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.

Alison & Chase drove all the way over from Albany, NY area to have their engagement session at Walden Pond. A friend came along with me and as we’re waiting for them in the parking lot, with no sign of them and the sun setting lower and lower, we said to one another, “There IS only one Walden Pond, right…?” Well, as it turns out, there are TWO, both within 15 minutes of Boston. I mean, Why, pond-namers and map-makers, WHY?! They were at the Walden Pond in Lynn, we were at the Walden Pond in Concord. So with one down and one to go, our lovely yet frazzled couple raced their way over, where we then all chugged a beer each in the lot, laughed, calmed down, and all was well again.

I am so excited and honored to be shooting their wedding next year on Lake George in the Adirondacks. Hopefully there is only the one…

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!

I recently shot my first engagement session on the campus of MIT, where my lovely subjects Briar and Jason both went to school. Not really knowing my way around the area (I am very Other Side of the River) I let them lead me to places of interest and significance to them. We met at the (infamous?) Stata Center, made our way through Building 7 and ended at the Charles River, having chance encounters with pretty, pretty light along the way.

^ MIT class rings, featuring the beaver, aka nature’s engineer. Ha ha!

I loved photographing this session, and I thank Briar and Jason for helping me to keep the shoot so easy, smart, and beautiful!

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!