Mike & Janet's Engagement

Mike and Janet's wedding is fast approaching but we decided to squeeze in an engagement shoot just before the big day. The backdrop was the Boston Common and nearby urban landscape. Here are a few of the Black & White images from the day.

12th Anniversary Images

It was our 12 anniversary this year and we decided to take off for a long a weekend to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine. We hit amazing weather. It was my first time to Acadia since i was a little tot and It definitely won't be my last. It's the most beautiful part of Maine! To celebrate our 12th we did a self anniversary portrait session. I brought the trusty tripod and we had some fun. Here are a few of the images from the shoot finished with an antique style. This is a great finish for your engagement and wedding images as well so don't hesitate to ask for it when you book your wedding photography with us.

Brian & Lilac's Engagement Shoot

Yesterday was a beautiful day for an evening engagement shoot and it was truly a pleasure to work with Brian and Lilac. We mixed the urbaness of Beacon Hill with the Charles River Park in downtown Boston. It was a great night to be out. Here are a few highlights from the shoot.

New Site Launch

I'm excited to announce that my new site has just launched. Darrenpellegrino.com. Here I'll be displaying some of my personal work, artistic images as well as travel and cultural images. It will also be a resource for potential clients outside of the wedding industry to get a taste of my style of photography. Of course, brides and grooms are welcome to check it out as well. I'll continue to add new galleries but for now you'll find Images from Cape Town, South Africa, Mozambique, Arizona and of course my home area of New England. The site here at shuttervisionstudio.com will remain the place to find information on wedding and portrait photography. There are still some openings for 2009 weddings so feel free to drop me an email to check availability and pricing. Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the new website.

Spring Fever

Spring is in the air here in New England and the wedding season is almost ready to kick off. It's been a cold snowy Winter but hopefully it's over. When Spring hits I always want to get out and shoot more photographs. The Tulips haven't quite bloomed yet but here are a few shots from past years Tulips. These are my personal favorites and the technique is really simple to do. Both of these images were shot in the light of day but with a fast shutter speed to almost black out the background and a flash on high speed sync to illuminate the beautiful flower. It's a fun photography technique. Give it a try.

KISS Wedding Book Arrival

Well, I'm happy to say that my sample KISS Wedding Book arrived on Friday in "Forbidden Green" with a black and white paisley print case. As you may or may not know, these books are made by hand of the finest quality genuine leather. I'm psyched about the quality and value as well as the overall simplicity of the ordering process. I think my wedding photography clients here in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are really going to like these, check that, LOVE these new albums. I'm really excited to offer them to my brides and grooms this coming wedding season and I can't wait to show off my new sample album so here's an advance look. Check out these pics and let me know what you think.

Album Layouts 3 of 3

Well here's the final round of album layouts for my new sample KISS Wedding Book. I think the photography is stunning, the books are of amazing quality and the layouts really enhance the imagery. My clients here in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are going to love them. Stay tuned for images of the actual Album as soon as it arrives. I hope you enjoyed a peek inside the new sample album. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Pages 17 & 18


Pages 19 & 20


Pages 21 & 22


Pages 23 & 24


Pages 25 & 26


Pages 27 & 28

Album Layouts 2 of 3 Designed in Lightroom

Here are a few more album layouts from my new KISS Wedding Book. I mentioned in the previous post that the layouts were created in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. It's really simple. Lightroom does not yet have a module for album design but if you're listening (or reading ) Adobe, this would be a great feature for the next release. I'm still hoping. Anyway, the work around is simple but obviously has it's limitations. The idea is to use Lightroom's print module but instead of printing to a printer, you print to a file. The print module allows you to create a custom page size (10x20) set your margins (for cut lines) and choose your image(s) for the layout. The page size and cut line margins will be available from your album company and once you've created a layout you can save a template for future albums and just drop in the images. It's pretty slick. There's also options for print sharpening and color management depending on your needs. The limitations quickly become apparent when the layouts become more complex so I've found that you can create 2 or 3 different layouts (layers) and combine them in Photoshop. This saves time by not designing in PS because you can use the templates created in Lightroom. It's a great system if you like simple, elegant layouts that really drawn attention to the photography rather than the graphic design and in my opinion you don't want an overly complex layout design to detract from the beautiful imagery.

Pages 9 & 10


Pages 11 & 12


Pages 13 & 14


Pages 15 & 16

Album Layouts 1 of 3

I'm really excited about working with KISS Wedding Books this year and I'm still awaiting my sample album to show to my clients so I wanted to post a few of the image layouts for the album. They are all 2 page spreads with no gap and they were designed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In a future post I'll describe how I created the layouts in Lightroom but for now enjoy the layouts. I think the quality of these books will really enhance my photography and give my clients a beautiful memory of their special day.

Pages 1 & 2


Pages 3 & 4


Pages 5 & 6

Pages 7 & 8

Moyo at Spier

Spier is located in the heart of Stellenbosch, about 30 minutes outside of Cape Town. Some have called the region the "Napa Valley" of South Africa. The winery itself is a must see for many reasons from tastings to wine making to playing with the domesticated Cheetahs. Those are for another day. For now I wanted to highlight the amazing restaurant called Moyo. Moyo is unlike any other restaurant. It's modeled after a nomadic African village and offers a wide variety of flavors from all over the continent. This is a "must eat" for anyone traveling to South Africa.