Li Ward photographer of pets and weddings. Fat Orange Cat Studio is a fresh and candid boutique photography service in Boston, Massachusetts.

I spent a warm fall afternoon with Flora and Pat and we got engaged all over the place. We started in the South End (they were officially engaged at Hamersley’s Bistro), moved to Beacon Hill, and finally to Darwin’s in Harvard Square where they had their very first date. We tried to recreate the moment. I believe it was overall quite successful.

Our next stop: the Dominican Republic!!! Waaweewoo!

P.S. Just a couple here are digital, but for the majority I used my NEW (used) medium-format film camera for the first time. Previously used here on rental. I bought the Mamiya 645 afd ii on eBay from someone in London, and I think he must have stored it in his laundry closet. All through the shoot I was smelling soap. It wasn’t quite American detergent, but detergent nonetheless. It was nice.

Jessica & Wade are getting married this June in Cambridge. In the meantime, we had a little portrait session around Boston’s Back Bay and Beacon Hill with their cute Havanese puppy dog named Jack!

Here is a peek at some of the little goodies I included with their photos. I calligraphed their names and made a little stamp. I loved how the it turned out that I immediately made three for myself. Who knows why it took me this long.

Stamps great on this DVD surface.

I also made a customized notepad and a mini accordion brag book, both from my friends at Pinhole Press.

To my upcoming – and previous! – wedding clients, you can make your own fine-paper notepads, brag books and much more by clicking this link or entering the code FOCSTUDIO when registering!

This shoot features Louise and Brian, a young couple who just celebrated their 2nd anniversary. They are both originally from the South and have been in Boston for several years as Brian finishes up his PhD at MIT. The theme of the shoot is A Lazy Afternoon in the City. As Louise told me, “It’s pretty common for us, especially in the fall, to just grab a cup of coffee or cocoa and wander around the Back Bay, Beacon Hill…”

So on crispy and gray fall afternoon, we met in the historic neighborhood of Beacon Hill, traversed our way to the Public Garden, wandered through the Back Bay, stopping to window shop at AllSaints Spitalfields and admire their collection of vintage sewing machines — Louise’s family is in the textile business and she is an avid sewer. We stopped at the Old South Church where Louise sings in the choir, and finally warmed up with a glass of red wine at a Newbury Street bistro.

It turns out that Louise and I grew up in the same Atlanta suburb, and graduated from the same high school! We both agreed that despite the frigid cold, being transplanted from suburban sprawl to a tiny, walkable and beautiful city like Boston has not been a bad thing at all. Strolls from one neighborhood to the next, all steeped in history, is a weekly ritual and like me, they feel lucky to have been able to experience and appreciate Boston in this way.

Welcome friends! It is time to give your tired, puffy eyes a little vacation, and let them feast upon this gorgeous pair of A-RAAWR! that I found roaming around the alleyways of Beacon Hill. Anny is all pre-bridal loveliness in her whipped cream-covered cupcake dress, while her fiance Anthony is looking sleek and dapper in his sleek and dapper slacks. I must make a mention that in all these photos, Anthony is hiding a Ph.D. in his back pocket, and so coupled with his John Travolta chin dimple, he is unfortunately way out of my league. But fortunately he is not beyond Anny’s, so I was happy to take what I could get and photograph this very handsome couple on a warm summer’s afternoon in my favorite parts of Boston. Everyone wins! We started in Beacon Hill, where I managed to avoid my arch nemesis Acorn Street, and ended in the Public Garden.

Anny and Anthony are getting married next year and I’m looking forward to seeing them again then!

Jen is a wedding photographer and a professional stayer-behind-the-camera-er. Even if you manage a snapshot of her, she’s still behind the camera. But for a few hours one afternoon, she gamely quelled the butterflies in her stomach and stepped in front. Just because she was afraid. Afraid of what, we will never know, because as soon as she stepped in front the camera was like GIRL RUN AWAY WITH ME TO MEXICO.

We started in the Boston Common, weaved our way through Beacon Hill, chasing the light, stopped at the docks on the Esplanade and ended at the Commonwealth Ave Mall just in time for twinkling tree lighting. Afterwards I discovered about 99.9% of all the photos were shot into the sun. The only reason it isn’t 100% is because the clouds rolled in towards the end. I was about to apologize for all the backlighting, but you know what, screw you! I love backlighting okay? Especially these days when the sun has been few and far between. Luckily Jen likes backlighting too, so as long as we’re on the same page, it’s all good.

The first image here was the very first shot I took, as I was taking out the camera out of the bag. I could see the whites of Jen’s eyes. So to ease ourselves into the shoot, I fired a sneaky peeky without looking into the view finder. They don’t always turn out, but it’s fun when they do.

Jen should get in front of the camera more…