Are you doing family pictures?

Yes?

Okay.

Here’s my advice — whoever you choose for your photographer — BOOK the SESSION NOW.  Seriously.  If you have ideas of fall photos, holiday cards, your family with great colors outside — yeah.  You know what i’m going to say, right?

Limited.  Openings.

So…that being said — this family booked and we had a huge amount of fun running all over their house and yard and just PLAYING (cuz I LOVE to play!) and George (I maintain that “GEORGE” is the best boy’s name ever — just say it to yourself.  Right?  If I had thought of it then — my son TOTALLY would have been a GEORGE) kept me on my toes running ALL OVER.  OMG!  ::laughing::

And one small observation — if you made it down to the bottom of this post and didn’t get caught up in — HOW CUTE THESE CHILDREN ARE ::grin:: — I want you to see that you don’t always have to go to crazy locations for photographs – sometimes just playing in the yard makes the best place.  Right?

Suzanne — you are AMAZING and I had so much fun yesterday!  xo T

Megan is allll about options.  She brought a terrific array of choices and we ROCKED it out!

Thanks Megan!

Jason and Stephen are my friends.  You may have seen them in photographs I’ve done before for the Rock Paper Scissors website…you may know and love them yourself…or you may be here completely for the first time and stumbling onto this post — but I promise that watching it will bring you into the moment…into the beauty of the relationship that they share…and give you a peek into what LOVE looks like.  LOOKS like.  I know we all have seen many many images where the couple is in love, they get married, they are happy — right?  (And don’t you love them?  They fire me up!).  But Jason and Stephen are in a moment we rarely get to glimpse…pure reaction and spontaneous feeling..and love.

Second:  Behind the Scenes.

Stephen texted me and said…do you think you could photograph the proposal…without being seen?  (paraphrasing here for the sake of brevity.  Really, what is below is where you want to be)  So we brainstormed and ultimately decided that at home…outside on the porch (their favorite spot) with Jason’s beloved sister and brother in law there was the right fit.  I coached Stephen on where Jason should sit…what light had to be on (and it was still really dark — hence the darkness in the images — it wasn’t like I could use any flash!) and how I would let him know once I was in position…

Third:  The Challenge.

All the lights were supposed to be off so I could sneak in the house through the back door (yes, I dressed in black and snuck through neighbors yards.  Whatever it takes, right?  ::grin::),  but when Stephen texted me he was ready…I discovered that the KITCHEN LIGHT WAS STILL ON.  There was no way I could walk in without being seen!!  What to do?  What to do?  I did what any panicking must get the shot photographer would do…I took off my shoes, laid my camera in front of me on the floor and crawled in on my belly…like a snake.  I was SO SCARED I would be discovered!!  ::laughing::  When I got to the couch Stephen came in and turned off the light and I was in pitch darkness.  The only light was coming from the porch.

Fourth:  This is What Happened Next.  (watch all the way to the end)

Click the photo!

Jason and Stephen…I love you both so much.  I was so honored to be part of your moment (vicariously!) and I cried all the way through taking these photographs!  Congratulations!!

Leave them some comment love, people!

xo Tam

Today it’s the hard stuff.  I debated whether or not to even write this entry — I mean…how can I even come CLOSE to sharing something so personal and so hard with all of you…but I came to the conclusion that if your even here reading this — then you either…like me…know me…or want to know more about me.  And Lulu is a very very big part of my life.  For eleven years.

I lost my best friend yesterday.  It was quick and unexpected — even though I could see age taking it’s toll — I still clung to the belief that she would be part of my life forever.  Those of you who have pets or anyone or anything super important in your world know exactly what I am saying.   You know it’s coming — but you’ll willingly cling to the last scrap of time together no matter how hard or how much effort it takes.

I used to be (haha.  that’s a joke.  I still am.) afraid of relationships.  Of commitment.  Of making a CHOICE and having to stick to it forever.  I didn’t want to be tied down with a pet…I felt like it was not the greatest decision I made…

But then I met Lulu.

Those of you who met her will know that Lulu has (forgive.  I still cannot speak in past tense.  not yet) the most amazing personality.  She was happy to see me no matter how long I was gone…5 minutes or 5 days.  She missed me.  And I missed her.

Losing her is so terribly painful.

But I also want to tell you that the pain I am feeling is small compared to the amount of joy that dog has given me over the years.  She’s listened to me.  She’s snuggled me when I was upset and growled at me when I wanted to play.  She made me laugh every.single.damn.day.  And I am going to miss her so much.

So…here are just a few of the amazing things that I love about my dog.

1.  Her aversion to peanut butter.  She never could understand:  was it a liquid?  was it a solid?  She made the funniest “peanut butter face”.  OMG.

2.  Floppy Tongue.  Floppy tongue came out when she was happiest.  When the people who loved her were around her and paying attention to how fabulous she was and rubbed her belly.  This is a RARE photograph my son snapped of my puppy and me and floppy tongue.

3.  Swimming Dog.  She’s a lab right?  She loves loves water.  And swimming.  And shaking it all off on whomever is closest.

4. Her smile.  Lulu always smiled.  Unless I was going somewhere and not taking her.  Her smile sometimes got me through the day.

5.  She loved me no matter what.  If I was grumpy, unshowered, weird, tired, sad, happy.  Her devotion never waivered.  Nor did mine.

I know she’s not in pain anymore.  I know she loves me.  And I know that in knowing her — I am a completely better, calmer and happier person than I would have been.  And…it really really hit home to me how incredibly important photographs are today.  These photographs…some of them are OLD.  All of them are PRECIOUS.  Because I can’t get her back again.  But I can carry her in my heart and remember.

So … I don’t want you to be sad for me.  I’m soooo lucky to have had such an amazing dog in my life.  I just wanted you to know I’m sad.  And I miss my puppy.

Love you Luleelu.  You’re SUCH a good girl.

xo Tam

A lot of times those ideas kind of fade away because they are impractical for whatever reason, or I notice that someone else has done something kind of along the same lines, or…I get bored with it…or it’s too hard to REALLY do.  Since I generate a LOT of ideas all the time (who knew this was unusual?) this happens quite often.

Once in a while though, I have a “BIG” one.  And this time, not only was it big — but it turned out to exceed my wildest imagination and expectations — and I could NOT have achieved it without the diligent work and dedication of my team, my friends, my clients and my colleagues.

It started with Vanity Fair.

You know how they have that issue with the actors on it?  I remember thinking…I’d love to do something like that.  How can I do something like that?

And then…in the middle of the night…I woke up with this idea perfectly formed in my head:  my clients.

I wonder if my clients would do something like that?  And so…an idea was born.  The most humbling thing for me, by FAR, is that every single one of my clients we talked to said yes.  No hesitation…no maybe’s — just…yep.  Tam.  That sounds sooo fun!  Let’s do it!  Tell me when and we’ll be there!

I think I might have cried I was so overwhelmed by that.

As an afterthought i said — hey.  let’s videotape it and see if we can’t put a little behind the scenes thingy (yes, I said thingy, it’s the technical term!  ::grin::) together.  Which turned into:  let’s interview each person and ASK (innovative concept, right?  ASK our clients to tell us about their experience) — and we maybe might have forgot to mention this to our clients — so when they came in to be photographed, they were surprised and a little nervous to sit in front of a camera.  I’m telling you this so you can see what follows was completely unscripted — even when I talk (and it’s SO HARD to hear yourself…ugh.  do I REALLY sound like that?  OMG) I had things I wanted to say, but I just talked unscripted.  I sounded a little strange and disconnected and sometimes I’d have to say it a couple of times — but I wanted it to be more gritty and real — then a perfect beautiful video.  Because we want to have fun and play and take photographs — we don’t want to be perfect.  It’s too much pressure, right?

Here’s the Vanity Fair cover that inspired me:

Cool ,right?  So…what I love about what our final image is that it’s a TOTAL Swales interpretation.  I wanted several things — I wanted to show how DIVERSE my clientele is…I wanted to show how COOL they are…and I wanted to be PLAYFUL.

Here’s mine (and clicking it will take you to an online version — that if you click it will make it REALLY BIG.  Try it — it’s totally cool!)

Can you BELIEVE this?!  I LOVE it sooo much!!!

Finally — we worked on the COOL VIDEO.

I don’t know what to say about it other than it’s the coolest thing I think we’ve done up until this point.  I love everything and everyone in it.  Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone involved — my amazing clients, Rock Paper Scissors Salon who styled, Bruce Hahn for advising me on lighting, My amazing team, and my family for supporting me through all the madness.  I love you all.

So…watch it will ya?  And tell me if you like it.  really.  Cuz it was a LOT of work.  And I really wanted you to know how important it is to me that my clients take center stage…because, ultimately, that’s WHY I do what I do.  For you.  xoxo

Ready?

Labor Day Weekend, I traveled to Long Beach NY (go there.  now.  it’s incredible!) to photograph the wedding of Jocelyn and Joe at the newly opened Allegria Hotel.  What made it difficult, like so many of my weddings, was that it got picked up by the gorgeous Merci New York Style Blog — and because they wanted to wait until warmer weather to showcase a beach wedding — we had to wait to talk about it…although a FEW images sneaked out here and there because, frankly, I couldn’t wait perfectly. 

I want you to look at the photographs and think about the fact that Jocelyn conceived the concept of sea glass and wove it through the entire wedding.  Blues, greens, that soft color that only comes from years of being washed in the ocean — were featured throughout all the details of their wedding.  They also got up the next morning at sunrise with the entire wedding party to do a day after session — and both “events” received rave reviews from the blog writers over at Merci New York.  Special Thanks to Jessica Weiser for coming all the way from Maine to shoot this wedding with me!!

Things that were cool:

Aforementioned decor and design — Joce even designed, printed and HAND DYED the ribbon on her invites.  Sooo beautiful.

Perfect weather.  Loving family and friends.

A large crowd on the board walk that participated in the ceremony — seriously, like hundreds of people were watching.  It was fun!

Jocelyn and Joe practiced not one but TWO choreographed dances at their reception.  I’m talking “Dancing with the Stars” level dances.  Super impressive!

A Chinese Tea Ceremony integrated both families

Sparklers at the end of the night.

A Day After Session that ROCKED!

So you can see…it was hard to wait to share these.  If you want to peek at the write up on Merci New York click the pic:

Some fun pics from the wedding (wait.  day after session also coming!)

And then we all got up at Sunrise.  But TOTALLY WORTH IT!

School has started up again which means it’s that time…senior season has come to an end.

All the lovely young women I was lucky enough to work with this summer are back in school, applying for college, so excited to graduate and embrace the next stage of their lives. And let me tell you…these girls are going to take the world by storm.

I had such an amazing time working with my seniors this year!!! What a gorgeous, talented group!

Congratulations, Ladies!!! You rock my world.

I can tell you what I think — and my opinion is based not on the fact that taking these photographs are part of what I do for a living — but more of a life-long observation about how our society functions.

(yeah.  I’m about to go serious.  brace yourselves!  ::grin::)

So.  Many of us have had the experience of being thin and beautiful and then maybe not so much.  Have you noticed how differently you are treated simply based on appearances?  Or…what if you leave the house looking ratty vs. all amazing and cute.  Difference?

And yeah.  I can also see that looking good impacts your attitude and the way you carry yourself and all that inner beauty stuff.  But I am simply observing that appearances have impact.  On everyone.

So do I think headshots are important?  Yup.  With the economy being what it is, with people competing for jobs in ever greater numbers…with judgment about your business being made in an instant on the internet…have you looked at your bounce rate lately?  That tells you something.  Important.

Images are CRITICAL.  CRITICAL.

They tell someone a lot about you in a glance…things like…do you look approachable?  likeable?  happy?  intelligent?

Are the images professional (nods to self ::grin::)?  And within that word professional there are many many different levels.  If you are presenting yourself to the world…why in heaven’s name would you put up blah images?  What does that say to others about how you view yourself?

And I am not by any stretch giving you a Tammy Swales “hire me” plug.  All I’m doing is expressing what I think about the importance of images.  We are a visual society.  We’re impatient.  We don’t wait or ponder or get wishy washy much anymore.  We’re decisive and make snap decisions.

Trust me.  If an interviewer or recruiter or Broadway show director is faced with a pile of 500 resumes with images attached…do you think they’re going to read every single one?  Nope.  Betcha that they flip through the images first.  Is it right?  Nope.  Is it real?  Yup.

A good photographer, an experienced photographer both understands this dynamic — but works with the client to make sure they are being presented in the best possible … um if you’ll pardon the pun… light.  Your personality and self are what’s important.  Getting that into a photograph is a major MAJOR skill.  It’s not the camera people.  Trust me.

So I ask you…how do you want the world to see yourself?!

But this one began with a photograph. Not my photograph, and not just any photograph…THIS photograph:

The Stolkas celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. FIFTY YEARS!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!?!? And their daughter contacted us for some family portraits of them with her and her sister while everyone was in town for the anniversary. And she knew she wanted to bring this photograph which of them on their wedding day. And I loved this idea!

When I shoot families, I think it is really important to make the shoot more than just images of people in a place. Family is history, it is love, it is the nitty-gritty and the laughter of every day, and I think that every family should incorporate something that is all about THEM into their shoot to really capture WHO they are. So I loved the wedding photo plan. Then we got talking and Helena said that one thing that her parents love to do together is bike…so we brought that into the shoot…

It was incredible to see the closeness between the Stolkas and their daughters…and the laughter!!!! This was more than a celebration of FIFTY (did I mention 50?) years of marriage, it was a celebration of family, of love and of those moments together that we can often take for granted in our busy lives. And we laughed SO much!

Happy Anniversary Stolkas! Here’s to many more years of family and fun!!!