ABOVE + BEYOND
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT I find myself passing the expectations of my job description. Senior Designer, my current title, a job that entrusts me in the monthly design of many Connecticut Magazine pages, press communications and other tasks needed to create a publication deliverable to our reader’s homes on time – often gets stressful. Tight deadlines, short on art, need more text? Over time, I started curating content for our product guides, writing a few stories, photographing some amazing experiences and even jumping into the scene to make stories happen. Whether dreaming up themes for photoshoots or sharing some of my passions, I invite you to scroll through my work and hopefully find similar interests with your lifestyles.
AM – Visual Storyteller / Moments Told
Acting / Orchestrating / Writing
Playing Dress-up
Even Rainy Day Weddings Sparkle in New Milford’s Harrybrooke Park.
HARRYBROOKE PARK, MY CHILDHOOD MEMORY. A tucked-away place where I could run free, laugh and play as a child. Some say it is a hidden gem. A beautiful place to have your dream wedding.
While the raindrops were coming down in bucketfuls the morning of our beautiful photoshoot, it was Bill Buckbee, Harrybrooke Park’s executive director and a Justice of the Peace, who told us, “The drops of rain are teardrops from our loved ones above who cannot be with us, but are smiling down with joy on your day of love.”
The Harden House Museum, located on the park’s grounds and backed up against the Still River waterfall, offers gorgeous photo opportunities for the bride and groom as they pamper themselves for their magical day. There are plenty of chances for couples to immerse themselves in the park’s beauty.
We were lucky enough to embrace the setting between raindrops. Perhaps its magic will entrance you as well. AM
Cast of Stars
The amazing team behind this photo shoot
Harrybrooke Park & Harden House Museum, New Milford; Nicole Bourgeois-Believe, lead photographer at Picture This; Ruby Bridal Boutique, New Milford; Bogeys, Danbury; Occasions, Bethel; b.hive salon, Washington; Nancy Ruth Beauty,New Milford; Bella Jewelers, Kent; DK Schulman Design, New Preston; Sweet Rewards, Brookfield; DA Couture – Jewelry Bouquets and Accessories, Preston; Goatboy Soaps, New Milford; Southern Yankee, Wilton; Flowers by Nancy, Danbury; Bonni Manning Catering, Sherman; Badass Beard Care; Hartford Flavor Co., Hartford; Litchfield Distillery, Litchfield; Housatonic River Brewing, New Milford; Models: John Casablancas Modeling & Acting Agency, Rocky Hill; Justice of the Peace: Bill Buckbee; Bride: Natalie Capriglione; Groom: Corey Christensen
Writing / Travel Photography
Journey to Red Beach
One of Santorini’s Most Famous and Beautiful Beaches.
NO ONE CAN PINPOINT THE LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS, but Santorini is in the lineup. Noted for the famous caldera which sank a chunk of the island into the sea and for the most beautiful sunsets in the world, Santorini draws lovers and adventurers from far and wide.
Whether you rent a car or go wild on a 4-wheeler around the island, there is plenty to do and see. A stay at the Blue Dolphins Apartments & Suites, just outside the tourist-soaked capital of Fira, offers plenty of walking paths among the beautiful white-washed homes capped with their cyan-blue domes hanging from the cliffs overlooking the sea.
Visiting the Red Beach was quite the experience as it involves a treacherous hike up one side and then down the other side, all while being serenaded by a lonely violinist sitting at the plateau of the hike. The Red Beach is now closed to tourists due to rock slides but the hike offers amazing views of the Aegean Sea.
One trip to Santo Wines and we were sure this was the place for retirement. Relaxation, sea breezes and local wine could not be better anywhere else.
On our way to Oia to catch the world-famous sunsets, we noticed a lot of undeveloped lands just waiting for sun-seekers like us to come and build. Of course, in our wandering, we managed to miss all three sunsets on our short visit to Santorini. Which is the very reason we will be going back. AM
Read my story here in Connecticut Magazine …
Not Acting / This is Real / I’m the Bride / Story Pitch / Interviewee
Spoiler Alert: This is my wedding story that was kept in secret from the world due to COVID-19. Once I had images I presented our story as a destination wedding twist for our Connecticut brides. And we are now famous. 🙂 P.S. I love flamingos
Real Wedding: Alyson Bowman & Patricio “Pato” Moschcovich
Of Love and Flamingos
A real-life tale of two lovebirds determined to get married in paradise despite COVID-19 — and what you can learn from it.
Written by Michelle Bodak Acri
Photographed by John Zimmerman, Colosal Visual Studio
PATRICIO (“PATO”) MOSCHCOVICH AND ALYSON BOWMAN LOVE TO TRAVEL, and in the five-plus years they’ve been dating have journeyed together everywhere from Paris to Prague, Athens to Amsterdam. The trip they had planned for October 2020 was a bit of a last-minute vacation. Pato, who is a software engineer, had vacation days he needed to use before the end of the year, and Alyson (whose name you might recognize from the masthead of a certain magazine) was more than happy to escape the stress of life in 2020 here in Connecticut, if only for a brief while.
Pato was put in charge of the planning, but where to go when so many of the places they’d longed to visit (like Dublin and London) were off the table due to everyone’s least-favorite virus? And then he saw the flamingos. “Alyson loves birds,” Pato explains. All kinds of birds — and always has. And here glowing pink on the computer screen in front of him were flamingos strutting their stuff on a beach in Aruba, pausing occasionally to delicately nibble treats right out of people’s hands. It was Flamingo Beach, a “secluded paradise” on private, 40-acre Renaissance Island, the travel info read. There were even photos of a wedding taking place right there. Hmm … Aruba it would be.
The airfare and hotel were booked, and Pato began looking into activities reservations when one day in early September he turned to Alyson with a thought. “If we’re going to paradise, why don’t we get married?” Wait … what? “It was very unexpected,” Alyson admits. In fact, although the couple was living together, they weren’t even engaged. And yet, “how perfect it would be to get married to the love of my life on a tropical beach in the middle of a group of flamingos,” says Alyson, who, as you can imagine, also said to Pato, “I’m in.”
Now, here’s where things begin to get complicated, and if you are considering planning your own destination wedding, where you should pay close attention.
The planning
Alyson knew what a “memory maker,” this trip would be, and as a designer her priority was getting quality photos. Finding a top photographer on the island was the first goal, and in John Zimmerman from Colosal Visual Studio, she scored not just a photographer but someone intimately acquainted with Aruba, who was willing to walk them through the planning process. Someone with sandals on the ground, so to speak. One of the first things Zimmerman did was to send Pato a list of the paperwork he and Alyson would need in order to be legally married in Aruba. Tying the knot, after all, even via an elopement to a tropical isle, is not just about romance; it’s about red tape.
The paperwork
Aruba would require a copy of their birth certificates and proof that they were single. This would be a second marriage for both Alyson and Pato, and they would thus need what is known as a “Certificate of No Record of Marriage,” which was easily arranged. Aly, who grew up in New Milford, had a copy of her birth certificate. Pato, on the other hand, who was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, did not. And, as they soon found out, obtaining even a digital copy of his birth certificate, a tricky process made all the more challenging by COVID-19, “would take at least seven months — and we had just a few weeks,” Pato says. Uh-oh. It was time for …
The pivot
“We started the process, but it was going nowhere,” Pato says, “and Aly was starting to panic. Don’t worry, I told her. There are always alternatives.” A challenge,” Pato says, “can be a bad thing, but it can also be a great thing. It all depends on your attitude.” Aly and Pato’s “alternative” was to call Connecticut wedding officiant Bridget Caviness and arrange to get married. They would make it official right here in Connecticut on Oct. 12, and then fly to Aruba to “renew” their vows a week later.
The players
Did we mention that this was an elopement? “Everyone else, even our four kids, thought we were just going on vacation,” Alyson says — and that took some maneuvering. When deciding on who you will invite to your destination wedding, there are lots of needs that need to be taken into consideration. “We kept it a secret because there was too much involved and lots of room for disappointment, especially for our kids, if we had to change plans,” Alyson says. Plans were made with Caviness for Oct. 12, when both Pato’s and Alyson’s children would be at school. Except, guess what: schools were closed on Oct. 12 for Columbus Day. They had forgotten about that. And so it came to be that on that fated Monday, Alyson and Pato told the kids, “we’ll be right back,” and legally became man and wife at the end of a cul-de-sac near their Cheshire home. Truth be told, “I was not expecting much out of that two-minute ceremony,” Pato says, “but Bridget made it very special.” Pato even admits to having had tears in his eyes.
The PCR
As much as we’d like to say that crisis averted and marriage certificate in hand, Alyson and Pato flew off to Aruba with nary a care in the world, this is, well, 2020. Aly and Pato were told that they would need to have a PCR test for COVID-19 upon their arrival in Aruba. Not a problem. They even paid for their tests ahead of time. And then they went to check-in at LaGuardia at 4:30 a.m. and the airline agent asked for proof of a negative test result in order to fly. Proof that they would be tested in Aruba was not good enough. Again, uh-oh. We will spare you the anxiety, the pleading, the frantic running from one end of LaGuardia looking for someone who could help. Suffice it to say, “lesson learned,” Alyson says. “Airlines have their own rules and during COVID they can change daily. No matter what you’re told by those in your final destination, “just get the test ahead of time.”
And now, the happily ever after
So, as you can guess, Alyson and Pato did, in fact, catch their flight to Aruba that day. In fact, as a splurge, they even flew first class, “because you only get married twice,” Pato laughs. And on Oct. 19 they stood beneath the bright Aruba sun and renewed their vows, with several extremely elegant feathered-pink witnesses standing by their sides. Sure, the road they traveled to get there was not without its bumps, and the year 2020 was certainly a rough one, but as Pato says, “Life is what you make of it, and for the Moschcovich family, 2020 [was] the most amazing year ever.️”
Here is the link to The Connecticut Bride’s Published Version …
Writing / Travel Photography
Masada National Park, Israel
The Romans peaked the top to find a community resting in peace not slavery.
ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF MY TRIP TO ISRAEL was Masada National Park, a massive plateau in the heart of the Judean desert. I was fascinated by the history and how a community made its final stand against the Romans here in 73 CE. The biggest protection of all was the treacherous cliffs in the middle of the desert in the unbearable heat. And, in the end, a struggle for freedom ended in mass suicide to avoid a life of slavery.
On the drive from Arad on Route 3199 to the Masada National Park entrance, I was lucky to see camels and bedouins for the first time in their natural surroundings. And the desert, all that sand. It went on forever.
We parked and traveled the Roman Ramp to the top. Others might choose the Gondola to visit without the climb or the more challenging Snake Trail. As we reached the top of the fortress I looked over the desert ahead of me. Like mountains in the forest.
Originally built to protect the family of King Herod, Masada has many sites of interest including the Northern Palace, the synagogue, the “Lots room,” the Byzantine church, the Western Palace, the bathhouse and the southern cistern.
Masada looks over the Dead Sea with amazing views of the Judean desert. The salty sea was the next stop on our journey, as we stood 1,388 feet below sea level looking up at the towering plateau of historical beauty.
Our day ended in Petah Tikvah for my first Shabbat dinner of delicious Yemenite dishes and cheerful singing. AM
Read my story here in Connecticut Magazine …
Writing / Story Pitch / Content Curator / Acting / Dialog / Design
The Minimalist vs. The Materialist
Running Debate: What Gear Do You Really Need to Hit the Road?
Connecticut Magazine columnist Randall Beach and Senior Designer Alyson Bowman are both avid runners. But they have very different ideas on proper (and necessary) running gear. Call Alyson The Materialist. Randall? He’s The Minimalist.
Why bother? Says he. There is a reason for everything! Says she.
ALYSON: I love to run. But the exciting part is seeing all the new styles and gadgets out there. Garmin has its new Forerunner 735XT, I found these great foam rollers from TriggerPoint, the Flipbets can hold everything plus more, the Bobbi Shorts are something to check out and so much more.RANDALL: This is all so unnecessary. What I love about running is I can just slip on my T-shirt, shorts, socks, shoes and hat and I’m out the door. I don’t need to be weighed down by any products. I don’t even need to wear a watch.
ALYSON: But the watch is perfect for those who do triathlons and it counts your steps. It even monitors your heart rate. Check out those timing bracelets. If you cannot afford the expensive watch, the Pacebands are your next best option. Try them out. The Bobbi Shorts are a great find for those running their first marathon. Thirty48 makes these great compression socks and Zensah makes compression sleeves for your legs. And the gel in those Asics running shoes makes the bounce even better. You can even track your shoe mileage with Mino. The headband from Gone For A Run keeps my hair in place, like your hat, and it is so stylish.
RANDALL: I have run a half-dozen marathons and hundreds of other races and I have never felt the need for a watch. Race organizers are great about calling out split times. Good old basic white socks are fine by me. I don’t need a gel. I wear a hat rather than a headband because it’s important to minimize exposure to the sun.
ALYSON: But, did you see the Coola sunscreen products we got? Who needs a hat when you have Coola?
RANDALL: My dermatologist would tell you a hat provides more protection than any skin product. I do slather lots of sunscreen on any exposed part of my body.
ALYSON: Check that Flipbelt out. You can hold everything for the day in there. And if it starts to get dark, the Million Mile Light on my arm sleeve will shine me on.
RANDALL: I don’t need to be saddled with any kind of belt. If I’m going out at a time when it might be getting dark, I will simply put on a reflective vest.
ALYSON: You are very old school! What do you do about hydration? I have this great insulated bottle by Nathan which straps on my hand and
I fill it with this great product called Generation UCAN which helps my performance without any sugar.
RANDALL: When I’m in a race I simply rely on the volunteers handing out water. On longer runs when I’m on my own, I run through areas where I know there are water fountains.
ALYSON: Let’s talk about the unspeakable. Chafing. I found this great product a few years ago called Glide by BodyGlide. What a miracle worker. I run with confidence.
RANDALL: Whenever I’m going for a long run, Vaseline is all I need.
ALYSON: I am such a slow runner that the massage tents are all packed up by the time I finish. TriggerPoint has these great at-home foam rolling products you can use any time.
RANDALL: After my races, I head for the beer tent, not the massage tent.
ALYSON: Check this out: instead of photos I found a race BibFOLIO.
RANDALL: I don’t keep my bibs anymore. Alright, enough talk. I want to go look at your running books now.
Read my story here in Connecticut Magazine