Happy New Year! | looking back to 2009 + looking ahead to 2010
- At January 1, 2010
- By jeff
- In personal
1
As we wrap up another year… and another decade… I figured I’d take a minute to reflect on 2009 and what’s coming up for 2010. This is probably my first post without a photo or video but since you can view a gallery on my regular website now I plan to add more miscellaneous content here going forward.
I feel incredibly blessed for so many reasons and 2009 was a phenomenal year. I’ve had a lifelong dream of working for myself full time and that dream came true last April. After 12 or so years in retail I was lucky enough to get the corporate ax from Toys R Us when my management position was “eliminated.” Truth be told I wasn’t very passionate about that type of work anymore, although I really enjoyed the nine years I worked in the home theatre industry. Now at this point I had been shooting weddings on the side for quite some time and my goal was to take the business full time in 2010, but the opportunity was staring me straight in the face and about two hours after I got the ax I was completely over it and knew exactly what I was going to do.
I already had a small number of weddings booked throughout the year… actually I got laid off the day after we shot Kerry + Andy’s wedding… but I was able to pickup quite a few more and shot at 14 weddings throughout 2009 and quite a bit of commercial work. I’m very excited that our calendar is quite full already for 2010 and I have no doubt we’ll book to capacity. We have plenty of same day edits and save the dates coming up, which are two of my favorite offerings. We also have a couple of weddings booked in Texas which will get me out of the cold New England weather.
I absolutely love to travel and I had the opportunity to shoot corporate projects in Miami and San Francisco last year as well as a week at an amazing hotel in Portsmouth, NH. I made several trips to Texas and most recently shot Domineca + Santiago’s save the date in Kemah which was so much fun! I also attended a workshop in Long Island and most recently an incredible three-day workshop – “the evolution experience” with StillMotion in Toronto, which has really molded me into a much better filmmaker and was just an absolutely amazing experience. In a couple of weeks I’ll be in Austin for IN[FOCUS] which is a three-day featuring an amazing list of the most talented wedding cinematographers on the planet. Even better then the experience of these events was the opportunity to make new friends and meet so many people.
I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for some of the people in the wedding industry I have met over the past year and what they have done to help me out as well as the referrals they’ve sent my way. Its been great to connect with other vendors who are also passionate about what they do and do amazing work. Most notably I teamed up with a 15-year wedding industry veteran – Anthony D’Elia – and I became part of the Revelation Productions team, taking care of the video side of the business while working together on many of our marketing initiatives and the wedding expos.
Outside of my business life my personal life has been great too in 2009. My beautiful niece Rachel was born last January and we all took a family vacation to Disney World in November… something we did quite regularly when I was growing up. I turned the big 3-0 this year which really isn’t as scary as I thought it would be, although I often think about how fast the time has gone by and I’m sure 40 will come before I know it… but I’m in no rush for that! The highlight of the year though was re-meeting Amanda during Holly and Joe’s wedding in May – she was a bridesmaid along with my sister Nicole and they had been friends back in middle school, although I hadn’t seen Amanda since ’98 or so. I can still remember how much I admired her back then and I’m so happy to say we have been dating since Memorial Day when we hiked up Mt. Wachusett with her lovely dog/child Winston. We are currently planning a trip to Iceland which is someplace I have wanted to visit for quite some time.
So given the excitement of the past year I’m not sure how 2010 can top it, but I am incredibly excited and optimistic about what the next year will bring. We will kick off our wedding season on January 30th in Boston with Kate + Chris. My goal for 2010 is simply to make people happy… most notably the brides and grooms I am so lucky to work with. I strive to get better at what I do each time I shoot or sit down to edit, and looking back at my work I can certainly see a steady improvement over the years. The technology has evolved in a way that gives a whole new level of possibilities to the work we do and the production value that can be achieved while filming a wedding. Although we are equipped with some of the best gear available today the tools don’t make a great film – the vision, creativity and the know-how that my team and I brings to each wedding is what makes our work as good as it is and I know it will only get better from here.
The wedding video industry is plagued with bad stereotypes and awful work, but our refusal to accept mediocrity and willingness to always try something new is what makes our work stand out… but above everything else it comes down to passion. Are you passionate about what you do? I certainly am and I can’t wait for what the future brings!
Happy New Year + all the best for 2010!!!
jeff
Addie + Dave | highlights
- At December 20, 2009
- By jeff
- In highlights
- 1
Last night I had the opportunity to premiere Addie and Dave’s feature film and highlights at their home with some of their family and friends. Normally I would send a piece of the film ahead of time but I held back everything except a 30 second teaser I posted recently. Being able to experience their reactions as they watched everything for the first time was priceless and they were definitely thrilled with the work we did. Dave used to be the lead in the band Orange Island and they both worked at Newbury Comics so needless to say their music selection was phenomenal.
I shot Addie and Dave’s wedding with Mike back in September. They were married at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA which is just an absolutely breathtaking spot with some gorgeous views. There was quite a bit of anticipation over the weather leading up to the ceremony. They had their first meeting at Fruitlands about an hour before the ceremony and at that point the wind was blowing awfully hard, it was cloudy and no one knew how the weather would hold up. Well as you’ll see the weather worked out beautifully and the sunlight was amazing, especially during their photo session.
Addie and Dave were also very lucky to find an incredible photographer to shoot their wedding… Channing Johnson of Channing Johnson Photography. There are certainly a lot of good photographers out there but in my opinion there are few truly great photographers and I’m not that easily impressed. Channing’s work is absolutely amazing and he has an incredible eye for reading the light. You can check out some of Addie and Dave’s beautiful wedding photos on Channing’s blog.
Typically the highlights has some of the best shots from the film and sometimes I’ll save a few shots that will only appear in the highlights. For Addie and Dave’s film I actually saved the entire first meeting for the very end of the highlights (which typically plays at the end of the feature) and I built the highlights piece around the anticipation of the meeting. Enjoy…
jeff
the most magical place on earth
- At December 14, 2009
- By jeff
- In personal, photos
- 1
When I grew up my parents would take us to Disney World just about every year. We would always drive down and stay at Disney’s Fort Wilderness “campground.” Those were some of my best childhood memories. Fast forward to November 2009 and we met there once again for a family vacation.
I meant to bring a 50mm f/1.4 lens but grabbed the 20mm f/2.8 instead by mistake… the 50 would’ve been great but I’m so glad I did it because some of my favourite shots were taken with the 20. 
cool ghosting image of my brother-in-law Brian:
shots from the Animal Kingdom:
plenty of shots with my beautiful nieces:
jeff
Addie + Dave teaser
- At December 12, 2009
- By jeff
- In teaser
- 1
Their feature film is almost complete but here is a very small taste of what’s to come…
jeff
Christmas – made in the USA
- At November 18, 2009
- By jeff
- In commercial
- 1
I spend a lot of time with non-wedding projects as well but don’t often posted too much here. I recently put together a piece for Vaillancourt Folk Art that is currently featured on their website. Here is a bit about what they do, copied from their website…
Vaillancourt Folk Art, the American studio that created the original contemporary chalkware santa, has been hand-creating highly detailed, hand-painted collectible chalkware heirlooms from antique moulds since 1984 with the primary goal of creating that one special gift to be handed down for generations. Vaillancourt Folk Art is family owned and operated and sells their chalkware figurines to stores around the nation, including in their retail store in Sutton, MA and their on-line catalog.
I definitely felt the Christmas spirit when I walked into the Vaillancourt studio earlier this month and it was so wonderful to see the quality, care and attention to detail that went into every piece they made. Every piece they make is a true work of art and it is incredible that this is all being done in our own backyard. I hope you enjoy the online tour in this film and if you get a chance to check out their Sutton studio in person you’ll be glad you did.
jeff
