My Personal Favorites of 2009

My 15 favorites of the year.

Posted in no particular order :)

I love all of these images for a variety of reasons... the colors and/or light...the expressions...the interaction between the family members... the humor... the attitude...

So here we go.

1. Stephanie & Ricky



2. Meg & Kyle



3. Kaleb



4. Tracy, Reid, Connor, and Jeremy



5. Ashley & Andrew



6. Baby Jackson and Daddy



7. Garret and Mabel



8. Madeleine



9. Adam, Beth & Patrick



10. Tom & Emma



11. Christian



12. Whitney & John



13. Brianna & Rhett



14. Jeremy & Annie



15. Nick & Sean



I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do !

Until next time,

~ K

One of the reasons...

for the frenzy of the season..

and the stress...

and the chaos...



This made it all worth it.

Happy Holidays to you all and I hope that yours was as meaningful and wonderful as mine :)

I'll be posting some of my favorites of the year later this year! Stay tuned!

Until next time,

~ K

The Almost Photo Shoot! | Hampton Family Photography

We thought... the 3rd time's the charm...

Due to the glorious weather here in Hampton lately, we've had to reschedule this shoot twice. Yesterday, after the winter storm passed, it was gorgeous out! Hooray! To the beach we go...

... but oh man... was it C-O-L-D. The wind whipping off the water... C-O-L-D...!

And little 'H' wasn't feeling so well, so we ended up calling it a day after a few minutes and will get back together soon...

BUT.

But it doesn't take long to get a few beautiful shots. Here's a little something to tide you over, Courtney, until we get together again!

This family is absolutely beautiful...









I'll see you guys again soon! And hopefully little 'H' will be having a better day :)

Until next time,

~ K

P.S. Okay, Okay. I know I didn't post a 'My Family Friday'.... I'll make up for it soon!

My Family Friday... | Characters

One of my favorite things about photography is getting to know the people that are in front of my lens. Sometimes after a session is booked clients and I will continue to have email dialogues and I'll get a feel for them that way... sometimes clients send me the links to their personal blogs (which I LOVE.. LOVE... everyone should have a blog!) and I get a feel for them that way... but most often, while we're shooting, we're talking... we're getting to know each other. And then I'm able to capture the personality of the family members. It is what makes custom photography so special. So worth it!

Here's just a taste of the personalities in my life...











Enjoy your weekend!

Until next time,

~ K

My Family Friday... | Dear Noah...

... please stop growing, you are looking far too much like a big-boy and I do not approve, nor have I given permission...



'k, thanks.

Love you,
~ mom

Perfect | Yorktown Family Photographer

This family, hands down, wins for the best dressed kiddos. It was perfect and colorful and warm and just everything that I could have asked for!

Meet the 'P' family: These four are beautiful, cultured, down-to-earth, and an absolute joy to spend 90 minutes with on a brisk Sunday morning. They are (relatively) recently transplanted here from Korea (and before that they lived in Italy, where their oldest was born). We have a shared understanding of what it means to live in Asia and a similar affinity for funny asian signs (maybe someday I'll dig some of my pictures out and post a few... always good for a chuckle or two).

By far my favorite part of this session was watching this family interact. They were just so real... and warm... and absolutely hysterical.

Here we go:

First meet Emma. The oldest. The rockstar. The natural. The most beautiful platinum blonde little darling I have ever met...

Mom kept talking about how gorgeous she looks in bold colors. SO right mom.

Next, meet Mia. The baby. The cuddler. The romper. The sweetheart.



...and Emma and Mia together... This is a strong candidate for one of my favorite shots of the year...



I know I keep saying this, but I just loved how they played together!



... and finally... a family shot. Beautiful.



I had such a good time with you! I can't wait to show you all these pictures!

Until next time,

~ K

My Family Friday...

** Quick BIZ UPDATE : I'm now booked for the 2009 year. I will only be taking bookings for the 2010 year! **

Happy Black Friday! For those of you that are big shoppers, I'm sure this was a busy day for you. However, a big shopper, I am not. The crowds stress me out... and all the madness makes me want to sit down someplace quiet and rock back and forth.

So. I am here.

I wanted to share a few pics of my Thanksgiving Day with you.


My husband's family is all boy. Four brothers...Three of which had 2 sons each... and now we have 2 boys... A family get together at Great Nanny's (my husband's grandmother) is a total hoot. Toys galore (of the kid and big-kid variety) for everyone to play with... it's great.


Our littlest one wasn't feeling so well and was therefore a total pain in the rear-end... but after a nice dose of Motrin he felt much better... and allowed a few people to hold him... for a millisecond.

So Happy Thanksgiving Day to you all. I hope you all had a day as good as mine!



Until next time,

~ K

Thankful.

It's a little early, but we'll be driving to spend the day with family tomorrow and I wanted to be sure to get this in.

I have SO much to be thankful for.


* My beautiful boys... who can always make me smile and are truly the light of my life...
* My husband who is so supportive and puts up with my madness...
* My sister who is more amazing than she'll ever know...
* My parents for teaching me...
* My friends for just BEING with me & understanding me & laughing with me...
* My in-laws who raised the cutest little boy into a wonderful man...
* The military for providing a roof over our heads and putting food on our table, exposing us to new places every few years, and for providing us with friends, quite literally, all over the world (8 countries at last count I think...).
* My camera. Aside from my family, it's my life.
* and... my clients... who trust me to capture their family memories. My clients over the past year have been gracious, patient, honest, caring, and open as I've worked so hard to build this business. I am SO thankful for ALL of you.


This is everything that is autumn and thanksgiving to me. The smell of autumn... leaves burning in the distance, that moist almost musky smell of wet leaves against the cool air in the morning.... I miss fall up north. But I'm happy to be where we are now.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Until next time,

~ K

Photographers Need Family Photos too... | Hampton Family Photography

We are always behind the camera... taking pics of our own kids & other people's kids... but rarely do WE ever get in FRONT of the camera.

Sometimes we might try to hand off the camera to our significant other... and then talk them through the proper settings... and then look at the picture... and * oh gee, imagine that * it's blurry and, gah, there's only half my face in the frame!

Yes... I mean... Nooo honey, I am not talking about you... { smile }

So when Anne contacted me to do a family photo swap... I jumped at the chance.

Plus, though it's a bit nerve wracking photographing another photographer, it's nice having someone else knowing which way to turn and where to find the good light :)

Here you go Anne!


I kept getting them to yell, "Daddy's got stinky feet!!" Over and over and over again... as I perfected the shot. "Mommy's got stinky feet!" "Daddy's got stinky feet!" "YOU have stinky feet!" Hahaha.

And then...


...yeah... and then they go sick of me... {sigh}. Not to self: do NOT wear out the 'stinky feet' ploy...


I really wanted to get some good shots of Anne with the kids... that's what we don't always get... Well, without a whole lot of trouble anyway (self-timers, remote triggers, lots of running back & forth...)


Anne, your children are so sweet and very photogenic!!

But... I think this image is my favorite...





Until next time,

~ K

My Family Friday...

I celebrated my birthday two days ago... it was a great day!



But one of the best things I have EVER received came a few days before my birthday... it was this picture that Trey drew at school. Things he's thankful for...


I typed in what everything is... do you see that last thing... do you see it?! "My mama..."

That's all I needed.


Until next time,

~ K

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I really can't believe it's already holiday season.

The music. The colors. The commercials. The food. The food....

It's madness really.

And I LOVE it!

So to kick things off, I'll be participating in a Ladies Night Out shopping event this Thursday at the McDonald Garden Center here in Hampton!



Come on out and knock-out some of that holiday shopping early :)

I'll be donating 50% off a sitting fee for one of their raffles...! This your chance :)

And... I might have a few other goodies out there too... hmmm... dunno. We'll see :)

See you there!

Until next time,

~ K

Keeping it simple...

I love that statement.

So little in life is truly simple... or at least it seems that way, as we tend to make things much more complicated than need be.

Okay. So maybe that's just me. But I'm really good at. Like... I've perfected the art of over-complicating things.

And so, as self-inflicted therapy, I've started simplifying.

I'm starting with my business.

The other day I was looking through my website... like I do every so often to make sure everything's loading properly and what-not... and I looked through my pricing...

&*$@#! ??

Confusing! I created it. And I was overwhelmed. (* cough * are we surprised? No.)

So I've re-vamped. Simplified. Clarified.

One creative fee. (ETA: Okay. So two creative fees. One for most sessions, one for newborns...)

A la carte prints & products.

Five collections to choose from (collections are a variety of prints and products offered together at a discounted price).

The end.

Ahhh. That feels so much better.

Check out my website for more specifics.
(All clients currently booked your prices have not changed. The new pricing is for clients booking from this day forward).

And because we can't post without a picture... and simplicity is the word of the day...


This is, very simply, everything that is beautiful about my son. His face. His spirit. His curiosity.

"Look mom! Look at this one! It's red! It's beautiful!"


Until next time,

~ K

My Family Friday...

Okay. I have to be honest. With this crazy weather and Trey being out of school for the past two days, our life has kind-of been turned upside down. I normally have this posted by mid-day, but... well... it's still Friday, right?

The week started out so beautifully...


On this particular day, the water on the harbor was absolutely pristine. It was like the sky and the water melded together into one at the horizon.

By Wednesday, the sky was steel grey and the rain was coming down in cold drops...sideways...

And by Thursday, it was full on Nor'Easter with winds gusting to almost 60 mph, tons of rain, and ridiculous tidal flooding...


We certainly didn't bear the brunt of it here, but the base had some serious flooding and the southside was hit really hard. School was cancelled... so the boys and I hunkered down to a few days of lounging in our PJ's and a Harry Potter movie marathon. DJ had to go into work both days, so it was just the three of us.

Hello cabin fever.


We read books... or, in this case, magazines (Noah is flipping through my Professional Photographer Mag)...


...and we hung out by the window and watched the waves beat against the shore...

I got my share of sun by editing through some images from earlier in the week.


The other day at the park, the boys ran around and Trey was showing Noah some ninja moves. But, you know..., before ninja moves, you have to start with a little bow. Namaste.

I love it.

I hope everyone has survived the storm...

Until next time,

~ K

'H' Family | Yorktown Family Photographer

Kendre first got in touch with me before they moved to VA to inquire about a session... and, though we had to wait several months for this to come to fruition, it was well worth the wait.

We walked around the park, chatted a bit (found out we'd both been stationed on Okinawa at roughly the same time), wiped baby snot, got drooled on (okay, well, maybe that was just dad... ), sang songs, threw some leaves, and watched little 'B' walk around like a pro...

It was a gorgeous day, the leaves are crisp and colorful, and ... well... it was just perfection.

Here's the family.


This is some prime genetics at work. Look at this GORGEOUS family! I feel like I say this all the time, but all of my families are so beautiful!

Little 'B' is about to turn one! And, as a matter of fact, her birthday is the same as mine! Oh... this makes me love her all the more...




I love the light and the colors here. Kendre, you did a superb job of picking out colors and outfits!

Mom... and 'B'...


And, you guys know how I just love pictures of Dads and their kids... This might be one of my favorites to date...



Real. Beautiful. Lovely. I don't think I could ask for much more...

If you guys are loving the colors as much as I do, consider signing up for my newly re-opened Quickie shoots for this weekend... see here.

I had a great time meeting you!

Until next time,

~ K