Rangefinder Magazine
April 2006

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Jill Person+Laurén Killian Harvey Goldstein
Photographing Weddings in Boston and Beyond

Jill Person and Laurén Killian are two young women who have known each other less than five years. They joined forces in several years ago to formulate what has become a very successful wedding photography business in Boston, Massachusetts. Their style reflects the combination of photojournalism, artistry and emotion coupled with an innate sense of spontaneity to capture the moment. Not limited in scope, they have broadened their market area to encompass all of New England and are enticing clients from coast to coast. With the wonders of Internet advertising via their intriguing website, www.personkillian. com, they are able to display their fine quality wedding photographs and are not limited to just working within their neighborhood. This site also allows Jill and Laurén to showcase their innovative portrait and commercial photography.

Jill’s career in photography began in high school as the editor for the yearbook and class historian. She continued her studies at Salem State College in Massachusetts, graduating with a fine arts degree with photography as her concentration.

Laurén spent her junior year at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, studying in Florence, Italy. While in Italy, she took a photography course and was amazed by the art, light and history that surrounded her. She “fell in love with being able to capture all of this through my camera.” After graduating from Quinnipiac, she continued her photography education and graduated from the New England School of Photography in Boston. Laurén met Jill while both were working as assistants to a prominent Boston North Shore wedding photographer.

Jill and Laurén no longer photograph weddings together as they did when the first began their business, but both of them do work with an associate photographer for each event. Their goal is to capture the emotion of the day. They will spend the day alternating between long lenses and wide angles, remaining as unobtrusive as possible. In addition to capturing the day’s emotions, they also pride themselves in accurately recording the intricate details of each wedding. Jill says, “As visual artists, we look at our photography as artwork. We are extremely fluid and feel totally comfortable improvising as the wedding day unfolds. Seizing the moment at a wedding requires patience, vision and spontaneity.

As a photographer, you can feel when that emotion is about to happen.” Jill and Laurén prefer Canon products and to them, less is more, “We like to keep our setups as simple as possible.”

They work with several Canon 20D cameras and the Canon L lenses: 24–70mm f/2.8 as well the 70– 200mm IS f/2.8L and the 16–35mm f/2.8L lenses. When a flash is necessary, they use the Canon 580EX Speedlites with a “Flip-it” accessory (a “fancy” plastic bounce card) so they can control where they will bounce their fill-flash. In situations when they need to increase the amount of light, they use Freewire Slaves to synch multiple flashes.

Jill and Laurén do all of their own editing, cropping, sorting and color correction on their Apple G5 computers with Photoshop C S. While they do print some of their images in-house on their Epson 2200 printer, the majority of their work is printed by a Natural Color Lab in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Looking to cater to the elite bride, they participate in prestigious bridal events in Boston and New York City. In addition, they advertise online with TheKnot.com, in Grace Ormonde Marriage and Elegant Weddings magazines. They also submit many articles to magazines, network with wedding-related businesses and their studio is located on the high-profile Newbury Street in Boston. Their advertising, networking and word of mouth have landed them assignments in many of the most prestigious locations in New England as well as Florida and Las Vegas.

Because education is a never-ending process, they continue to study and learn. They review their work after each event and discuss how they can make positive changes and what new techniques they can implement at their next wedding, continuously striving to become better artists.

As relative newcomers themselves to the profession, the biggest piece of advice that they offer to those just beginning their careers is to follow their dreams and set goals. In a very brief period of time, they have gone from start-up to working in the most elite hotels, having their photographs displayed in prestigious venues and magazines and having a prominent business location. They also encourage newcomers to assist as many different photographers as possible. The little bits and pieces of wisdom that they acquired from each of the photographers they assisted before becoming a team have helped them grow their business.

Laurén sums up their success, “Having the opportunity to provide people with lasting memories is an amazing feeling. Our main focus is for all of our clients to be able, through their photographs, to relive the emotion of their wedding day. When we see them laugh, smile or even cry, we know we have done our job. This is the most rewarding feeling!”