The fog all but enveloped the rocky coast of Gloucester where Jennie Knott played as a girl. This was the most special place in the world to her.  And on this day, September 23rd, that barefoot girl who clambored all over the rocks, creating imaginary worlds with her siblings, was all woman, with a glamourous hair style, an elegant gown, and only hours away from her wedding to Philipp Bolt.

(Photo by Andrea Wise)

The rain that had been predicted very kindly didn’t show up until the party was almost over.  At 11 am, a beautiful soft light filled the Annisquam Village Church, as 60 of the couple’s closest friends and family members gathered to see them exchange their vows and commit themselves to each other.  Philipp’s family had traveled from Switzerland and was meeting Jennie’s family for the first time. Jennie glowed.

After the service, we had a great time taking family pictures outside the church. A kind neighbor allowed us to use his spectacular back yard for photographs of the newlyweds.  The yard had a swing hanging from a willow tree, and who knew – their first kiss was in a swing!!!  Perfect.  As Philipp pushed Jennie on the swing, her veil caught on something and came off her head, landing on Philipp who looked like a veil monster.

The couple and the bridal party, which consisted of their sisters and brothers, arrived at the Annisquam Yacht Club by boat.  Their guests piled outside on the deck to greet them.  It was magical and fun.  The whole yacht club was built on stilts on the water.

(Photo by Andrea Wise)

People dined on appetizers of oysters and shrimps as a classical trio played on the deck.  There was champagne and laughter, a phenomenal dinner of roast beef, salmon, risotto with shitake mushrooms, arugula salad and more, and an AWESOME dj – DJ James – who created and sustained energy with a fluidity to his song selection that blew me away.

The wedding also had a fun Trinity college connection.  Jennie had been a photo student of mine at Trinity 5 or 6 years ago, and my ever-so-talented assistant/second shooter Andrea Wise just graduated from Trinity this May.  She got some amazing shots and when the dj did a call and response with the crowd to “Sweet Caroline,” Andrea felt like she was back at so many Trinity dorm parties!  On the whole ride home we kept rehashing fun moments and elegant memories.  We left before the “after” party, but suffice it to say I’m sure it went until the wee hours of the night (if bars stay open that late in Gloucester)! Thanks for a great day Jennie and Philipp.

Some bat mitzvahs are over the top and some are more laid back and true to the spirit of the family.  Sophia’s was this kind – just the right mix of fun, games, people, place (Winding Trails) and food (Moe’s, followed by cupcakes).  Who doesn’t love Moe’s????  And cupcakes????  It probably didn’t feel laid back to her fabulous parents Dave and Daniela Altimari, who did it all themselves, but to the rest of us, it was perfect!!!!

Sophia’s service at Beth Israel was flawless, and her speech moved many (including me) to tears.  She spoke of how her bat mitzvah was the first in her family since her grandfather’s in Holland after the Nazis had invaded in 1941.  His was in a rural village during a blizzard, and he had to walk for miles in …    

What a week!  Pre-Cotillion portraits in my Hartford studio of eleven beautiful young men and women, a pre-Bat Mitzvah portrait of Dvora with her horse Secret by a barn in Westhampton, MA., two big events – a Harold Grinspoon Foundation Teachers Award Banquet and the 2011 Hartford Public Schools Academic Competition, a JCC Big Truck fun fair in West Hartford, a playful, costumed shoot at the University of Hartford highlighting Super Students (seniors with jobs to head into after graduation), a volunteer shoot on Grandparents Day at Lander Grinspoon Academy, and a day’s work in the Bronx on a video documentary about aging.

(Is Taylor elegant, or what??  I can’t wait for the Cotillion in June)

(Dvora, with Secret. I love them together.)

(A Springfield teacher and her pals pose as the sun sets over the mountains behind the Log Cabin in Easthampton.  What a beautiful setting, and what a beautiful tribute to teachers the night was)

(Two Kennelly third graders confer about an answer to a math problem in the Academic Competition)

(An LGA fourth grader, dressed for her role as a nasty princess in a play, shows grandparents one way of doing long division)

(No, I didn’t do the photoshopping! Art Director Stacy Baran did for the upcoming issue of The Observer)

This week rocked!!!!  I was busy.  I loved the events I covered. I had fun! But the very thing I loved – the range of assignments – raised questions for me. My work as a freelancer runs the gamut from non-profits and schools to wedding and bar/bat mitzvahs to news and some corporate work.  Add to that multimedia and some video. Oh, yes, and some teaching. I like the variety.  As a newspaper photographer, I loved that I could be in an elementary school in the morning doing a story on yoga helping kids relax before taking CMT’s and in prison in the afternoon doing a story on overcrowding. I could sit under the basket shooting UConn basketball and follow, in depth over two years, the life of a young woman getting off welfare.  In the business world, however, it seems like a liability to be a generalist, for lack of a better word.  Speciality is the name of the game. Photographers are known for their niche – weddings, portraiture, architecture, sports, corporate.

My question for all of you reading this, especially seasoned photographers in the business, is does one have to have a niche to be financially successful in today’s uncertain economy?

Do I need to identify primarily as a wedding photographer, a corporate photographer, a news photographer (forget it, it doesn’t pay), or can I be a photographer who shoots events and marketing, as well as weddings and bar mitzvahs, with an occassional corporate assignment and a NY Times/AP assignment every now and then?

If every week were as busy as the last week, I might not have to ask this question, but every week isn’t. So, as I look to drum up business to keep a steady work flow throughout the year, I am confused about where to put my energies and how to market myself.  I don’t have one target client.  Or do I?  My ideal client is someone who wants a photojournalist’s eye to help tell the story of their institution, event, or life celebration.  Instead of having a niche, I see myself as a storyteller who, with skill and sensitivity, can translate what is meaningful to a client into great photographs. But can it fly? Is there enough time in the day to keep abreast of all the trends and technologies for each of the particular direction? No, not really.  Is there one simple way to market a way of seeing rather than a niche?  I reach out to you for answers.  Is there a community of like-minded photographers out there who know they’d be bored doing the same thing over and over again?  I know that the best wedding photographers, for instance, don’t get bored, because they keep their vision fresh, but could I?  I don’t know. I’ve never done just one thing.

I know that my love for variety comes with a price.  I had an afternoon coffee last week with a wonderful and talented wedding photographer locally, Sandra Costello.  She’s very savvy businesswise, and when you think of wedding photographers in Northampton, her name will always be among the few that are very well known.  She commands a good price, and for good reason.  She’s good.  She’s got a well known brand doing one thing really well.  That makes marketing and promotion easier, it makes keeping up with trends and technology easier, it probably makes her brain work easier than juggling directions, different kinds of learning, and having no clue what approach to take to marketing.  She knows her audience and is known by her audience.  That’s so key to having a successful business.

Success, I’m learning, has to do not only with talent, but with being THE name -the brand, if you will -that makes you synonymous with your specialty.  When we were both at the newspaper, the name John Long instantly brought to mind great ballet photos.  In Hartford, Carla Ten Eyck=Awesome Weddings. I envy how being the ‘go to’ photographer for a certain niche must simplify certain things enormously – marketing, pricing, workflow, etc.  What I wonder about is whether there can be another successful business model for all of us photojournalists-turned-freelancers entering the marketplace in the past few years as newspapers/magazines downsize and grasp, literally, for their survival. Let’s put our heads together so we can all fly as we go forward!!!!

Any thoughts????  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

It was a first for me – a Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony.

It was another first for me – I only shot the ceremony and formal portraits, instead of the whole day.  That made it challenging and fun – only a few hours to make photographs of a life-changing event!!!

The wedding was beautiful – very traditional, lots of ritual, a fabulous, ornate church (St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral), and beautiful words by Father Chris Stamas. Stacey looked gorgeous as she stepped out the limo to be escorted down the aisle by her two children. Dino was handsome and serious, although when he looked at Stacey during the ceremony he couldn’t help but smile.

The couple didn’t speak their vows to each other, because it’s believed that they are not marrying each other, but that God is marrying them. And along those lines, Father Chris added some words I thought were moving.  They come to each other as an individual …