I recently got a request from my friends over at GAN-e-meed Theatre Project to help them out with publicity shots for their up-coming all female production of Hamlet. We had originally planned to do this earlier in the month but got rained out during that torrential week – and since we were shooting on a very cool metal footbridge over Route 2, it seemed best not to be doing that in the wind and rain. So we rescheduled, and somehow lucked into one of the most beautiful spring days.

Denmark is a prison?

SerahRose was inspired with this footbridge – we got to play with the most bizarre and dangerously unstable looking structure, which was contrasting sharply against an infinite blue sky (the brave o’erhanging firmament, as it were).

Also, I don’t think it is possible to take a bad picture of these women! Looking forward to seeing them in action in May!

SerahRose (Hamlet), Marie (Ophelia), Chris (director) and Jess (Claudius)

One of the things I love most about working with natural light is the ability to work anywhere. There are certain places I like shooting (Central Square is near and dear to my heart, not just because of the proximity of a certain wonderful coffee shop), but I also love just getting in the car with an adventurous actor and driving.

Melissa spends a great deal of time in Chelsea – her day job brings her over there on a regular basis – so she knew she wanted to take some shots at the Mary O’Malley Waterfront Park. And since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to see what else Chelsea had to offer.

Turns out that it has a lot – gorgeous old building and beautiful run-down factories. A lovely afternoon of exploring – and another playful actor!

One of my favorite aspects about meeting up before the shoot is that we have a relaxed start to the day. In Theresa’s case, we completely lost track of time and spent close to an hour sipping drinks at 1369 (0f course) and trading life stories. Which made for a delightfully lazy start to the day, followed by a ridiculously fun couple of hours wandering around.

I always make sure to keep my shoots scheduled sparsely so that I can make sure I’m not rushed or hurrying – which really pays off on a day where I’m working with someone who truly doesn’t take a bad picture and has as much of sense of humor about the whole endeavor that I do.

Kirin and I met up before our shoot for the usual cup of coffee (or a mulled cider, in my case) at 1369 Coffee House, which is one of my favorite places to be on a Saturday morning in January. And I’m going to admit that I was a little trepidatious about heading out into the cold and blustery morning – but once we get going, it’s always so  much fun that I forget about how cold it is.

But we had a good day of roaming around the city and taking a slew of great pictures! Whenever my hands would get numb it seemed to be the signal for us to keep moving, find another patch of sunlight and bundle up even more!