New Travel Promotion

I love to travel. And don't get to do it nearly often enough. So in the spirit of approaching springtime and this terrible case of spring fever I have lately I am offering a new and very limited promotion for all weddings that require me to travel to you from my spot here in Kansas City, MO. In the States, out of the States--I'm there wherever you are!

So, here's the scoop:

I am looking to break into the international wedding market but would love to travel anywhere for your wedding. That, in a nutshell, is why I'm offering this very limited promotion.

Book your wedding by the last day of March (that's 3.31.2008), regardless of your actual wedding date (as long as it's in 2008 or 2009) and you will get in on this special discount. Wait until April 1st, and well.... you know what they call people on that day. ;o)

Here are the 3 levels of the deal to make things simple:

1. If you're getting married anywhere in Kansas or Missouri, there will be no travel fees at all.

2. If you're getting married anywhere in any of the other states in the continental US, my travel fees will be reduced by 75%! That's huge! Regular travel rates are $2.00 a mile. This temporary reduction brings it down to just 50 cents a mile!

3. If you're planning a wedding anywhere outside the continental US, just pay my travel costs and I'll shoot your wedding for free! This will include full wedding day coverage, online gallery of fully edited images, all images on disk, plus a "trash the dress" session the day after the wedding.
Long live Springtime and the start of all things new!

I'm on this jet plane, coming to you:

Texture Play

I'm just having fun playing with some new textures. I think #4 is my favorite texture. Let me know what you think!

New Brochures

I just had these brochures made up to give to vendors to pass out and possibly a bridal fair this year. I'm super excited. I think they turned out gorgeous! I had a lot of inspiration and went through several designs before deciding on this one.

They're printed on pearl paper which gives them a pretty shimmer and I wrapped them in vellum.

I can't wait to start handing them out!

FAQ's

Here are some answers to questions I get asked often:

Q: When is the best time to take pictures?
A: This is a double answer question.

For the best lighting: For weddings and portraits the best time is early evening, the hour just before the sun sets. This changes of course depending on the time of year but the light is golden and most flattering at this time.

For babies & little ones: It all depends on what time of day they are at their best--often early morning is a less-cranky time for the wee ones, but don't wait till right before a morning nap unless it's a newborn or very small infant where you don't mind them sleeping through the session.

Q: Does a portrait session really take an hour or can we be done before that?
A: Yes, a portrait session really does take an hour--at least. It is easy to run over a little and usually it takes the first 15 minutes just to get loosened up & get in the groove. You will get the best portraits the longer we spend, so don't rush it! Just go with the flow and relax. Spending more time allows for more location changes around the park or wherever we are having the session; different scenes & poses offer more to choose from later because I'm allowed more time to shoot creatively--and this is why you are booking me, right? ;o) Taking the full hour also allows me to capture more candid moments. This is really important where kids are involved.

Q: How long do pictures before and after the wedding ceremony take? How much time should we allow?
A: This depends on if you are seeing each other before the ceremony or not. Events go much faster if you do see each other beforehand and it can be equally as romantic to have a "1st meeting" with just the two of you & me there to photograph it. It also prevents the guests from having to wait for you to arrive at the reception. But, this is really your decision and can be worked with either way.

As a guideline, it's best to allow 20 min for each side (girls & guys) & a half hour for the whole wedding party, parents & grandparents. We can always take full family group shots at the reception or other pics with important guests later so as not to hold up the reception too long.

The portraits with the bride and groom are the most important however so it's best to allow 45 minutes for these. And you can see why it's great to do this before the ceremony so you get your full time without feeling rushed. This is a really great session to budget time for because there probably won't be another time during your own wedding day when you can be alone together... at least not till you leave the reception. If you want to go to another location remember to allow time for traveling to & from.

Q: How do I book you for my wedding?
A: First let me say, "Congratulations on your engagement!" Second, you will need to contact me to find out if I'm still available for your date. If I am then we can schedule a consultation and talk about all your wedding plans, what you're looking for in a photographer and what collection is the best fit for you and your day. If you are not in the local KC Metro area or are unable to meet we can have a consultation over the phone and I can send additional samples & photos of my work & products via email. I require a $500 retainer and signed contract to reserve your date.

Q: When should I book for a portrait session?
A: Another two part answer: I book portrait sessions up to 4 weeks in advance but feel free to contact me before then to give me a heads up that you're planning on it. This way I can keep it tentatively scheduled and budget my time best, and remind you when the time gets closer to finalize a date and time. If you absolutely want to reserve a specific date farther in advance than 4 weeks (i.e. a relative coming from out-of-town or a special anniversary to be done on a specific day) I require a 50% retainer to hold the date.

2nd Part: Portraits are all done outdoors, on location, so spring through fall is the most popular time and slots fill up quickly. But doing portraits outdoors in the winter is not out of the question! Snow can be really fun! I also offer weekend appointments for more convenience.


Finally, if you think of any other questions please feel free to send them my way! Maybe I'll even add it to the next fabulous edition of FAQ's. :o)

Family Vacation 2007 -- Part II

Here is the 2nd batch of vacation pics, making up our last 2 days in FL & a couple from the drive back home.

This is what most people call the "real" Florida. Pristine, wild, green & full of wildlife. We took our 2nd day- trip to Homosassa Springs on the Gulf Coast. We'd been there twice before (pre-baby) when we lived in FL but had to take Afton so he could see the animals. The boat ride into the park is supposed to be relaxing... and it was for the most part until Afton chucked his sippy cup into the water! We had to go back down the river after everyone else debarked the boat to go retrieve it before the gators got it! We were lucky and actually found it floating among some branches.

Manatees find their home here. They are wild and free to come and go as they please but are friendly enough to come up and get a few carrots and cabbage for the educational show. They like their home here.

Sunlight sparkles on the turquiose spring water.

It was so hot & humid this day. Way more hot & humid that we remember it being in FL. I guess we got used to the winters in Missouri again and forgot how thick the air is in FL. I honestly can't remember if Afton's hair is so wet in this photo because it was just that hot or if dad had poured a little water on him to cool him down. Oh, & ironically enough, during the manatee show he tossed his OTHER sippy cup into the water. Thankfully the manatee didn't mistake it for a big fat carrot! The guide was nice enough to also fish that one out. Nothing like stopping a show to embarrass a parent!
Now for some bird pics! ;o)

Ferns and moss cover the trees.
Of course we're in Florida so there has to be a gator picture in here somewhere...
Fanning palm with the fisheye lens.
On the last day we headed to Disney, and just like every other day in FL, it rained on us. Only we weren't lucky enough to avoid it at all this time. So, while we were wet & miserable (it was actually pretty chilly by late afternoon) and the stroller got soaked (we're talking inches of standing water in the thing) in a downpour while we were in the "It's a Small World" ride & weren't able to use it the rest of the day (thankfully one diaper managed to stay dry!) we still had a great time and the lines were unbelievably short. On a nice day one might get onto 5 or 6 rides all day with hour long (or more) waits for each one. We rarely had to wait more than 10 minutes for a ride so we got to do all kinds of fun stuff--great for the toddler who has no patience too!!

Afton got to ride the carousel 3 times. He loved it so much!
Flowers by the carousel

We all loved the parade & it stopped raining long enough for it thankfully because this was the only time we got to see the characters. None were to be found for picture taking because of the torrential rains all day.

I have no idea what he's looking at in this pic but Chris took it during the "It's a Small World" ride. He loved the carousel but this was his favorite indoor ride. The whole thing was "Oooh's" & "Ahhh's". I just think his expression is hilarious in this shot.
A big day full of fun & adventure in the Happiest Place on Earth calls for a nap on the ride back to Grandma's. Me, I was drying my cold wet feet under the heater in the car!
Taken in GA on our drive back to MO. I saw all the cotton fields & wanted to stop for some pics. But, guess what?! As soon as we exited the highway it started to pour! All I got was this one pic from the car window.
This truck (a gift from his aunt in FL) unbelieveably kept him occupied the entire 2 day trip home. I don't care what kind of noise the thing made--it kept him busy and happy!

Family Vacation 2007 - Part I

Finally, here are the vacation pictures I have been promising. I have been working on new promo and vendor materials, album designs and editing photographs like crazy but I just had to make the time to go through all the pics I took on our family road trip during the 1st week of October. It was nice to relive the memories and dream of summer when it's sooo cold outside right now!

The sunset hitting the Smoky Mountains (on the NC side) just right. It's the "golden" hour though I love the cool colors of the mountains in this shot.

We stayed at Nantahala Village, NC in a great cabin and took a day to explore Bryson City where we found this scenic train tour. We had just missed the last tour of the day but I got a shot of the train anyway.
Then it was off to Savannah, GA the next day. We were disappointed that Savannah wasn't more family friendly as all we found the night before were bars to eat & no parking anyway. But we stopped at this great cemetary (Bonaventure Cemetary--of which we took lots of pics I'll have to post later) before heading to Tybee Island where we found loads of fun stuff to do.
Our first stop once on Tybee Island was Fort Palaski Nat'l Monument and Cockspur Lighthouse.

I love lighthouses! This one's base is submerged in water during high tide making it a non-tourable light. It takes a boat to get to it but we walked out (looking like crazy tourists I might add) about a mile with our stroller in the grass to get a closer view of it. This was taken at 400mm, just to prove that even with the long walk it's still pretty hard to see. But it was worth it anyway!
Next on the agenda (yes, I'm one of those vacationers who makes an itinerary) was Tybee Island Light. We did get to tour this one and walked up (not the tallest one I've ever walked up but I didn't go out onto the landing because it was so extremely windy on this day--it freaked me out a little!). I love the charcoal gray and white with the bright red roof.
This was a very photogenic lighthouse. It was newly restored.

Sea oats and the lighthouse from the beach.
The long building you can see in this one is actually a fort with a museum but we were more interested in getting our toes in the sand on the beach than touring it.
A weathered stump with roots. The biggest drift wood I've ever seen. ;o)
I love these fences on beaches. This was the 1st time I'd actually been to a beach that had this great weathered fence. Something about them just seems romantic to me.
This looks like a morning glory in the sand, but I'm not really sure that's what it is, seeing as this was taken at 3 pm on a sunny day and the leaves are different. Anybody know what this is? Let me know!

This was Afton's first visit to the beach. He loved playing in the sand. We could hardly pull him away or distract him. He certainly was too busy to look up at the camera. ;o)
So many new sights and sounds to explore.
I love his chubby little baby fingers covered in sand from digging around. You can even see the strong winds blowing some of the sand.
Dangerous rip currents from strong winds prevented us from swimming or getting in the water. A lot of debris had washed up on shore and the smooth beach was pretty battered.
There were these great wooden swings right on the beach so we sat down & got this funny family pic with the fish-eye lens. You can tell from the guys' hair how windy it was. Afton was not up for sitting still.

A gull gliding on the wind.
I love sea oats and the sound they make when they rustle gently in the wind.
After GA we headed down to Florida to see my family and some of our old friends from when we lived there. Our first day trip was Clearwater beach and it was the epitome of what you'd call a perfect day. Perfect weather -- not too hot, not too windy, but warm enough to get in the water. The sea was calm which was great for Afton since it was his first time in the ocean. This kid loves bath time but even the gentle waves scared him a bit.
Afton not being sure what to think of the water. He had a great time building sandcastles and searching for shells though.

Toes in the warm white sand. And he only tried to eat it once! After we were done playing in the sand and water we got ice cream on the beach. It was a wonderfully sweet sticky mess as Afton dripped his all over my lap. But I didn't care because it was such a great and perfect day. As soon as we were in the car headed back to my Grandma's it started raining -- it held off just long enough for us! And what did we see but a DOUBLE rainbow to finish off a great day. This tops the list as one of the best days we've ever spent together as a family.