Kicks and Pics!

A couple of weeks ago I got to be a part of a fundraiser held by Enshin Karate in Griswold! What a kick!! Literally!! LOL In an effort to raise money for the local food pantry, the students got pledges and donations based on the amount of times they could kick a punching bag in 5 minutes, well, let's just say that you might not want to pledge by the kick, because they are going to surprise you!! There were thousands and thousands of kicks, by the students and instructors, from age 6 to 40!! It was wild!! And be best part?? They dropped off a check for over $1000 to the food pantry before Thanksgiving. How cool is that?

So a HUGE shout out to everyone who participated and especially to the parents, because without their dedication and help, none of this would be possible, you guys are the BEST!!

Images will be up on Pictage shortly, enjoy!!

~ Valeen

Alicia and Lee

Kasey and I shot Alicia and Lee's wedding back in October, we had such a great time shooting together (go figure!) and I just wanted to post a few shots here on the blog.

This wedding was in Putnam, with the reception in Webster, Mass., and boy did we catch everything right in peak foliage season! Plus the crystal clear blue day didn't hurt either!

Alicia and Lee thanks so much for having us! Your slide show will be done soon so keep an eye out for it. And Happy Thanksgiving!!

-Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone! I wanted to wish you the best Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for all my family and friends and the completely awesome couples that I worked with this year, it was amazing!! The season is pretty much over for weddings, so I'll finish up some post production and then get busy on that website re-do and a few other things I simply haven't had the time for quite yet. I'm excited about some of the new ideas I've gotten and look forward to sharing even more with you very soon! :)

Enjoy the day tomorrow... and Black Friday too!! Gotta go bake a pie! LOL

~Valeen

Brrrrrrr!!

Tracy and Bryan got married on Saturday and it was cold!! OMG!! It was a beautiful wedding and I had such fun shooting it, too! I've known Tracy for years and had the pleasure of meeting Bryan a few months ago and they are just wonderful together! They wanted some shots down by the Sea Wall in New Haven and if they were out there in the cold, so was I! :) It lasted all of about one minute, I think the wind chill was zero!

And one from the church... the girls all wore this fabulous shade of red, and the flowers were all red... my favorite!!!

Because it was so cold, we had to improvise on the portraits... in a booth at the restaurant where they had a little pre-reception party, I love this shot.

Thanks for letting us be part of your day!

~ Valeen

New Home Page Photos

In case you missed it, there are new photos on the home page.  I like to change them up, and with the new website they should do it on their own, but as it's not quite ready to go, I thought I'd do a little updating. Hope you like it! 

~Valeen

Need a smile? Meet the little "B"man!!

The economy sucks, prices are crazy, it's rainy and there's no sunshine today, winter is coming...if all that is getting you down, take a look at this photo and I'll guarantee a smile out of even the most dour of faces! 

More Slide Shows!

In case you've missed them, I've gotten a couple more slide shows up so take a peek when you get a chance!  I'll try to write more later, but right now I need to get going on the next wedding, I would really love to have everything done by Thanksgiving...well, except for the wedding I'm shooting next week, that might be difficult, but hey, who knows, right?

Keep smilin' those Kool-aid smiles!!

I Wonder?

Unbelievable. I want to believe it but several things about it make me think it's fake. Actually, I kinda hope it's fake. It is fake, right??

-Bruce

New Slide Show...

In case you missed it... there's a new slide show up on the website!  Check out Joanne and Sam at The Branford House when you get a chance.  A little background... the actually live in Idaho and came all the way out here to get married, her parents live here and her mom did a fabulous job with the arrangements, as you can tell!  This is the second wedding I've had the honor of being a part of for this family, her sister Kimberly was married 2 years ago in Mystic.  Here's the pin her mom was wearing that day!  Cracked me up!! (There are four sisters in the family) :)

~Valeen

Halloween Pic of our Bride to Be!

Here's a shot that Kate sent me with this note...

Just for a little background info....I had this wig that I'd been wanting to wear, so I was called "Raven" for the night....my friend Mark took on his made-up character of "Abner Fontaine"...LOL!!  If you knew him it would be even more hysterical for you....he is a goofball!!  Enjoy!!

I told her that I'm going to have to give her 'scary' lessons because she looks too beautiful for a Halloween costume! :)   We will be shooting her wedding in October and I just know it's going to be spectacular!  Can't wait!

Mars Lander Phoenix is Dying

Ok, bear with me while I geek out a little bit here ;)

One of the gadget blogs I read called Gizmodo has a series of posts up recently with reports from the Mars Lander "Phoenix". It is getting near the end of it's useful life after accomplishing all sorts of cool science experiments and the batteries are going. Honestly, didn't they think to send spares?? ;)

Anyway it's fascinating reading if you're into that sort of thing. He's quite well-spoken for, well, a probe and can you believe he has over 38,000 followers on Twitter?? Too cool!

Some interesting facts:

• At it's closest point Mars is 35 million miles away from us (250 million at it's furthest!)
• We first landed the "Viking" probe there in 1976
• 1 Mars days is 24.6 Earth hours and is called a "sol"
• Average high temp at the Viking site? 14 degrees f.
• Average low? -130 degrees f!
• Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos seen in the picture below

And the most famous Twitter post from the little guy?

"Are you ready to celebrate?  Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars!  w00t!!!  Best day ever!!"

Cool stuff! Anyway that's enough science for a while, enjoy the article!

-Bruce

 

A note about my favorite ship in Mystic

Most everyone knows that I just love Mystic and the Seaport and have had the privilege of taking photographs there of so many couples when they've gotten married. Of course one of my favorite shots is to use the Charles W. Morgan in the background, it's truly a gorgeous ship. 

It was recently removed from it's berth and taken up river to the shipyard to begin a 3 year restoration. I've heard there will be a couple of different ships put in it's place, but I have to say I'll miss seeing it. Of course there's no worry about having your photographs done as the Conrad is my second favorite ship and is beautiful too...along with all the wonderful places there are to get that special photograph. :)

But I did find this cool article from CNN regarding the wood they will be using for the restoration... it's coming from some 200 year old trees that were uprooted in Katrina and donated to Mystic by the owners. I just thought that was so cool. Click to read the whole story.

Here's a shot of Mike doing his Captain Morgan in front of the Morgan!

And Crystal and Mike... I love this shot.

~Valeen

Sharing the Love!

I got this note forwarded to me yesterday from my bride Kasey and I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to read something like this... it's why we do what we do! 

HOLY COW TISH!!!!!!!!!!! Those have to be the ABSOLUTELY BEST pictures I have EVER seen from a wedding!!!!  Every single one of them was so amazing!!  You must be so psyched! If I had a chance to do mine over I would totally have them do it!!  Dang!  I'm jealous!!  You look so gorgeous in every one of them too!  Jeremy doesn't look too shabby either ;-)

Some shots of my...ahem... home.

Okay, just teasing!  These are from the Branford House which I'm totally in love with.  I'm working on the edits now and thought I'm post a few, it really is breathtaking, isn't it? 

And hey, don't forget to vote... like you didn't know it already, right? :) 

(little note to Kasey... I have finished the editing on your wedding and I'm uploading to Pictage and have ordered proofs too!!  Yay!!  Talk to you soon!!)

~Val