Why Your Sister Should Be A Photographer

Because when you go on a trip with her, instead of this...

...you get this:

And of course some of this too...

What would my brothers' Facebook profiles (and the girls who stalk them) do without me?

peace,
k.

Alaskan Glacier Wedding

The long awaited pictures of the wedding I shot in Alaska are finally done! 

Whew. There are over a thousand edited images in all, which means about 50 hours of post processing (at least). I was going to write a cool narrative to go along with them, but quite honestly... I'm too tired!

I've been looking at these photos for so long I have no idea if they're rubbish or not (all you photogs out there know exactly what I'm talking about), so I'd love to hear your opinions and critiques!

peace,
k.

The Next Big Trip

I can't help it, it's an addiction and the world is my enabler... 

In March through April of 2009 I took my first solo European trip:

Then in July of that same year I want to Uganda, Africa:

I didn't travel again until I went on an quad trip to Baja in February of 2010:

Then I went to Kauai that June where I didn't get any good pictures so here is a point and shoot:

And then I spent Christmas 2010 in Europe:

In the fall of 2010 I started college (as a 22 year old freshman... woot woot) which greatly reduced the free time and money I had to travel. I get really antsy for trips and pretty much try to leave the state and/or country at any and every opportunity. I have a serious case of wanderlust. I ache to travel. If I'm not actively traveling, I'm thinking about my next trip. And don't think I'm talking about "vacations". Vacations to me are a free afternoon reading a book and drinking a delicious beverage. Why would I want to spend three grand to do that in the bahamas? No thank you. I'm a traveler. I wander. I photograph. I eat street foods. I befriend locals. I get lost. I find secrets. I live. 

So, without further ado, I am overjoyed to announce my next big trip that will take place May through August of 2012. Drum roll please...

Namibia 

(with a galavant through Europe to start it all off)

Among other adventures, I'll live in the bush for a month with the Himba tribe while I photograph them and record their stories. It's like Nat Effing Geo, people (except, you know, I'm paying for it and it's not going in NatGeo). I could not be more excited. 

One Cold, Two Glacier

Well, apparently my busy life finally caught up with me-- I'm sick and it's rocking my freaking face off. Anyone who cures the common cold right now gets three gold stars and my soul.

Here are some edits from Alaska I did tonight while waiting for my medicine to kick in. I shot both photos from a helicopter window, which is a little easier said than done.

Blogger's compression makes things look lame, but I'd love to hear your thoughts? Which do you like better?

peace,

k.

Alaska | Part 3 - The Point and Shoot Tourist

The day after the wedding, Jason (best man/awesome pal) and I had the day to ourselves. We wandered around downtown Anchorage most of the afternoon.

 For lunch, we ate at the Glacier Brewhouse. The soup nazi would have been proud of that lobster bisque.

 Then we stopped at the Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge for some delicious beverages. I am a hot chocolate connoisseur, you see, and must try hot chocolate in every place that I visit. So how did Modern Dwellers of Anchorage fare? VERY well. I got an iced dark chocolate with soy milk and cayenne pepper which pretty much changed my life. Possibly the second best chocolate drink I've ever had (which is saying a lot with my connoisseur status and all). Modern Dwellers also had a wide variety of unique truffles. Among the most unique were the anchovy and salmon topped dark chocolate ones. Whenever you see something like this, it must be tried regardless of how gross it looks. Surprisingly, it was actually really satisfying. I'm not a big fish fan, but something about the salty and the sweet flavors mixing really hit the spot!

 After a couple more hours of wandering, shopping, and lounging, we decided to try a reindeer hotdog from one of the street vendors. I'm a big fan of street food, but not a big fan of hot dogs so I only tried a bite of Jason's. That bite turned into another bite. And another. This was a little bit of a big deal because I hate hotdogs. I want to like them, but they are gross, so I can't. Reindeer hot dogs are a lot less hotdogy I guess, because I could eat like four enjoyable bites before I felt a little queazy. Totally something I'd eat at a game. Huzzah.

Then B + D met up with us later in the evening and took us to Beluga Point where I introduced Jason to Sigur Ros (who just so happens to be a perfect soundtrack to Alaskan wilderness). Jason and I also scaled the fierce (not really) wall to the top and took far too many silly pictures of ourselves. 

The view was gorgeous AND we saw a double rainbow (all the way)! What does it mean?

 The groom's parents took us all out to dinner that night before Jason and I boarded our red eye flight back to Utah.

All in all the trip was a wonderful success! I'll blog more about the wedding part in the coming weeks, but for now I am just trying to keep my head on straight. I'm in verifiable zombie mode from the Alaska trip, finishing finals, shooting 2 more Utah weddings, and breaking an extremely expensive lens (first time ever). Also, I just was informed that I'll be teaching the lesson tomorrow in Gospel Doctrine.

Whew!


peace,
k.

Alaska | Part 2 - The Wedding (Preview)

After the wedding morning rituals of hair, makeup, and dressing, the guests arrived in shifts to the Knik River Lodge to await the helicopter transportation to the glacier. Because I spent the morning with the bride, I was in one of the last waves; the anticipation grew as I waited for my cue to approach the helicopter.

Ever since I was first asked to shoot this wedding, I did what I do for every shoot and tried to envision the location. This helps me be prepared and keep focused in what can be an otherwise hectic environment. I go through what different lighting I might be challenged with and how to deal with it, what my limitations for poses are, how much time I have, and anything else that will have me shoot efficiently and beautifully. Since I had only been to a few wimpy glaciers in my life, I mostly pictured a rocky terrain with a little bit of dirty ice sliding down a mountain. I knew it would be beautiful, but I wasn't expecting breathtaking.

I think it's safe to say B + D (from this post) got married at one of the most amazing locations I've ever been to. It was otherworldly. I had to snap myself out of awestruck and back into focused more than a few times during my time on the glacier. I just got back home a couple of hours ago, so I haven't had time to go through and edit pictures, but I thought I'd give you a little h'orderve.

After the ceremony and pictures, we helicoptered back to reality and drove to the reception held at a lodge on a lake about a half an hour away. The reception was such a great contrast from the monochromatic and chilly nature of the ceremony's location with it's rustic and home-like theme. The food was chili, cornbread, and cobbler (a welcome treat after a few cold hours on a glacier) and was accented with wildflowers in jars tied with burlap and ribbon. The night went off without a hitch AND I learned a secret to making delicious chili... a melted chocolate bar!

MUCH more to come!

I Take My Sadness Out On Home Decor

This weekend was going to be epic. Think this:

ONLY BETTER.

Unfortunately the week following up to my departure to epicness was brutal. I worked double shifts on top of my 15 school credits and wedding shoots. By late Thursday night, just hours before I was to leave Friday morning, I realized I still had 4 shoots to edit (about 5,000 pictures total), 5 papers to write, 10 online quizzes to take, 1 math test to study for ALL BY MONDAY. As hard as I was working all week, I had still gotten behind on life. My heart broke as I stared into the vast and overwhelming weekend work and realized that going on the trip with my friends and family wasn't a possibility. My ONE vacation I had planned all year, and I had to stay home.

Well, whenever I get depressed and a little weepy (and trust me, I most definitely was), I take it out on something crafty. There is something about creating aesthetically pleasing functionality that chases the blues away.

So, I took to my room. I moved in nearly a month ago, and still had only about a half of my stuff unpacked. The rest was in un-maneuverable piles around my tiny space. It was stresssssssss. My jewelry and my books were the biggest problems. I don't have a lot of area to put extra furniture, so a bookshelf was out of the question. I also don't have enough room on my vanity to put jewelry, but if I kept it hidden in my closet I knew I'd never wear it. So, I came up with a few crafty solutions in my sadness.

I made two of these frames to put my earrings on. They sit upright on my vanity and take up no space at all! Plus it presents my earrings in such a way that I'll be sure to wear them!

Then I needed a solution for my necklaces. There is a corner in my room where my laundry basket lives that needed an extra kick of something. So I found a stick in my backyard, tied some red and white ribbon on it, and hung it on the ceiling. Ta da!

The pictures don't really show it very well, but it's pretty cute. It also presents my necklaces in a way that I'll be sure to wear them too!

And then there were the books. I found an old weathered piece of wood leaning up against my parent's garage, painted some cute weathered looking yellow stripes on it, screwed on some L-brackets, and BAM... made a shelf!

 It's out of the way but still viewable. Those books are far too cute not to show off, right?

Because I still had to do my mountain of other work (ps, I'm pretty much finished), I couldn't get to finding a place for my rings, getting a mattress (yep, still sleepin' on the floor!), finding a proper desk chair, or figuring out what to do with one of my walls, but, all in all, it was a pretty good success. I now have a non stressful living space and I all but conquered my never ending work load for the weekend. I only had to give up watching fireworks, leaving my house, being hygienic, spending priceless time with friends and family, and my one and only vacation planned this summer. Not worth it, but it had to be done. Such is life!


peace,
k.

If You Want Your Wedding Photographer To Love You

Alright, I'm just going to break it down for you. Most photographers aren't going to be quite this blunt because they want your money... and usually to get your money they have to act like your best friend. Well I'm going to act like your REAL best friend right now and give you all some good, honest advice that will make your photographer love you. And trust me, you want your photographer to love you. Why? Because their entire job is making you look good.

1. Know what you want. Photographers, although awesome, cannot read minds. Photographers can carbon copy every couple to look like every picture, but the good photographers hate doing that. Let your unique selves shine! Find your own locations that you love and have an attachment to. Bring props that you love and that describe you. Find poses that you love and are comfortable doing. Great photography is a collaboration between you and the photographer.

2. Wear classy clothes, formal, artistic, or otherwise. Normal church clothes are not usually very classy and there is a big difference between a classy casual shirt and a crappy casual shirt.

3. Trust the photographer, even when a position feels awkward (unless you're naked and they're a creeper... which is about 89% of the photographers in Utah County). It's horribly annoying to photograph people who won't do what you ask them because it feels weird.

4. Pull out your inner model. Photographers can lie about your fashionability only so much. Watch ANTM, pose in mirrors, whatever you need to do to be more comfortable.

5. Don't complain. We're all in it together. We all know it's hot. We all know there are bugs. We all know you aren't lounging in pajamas in a perfectly temperatured recliner eating bon-bons. Your photographer is in charge of making you and your surroundings look good, not making the weather or conditions feel good. We know if you find it's too hot/cold/whatever to continue before the shoot is over, there is a good chance you'll complain again when you get the pictures and they're aren't as many as you hoped and then we get the blame.

6. If there is something really wrong, tell your photographer. If you just had knee surgery and they positioned you on your knees, fortheloveofeverything this is an OK time to complain!

7. Don't say "oh you can photoshop that out later" about something you could have fixed yourself or about things that aren't changeable. Your failure to lose those extra 10lbs is not grounds for us needing to photoshop your body to perfection. If you let your fiance wax your nose but instead she ended up ripping your entire nose skin off in the process (you know who you are...), that's OK. Accidents happen. But, be somewhat understanding if a photographer poses you in such a way that minimizes the need for photoshop in every picture.

8. If your "friend" (aka, someone else's friend that you hung out with once at a group event one time) is a professional photographer, don't expect to get things for free. Free photography for good friends is one thing, free prostitution for someone else's friend that only calls you when they want freebies is another thing entirely.

9. Have fun with it! Photography turns out a gazillion times better when YOU'RE having fun because it probably means your photographer is having fun too. If your photographer is having fun, your pictures will turn out beautiful.

And these things are why I loved shooting this couple below so much. Not only did they exceed everything on the above list, but they also bought us all frozen yogurt after the shoot. Amazing? I say yes! 

So without further ado, I present a little D + B...

peace,
k.