It was a real pleasure and an honor to be asked to come down to City Hall Plaza as part of the Boston Pride festivities this year to photograph a dear friend’s brother who is a very successful vocal artist going by the name of Nhojj. He put on a fantastic show and entertained and bolstered a truly adoring audience. I had previously only heard recorded tracks from him, so to see and hear him perform live was an utter delight! He is a truly talented performer!
Boston Pride, City Hall Plaza, 2015
A few years later, to come back and see how big these boys have grown and how sweet and well-mannered they have remained was a true blessing to behold! Few things in my position as photographer give me greater pleasure than to be invited back year after year to help carry on the visual document of the story of families as they grow! Here is a shot of the youngest brother with his loyal friend, Stella, on the same front stoop where we stood to photograph just a few years ago! And just below, you can see that even well-mannered boys will still be boys!
There have been a string of opportunities in recent months to photograph the Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebrations for a number of younger siblings in families for whom I also photographed the older siblings’ events and last weekend was the another such event for the second sister of a wonderful family I have grown quite fond of. I cherish the clients that I am allowed to follow over the years, from portrait to portrait, or life milestone to life milestone, as they grow and change and morph from purely clients into folks who feel more like true friends! Thank you to all that have given me this supremely privileged opportunity! Truly, it means so much to me!
It was a beautiful day and one of my favorite places to shoot, a private residence in Weston with a beautiful farm house and a gorgeous little pond. As an engagement gift, the beautiful bride-to-be’s aunt gave them a portraiture session and I was honored to be chosen. A great couple and a perfect afternoon yielded some memorable photos I hope they will enjoy for some time! Wishing them all the very best for their upcoming big day and a long, happy and healthy future together as a married couple!
Here are a few from the celebration of another younger brother, who’s older sister’s bat mitzvah I photographed a few years back! So grown up, both of them – it’s such an honor to be able to return to help out families again and again with their milestone events! And what a wonderful, joyous celebration this was! Beautiful temple. Fantastic Kiddush lunch. Memorable and heart-warming celebration!
I have recently had the supreme privilege of being asked to photograph the bar mitzvahs for the younger children from a selection of families that I photographed the bar mitzvahs of the older siblings previously. One each month starting in November and running through February. The first of which was a particular joy as it was a larger event and required two shooters, so I got to work with a colleague I admire / friend I enjoy! The second event was much like the first and we had such a blast at both. Everyone there was having such a genuinely great time, it was impossible not to notice from behind the cameras! A joy-filled event and a heart-warming evening to behold! Here is a photo of the two brothers. They are both so grown up, I can hardly believe it!
A beautiful event in a lovely setting I was previously unfamiliar with. The Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plains was the venue for a fun filled wedding last month for a really sweet couple who I grew very fond of. Their event was perfect, as most wedding end up being, I suppose. As impressed as I was by the bride and groom themselves, I also really thought the venue was stunning. Right on a main drag of town on an expansive parcel of land is this historical building, most beautifully preserved with gardens galore all around, urban scene bustling about – but inside the gates you might be somewhere quite far away. It was a picture perfect backdrop to a really special and fun event! I quite enjoyed being witness to it all. Congratulations to the happy couple!!
Every year I donate a portraiture package to the annual auction run by the Roxbury Weston Preschool program. It’s an important program and it’s a fun way to support what they are doing by doing what I love to do! And I get to meet and work with new and equally awesome families each year who bid on my service. This year’s session was highly memorable because the children’s reward at the end was a sweet one and made for some really great photos!
Two partners of mine, my number one video counterparts, made their union official last month and I was privileged enough to be the one behind the camera clicking through it for them, documenting the memories as they unfolded. Along the rocky coast of Maine with an iconic lighthouse in the distance, they said their vows in the presence of family and then sat down to a delicious lobster dinner and some homemade blueberry pie! Gorgeous in it’s simplicity, and a beauty to behold!
I stepped in to cover a wedding for a colleague earlier this month. It was a young family that had organized a vow renewal. It had all the looks and feel of a wedding but the cake topper read “We Still Do”. It was beautiful and highly meaningful. Their young son held up a sign as he processed down the aisle ahead of his beautiful mother that read “Look Daddy, Here Comes Mommy!” And the sun dripped it’s golden light over all of it! It was a truly lovely event and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to be there to capture it and witness it!
Jessamyn Martin's Blog 