As you can imagine, in winter portrait photography and weddings both die down considerably, hence the lack of activity here. I’ve also returned to school to further my education, which has taken up a lot of time as well. So for the past two months I have been busy editing assignments from the summer and fall. If you are interested, I have started a sister blog to this one, for my editorial and commercial photography work, which I’m studying at school. Here is the link, for anyone who wants to follow those adventures.
Happy Holidays! And I’ll leave you with some recent fine art shots, just for fun.
I kicked off a shockingly warm and sunny halloween morning shooting portraits of 1 year old Avery at Norris Reservation, a great little park that her parents had been coming to for years. Not only was its super dog friendly, but it was so photo friendly too, with benches and picnic tables placed in spots with fantastic backdrops.
Even though Avery missed her morning nap and therefore wasn’t in a Top Model mood, she still managed to look completely adorable in her rainbow striped tights and adorable knit cap. And don’t even get me started on the dog costume, it’s cute overload! Here are some of my favorite shots from the session.
Tags: Autumn, baby, Fall, Family, Kara Stokes Photography, massachusetts, natural light, new england, Norris Reservation, Norwell, outdoors, photography, Portraits
Yesterday I had a very cool photographic first. I had my first experience shooting multiple mini-portrait sessions at once. I have heard of photographers who set this sort of thing up and just announce a day and time they will be at a certain park. I am not quite at the point of organizing portrait events yet, so I was thrilled when Sarah from Itzy Bitzy Childcare approached me to do a series of mini-portrait sessions for the toddlers at the daycare. We decided to do our session at Arnold Arboretum, which was full of beautiful fall foliage.
I’m pretty sure someone upstairs was looking down on us, because it was a stunning warm fall day, with the perfect amount of sun to give a little sparkle to their eyes. You would never have believed that it snowed just days before! I’m pretty sure the kids had a lot of fun, both picnicking and playing with Sarah and Aisha and then running around with me when it was their turn for their closeup.
As you can imagine, there were so many photos of the kids that I loved and would love to share on the blog. But because there were 11 kids photographed, I have to limit what I share in the sneak peek. Here is just a small taste of the photos from our day.
A big thank you to Sarah and Aisha for this experience. I hope we can do it again in the future!
Tags: Arnold Arboretum, Autumn, Boston, children, day care, Foliage, fun, group portraits, Jamaica Plain, Kara Stokes Photography, Kids, Leaves, massachusetts, mini-portrait sessions, natural light, new england, outdoors, photography, Portraits, smiling, sunshine, Trees
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 10:27pm Posted in Babies
This past Monday I headed down to Mansfield to photograph newborn Nathan, who surprised his parents by arriving a good two weeks earlier than scheduled. He was a perfect subject, opening his eyes more than any newborn I’ve seen in recent years. I even managed to capture some sparkly catch lights in those brand new little eyes.
I would say this was their first child, but as you can see below, they also have a child of the furry kind. Dexter proved to be a perfect stand-in for Nathan while he was being fed, even posing for me on the boppy that we set up for Nathan to lie on.
Here is a sneak peek of some of my favorite shots from the session.
Tags: baby, black and white, child, infant, kara stokes, Kara Stokes Photography, mansfield, massachusetts, natural light, new england, newborn, portrait, south shore
Friday, October 16, 2009 at 1:10am Posted in Weddings
Leah and Jeffrey were married in the clubroom at Veronique which was exciting for me, because it was the site of my best friend’s wedding three years ago. It was amazing to return and instead of being in the wedding party, to be there to do everything I could to record it as accurately and as beautifully as possible. It was also exciting to see how much the venue has changed in three years. Now they have a gorgeous upper level garden, which allowed for some beautiful portraits of the Leah and Jeff, far from all the buzz and activity of the party. I really think you can sense the quiet calm they got to experience for their outdoor photos.
Leah and Jeff were a dream to shoot, completely relaxed and happy on their big day. And I can safely say that Leah was the anti-bridezilla, which I first realized when I heard her telling a friend that she didn’t want her sister to alter her manic-panic hair for the wedding, that she wanted her sister to look like herself.
There were over fifty images that I initially pulled to post as a sneak peek to my blog. Fifty! I managed to edit it down to thirty, after a lot of hemming and hawing. I hope you all love them as much as I do.
Tags: Autumn, Boston, Bride, Brookline, Ceremony, Club Longwood, Fall, Groom, Indoors, Kara Stokes Photography, new england, outdoors, Party, photography, Reception, Veronique, wedding, Wedding Photography
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:10pm Posted in Weddings
Despite precarious weather predictions for this past Friday, Olga and Steve ended up with absolutely perfect weather for their beautiful and intimate ceremony in the Italian Garden at Elm Bank. This wedding was unique in that they made it as eco-friendly as possible, from the invitations sent on recycled paper, to the organic and local food served, to small pots of local honey given out as wedding favors. This completely appealed to me and my own personal sensibilities, so I was that much more honored to be able to record this special day for them. And as you can see, throwing an eco-friendly wedding doesn’t have to look crunchy or casual. Their wedding was just as stylish and glamorous, if not more so, as any other.
I also loved the generations of family and love that I witnessed, from Olga catching up with her Ukrainian grandmothers to Steve dancing his adorable daughter around the dance floor. It truly was a special night.
I shot these portraits of Jay and an oh-so-pregnant Liz earlier this summer, prior to my entry into the photoblogging universe. Since I’ve received a few maternity inquiries lately, I figured I’d post these now, as they have yet to make an appearance here or on my portfolio site.
Revisiting these pictures after shooting their beautiful baby Nina Rose got me thinking about how amazing it is to follow a family through life changes. It’s really so much fun to photograph glowing, expecting parents, then their tiny little newborn just days old, then their active toddler, and so on. It reminds me that this is a lucky role to play, because of what I get to witness along the way.
Tags: arlington, birth, Kara Stokes Photography, massachusetts, Maternity, new england, pets, photography, photojournalistic, Portraits, pregnant
Recently I created a documentary day package, as sort of a hybrid of my portrait and wedding packages. My thought is that there are days important enough that I would want to hire a photographer to document it. Think about it, isn’t a fifth birthday just as important and memorable as a wedding? I think so. We all hope we only get married once, but we without a doubt only turn five once. It’s one of those fleeting times worth capturing as vividly and as beautifully as possible. Since milestone birthdays inspired this package, I was so happy to photograph a 5 year old’s birthday this weekend.
Brooke’s mom and dad totally went all out turning their backyard into a carnival, with games and streamers, even a snow cone machine and face painting. It really was a special day, and I was so happy to be a part of it. And I can completely imagine Brooke and her friends years from now, looking back on these photos and remembering an amazing and unique birthday celebration.
Tags: Birthday, Carnival, fun, Games, Kara Stokes Photography, Kids, marshfield, massachusetts, natural light, new england, outdoors, Portraits, sunshine
by Kara Stokes
1 comment
add a comment link to this post email a friend