By this time, most of you have heard about “trash the dress” bridal sessions, or TTD as they are known colloquially in the photographic community. In 2006 and early 2007, news of these crazy photo shoots was picked up by numerous news sources (including The New York Times and Good Morning America), with reporters typically casting bemused glances toward the photographers who chose to take photos of the recently wed swimming in lakes, frolicking in mud, covered in paint, or riding a Harley.

Wedding photographers around the world were (and still are) especially inspired by this trend after seeing photos that incited our imaginations and promised to fill our portfolios. Beautiful brides in Times Square! Newlyweds riding in the country, wedding gown trailing down the side of the horse! Brides floating in the ocean!

Brides themselves, these days well versed in the wide range of images offered by bridal magazines and photographers’ blogs, have seen it done. Brides read those articles in The New York Times and laughed, but we photographers knew that many of you secretly dreamed of another opportunity to wear your dress and get fabulous photos. (more…)

What a wonderful year of fearless bridal shoots for the JUXTAPOSITION project. Many thanks to all who followed through on their photo sessions and introduced me to wonderful new locations around Boston.

juxtaposition001 :: lindsey  [ link ] Worcester, Burncoat Middle School
juxtaposition002 :: tiffany [ link ] Boston Sand and Gravel, Chinatown
juxtaposition003 :: carol [ link ] the Fells, Winchester rail station
juxtaposition004 :: marilyn [ link ] George’s Island, Fanueil Hall
juxtaposition005 :: melissa [ link ] West Boylston, Old Stone Church
juxtaposition006 :: brittany [ link ] Frankin Park Zoo
juxtaposition007 :: sarina [ link ] L’Espalier, Newbury Street
juxtaposition008 :: kristen [ link ] Fenway Park, parking lot
juxtaposition009 :: deanna [ link ]  Canobie Lake Park (Salem NH)
juxtaposition010 :: gwen [ link ] Lanes ‘n’ Games, FACES, Alewife
juxtaposition011 :: colleen [ link ] Wellesley College parking garage, bathroom, cemetery
juxtaposition012 :: mikki [ link ] Boston North End
juxtaposition013 :: rachael [ link ] Salem MA waterfront
juxtaposition014 :: lindsay [ link ] Cambridge MA, Boston MA
juxtaposition015 :: sarah [ link ] Sudbury MA old grist mill
juxtaposition016 :: jill [ link ] Dover MA

And ummm… this dress-trashing session in NYC looks so perfect. I have always wanted to go to Coney Island for a shoot. Takers? And, if you need to convince your husband or anyone else why you’d want to do a shoot like that, just show him that crazy video. Pretty sure he’d be willing to take off work for that. Or, um, show this one. (Day-um stillmotion, you guys continue to amaze.)

Today I had one of the very best bridal sessions I’ve had in awhile, thanks to Long Island’s Laura Ryan who invited me to join her for a very well thought out session in the city. We met up at Grand Central Station, then took the subway to the Met, and frolicked around central park. I generally try to avoid cliché city locations, but with NYC the same place is never the same shot, even if you just wait like 10 seconds it is completely different.

Without a doubt, my session favorite was a collaboration between Laura and I coaching the high school field trip through the central park tunnel around Jenn and Pete. They were so loud and enthusiastic, J + P had no idea there were like 50 kids coming from behind!

Here are some of my other favorites from the day: