Heroes

Have you ever had someone in your life that was always there for you, never asked for anything in return, and never fully knew how they impacted your life? Well, Jake and I have two special people in our lives that mean the world to us. I always tell them that they will never truly know how much they have helped us by being in our lives until they are raising their kids somday away from their families. Jacque and Christina are college students in Portland and they babysit for us all the time and never want to get paid. As if that's not enough, my kids are absolutely in love with them! They are a true blessing to us and I hope that one day we can return all that they have done for us. Oh, did I mention they are beautiful! Thank you girls. Love, US.

Holy Huge Family, Batman!

This is my dear friend's family that we drove up to Tacoma to capture a few and far between get together for them. I didn't put the whole breakdown of the shoot here but you can imagine how many scenarios there could have been. Newborn shoot, to engagement, to family.....it was definitely worth it in the end because I was able to give them something that even my own family will probably will never have. Seeing a huge family like this get together and laugh together, makes me miss my family so bad! Thanks for letting me capture an ordinary moment out at the farm...and hopefully making it a monumental moment to look back on. K

Furniture Inspiration

I have sparked up a deal with a furniture comapany and it has been the most exciting thing ever! These are a few pieces that I rented earlier this week. I will post some more shots of different subjects using them. Thanks for all the willing (or not so willing) models that played along with me!

Most likely to be a Superstar!

As promised, here is Miss Jacki.

Jacki-Coming soon!

Jacki is one of my favorite seniors...why?
1. Her mom is a rockstar and she is my assisstant on the shoots.
2. She's beautiful, of course.
3. Her inner beauty is still undiscovered, but when she finds it, she'll be unstoppable.
4. She completely trusts me and we have a blast on the shoots.
5. Her smile!! She has the biggest, most contagious smiles that I have ever photographed.
Here's a shot to sum these two up. This was Jacki, assissted by her mom, changing right in the middle of 'The Pearl'. They are a riot. K

Youth

This is why we are always late for everything. We were in a hurry to get the kids to school and I was trying to get Jalena dressed when all of the sudden she stepped into some morning light and her eyes were screaming at me to get the camera. There is nothing more beautiful then seeing her eyes in the perfect sunlight with that puffy-sleepy face in the morning. I love these shots and I love this little girl of mine. K

Jewelry!!!

Some girls like diamonds, pearls, gems, gold....o.k. so I really like all those as well, but none of them hold the memory that these pieces of art tell. As you know I am all about 'the products' and so far this company trumps everybody right now. mylifedesigns.com has been a joy to work with and here is some of the items that I have made with them. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Amy!

I missed my friends birthday and I know how bad she wants to be like me and have a big ol' ring with the cutest kids in the world on it.....so Amy, pick one of these to go in your long-awaited ring. You're lucky you have the cutest twins in the world and I can't get enough of them...o.k. I think I am the lucky one. K

Survivor

I had the opportunity to meet this incredible family and to tell their beautiful story. This is my friends sister and her family and I knew right when I heard their story, I just had to photograph them. Their oldst (M) was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (at 3) that has a low survival rate. I wanted to do a session with them while he was going through the Chemo (that's when I first heard their story) and call it "a celebration of life' session. By the time I got the guts to ask them...he had passed a clean bill of health. He had his first cancer free check up and I am here to tell you....'M' is doing amazing. He is a normal, BUSY 4 year old, and he knows what he wants and doesn't want (me and my camera!) His little bro just tries to keep up with him and wanted more then anything, to swim in that river. The families support and beliefs are so strong and they have a beautiful success story to tell. Oh yeah, and I caught a little love story while I was at it.. I am thankful for this opportuntiy and I am glad to know their family. K

Vegas, Baby!!!

WE WON.....check it out!!!!!
http://bludomain.typepad.com/blus_
daily_blog/

Blu Scandal

Shannon and I were inspired to do this shoot when we hit an all time low trying to figure out how to get her to Vegas for WPPI (photographer's tradeshow). bludomain.com is this incredible site that we are totally addicted to and they come up with these contests that we partake in every once in a while. Well, this one was about showing your desperation on what you would do for tickets from BluDomain. We couldn't pass this one up because months ago I sent pictures to Kailee (Blu's Blogger Girl) and she named him "The Hottest Man Alive-2007" on the blog, she called him her man crush of the week. So Shannon and I schemed to think of a picture idea that would get us noticed in the competition, and her a ticket to the show since I backed out on her. Shannon came up with the "kidnapping Kailee's crush" idea and Jake played along while we took it over the top...what a trooper. This is why I do what I do, because I get to have playdates with other photographers and in the end there are pictures to show the story of how we got the shot. Thanks for playin' Shamone...and as always...thank you for supporting me Jake, especially on projects like this!

Oldies But Goodies!

Just digging into some of my favorite past shots. These are a few that have so much emottion tied into them for me, that it doesn't bother me to see where I was photography-wise a few years ago. Some work that I look back on, I get hung up on the old action that I used or the fact that I didn't nail the exposure and I don't like to look at it. But, every once in a while I see an older photo that strikes a memory cord in me and I feel like I took it yesterday. This is why I do what I do...my memory is so bad that God gave me a talent to help me remember, and a very KEEN nose to go with it (which is sometimes not a bessing so much, especially with the bad smell memories).
The one of Jalena on the car: I remember the smell of summer in this shot and Jalena, in all of her innocence, barely aware that the camera was even present.

The one of Tre and Willie's hands : it was the first time ever meeting Jake's long-lost Dad and there are many emotions tied to this shot. I do remember the smells of his cooking and the soul-glo that he put in his hair.

The one of the father and son with the hand tattoos: This was my first paid-digital gig and I remember screwing up a lot of this shoot because of the lack of exposure knowledge. I was so nervous shooting this job and I got a lot of confidence after getting this shot because it meant so much to the father and I hope one day it means the world to his son.

Love Stories

These are some pics I took at the beginning of the year and they were making an order today so I thought I'd share a few of their picks. I love this couple! I took their "we're in love" pictures about 4 years ago. Then after trying forever to conceive, I took thei maternity, annnd now this little guy. That is what it's all about. Getting a glimpse into someone's life and wanting to know them for an instant. then 4 years later you really do know them and you get to tell their love story, in all of it's stages.
I go back to my favorite quote from Annie Leibovitz, "When I say that I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I would like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph". This couldn't be more true for me if it came out of my own lips. I see people daily, o.k. some might call it staring, but they strike something in me that makes me want to photograph them. Jake jokes with me now and asks if I want to take their picture, or do I just think I want to know them. I want to know their story and I want the chance to tell it.

Confidence

If asked "what my favorite types pf shoots are", I would have to say my "hottie" sessions. I love, love, love the new Dove "real beauty campaign" (http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909
I show this video to all my clients before we do a shoot and we talk at length about why they want to get pictures done of themselves. 50% of them will say that they want to do it for their husbands or boyfriends. I totally get this reasoning, but I won't accept it. I know that every girl inside knows that they are beautiful in some way and they all like to see a beautiful picture of themselves. So I don't allow them to say that they are doing the session for anyone but themselves. I love to see the process of coming into the studio doubting themselves and then leaving with a world of confidence. There was nothing I could have said to them to make them really believe they were amazing...but I am able to show them with my art (that's amazing to me).
My challenge is this....I have always had a decent amount of confidence, with the exception of normal girl insecurities here and there. How do I keep this beautiful little woman believing in herself, her beauty (inner and outer) and everything that she has to offer? I know I learned my confidence from my mother. I never heard her say once that she thought she was fat, not attractive or anything self distructive (not outloud anyway). I plan to show Jalena through example that beauty is definitely "in the eye of the beholder" and I hope that no relationship in her life can take that away. I don't worry as much about the boys, but I assure you I will be aware of their confidence level as well. I just know how girls think and I have never met a woman to this day that doesn't have insecurities, but it's all in how we handle them. K

First warm day!

Well, we had our first taste of summer and it wasn't even that sunny here. It was a beautiful picture day so the kids and I went to one of my favorite spots to explore. Tré was taking care of Jamie the whole time and Jalena was our watchdog for bees. We were only out for about 1/2 an hour but I had fun taking some shots. Can't wait for summer to be here. K