Shooting Créatif au Batinse // Québec City

I am extremely lucky to be able to do something I love every day, and to be able to have the freedom to work for myself. But there are days, (many of them), where the work gets the best of me. Being a working artist requires so much more from one than just making art. That is only a small fraction of what we do. It is the contracts and client meetings, it is the marketing and emailing and the finances. It is the blogging and the portfolio updating and the website updating and the promotions and continued education and on and on... It is a lot of work, and we take it home with us(or like me, we work from home!). It can feel exhausting, and at times can make people want to quit.

It is so important as a working artist to take time to create for yourself, with no pressure. To connect with other creatives to help inspire one another and to remind ourselves why we work so damn hard doing what we do, whether it's photography, floral design, hair and makeup, event planning, calligraphy, painting, performing arts, or culinary arts. We NEED to refuel. Which is why when Melanie approached me and my dear friend Stéphane who is also an incredible photographer(he photographed my wedding!), to see if we would want to collaborate in a styled wedding shoot she had in mind to grow her newly launched Event Planning and Coordination branch of her business, I accepted without question.

We started at 7 o'clock in the morning, and finished shooting around noon. It was literally exactly what I needed.. meeting a whole bunch of beautiful creative people, making new friends, laughing, connecting, sharing my passion for the industry with others.. (It gets lonely spending hours a day editing in front of your computer by yourself!!). Days like this one; working with tons of other creatives to bring a vision to life is the fuel to our artist's fire.

Here are some of my images from this creative concept shoot at Le Batinse Restaurant in Québec City.. grab a cup of cocoa or a glass o vino, and enjoy. 

Concept, Planning + Design: Melanie Vallerand / Québec, QC
Photographer/Photographe: Jennifer Marcuson
Collaborating Photographer/Photographe Collaborateur: Stéphane Audet / Québec, QC
Location/Lieu: Le Batinse / Québec, QC
Flowers/Fleurs + Decor: Conter Fleurette / Saint Jean Port Jolie, QC
Hair/Coiffure: Olivia Eadie  / Québec, QC
Makeup/Maquillage: Maquillage Camille S. / Québec, QC
Bridal Looks; Dresses/Robes; Long with feathers: Sonia P. / Québec, QC // Short: Kimchi Blue, Urban Outfitters // Shoes/Chaussures: Kate Spade
Groom's Looks; Pants and Jacket/Pantalons et Veston: Le 31 -Simon's (Tessuto Marzutto) // Shirts: Le 31 - Simon's // Tie/Cravate: homemade by Stéphanie Bélanger // Watch/Montre: Vitaly Design // Shoes/Chaussures: Browns
Bridal Hair Accessories/Accessoires de Cheveux: Capelio / Québec, QC
Models/Mannequins; Charo Foo // Maxime Bouchard
 

Anne et Joe :: 5 Frames

tonight :: five frames

The Baggiero Family: Storytelling Session

I have known Marci and Subby since I was 20 years old. (15 years..what?!) I became friends with Marci when I first started in the hair industry. I was hired as the assistant to the owner of a salon in Connecticut; she was already a colorist there. We became friends almost immediately. She brought me to get my nose pierced. We would go out in Hartford and have sleepovers at her place after. We both LOVED John Mayer, and we sat on hold for hours one morning to get tickets to his show at the Oakdale theatre. I later moved to New York City, and then to Québec, but we always remained friends. I still return to work in her salon; Reaction in Farmington, when I am back in Connecticut. So when she asked me to photograph her family at their new home, I obviously accepted with gratitude. 

There is something so incredibly special and ALWAYS unique about these Storytelling Sessions. Especially when shot at home. As most of my friends and clients know, I am a lifestyle photographer. My goal is to enter your life as it is, to blend into it so as if you almost don't even know I'm there, and then to capture it. All of it, the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. For me, especially after having kids, I too often feel like life is just slipping through my hands like sand. Sometimes it feels like slow-motion; I can see it seeping through and falling, and I see it happening to a point that I feel like I might actually be able to stop it, but as slowly as it is falling is as slowly as I can catch it. It's beautiful, and the light hits it just so, and it makes your heart stop because you realize in that moment that this is it. Each little grain of sand is a moment in your life.

My hope is that these images I help create are a few of those grains of sand that we can actually hold onto.. REAL moments, in real light, in real locations; full of emotion. 

Thank you Marci for trusting me to capture a tiny part of your story together.. You have a beautiful family, and I am so lucky to be able to call you a friend. 

xoxo

J

The Benito Family

Almost a year ago, I had the honor of photographing Brian and Sara's wedding in Sturbridge, Mass. I can't believe it has already been a whole year. It just feels like, lately, time is evading me. I don't think I'm alone though.. our children seem to get bigger right before our very eyes, some days it feels like I wake up with a new wrinkle that I swear wasn't there the day before. Every time I see my parents, they seem just a little bit older. It's this unavoidable cycle of life. It's the reason I want to tell people's stories for them, to try and freeze these precious little moments in time to look back on in years to come.

It was a windy, grey September evening when I met Brian and Sara for this session. We weren't even sure if we would get rained out or not but it held off. I met them and their two daughters, Payten and Loralye at a park in Suffield, Connecticut. Brian is an old, dear friend of mine so it means so much more that I am able to capture them together. The girls are two of the most free-spirited kids I've ever met(the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!), and what started off as a casual walk through the woods and a quick cousin's shoot in a field, ended up with the two girls swimming in the lake fully clothed, and then trotting off through the parking lot back to the car in their birthday suits. 

I left this shoot feeling so rooted and grateful and humbled by our sweet time together. This is the exact reason I will always always want to photograph families. This is what it's all about.