So, I’ll tell you what. You all know how I get the pretty people. I just do. I get the brides and grooms that are beautiful and gorgeous and even NICE. They all are. For the most part, they are all even nicer than they are gorgeous and that is saying a lot. This is the truth and this makes me a very happy photographer. My people all rule and they are all very enjoyable to spend time with. Here is my problem. While getting to shoot gorgeous people all day long is absolutely the best thing in the world and amazingly my JOB, there is no faster way to make me feel like a woodland troll guarding the bridge that all of the beautiful and cool people have to walk down to get to their Land of Pretty. It happens without fail every time. I will feel pretty good about myself. All showered and newly made up..sometimes, only sometimes though, I will even be happy with whatever outfit I threw together that didn’t consist of yoga pants. I will pack up my photo gear and get into my car and apply a fresh coat of lip gloss and then I will drive to my shooting destination of the day.  And without fail, about 10 minutes after I arrive my couple will round a corner, walk towards me, time will slow, wind will blow their hair back fashionably, and some sort of soundtrack will play in the background (typically, I hear that song …”I…I just di-ed in your arms tonight…”) while everyone else  just kind of stops and stares at them.  And in that instant I will shrink 3 feet, gain 40-45 pounds, my hair will all fall out save for a few straggly strands that protrude from a wart that sprouted from my nose and my skin will turn the color of dead people.

It is awesome.

While I know that because my people are all gorgeous that my job will be easy and I will be the envy of photographers everywhere, my self confidence will shrivel up and there will be a little part of me that will want to cry. Except that I can’t because that would be weird and awkward so instead I just usually end up developing borderline inappropriate crushes on both the boy and the girl that I am about to shoot.

This is pretty much, in a nutshell, what happened the other day when I met Shanon and Chris for their engagement session. While you look at these pictures and the part of you that wants to hate them for being perfect starts to rear it’s ugly head, read the first couple of sentences of my first paragraph again. They are nice. Wicked nice, in fact.  So you can’t hate them. Instead, develop feelings of pity and funnel those bad boys my way because it isn’t easy being a woodland troll.

We met at the Boston Public Library..Shanon and Chris just BROUGHT it. I basically just stood there, feeling all frumpy and bad for myself  with my camera,  pressing the button every now and then and they did the rest.

C’mon with the styling, right??Loveeeeee these.Love.Stop looking at me like that, Chris! Shanon is RIGHT THERE!!!They are just ridiculous smokeshows.Really, Shanon??Funny.
Outfit change.

Well, there you have it. You two are awesome. I am so glad I will be with you in December for your big day.

xo, Rachel

Today I get to share with you a ridiculously adorable kid. His name is Colin and he is the gorgeous offspring of my friend from college, Brendan and his awesome wife, Katy. I’ve talked here before how fun/creepy/scary it is to be able to shoot the babies of people that I shot beer pong with for the better part of my late teens/early twenties.  Seeing everyone all grown up and married with mortgages and SUV’s and babies and husbands and wives is crazy. If I actually took the time to think about how many years ago it was that I met Brendan I might have to crawl under my desk with Missy girl and cry and then make an immediate appointment for Botox so I won’t do the math right now.  Even though it feels like yesterday that we were all at the Sigma Chi house and Brenden was kind enough to hold me over a keg with the tap lodged firmly in my mouth and not drop me, it definitely wasn’t. Oh college…

Brendan was lucky enough to find Katy somewhere along the way and these two made one of the cutest boys ever. I went up to visit them last week. And no matter how hard I tried to convince Katy that day that it was dreary and winter and awful out she wasn’t buying it. In Abington it was a solid 40 degrees that whole day. I distinctly remember because I got my chubby self off my desk chair to go for a run, got to the top of my street (which is approximately 4 houses away, just to give you a visual) and turned the hell around and walked, I didn’t even run, I walked, home. Wasn’t happening. I called Katy and tried to warn her of the impending tornado and blizzard and she was like, “yeahhhhh we’re good. It’s nice”. Fine, I said to myself. Fine, I will go and I will wear Uggs. And then I left Abington and it was like the most beautiful day ever in all the land. Sunny and gorgeous and perfect for a shoot. It’s not often I am wrong. I will give this one to Katy.

Prepare yourself for this child. He is one year old baby perfection.

Love our family stuff.Stop it, Colin.This blinking pic kills me for some reason.Love it.He’s all..”Whadd’ya gonna do? They put me in a mustash shirt. Just gonna roll with it.”I die.Makes me laugh out loud. 

Thank you guys!! It was SO good to see you..it doesn’t happen nearly enough. That boy rules.

xo, Rachel

Honestly, if I could just put on a bathing suit and swan dive into my cup of coffee right I 100% would. I would wear a little bathing cap with plastic flowers on the side and do the back stroke in there for like an hour. It is so delicious and magical and everything about me changes as I feel it hit my bloodstream.  After almost 12 years of marriage Eric FINALLY had an a ha! moment last week when he said out loud…”Huh. You REALLY DO need to just have your coffee before I start yammering incessantly prior to the sun coming up!”

Well, it wasn’t in those words exactly, but it was really like watching a light bulb turn on over his chatty head that loves the morning so much it just can’t wait to get out of bed, when he acknowledged that yes, Rachel + Coffee = go ahead and have a conversation without her having visions of tearing out his voicebox with her bare hands, and consequently, Rachel – Coffee= cranky, grouchy Rachel who would rather stick her head in the garbage disposal and end it all instead of talking about the latest gossip at his office or grass seed. Only took 12 years. Totally fine.

I love all the…”I don’t drink coffee” high horse people that ride around on their caffeineless donkeys and think they are better than me because coffee is the last thing I think about before I fall asleep and the sole motivator for getting me out of bed in the morning. You are not better than me. You arrogant green tea drinker. In fact, I feel sorry for you. I get a little thrill each and every morning when I hear the final gurgle of my Keuring and I know that in seconds everything will be pointing towards right in my world. What joy do you have that compares with that EVERY morning? Probably some sort of exercise…and this is why we aren’t friends. Sure, if I go for the 2 cups and there are still the people that I brought into the world and my chatty husband in my general vicinity I maaaaayyyy get a touch irritable and snap at them for swallowing loud, but when the stars align and all of those people leave and I am here to enjoy my second cup (which is just never as good as the first, yet I try and convince myself it will be daily) with just me, my computer and my dog who doesn’t speak, then all is well and I am the happiest girl in town. And so what if I down a half gallon of half&half a week and wonder WHY the hell the seven pound weightloss that I would give a working limb for just won’t happen, SO WHAT? I try every now and then to go get healthy and convince myself that almond milk in my coffee is good. And it frigging isn’t. And I ALWAYS go back to the notion that my coffee in the morning brings me pure joy, exactly the way it tastes with my half&half, and that life is scarily short. Why would I begrudge myself a pure and harmless joy like coffee with cream?  I am very glad that I am not an addict to a hard core drug like heroin or meth..I would find a way to justify the joy of it while I was spitting out my last functioning tooth in an alley somewhere.

So, on this beautiful morning with one and a half cups of caffeine doing a happy little conga line throughout my veins I get to share with you Rich and Cori. GROWN UPS!!!  I love my little ones with all my heart, but I won’t lie and say that driving into the city last week knowing that I was going to shoot people who do not wear diapers and can drink out of cups with no tops made me happy. Rich is the brother to my sweet girl, Jen. Jen and Brian got married last fall and I have been lucky enough to get to know this awesome family. Actually, I get to see Jen and her mom today to do some album stuff so it is a whole day filled with awesome for me. Rich and Cori are getting married in November in California in Napa, and rather than sobbing into my mug of deliciousness about the fact that someone else will get to shoot them on their wedding day, I will be happy that I got the opportunity to shoot their engagement session in the streets of Beacon Hill, my fave.

We had fun..I promised them it would be painless and I think I made good on that promise. Taking a walk is my favorite way to shoot and I love what we got.

Perfect styling…gorgeous people.

Isn’t Cori gorge?Love these.I really could not be happier that Spring is here and everything is green again. LOVE the one on the right. Rich is awesome…such a good guy and sport.Adorable.Really?

Thanks guys! Congratulations on your engagement!

xo, Rachel

I love that it is warming up and I am finally able to get back outside to shoot. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Heidi and her family and enjoying a little sunshine and happiness with her two little girls. Julianne, the oldest, is a kid after my own heart and has more personality in her little baby finger than most people can ever hope to have in their whole lifetimes. Little Baby J (Jocelyn) is beautiful and I a little bit wanted to steal her. We met at Heidi’s mother in laws house in Boston which had an amazing garden in the back that I wanted to move into.

Julieanne!

Sweet Jocelyn.Everyone.
I just love her.LOVE this picture of her.It got a little chilly outside for the babe so we took her in. How precious is she?

Thanks guys! It was so great to meet you!

xo, Rachel

Huh. Just got totally trapped in some sort of “trying to come up with a topic to discuss today” black hole and realized that I was just staring at a nail hole in my wall for at LEAST 60 seconds with my mouth open. No less than 40 different thoughts just ran through my brain and none of them seem fit to bore you with this morning. Among them…I need to get my picture taken by one of my many talented friends so that when people look at my website they don’t see a picture of me circa 1985 or whenever it was that I last got tipsy enough to get in FRONT of the camera because that is the only way I like to do that…this lead me into a whole series of thoughts about an outfit that consists of more than a pair of yoga pants and a white tank top and some sort of flowy cardigan type deal that makes me feel a teeny bit less fat than I feel wearing jeans…this lead me to think about the fact that a run is really in order today but that I have already taken a shower and I can’t think of a bigger reason to put that run on the back burner until tomorrow, but in the mean time I will be donning a pair of yoga pants for this dreary day, eating food and spending about 70-80% of my brain power focusing on how sad I am that the phrase “thigh gap” is not ever going to pertain to me…this led me to think about what the hell I am going to make for dinner and the fact that it has been 2 days since I had wine which means that I CAN have wine tonight and my sullen “never gonna have thigh gap” mood lifted considerably. Now that I am feeling a tad bit more optimistic and have closed my slack jawed mouth and stopped staring at a wall like some creepy Thorazine overdose victim, I am still no closer to thinking about something interesting to share with you so I guess I will get right to my point.

Oh. My. Word. Meet my newest little friends, Benjamin and Nora. The sweetest little newborn twins ever. No gonna lie..when people contact me about newborn twins I have a twinge of anxiety. You never know how it’s going to go..one newborn can be a challenge..trying to wrangle two at the same time can be damn near impossible.

**Oh. Sorry. I had to take a quick break right there because silly, me..thinking that because Eric is IN THE KITCHEN with Jameson at the exact time that the bus is supposed to come get him would mean that Eric would get him on the bus..but no..instead they were doing one of Eric’s crosswords on his phone and paying no attention at all to the minutes passing by, because really, why would they? WHY???? and so I had to yell at them both, shove a toothbrush into Jameson’s mouth a few times, throw a sneaker and a backpack at him and push him into the driveway as the bus slowly rolled to a stop in the street. Typical. Now that Jameson is gone how much do you want to bet that Eric, despite seeing me facing a computer and my fingers typing rapidly will start up at least 3 to 10 conversations and not pick up on a single social cue that I am not listening to him and in fact trying to concentrate on something that has nothing to do with him? And then I will have to TELL him this is what I am doing because his eyes/brain can’t make the connection all on their own and then his feelings will get hurt that I don’t want to listen to him talk about the weather while I am trying to blog.  Happens every time. ***

Anyway..I was saying..oh yes..my two little angles Ben and Nora. They did the exact opposite of making it impossible..they made it so enjoyable and they made me want to stay and hang out with them and their awesome parents all day. There is also a part of me that wants to move into Naomi and Matt’s house and travel around from room to room quietly in bare feet so that they don’t even notice I am there and spend the rest of my days in that beautiful place close to my two newest love bugs.

I don’t know how parents of twins do it..but Naomi and Matt were making it look kind of easy. No. Easy is just never a word I think you can use when talking about newborn twins..but they made it look slightly manageable and it was VERY clear what an amazing blessing these two little people are to Naomi and Matt.

It is amazing how they both just settle down when you put them near each other. Ben was clearly downright happy about it.

Really Benjamin? Be sweeter.Could Nora be a prettier baby girl? I heart her.The pout…good God..the POUT.STOP IT naked babies!! Stop it right now! It’s too much cute. Also…all of that baby was INSIDE Naomi like a week before this. That is like, WAY to much for me to wrap my head around.I kind of forced them to take a couple of pictures. I know it wasn’t what Naomi had in mind..but you can’t tell me that these pictures won’t be the ones that mean the absolute most to her in 30 years. That feeling..your first baby (s) feeling. I would give anything for a few minutes of that feeling one more time.

Congratulations you guys. They are amazing, wonderful, unreal. I am so happy for you and that I got the chance to be there for a little bit.

xo, Rachel

Just quick before I run out to do some errands I wanted to show you one of my favorite little people in the world, my buddy Liam and his new little sister Norah. Their mom, Kelly, is one of my favorites, too and any time I get to spend with her makes me happy. Kelly is the kindest, sweetest and most patient mom ever. Her kids are beautiful and they are a credit to her.

I went to their house to visit not long ago for my first outside shoot of the season.

Little Norah! I wouldn’t say that she is my BIGGEST fan…in front of my camera isn’t her happiest of places, but it doesn’t even matter cuz she is cute.

My boyfriend, Liam!!!!Sweet Norah took a little nap while me and Liam hung out and then woke up even cuter than before.

Thanks you guys! Always love to see you.

xo, Rachel

It’s been awhile, right? It’s April vacation. Whoo-hooooo!!! A whole fun filled week that I fully expect to spend irrational amounts of money in hopes of thwarting endless fighting between my boys and the subsequent adult psycho-therapy sessions that my kids will 100% be attending to talk about how their mother verbally abused them during April vacations throughout the years because to her the sound of children fighting was akin to being burned at the stake. I am trying to avoid this and by going down this money hemorrhaging  path I will not only avoid child abuse charges but sneakily embed the knowledge into their clueless little brains that I am, in fact, the coolest mother ever and hopefully when faced with the option to do drugs further down the road they will politely decline with a vision of me in their heads gritting my teeth and thinking about wine at SkyZone during the April vacations of their past.  Can’t think of money better spent.

Want to see two of the quite possibly cutest little babies in all of the land? Last week I had two sets of boy girl twins to shoot and while parents of multiples will forever be held on the loftiest of pedestals in my brain I just can understand how these people were standing, never mind laughing and being HAPPY. Well, actually, I take that back. Both sets of babies were honestly the cutest, coolest little humans ever and I guess if you have to do it having the best babies possible makes it more than bearable.

Max and Emi are my first set to share and they are just the best. Their mom Judy is my friend, Lozel’s sister and I got to have a very enjoyable visit with them at the studio. You never know what you are going to get when you are at the mercy of not one but TWO three month olds but I have to say, I was WAY more than pleasantly surprised. I miss these babies.

I mean…can you handle the cute?? I can’t handle it.

She is too much.He’s like a little baby Buddha. That I want to eat.GORGEOUS Judy and her two precious blessings.That’s Alyiah! I shot her when she was even newer than Max and Emi. That kid is a girl after my own heart.Max was getting alittle sleepy..and Emi was like..ONE MORE SHOT!!!

Thanks so much girls! It was so good to see you. Those babies are amaze and I want you to visit me…like now…

xo, Rachel

How is everyone today?

Wishing two things right now. Sorry, three. No, wait. Four. 1) That I didn’t eat a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s yesterday when I took my boy and his friend because it was a half day because it perpetually a half day because kids no longer have to go to school anymore basically at all. 2) That I didn’t wash said cheeseburger down almost immediately after with a mini Blizzard from Dairy Queen (this being said I think it is BRILLIANT that Dairy Queen OFFERS a mini Blizzard). 3) That it wasn’t like nuclear winter out there this morning and pretty much every morning since about November 1st. The full blown rage I have at mother nature for not allowing it to even break 60 degrees YET this month is bordering on irrational. 4) That I could find the source of the lone BEEP that I keep hearing in my house for which the origin is unknown to me and has caused me to have taken to stalking slowly and creepily around my house, head whipping left and right when I hear the beep and still can’t figure out where it is coming from. Possibly it is an indicator that there is some  poisonous  gas leaking out of something somewhere and is the root cause for my kid completely crapping the bed in math lately but I am not sure. Just one single “beeeep” every now and then. No idea where it comes from. I would like to say that it could be from a smoke detector somewhere in my house. But if I am being  honest, every one that isn’t hard wired to my ceiling is missing about 2 of the 3 batteries it is supposed to have so they don’t even have the capacity to send out warning beeps. Safety first at the Buckley’s. That’s our motto over here. These are the things that I am wishing right now.

Oh. I also wish that Eric would stop freaking talking to me right now while I am CLEARLY trying to keep a single train of thought and blog. Back and forth…into the kitchen still talking to me…down the stairs, still talking. Oh, here is is again, right in front of me. He doesn’t even know that I am writing about him. He is just jabbering on about paint brushes and rollers and other various home improvement things that RIGHT NOW I could care less about because I am busy blogging.

Today I get to show you one of my favorite, FAVORITE families. Julie is the best and I shot her first when she was expecting little Finlay. I got to shoot Finn as a newborn, when he first stole my heart and then again at his one year birthday. I got to have a visit this week because Julie and Todd are expecting their second little one in June (AHHH!! I JUST heard the beep!!!). I just love to spend time with these guys and Finn just gets cuter (and less stationary) every time I see him. Julie is glowing..I love that I can give her these memories of the last few weeks when they are just a party of three.

My money is on a baby girl being in there.

Finlay is busy, busy. But he definitely needs a snuggle recharge from his mum about every 10 minutes or so.  I love these. I know Julie is in that place where she can’t wait for he new baby but there is a part of her that is sad bacuse she knows it will never be like this again. That she will have to share some love with the person she loves most. I remember that feeling.
Gorgeous.I want to eat Finn. 

So happy to have seen you guys! I can’t wait to find out who is coming!! Hope (Gah!! THE BEEP!!!!) the next few weeks fly!

xo, Rachel

Grown ups! I have grown ups to share with you this fine morning. Not long ago Bethany and Kevin got married on a pretty March day and me and my boy Jeff Kobel were there to capture it. The day was flawless. This having much to do with how super organized Bethany is. She is no joke. The day was so smooth and flowed so perfectly and it is because of these great people who are so genuinely in love and because Bethany is a list maker. Love that.  There was real live sunlight glowing all day and even though it was probably only 40 degrees, it never felt cold. It just felt perfect and it was the absolute best way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It had been awhile since I had shot grownup who do what I say and don’t need to nurse every 15 minutes and it was quite enjoyable, I have to say.

Bethany and Keven got married at the Marsh Chapel on the BU campus where they met and fell for each other and the reception was also held on campus. We did all of our shooting on campus and I love that the backdrop of their wedding pictures is in the place that they had their beginning.

Bethany is teacup tiny. So pretty and classic looking.There is something so timeless about her.There is Kevin. So great..just a natural in front of the camera. These two made my job so enjoyable. They loved the picture part and that makes me love them. Love these shots by Jeff.Getting ready for the first look.Just so pretty. She rocked that dress.Love.Love, Love, LOVE.See that?? That’s SUNLIGHT people.Time to get hitched.I never have to tell these two to kiss. They just do it cuz they really like to. It’s kinda nice.Sigh.Ohhh the bustle…Kevin’s wink in the top right makes me laugh.The best EVER. Kevin and his sisters did an Irish step dance for us. Awesome.

Congratulations you guys! It was so my pleasure to be there with you that day. Couldn’t be happier for you!

xo, Rachel

I feel like since it has been a minute since I last blogged that I should have something witty or at least Griswald-y to share with you. I don’t really think that I do. Ummmmmmmm. Nothing.

Nada.

So, instead of causing myself brain damage trying to come up with something I’ll just show you one of my best friends/loves of my life Sharon, whose kids who came for a visit the other day.

This is Sadie. And she is RIDICULOUS. That is the only word for her.

I don’t know why Sha’s kids wrinkle their noses. But they do and it makes me melt.
There is Stella and Robbie. Two of my favorite little people on the planet.

Love you all!

xo, Rachel