The Lucky Photographer

That's me, because how lucky do I feel that I can be there to capture these magical faces?  VERY.

This is gonna be a witty little one.

These close up face shots always give me the warm fuzzies.  I love how he's holding mom's hand so tightly.  This was a last minute shot, and I love those big loving eyes looking right at me!!  

Beach Beauty

This little one is my joy and light.  I love watching him think, especially when he's discovering new things by the ocean.  I am missing the beach! 

 

 I am experimenting with color these days, trying to soak up all the knowledge I can.  Feel free to give me feedback on which style you like better.

This will be one of my all time favorites forever. :)  

Pondering the ocean.

Red-Headed Ocean

This little munchkin was very curious about that huge ocean in front of her!  I had so much fun taking her pics!  Stay tuned for some smiling pics of this adorable red-head soon!

Learning...

I had to post about this picture because I am so unbelievably proud of what I did here.  Yes, I am airing my dirty laundry right here for you all to see..... OH MY.  Oh WELL, it is what it is.  I am not going to pretend I am master at this craft.  I think I was a little bit of a master when I had my first camera in college using black and white film... but these days I am only a passionate and eager student.  However, my photoshop skills are growing more and more every day as I learn to explore all of the many options that are at my fingertips every single day!  This helps when I make lighting mistakes (especially while using a new flash) at my very first wedding!  Here is the photo, straight out of the camera (you can laugh, lol): 

 I played around with this photograph for what felt like forever... obviously it isn't perfect, but I could not handle that horrible shadow in between these lovely ladies and knew it was just a lighting mistake on my part... the bride said she liked it and therefore I had to challenge myself to get rid of that awful shadow forever!!!  And, whalllla, I think I did a pretty good job.  

It was such a sweet moment to capture between a bride and her niece, the shadow almost ruined it.  This is the first time I've ever attempted to remove anything from a photograph like this... feedback is welcome!  :)  The frames in the background still bother me a bit, but removing them is at least 4 more hours of work and I don't have that in me, nor do I think I could pull it off with all the lighting changes, lol.  So, I'm going to be satisfied with the removal of the shadow!  YAY ME!!!!

On to the next project!!!

Happy Boy!

I can't believe how much I'm learning from editing these wedding photos.  I am getting braver and braver with my zoom lens and can feel my skills coming back to me with every shoot!  This pic were taken in my back yard on Father's Day.  Totally spur of the moment; didn't even fix my munchkin's hair!  And, I got the one pose I've been trying to get for what feels like forEVER!!  YAY!

Rings!

It was extremely hard to get these two away from the excitement to sneak a few couple shots... I practically had to force them into the woods for this one!  :)  I hope they are glad I did, because this could not be sweeter!  :)

Sneak Peek

I still can't get over the day these two created!  I love every little thing, especially that love tree!

Stay tuned for more...

Smitten!

An old friend of mine (whose photography truly inspires me) calls her business "Smitten Photography" and I could not find a more perfect word to describe the day of this shoot, so I had to borrow hers!  The entire day of this wedding was so incredible that it will be impossible to explain with words - you'll just have to wait for the pictures to unfold.  For those of you reading this who were there, I'm sure you'll agree that it was perhaps the most sincere and heartfelt wedding celebration that ever was.  There was not a detail these two didn't think of.

When I first arrived, the make-up session was already in progress for the bridesmaids and Katherine was practicing her vows out loud and seemed, as every bride does, overwhelmed with excitement and organization!  I am glad she practiced her vows out loud, because if I had heard them for the first time as she was actually reading them to Jeremy, I may not have been able to focus the camera through the tears that would have fallen down my face!  Within about 20 minutes, I'd settled in and was comfortable with the lighting and thus able to let my creative juices flow.  There was a key holder right behind Katherine's head as her make up was applied and it was driving me crazy enough to ask that it be taken off the wall so it would not distract from her beautiful face in the photographs.  Why am I telling you this?  Because what happens next is pretty much key to the entire day.  After it was removed, I apologized for asking that it be moved... didn't want to be too demanding a photographer after all.  I think this must have been the 5th time I'd said, "Sorry" or "Excuse me, do you mind if I move this?" because Katherine looked right at me and said, "Karen, stop that!  I completely trust your eye.  If you need something moved, tell someone to move it, or just move it.  If they don't want you to move it, they'll tell you!  You are just doing your job and so do whatever you need to do - I completely trust your eye."  And, just like that, I relaxed.

Again, maybe it's too personal to share that moment, but this is the beginning of my journey as a professional photographer and I want to keep myself grounded and honest from the beginning!  I really, really needed to hear someone tell me to stop apologizing and just do my job!  From that point on, I settled into my element and shot away!  There are so many moments that I cannot wait to share.  My plan is to share a few of my favorites in the order they happened  so that you can take the journey of re-living this day with me.  You'll see why I really didn't want it to end, as exhausted as I was after 10 hours of being on my feet!  I think I did it justice... I hope you enjoy their wedding day story as I try and tell it through my photography.  I wanted to start with this snapshot of them together so you could see how amazingly happy they are to finally have made things official!


P.S. I'm still working on the logo placement/transparency thing... ;)

Stolen Sweet

The sweetest moments are stolen ones... this was not planned at all, but says so much about the love between these amazing people and the bond they have.  There are not many people I know who have hearts as big as theirs and I am grateful that they are a part of my life.  I am equally thankful to have caught this magical moment!  What an inspiration it is... especially as I anticipate the upcoming debut weekend wedding!

Photographing Friends

I thought this article was wonderfully written; taught me a few things, and I think is a good reminder for all of us, photographers or not.

Photographing Your Friends

City Kids

This is one of my favorites of these two.  A quick pause for a quick peck.  It was almost as adorable as those held hands... :)  I think this is the perfect "little epiphany!"

Meant to be...

Jeremy and Katherine will soon make a serious wedding night party out of Cinco de Mayo this year and I am the lucky girl who gets to be there to capture every moment of their ceremony.  It is surely a dream for them to finally have this day together and this pic surely exposes just how perfectly at home with each other they already are.  This is why I love photography, because a photo can tell you what 1,000 words could never tell.  


Their wedding is also a dream come true for me.  I have always wanted an excuse to take my eye for photography and design more seriously.  Shortly after shooting pictures for a close mutual friend of ours (you will see his pictures very shortly), Katherine approached me and all but insisted that I photograph her wedding.  I almost forced her to accept "no" for an answer.  However, as I've gotten to know her I've come to learn that that probably never would have happened.  :)  And this is why I think I am so glad I didn't say no.  Because of Katherine, I have already expanded my portfolio in ways I never thought possible.  Sometimes, we just need someone to pull us out of our comfort zone and force us into the spotlight (or, in my case, the shadows of her spotlight on the big day, of course!)


So, here goes my new digital era (I'm really not that old, but old enough to have learned about photography in a dark room...) journey as a photographer and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement that I get to kick it off with such a wonderful couple!  Thanks for coming along...

More pictures will be coming, of course, but I thought it important to start with this one.