A few months ago, we headed up to the Berkshires on a beautiful night to photograph Rinker Buck for Flight Training Magazine. Buck’s a writer and adventure junkie, who achieved fame back in 1966 by flying a Piper Cub plane across the US with older brother Kern when they were only 15 and 17.  Yikes!

Buck’s book Flight of Passage is an intimate story of this cross country adventure.  They had no radio and no lights.  They just headed west following rivers and landmarks all the way from New Jersey down to Texas and over the mountains west into southern California.  Later on they found out they were the youngest ever to fly across the US.  Our son Sebbie is reading Rinker’s book now…note to Sebbie (and Jude): don’t even think about it!

We photographed Rinker next to a classic yellow Piper Cub in Great Barrington MA up the road from Buck’s home in Norfolk CT.  Rinker’s a great writer and storyteller…he wrote for the Hartford Courant for many years.  And he’s a really nice guy.  Rinker’s latest adventure was traversing the Oregon Trail from my home town of Kansas City to Oregon in a covered wagon pulled by mules…look out for that book coming soon!

Shelley Dodd, our good friend and design muse for our new studio in West Hartford Center, had her turn in our natural light studio for our reStore project.  Shelley’s a West Hartford-based interior designer with an amazing design sense–she had a strong vision for the store from the beginning and we love all the elements she chose to make it beautiful…thanks so much Shelley!!  Shelley and her husband Matt and their three adorable kids live in West Hartford.  For a design consultation you can reach Shelley at belle_dodd@comcast.net.

The puzzle for us was always my Husband’s job as the work opportunities up here aren’t quite as diverse and plentiful as in Connecticut.  I wouldn’t take no for an answer and just kept believing it would work out, and eventually when he approached his boss about moving he was offered the opportunity to work from home – perfect! It’s been a bit of a transition for my business to still try and work with clients in Connecticut but it’s worth the extra logistics to be up here without a doubt.

Well we miss you a lot but looking forward to more weekends away together!  You can check out Amanda’s business, Orchard Cove Photography, here.

Great meeting and photographing Dr. Bruce Strober, one of the leading doctors in the area of psoriasis at UConn Health Center, for the cover of Plastic Surgery Magazine!  Mike agreed to be “the patient” but you’ll have to check out the full article to see him online!  🙂  Above is the cover and then one of my favorite portraits that didn’t make it into the article.

Man und Machine–Jim Burns and his German LÄGLER wood floor sander, the Mercedes of sanders, spent a lot of time transforming our studio floor…no more blue industrial carpet!  Thank you Jim!  Jim’s business, JB Flooring is out of Granby, CT.  Jim’s been in the business for many years but also raced motorcross!  He can be reached at 860.209.7326.

Great to see this mentoring story in print in RBS’s (Royal Bank of Scotland’s) internal magazine, RBS World!  Really enjoyed working with Arvin, Lynette and Hugh and Beetroot Agency!

When it comes to West Hartford Center, RLMCo are the local experts by far.  Richard Mahoney ran the commercial real estate management company until he passed away in 2011, and this tribute in the Hartford Courant shows how much he helped make West Hartford Center a better, more vibrant place over the past decades.  Today RLMCo is run by Richard’s son Mike, and his other son Dan is the property manager or “Mr. Fix-it” as he described the pitch his dad and brother made to bring him into the family business.  Dan’s  recently put in a thermopaned window to bring lots more light into the space…thanks Dan!  Love your beard by the way!  Dan’s hobbies include woodworking and raising labs (close to our heart…wonderful family dogs!)…you can check out Dan and his wife’s non-profit at labrescuect.com.  RLMCo is located at 10 North Main Street in West Hartford Center.

If it’s Tuesday afternoon then John Bollash is getting his Zen on, wallpapering to the New Age sounds of WWUH (91.3 FM), the University of Hartford’s college station.

We met John a few years back when he wallpapered our dining room and bathroom.  For the new studio, Shelley, our designer, pitched the idea of papering the ceiling with a big patterned Anthropologie wallpaper.  We almost passed on it…but at the last minute went for it, got John on the phone and he got it done.  So here’s reStore #2:  John of John Bollash Wallpapering in Manchester (phone 860.645.9343).  Thanks John, love the wallpaper!