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

I had the fantastic opportunity of photographing a Boston wedding with Lisa Rigby Photography in July, this time for another super gorgeous couple who held their ceremony and reception at The Beehive – the same venue that recently hosted the K9 + Cocktails event a few weeks ago. This time I was able to experience something a little different from the other past weddings I’ve done – a start to finish kind of affair that lets us photographers be a privileged part of all the intimate, behind-the-scenes moments.

I started the day by meeting Lisa at the couple’s home in Brookline. Will the groom was upstairs strumming some tunes while his bride Nisa and her closest girlfriends cloistered themselves away downstairs, getting ready and drinking some bubblies.

Yes, the groom is something of a musician! And yo, I got to see him sans shirt (sorry, no photos).

First I thank Lisa for allowing me tag along (and for steering them to me for their Welcome Dinner the previous night!), and to Nisa and Will for allowing Lisa to allow me to tag along. I don’t think it could have been easy to have one, much less two people, hovering about you while you’re in various states of undress or cosmetic readiness. Honestly, in what other gig would you be allowed such direct access into someone’s personal life? I mean, would I allow complete strangers to 1) see me half naked 2) see me with no makeup and 3) photograph me willy nilly while I’m half naked with no makeup? Are you crazy?!

They were the perfect models – easy to work with, easy to look at in person and on camera, and totally unself-conscious. For all intents and purposes, we weren’t there. It made capturing those coveted “real moments” that much easier.

Here’s the bride in her beautiful Vera Wang dress. Her son trumps the groom and gets the first look!

All ready to go. Before we headed to The Beehive, we made a stop at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline for some portraits.

And then it was off to The Beehive to get hitched and to partay!

After whirling his bride on the dance floor, Will and his band did some crooning on the stage floor. Hmm. Kinda sorta jealous that my husband can’t do this. Well, he could, if you replaced the guitar with a computer keyboard and replaced singing into the mike with cursing into the screen. Sometimes that can be just as sexy in its own special way. Sometimes. OK not really. I’d prefer the singing.

And the evening closed out with some good old-fashioned (b)romance.

Congrats to Nisa & Will!

P.S. Here are Lisa’s awesome photos from the day. I helped her work the off-camera lighting. It was fun!! And highly educational as well :)

P.S. #2 I shot entirely without my Speedlight. Not because I thought I was hot stuff, but because I couldn’t insert AA batteries correctly into the flash. I had 8 batteries with me, all fully charged, tried all through the night to get it to turn on, missed some shots in the meantime, rearranged the batteries some more, and it finally fired up. As soon as I got home. That said, I am now a freaking expert at shooting in the dark.

This past Saturday The Beehive, the hippest eatery here in Boston’s South End, held a “K-9 and Cocktails” event out in the patio. Under the summer sun, dogs socialized over apps and drinks named Beeftinis, Veggie Marys and Tail Waggers. (ha ha!) Bark Place Spa, a do-it-yourself dog bathing boutique located in the South End, provided the cool bowls. Polka Dog Bakery, a South End business baking homemade goodies for your dog everyday, provided the martini-shaped treats. Proceeds went to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, located around the corner in the South End. I, of Fat Orange Cat Studio, crouched on the brick patio to photograph all the fun in the blazing, blazing sun. I too am located in the South End, in case I have not mentioned that enough times.

I just love living here.

I contemplated trading in Bunny & Veebs for a dog so I could attend this event with a proper date. I was asked so many times where my dog was and it’s getting a little embarrassing explaining that I don’t have one. Does it count that our cats act like dogs?
Here are some scenes from The Beehive:

Everyone was wearing magenta.

And speaking of local businesses, how cool is that headpiece? It’s made by Marie Galvin (that’s her with her pooch and fabulous headband), a Boston milliner (milliner!) based in the South End. I have always been THIS CLOSE to buying one of those beautiful feather headbands but had nowhere to wear them to. I have a wedding this October I’m shooting – I think that will be the perfect occasion.

(This “puppy” is really a Pomeranian.)

(This Sheltie is 3-legged.)

(This…mixed breed? has freckles.)

(This Husky has amazing eyes.)

(This Lab is a goofball.)

The Beehive patio was packed all afternoon and Beeftinis were flying out of the bars – a great success!

Last month I photographed a pre-wedding welcome dinner for the lovely Will & Nisa and their closest friends and family. The venue was held at Gaslight Brasserie in Boston’s South End, but in an old converted factory that would have you believing otherwise.

There was oodles of style, old-fashioneds, escargot…and napkins. I discovered on this shoot how much I enjoy photographing napkins.

Photographing beautiful people isn’t so bad, either. Meeraow.

I second shot their wedding the next day with Lisa Rigby at The Beehive. Stay tuned for photos!

PS Weird story following this shoot. I went inside to chill for a moment at the bar before I walked home, and chatted a bit with a gentleman there about weddings, the South End, real jobs, dream jobs, dogs, horses…and after a few minutes of this it turns out he is friends of Boo and Ferris, the two Labs I photographed back in May in a small town outside of Boston. Small and random world!

This is Riley, an 8 year-old yellow Lab.

We are near neighbors. She lives on one of my favorite streets in the South End — Union Park.

We had scheduled our shoot for the first weekend of July, and miraculously, had the shoot during the first weekend of July.  How refreshing to not have to postpone or deal with the rain! After such a miserably dreary June, Riley was happy to be outdoors, soaking in the summer sun. And so. was. I.

Union Park is all old and historic, and the iron fence surrounding the park is nearly a hundred years old and in need of repairs. With a faded sign and a rusty padlock, it feebly attempts to keep dogs out. Feebly. For the sake of art we will break the rules. We will toss Riley over the fence and we will break the rules.

After sitting so prettily and forbiddenly inside Union Park, we headed to another nearby park where a dog can be a dog. Jumping was mandatory.

So was relaxing with one leg out.

For this urban puppy, life is definitely good!

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a Super Secret Stealth Shoot on the Sly. The mission: retrieve keys, wait for humans to leave for work, enter condo, photograph the two Labradoodles inside, leave before dogwalker comes. I had major help from the sister of one of the owners, who booked the shoot. The photos are going to be a surprise engagement present for her brother and soon to be sister-in-law.

Meet doodle #1: Clyde

Clyde is 2 years old and is sparkling white. His nose is brick-colored. His fur smells like fabric softener.

Meet doodle #2: Chloe

Chloe is but a puppy at 6 months old. She is more apricot in color than Clyde and has much less curl.  She’s got this impossibly buttony black button nose that reminds me of some Pixar animated character.

Clyde and Chloe had a jolly time hanging out on the bed. Hopefully owners didn’t come home and wonder why the sheets were a) so rumpled and b) smeared with American cheese.

To get these shots, I wedged myself between the bed and the wall, knees bent – there was maybe only 2 feet of space – and set my 17-55mm lens all the way to WIDE. I scooched as far back as I could so that I was pretty much crumpled against the wall like a stuffed doll that had been unceremoniously tossed from the bed. And I did it all for the light. It was an overcast day, and what meager light we were getting was coming in from the window directly above me.

The dogs’ human aunt E.  joined me in this tiny space, and together we sat squished side-by-side, me shooting away while E. smeared Kraft American cheese on their noses, dangled more cheese above the camera, and baby-talked right into my ear. The dogs clamored to get closer. I strained to back up more as my camera strained to focus on such close, quivering subjects. E. continued enticing them with cheese and cooing next to my ear. The dogs inched even closer. I could no longer hold still because my neck started to kill and I was laughing so hard.  I was imagining one of the owners unexpectedly coming home, walking into the bedroom, and seeing two dogs hovering over the edge of the bed as two girls huddled together on the floor, one with a handful of cheese and the other with a giant camera.

Say CHEESE PLEASE!

I LOVED how involved E. was during the shoot. It’s always great when I get assistance from owners. After all, they know what makes their dogs tick more than I do! Not only does it make my job easier, it makes it that much more fun. I think back to my very first shoots when I didn’t want or ask for assistance, mostly because I was really self-conscious, nervous, didn’t know what I was doing, or all of the above. My God I was SO self-conscious. I remember my first shoot – and it was for a good friend’s dog, pro bono, as practice – thinking, Am I *seriously* trying to photograph this dog PROFESSIONALLY? What does that even mean? Hi I look and feel stupid. I’d just randomly fire away and hope for the best.

Truth is I do still “randomly” fire away to get the absolute candid shots. But it’s definitely a strategic kind of random, if that makes any sense. I’m doing a lot of crouching and moving around and recomposing, and am always aware of what’s going on around me – light, backgrounds, colors, textures, etc. I still have lots to learn, but I feel I am seriously getting so much better at this. There’s still that breathless flutter of nerves before each shoot, because I want everything to go well, naturally. But I am no longer self-conscious. Can’t tell you how liberating that feels. And I do feel I know what I’m doing, or at the very least I have a battle plan for each shoot (whether or not it goes accordingly is not always the case, but that’s okay!). As I do more, I am finding that I’ve been balancing the true candids with a lot more staged shots in order to get more interesting compositions, or ones that I’m envisioning in my head pre-shoot.

Anyway, back to our featured pooches!

Clyde and Chloe are BFFs.

I love the below image. A staged shot turned candid.  Chloe is making sure that Clyde’s still there.

Now for some pure candids. Dogs looks so vicious when they’re playing!

Chloe: IMAGONNAEATCHOO!
Clyde: *sob*

After an hour or so hanging out at the house, we headed outside to pick up a third doodle who was waiting patiently to join the party.

Meet doodle #3: Moose (center)

Moose is E.’s own dog and blood brother of Clyde. He is an apricot. They make quite the dashing duo.

We made a stop at the dog playground, where the exuberant Chloe tested every toy there and was gone with the wind.

I particularly loved this shoot because of the location as well – the South End. My neighborhood! Chloe and Clyde’s home was only 2 streets down from mine. It took a total of 60 seconds for me to walk there. Yay! And I hope you will agree, we live in quite a pretty neighbood, filled with brick and wrought iron, cobblestone pathways and hidden alleyways. It is so very urban, so very Bostonian.

HOWEVER, if you’re going to shoot in the city, make sure you don’t schedule the session on trash pick-up day, the way I did. Oops. I strategically framed shots along the street so you wouldn’t see the bags of trash lining the curb.

Clyde and Chloe stepped aside briefly so we could get some solo portraits of Moose.

When humans are caught blinking on camera, I give those photos the heave-ho. But when puppies are caught blinking, I give those photos a 5-star rating. Why is that?

And it’s a wrap!

I’d like to think they’re all congratulating each other for a shoot well done.

We end with what’s becoming a favorite shot of mine: dog against red-orange door.

I so enjoyed this shoot – great dogs, great human assistance, great location (I want to do more urban shoots please. Beacon Hill and Back Bay-ers, call me!). I hope Clyde and Chloe’s parents enjoy their gift!