Archive for December, 2010

Kelly + David :: South End engagement session

December 6, 2010

The weather report didn’t mention anything about rain on the day of Kelly and David’s engagement session, so I was super happy. The weather was sunny and the sky was blue. But as I was driving into Boston for the shoot, clouds came out of nowhere, and a few raindrops went plop-plop-plop on my windshield. It was starting to drizzle. Boo. I was really worried that it would rain down on us all of a sudden and ruin our engagement session, but the rain held off! I always get lucky! :)

Kelly and David are two incredibly smart people (both dentists!) and are having a destination wedding in Hawaii. They are hiring a local wedding photographer and asked me to take their engagement pictures. I would say most of my couples who hire me for engagement pictures have destination weddings and really want pictures in Boston because that’s where they live. And why wouldn’t they? Boston is beautiful! We took these photos in Kelly and David’s neighborhood of South End, and we had a great time exploring their neighborhood!

Pretty ivy makes for pretty backdrops!
South End engagement shoot

I like to get really close to my couples for some shots.
engagement session in Boston

We came across this really cool grass sculpture, and we weren’t sure if we are allowed to climb on it. We didn’t see any sign that we couldn’t, so we had fun!
sculpture in South End

couple sitting on green grass sculpture

Next we wandered into the community garden and saw a few neighbors tending to their gardens. Some of them had the biggest squashes and pumpkins I had ever seen! I wanted to take a picture but I didn’t want them to shoo me away!
Couple at a community garden

Next we went to the neighborhood park. Once Kelly and David jumped on the swing, they didn’t want to leave! They were having too much fun! It took a lot to coaxing to get them off. :)
Swinging at a park by Las Vegas engagement photographer

Kelly and David were totally cool with laying down on the grass as the neighborhood kids were running around us playing softball! I am so happy that my clients are down for anything!
couple session by Las Vegas photographer

South End is really cool because there are a lot of modern buildings, but also fun, grungy buildings like this one.
Couple behind a warehouse

Congrats on your engagement Kelly and David! Thanks for reading everyone!

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Blackrapid women’s R-Strap review

December 1, 2010

I just saw that Photosister is holding a month of giveaway contests, including a couple of RS-W1 camera straps. I wanted to do a quick review of my own R-strap that I won from Photo Sister a couple of months ago. But I need to start the story from March of this year…

My husband gave me an R-strap, the RS-7, for my birthday in March and I was ecstatic. Previously, I hung my camera and very heavy telephoto lens around my neck, and that was not very comfortable. I knew at some point, I probably needed a better strap than the one the camera comes with. The R-strap had been on my wish list for a long time, but I never mentioned that to my husband. So imagine my surprise when I opened my present! It was like he read my mind!

I don’t know any other way to say this, but I love, love, love my Blackrapid strap. I don’t think I would ever use anything else because I no longer get neck or back pain. It totally takes the weight off those areas. I know a lot of photographers think that it is very bizarre to have your camera upside-down and have the strap attached to the tripod mount, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I like it because some people don’t even notice my camera because it is at my hip! I don’t have any qualms about having some freak accident where my camera crashes to the ground because it’s really sturdy. You just want to check the connection every so often and make sure it’s tight.

Several month later, I learned that Blackrapid was going to come out with a women’s version. I was a little bummed because I would love to have a women’s version but there was no way I was going to buy it because my RS-7 was still fairly new and working just fine for me. But I was really curious about this new version. I kept up with the news on it and was so excited to find out that LaRae Lobdell was holding a contest and giving them away on her website, Photosister. And I scored one! Yes!!

I’ve been using the RS-W1 for the last few months, and I prefer it to my old RS-7. Finally, an R-strap design for a woman’s body! I really like the slimmer design, and it’s even more comfortable than my RS-7. For me, the padded part does not move around as much as my old R-strap, so I don’t have to adjust like I used to. There’s also a clip on the back, so I don’t have to worry about the dangling slack of the strap (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let’s try a belt and pants analogy. Imagine that you are fastening the buckle of your belt, and you have that leftover belt you put it through the buckle, and then sometimes it will flop around if you don’t have a belt loop).

I’ll end with a picture of me sporting my RS-W1 (thanks to Binita Patel for taking this lovely picture of me). I hope the review was helpful and please let me know if you get one too! :)

Thanks Blackrapid and Photosister!
Modeling the Blackrapid strap for women

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