I’ve moved into new blog digs.

http://stephstevensphotoblog.com/

On Saturday Tara & Matt met for their “First Look” reveal at Matt’s parent’s house in Winthrop. A literal stones throw from the house is this lovely location on Shore Drive. We were blessed with sun but this location at midday would have left everyone squinting and there isn’t any chance of shade. So Tara, Matt and the whole wedding party came prepared with sunglasses.

Don’t you LOVE that windswept veil?? The beach will do that.

Luckily – Mark, Tara’s Man of Honor, kept it from flying off her head.

*the personalized chalk graffiti…. I’ll take credit for that one. I arrived early enough to write out their names and the date and move my car over that space to save it from being taken by any other beach goer and when we were ready I had my wonderful assistant Scout Gunsch move my car. I’m thinking this might be THE perfect album cover shot…. but I still have hundreds and hundreds more pictures to look over.

Have the best time in Mexico!!

For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

So when I spotted this Style Me Pretty post yesterday, I did a double take. I’ve never seen a ceremony laid out like this one. I love it though. Rather than gridding out your beloved guests, asking them to take sides or worrying about the view from the back row – everyone gets up close and nearly embraces  the couple.

Photography by Dave Robbins

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Wednesday’s on the blog I conjure up some bit of wedding advice. Sometimes it comes from my perspective as a professional photographer and other times just as a opinionated, currently happily engaged twenty something.

Worth every hour I spent on the page design,

Worth every day I waited for it to be produced in Canada,

Worth every penny I spent to make it a Steph Stevens Photo sample!!

What I love so much about the AsukaBook – is its boldness right upfront on the cover. A big splashy image, but now I have two options:

The subtle sophistication of stamped lettering into colorful linen books and cases, handmade endpapers and to die for construction!!

Right out of the box I noted its heft. With something so precious you want it to have some weight behind it. I had been imagining the texture and feel of the linen cover while I drooled over their website for months and now it was in my hands. The name stamping is perfection – subtle and ingenious. The recesses pick up these faint shadows and it’s just enough. The  case is optional but really such a necessary investment. The opening of the case might as well send angels singing. [all this excitement already and the book isn't even open]

…. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, but thank you for letting me wax poetic over my new obsession.

Book Specs

Large 13″ x 11″ horizontal, 100 pages with a clam shell case.

clam shell case

book on top of the case

matching handmade endpapers

I fell in love with this company because of the stamping, linen covers and matching endpapers. My sample selection will be ever growing (I have a 8×8 taupe with a slipcase on the way) but I do carry their swatch sampler.

8 different colors. Perfect to coordinate with your wedding colors!

and of course matching endpapers!

For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

AsukaBook is my bold and modern album option. There are so many options for size, pages, styles, etc… but the focus is always on the image content. The books are all custom designed by me. The cover art is inspired by some show-stopping image and the design process is always a collaborative effort between myself and the client.

This album below is a collection of some of my favorite ’09 shoots. The cover design was a labor of love with dozens and dozens and dozens of photoshop hours. There’s 1080 individual thumbnail sized images covering the back, front and 2 dust jacket flaps.

The inside is an array of the work that has passed in front of my camera. 100 pages highlighting my favorite moments – weddings, portraits, families, babies, action, etc…

This books specs

12.5″ x 11″ vertical, 100 pages, matte laminate pages,

hardcover with dust jacket & photo wrapped slip case.

the case’s spine

book & slip case

creative page layout design for this photobooth spread

This is a smaller, more portable and less expensive album. This is a great option for portrait shoots, wedding gift albums, parent albums, etc…

This books specs

5.5″ x 8″ horizontal, 20 pages, matte laminate pages,

softcover, frosted plastic slip case

I designed this album specifically as a wedding guestbook. I would use photos from a couple’s engagement session and design pages leaving enough white space for friends and family to write notes.

This books specs

7″ x 10″ horizontal, 20 pages, matte laminate pages,

hardcover, frosted plastic slip case

I’ve been thinking about my first wedding on the 24th. Will the weather be as gorgeous as the past couple of days? We’ll all just have to wait and see what the day has in store for us.

BUT the one thing you can do is accessorize for whatever Mother Nature throws at you.

Should you be so lucky and have a cloudless blue sky and beaming bright sunshine – get some stellar sunglasses. Maybe just for the pair of you but maybe even for your entire wedding party. They’ll help if you happen to have a great shade-less photo opp: One, they’ll keep you from squinting; Two, you’ll look like some high rolling moviestar.

Pulled these two photos from theknot.com (images individually credited)

Photo by: Laura Ivanova

Photo by: Amber Dawn

And rain? No worries, have some umbrellas on hand. Extra credit points if the colors coordinate with your wedding. Maybe swap out your fancy shoes for some rain boots, bright-colored sneakers or flats.

(photo by me)

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Wednesday’s on the blog I conjure up some bit of wedding advice. Sometimes it comes from my perspective as a professional photographer and other times just as a opinionated, currently happily engaged twenty something.

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For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

It was  - in a word – amazing!!

I have zero coordination for any sort of musical rhythm but instead appointed myself as Acid Walrus’s Official Band Photographer.

The light and fake smoke really add depth to these pictures – all shot wide open, either f1.2 (85mm) or f2.8 (16-35mm), at 3200 iso and varying shutter speeds. At first it was all lit by a small side table lamp, the tv and colored led lights. Then we switched off the side table lamp and that really brought out the beautiful colors from the led lights. By then auto focus was impossible and it was all manual focus.

AND there’s no photoshop, these are all real deal photos.

[completely not related to any sort of work assignment and that makes this more awesome]

Hope you all had a great sun-shiny Easter!! The Sawins, Krietes and Stevens came together and it was a fun afternoon. Ben and his sister and I even made one of our breads we learned at our King Arthur class and brought it (super-duper) fresh out of the oven to Easter dinner.

For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

These pictures remind me of where my photography was at 12 months ago.

Professionally I had a lot ahead of me. Weddings, portraits and other assignments I had lined up. I can only imagine what I will reflect on in another twelve months – pretty exciting stuff for sure!

This was also the first real time Anna Sawin and I spoke about teaming up on the upcoming wedding photography season. It was a huge growth year for both of us.

Oh and I just got this wacky new lens – the 8mm Sigma circular fisheye. It gives you and completely unnatural and surreal view of the world – 180 degrees from edge to edge. No photoshop here!

These photos are of Will, Ben’s cousin, showing off his car collection.

And here’s the whole gang, on our post-easter-eating trail walk.

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Thursdays on the blog I go back into my archives (pre 2010) and pull some images that shed some light on me, my life, my family, friends and images that have shaped the person that I am now.

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For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

[note: all of the photos below were pulled from various sources all individually credited]

These bridesmaids below all found dresses at Urban Outfitters. They found colors that worked in the theme of the wedding and 3 different styles to keep everyone comfortable and unique – but – still unified and chic.

Original post: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/02/17/diy-wedding-by-couture-events/

Photo by: Sean Walker Photographer

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These ladies all have the same look but the look is so refreshingly far from traditional. It’s a bold choice but extremely successful. How delighted would you be to wear this again? I say yes!

Original Post: http://www.edytaszyszlo.com/blog/2009/02/25/refreshing-non-traditional-bridesmaid-attire/

Photo by: Phindy Studios via The Brides Cafe

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So with a little searching I found what could be a very nice, crowd pleasing dress from the Sundance Catalog. Of course it looks casual and everyday in the picture below….

but without the sweater and boots [or maybe all of your bridesmaids should wear fabulous leather boots!!] this dress does have a classic shape.

The only hard part will be finding the right color but there certainly are enough options you can save your dear friends from that taffeta line-up AND shop for under $150!!

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Wednesday’s on the blog I conjure up some bit of wedding advice. Sometimes it comes from my perspective as a professional photographer and other times just as a opinionated, currently happily engaged twenty something.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

For my work visit StephStevensPhoto

The weather was dry and Ben and I spent the weekend in Vermont baking bread at  a King Arthur Flour’s Baking Class. Our four hour class focused in on International Breakfast Breads.

In between tasks I dusted off my flour caked hands and grabbed some photos.

Making our first bread – Noon Rogani – an Azerbaijani spiral bread

Rolling out a 5 foot long bread rope for the spiral.

Our second bread – Pan Dulce – a cake-y bread from Mexico.

A pretty simple cookie shape and then they’re topped with a sugar butter layer

and we got to decorate a little with some scoring techniques.

my finished Noon Rogani – trust me the smell of the room was unbelievable!

Our Pan Dulce is cooling. Some decorated theirs with a

colored sugar/butter topping, as is traditional in Mexico

The front of the classroom and we’re huddled around sampling – the best part.