Earlier this month, I watched Diane Sawyer’s Primetime special, which featured Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch and the story of his “Last Lecture.” The interview highlighted Randy’s inspirational story of hope in the face of his own death. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and being given just a few months to live, Randy chose to use what precious little time he has left to really live and in so doing unexpectedly inspired others to do the same. His Last Lecture, given at Carnegie Mellon on September 18, 2007, has had nearly 2 millions hits on You Tube.

This incredible man has been in my thoughts a lot since the show and I thought some of you might also find inspiration in his story. The video below is just a snippet of the entire Primetime interview. If you have time, I encourage you to check out the entire interview.

Life can be difficult, but as Randy says, it’s how you chose to live that makes all of the difference. Sometimes, in the stress and chaos of everyday stuff, it’s good to be reminded of what is really important. Thanks for the reminder Randy!

To watch Randy’s “Last Lecture” go to his home page. Oh, and Randy recently passed the 8 month mark since being diagnosed with cancer. Go Randy!!!

One of our favorite Cape wedding reception spots is the picturesque Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee. So, when we were asked by the management to do some photos for their website & brochure, we were honored and also excited at the prospect of doing something a little different for us.

We met the club’s very sweet and very talented head chef, Chef Paul Cunningham, who whipped up some of his new signature dishes for us to photograph….staring at these tantalizing tastebud treats made concentrating difficult. We were also there to capture members enjoying an evening at the club’s Grill Room. It was a fun change of pace for us and we even got to sample some of the delights from the kitchen. Next month, we’ll be doing some photographs for the club’s real estate division and fitness center.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to Randy VanTassel, Banquet Manager at Willowbend, and Catering Manager Ann Marcotte for making this happen. And, our thanks wouldn’t be complete without a big thank you to Chef Paul for filling our bellies so joyously!

Here’s a few of our favorite shots:

Chef Paul

Signature dishes….be warned…if you’re at all hungry, you may want to skip past these; they could put you over the edge!

Club members enjoying dinner in the Grill Room:

Willowbend at night:

Last summer, at the ridiculously fun Willowbend wedding of Molly & Guy, we had the pleasure of working alongside Hyannis-based make up artist Vanessa Lees. Vanessa recently asked us to take some headshots for her to use on her new website and in some marketing materials. While weddings are really more of our thing, we’re happy to help fellow wedding vendors, particularly ones as nice as Vanessa.

The session took place at Salon By Design, where Vanessa works both as a make up artist and esthetician. We had a great morning together and got some fabulous shots. During our time together, we came up with some ideas for a cool 5″ x 5″ tri-fold card/brochure, which is a product we also offer our wedding clients as unique Save-The-Date, Thank You and/or holiday cards. This was the first commercial product we have done and the results are pretty cool so we thought we’d share them:

That’s Vanessa’s face on the front of the card. Open it up and you see the pink page on the right, and the “Making Dreams Come True” page on the inside of the front cover. Open it up all the way and you now see a photo of Vanessa with her bio and contact info and all her pricing info is in the center spread…pretty cool, right?

And here are Vanessa’s favorite photos from our session together, both of which were used in the brochure.

Thank you Vanessa for being such a fun model!!

Here are a few scenics we got on our last day in the city, including a few stop-you-in-your-tracks reminders of 9-11. We actually got married the weekend before the planes hit the towers and sat in horror in front of our televisions as we watched the second plane hit live. It was such a surreal experience there in our living room with family and friends all around watching this unbelievable and pivotal moment in history unfold before our eyes. Crazy!!

We hadn’t been back to the city since, so seeing this really brought the memories of that time flooding back. The Ground Zero shots were all taken from the Millennium Hilton, located right in the heart of the financial district.

This one is actually three shots sewn into one…there are some issues with the overlays, but if you look quick you can’t tell…pretty cool nonetheless:

Here’s a shot of a classic New York style pastrami sandwich from the infamous Katz’s Deli. Now, I love pastrami. I grew up eating it and it’s hard to find a good sliced pastrami like I remember. So, I was very excited to check out the NY pastrami scene. Gotta be honest…the sandwiches made us feel kind of sick afterwards…and even while eating them if we’re being completely honest. I don’t know if it was the slightly old tasting pickled cukes and tomatoes or the seemingly raw and ridiculously thick-cut pastrami…but it wasn’t good. Definitely a downer and certainly not worth $15. Kind of a funky place, definitely a landmark. But, I don’t think we’d go back.

Here are just a few street scenes. Only in New York can you get charged a fine for honking…love that!

Taking a cab ride around town

More cool architecture.

This guy could crank out a pretty funky painting in less than 5 minutes using nothing but spray paint and pieces of paper to help guide where his paint went…very impressive. The best part was that he was playing the Baz Luhrmann’s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” speech/song that was really popular in 1999…I loved that song!

Lastly, a shot from one of the top floors at the Hilton Millennium, facing the Brooklyn Bridge. Such a cool city. Let’s hope we don’t wait another 10 years before we go back!

We feel pretty lucky to live where we do and have Cape Cod as the backdrop for our Bello love stories. But, every now and then, it’s fun to leave this little slice of heaven and find inspiration in places unfamiliar. Such was the adventure we had when we met up with our friends Andrea & Will for their ridiculously fun engagement session. We had such a great day with them, exploring some of their favorite spots in the city, getting some gorgeous images and ending with a fabulous dinner at their favorite neighborhood restaurant, The House, in Gramercy Park. Mmmmmm yummy is all we can say about that.

Andrea & Will thank you so much for putting your trust in us, for being so open to trying new things and for generally just being a lot of fun to be around. And a giant thank you for that amazing dinner! We can’t wait to see you both again here on the Cape later this summer when you say, “I do!” We feel so lucky to have met you both and luckier still to have been invited to share in such a special day in your lives.

Here are just a few of our favorite images from our time together. Enjoy!

Here’s the happy couple outside of their favorite restaurant

Will’s favorite NY building is the Chrysler Building…so we had to take this shot!

And here are a few more street shots…I love how Andy captured the rushing traffic and classic yellow taxi in the first one below! Nice one honey!!

I love this one because despite all of the busyness around them, Andrea & Will look like they’re the only two people in the world the way they’re looking at each other.

We found this great old bank-turned-theater in Union Square and just loved the columns. Here’s a few of them getting snuggly:

This one is my FAVORITE from the session. While I was focusing on more classic composition, Andy stole this amazing moment!

Love those Louboutins Andrea!!!

Are you two cute or what?

Takin’ the train home…

Thank you again you two for being so much fun! We can’t wait to see you again at your wedding here on Cape Cod!!! Remember, dinner is on us next time!

Big hugs, Chris & Andy

For the second year running an Eastern Screech Owl has taken up residence in exactly the same tree hollow as it did last year. The difference being that last year the tree hollow was occupied by a family of four; Mom owl, Dad owl, and two little ones. I was fortunate enough to see the little ones take their first flight out of the tree. A very sketchy affair that was! These owls are usually monogamous and remain together for life, so i am hoping that the owl pictured below - not sure if it’s mom or dad - is one of the pair from last year coming back to have more kids!

Look at him/her peeking his head out!

And here he/she is -taken last year. What do you think? The same owl?

It’s hard to believe we’re into mid-April already, but here we are. And with the start of spring comes Earth Day. It seems Green is very in right now, and that’s definitely not a bad thing. We’ve always been big fans of recycling and hate waste.

Not long ago, we became obsessed with the abundance of discarded plastic bags that we kept noticing everywhere…on the side of the road, stuck in trees, blowing across the street, even in the ocean. One day at the beach this summer, (the only day we actually made it the beach without a bridal party in tow) we whipped out our little point & shoot camera we carry with us everywhere…the big guns only come out for big events…and took a few shots of some bags. While we were having fun with our little self-imposed project, we started thinking it might be more fun to see what other people might come up with. So, we decided to solicit your help and ask for submissions of photos of plastic bags in some really bizarre places, or anything related to the subject (we’ve already got a couple of cool shots of reuseable bags).

The plan is to put all of the photos we receive on our blog and have you vote on your favorites, with a prize going to the winning entry. The last day for entries is Tuesday, April 22, Earth Day. To up the ante, we’ll reveal that the prize for the winning entry is a free portrait session….maybe a trash the dress session for one of our existing clients…or how about an engagement session for a prospective client who wants to try us out. Family session anyone? We do babies and maternity sessions too people!!!

The contest isn’t limited to clients, so get out there and start shooting. We know there’s plenty of material out there! Here’s a shot we took a couple of weeks ago from along the edge of a supermarket parking lot in Cohasset. This is why we hate plastic bags.

And here are a couple of entries we’ve received to inspire you!

So we did have a whole bunch of beautiful tulips in our back yard. Not anymore! Now we have a whole bunch of green stems! All the heads are missing! We have a daily visitor that particularly enjoys this flower. I am not happy about this at all, but how can you get angry when you look at this cute little cottontail trying to hide in the grass! Bless his little cotton socks!!!

This week has been gorgeous spring weather - mid 50’s and 60’s - but it seems the nights are still chillingly cold. If you don’t believe me take a look at the state of the cranberry bog near our house. Taken early this morning. Brrrrhh!

Thank you everyone who has sent well wishes for Sadie. Now, in her 8th week of life, still about a month shy of when she was expected to be born, she is doing really well…weighing in at just over 5 pounds. That’s twice her birth weight! Yeahhhh! Her breathing tube has been completely removed, though she still has “spells” from time to time. Her feeding tube is still in, but she is breast feeding and taking bottles when mommy isn’t there.

We were in NYC this past weekend, so I haven’t heard from my sister about when she might be able to come home, but the hope is that it won’t be long now. Here’s the latest photo from my visit last week. She looks soooo good. Such a difference from when she was first born. She really looks like a baby now! And the older she gets the more she looks just like her big brother! It’s those sweet little bags under her eyes and that delicious little button nose. Judge for yourself…