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Parkville | Family | Natalynn + Lacy + Mike

April 10, 2012

This is a very different little girl than I remember. This, I think, makes my 14th session with Lacy and Natalynn (the first being when she was in her mama’s tummy)…and Natalynn usually gives me quite the workout. As with any portrait session with young kids, there’s always a good portion of the time where the photographer just runs around takes on the strategies of a sports photographer. This was a milestone session with Natalynn. When I whipped out my camera, she not ONLY stopped, looked at me, and smiled…but she EVEN would strike poses. Natalynn was the perfect professional child model. Candy to a photographer! It was LEGEND….DARY! (I’ve been watching a little “How I met your mother” lately, hehe)

How awesome is this first shot?!?! Absolutely amazing! So glad we chose to start out at downtown Parkville. That yellow train has been a few different colors over the years, but I was very much diggin’ the yellow.

I happend to catch the weather forecast on Sunday night’s news and the weather man actually said “tomorrow may be the most beautiful day of the whole year.” And he may have been right. Yesterday’s weather was perfect. Such a great sky scene.

Kansas City | Engagement | Sarah + Kyle

April 9, 2012

EARLY MORNING SESSION AWESOMENESS!!!!

Yes…I did, in fact, get up before the sun (which only happens about 3 times a year) to go and have photofun with Sarah & Kyle. What’s even more impressive than me getting up before dawn, is that I was able to talk my friend, Kyle Lackey of Focus Photography, into getting up early too and assisting me (thanks pal!). 🙂

We decided to start our session at the City Market area, which is a location they are at nearly daily when they go jogging together.

Hands down…this is definitely my favorite shot from the session!!!! It was the most work to get…and scary because those big machines were actually in motion half the time…but sooooo my favorite. 🙂

YES!!!!!! This totally happened!!!!!! Nice high jump, and no major injuries. All in a days work. 🙂

As my past clients and some of my blog followers know, I love “Signature Shots”. Images that were predesigned to highlight something about the subjects characters or lives. This image does just that. In a crowded room, or from across a large area, whenever they are apart and see each other in the distance…instead of waving, they use the sign language “I love you”. We have great plans to implement this into their wedding day. Can’t wait!

SHAKE IT BABY!!!! Showing off their sassy moves!

And I COULD NOT resist a hilarious blooper! So…let me explain…though I would not exactly be classified as petite…sometimes I just can’t get the height I want for a certain shot. Kyle is quite a bit taller than me and Sarah had some super high heels…vertically challenged I became. So…the image you see here is the product of my awkward directions to have them semi-squat. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thank you SO SOOO much Kyle and Sarah for being the playful and pleasant couple you are! I had such a fun morning adventure with you.

Bridal Show on April 1st, 2012

April 6, 2012

No {April} foolin’ around, this was an awesome show!!! We are so happy and thankful for all our friends and past clients who helps make our booth idea possible! Thanks to all the fabulous new Brides & Grooms and other vendors who stopped by and gave us amazing compliments. Everything is truly appreciated!

This was probably my favorite feature of the booth…THE BALLOONS!!! Made me think of the movie “Up!” By 3:30pm, I had decided these gigantic 3ft balloons couldn’t go to waste…so I literally because a kid-hunting-machine…searching for all signs of children in the near area to give away the balloons too.

Second favorite feature of the booth…the wall mural models holding up the sample albums.

One of my favorite images on display. (Jayne & Cecil…you still rock my soul!)

My ~~helpers~~ WARRIORS for the day! Matt, of course, is my mandatory slave in events such as these…but Ashley (friend and former Bride), actually offered herself WILLINGLY! I guarantee that even if she didn’t regret the decision, her feet did by Sunday night. Matt and Ashley were absolutely amazing and I couldn’t have asked for a better team on the day.

Ashley…in addition to friend and past client, was also one of my lovely Bride models for the wall mural. 🙂 RARRR!

At the end of the day, I got an awesome surprise as Trisha, also one of my sweet Bride models, showed up with her photog hubby (Keven Hengler of 49th St. Photo ) and super stylish son, Crosby. Here’s a full body show of both of my models next to their life-size display.

YEAH…wall-mural-Trisha holding up real-life Crosby and standing next to real-life-Trisha. 🙂

Got to also give a shout out to my other fantastic past clients who posed as models for the wall mural…Anh, Pooja, and Libby!!! And thank you to Ashley Hotka (of Good Earth Floral and Mr. & Mrs.) for lending me furniture for the setup. AND thanks to my mom for lending me her SUV. hehe Don’t think any of it would have been possible without all the help I got. I’m a lucky girl! Oh..and one more thank you…the the anonymous person who found and turned in my iPad that I (still don’t know who) left behind at the convention center after clean up. It never ceases to amaze me how awesome and honest Kansas City folk are.

Kansas City | Family | Smith

March 20, 2012

I can be such a cruel cruel person. A tease. For this particular session, I’m quite sure that Melissa was at least a teeny tiny bit worried by the end of the session. You have NO IDEA how many hilarious outtakes I got from the kids. They were sooooooo funny, and I would constantly keep showing her and Lance the bloopers on the back of my camera. I admit, I have an unhealthy addiction to bloopers. Honestly, it really wasn’t intentional…but there came a point when I realized that I had probably exceeded the limit of showing off the bloopers without having shown hardly any of the actual fantastic shots. If they were new clients, I can only assume that they would have questioned their choice of photographer. HAHAHA But, as it so happens, I’ve had several wonderful sessions with The Smith’s, so by now they know they are going to have a great image collection.

Speaking of great family portraits…I LOVE THIS ONE!!!

Many thanks to Karen’s family for letting us use their beautiful property in Eudora, KS for our sessions that day! I believe this is my 3rd time shooting there, and I swear each time it seems just as new and exciting as the first. Plus, I think each time I’ve been there have been at different times of the day and with different weather…which naturally makes a new formula of light to work with. We had originally planned to split the session…half of the session at the farm, and half at the Downtown Eudora area…but I just couldn’t leave. I love that place! There is one minor downside to being out in an area, such as this…it is usually pretty windy. But as it happened, little Sophia’s hair was controlled in cute little pigtails…swaying in the wind. Now Melissa’s on the other hand…hahaha. I was actually amazed at how well her hair would just pop back into place when the wind would momentarily die down. It looked absolutely nothing like what mine did when I finally got in front of a mirror later that day. OH MY! A hairbrushes worst nightmare. 🙂

Kansas City | Family | Koehn

March 20, 2012

If you follow this blog, you definitely recognize this family. 🙂 Oh how I love me some Koehn family photo-fun-time! hahaha This is actually a tribute shot of one we did during our session last year… Karen took last year’s shot and made a fabulous 16×20 canvas gallery wrap. I told her we needed to start her a large wall collection of canvases. Figured this new shot would be a perfect addition. How cool will it be to see that wall by the time those kids are in highschool?! SOOOO COOL!

Among the very many many things I love, admire, and envy about Karen, is the fact she’s got major style talent. I can’t quite remember exactly when it was, but years ago, when I saw Karen and her family casually (not being photographed) I remember thinking…”wow, those kids are all clean and well dressed…they must be going somewhere.” After a few more sightings of them looking fabulous, and over the course of some time, I realized…Nope…no special occasion. They just ALWAYS look good. When I finally came to that conclusion…I mean that EXACT moment… I distinctively remember looking over at my children (who were with me) and thinking…”MAN! My kids look like cave creatures from a prehistoric time.” Seriously, I think that particular day Niki (my daughter) had gotten pancake syrup in her hair, had a Kool-aid mustache,and she was wearing a holey pair of jeans I’d been trying to throw away without her knowing. Tate (my son) was in bad need of a hair cut, and he had recently had a growth spert…so naturally, he was sporting some sweet high-water pants.

This session was no exception. Those kids looked fabulous as always. Seriously, look at this image and tell me they don’t look like something off a clothing spring catalog. Old Navy, eat your heart out! hahaha

My little boyfriend….givin’ me the wink. 🙂