Posted by: ROB & KATHLEEN View More: NEWS Five years ago, with not much more than a camera and ambition, he started his own business. Originally he was working in an IT job, making pretty good money, with set hours and plenty of vacation days. It was a good job, but it was not his passion. For years his true passion was photography, it was what he loved. He wanted to pursue that further but knew it wasn't going to be easy. He named the business after himself, his initials, which made sense cause it was all him. There were countless hours - he would go to work all day and build the business on the evenings and weekends. He may have been sleep deprived but he was personally fulfilled. And soon came the turning point, It was now or never - follow his passion all the way or not at all, he had to go full time with the business. He knew he had to follow his heart and make the jump - it was one of the scariest moments of his life but at the same time, the most exciting and liberating as well. She was inspired by his ambition. She has always been a creative person, but she had never found a true outlet to express that creativity. Her background was journalism. She had worked in several publishing jobs and liked them- but she always loved the visuals more than the words. She loved designing pages, telling stories with a mix of words and pictures. When she watched him designing a wedding album one day, it clicked. That's what she should be doing! It's exactly what she loved to do, telling a story through pictures. So when he started teaching her photography, it clicked even more. What better way to tell a story with pictures than actually taking the pictures as well? Pretty soon she was hooked, she couldn't wait for the next shoot, the next wedding, the next album to design. And it was time for her to make the jump as well. It had gone beyond just him, it was them. Today, they make yet another jump together renaming the business to reflect it as it truly is today - a team effort. - ROBERT & KATHLEEN - The day has finally arrived. We are now officially Robert & Kathleen Photographers. After a year of planning, we are ready to launch this new business name AND our brand new, custom-designed, “truly us” blog. The incredibly talented Dave & Brock of Infinet Design made all of our ideas come to life in an incredibly beautiful web space, we are so thankful to them. We are SO excited to finally have a business name and a blog that reflects who we are - as photographers, as people, and as a couple. One of the things we love the most is travel - we find so much inspiration in discovering new places together. That's why it was so important to us to have that incorporated into the blog, along with a bunch of other fun details. From the stamp logo on every post reading 9.07 (our wedding date), to the new rust color that actually matches the leather of vintage suitcases we have in our living room, we really feel this blog has become an extension of our home and, more importantly, an extension of us. So welcome to our virtual home where you can visit us every day. Sit back, relax, and spend some time with us. We promise to keep it interesting!

Posted by: ROB View More: FILM As creative people we think it is especially important to constantly work on our craft so that we can be the best for both ourselves as well as for our clients. We also think it is important to go out often and photograph for ourselves. We love going places with just a camera in hand and no plan for what we are going to do. It is so amazing to shoot the things that inspire us at that moment and not worry so much about the end product. For all of you photographers out there, we HIGHLY recommend trying to get out and shoot for yourself as often as possible. This past Friday we were itching to go on a little photo field trip so Kathleen and I decided to get up early, jump on a train and head into the city. This is truly one of the benefits of living so closely to New York. All I brought to photograph with me was a Hasselblad 500 C/M with film back and all Kathleen brought was a Canon EOS1 film camera. We each only brought one lens and nothing else. We really love the feel of film so we thought it would be incredibly fun to only shoot film for the day. Everything you will see below is film are film images. We ended up in Little Italy as well as China Town where the colors and textures of these two unique neighborhoods really inspired us. I was loving it so much that I shot 6 rolls of 120 film. As a note: all of the photos that I photographed are SQUARE as all I was shooting was medium format. All of Kathleen's photos are RECTANGLE (either horizontal or vertical) as she was shooting 35mm. For those of you who have been asking us what film we shoot with, we love Fuji PRO 400H as well as Fuji PRO 160S in both 120 and 35mm when shooting color. Film is something that is very special to us and as we said many times before, we are officially offering it to our clients to mix with their digital photography that we capture of their wedding day. The unique look of film combined with the modern feel of digital really makes for an incredible one-of-a-kind way to capture a wedding day. If you are interested in having your wedding day captured with film as well as digital please let us know. In the meantime, please enjoy these shots from our day in New York.

Posted by: ROB & KATHLEEN View More: WEDDINGS They say that sometimes your friends know you even better than you know yourself. Many times it's your friends that are the first ones to see the spark in a new relationship, to notice what makes that one different. That's probably because they know you so well they can recognize the qualities you are looking for in someone even better than you can yourself. They are usually the ones to realize that you have found the person that you are meant to be with. Because to them, seeing you with that perfect person just makes sense. They knew what you needed all along. That's how it was for Sarah and William. To hear Will's best men tell it, winning Will's favor is no easy feat, but once you have it you know that you have earned something really special. That's why his two closest friends both knew that there was something different about Sarah even before they had met her. They could see that change in him. She made him smile. Once they met her in person they saw that she was everything they had imagined Will would find in a wife - a woman that was truly his equal. Because not only was she smart, funny and beautiful, but she was also a woman that kept him on his toes. For once, they saw someone that made Will work just as hard to win her favor as she had worked to win his. And once he had it, he knew he had found something really special. When they saw Will with Sarah together, it just made sense. She was exactly what he needed all along. * * * We arrived at the Gramercy Park Hotel a bit earlier than scheduled, probably because we were both so excited to scope out the top floor in person. It was where both the ceremony and reception would take place and we had heard that it was amazing. We were not disappointed. The unique and beautiful space was originally the personal home of the architect of the hotel who made sure the interior views were just as good as the exterior ones (sweeping panoramic views of lower Manhattan). There was no shortage of interesting things for us to photograph - from the room with a ceiling that consisted entirely of lightbulbs, to the quirky artwork, checkered floor and oversized and elegant furniture throughout. After scoping out the top floor we headed down to Sarah's room where she was getting ready with her bridesmaids. They were all having their make-up done by fashion and celebrity make-up artist Lauren Whitworth while sharing stories and making each other laugh. While they were doing their finishing touches, we took a few minutes to get some shots of Sarah's stunning Elie Saab gown, bringing it up to the top floor to take advantage of the unique elements of their location. It wasn't long after we returned that Sarah put on her dress and everyone gushed about how incredible she looked. It was the general consensus that she looked like a movie star (we think Grace Kelly), and that Will was not going to be able to stop smiling as soon as he saw her. Which was pretty accurate. From the moment they saw each other for the first time that day, both Will and Sarah had permanent smiles on their faces. Their ceremony took place in the corner of the Gramercy Park rooftop, with friends and family surrounding them on both sides. It was a intimate and romantic ceremony mixing elements of both of their heritages, Jewish and Irish blessings were read. (We always love to see the unique way that couples format their ceremonies to truly reflect who they are as a couple and what is most important to them. It was very clear that Sarah and Will had done just that.) The reception was held on the entire rooftop area, with lights strung across the ceiling and pops of green and yellow tying in the garden-like atmosphere of the indoor/outdoor space. Once the sun was fully set, the lights in the skyline started to blend together with the twinkle lights on the ceiling of the rooftop, creating the perfect vibe for dancing and an unmistakably New York setting. As the evening came to a close, Sarah and Will were in the center of the dance floor with their arms around each other doing what they do best - making each other smile.

When we arrived to the room where Sarah was getting ready at the incredible high end and chic Gramercy Park Hotel, we immediately noticed the beautiful view of lower Manhattan outside of her bedside window. NYC is a very special place to us so you can imagine how exciting it was for us to let the energy of the city inspire us.

The hotel had many eccentric photos, paintings and design elements which we loved capturing.

I'm not exactly sure what it is but there is something very emotional about a bride getting ready for her wedding ceremony.

Sarah looked absolutely radiant as she was having the last touches to her makeup done.

She was also filled with such an incredibly contagious energy; and filled with such happiness and excitement.

We captured Sarah's most important details. :)

Sarah & the girls had a couple of trays of the most delicious sushi delivered to the room before they all got into their dresses. For all of you who know Kathleen and I, you know we LOVE sushi so we were more than happy when they invited us to eat with them.

Sarah's Maid of Honor practiced her speech which she later performed flawlessly.

I really love the reflection in this photo as Sarah has a couple of finishing touches added to her hair.

Before Sarah got dressed we headed up to the top floor of the hotel where their ceremony and reception was to be held. One of the rooms had this totally unique and completely awesome ceiling decked out with hundreds of light bulbs.

We really enjoyed capturing the details throughout.

We thought that the room with all of the light bulbs would be such a great spot for a couple of photos with Sarah's dress. How great is this?! These are my shots...

...and this is Kathleen's shot at the same moment. When I saw this image, I couldn't believe how great it was, Kathleen is amazing!!

We grabbed a couple more shots of details before heading back down to Sarah's room.

As soon as we returned to the room, Sarah with the help of her bride's maids got into her dress.

There was such a warm, fun and relaxed atmosphere as Sarah and her girls got ready for the ceremony.

Once Sarah was dressed we just had to take advantage of hotel room for a few relaxed bridal photos. There was a beautiful red velvet couch with a swinging lamp above that gave us the opportunity to show off Sarah and her dress. This is one of my personal favorite images from Sarah & William's Wedding.

Without moving Sarah, I jumped up onto a chair and grabbed this shot. Doesn't she look absolutely stunning?!

That light was really perfectly placed for these shots! :) Many people might simply push it away but we thought it added greatly to these photos.

When at a wedding, we are always very conscience of our surrounding and always on the lookout for locations to shoot, as well as lighting and all kinds of things. It was like we were in sensory overload while at this hotel... it was great. The hallways outside of the room were lined with deep red walls and dimly lit lights providing the perfect atmosphere for some moody portraits. We were so glad that Sarah was completely up for anything we suggested as these are a couple of our favorites.

We headed upstairs to where their ceremony was to take place. We grabbed one more relaxed portrait of Sarah before...

...meeting up with William.

Since there was very little time between their ceremony and reception, Sarah & William decided to see each other before hand and take all of the photos at that time. Of course we think this is a great option because it allows for extra time for photos which really relaxes the entire day.

There were so many rooms and little nooks to photograph in all around the hotel. We used this couch for a shot of William & Sarah...

...and then realized it would also be a great place for a wedding party shot. Totally "Vogue" right!

After we spent time with Sarah & William as well as their wedding party we went over to get some details of their ceremony which was held on a covered roof deck high above Manhattan.

As their ceremony started they had string musicians provide the music.

Kathleen captured this shot of Sarah being walked into the ceremony location by her Dad...

...as I captured these images from the front as they entered.

Leaning out to get the shot! :)

Sarah & William lit their unity candle.

The ceremony was very intimate, filled with lights stung above, sting musicians to the side and the lights of the city all around. What made it even sweeter was the gentle rain hitting the ceiling above.

During their ceremony Sarah's Dad read an Irish Blessing...

...and William's Mom read a Hebrew blessing.

In Jewish tradition, both William and Sarah drank from the cup.

To me one of the most emotional parts of a wedding ceremony is the exchange of rings. This is William placing Sarah's ring on her finger...

...and this is Sarah getting William's ring from her Maid of Honor.

Sarah had a huge smile on her face as she placed it on William's finger.

Also in Jewish tradition, William broke the glass perfectly and they had their first kiss as husband and wife.

We caught this photo as William and Sarah stepped into the elevator after the ceremony.

We headed to their hotel room where Sarah's bride's maid were bustling Sarah's dress.

Sarah & William signed their marriage licenses before heading up to their cocktail hour.

We grabbed them for a couple of minutes to get a coupe more photos, this time in the room with all of the light bulbs. Seriously how cool is this place?!

We went on to capture some of the reception details.

The staff at the Gramercy Hotel completely transformed the rooms where their ceremony took place and setup an insanely beautiful setting for an elegant dinner.

Their table cards were perfectly placed...

...and we loved all of the thought that was put into each and every detail.

Just like every aspect of their day, Sarah & William's cake was both simple and elegant...

...as was their table settings.

Both of Sarah's best friends as well as William's best friends made emotional and fun loving speeches about them.

They cut their cake...

...and followed it by a dance.

The covered rooftop with the rain coming down and the city lights all around was like something from a movie, it was such a completely romantic atmosphere.

Sarah & William, your wedding was nothing less than extrodinary and we feel so blessed to have shared your day with the both of you as well as with your family and friends. We hope you had an amazing time on you honeymoon and look forward to talking with you both again soon! ~Rob & Kathleen

Posted by: ROB View More: PREVIEWS Happy February!! As many of you know, we have had a really busy January. Of course in no way are we complaining, in fact it has been amazing shooting so much especially during what is traditionally our "off" season. We have been doing some really great things around here and as we teased on Twitter and on our Facebook page, we will be announcing those things very shortly. In the meantime, we wanted to share with you a couple previews from Allison & Jason's Wedding which took place this past Saturday at The Society Room of Hartford. Strangely enough we had the pleasure working there two weeks in a row. For all of you who have been there, The Society Room is a really unique and gorgeous space. This week we brought along the Hasselblad film camera and shot some film throughout the day. We thought it would be fitting to share a couple of our film shots from this wedding. This first photo is in the bridal suite and is of Allison in her beautiful Vera Wang gown right before their ceremony and the second is from the second floor of the ballroom showing off the very cool lighting. The one in the ballroom was shot with 400 film at f/2.8 at 1/15th of a second handheld using only available light hence the reason I am very proud of it. We have SO much more to share with you and can't wait to do so! Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Posted by: ROB View More: FILM As many of you already know, along with our digital work we started to shoot film again early last summer. There is something that is incredibly special about the look and feel of film that can't be completely re-produced in a digital image. I personally also love the thought process that you go through when photographing with film. It forces you to slow down, to give even more careful thought to such things as composition and lighting, and it challenges you to question the importance of the subject(s) that you are photographing. Simply stated the art form is wonderful. Early last week we had a consultation with a bride who brought her Dad along. We quickly found out that he has been a photographer for many years and also quickly found out that he enjoys talking about the technical side of photography. I of course was in my glory because my geeky side loves coming out to play once in a while. I mentioned to him that we have been shooting film again and are looking to purchase an old Hasselblad so we can shoot some medium format film. He said that he actually has some Hasselblad equipment that is in pristine condition. He definitely peeked my interest and hopefully we can get together soon to check it out. In the meantime after that consultation, I briefly twittered something about this conversation as I was clearly excited. Our good friend, Robert Norman saw my twitter message and texted me right away that he has a Hasselblad (which just so happened to be the exact model I was looking for - Hasselblad 500C/M) and we can use it until we find one of our own. I quickly took him up on his offer, grabbed some 120 film and got to shooting. We had a dinner meeting in New Haven the other day so we went early and shot a couple of frames around Pepe's Pizza and on Thursday during the snow storm I went and got a couple of shots outside along with a couple of random things around the house and studio. Kathleen also may have made it into some of the photos! :) To say that photographing with this camera is simply amazing would be a complete understatement. It has filled the gap of what I felt like I have been missing in photography. (This is in no way to say anything negative about digital - as we obviously love that too). As I mentioned earlier, I LOVE the slow thought process of film and I am completely overjoyed with the square format of medium format film. It is truly something special. Today when I woke up I couldn't WAIT to bring the film to get developed and was like a kid on Christmas Day when I scanned each frame into the computer this evening. So as you can imagine I am even more excited to share some of these random shots with each of you and hope you enjoy!

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