Snapshots of Autumn

Snapshots of an Autumn

On this holiday week I’m looking forward to wrapping up projects and going for quiet walks in Central Park. I love the city over the holidays, the way it smells like roasted nuts and hot apple cider. How your face feels the newly crisp air kiss its cheeks. Everything sparkles in the clear, golden, autumnal light and there is a thickness of hope that presents the city at its most charming. On Thanksgiving we choose not to leave, we instead choose to have it as our own moment to breathe and be thankful for the lives we have found in New York together. We so often get carried away in the day to day stresses of running a creative studio it’s easy to forget all the things we are thankful for. But one thing is for sure, I’m thankful for these autumn memories, for this beautiful fall and to have spent another year of my life making photographs.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. 

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Come Sail Away…

Ecco_Domani_Sailing_01On a recent trip to Nantucket I wanted to take Kevin on a surprise date, something that felt local to the place but personal to our life. I love to sail and when we walked by the gorgeous boat The Endeavor I knew that was it. Considering how much we travel, I’m always looking for ways to make a place feel reminiscent to home. Though I couldn’t make a home cooked meal, I wanted to fill his soul in just the same way. I love a beautiful red wine in the fall and having just received a few bottles of Ecco Domani Merlot I brought them with us on our Nantucket getaway. I tried to think of something I could put together that wouldn’t require access to a kitchen and found a local market stocked with cheeses from Vermont, freshly made lobster salad, my favorite kind of almonds and beautiful grapes. I popped into one of those tourists shops and purchased a cheese board covered in all things Nantucket which I would typically never do, however, we found the enthusiasm for this place expressed on a cutting board quite charming and now back in New York I see it in the kitchen and think back on this perfect afternoon date, sailing around the harbor watching boats bob in place and flags dancing in the autumn sun.

I think it’s important to find ways to enjoy simple pleasures, carving out time in our crazy fast lives. A bottle of wine and a simple picnic on land or sea is an easy and effortless way to make memories with the ones you love. We enjoyed lunch in the smooth waters of the inlet before our captain took us out sailing the sound. Mostly though, we sipped our Ecco Domani Merlot and welcomed fall though the rippling sound of ocean waves.

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Though Ecco Domani’s Merlot pairs well with foods like tomato-based pastas and grilled meats, I found the blackberry flavors of this wine went perfectly with a classic cheese plate. Simple rule of thumb is one hard cheese, one soft, one fruit, one nut, crackers and – in most cases – a cured meat, which I opted out for locally made lobster salad. Though we ate before we hoisted up the sails, it was still a good idea to have stemless wine glasses, which I borrowed from our hotel.

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Paris Time

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For the past 4 years we’ve have the greatest pleasure of enjoying Paris in the fall. First with Esteé Lauder, then for MAC Cosmetics, following with Ralph Lauren and this past trip with CHANEL. I feel so fortunate to be able to shoot for clients who see the magic in this city of lights as much as we do. After work we always stay as long as possible to eat, drink, shop, get inspired and take epic long walks in the enjoyment of life. I’m happy to have french friends and favorite restaurants. I adore how things never seem to change here- the same woman sells me my favorite chocolates, the same waitress serves us that day’s seasonal dish, though this year her english is much better… which kind of makes me sad. Then there is always the thrill of discovering something new. The rooftop of the Raphael Hotel was enchanting. Dinner on the terrace of Monsieur Bleu with this sparkling view was so elegant. And the home stores where on. point. this time.

Standing under the watchful eye of time I looked out over Paris thought about the years that have passed and how one day I’ll look back on this time in my life and say… “now wasn’t that just magical.”

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Found Paris

Paris, France photographed on film by photographer Jamie Beck, fall 2013

Last autumn I wandered the streets of Paris with only my old Pentax and some rolls of film…I needed to take a break from digital, take a break from work, but photography never leaves me. I find I can never truly stop creating.

Next to my desk at the studio, I have a file cabinet full of film from all over the world. When doing some reorganizing recently, I came across these images that I had missed when I was telling the story of Paris in fall last year. These images are my memories, so personal, and finding them swept me right back to that place and time, those long walks in the afternoon, and the feeling of watching the sunset on the Seine with a glass of wine. I want to go back to this place again someday, but for now, we will have to relive these moments through images…

Paris, France photographed on film by photographer Jamie Beck, fall 2013 Paris, France photographed on film by photographer Jamie Beck, fall 2013 Continue reading “Found Paris”

Central Park in the Fall

A day of giving thanks. I’ve been sitting in the studio all morning thinking about the things I am thankful for. There are so many, so many in fact I’ll keep it simple with just this one ~ a beautiful afternoon spent walking around Central Park in the fall. I am thankful for this simple memory and those few hours away from all the details of life.

I hope you have many things to be thankful for this holiday break and

may that list grow with each passing  year.

“Everything about autumn is perfect to me. Wooly jumpers, Wellington boots, scarves, thin first, then thick, socks. The low slanting light, the crisp mornings, the chill in my fingers, those last warm sunny days before the rain and the wind. Her moody hues and subdued palate punctuated every now and again by a brilliant orange, scarlet or copper goodbye. She is my true love.”

― Alys Fowler

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Autumn Days

There is nothing like the light on a crisp autumn afternoon or a walk through Central Park as the leaves just begin to fall and crackle under your steps. Fall is my favorite season. The explosion of color saturation reminding you life is bursting at the seams while in the same glance the delicate falling leaves that show us all too well the presence of fleeting time.

Autumn landscapes just go hand in hand with road trips… the quiet solitude of driving, looking, and observing all the beauty of the season. My first road trip to Vermont in the fall was with my father. I had never seen such natural beauty and felt peace in such quiet spaces. I like to set memories to music. The memories I’ve made with the people I love, the memories that are yet to come, but I know they will just as I know every autumn the leaves will change colors and begin to fall.

So this playlist is yours now. For those long drives, or intimate dinners at home with friends and family, for the afternoons of quiet rain where the drops of water are absorbed by the velvet leaves floating in puddles or in your tweeds riding around in these last few days before the blankets of snow desaturate the fires of fall…

“Autumn comes on fiery wing

of flaming leaves,

and redbirds sing.

And twirling leaves fall to the ground

igniting magic all around.

So Winter waits, and Summer sleeps,

And Autumn, in the middle, keeps.” 

― Belle Whittington

I hope you enjoy our list and please, we would love recommendations of songs to add! As in life, this list should forever be evolving… here’s to autumn days.

Chopard’s Red Carpet Collection

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~ George Eliot

There is a beauty in autumn entirely its own: the crispness of the air, the slow return of rosy cheeks, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the shimmer of change in the air. How do you go about capturing such a complex and stunning season?

When you are Chopard, you turn to your high jewelers. These amazingly talented craftsmen and women shaped an entire fall scene into an intricate, beautiful necklace – leaves shifting color, acorns growing nearly to the point of dropping, a gentle spider deftly building a web between two leaves. With colored diamonds set like cobblestones on the branch and tsavorite leaves glittering, the piece gives off a gentle shimmering glow, just like autumn mornings.

Here is an intimate look at the making of an autumn inspired piece for Chopard’s Red Carpet Collection from their artisan factory in Geneva to the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival.

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