2015 - In Review

2015 marks our fifth year documenting weddings full time. We've always said that you can enter a career by way of education or experience - and our path has been experience. Of course we are constantly pushing ourselves to take classes and workshops to learn more, but there are no professional photography degrees behind our team of photographers. In 1993, a professor at the University of Colorado - Anders Ericsson, wrote a paper about how 10,000 hours of experience will make someone an expert in their field. After five years, we've well passed the 10,000 mark, and while I wouldn't say we are experts, I can say this business has taught us far more than we ever thought possible about entrepreneurship, hard work, setting boundaries, weddings in every shape and form and dreaming big. This year brought us documenting weddings in 13 states, photographing past (and new!) clients growing families and a true welcome as Midwest Photographers in addition to our New England base. With over 300,000 images processed (I'm not exaggerating) by Matt, myself, Chuck and Abby not to mention our crew of phenomenal second photographers - Missy, Jenny, Devin and Mike - it was a year of living and loving big. With the volume of work it might seem like we're a well oiled machine with lots of minions to keep things running. And while we have our workflow down, each and every wedding and portrait shoot is handled in our humble little studio without elaborate outsourcing. It's a labor of love, and one we are honored to call our life's work.

Thank you for joining us this year. From the highest points in Maine to the shores of the Mississippi River, we've been honored to tell these stories with our cameras. We are eternally grateful for your support and look forward to another year documenting love.

*Previous years in review: 2011, 2012 (part I, II, III), 2013, and 2014*

Guest Post with Prairie Fair: Sweet Spring

Hi Friends! Today we have something fun lined up for you. Our dearest Emily from Prairie Fair in Minnesota is here to share a guest post with us about flowers! She'll teach us through photos how to make a boutineer, a flower wreath and a bouquet! Perfect for those of you thinking about DIY-ing your own flowers, and also just in time for Mother's Day in case you're feeling inspired to make mom a little floral present. Since Emily is based in Minnesota, she had the amazingly talented Minneapolis Wedding Photographer Eric Lundgren take photos for this - so these photos were not taken by us. We think the whole thing is just perfect, and we hope you do to! Take it away, Emily! Hello Dear Readers of Summer Street. My name is Emily, and while I’ve been lucky enough to have my Prairie Fair flower arrangements and styling appear on this beautiful blog several times this is my first experience writing to all of you! I couldn’t be more thrilled. The rapturously amazing Kendra is my oldest friend in the world; we met when we were three, went to the same elementary school, graduated high school together, simultaneously received degrees in dance from the University of Minnesota, and both went into the wedding industry as a complimentary occupation to our dance careers. As you can see, we’re fated friends. I’ve also had the pleasure of knowing Matt for years, and eating some of his baked goods and talking over the day is one of my favorite things to do. I’m so in love with the both of them. One amazing part of our friendship is that Kendra, Matt, and I have been able to work together on several weddings and photoshoots over the years. Since we don’t live in the same city right now, we always try to find ways to continue our collaborations. With wedding season upon us and Mother’s Day fast approaching (I love you, Marmy!) it only seemed appropriate that Kendra and Matt would want me to share a little bit about those crowns to our wedding ensembles and heart-melters of moms everywhere…flowers.But before I go any further, can I let you in on a little secret?…I love muscari. Loooooooove. To the moon and back twice times a million do I love them. When I see their beautiful bells opening in my mother’s garden at the base of the lilac tree and scattered amongst the tulips and daffodils I feel like I’ve found a fairy in an enchanted forest. Every spring this happens, this wonder and thrill, and every year I fall in love with them all over again.

I must admit, I can say this for so many flowers, well any time of the year truthfully, but especially in Spring. There’s no greater joy than being overwhelmed by the smell of lilacs on the bush as you walk passed during your post dinner stroll; there is perfection in the long necks of the narcissus and the softness of the snow crabs. I’m in heaven right now soaking up every scent, color, and delicate bloom. If tiny fragile lilies of the valley can push up through the snow and cold only to fade and do it all over again next year then there most certainly is hope and promise for me and for you.

In celebration of the season I made three pieces: a boutonniere or corsage that is both sweet and dramatic, a simple graceful hair wreath, and a lush bouquet that celebrates all the glories of fading cold and early warmth. For the bout I used a ranunculus, a double tulip, a sprig of veronica, and a begonia leaf that I cut from my indoor garden. For some subtle drama I wrapped them in a simple and slightly sheer black ribbon. Tis the season for twitterpation after all.Hair wreaths are the epitome of beauty and femininity to me. I would wear one everyday if I could (made while wandering through a field of flowers ideally.) In fact after the shoot I wore this crown of my beloved muscari, ginestra, and veronica all day until my special boy kindly removed it from my sleeping head (in addition to the Pride & Prejudice playing computer perched on my lap.)As for the Big Mama…well she is Spring incarnated: ranunculus, muscari, begonia, anemone, double tulips, and two varieties of lilac. (Truth be told I never ended up using begonia in the arrangement but threw in some veronica instead!)Aside from perhaps the ranunculus and anemone, all of these flowers are abundant in gardens right now (even in your corner grocery store!) Gather some up and place them in a jar on the kitchen table for your mom, sister, friend, grandma, and especially for yourself! Or even better yet carry them, lyrical and radiant (just like you!), down your tulip lined wedding aisle.I tied my bouquet with a gorgeous vintage ribbon that I purchased two summers ago while wandering through antique stores in Concord, Mass with Kendra. Heavenly.So what is your secret? Do you love muscari too? Or the smell of freshly cut grass? Have you always dreamed of wearing a crown of flowers as you say “I do” or finishing your favorite book seated in the limbs of a blossoming cherry tree? Let’s share all the promise of dreams fulfilled, the inherent hope of budding branches and sweet smelling magnolia, because Spring is really here!

Love,

Emily

2011 - In Review

2011 has been a truly amazing year. I think we will always remember this year with great fondness, as we ate, breathed and slept all things wedding. With the early part of the year leading me (Kendra) into the transition of being a full time wedding photographer, to the middle of the year when we got married ourselves (which has given us SO much more to truly relate to our clients and know exactly how they feel) to the end of the year when we shot 26 weddings, 42 engagement sessions (amongst other non-wedding related work) and got to meet the exciting bunch of 2012 Summer Street couples. With all of the wedding talk, gorgeous rings, adorable proposal stories and sweet moments, the funny thing is that we still can't get enough. There is something deeper than just a 'wedding' that keeps us artistically motivated. It's you. Getting to know our clients and having the honor of telling their stories makes us tick. We've never felt so at home. We say it a lot, but we truly feel blessed to have this job. Here's to each and every one of you who 'liked' something on our facebook page, commented on a blog post, encouraged us in our buisness, and trusted us to document your event. We are nothing without your support, and we can't wait to share 2012 with you!

New Website!

  Welcome to the all new Summer Street Photography website!!! We're delighted you stopped by, and we hope you take a moment to explore all of the new parts of our virtual home. It's still the same Matt and Kendra, but we've been working with some personal trainers of sorts to get our new site looking like a total and complete makeover. (psst....You'll want to read all the way to the end - there is a surprise down there as well! )

Let's start at the beginning. Meet Melissa and Jonathan, the master minds behind the Brooklyn based design firm, Makewell. They are getting married next June at her step-dad's farm in New Hampshire, and guess who gets to photograph it? Yep. That's us. Check out this too cute for words photo that Jonathan's brother took:

Photo by: Jordan Motzkin

Aren't they cute? When they contacted us this summer about shooting their wedding next June, I couldn't help but notice their work title line on the very bottom of their e-mails. Graphic designers you say? I clicked into their site. And fell in love.

And so it began. Our site was in need of something a little more cohesive and professional. A little more, 'design-savvy'. So We hired them. Well, actually, we hired each other. We started working on the new site in July, and now, almost four months later to the date, we have a new baby. A new, virtual baby that is. Melissa and Jonathan were amazing to work with.  We got to help with the fun stuff, but they really were the masterminds behind the entire site. We love that the website is now much more technically fluid and functional; incorporating our portfolio alongside our current work as well as has handmade details like Melissa's calligraphy in our new logo and other parts of the site.

In short, we couldn't be more happy. Read on for a few new features, and then go see them in action! (p.s. if you're my mom, remember these images below are just screen shots, and you'll have to go into the main site to see them in action).

Here's the home page. Happy.

Oh hi. It's us. Bet you didn't know Matt does Karate. Venn Diagram for the win!

Jessica's dress and Abena's perfume. Part of the Portfolio sections. See that little portfolio icon to the left of our logo? Let you mouse rest on that and a drop down menu of various portfolio goodies will appear for your choosing.

More portfolio. Claire. Pretty, pretty Claire.

The new blog! We'll still be posting all of our recent work here, so this part of the site will be constantly updated with our new work. See those cute little handwritten links on the side? All Melissa. If you click on categories, a little genie will show you the various post categories. Nice and tidy.

The thing we're the most excited about with our new blog is the 'See More' feature. We'll be posting a single image from our shoots, and then you can click 'See More' to see the rest of the shoot. If you want to 'See Less' you can, with a click of a button. Also, something that we really really wanted was the ability to expand and collapse the posts without leaving the main blog page. On most blogs, when you click 'See More' or 'Read More' you're redirected to a new tab or window, and then you need to hit the home button or the back button to go back where you were. Not here. You can expand and collapse as many posts as you like without leaving the page. Amazing. Totally amazing.

Our contact page. Pretty self explanatory. This is how we get most of our inquiries, so now we're comforted by the fact that there is a nice photo of Jay and Lauren in a field instead of just text. win win.

So fun huh? We are head over heels in love with this new little baby. To celebrate the new website's arrival we've decided to do a GIVEAWAY!

We will be giving away one photo shoot to a random lucky recipient! If you win, here's what's in it for you:

-A 1 Hour Photoshoot with Summer Street Photography

-You'll receive 50 edited images on a high resolution disk with a photo release to use the photos for personal use

-Can be used for an engagement, newborn, maternity, head shot, senior, pet or fashion photo session. If we are shooting your wedding in 2011 or 2012, you can also enter to win an additional hour of photography coverage on your wedding day. Don't want to be in front of the camera? Gift your sister a maternity session! Win an extra hour of photography for your friend! You can gift your prize as well as use it for yourself. Shoot must be in the Boston area - but we will also be in Minnesota and South Dakota this winter, so if you're out there, you're eligible as well. As always, if you live in France, just fly us out and we'll shoot all day for free.

-Here's how to Enter:

-Like Our Page on Facebook, or invite three friends to 'Like" Summer Street Photography on Facebook. Once one of the three people you invite follow through, you have your golden ticket. Then those people can enter the contest as well.

-Leave a Comment here telling us what your favorite part of the new site is

A winner will be drawn at random and announced next Friday November 18th - or when we reach 1000 likes, whichever comes first.

Now go explore the new site! And come back this afternoon, we'll be posting two more fun posts!