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Plante Family Photos! 07.25.11 | Hampton, NH Family Photos

Lind­say and her sweet family live in Texas. I was super exci­ted when she con­tac­ted me to tell me they would be up visi­ting and wan­ted ME to take some pho­tos for them.

We met up at Hamp­ton State Park — one of my favo­rite beach loca­tions on our tiny NH coast­line. It has a very Nan­tuc­ket sort of feel and these 3 matched that feel perfectly.

Ella was a per­fect model in her blue and white china pat­tern dress. And the toes. I love the little criss-​crossed cutie toes!!

The whole family joi­ned in the fun.

What a gor­geous crew!

Seriously? Quin­tes­sen­tial precociousness!

I believe she’s saying to me — why do you need to take my pic­ture again?! I told her because she was so cute I couldn’t stop! It’s more than obvious how much she’s adored.

And then — this hap­pe­ned I’m not sure what cata­log she came out of, but I’ll take one! I would also make these a giant dou­ble can­vas set!

The bird beha­ved, but every time a wave was going to crash, Ella would turn around and look at it. LOL. I still love it.

It’s spec­ta­cu­lar when parents have fun with their kids. Thanks for being such good sports guys!!

Dad with his sons & his won­der­ful wife

And grand­pa­rents doing what they do best — whis­pe­ring sur­pri­ses in little one’s ears. Even great-​grandmother got in on the act!

I can’t tell you how much I enjo­yed my time with this spe­cial family. Gene­ra­tions are huge to me. I have a photo of my Great-​Grandmother (who’s name hap­pe­ned to be Ella!) hol­ding my son, her great-​great-​grandson. And I have vivid memo­ries (and pho­tos to back them up) of me and my great-​great-​grandfather. The pho­tos are so impor­tant to me because it helps me remem­ber it hap­pe­ned — that it wasn’t just a story someone told me — -

How many gene­ra­tions are in your story?

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Nathalie & Danielle: Eloped! 06.07.11 | Portsmouth, NH Elopement Photographer

On or about the first of June, I’m dri­ving home and get a call from Danie­lle asking if I’d be avai­la­ble to shoot their elo­pe­ment — on Tues­day. Um, YES!

I was so exci­ted to meet these two and shoot my first elo­pe­ment. What I didn’t rea­lize is that it would be such an ama­zing experience.

From the moment I arri­ved at the boat launch at Odiorne Point there was per­fec­tion every where I loo­ked, and when Danie­lle and Natha­lie arri­ved, and hea­ded off all nymph like into the forest, only to arrive at the most serene beach, at sun­set well — it was like our own pri­vate utopia.

The beach was not kind to their ado­ra­ble shoes though; so they were quickly tos­sed to the side, a most exce­llent deci­sion if I do say so myself.

Once they pic­ked the spot it was time to begin -

The cere­mony was so per­so­nal and emo­tio­nal. It was impos­si­ble not to get caught up in the moment with them.

In a beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion they each pic­ked 3 rocks repre­sen­ting their past, pre­sent & future and built them into a small stone wall together to repre­sent the foun­da­tion of their union.

The sun beha­ved perfectly -

Then the marriage was sea­led with a kiss!

Mazel­tov!

We stole the last few moments as the sun hove­red over the hori­zon to take a few por­traits, but really they were just com­ple­tely in love with each other and I was pri­vi­le­ged to watch and capture it.

As we were hea­ding back to the cars (the park clo­ses at dusk!) a kind hear­ted woman approached. She’d seen the whole cere­mony from afar and wan­ted to wish her bles­sings on these two well deser­ving women. It turns out they’re all hea­lers — it couldn’t have been more kismet!

More kis­met? No, just a lone shoe we spot­ted on the walk back.

A few more shots as the sun flit­ted away from us lea­ving the most ama­zing glow.

Or maybe that was just Danie­lle & Nathalie’s love. (I don’t care how cheesy that sounds, it’s enti­rely true.)

As I edi­ted these pho­tos; a song we once per­for­med in high school pop­ped into my head and sort of overwhel­med me. It was the most ama­zing sound­track for these two in their moment and in their lives.

Now I Walk in Beauty, tra­di­tio­nal Hopi Pra­yer - Now I Walk in Beauty. Beauty is Above me. Beauty is behind me. Above and below me.

They’re truly fan­tas­tic JP, Jeanne, was a won­der­ful offi­ciant — if you’re in need of a Jus­tice of the Peace you can find her at Willowyn JP. Her hus­band Richard snap­ped some pho­tos also and snag­ged, and kindly sha­red, a few of me in action!

If only I could shoot all my wed­dings bare­foot on the beach!

I had so much fun at this pri­vate affair — I can’t wait to do more elo­pe­ments! Thank you all so much for such an awe-​inspiring expe­rience. It was an abso­lute pri­vi­lege to be a part of it!

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LeBlanc Family 04.29.11 | Hampton, NH Children’s Photography

These kids hold a very spe­cial place in my heart. Even if Ethan deci­des by the end of every shoot that he hates ‘that lady’. Caleb is a ham, straight up. I remem­ber the first time I pho­to­graphed him for his 2nd birth­day and he didn’t really think came­ras were all that fun — but now — he stri­kes a pose.

Mary is in a class by her­self. Com­ple­tely con­tent to just wan­der the beach and eat the sand. Not a care in the world but fully aware of the love around her, par­ti­cu­larly from her big sis­ter, Han­nah. Every time I see Han­nah I’m struck by how mature she is. How she hand­les her­self and her family. She is someone to know. Someone to learn from.

These four kids wouldn’t be who they are with out their parents — a force to be rec­ko­ned with. Some­ti­mes you meet peo­ple who you know could con­quer the world and you won­der if they’re wea­ring superhero cos­tu­mes beneath their street clothes, ready to duck into a phone booth, ready their alter ego and leap tall buil­dings in a sin­gle bound (please excuse me if i’ve mixed my mar­vel metaphors…) but I hope you at least get the point.

It was so great to catch up with this family again briefly before their end of vaca­tion pic­nic. Super-​hero dad is nea­ring the end of yet another deploy­ment and I sin­ce­rely hope we can get together at the end of sum­mer for some more family pho­tos of the com­plete set!

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Angie & Russ engaged! 04.08.11 | Salisbury, MA Engagement Portraits

I got this great email from Angie in January… “I actually stum­bled upon your face­book page pretty much acci­dently via my friends Chris & Sara. I chec­ked out your pho­tos and fell in love with them!” Things that make it a great email? 1)people “acci­den­tally” fin­ding me on face­book (tag your­self!) 2) Chris & Sara are two of the best peo­ple I know. 3)It makes me crazy giddy when peo­ple fall in love with my pho­tos and 4)ANGIE + RUSS!

They were the first of my enga­ged cou­ples to come out of win­ter hiber­na­tion and take on April spring. And a beau­ti­ful mor­ning we had! They had fierce down to a science right out of the gate.

Angie is so ado­ra­ble — she’s got these crazy blue eyes that you can’t quite believe are real. And Russ is a sweetheart and so totally smit­ten with Angie.. as it should be!

A self proc­lai­med photo nerd, she came full acces­so­ri­zed and ready to rock out. Don’t be afraid to color your shoot YOU. Bright colors, head­bands, sass and spunk — all things fully wel­co­med in an MKP session!

We had a blast at the Salis­bury Beach State Reser­va­tion -

And I KNOW we’re going to have the.best.time at their wed­ding this October!

Thanks for bra­ving the uncer­tainty of spring in New England — it totally paid off!

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Nicole & Shawn: Engaged! 10.25.10 | York, ME Engagement Photographer

A blog! A blog! .. I was on such a roll too. I’ve been busy boo­king Spring Fling Sale por­traits (Sale ends soon book yours now!) and cele­bra­ting birth­days and miles­to­nes. Now, back on the wagon :)

On a late fall day on York Beach I found out a few things about Nicole & Shawn.

They are crea­tive & fun-​o!

They are also full of infec­tious smiles…

And quiet loving moments.

Bra­ving the beach in October.

Shawn wasn’t so sure about this whole “enga­ge­ment photo” thing, but being a good fiancé he follo­wed along with his wife-to-be’s wishes; and I’m cer­tainly glad he did.

And he was a good sport about it (my favorite!)

And those smi­les again! Every time I see these two I grin right along with them.

Nicole & Shawn — thank you SO much for mee­ting up with me to roam around the beach. Just a few more months til we return to the scene of the crime on York Beach for your wed­ding! I’m super exci­ted :)

Don’t wear your­self out with all the day-​caring and pizza-​making before then!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

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Lockner Family 10.02.10 | Hampton, NH Family Photographer

There are only a few ways to say it — I love my job. For the 3rd year in a row I got to meet up with this awe­some family and have some fun.

The boys are get­ting so big!

Still Hug­ging <3

Deep in thought.

They really are such a great family.

So in love with each other and their boys — this must be where they lear­ned the hug­ging from ;)

I wish for ever­yone to have pho­tos of them as kids being silly with their parents.

And sha­ring moments like these.

Thank you, again!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

Awe­some pics, its going to be tough to decide on just a few to hang on the walls. ~ John

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Bethany W: Class of 2011 | Newcastle, NH Senior Photos

Bethany is a beau­ti­ful girl full of great cha­risma and enthu­siasm! I met up with her, her father & sis­ter at Great Island Com­mon in New Castle on a Satur­day mor­ning in Sep­tem­ber to get those ‘pesky’ year­book pho­tos out of the way. The weather was per­fect and we had a great time wan­de­ring around the island and using some ANTM poses :)

Fierce!

I’m sooooo funny some­ti­mes ;)

Thanks Bethany for allo­wing me the pri­vi­lege of taking your pho­tos! I hope senior year is trea­ting you well!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

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