Last weekend, I was hired to photograph a birthday party/family reunion at a lake house in Lyman, ME, so Carrie, Reid, and I took the opportunity to visit with River, Miriam, and August when we were up in their neck of the woods.

I had thought about photographing River and his family while we were visiting, but after a four hour family shoot (tons of fun, but somewhat exhausting), I figured I would keep the camera in the car. But, after watching August having fun running around in the yard as the sun was throwing a golden yellow all over the place, I made a quick dash for the car and pulled out my long lens. I’m so glad I did! The long lens kept me a little further away and let him be himself and play in the trees and in the grass, and captured his playful personality.

When I have the chance to work with outdoorsy kids and families, and when the light is just right, it makes me so happy that I decided to start taking photos nearly 20 years ago now. Capturing that moment that really speaks not only to someone’s character, but that represents the lifestyle I’d like to shoot, there’s just nothing that beats that!!

This is Reid, photographed in more of a studio setting:

Each of these mean so much to me because that’s my family, but those first two are not just what they are (my wife/my son/my family) but WHO they are, and who WE are.  


The first two photos were taken the morning of game three of the Celtics play offs (that’s why he’s wearing the jersey that his Uncle Dave and Aunt Sanne gave him).  That room they are in is Reid’s bedroom.  Well, it actually use to be our room, but when Carrie was about 6 months pregnant, we decided to rearrange the whole apartment because we wanted Reid to have his own room.  We were going to re-paint it from the color we had painted it before we moved in together here, but we had just painted another room, and our list of things to get done before Reid arrived was getting longer every day.  See that quilt behind them?  It’s one his Aunt Laurene made for him.  It has turtles on it because I love turtles (it was actually my nickname for many years, to the point that few people knew my given name).  The side of the quilt you don’t see is a fuzzy material that Laurene sewed in a large outline of a turtle in. So cool (and cozy)!!  


You’ll notice an Ernie in the background of that second photo.  I have quite the collection of Ernies that I’ve collected over many years and now I’m super excited to share them with the little guy!  Oh, and yes, I love chess, too.  Carrie got those chess piece outlines to put on the wall for my second birthday.  For a while, they were on my home office wall, but then that room became our bedroom, so we moved them into Reid’s room because I’m hoping that will influence Reid to love chess as much I do so that I can finally have someone to play with! 


I love the first two photos more because they will trigger these memories, and this time, in our lives for many years to come.  


That second shot is…  Well, it’s Reid.  That’s what he looks like.  His grandparents enjoy having a copy of that to frame.  I know which day I took it because I can see the metadata in the file information.  And, well, that’s about it.  


I do what I do because I want to capture memories, not just photos.  I want y’all to remember that day, that moment in your family’s life.  I want these photos to start a conversation for many years to come.  


What do you want photos of your family to say?  

Wendy is a good friend of Lorena, who is a good friend of my wife (and hopefully, by extension, me!).  Wendy called to ask if I was available for her wedding in May of 2012.  Luckily, I was, so we chatted for a little while about what she was looking for, how I could be of assistance, etc.  We ended up talking for over 30 minutes.  After the call ended, I felt so positive about things.  I just KNEW this would be an amazing wedding.  


From that moment until their wedding last weekend, Wendy and I chatted from time to time to discuss details of the wedding weekend, to plan and shoot the engagement photos, and sometimes our conversations turned to how my pregnant wife was doing or how she was handing the sometimes overwhelming demands of planning a wedding.  We were getting to know each other pretty well.  This familiarity and semi-friendship really helps a wedding day go so smoothly.     


Fast forward to their wedding, which was last weekend.  


It was on Sunday in Newport, RI at Oceancliff.  They had planned a rehearsal and a rehearsal lunch on Saturday (at Flo’s Clam Shack, right across from the beach!), so I asked to attend.  I’ve never photographed at Oceancliff (or at Flo’s), so I wanted to check out the venue, and to find some great shooting locations there and in the surrounding area.  Also, thanks to the kindness of Matt Grazier at Grazier Photography, and Agnieszka Wormus, two fantastic photographers who shared their experiences about shooting a wedding there, I was as prepared as ever!  


It was at the rehearsal lunch where things changed.  There was a moment, maybe insignificant to everyone involved except me, that really struck me.  Everyone had been there for a little while, just chatting and mingling, and I was busy trying to blend into the background and photographing what what going on.  Then, Frank (the groom) and Wendy waved me over.  Frank’s parents were there, and I assumed he just wanted to introduce the hired help. This was only partially true.  He nodded in my direction and said “this is our friend Patrick.”  Then there was a pause.  Not an uncomfortable one, just a moment of reflection.  Then, as an afterthought he said “oh, he’s our photographer, too.”  


Wow.  Really?!!  Sure, as usual, I try to connect with the couple during the planning process and certainly during our engagement shoot, but they considered me their friend?!  That just felt amazing!  

This was just the beginning of Wendy and Frank’s (referred to friends and family as Frendy, ala Brangelina) amazing kindness and what I hope to be a growing friendship.  They actually had a place card for myself and my second shooter Ben Bocko to sit at one of the tables during dinner (that’s only happened once before).  And at one point, I was busy photographing guests during the reception, when Wendy called me over to their head table just to make sure I had dinner.  


On top of all of this, and despite Wendy planning a wedding (in greater attention to detail than I have ever seen before), selling a house, moving to a friend’s house temporarily, looking for a job in California, and making plans to establish a new life with Frank out in California, a few days after the wedding, my wife and 18 day old son and I got a package in the mail.  Not too surprising, as friends and family have been sending us gifts for the little guy in the past few weeks.  So we opened it, thinking it might be another present from an elated grandma (Carrie’s mom has been over the moon with excitement), or a gift from a friend of mine in Olympia, WA, but no, we were wrong. It was a super cuddly blanket/rattle with a giraffe’s head attached and a note that read: “Dear Rogers family, Congrats on the new bundle of joy.  Mr. Reid is very lucky to have great parents.  Live, Love, and Laugh!  Sincerely, Frendy”  I’m getting all emotional again as I transcribe this!  These two have grown to be dear friends!  

I may have said this before.  This was a gorgeous wedding with an amazing couple!  But, I know I’ve never said this before.  It was an honor to photograph my friends’ wedding!