I have a large collection of 19th & early 20th century photos of my own family. These images help frame where I’m coming from when I make pictures for other people. I’ll come out and say it: I’m not about “perfection” or whatever the current manifestation of that may be. I’m far more interested in seeing personalities, place, and connection than I am in having a veil placed neatly on the ground around a bride. Making images for that kind of constructed perfection can make things… well it can make the photographs rather generic. I’d rather make a true portrait of who these people are and were. At Ellie and Sam’s wedding, we took some large group photos during cocktail hour. Their beloved black labs were playing and walking in front of the group. I said to Sam “The dogs are walking in front of you” and he said “That’s ok. Just take it.”
Taking place at a home that has been in Sam’s family for generations, this wedding was about family and home, the past and the future, and the natural landscape of Massachusetts. I hope that these images will tell a story to future generations about who these people were and what they felt like on that day in early October.
Ellie and Sam’s wedding was planned by 42 North. Dani Wagener Beauty provided makeup. I photographed Ellie and Sam’s wedding with my friend Li Ward. Hair styling was done by Sophia Adler of Phia Style.
Click on any of these images to see it larger.
