I'm so excited to officially relaunch my website -- in my new city.
My husband Matt and I spent most of the past 10 years living and shooting in New York City -- and we loved every minute of it. Well, the minutes that weren't spent trying to cram the belongings of one photographer, one cinematographer, and one baby into a tiny one bedroom apartment. New York is where our careers grew from internships and shooting-for-exposure into working for the top companies, brands, and personalities in the country and around the world. It's where I first saw my photos published larger-than-life in Times Square. It's where I first walked into a Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy of a national magazine with my photo spread in it's pages. It's where I was able to spend hours, and in some cases, days, photographing and getting to know people like Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Usher. It's where I was blessed to photograph ad campaigns for companies like Converse, Bud Light, and Bumble and bumble. It's where I schlepped my camera around the city with my ever-growing belly, and continued doing photo shoots until I was 9 months pregnant. It's where my son was born and raised.
It's because of all of these ways that New York blessed us that people frequently ask me: "Why did you leave New York??"
And the answer is this: As much as I loved my career in New York, I wasn't living the lifestyle that I wanted. I had my dream career, but I didn't have my family next door. Matt and I were both raised in Boston. In fact, we met for the first time on the playground of our elementary school when we were 7 years old. Boston is where we grew up. It's where we fell in love. It's where we spent hours as teenagers, animating claymation movies, playing with these new fangled "digital cameras" (like this bad boy), and building epic card towers. It's where we got engaged, on that same playground where we met. It's where we got married, surrounded by our closest family and friends, on the beach. In the cold. In the rain. It's where our families live. It's where I wanted to raise my children.
It was last year that we realized: we have control over our destiny. We could design our futures to meet the needs of both our careers and our family. We bought our first home, and made the leap from Manhattan to Massachusetts.
A few months later, our daughter was born and we became a family of four. It fills my heart with indescribable joy to see my son and daughter laughing and playing with their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles -- not just every month or two, but every week. Sometimes every day.
That's where we find ourselves now -- back in Boston after almost 10 years away. Discovering the city in a new light, and seeing it through our children's eyes. Matt has started a new company and has been working like a mad scientist in his third floor office on his industry-changing software that launched last month. I've started shooting for incredible Boston-based companies (like the fascinating MIT Media Lab), and am so excited by all of the new photo studios and photo shoot resources that have been created in Boston while we were in New York.
I've fallen in love with the Boston Children's Museum, and tote both of my kids there at least once a week. I relish the feeling of freedom I get when I bring my kids to the beach and watch my son run, splash, build, and get dirty in a way he never did when we lived in the city. Every day, I'm meeting incredible entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creatives that make me so excited to be back in this beautiful city.
So, that's the story of how we went from New York to Boston. There are definitely days when I miss my Wafels and Dinges, B&H blintzes, and Central Park. But I am so happy and beyond grateful to be home, and discovering Boston all over again.
xo, Diana
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