California here I come...

I'm heading out the door for California. I'll be visiting family and friends in the San Francisco Bay Area for a week. My pal Patty is heading out for business so it worked out that we could travel together. I'm sure we'll be busy reading People Magazine, doing Sudoku puzzles and chit chatting. I'm so excited to go, but it's always difficult leaving my family for any amount of time.
I'm sure I'll have so many photos to share when I return, so stay tuned!
I'll leave you with a few photos I took yesterday while I was playing with my 50mm 1.2F lens.
xo

Happy Birthday Miss Molly!

I photographed Martha and her beautiful family in the fall, but I was just too crazed to get a few photos up on the blog. I really wanted to, too, because I know that Martha is one of my biggest blog fans.
What Martha doesn't know is that I am one of her biggest fans. She works for one of the coolest organizations around called the Visiting Nurse Association and I get the pleasure of hanging out with her when I photograph their various amazing programs in the community.
So this morning I was photographing the V.N.A's Family Room and being that I've been flat on my back, sick all week, I wasn't feeling my usual chipper self. First thing, Martha nabs a flower straw hat that I brought along for the kids to play dress-up with and combined with her uber cheerful personality--which is so contagious--in no time at all I was feeling fabulous!!
She told me it was Molly's 2nd birthday today, so I thought it would be the perfect day to finally get a few of these up.
So even though it is Molly's birthday...here is a little present for you too, Martha!





















p.s. I will do a big blog post about the Visiting Nurse Association this winter!

Thank heaven for Jaquelin!

When our daughter, Summer, was ten months old we figured it was high time we hired a babysitter so that Andy and I could have some date nights. Our darling, teenaged neighbor, Jaquelin, was perfect for the job! Well she did end up being what my kids would still tell you was "the best babysitter in the universe" and someone we all still totally love and adore, but more than that...she was also one of the main reasons I became a photographer!

Here's the story...As Jaquelin started her final year in high school, she needed some senior portraits taken and I offered to do them since I loved snapping pictures. We had so much fun and the photos really captured her spirit. Her family liked them too. So much that they called one day and asked if I would consider photographing their older daughter's wedding the following year. And here is the amazing part...they wanted to pay me!!

I was so flattered and surprised, but also terrified!! First I thought I'd better figure out how much to charge. It seemed that $500 sounded like a fair amount. My next thought was, I'd better learn how to take my camera out of "P" mode and figure out how the thing worked. So I took all the local classes I could find and felt pretty comfy with the camera by the summer. Finally the wedding rolled around and it was AWESOME! It was a ton of work, but I loved every minute of it!

The funny part of the story is that the wedding was in the days of film and I bought the best Kodak film available and used 30+ rolls of it. After developing the prints and buying some proof albums to put them in, I think I made about...a whopping twenty-five cents. Looking back, I suppose it was like a paid apprenticeship.

Almost nine years later I'm a full-time photographer and loving it. Jaquelin has long since graduated from college and she's a busy young lady who is destined for greatness! She is wonderful and we all wish that she would take a teaching job here in Vermont, because Massachusetts is simply too far away!!

Here is one of the original photos I took of Jaquelin that has been on my bulletin board for all of these years. As you can see, it's a little worn...
Jaquelin and Summer
Jaquelin was home for the holidays so we nabbed her for a few hours to play with our kids and some of her other fans from the neighborhood!


We love you Jaquelin!
xxoo

Making History

During the fall, my favorite Burlington Free Press journalist, Michelle Edelbaum, and I embarked on a 13-hour road trip up through Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Our goal was to come up with a fall folliage tour that was off the beaten path. We had such a fun adventure and I still can't believe we were paid for it! Seriously!

So, in early November, Michelle wrote me a note that said my favorite U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy liked our Kingdom Gems story so much that he entered it into the Congressional Record. You can read it HERE!!

To my surprise, a few days ago, the photo editor called to let me know that a surprise package was waiting for me at the paper. Enclosed was a letter from Senator Leahy and a copy of the Congressional Record. He is THE BEST!!!

Me and Michelle on our Northeast Kingdom roadtrip...
The following photographs were published along with the story...

The sparkling Caspian Lake in Greensboro, Vermont
From-scratch blueberry pancakes at the Highland Lodge in Greensboro
Highland Lodge owner, David Smith, walks amongst the summer campers' artwork nailed to trees in a pine forest behind the lodge

Willey's Store in GreensboroPete's Greens in Craftsbury is a serve-yourself organic farmstand
Pete's organic potatoes
Our favorite find of the day was definitely Red Sky Trading Company in Glover. It was packed to the brim with cool treasures!


Currier's Quality Market in Glover has more than 100 taxidermy animals on display amongst the chips, beer and hunting supplies.
This gal at Kingdom Outdoors in St. Johnsbury showed her spirit!
The rest of these photographs weren't published, but I thought you might enjoy seeing them...

A few of "The Walking Ladies" at the Highland Lodge in Greensboro
Our sweet waitress at the Highland Lodge
A pastoral scene in Greensboro
The Miller's Thumb in Greensboro sells Italian pottery, clothing and other fun items
A red barn in Greensboro
A stray kitten in Craftsbury
Help yourself and make your own change at Pete's Greens in Craftsbury
Crimson leaves in Craftsbury Common
Great Hosmer Pond at Craftsbury Outdoor Center
Sculls at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center
The next few photos were taken en route and I'm not sure of the towns


more fun stuff at Red Sky Trading in Glover




Another scene from Currier's in Glover
Boxcar & Caboose in St. Johnsbury

Fun at Blueberry Lake

Yesterday our family took a little road trip over to Warren for an afternoon of cross-country skiing at Blueberry Lake Cross-Country Ski Center. The cool thing about Blueberry Lake is that they welcome dogs on their trails, so Yeti got to ski for the first time. I'm pretty sure that he had the best time of his life!

The craziest thing happened out on the trails...it was getting dark as we made our way back to the lodge, and suddenly, Yeti ran barking up the trail and he found my pal Barrie Fisher, her squeeze Steve and her dog Teaky! It was the world's biggest coincidence because I had called Barrie in the morning to see if she wanted to meet up since we'd be in her neighborhood. I told her we'd be nordic skiing, but I didn't say where, so it was extremely cool to bump into them. We ended up having an awesome dinner together and celebrating her birthday, which is TODAY!!













HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRIE!!! xoxo

Happy New Year!

Our family wishes you and yours a healthy, happy and prosperous 2008!

xo Daria