It's a Wrap

When the holidays come around, I live on Pinterest and detach from reality. Usually I'm content to pin a thousand wrapping paper schemes and leave it at that, but this year -- in a fit of festive feeling -- it was time to try my hand at it myself.

I'm an unspeakably huge fan of plain brown paper -- it's neutral and inoffensive and can be dressed up in a million different moods just by tweaking a small detail (a bow or some twine here, a tag there).

My other weaknesses: black ribbon, gold and silver accents, and sweeping, elegant typography.

Everything was given a giant ribbon bow as a topper. Naturally.

The finished products, when arranged under the tree, look understated and a little rustic. Nothing to overwhelm your holiday decor here.

Shiro @ Harvard, 11/21/15

Before Chris & Jacky had their Boston Public Garden session, PhD student Shiro, another undergraduate classmate of mine, had a brief headshot session in a gorgeous stairwell in the Harvard politics building. The left is my favorite of the set. It wasn't posed -- Shiro had just stood perfectly still and smiley for too many photos in a row, and the second he relaxed, I snapped that last one candidly.  

The photo on the right was taken purely because I can never resist a bit of light leak. It's so dramatic! 

Festive Fur-Friends

This family's tree was so lovely I had to try my luck at getting it in the background of a few pet shots. I was primarily inspired by Ribsy (15 year old tortoiseshell cat), who looks so young, magical and full of wonder as she pokes around the tree's lowest branches and sniffs at the boxes underneath. 

Many treats were involved in the capture of these two images…and very, very many motion-blurred outtakes.