Weekend plans

Now that I am on the living side of the worst 24 hour bug/flu I can ever remember having (special thanks to my amazing mother-in-law for coming over yesterday to take care of bébé while I lay in bed), I am sooooo looking forward to the weekend.  I plan on gathering some Christmas decorations (we are getting our tree next weekend and the Hill House Christmas tree sale) and pairing a little Christmas shopping and dinner out with my hubby Saturday night.  I hope you all have wonderful weekend.

(Don’t you just love the city all dressed up for the Holidays? – photo from 2011 but I will have more)

Christmas Cards…

The dreaded “Christmas Cards”.  I never really knew how much of an ordeal the whole Christmas card tradition was until I got married and had a baby.  After you have a baby, you feel an immense pressure to send out the perfect card with your darling cherub proclaiming to the world what a perfect family you have.  I am also asked to photograph many many many families for Christmas card images every October – December.  (We are talking 3 to 4 shoots a weekend.)  So I feel your pain.  Getting the whole family: mom, dad, baby, toddler, dog etc. to all smile, look at the camera and not have an expression of sheer disdain on their face is quite a feat.  For all parties involved.  Which is why I absolutely LOVED designer, colleague, client and studio mate of mine, Stayci Fast’s, idea for her family photo shoot.  She styled the whole shoot down to every detail and her kids were easier to work with than some professional models.  Goldfish in drink…check.  Pink colored dog…check.  Punk, preppy kids…check.  The shoot was so much fun and I loved that she decided to go with a funny take on the whole holiday card thing.  “Peace, Love and Whatev.”  Don’t we all feel like that sometimes during the holidays?

Nantucket Thanksgiving

 

I’ll let the photos do the talking…but needless to say, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope you did too.

 

 

Another way to shop small business and help

Two of my studio mates Erin Gates of Elements of Style and Jill Rosenwald the amazing ceramic artist and mother hen of our little creative group have teamed up to create a line of ceramic ware.  Erin was inspired by a pattern on a basket she owns.  The basket is African in origin and translates beautifully into ceramics.  “It is reminiscent of chevron but a bit funkier,” as Erin puts it.  Each piece comes in two colorways- black/peony and j.crew/mint.  All pieces (except lamps) have gold rims or edges. And the best part? They are donating 15% of all proceeds to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy Relief.

Monday morning as they were hot out of the kiln, I helped Jill and Erin style and photograph the bunch to get them up and for sale as soon as possible.  In order to get these in time for Christmas you must order in the next THREE DAYS! So until they are posted on Jill’s e-commerce site please e-mail Erin at erin@eringatesdesign.com and mention Sarah Winchester Studios.  (Of course every piece is hand thrown/made and hand painted.)

The Collections

Black/ Peony

J.Crew/mint

The pieces

Oval Lamp- $430

6.5″ W X 24.5″ H

Olive Tray- $152

9″ W X 12″L

#6 Vase- $78

6.25″ H X 3.25″ W

Ritz Tray- $92

14″L x 3.5″ W

Mug- $65

Jilly cup- $40

2.5″w x 3.5″h

Holiday Style and Shop Local

Last week I photographed a shoot featuring five Boston bloggers, Amanda Knorr of Spreedia, Lani of Mon Petit Chou Chou, Renata of Scorpion Disco, Kristen of Boston Fashionista, and Sean of Boston Mo. They were told to think “Holiday” and styled themselves with clothing and accessories from local boutiques. Here are some of the photos from the shoot, but all you Boston people, make sure to check out their links for where to shop the shoot. Just in time for “Shop local Saturday.”

Photoshoot Credits:

Hair: Tim Robishaw of Jeffrey Lyle Salon
Makeup: Lauren Genatossio of Sarra
Photography: Sarah Winchester
Location: Marc Hall Design Studio

Sean of Boston Mo – quirky prep

Kristen of Boston Fashionista - retro/glam

Amanda Knorr of Spredia - tailored chic

Lani of Mon Petit Chou Chou – romantic, feminine

Renata of Scorpion Disco - polished structure

Here is the whole crew ready to party.

Life is good – the power of optimism

I am an optimist.  Plain and simple.  The glass is not only half full…I wanted it only half full so my lovely fumé blanc does not get too warm.  I am sure I can be an annoying Pollyanna at times but it is just how I am wired.  The other night I had the unique opportunity of hearing the famous optimist, Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life is good, speak.  He spoke about how he and his brother built their business, the power of optimism and the Life is good Playmakers non-profit, to which 10% of all their sales goes.  Let me just say, I drank the Kool-Aid and asked for more.  A cynic may find many of the Life is good mottos like, “Do what you like, like what you do.” cheesy but Bert was so authentic in his delivery his energy was contagious.  He had a room full of men in suits standing in applause at the end.  In this day and age of political partisans, fiscal cliffs, natural disasters and thousands of other things to keep you up at night, it was wonderful to hear about a company keeping all that in check trough optimism.  I strive to do the same with my little company of one.

Here are some of my iPhone pics from the event.

Here is Bert’s official bio.

A week from today…

Is Thanksgiving.  Early on in our marriage (errr we have only been married just over 3 years) we decided that Thanksgiving would be “our” holiday.  Our first year married we took an extended honeymoon, the second we went on a SCUBA trip, and although last year we did break with tradition and did the traditional visit to my parents, we are taking it back this year!  A week from today we are heading to Nantucket, just the three of us, for a quiet Thanksgiving.  I could not be more excited, especially since I have 5 photo shoot, 2 big events and a video project to finish before then.  Next Thursday cannot come fast enough.

 

Behind the scenes

Two days ago I photographed a shoot which turned out to be one of the easiest and most fun I have done to date.  The props available to us were spectacularly oversized and my subjects were a bunch of creative bloggers.  You will have to wait until this coming Monday to see the final product but for now, here are some behind the scenes teasers.

A special thanks too all my photo subjects for sharing all the backstage moments.

Washington DC or Paris

This past weekend I traveled to Washington DC. Friday afternoon I had a photo shoot and extended my trip into the weekend. I got to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and darling nephew (who is only 2 days younger than my baby). Then Saturday transitioned into girls weekend where we ate, drank, got massages and enjoyed the city…all without basically leaving the W Hotel. Saturday morning I got to stroll around camera in hand and I was amazed how certain aspects of DC reminded me of Paris. I did a little research and found out DC was designed by the French architect, Pierre Charles L’Enfant! Oui!

The Washington Mall or Champs-Élysées?

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Sidwalk cafe. (Love the pending doom of winter in the verbiage.)


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The Willard InterContinental

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The W Hotel

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And here are some more of those “Neo-Classical” buildings more associated with DC

Although I spy a Medici type lantern on this building! Such a mix of styles in DC.

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P.S. What do you think of the blog’s mini face lift? A bigger redesign to come, but this is a start.

Facelift

Sorry for the week long blogging silence.  I have been busy with all sorts of things, but truth is I cannot bring myself to work on another post until this blog gets a little face lift.  I kept telling myself I update the blog look when finally launched my website, but I think I need a little kick in the creative pants.  The amazing Jessica Sutton is working on the perk I need right now, so by Monday I will be all refreshed and inspired to blog away.  I am also in Washington DC for the weekend to do a photo shoot, see my darling nephew (just 2 days younger than my bébé) and have a long awaited girls spa day and night out with a dear dear friend of mine.  So have a wonderful weekend!

View from my room at The W, Washington DC.