I haven’t written a blog in forever. Well, since June of last year. Not because I don’t want to or love writing about all the amazing experiences we have here at Black Thumb Studio. I’ve simply struggled with work/life balance. Being a small business owner is both awesome and incredibly difficult at the same time. You struggle each day with a to-do list, ensuring that your reputation is as good as it can be, finding time to be with family, sleeping, and, well you get the point.

In hindsight I realize that letting go of the blog was not the best decision I’ve ever made.  Looking forward, I hope to revive the blog and your interest in it.  I’m not only going to blog about weddings or simply “work.” I will blog about personal stuff, behind-the-scenes non-sense (we’ve got plenty of material there), unexpected moments, people we admire and anything else that gets our attention. I realize not every post will interest every reader. I also realize (and hope you do too) that I can’t write a blog about every single photo shoot we do throughout the year. But I promise, I’m going to do better than last year.

What I hope each post does is give you a bit more insight to who I am as a person and who Black Thumb Studio is as a business. We LOVE taking pictures. We LOVE creating images that draw the viewer in while capturing the authenticity of the subject.  Our style is simple, real and FUN.

I hope you’ll join us on our journey this year…

One recent personal project of mine has been photographing Snowy Owls. I’ve done this a few times in the past, but never with the persistence I have this winter. Turns out, it is the highest population of Snowy Owls in the last 50 years. Yes, 50 years!
What I didn’t expect was the volume of interest and inspiration a few images of these majestic creatures would produce! I also didn’t realize how much of a bonding experience it would be for my daughter Lily and I (along with a few #teamsnowy friends). I’ve made more than a dozen trips to Duxbury Beach to photograph these incredible birds. Each trip was a different experience and produced different results.

The overall experience made me realize how important personal projects truly are. I hope that 2014 provides an opportunity for more balance between my professional and personal work.  Each adds value to what we do.

If you’re interested in purchasing some Snowy Owl prints, click here. 10% of all profits will be donated to the Mass Audubon which does an incredible amount of work to understand Snowy Owls better. Thank you for your support!

Here’s a peek at a few of my favorites: