bella luce PHOTOGRAPHY

Sweet Annie.

It was one of those unpredictable New England weather days.  I woke up in the morning to beautiful, calm-blue skies; and as the day progressed, crazy, monsoon winds started to take over.  I basically just turned a blind eye because I didn't want to cancel. I was just too excited. Thankfully my friend, Mary Peacock, came to help out and snuggle little Miss Annie in-between shots while her mother took the rest of the kids on a mini adventure down to the pond.  This left 9 mo old Annie undistracted and totally mine.  (Thank you Leslie!)  Annie is a fantastic baby and didn't make a fuss when her mom left.  Luckily for me, that is usually the case.  It is amazing to me every time how a child calms down and becomes attentive when their parents are not within close viscinity.  They really tune in to me and what I'm trying to accomplish once I have their attention.                                  

                                   I found this perfect little spot and the rest is history! 

  

    
 

    
  

This is what you get.

What do you get when you mix a camera, a beautiful athletic redhead, and a beautiful day? 

Beautiful photos! 

Meet Kelly...

  Which do you like better? Texture or no texture? 

 
 

Michelle xx   

   

Fourth generation.

I swear this photo shoot almost didn't happen. The weather was so unpredictable. We only had one chance to get this done and I might have started to panic a little. The last thing I wanted to do was find somewhere inside on a dark cloudy day. As it turned out, the weather was very cooperative, the light was beautiful and we succeeded in getting the "fourth generation" shot we set out to get. 

Little Ayla is one precious little girl and I can wait to get my camera ready for her later this year for a family photo shoot!

Thanks again ladies! 

 

    

Out of the loop....

I was out of the photography loop for a good amount of time, maybe 7-to-10 yrs.  It was all a big blur, to be honest.  I got married, moved to Massachusetts, bought a home and tried my hand in a new career path, one that I found to be incredibly stressful.  Although it was not a field I was passionate about, I was happy to have had the experience, but then it came time that I seriously needed to move in a different direction.  

A friend of mine in California, JoAnn Motta, woke me up one day and made me realize I was missing out on what I loved most, photography! 

Wow, it was such a different world when I decided to jump back in!  I was incredibly lost and intimidated, to say the least.  I spent countless hours online learning how to use photoshop, learning how to use a digital camera, reading blogs (which I didn't even know existed), and was just trying to get a feel for what was going on in the photography world.

One thing I noticed that was quite a bit different was senior high school photography.  I remember when I graduated I went to Olan Mills and wore a black dress to get a simple head-and-shoulders studio shot.  They had me wear my cap and hold a fake rolled-up diploma just like every other senior they had photographed.  Super Cheese!  I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised when I saw what they were doing with senior photography, and even more excited when I started to get phone calls to photograph seniors myself. 

I am hoping to get the ball rolling this year on senior photos a little earlier so I hope you can help me spread the word! Here are some images from one of my sessions. Lexi was fun, absolutely adorable and up for anything! We spent a good amount of time together just having fun and that is what I loved about it. 

These are definitely not photos from the 80's! 

I have plenty more seniors to come so hopefully you will come back for another visit to my blog! 

Meet Lexi...... 

                                                                               
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

    
  

 

Just this.

Blue skies, ocean breeze, warm sun and sand in my toes. I long for just this....

                                                                             

     

 

Long overdue.

This is a session I did back in Nov that I had been meaning to share. I actually have many of these. What better time to share than right now,  It's Tuesday, it's raining, and I felt like looking at some photos that would make me smile. This is what I dug up. I literally had to dig these up....no joke. 

I met Mia about 7 years ago and even then at her young age she was totally aware of fashion. For her it comes completely natural. For me, not so much but that is a whole separate post for another day. Her adorable sense of style and her perfect cream like skin made for some beautiful photos. I was pretty happy when she came to me with no ideas and basically said, in so many words, do your thing. 

                                                                                                                                   So I did...

       

      

 

      

nugget.

It's already 10:00am, it's a beautiful day and I have lots to do but, before I head out, I just had to share this adorable little nugget with you.....

     
     

7 days....

Newborn photography is fairly new to me. Really, newborns are new to me for the most part. For some reason over the years I have not had the opportunity to be around many of these little babes. One of the first newborns I spent alone-time with was colicky, and while the parents were out little Hannah screamed bloody murder for five hours straight, so much so the neighbors actually came by to make sure everything was okay. I had no idea what to do, how to calm her down, and at that moment I thought I just don't have it. I was a little scared after that experience. :-). It was not until recently that many of my friends started having babies and, now I just can't get enough of them. My girlfriend Lisa had her first child April 9th of last year. That was the first time I really spent a good amount of time with a newborn, since Hannah. I was scared at first. I was scared I wouldn't be able to hold him correctly; I was scared I wouldn't bond with little Joe; but all that went away quickly when Brian and Lisa decided to take advantage of my visit and take off for a few hours. Within minutes of them walking out the door my heart melted. At that moment I no longer had fear, I simply fell in love. 

It was thrill to receive a last-minute call from Cindy to photograph her new granddaughter. I was so happy to hear she was only 5-days old. I have quickly learned that babies over 7- days old can have a much harder time adapting to the constant touching and molding photographers have to do to get those beautiful sleepy poses. I knew we had to act quickly so this past Saturday I packed up my car with props and headed over. The weather was questionable. I woke up to 6 inches of snow, but she assured me the sun was poking through on her end. We found a perfect spot in the house with beautiful lighting; waited for Aryana (love the name) to get nice a sleepy; and then had a little fun. I would love to hear what you think, so if you feel up to it, leave me a little love. :-) 

Here's a little sneak peak of the gorgeous Aryana...

 

 

 
 
 

 
 
   
  

yes, I know....

I am very well aware (VEN) that I haven't posted since Sept 09.  It's pretty much a joke at this point. My 5 week gap turned into a 20 week gap and hopefully I finish this post before it turns into a 21 week gap. The thing is, I'm just not good at it...it's just that simple. Ok, so now that your expectations of my blog posts are at an all time low, I should be in good shape. I just wanted to clear this up.... 

And, try not to give me a hard time about how lame this blog is ....I'm working on it :-)

On to what I really love...

I was so prepared for this newborn shoot. I had a vision and really wanted to execute it but this little babe had a different idea of what was going to go down for next three hours. There's not a whole lot you can do when a baby wants nothing to do with you or your camera. I am pretty sure all she wanted was for me to leave so she could go back to being swaddled as tightly as possible and back to her spot on the couch for a little R&R.  To her dismay, I wouldn't leave. She finally decided after three hours she would give me 5 seconds of her time so that I could leave with three photos. Yes, three photos....  Ok, it was really like 40 photos but 37 of them were the exact same pose :-)

  

Ok, If this wasn't a hint for me to hit the road I don't know what is...

  
 

See, I'm getting better!

I am down to a five week gap....awesome! I am laughing over here because it is quite ridiculous. But, why focus on that..... as long as I keep posting, right? 

Since the last post I did was of my dear friend Lisa ultra prego, I might as well make my next post of her beautiful baby boy Joseph..... a.k.a The Bear! He is just absolutely delicious, don't you agree?  

 
 
  

 
 

   

Do you remember me? Well, I'm back.....

Let's pretend it hasn't been 8 months and 17 days since I last posted. I'm not sure what really happened. I think I got a bit overwhelmed with the details of running a business so I put blogging to the side.  The next thing you know it was two months, then three months, then four months.....you get the point, right?  Anyway, I need to get the hang of this blogging thing again..... I will start fresh tomorrow morning with pictures from 8 months ago. ;-)  Ok, that just made me chuckle. 

Sweet dreams!