Favorite Wedding Moment from 2017

If you asked me "what is your favorite photo from a wedding that doesn't include the bride or the groom, I would say that it's this one, hands down. 

Let me set the stage for you. I'm positioned at the front of the aisle, waiting on each of the bridal party to come down. This adorable little boy and girl were the ring bearer and the flower girl. Now in my head, I am thinking "look up, smile, stay together" as we've all seen the little kids in weddings melt down under the pressure. (which sometimes is a cute photo op, too). These two did not, they crushed it! 

We've also all seen the flower girls take the flower petals and just put them on the ground. I'm looking through my camera, and praying that she is able to be a little more theatrical and throw the petals with a little flair. So I use my jedi powers and think "now look up, smile, and release the petals like you're releasing a little bird or a butterfly." And wouldn't you know it, she does. 

*click*

Dandelion, close up, black and white

It's been a long while since I have written here. To my avid readers, welcome back ;). Coaching football really really dominates my time from August to November, plus I was getting ready for the showing at the Gilford Public Library. Anyway... 

I struggled with this shot for a long time. I don't do a lot of black and white, and even less with a macro. It wasn't until I printed it for the show that I decided that it was worthy. The more I look at it, the more I like it. The Dandelion head is a perfect sphere. The individual seeds pop against the dark head of the flower. The 8x10 print crops the stem a little bit, so the flower is more dominant. I am very proud to put my name on it. 

It is available over on my Buy Prints page. 

East Inlet, Pittsburg NH

My wife Angie and I took a day away from our chores the past weekend, opting for a kayaking trip to Pittsburg NH, specifically to kayak the East Inlet. The East Inlet is north of the second Connecticut Lake, not visible from Route 3. It's a pristine body of water. Angie and I had the entire 60 acre pond to ourselves, save for a family of loons, a juvenile bald eagle, and various other waterfowl. 

Before breaking out our kayaks, I spied a doe dining on some long grass or daisies along the roadside. I was able to get the truck turned around and get a couple pics before she had enough of me and headed to the woods. 

We started our morning paddle observing a family of loons, one parent fished nearby while the other kept a wary eye on me as I paddled to get a good photograph. I kept my distance, and "mum" kept her eye on me and her babies close. Based on what I read over on loon.org, I would say they were 4-5 weeks old. I got a couple shots, before moving north. 

Once we paddled north, we spied a large bird of prey fishing, maybe two to three thousand feet away. (He was big). We paddled north quickly, but the bald eagle decided to head south, allowing me a couple shots before he was out of sight. 

Our main quarry for the trip was moose. Needless to say, we saw none. But we did have a great time kayaking this quiet body of water. We both look forward to hitting it again. 

Latest Boudoir Shoot: The Many Faces of Jessica

I recently had another opportunity to shoot my gorgeous friend Jessica, for her second boudoir session. We have a great relationship, and I feel that shows in the images. She's a great deal of fun, and we are both very comfortable talking openly about what we each have in mind for ideas. Jess is one of my first clients, and to have the opportunity to shoot her again was a real treat. I think she made the most of it for sure! 

I will be posting more of her later on this summer as I refresh my boudoir page a little, but I at least wanted to share this with you folks. We had been shooting for a couple of hours, and I think Jess kind of hit a wall. We started teasing each other a bit, and she made these goofy faces, cracking herself up as she did. Yeah, ok, me too, along with all those present.  It certainly helped to share a laugh, each of these made a great image, and together, they really tell a story of our time together. I think these really capture Jess when she's the most beautiful. Not trying to be sultry or sexy, although she certainly can be that. This, to me anyway, is more of who Jessica is. Pretty, funny, and full of personality. 

Rebecca's Headshot

My daughter Rebecca came homer over the weekend for her brother's graduation. She informed me that she needed headshots done for a play she's auditioning for. Of course, I was happy to oblige. This was taken at about noon, when the sun is at it's absolute worst. I am happy with how it came out. 

Local models crush it!

As I have kicked off my website and delved into boudoir, I have had the pleasure of working with a handful of local models with varying levels of experience. A couple of them are very experienced, and make a decent income modeling. 

One of the ladies I have had the pleasure of working with is Kiera Tuttle. Kiera models under the name Nikki J Modeling.  I have found her to be professional, easy to work with, eager to help me get a great shot, and, perhaps most importantly, she's a flippin' riot! Kiera has been a big help to me, steering clients my way, giving me feedback on shots, and as well as being a kick-ass makeup assistant. 

This shot is one that we have come to call "400", as it's camera assigned file name ended in 400. It was the first time I tried using colored gels. When we reviewed her session, this particular shot was met with a collective gasp from everyone in the room. 

Kiera absolutely crushed this session. This shot in particular, she's gorgeous. Make no mistake, Kiera is not a typical waif runway model. She's a real woman, with real curves. When I think of boudoir, and loving your own skin, and proving that every woman deserves to feel beautiful, this is the type of shot I hope to capture for all my clients. I hope you like it. 

Fresh Boudoir Edits

It's funny how you'll look at a photo months later and see something you didn't see originally. I had the pleasure of shooting Leah back in December. I revisited her session this week, and re-edited a couple shots. I know there's a certain demographic of my audience that is looking at this shot and thinking "how the heck did you miss THIS??" It happens. There's a lot of shots from her session that we both liked. 

I hope you enjoy this shot, and the new edit. If you are interested in booking a session, I have openings for Saturday and Sunday. Book your session here. If you have questions, email me at steve@stpphoto.com. 

My Beautiful Wife

As much as I have tried, boudoir is not my wife's thing. That's fine, I completely understand, it's not for everyone. She did agree to let me photographer her, clothed, in a boudoir style shoot. An aside, one of the answers on my boudoir questionnaire is "I'd wear a sweater and a turtleneck if I could." I digress. I would say that here are people who would probably classify this is as not boudoir, but lifestyle. What it's called, to me anyway, is irrelevant. I do know it's lit in what we call "low key" and that is much more of my preferred style than "high key". 

Anyway, my beautiful wife of 25 years and counting agreed to let me shoot her, and this one I like. I am sure that some of you won't love my dark and moody style. Others may think it's great. To each his own. I hope you like it. 

Tannery Hill Bridge at Dusk

I'll let you in on a little known secret. Ready? There are covered bridges in New Hampshire. I kid you not. Ok, being serious now. If you watch shows like "Northwoods Law", you'd get the impression that there's a covered bridge on every river or stream crossing. Well, there's not. Close maybe, but not EVERY crossing. 

The Tannery Hill Bridge in Gilford is quickly becoming a favorite to shoot. It's very accessible, it's about a mile away from the house. It's a small footbridge, as opposed to a large vehicle bridge over a big span of water.  Because of that, I am able to get the details of the bridge while still fitting it the entire frame. It's pretty picturesque, nestled off the beaten path in Gilford Village.

My wife and I snuck out just before dusk last night, when the light is "just right". Magic hour. I set up my camera on a tripod, tried not to fall in the brook, and snapped a couple shots. This one is the best of the lot in my opinion. Another 2 minutes and the light was gone, but I was able to capture this one.

For you camera geeks out there, this was shot at 1250 ISO, 25mm, 0.8 second exposure, at f5. My speedlight was triggered remotely, inside the left hand side of the bridge. Thanks for checking it out. 

Framed prints are available here.  

"Hunting Bald Eagle" framed prints are in

Finally! My "Hunting Bald Eagle" framed prints have arrived in inventory! I could not be happier with how they turned out. The frame, created by area craftsman John Limoge, is hand aged and adds to the rustic quality of the photo. John did a superior job on these frames and I believe it really adds to the final piece. 

The 11x14 print shows our nation's symbol soaring low through the late winter trees of central New Hampshire. The great bird of prey is slightly illuminated on the underside by the sun reflecting off the snow pack. The bright blue sky in the background sets off a nice contrast with the tree behind the bird. I am thrilled that we were finally able to capture this bird before it moved off to his spring hunting grounds. 

It'll look excellent in your home or office. Order it here. 

Final days of maple season

Saturday was the final day of this year's maple run. Overall, it was a very good year for my in law's farm, Rocky Ridge Farm. We boiled somewhere north of 50 gallons, and still may break the 60 gallon barrier this week when the remaining syrup is finished off and boiled. 

I took a couple minutes these last couple weekends and snuck away from my boiling duties to take a few pics. The one I like the most is this one, which has the spring sunlight streaming in the barn boards, illuminating the steam. I hope you like it. 

Turkey Scouting with Gene

My friend Gene and I went a little more bird watching today, scouting for turkeys for the upcoming season. I will tell you, Gene knows his wildlife. He knows where these birds are, he knows where the deer, moose, elk, caribou, hell he probably knows where bigfoot is.

So Gene takes me to a spot, not for from the bald eagle spot, where he thinks the turkeys will be. Sure enough, they are right where he said they'd be. They were a little far away, so we opted to stay in the truck and drive around for a while, instead of trudging through the fresh snow. 

We ran into a couple flocks, a lone jake, that looked like he could stand to eat, more horses than I have seen of late, and a big ol' fat pig. No bald eagles today, however. 

Good way to start my Sunday. 

Pin Up Sessions Available

I have been holding these images, but now I can release them for you to see. Pin Up is a fun, sexy shoot, without necessarily being scantily clad. My opinion is that pin up is shot with bright lighting against a bright background, as opposed to my style of boudoir, which is dark. with dramatic shadow. 

These two shots are especially fun.

Pin Up is nearly a full day of pampering. If you decide to book a pin up shoot, you'll have a hair stylist design you a retro look, as well as a make up artist to make you over. I would say your make over is a good two to two and a half hour experience. Then the shoot duration is up to you. 

Message me here if you're interested in this type of shoot. 

Limited Edition, Bald Eagle Framed Print

I am pleased to offer this bald eagle print as my first limited edition. The majestic bird, flying low, is lit by the late morning sun reflecting off the late winter snowpack, illuminating the bird's underside. The gnarled tree in the background adds to interesting imagery of the photo. 

The photo is printed on metallic paper, so the bright blue sky really pops. The talc colored matte pulls in the tail feathers, while the American traditional frame finishes the art work in an antiqued, colonial feel. 

I am really proud of this picture. I feel it's one of the finest finished pieces I have ever had. I am very proud to sign my name to this beautiful picture, and I hope you'll add it to your home. 

You can purchase this artwork here. 

Great Grey Owl in Newport NH

This morning, I had the opportunity to go on my first "owl prowl" with fellow photog Drew Hines. We left at the crack of "oh my God it's early" this morning. Did I mention it was cold? Oh My God. It was about 2 degrees above with a stiff wind. It was a bit chilly. Anyway, Drew knew right where to go to find this rare and endangered owl. He was right on the money. 

We were at the destination in Newport for about 2 minutes when our feathered friend made his appearance. He sat atop a fence post or two, seemingly oblivious to the cold that in mere minutes had me chilled to the bone.  Got two shots I really liked, which you can see here. 

What I didn't know is this Great Grey Owl is a big deal. Before we were done, there were 16 photogs in this field shooting the owl. There was a lot of high end glass in that field, let me tell you. Drew and I finally succumbed to the cold and headed to the car after about an hour or so. 

I will have the prints available soon, so stay tuned. 

Sunday's Bald Eagle II

As I was mentally preparing for a lazy Sunday full of lounging and naps,  I received a text message from my friend Gene early this morning informing the bald eagles were at our usual haunt. I sent him a text back that I would head in his direction, and instructed him to tell the eagles to wait for me. That requested was denied by our feathered friends, but in the end, it turned out pretty good. 

I picked Gene up and we headed to our spot, and, shockingly, the eagles were not present. Gene and I opted to hang around for a bit. We waited, and waited, and then waited some more. I exaggerate really, because we waited maybe an hour. We were discussing whether or not to give up when Gene spied a large shadow in front of my truck. We hoped out and sure enough, our magnificent friend graced us with his presence.

Both Gene and I got some shots, but this one is by far my favorite. Enjoy. I hope to have framed prints available soon.

New Remote Flash Trigger

Hi gang! I wanted to show you my latest addition to my camera bag, a Yongnuo YN-E3-RT remote flash trigger. This allows me to remote fire up to five speedlights from up to 100 yards away. You can see the difference in my photo below, taken at my in-laws maple farm, Rocky Ridge Farm. The photo on the left shows a regular shot with no flash, and the photo on the right shows the steam from the evaporator illuminated by the flash in the corner of the sap house. 

Pretty cool! 

Bald Eagle

Some of you follow me on social media know that I have been "hunting" a couple different nesting pairs of Bald Eagle. A co-worker had been scouting locations for me, and came up with the best lead yet. Bald Eagles have been visiting the local fish hatchery with semi regularity. The actual report was that they were coming every day until the recent thaw. We had seen cell phone pictures of the nesting pair and a juvenile, as recent as Friday, so we were very optimistic. My friend and I made a plan to meet up early today to hopefully see some eagles. 

NH Bald Eagle passes overhead

We met up Sunday morning and headed to the hatchery. After a few hours, we decided to move on with Sunday plans and quit for the day. I headed over to my in-laws sap house to check on that operation, before my wife and I headed home. 

I decided to drive through the hatchery on the way home for a quick look. Maybe five minutes passed when a lone adult appeared in the distance. The eagle made a high pass over the hatchery before heading west toward the Pemigewasett River. We hung out for a bit to see if it returned, but there would be no such luck. 

I did manage to get the one nice shot. 

Super Bowl LI Thoughts

Like many of you, I'm at a loss for words to describe last night's game. Over used superlatives like "unbelievable" get thrown around on things that are very much believable. How's that sandwich? Unbelievable. How was the movie? Unbelievable. 

This truly was unbelievable. 

Tom Brady removed any doubt who the best QB in the history of the NFL is. The debate is for second on down. He's got ice in his veins, and he proved it, yet again, when it mattered most, at the highest level, on the brightest stage. It's just crazy. Pats fans should feel honored to have The GOAT as your QB. Never mind what Roger Goodell says, never mind the Marshall Faulks of the world that want to believe a couple pounds of air make the difference in Brady's game. Tom Brady will go down as perhaps the greatest football player in the history of the NFL. He's going to be mentioned in the same breath as Gretzky, Jordan, Woods, and Ruth. 

Bill Belichick also cemented his position as the greatest coach in the free agent era of the NFL., and arguably the greatest ever. here are those that will argue he's behind Vince Lombardi. He's 13 wins behind Tom Landry for third all time. He's the winningest coach in Super Bowl history. Most rings, most post season wins, most cut up sweatshirts, blah blah blah. The guy dominates like no other. He makes other coaches blink and out think themselves, witness Shanahan's propensity to eschew the run UP BUY 2 SCORES in the fourth! He played chicken with Pete Carroll in Super Bowl XKIX and Pete blinked. He outthought Mike Martz in Super Bowl XXXVIII. He outwit, outplays and outlasts everyone. In an era designed for parity, he thumbs his nose at the league and delivers wins consistently. He's singularly driven, and he's already on to 2017.

Tom Brady comes off the field after The Patriots defeated the Bengals in 2010. 

That answers the questions about legacies, but what about the game?

I hated the first three and half quarters, save for Gaga, who crushed her halftime performance. I hated the game plan, the defense, the play calling. and the commercials. There was too much emphasis on vertical passing, and against a fast, aggressive Atalanta D, I thought that sucked. I much preferred to see them dink and dunk their way down the field, instead of trying to stretch the field. But Tom Brady once again became TFB and the Pats prevailed.

Other random thoughts:

• Julio Jones is a beast. Atlanta should have targeted him more than the four times they did. A coworker said to me today "Can you imagine if he played in Foxboro?" Yeah, I can. We would have won the Super Bowl. ;) 
•  I totally underestimated the the Falcons running game. If Shanahan ran the ball more, the outcome would have been different. 
• Speaking of which... Julio Jones made that unreal catch, and you continue to pass against the Pats? Good move. Run, run, run,. field goal, game over. 
• The Atlanta defense is the real deal too, but they are young. It will be interesting to see how they recover next season. 
• I woke up this morning with Jack Buck echoing in my head. Still can't believe what I saw. 
• I think we can put the "Goodell hates us" story line to bed. We are on to 2017. 

Unbelievable. 

Thunderbirds Refueling

Back in the day, I was shooting a local country band who's star was on the rise. We had a video guy who had some connections, and set up an opportunity for three of us to ride along with the 157th Air Refueling Wing and shoot some pics of the day. When I was asked if I wanted to go, it took me about a millisecond to decide to go. It was a day to remember. 

We flew out of Pease, aboard a KC 135 Stratotanker, on one fo those picture perfect days that you generally only read about. We flew in cloudless skies across the northern part of the country, over the Great Lakes, before turning south west near Detroit. Once we arrived somewhere over Kansas, we did a U-turn, and the F16c Fighting Falcons were on us. 

We refueled them twice on the way back to NH. After the initial refuel, the Thunderbirds performed a flying Delta formation for us. after a couple hours, we refueled them again, before climbing to about 40,000 feet to beat them back to Pease. 

It goes without saying it was the experience of a lifetime.