Miss Penelope

penelope615

Young love is a complicated thing, especially for the darling Miss Penelope. Though everyone knows she is promised to Dirk Janson – a match to align two of the most affluent families on the East Coast, a dream couple to spend their lives on the glossy pages of society magazines – she dreams of another: a quiet man with mystery, with a different upbringing than her own. She hears his song in the garden as he warms up for that evening’s dazzling lawn party and asks herself – should she go to him, the one who makes her heart happy or can she keep these feelings a secret for all of time? After all – Dirk Janson is the most eligible bachelor of them all.

Miss Penelope knows the power of beauty…and of mysteries. To whom does her happy heart truly belong? Well…that’s one of the best kept #ChopardSecrets of all…

ChopardSecrets-MissPenelope_004

At her vanity Miss Penelope wears Chopard’s Happy Diamond Collection // Vintage feather dress

ChopardSecrets-MissPenelope_005

In the garden Miss Penelope wears Chopard’s Happy Diamond Collection // Lela Rose Gown // Louboutin flats

ChopardSecrets-MissPenelope_006

ChopardSecrets-MissPenelope_010ChopardSecrets-MissPenelope_008

Miss Penelope played by Dahlia // Shot on location at Old Westbury Gardens by Ann Street Studio // Styled by Kelly Framel // Props by Zio & Sons // Makeup by Ashlee Glazer // Hair by Justin Woods // Manicurist Katie Hughes for Butter London // All watches and high jewelry provided by Chopard

Portraits of Each Other

JamieBeck_KevinBurg_002

In line with all the sentiment I put into our anniversary picnic, mementos from our life together, I chose this Pablo Neruda poem, a souvenir from our time in Santiago, Chile, to read to Kevin over our picnic spread… a verbal anniversary card if you will…which now unfolds into our visual history with these intimate and simple snapshots of each other capturing this time alone – he & I on the beach with nothing but the sea.:

“I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,   

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:   

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,   

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

 

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries   

the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,   

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose   

from the earth lives dimly in my body.

 

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,   

I love you directly without problems or pride:

I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,   

so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,   

so close that your eyes close with my dreams.”

JamieBeck_KevinBurg_003 JamieBeck_KevinBurg_004

Continue reading “Portraits of Each Other”

Romantic Beach Picnic

The perfect date night, a romantic summer picnic on the beach.

For our 2nd anniversary this past Monday I wanted to do something low key, but utterly romantic so I planned a surprise sunset beach picnic for Kevin. I tried to get as creative as possible and make every aspect of the picnic a walk down memory lane.

For starters, instead of a blanket, I used a rug we bought together from the flea market in Paris which gave the scene a more formal feeling. I then surrounded the rug with clusters of sandalwood incense we bought on our recent trip to Bali. Everywhere we went on the island, this beautiful and sexy smell drifted by our noses; now it reminds us of those unforgettable sunrises from only a moment ago. I made it personal with our monogrammed glass hurricanes lanterns flanking the view of the setting sky. I brought our go-to Pinot Grigio by one of our favorite studio clientsEcco Domani, which brings back such fun studio memories – one of our first shoots at our new place. Just as I was talking about yesterday with “upgrading the everyday”, we toasted another year of marriage with monogrammed stemless wine glasses, formal, lovely, and personal (plus much less likely to spill on a sandy beach setup!)

Kevin *loves* crab, so I asked my friend Molly when she was over for dinner for a crab salad recipe that would go well with the Pinot Grigio for our picnic (recipe below!). I also had lots of beautiful fresh finger foods from the farmer’s market such as morning radishes with a little pile of Maldon salt, a couple of flaky, yummy farm stand cheeses, the most beautiful petite blackberries, an avocado, salami for depth and to finish it off – grapes. So classic. And just so there were no pesky bugs around, I threw down some citronella candles in terra-cotta pots. To finish it off, I had our assistant Carly stop by and snap a few photos of us together, just like we did 2 years ago when we said “I do“.

We sat on the beach and sipped wine, took black and white photos of each other in an intimate dance we’ve been doing now for years, shared food, and watched the colors of the sky paint their way into darkness. Happy Anniversary to my husband, thank you for my beautiful anniversary gift (scroll down to see!) I’ll cherish forever which will remind me of this magical era of our life and cheers to forever, wherever that may take us.

Thank you again, Ecco Domani, for the memories…

 The perfect date night, a romantic summer picnic on the beach. The perfect date night, a romantic summer picnic on the beach. The perfect date night, a romantic summer picnic on the beach. The perfect date night, a romantic summer picnic on the beach. Continue reading “Romantic Beach Picnic”

Love Letters

LoveLetters_615Madame,

I understand from my sister that your present intention is to travel; to return to England. I have decided, after long consideration, to write to you. We have travelled together, and I hope we have become friends sufficiently to – my dear Lady Anna, let me dispense with attempts to be clever or discreet. I am in love with you. There. It is said. For many, many years I have believed it was my fate never to say these words. A long time ago I had hoped, as all young men hope – no, I had mor ethan hoped, I had confidently expected to be overtaken by those feelings I had read so much about. It never happened. And now it has. 

Ahdaf Soueif, “The Map of Love

We have been talking about these old-fashioned artifacts at the studio recently when our assistant brought in a four page, monogrammed love letter she had received (which inevitably ended up on a shoot!). Do people still write love letters? I got to thinking about it and when you open your mind to the written word of love you begin to see it everywhere. In Santiago I found Pablo Neruda’s Love Poems; in the book “Map of Love” Sharif al-Baroudi’s love letter to Lady Anna brought tears to my eyes, and in the film HER, our main character makes a living writing beautiful handwritten letters. What is so special about ink on paper that when we receive one – even if the feeling is not reciprocated – we can’t throw it away? Will one day, people feel sentimental about emails in the same vein or will all our digital maps of love disappear like the flash of a Snapchat?…

Typewriters // Embossers // Monogrammed Stationery // Poetic Love // Dramatic Love

Paris is for Lovers

Maybe it’s the way the streets glow at night or how the Seine sparkles in the day but I love being in love in Paris. Hand in hand, glasses of wine, long walks and lots of amour…

A very personal photo-story of our love in Paris~

  

Thank you, Kevin.

outfit credits: Beaded gown Z Spoke Zac Posen, long velvet skirt by Family Affairs, silk shirt dress by Rae Francis, leopard slippers by Jimmy Choo, trench from Zara, Black crop pant by Kenneth Cole, black buckle flats by Jimmy Choo.

Thank you Kelly for helping me take these photos. 

Coney Island’s Summer Love

“I met her at the Burger King we fell in love by the soda machine

So we took the car downtown the kids were hanging out all around

Then we went down to Coney Island on the coaster and around again

And no one’s gonna ever tear us apart cause she’s my sweetheart …”

                                                                      ~The Ramones

ORB Models Mary Kate & Brett styled by Jessica Soga & Kylie Fife Hair & Makeup by Virginia BradleyPhotographed for Working Class Magazine’s Summer of Love issue! 

HEY! Working Class is on KICKSTARTER! Please support the arts and keep this Brooklyn based zine going, they’d greatly appreciate it! The editors are offering all kinds of fun bonuses to match your donation- even coming along on a shoot like this…. though I may put you to work. I kidd…. maybe.