Love Session | Joel & Jamey | Syracuse, NY

Jason and I just got back from a week long visit to CNY to spend Christmas with his Family.  No, that’s not a typo that’s supposed to read NYC.  CNY stands for Central New York and is very far away from NYC.  Think opposite of NYC and that’s Central New York.  Lots of open land which is beautiful when it’s covered in snow!  I put my request in for snow well ahead of time and was super excited to have a White Christmas.   Jason’s brother, Joel and his girlfriend, Jamey came in from Boston a couple days before Christmas so we went into Syracuse for a mini Love Session.  I’ve been traveling to CNY for almost 6 years and have only managed to make it into Syracuse one other time and that was to get my appendix removed.  Needless to say, this visit was mucho more enjoyable!  There are several “squares” spread out throughout downtown and each of them has a different feel.  Jamey was telling me what each of the squares looked like and all I wanted to know is which one had interesting alleys.  This was the best notion I have ever had for a photo shoot.  It was 22 degrees out and snowing and although it was ridiculously cold, at least the alleyways kept some of the wind off of us.  I bought fingerless gloves before our trip thinking that they would help keep my hands warm while still allowing me to easily shoot manual.  Note to other photographers: fingerless gloves are something that only people in the south wear because it never really gets cold here.  After taking like 10 pictures I couldn’t feel my fingers whatsoever.  I couldn’t even tell if I was actually hitting my back-focus button and could barely see if what I was shooting was in focus because my eyes were watering so badly.  I was a freezing cold hot mess so can someone please tell me how Jamey and Joel don’t look cold in ANY of these pictures???

Warm Uggs.  Almost worth buying them for the 1 winter week per year that I am in NY.

My fave!

After maybe 15 minutes of shooting I was all like “Hey, let’s go get a beer”.  My fingers needed to thaw.

I love the snow in Jamey’s hair and how she still looks sooo cozy!

I saw this wall as we were walking back to the car and I almost friggin’ died right there.  I don’t think they were too enthused at the idea of delaying the comfort of a heated car, but I hope the end result was worth it for them!  I’m pretty proud of this picture since I hand held the camera as I was doing a full on chair squat against a wall for a long series of photos.  This may be a stretch for some of you, but I love this picture for Joel and Jamey because much of their relationship has been long distance.  I just love how they are moving closer and closer and how their expressions change with each step.  I have a special place in my heart for long-distance relationshipers (past or present) and I just love photographing them.

This building was across the bar that we stopped at so I begged Jason to take my picture with all the e’s.  Can you see how excited I am?

A couple days prior, I found out there was an outdoor ice-skating rink near Armory Squre so I made everyone go.

Okay Jamey, don’t hate me for this.  But I think it’s hilarious.  Like, laughing WITH you hilarious.  Seriously, it makes me smile.

Joel’s goal of the day was to learn to skate backwards.  This was as close as he got…Jamey pulling him.

Jason also conquered skating backwards.  By pushing himself off of a wall.  Good work hunny!  BTW – he was the least excited about the ice skating but he looks like he’s having a pretty good time to me!

Then I put down the camera and showed off my skillz.  You know the analogy “it’s just like riding a bike”?  Well, that apparently doesn’t apply to ice-skating (in my defense).  Thanks to Jason for this completely flattering photo of me.

No worries I got right up and skated away!

haha, I love all the snow on my back from laying flat on the ice like an idiot.  Do we look frozen?

To photographers that shoot in below freezing weather, kudos to you.  You put me and my fingerless gloves to shame.