February is Love!
Celebrating the Love in your life is easy! Just sign up for your February is Love Family Story on-line and know that the love in your life will be recorded in a beautiful, timeless photograph.
How to Better Photograph Your Children | Spring Break
Looking for the next installment of How to Better Photograph Your Children? Tip 3 will have to wait until next Monday as it is SPRING BREAK here. The kids are out of school just in time for some rare, end of March, sleet. Here is the scene at Sunset Beach, NC late last week! Happy Spring Break!
Oh! I also wanted to let you know of two ways you can get a KPO Photo Family Story that is both a good deal and will also help a good cause. You can either attend:
- Wednesday, April 6th- The Dispute Settlement Center in Carrboro, NC is holding its 5TH ANNUAL DSC WINE TASTING on Wednesday, April 6th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Top of the Hill Great Room. Wines will be available for purchase with 15% benefiting DSC Silent Auction. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door. Reserve by emailing jpotts@disputesettlement.org or call 929-8800.
- Saturday, April 9th- The Emerson Waldorf School holds a fundraiser called Seeds of Spring! To purchase tickets email Kelley Willey at emersonian@emersonwaldorf.org. The event begins at 7 and lasts until 10 p.m. It will be held at the NC Botanical Gardens at 100 Old Mason Farm Road in Chapel Hill, NC. The cost is $40 per person, $75 per couple. The book, A Year in the Life of a Waldorf School and the IMAGES within are still available for purchase!
2011 Winter Newsletter | About KPO
Here is the Winter 2011 email newsletter. There are some fun announcements and interesting tidbits. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays!!! | About KPO
KPO Photo will be closed for the holidays until January 1st, when we will start out 2011 with a bang with a wedding at Fearrington!
The Elves are Busy
I am writing this post in order to procrastinate a bit. It is the beginning of December and I am shopping, wrapping, list-making and generally keeping as busy as an elf at the North Pole! I also have four family birthdays this month so I am putting off gift wrapping while I write this. In this photo is an elf that was recently given to me by my good friend, Amanda Englerth Fortuna. Or rather, it was given to my children. It comes with a book that instructs the children to name the Elf (mine named it Lili) and to never touch it. Supposedly this elf is going to fly to the North Pole each night to tell Santa Claus if they have been bad or good. Each night when he returns home he will settle in a different spot in the house, a la “Where’s Waldo?” I already forgot to move it one night. Don’t think they noticed.
Also in the photo below is my middle child, Roman, who has been asking for a tuxedo since kindergarten. Odd request from a little kid. I finally bought him a shirt and tie. He immediately wore this outfit to his first grade class at Grady Brown. Do I have an Alex Keaton on my hands?
Finally is a photo of one of two opossums that visit our recycling bins on the deck each night. We call them Fatty and Chubby. They sometimes fall asleep out there and snooze all day as they are nocturnal. We are all cohabitating!
What I Have Been Up to This Fine Week
Photography is a seasonal business. By far, my busiest times are the spring and the fall. I thought it would be fun to write a blog post about one week as seen through the lens of my camera.
Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23rd
Very rarely do we have double wedding weekends, about once a year. What a fun, joyous weekend it was! First Sophia Harcourt and I photographed the wedding of Iva and Peter at The Umstead in Cary as seen below on the left. Then on Saturday Jessica Lobdell and I photographed the wedding of Lara and Mitchell at The Carolina Inn as seen below on the right.
Sunday, October 24th
My sister was kind enough to entertain my kids for the weekend while I had a wedding marathon. Sounds perfect, right? But I left out the small detail that she lives in Charlotte. So on Sunday morning I drove to Charlotte to have lunch with the family and to pack up the Oguntoyinbo kids. They love spending time with their cousins and were sad to leave. My sister-in-law and brother brought Ecuadorian ceviche for lunch that was really one of the best meals I have ever had. You eat it with fried plantains and a really hot, spicy, onion salsa.
Tuesday, October 26th
This is my second chapter of work for the Carolina Friends School in Durham, North Carolina. They are continually updating their Web site and promotional materials and also frequently need images for upcoming events and promotions. I spent two hours wandering around the school with the ever competent and relaxed Kathleen Davidson. This is part of what I saw that day.
Wednesday, October 27th
I photographed a fun Family Story on Wednesday for friends and repeat customers, Sarah and Jay and their darling, precocious daughter, Sasha. This adorable three-year-old led us all on a tour of the house and yard for an hour before we were all tuckered out. I even got some jalapeno peppers and Roma tomatoes from their garden along the way. What a sweet deal!
Also on Wednesday I photographed beautiful Eleanor. She is a senior in high school in Chapel Hill who is very interested in pursuing a career in acting. One of the most basic necessities for such an endeavor is a great head shot. She was confident, amenable and had great cheek bones and skin. I love the different looks we came up with in the hour we spent together.
Thursday, October 28th
Halloween is a several week process in our house. It starts with the long discussions and debates about what to wear which leads to a trip to the local Halloween store. The one we went to had zombie baby dolls. So gross. Then, right before the big day I like to do a little photo shoot to record this year’s outfits. Here they are in all their spooky glory. We have Amira as a vampire, Roman as a World War II soldier and Leo as a knight. He actually has a ninja costume for this year but prefers this look for now. There is no arguing with a three-year-old.
This weekend is the KPO Photo Fall Special. I am so glad we will have great weather and beautiful fall color. See you all there!
Help me to Decide!
I am entering images into the Wedding Photographic Society’s 3rd quarter contest and I need help deciding which images to choose! I am bleary-eyed from looking at these, so help a lady out. Remember to vote for only ONE image per category! You have to go to KPO Photo on Facebook to vote. Sorry, it is just so much easier that way.
The first category is ARTISTIC. It is defined as, “Simply, what it implies. Anything goes. Show us your art! (wedding or portrait session.)”
PLEASE ONLY VOTE ONE PER CATEGORY! They are artistic, big groups, mistakes, newborns, photojournalism.
ARTISTIC 1
ARTISTIC 2
ARTISTIC 3
ARTISTIC 4
ARTISTIC 5
BIG GROUPS! This is defined as, ” A large group consists of 7 or more people. Show us how you pose ‘em and make it fun. This one is going to be about interesting composition, lighting, & expression.”
Vote one per category, por favor.
BIG GROUPS 1
BIG GROUPS 2
BIG GROUPS 3
BIG GROUPS 4
BIG GROUPS 5
New category! MISTAKES. Honestly I don’t quite understand this category. It says, “This is the shot you got when you thought you didn’t have it. You weren’t prepared, and the stars lined up. It’s impulsive in nature. You shot it, and ended up with a cool image. Show us!” For me almost all of photography is like this! I never know if I have it, I am always trying to do stuff I don’t know how to do and am in amazement when so much works out!
MISTAKE 1
MISTAKE 2
MISTAKE 3
MISTAKE 4
MISTAKE 5
NEWBORNS! This could not have come at a more perfect time! As I am about to be flush with newborns. Prity just gave birth and Leigh, what is going on with you?
They define this as, “As it implies, those smooshed up cute little babies, fresh to the world. Subjects for this category are up to 3 months old.” This is a new category for this group, that has recently decided to allow in portrait photographers.
NEWBORNS 1
NEWBORNS 2
NEWBORNS 3
NEWBORNS 4
NEWBORNS 5
And, finally, photojournalistic. This is my background and how I approach most of what I do. For some reason all of my selections came from wedding receptions. This is when folks totally tune me out and I just dive in and get some crazy, amazing moments.
They define this category as, “This is not the category for your mad Photoshop skillz! (wedding or portrait secapturing your subjects, naturally, as they are, in the moment. Light dodging and burning are allowed and color and BW are accepted.ssion)”
PHOTOJOURNALIST 1
PHOTOJOURNALIST 2
PHOTOJOURNALIST 3
PHOTOJOURNALIST 4
PHOTOJOURNALIST 5
You have to go to KPO Photo on Facebook to vote.
Headed to Charlotte
I am heading to Charlotte today to stay with my sister’s family, to photograph one of my very favorite FAMILY STORY clients who moved to Charlotte and to also photograph the 20th high school reunion of Myers Park class of 1990. My 20th is next year- crazy! I truly cannot believe how fast time flies! My plan is to take a group photo of all 150 attendees as well as get some good head shots of the members of this class which I will then pair with their senior portrait and make available on-line. I think this will be fascinating and fun to do!
Post reunion update: The reunion was so much fun! There were over 150 alumni in attendance. I have not been back to Charlotte much since high school and was incredibly amazed at the changes in the queen city. The area in which the party was held was an urban wasteland when we were in high school. Now, there is a HUGE professional football stadium and a downtown where people live and work and come to relax. Wish it had been like that when I was there as a teenager! We had so much fun then, but were often relegated to hanging out in parking lots, cul de sacs or descending upon one of our homes when parents happened to be out of town. Now, 20 years later, it was just wonderful to see familiar faces and to catch up with old friends.
You can see the WHOLE STORY here in their on-line gallery. It is from this gallery that you can purchase prints, including the commemorative 8 x 10 shown below. Enjoy!
Wedding Photographic Society Award
I know I am biased, but I think photographers are some of the most innovative, creative and interesting people. To choose this profession they have to be willing to work in an unstructured, highly competitive, risk-filled environment. To stay in business they have to constantly stay on top of the latest developments in their field. And to stay inspired they have to stubbornly keep working through their creative process to dig deep and create some incredible images. Well the Wedding Photographic Society is an organization founded and sustained by people like this. By being a member I am surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs, am able to stay abreast of the latest developments in the photographic field and am challenged to keep pushing myself creatively. They sponsor a contest each quarter. I am happy to say that they choose my image for the first prize in the cake category. Thanks, WPS!
The couple is Caroline Swain Strehle and Josh Strehle, You can see their full wedding story HERE. The technical information is that I shot it with a Canon 30D using a 85mm f/1.2 lens. The ISO was 1000 and the exposure was 1/100 second at f/ 2.5. Cake photos used to be the bane of my existence as the flash often exposed the cake well but left the couple dark. Now I pop the light off a wall to the left or right, thus avoiding that problem. This reception was in the Fearrington Barn which is as dark as a cave with brown walls, but somehow it works out! As is my method, this was shot documentary, meaning that I don’t direct the couple at all. This particular couple was so animated and joyous that they were just a pleasure to photograph.