nest – apparently the little ball of feathers had ventured out too far … and fallen 30 feet to the forest floor.
I didn’t have to pause for more than a nanosecond before asking for time, address and thank you very much, I’ll be there!
I’ll admit I’m not usually a sucker for cute, but this baby owl clicked its beak at me and I was in love! After the owlet was returned to the nest – and a modification made to prevent the little guy from falling out, I was up the ladder shooting photos of the owl – and sibling in the nest in the tree.
Mom was about 50 feet away in a tree watching my every move – I never did see Dad.
After, everyone left but me. I found a place to hide ( so I thought) where I could wait and get a photo of an adult returning to the nest. A few hundred black fly bites later it was too dark to shoot, so I walked back to my car. All I heard was the wingbeats as Mom returned to the nest to reconnect with her babies…and, I’m sure, celebrate my leaving her woods!

By Jay | Posted in inspiration, Personal Project, photojournalism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | no comments         No Comments | Add a Comment

Anvi and Augustine – Mass. engagement photography

May 21, 2011 – 9:06 pm

Boston Public Garden – a beautiful spot but tough for an engagement shoot. Why? Well, the list is long, but the big two are parking ( or lack of) and crowds.

Originally when Anvi, Augustine and I had talked about an engagement shoot we were looking at a few parks outside of Boston. Later Anvi asked if we could go to the public gardens.  I mentioned the problems but she clearly wanted to go to the gardens…and after all its her wedding. OK, we’ll do the gardens.

I drove down to find that there was an accident tying up traffic on Storrow Drive – the backup was all the way to beyond the bridge leading into the city. Chose an alternate route ( even though I knew I’d lose my GPS signal in the O’Neill tunnel) – came through the tunnel, driving blind with no satellite signal, made a few guesses and about the time I acquired a signal I was in front of the public gardens…still not sure how I did that.

Most of the meters were bagged – a film crew was working in the area – and the car was overheating. Not feeling good about this at all! Circled the gardens a couple of times, finally snagged a parking place, grabbed my gear and sprinted to the meeting spot. Anvi and Augustine were late…they had to deal with the same lack of parking, but we connected and off we went.

Its funny how I can be a little down about things – but that all goes away when the shooting starts. Ok, for all you “hate-to-get-out-of-bed and go to work people, all the can’t wait till the week’s over folks…I really can’t relate. The fact is I love what I do. Yeah, I know – I’m really lucky! But I digress.

Dealt with the crowds – they really weren’t as bad as they could have been, think the possible rain kept some away. Anvi and Augustine were a joy to work with – we knew we were running just ahead of thunderstorms and shot a bunch till they hit. Spent 30 minutes or so under a bridge by the swan boats, talking, looking at photos in the back of the camera, then at it again as the storm passed. Having so much we even pushed the limit on the parking meters. Finally wrapped it up and parted excited to do the wedding. Can’t wait, what a neat couple!

Here’s a few photos from the shoot.

 

 

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Anisha and William – Mass engagement photography

May 1, 2011 – 10:08 am

Got a call from good friend and colleague Mark Morelli – a friend of his was getting married, was I interested. ” Sure, Mark, what’s the contact information?”  Ok, the fact is I’m not a big phone lover. I’ve never been good at small talk or schmoozing on the airways, much better at both in person. However,  two minutes into this call and I was hooked!

It quickly became apparent that Anisha was simply amazing. We talked like we had known each other all our lives – and I was ready to shoot her wedding before I had even met her!

Two weeks later and I met her and fiance William. Wow! We sat in their house, talked then went strolling around Chelsea – the waterfront along the river, the Tobin Bridge in the background, apple blossoms bloomed that day – it was all perfect. The more we talked, walked and shot, the more I came to feel like family to these two – their wedding is in a month – it will be hard to wait.

Here’s a few photos from our session.

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Hannah and Miles – NH engagement photography

April 25, 2011 – 1:00 am

Got together with Hannah and Miles to do an engagement shoot the other evening, so good to be back doing what I love doing the best. A really nice evening – mid 50′s, only trouble was the wind – real feel temperature was closer to 40, hair blowing, dust flying wind. The three of us donned jackets between locations…OK, for the most part I left mine on the whole time, but the location was spectacular – Searles Castle in Windham.

The castle itself was closed, but the grounds are amazing. Stone turrets, stone walls, beautiful woods, simply a great place to shoot photos.

We weren’t without our moments – at one poiint I heard a car alarm going off, didn’t think much of it until a short while later when the Windham police showed up. Turned out we had set off motion alarms while walking around – the car alarm was actually a breakin alarm. The police officer was great – it became clear we weren’t there to steal the castle and he was most gracious about having to respond to a sort-of false alarm.

Hannah and Miles were great too! We tried all kinds of photos, the more we shot the more they got into it. And when we were done ( it was starting to get dark) I had way more photos than I will ever be able to work with. Here’s a few from the shoot.

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Two girls revisted – Maine portrait photography

April 21, 2011 – 11:35 am

Hanging out the other night with my two favorite girls, my daughter and her best friend, who is almost my second daughter. I have photographed these two young ladies so often, never get tired of shooting them either. In Maine, an old farmhouse, needing a coat of paint, but what a wonderful environment for some photos. Light going fast, cloudy overcast end of the day light. First processed them in color until I realized these photos were made for black and white.

Remembered when I never shot color, saw only in black and white…sometimes still do, but thinking don’t see that way enough. Love that the content and composition become what the photo is all about, no getting diverted by pretty colors. Texture becomes color, what a wonderful way to see.

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