I’ll be away from Portland from September 7-17, doing portrait commissions in Ohio and Massachusetts.

I’m going to try to get in some good editing time while I’m in transit but no guarantees!

Boston trumpeter Fred Sienkiewicz hired me to do some artisan film portraits.

This is one he chose for publication.

If you’re interested in learning more about our portrait sessions, you can sign up to receive periodic updates from us.

WEST COAST (Portland, San Francisco, Orange County, Seattle)

EAST COAST and MIDWEST (Boston, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan)

Did anyone see Boston’s Gisele Bündchen in Vogue?

The April 2010 VOGUE had a story on Boston’s local fashion celebrity Gisele Bündchen (married to the Patriots’ Tom Brady). She was photographed by celebrated fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier. GORGEOUS photos. I am particularly stunned by his maternity portrait:

I’m also loving the baby portrait of Gisele with her son Benjamin Rein Brady:

“Where [Gisele] is going now is towards the reality of life and not its appearance.” – interviewer Joan Juliet Buck

I love this supermodel.

Check out the story and check out some photo shoot footage here: www.vogue.com/feature/2010_April_Gisele_Bundchen/

I am going through some film photos from 2009 and came across a few frames from the tall ships festival in Boston. The black and white image was from 120 film through a Holga camera. The color images are 135 film in a lomo fisheye toy camera.

I love the lady in orange posing for her photo with all the other people in the shot.

So the city of Boston had no problem issuing me a parking ticket for street cleaning on April 1 (the first day of the year they “start” street cleaning rules) but they let the T stops collect trash like nobody’s business. I can appreciate that garbage accumulates over the winter and hides under the dirty snow for several months, but it’s clearly way past time to clean it up.  MBTA, please get your act together because this is ridiculous.

T riders… throwing your trash on the tracks is equally ludicrous. Please behave.

I’m always happy to have another opportunity to photograph fellow artists, and I love to meet up with freelance writer Susan Johnston. She’s intelligent, ambitious, and always full of interesting stories. Check her out over at The Urban Muse!

We did Susan’s headshots over at a nonprofit writing center called Grub Street, located in an old historic building the overlooks Boston Common. Pretty cool and interesting space – I bet you didn’t even know that it exists!

[ more ]

Awhile back I had a quick mini-session with Kim, Doug, and mischievous little Ramsey in the little green space between the North End and the Boston’s financial district. Kim’s a fellow photographer, and we started off four years ago together trying to figure out what the heck to do with a speedlight.

Whenever I am trying to relax a kid and lose the cheese factor, I ask everyone to make a “very serious face.” Ramsey’s reactions to Kim and Doug are hilarious, to say the least. As you can see from the last photo, that little technique works like a charm almost every time.

I like this one best of the group shots, because it’s the perfect moment of Ramseyness. Let’s face it, the girl, like most her age, is a bit random. She alternates between playing shy and playing stage manager when someone new is around. I love the randomness of kids. They are always my favorite shots.

What a pleasure it is to photograph for friends.

[ more images here ]

(HIGHLIGHTS: crazy fisheye shot up into the sky, Doug’s faces,

and Ramsey’s little squishy smiley face when they lifted her up in the air.
Also, look at the way she looks at her daddy.)

We were blessed with awesome weather two weekends ago for the family sessions we did all day out in Franklin Park. We spent 30 minutes with each family, and I was so pleased to get such charming images in such a short timeframe. Big thanks to everyone for showing up on time and to Grace Benson for her assistance all day long.

Aside from formal family portraits during weddings, I do not consider myself a family photographer – that takes special patience and a skill set I have not yet developed! That said, the holidays do present an excuse to do some extra portraits by request. I have a few families I love to work with every year who appreciate my quirky and fun family sessions.

[ photos from family portrait sessions here ]

This is a great opportunity for me to remind you that TOMORROW is the cutoff date for most print orders for holiday 2008 delivery. Those families who are just receiving their proofs this week have until November 20 to make card and print purchases.

Wow! Feedback already:

Hey Rachel!
We LOVE our pictures…I have to tell you I wasn’t so sure how they would turn out based on Abby’s post Halloween sugar crash, but once again you captured the best parts of her, and our family. I love looking at the pictures of the 3 of us from the engagement session, the wedding, and now these…you caught our transition to a real life family on film, and I’ll forever treasure the images!

I had a great time sharing my top secret photo spot with another Boston photographer this week. Ashley O’Dell is super terrific and wonderful and we laughed a lot as we checked out the old bear cage from 1912 that is still hanging out there in the woods next to a hiking trail. Talk about hip urban decay! And I have none other than Diana and Micah, who I get to see this Sunday at the wedding, who took me out there for their engagement session last year.

We dubbed the theme of the day ‘retro’ and we brought our little analog cameras and did portraits of one another with holgas, and she had this rangefinder camera that looks like an accordion and according to an aunt does actually still work. As you can see, Ashley does retro and wonderful very, very well (proof!).

My contribution to the theme was to wear this fabulous cape. It’s one of those outer coats that’s not heavy enough to keep you warm, and not so light as to be pure vanity. So, it’s basically applicable for a total of three days out of every year. We’re in the middle of those three days right now, luckily.