Robert Mirani Photography

Alison and Scott E-Session

This season's engagement sessions are underway...hooray! Alison and Scott took advantage of a great evening in May to walk around the Back Bay for their session.

Tiffany and Colin's Winter E-Session

Spring is finally (ever so slowly) hitting over here in the Northeast, and that means engagement sessions will be starting. Since I've been behind, I wanted to share one of my favorite cold-weather sessions, to show that fun and great photos can be had even in less than ideal conditions.

Tiffany and Colin are getting married in June, and they wanted to do their session before the holidays last year. Normally, November has some mild days along with some cold days, but this last November was very cold...and on the day we did this session in the North End neighborhood of Boston, it was 30 degrees! But they were just fabulous, and we had a great deal of fun (oh, and that orange coat Tiffany wore...too cool).

Tiffany has already blogged a few of these photos (and more) on the Wedding Bee blog as Miss Toucan -- our favorites are mostly the same. :-)  I can't wait for the wedding!

Recommended Colleagues

From time to time, I like to talk about other people who also work at weddings and are instrumental in making the day very special.

Intermezzo Chamber Players are classical string music professionals who have extensive experience performing at ceremonies of all types. Carol Premack runs the group and is incredibly knowledgeable about how to arrange music for different ceremonies, and different parts of a given ceremony. You can see firsthand just how savvy she is on her blog -- the breadth of her knowledge and the range of music she plays is really impressive.

(Carol's son Jay Premack happens to be an outstanding Washington DC based photojournalist and wedding photographer, and I thank Jay for introducing me to Carol)

Rev. LisaAnn Donegan of Ceremonies From the Heart is ordained in interfaith practice, and like Carol, has a wide range of experience at a variety of ceremonies to draw upon. LisaAnn does plenty of weddings, but she also does other occasions such as baby namings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

I often tell clients that I try not to follow a formula when I photograph their special day -- that I really strive to get at what makes their particular celebration special. I can say with confidence that Carol and LisaAnn do the same -- they have a very special and distinct way of relating to their clients, and they can adapt to any situation.  I feel privileged to be able to work with them whenever I can, and I recommend them both extremely highly!

WPJA Top Ten 2007

I received a note recently from the Wedding Photojournalist Association, indicating that I placed in their top ten for 2007 based on points earned in their quarterly competitions. I was a bit in disbelief...here's the note:

To All WPJA Members,

We are proud to announce the 2007 WPJA Photographer of the Year and the overall top ten wedding photojournalists in the world:

Photographer of the Year: Ben Chrisman, California, USA

Second Place: Eric Lagstein, New Jersey, USA
Third Place: Carlo Carletti, Italy
Fourth Place: Christian Keenan, England
Fifth Place: David Murray, Maine, USA
Sixth Place: Jeremy Lawson, Missouri, USA
Seventh Place: Mark Earthy, Sweden
Eighth Place: Christobal Perez, North Carolina, USA
Ninth Place: Noah Wolf, Minnesota, USA
Tenth Place: Robert Mirani, Massachusetts, USA

I had many talented friends that placed in the top 100 overall (several of them were at the Foundation Workshop I just attended), and I congratulate all of them!

Here are the two highest placing images I submitted last year:

Foundation Workshop 2008

I recently returned from the Foundation Workshop in Allen, Texas, a workshop that trains photographers to understand photojournalism better, and gives them two day assignments that test their ability to see and tell a story. Each day of shooting on location is followed by an intense critique session from a team leader, with contributions from associated mentors and staff. The team leaders and staff are accomplished photojournalists and fine art photographers with a wide range of experience to share with the students.

Last year, I was a participant, with my assignment being a local animal shelter; this year, I was one of two mentors with Amy Deputy's team. Both times, it has been an amazing and enriching experience, and I have learned different things about photography and seeing from being a student and receiving critiques, and from being one of the people guiding and helping other photographers out as they go through a rigorous process of 1) tackling a real photojournalistic assignment 2) thinking and re-thinking the way they photograph and 2) getting (in most cases) the most intense feedback they have ever received on the way they shoot and the way they see.

In the end, many beautiful images and stories are produced, and you can see some of this work on the main site, and at the Foundation Workshop blog.  However, the entire workshop is not a goal-driven competition to produce the best stories or best images, but a journey to overcome (in most cases) the barriers photographers place on themselves -- not getting close enough, not thinking about other ways of telling a story, not understanding a subject as well as one could.

One of the most wonderful things about the entire experience is the sheer number of talented and giving photographers on all sides.  I was part of a very talented team, but I learned a lot as well from encountering other people from other teams in the hallway and sharing a quick insight.  Even at breakfast with just a few hours sleep after a late night critique, other team members had plenty to teach me as they talked about their own businesses.

Amy, our team leader, set the tone this year with a portrait exercise outdoors after a half day of lectures. She took on several of the themes from the day -- making eye contact with subjects, learning to listen, and understanding what it feels like to be photographed. She had us all photograph each other with these themes in mind, and with the open question of "What would you do if you had no fear?" It was a gorgeous evening in Texas, and we sat out in the field of a nearby farm, as Amy directed us.

When it came to the actual assignments, students were on pins and needles wondering how they would fare. In the end, they all did beautifully, and in very different ways. Some of the most striking examples of work overall from the workshop can be seen on my own hyper-talented colleague (and co-mentor) Anna Kuperberg's blog -- but I'd like to share an image from each team member that touched me in a certain way, because they showed off the unique way of seeing of each person, the lyricism, the compassion, the humor.

Ann Johnson was one of several photographers to come to Texas from England, so she demonstrated a particular delight in seeing things in America (and suburban Texas) that she doesn't see much back home. Her assignment was a beauty salon, and her dry humor and colorful eye was a delight, as evidenced in this photo of Anna getting a pedicure:

Then there was Oscar, who had a tiger sanctuary as his assignment. This photograph only hints at the range of emotion he captured in all his wonderful photographs of the tigers and the people who take care of them, but is wonderfully symbolic.

Molly had a senior recreation center, and she challenged herself heavily to go beyond the obvious story of seniors having a good time with various activities -- she achieved a level of depth with her subjects that was heartening to see.

Jessica had a boxing gym as her assignment; plenty of visual stimulation for her, but she successfully honed  in on the owner of the gym, Barney, and told his story in a highly nuanced manner. Jessica never stopped moving and worked as hard as anyone in pursuing her story.

Finally, Scott had a skateboard park. You couldn't beat this environment for pure action and eye candy! But Scott, interestingly, used his skills as a portrait shooter to get at the personalities of his subjects. He got lots of great action, but I really enjoyed how he told the story with memorable environmental portraits as well.

Though I wasn't at this workshop to take pictures in the same way I did as a student, I couldn't resist this capture while visiting Molly at the senior center -- this guy agonizing over a crazy large jigsaw with many similar colored pieces. Not a bad metaphor for the workshop -- the story is sometimes right in front of you, but sometimes it feels concealed beneath many small details.

I would like to thank all the great people on my team -- and Huy Nguyen and Bill Holland, who manage and run the workshop -- for putting together one of the best teaching and learning experiences for photographers of any discipline. (Amy's assistant David, another invaluable team member, agrees with me -- he's going to be a student at the workshop next year!)  I'll be applying many of the lessons I learned this year to my own photography, and I'm happy to have made yet more talented friends in Texas this year!

Jenn and Amo

Jenn and Amo both grew up in Wakefield, so they had their engagement session by Lake Quannapowitt, got married at St. Florence, and then headed to Burlington to have a festive reception at Cafe Escadrille in Burlington.

Jenn is a teacher and had an entourage of former students following her around after the ceremony.

Laurie McDonagh, my second shooter, took this wonderfully trippy image demonstrating further creative uses of the lightwand.

Jen and Pete

Jen and Pete had a ceremony at St. Irene's in Carlisle on a beautiful late summer day, followed by a reception at Wedgewood Pines. I had the pleasure of photographing their engagement session in San Diego in January at Balboa Park (first photo), and the wedding in Massachusetts had great California type weather!

Addie and Steve

An amazing backyard wedding for Addie and Steve, whose dogs were a big part of the day! From getting ready with the dogs, to the ceremony, to the fun-filled reception (with tons of karaoke)...culiminating with a portrait by a beautiful Wurlitzer jukebox belonging to Addie's parents,  it was over 15 hours of fun...people were still dancing at 2am!

Susan and Samy

A wonderful, atmospheric ceremony at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in Natick, followed by a reception at the Crane Estate in Ipswich.

Angie and Rich

A few more from Angie and Rich's wedding at the State Room.