Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

One of the things I love to do is travel. And well, if I can throw in a seminar in there as a tax benefit, all the better. Add to that my mom and sister live in the ATL and I can borrow my sisters Black Mustang Convertible to drive around in...well, you get the picture.

During the quieter wedding months besides actually getting caught up on things like reading all those photo magazines I subscribe to, I'm always looking for seminars to help replenish the creative muse. And strangely enough, none of them have a thing to do with the big white dress. Though I love shooting weddings, when I want to revive my photo soul, I always turn to hard core photojournalism seminars. I'm especially always moved by War Photographers or journalists who are out in the field risking their lives to make photos. Documentary photographers, who dedicate their lives to telling a life story through photographs.

One of the reasons I wanted to go to this seminar was the work of an amazing photographer Todd Heisler who is with the Rocky Mountain News. I first saw his work a few years ago when I was in Denver, and it blew my mind. When I saw he was going to be at this seminar, it sealed the deal for me. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the series Final Salute. It's a raw, moving piece about the role of a Marine Officer and his role informing military families that their loved one has died. It also chronicals the thoughts and feelings of a young pregnant woman who's husband has been killed overseas and what she goes through. Watching these images and hearing the commentary on them by the photographer reduced the entire room to tears. Take some time to look through this series if you can. It's very powerful.

And, of course, where there are photographers, there will be a little fun, too. Maybe an Appeltini or two, maybe a Newcastle or three, who's counting? We had a great party at the amazing studio of Zach Arias and Marc Climie. Along their cyc wall (the area where they photograph in the studio) they had set up a self portrait station where we could all take pictures of ourselves with a remote system. As you can imagine, the photographs got progressively more embarassing as the night wore on, so I won't bore you with those :) I will share a group photo of some of the most kick ass wedding photographers on the planet, and I am totally not biased. These folks are from all over the country, and I count them as some of my best friends. Brooks Whittington, Karen and Co, La Cour Photography, Almasy Visual Arts, Tim Harmann and yours truly. Notice how the crafty Marc Climie got us all to don his "Climie and Co" T-shirts for the photos. If you can't beat your competition, make them advertise for you when they are drunk :)

Photo courtesy of Marc Climie

Kathryn and Kevin

November 4, 2006

Wedding: Holy Family Parish, Fond du Lac WI

Reception: The Ramada Inn, Fond du Lac, WI

If you are frequent reader of my blog, you might either be my mother, a potential client, or someone who is planning their wedding who has already hired me . That’s not to say that sometimes my former clients read my blog, they do. In general, I keep people on my email list for about 6-8 months after their wedding. At that point, I assume my inane ramblings about other people’s weddings have grown cold.

I had a really fun engagement session with Kathryn and Kevin in Chicago, and I posted here about it. And somehow, people saw it, loved it, and for the last few weeks my 2007 clients have been waiting with baited breath to see Kathryn’s and Kevin’s wedding. And that just amuses me and thrills me. I’ve gotten more emails from people that don’t know them wondering when their slideshow would be online than I have from actual people who KNOW them.

For the record , the wedding was beautiful. Kathryn was radiant. Her big sister was in my estimation the PERFECT big sister, being supportive, saying all the right things, not swearing up a storm like she wanted to when the buttons of Kathryn’s Vera Wang kept popping off while buttoning up the dress, assuring Kathryn that it was all FINE, she looked gorgeous, the dress was gorgeous, everything was perfect as she sweated off all of her make up getting that dress buttoned up in the very very ugly church basement with the yellow walls.

Yellow walls. With florescent lighting. Now, part of my job is to overcome these obstacles. It really is. It’s not YOUR problem as a bride that your church where you are getting dressed for the most important day of your life has the worst ever EVER combination of colors in the world. Yellow walls. That makes people appear yellow in photos. Florescent lights reproduce GREEN in photographic images. Yellow and Green skin tones…wow , pretty. But just like your boss pays you to figure it out, it’s my job to walk into a situation like that and begin to strategize how I am going to overcome it. That’s what you pay me for.

And Kathryn, dear Kathryn, turned to me when we walked down into the basement and said “ If these getting ready shots have to be all have to be in black and white, you know I totally understand”

Which made me work my ass off to get some color shots. Okay, there are like three, but there are there! I love my brides.

Also a thrill for me for this wedding was getting to work again with, in my humble opinion, the best wedding videographer in the Milwaukee area, Joel Peregrine of www.weddingfilms.com I like him so much I am totally pimping him out right here on my blog. He didn’t pay me, not even with beer, and you all know how easy I am after a few beers. He’s not only one of the most talented video guys in the area, he’s so nice you wish you would have married him 5 minutes after you meet him. You can see the teaser video of Kathryn and Kevin’s wedding at www.WeddingFilms.com/kathrynandkevin . He’s one of the vendors that I can truly say to clients, if ”I was getting married tomorrow, this is who I would hire for video”

So for all of you who have been waiting to see “The wedding of the century for the Chicago couple Fond du Lac style” I present to you the wedding slideshow of Kevin and Kathryn….who are truly one of the nicest couples you could meet.

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Kathryn and Kevin's wedding!

Stephanie and Darwin

October 28, 2006

Ceremony: The Gardens, Nenno Wisconsin

Reception: Mayville Golf Club, Mayville Wisconsin

I get all sorts of weddings. Fancy ones, not so fancy ones, and pretty much everything in between. I’ve shot weddings at the Art Museum, the Hilton, the Union Grove Elks Club and outdoor BBQ’s in mom and pop’s back yard. What I love most about this is that my job is not static. Every wedding has it’s different feeling and if I had to pick three words to describe Stephanie and Darwin’s wedding it would be these three words:

Big. Damn. Fun.

It was, what I like to refer to as a “Big Fat Wisconsin Wedding”. Growing up in the area I think we all just figure weddings are the same everywhere. Ceremony. Cocktail hour. Polkas. Dancing and drinking beer until the wee hours. But no no no….if you travel to other areas of the country, that’s not at all the standard. I have a network of wedding photographer friends from around the country and I am always shocked by their wedding traditions. As they are by mine. They’ve never heard of the chicken dance, the reception ending at midnight and FREE BEER. One friend of mine saw some images of mine with the bouquet toss and didn’t understand why everyone was circling around the bride and groom…he’d never seen that in his area in the Pacific Northwest. I did a wedding down south and the bride and groom there do an “exit” at about 10PM and that’s it. Everyone goes home. I was stunned. I could not for even a minute understand why people were leaving when there was still FREE beer to be had.

So, if I had to pick the perfect “Big Fat Wisconsin Wedding” for 2006 it would be Stephanie and Darwin’s. Why? All of their best friends…all so blissfully happy for them. Friends from childhood, high school, family who loved them and beyond.

I grew up in a farm community very similar to Mayville, and maybe part of my love for this wedding was because of that. I loved seeing the important people in their lives just connecting to them and really being happy for them and their marriage. It was clear over and over that this was a union that made everyone happy.

And even though I left before the reception ended, I’d bet good cash money that Steph and Darwin did not leave early.

That’s just how we roll in Wisconsin.

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Stephanie and Darwin's wedding

Dave and Kathleen

October 21, 2006

Ceremony: Christ King, Wauwatosa Wisconsin

More pictures at: Charles Allis Art Museum

Reception: The Historic Astor Hotel

So one fine day Dave calls me, maybe about 6-7 weeks before the wedding. He got my name from my good friends the Venturi’s, who have the best darn deli on 72^nd and North Avenue in Wauwatosa.

7 years ago, Pete and Sue Venturi were my neighbors. We had a block party, and Pete and I had waaay too many beers and he told me how he had started this great new deli, but he was having trouble finding good help. And he was short on help for the next day for the Sunday “Ham and Rolls” crowd. I told him that I grew up in food service, knew my way around a deli counter, and I would help. When I actually showed up the next morning at 8:30 AM to help, he almost fell over. That cemented our friendship for life, I think. I worked for the Venturi’s very part time for about 3 years until my wedding schedule grew to the point that dragging myself into serving Ham and Rolls at 8:30 AM after shooting a 12 hour wedding just got to be too much. But if you ever make it there, try the chicken salad and the bow tie pasta, I promise it will make you weep.

So, anyway, Dave calls. He’s sure I’m booked, but Sue told him to call me and maybe I had a referral. I’m not booked. I was booked for that day, but the wedding had to be rescheduled to a different date. And as the story unfolded, I found out this:

Dave and Kathleen live 6 blocks from me.

The Astor, where they wanted their reception had a cancellation.

I had a cancellation.

Dave and Kathleen met at their high school reunion. Dave had worked on the reunion and had intended on going, but had doubts at the last minute about going. He was up north with his parents helping out and was having a nice time and thought maybe he’d just skip it , and his mom convinced him to go.

He went.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I mention all the time that one of my favorite parts of the day is the getting ready. I think it might be a chick thing, but I love observing and recording the ritual of the bride getting ready with her “girls”. The only problem with this was that I loved Kathleen’s bridesmaids so much that I wanted to chat instead of taking pictures. This, for me, is one of my greatest challenges as a wedding photographer. If I am chatting, I am not recording. (But for the record I want to let Carolyn know that I found a Bikrim hot yoga class and she is right, it rocks my world)

And after I shot the wedding I thought to myself I am sure that the reason I identified with Kathleen and her bridesmaids was because they were closer to my age than my average client.

But the next weekend I shot Stephanie’s wedding. And I dare say that I am probably closer in age to Steph’s mom than I am to her. Didn’t matter. I loved being around her and her bridesmaids just as much. In every funny nickname, in every funny moment, I was reminded of my college days.

Just live the day!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Kathleen and Dave's wedding!

Jeff and Briena
October 14, 2006
Wedding and reception at the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design, Third Ward, Milwaukee, WI

If you get married at the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design you have to be a bit adventurous. It’s an extremely interesting venue here in Milwaukee and the deal is that if you book your wedding here you don’t find out until a few months or so before your wedding what kind of display will be going on. And Briena and Jeff’s luck would have it that there was a display on how animation and cartooning has affected advertising. So mixed in with the beauty of the the architecture of the museum was…BIG BOY! Who doesn’t love Big Boy?

I love to see the original things that my clients come up with for their wedding to personalize them. Jeff and Briena have spent lots of time in Door County and loved spending time near the water skipping stones. So for their wedding, they collected stones from the beaches of Door County , and before the wedding they passed out to the stones to all the guests. The guests were asked to hold the stones during the ceremony and to make a wish, and return them so that Jeff and Briena could return the stones to the beach in Door County with the wishes of all their family and friends. What a lovely, simple gesture to commemorate their relationship and the importance of their friends and family who attended their wedding. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!

Congratulations Briena and Jeff!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Jeff and Briena's wedding!

Why I do this.

Despite how it must look, being a wedding photographer is not always that glamorous. I know, I know, I make it look like it is. But in reality, it is long days. Working Saturdays nearly all summer when everyone else is having fun. Pressure. Being nice all the time. Bridezillas (not that I have EVER had one) And sure, I’ve heard it all. Usually it is from well-meaning guests…

“It must be great to work only one day a week!”
(Ever notice what time my blog entries go out? It ain’t between the hours of 9-5)

“Wow, so you get to have a good meal every Saturday?”

(Yes, and it’s almost always chicken.. For me, it’s fuel, it’s not a night out)

“How much did that camera cost?”

(More than my first car. And I have three of them. You want a real freak out? Ask me how much some of my lenses cost)

“What’s a little girl like you doing with a lens like that?”

(FYI, have you looked at me? I’m not so little. And what kind of a freaking question is that?)

Don’t get me wrong, those of you who have hired me and have worked with me know how much I love my job. When I am shooting, my life is all good. It’s what I love to do. But once I get home it’s a job with deadlines and things to be done, and there are days when I am in editing hell, when I have album designs piling up, sales tax to pay, a bridal fair looming ahead of me, and it’s just like all of you feel when you are at work some days. But at the heart of it, I feel blessed that I have found my calling. Some days it’s harder than others to remember that. I get crabby. I look at all my work and find it all to be crap, I beat myself up for not shooting things at a different setting, why didn’t I frame this differently, what the hell were you thinking, yadda yadda yadda.

And then, I get an email like this:

“And just a note - the photos you took of my flower girl clutching her locket and showing her locket are unbelievable. In the locket are pictures of her mom (my cousin who passed away a few years ago (cancer -

tragic) and her dad. They are going to be especially treasured shots.

Thanks”

And this, my friends, is why I do this. This is why my job is so important to me. To capture a moment like this for a little girl and her family makes it all worth it. I had absolutely no idea why she was showing everyone that locket, but I knew it was important to her. These photos won’t win me any awards or bring me photographic acclaim. But they are at the heart of what I do this.

Thanks for the email, Mary. And thanks to all of you for allowing me the honor to photograph your weddings.

Mary and Phil

October 7, 2006

Wedding: St John the Baptist, Paris Township Wisconsin

Reception: Lynch’s Landing, Burlington Wisconsin

When I first got the call from Mary about her wedding she left me a message about her wedding date. October 7, 2006. Now, everyone has to work on their birthday at some point in their life, it’s a fact of life. But this date happened to be my 40^th, and I had pretty much determined that I was not going to take a wedding for that date. In fact, I probably turned away a good 10 inquiries for that date. But when I called Mary, she said “I’m kind of the anti-bride. I hate being in pictures, but I love good photography. I just want great pictures of my day, of people enjoying themselves and not in stiff poses. I want everyone to party and have fun and I want Phil and I to actually enjoy our wedding day. I’ve seen too many weddings where it seemed like my friends couldn’t even enjoy their day because they were constantly feeling like they HAD to do this and that, and I don’t want that”. And I thought: “This is the bride for me”. I often joke with my clients that if only they could be guests at their own wedding and not the bride and groom, they might get to enjoy it more since it goes by in such a blink after all that planning.

And as far as I could tell, the day went just like that. Everywhere I looked it people were laughing, talking, eating at their leisure at the yummy food stations, dancing and the entire atmosphere was casual elegance. The tent that Mary’s parents had set up on their property was nothing short of amazing, and the decorations and beautiful weather topped everything off. And every time I saw Mary and Phil at the reception, they looked relaxed and happy. Well, except for the one time Mary had to steal a lamb chop off the grill because she had been talking so much she didn’t have a chance to eat.

Congratulations!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Mary and Phil's wedding!

Angela and Nate

September 16, 2006

Wedding and Reception: Wintergreen Resort, Spring Green Wisconsin

Wintergreen Resort is a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright inspired building right in the heart of beautiful Spring Green Wisconsin. This was the site of both the wedding and reception for Nate and Angela’s wedding.

The drive to Spring Prairie and the remote drive to Wintergreen was gorgeous. I’ve been lucky enough to go to some parts of the state that I have never seen before this year to photograph some lovely weddings. When I met with Angela and Nate they told me the minute they saw this place, they knew that it was “it”. When I got there, I saw why. Rolling hills, just a touch of autumn color and a beautiful natural lodge.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding day is getting to be with the bridesmaids and the bride as they get ready. It’s so fun to see them all get ready, to hear the stories of the wedding preparations, and to see the bridesmaids who are already married reminisce about their wedding day. Angela’s dress was re-created with the lace from her mother’s wedding dress and her bridesmaid Kristin made her garter. Nate works for Nike, and check out the awesome patent leather groomsmen Nike Air Force One Shoes, custom made. JUST DO IT!

There were so many people from so many areas of the country for this celebration that we ran a bit late taking pictures of groups after the ceremony. It’s just something that happens, when you have every one you love in one place, you want pictures. But I could tell Angela and Nate were getting worried, they wanted to go to another location for more pictures, and we were rapidly losing light. So I wrapped things up, we went to the second location and had we actually been on time, the pictures that you’ll see in the slideshow at sunset would have never happened. That’s what you call fate…Kismet…Karma. Whatever you wanna call it, it was some sweet light.

When we got back, Angela’s Dad grabbed me and said “How much trouble am I in for making you late with all those family photos?” And I told him that he did me a huge favor. An hour earlier the photos would have been nice. Fine. But they would have been missing the lovely sunset glow.

Kismet. Karma. That’s the thing about weddings, if you just go with the flow, trust that it will all work out and live the day, it’s all good.

And sometimes, your Dad really does know best . Even if he doesn’t know it!

Congratulations to Angela and Nate, and best wishes in your new home in Amsterdam

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Angela and Nates wedding day!

Elizabeth and Mike

September 9, 2006

Wedding: St Joseph’s Parish, Wauwatosa, WI.

Reception: Western Racquet Club, Elm Grove, WI

I have a firm rule that I do not check the weather reports for the Saturday’s that I have weddings until Thursday. They never know what they are talking about; it doesn’t help to get riled up on Monday for something that could drastically change. Then when I check on Thursday, if things don’t look so good I just rely on my second best defense: Denial. According to the weather gurus it was supposed to rain all day on Elizabeth and Mike’s wedding day. But in fact, conditions were great, overcast and cloudy, a photographer’s favorite. After the formal pictures we had enough time to go to the Art Museum for some fun pictures with the wedding party. However, once we got to the lakefront….WIND!! It was comical, seeing how many bridesmaids it took to hold down Elizabeth’s veil. We had to have someone crouch down behind Elizabeth in the photos of her and the girls and hold the veil otherwise Elizabeth looked more like a bee keeper than a bride. But she handled it with humor and grace, and we got everything we wanted and some crazy fun pictures of her veil going every which way.

And it never did rain! Congratulations Elizabeth and Mike!

Check out their wedding slideshow to see photos from their wedding day!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow from Elizabeth and Mike's wedding!

Great online wedding publication

I belong to the Wedding Photojournalism Association and they recently started an online wedding publication called Wedpix. It ain't your momma's wedding magazine. It covers more unusual wedding situations than "Jordan Almonds vs. Hershey Kisses, what makes the best favor?".
Enjoy!

WEDPIX

Kathryn and Kevin’s engagement session

Chicago, Illinois

Shooting this engagement session was a blast. A special thanks to my buddy Dennis Lee for coming along with us and acting as chauffer so we didn’t have to battle traffic.

The windy city lived up to it’s name, and when we started bright sun and wind made the photographic conditions a little challenging. But as the evening progressed on, we had some awesome weather and Dennis and I were teaching Kathryn and Kevin that it was all about the “tasty light” that made photographs great. Kevin caught on right away and when we rounded a corner at Navy Pier and saw the pastel light hitting the skyline Kevin said “That’s tasty light, right?” It sure was!

The highlight of the photo session was at the end when Kevin spied the flying swings and thought it would be great to get some photos on it. Did I mention that I don’t do rides? Like, at all? Ever? My kids have tried in vain to get me to go on rides with them. I always beg out, because, well, I’m a puker. But to get the shot, I was willing to do it. Apparently that’s the magic bullet for me. I’m happy to report I did not lose it, and we got some great stuff. Be sure to watch the slideshow so you can see my self portrait on the swings at the end. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Click here to see a slideshow of Kathryn and Kevin's engagement sesssion

Vana and Aaron

August 26, 2006

Round Lake, Hayward Wisconsin

Completing my tour of the great north woods was Vana and Aarons ceremony on a lovely lake in Hayward, home of the world’s largest musky! They rented a big home for both of their families to stay in for the week, and when I met them they had been vacationing for a few days there. The whole feel of the day was relaxed, intimate and full of laughter and just a few tears :)

Vana is one of those people who would look good in a gunny sack (does anyone say that anymore?) but when she put that dress on, WOW. It was a gown that suited her perfectly. I couldn’t put my finger on who she reminds me of until I watched the slideshow a few times and realized she looks a lot like a young Grace Kelly. The affection and love between her and Aaron was hard to miss, and the people who attended the wedding mirrored it right back at them.

No wedding goes off perfectly without a hitch, but I’d say they got pretty close. A gorgeous day, a gorgeous location, a gorgeous bride, and the world’s largest musky. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Congratulations!

P.S. When in Hayward, I recommend the fudge at Lynne Marie’s Candy Shop. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work off the 10 “fudge pounds” I gained up north.

Click here to view a wedding slideshow of Vana and Aaron's wedding!

One funny fudge story

When my bride Sue emailed me from Denver that she was going to be in town and wanted to get together to go over album stuff, she also mentioned that she had read on my blog about being up north and the fudge and that she loved fudge too. So, being the full service photographer that I am, I brought her some from Hayward. I also might have mentioned something about not having to share it with her hubby, but he'll never be able to prove it. When she got home, I got this email from her:

Hey Kim - Just wanted to thank you again for taking the time to meet with me yesterday and of course the fudge!!! The TSA agent at the airport was looking to confiscate it after the x-ray machine detected a suspicious looking object in my bag...nope, not the fudge, but I guess 600+ wedding photos look rather odd via x-ray and requires a physical examination of one's bags - during which I had about 3 agents swarm over in my direction and upon pulling my proofs out of my bag say..., "Hey that's Port Washington - I know Port Washington, I live in Grafton"," What beautiful pictures", "Congratulations"....I guess by that time I looked rather harmless and I could take my fudge and pictures and be on my way :-)

I was also really proud of myself too, I made it all the way home with some to share with Brian, though he still doesn't believe me that you told me I didn't have to share.

Kissin' for a Cause


When Tammy and Mark got married, they decided if they had to kiss a dozen or more times dictated by the "Dinging" of the glasses they were going to make it work for them. So they asked if people wanted them to kiss, to make a donation to the youth group that they were involved in their parish. It was also the youth group that brought Tammy and Mark together, so it had even more meaning to them. I just got an email from Tammy telling me that their story was featured on the Archdiocese website! Check it out!

Tammy and Mark

Alison and Dave

August 19, 2006

Bayfield Wisconsin

Wedding: The shores of Lake Superior

Reception: Bayfield Inn

When you travel 7 hours to shoot a wedding on the beach and an outdoor ceremony you really REALLY hope the weather is good. It wasn’t only good, it was spectacular. Perfect puffy clouds and streaming sun for the wedding, mild August temperatures for the fun boat ride around Lake Superior, and a picture perfect Wisconsin evening.

Guests came from all over to attend Alison and Dave’s wedding, and they were all charmed by the city of Bayfield. If you haven’t been there it’s just a beautiful little town right on the shores of Lake Superior. And let’s not forget the fudge! I recommend the fudge in “The Candy Shoppe”.

And LOTS of kids at this wedding! Alison really made sure this wedding was fun for them and her daughter Maia by having “kids hors dourves” PB&J sandwiches, chicken strips, pudding, sloppy joes! I did notice a few of the adults “sneaking” the kids food.

It was a great wedding and just what Alison and Dave wanted…close friends and family and their familes all having a great time in a beautiful setting. Congratulations!

Click here to see a slideshow of Alison and Dave's wedding!

Chasing the Big White Dress in the Great White North and other weirdness

“Chasing the big white dress” comes from when my oldest son told someone that’s what I did for a living when he was 5. It was career day at school and I walked in prepared to talk to kindergarteners about photography in the most basic terms. Outside the door, each child had written what their parents did for a living. Next to my name my son wrote “My mom chases the big white dress for the Home Depot”. At that time, I worked for a studio called “Portrait Depot” and shot weddings for them. How he came up with the big white dress theory, I have no idea. But it has become my standard, and all my friends and family have adopted it.

Kim’s friend: “Whatcha doing on Saturday?”

Kim: “Whatcha think I am doing, it’s June.”

Kim’s friend: “Chasing the big white dress”

Kim” “Duh”

Kim’s Stepmother: “Honey, we are thinking of having a cook out on Saturday. Can you and the boys come?”

Kim” “Uh, it’s Saturday. You know, SATURDAY, in the summer. If it were February, maybe”

Kim’s Stepmother “Ohhhhh. Right. Big white dress”

Kim: “Duh”

So in that spirit, I am going to be out of the studio from tomorrow, August 18 where I will travel to Bayfield Wisconsin. Don’t know where that is? Please take your right hand and face it towards you palm up. Hence, you have your “hand map of Wisconsin” (if you didn’t learn this as a child then shame on your school system). At the very tippy top of your middle finger is Bayfield. A beautiful place nestled on the shores of Lake Superior, where I will photograph Alison and Dave’s wedding. The following week-end, I will be in Hayward Wisconsin (top knuckle on your right ring finger) to photograph Vana and Aaron’s wedding. I’m very excited about these weddings because it will give me a mini-vacation up north and because both of them are above the “Fudge line”. It’s just my personal hang up, but no good fudge comes from below Stevens Point. It’s the air up there or something, all good fudge comes from “up north”.

Also, I am so PSYCHED because I get to add to my collection of photos in front the weird landmarks in Wisconsin…oooh, that’s gonna be a good blog addition for the slow months. You cannot believe how many odd Plexiglas faux animal replicas there are in Wisconsin. In Hayward, I am totally looking forward to the “World’s Largest Musky” display. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.

So, I will be OUT of the studio August 18-28^th. They haven’t heard much of that newfangled thing called CELL SERVICE or the INTERNET up in them thair parts. I’ll do my best to check in, but if I am MIA it’s because I can’t get a signal. Likely I’ll be totally on a fudge high, anyway.

Patrick and Becky

August 12, 2006

Wedding: St Albert the Great, Sun Prairie Wisconsin

Reception: Overture Center of the Arts, Madison, WI

Let’s just say I knew this was going to be a wild wedding when one of Becky’s bridesmaids’ looked at her in her gown and said to her: “Yeah Beck. You’re bringing Sexy Back”. Then there was the moment when Patrick realized 30 minutes before the ceremony that the rings were at the hotel room…20 minutes away. At first he said some things that I am pretty sure are not allowed in a Catholic Church, but then they handled it just like Becky and Patrick handle things…with humor, a shrug of the shoulders and the optimistic attitude that it would all work out. And it did. The rings were there for the ceremony, I didn’t ask how.

The reception. Here is my true confession. I know all of you go to a few weddings a year, tops. All that fun, kinda retro music is great for getting people out on the dance floor. Stuff you might LOVE I am so desensitized to that I barely hear the music since I hear it all the time, I just react to how people are dancing. So then chicken dance comes on and WHOOOO-HOOOOOOO…the chicken dance!!!! SO. MUCH. FUN….right? Now just imagine you are a wedding photographer. And 35 out of 52 Saturdays of your life every year you get to hear the chicken dance. Suddenly not so charming, is it? This is the one time I can confess…when the UW Marching Band comes in surprising all the guests and plays the chicken dance and 375 people go WILD and start doing it, it’s BIG FUN. Thanks to Patrick and Becky, I’ve gotten over my cynicism about the chicken dance.

Now I just have to work on liking “We Are Family” again. Who’s gonna help me out with that one?!!

Click here to view a wedding slideshow of Becky and Patrick's wedding!

Hey Kim, what's with the lame-ass music on your slideshows now?

Yeah, yeah, I know. The first couple slideshows I started out with this year I had cool music. Cool songs that I painstakingly picked the right song that matched what I knew about the couple, the theme of the day, etc. But...there's this thing called copyright, see. And I was under the assumption that as long as I was not SELLING the slideshows, rather just posting them on my blog and giving my clients a copy for their personal use it was cool. I was wrong, and when I discovered this, I switched to royalty free music in deference to the artists who created the songs and for respect for their copyright. I still hate it, though. Royalty free music is pretty darn lame. Right now a few professional photographer organizations I am involved with are lobbying to purchase "one time usage" rights from the biggie music companies like BMI and RCA. So hopefully someday I'll be able to have cool music again. Until then, crank up your itunes selection.

Lori and Chris

August 5, 2006

Wedding: Galilee Lutheran, Pewaukee

Outdoor Photos: Frame Park, Waukesha

Reception: Country Springs, Pewaukee

Who knew people who majored in math could be so fun?! I’d met Lori and Chris a few times and found them to be really sweet and charming and just a really NICE couple. What I did not count on was their razor sharp wit underneath all that NICE-ness. A few times during the wedding reception I caught myself cracking up because of all of the unexpected funny moments.

I loved this idea…instead of kissing when the guests “dinged” the glasses, Lori and Chris had on each table a series of obscure questions about themselves. Things that were not easily guessed like “What gift from Lori’s mom is on top of the toilet in the bathroom?” And each table had different questions. I have to say, I think Lori and Chris ended up kissing MORE than the norm, though . The guests were RABID to find out the answers and they traveled from table to table to ask if anyone knew the answer to their questions.

They also had M&M’s on the table and would kiss when people brought up 5 orange M&M’s. There was a whole lotta kissing going on during dinner .

Before the wedding started, Lori found herself suddenly very nervous, a little light-headed and nauseous from the excitement. So we moved her into a cooler room, and within a few minutes she was okay. When I asked her if she was doing alright before her brother walked her down the aisle she said “I’m much better. I found that if you just burp when you get nervous, it really helps. And you can put that on your blog!”

Just a little tip from someone who’s been there to any of my upcoming clients Burp. I had not idea this blog thing would turn into such a wealth of wedding information!

Congratulations!!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Lori and Chris' wedding!

Monica and Jason

July 22, 2006

Wedding: Wauwatosa United Methodist Church

Reception: Elm Grove Women’s Club

Ever hear the theory of six degrees of separation? See if you can follow this. My friend Tracey nannies for my friend Angie. Monica and Angie are friends. Tracey’s sister Julie worked with Jason, and knew he was single and told Angie she had someone perfect for Monica. So Angie and Julie introduced Monica and Jason. And the rest, as they say, is history. So Angie called me a few months ago and said “I know there’s NO chance you’re open on July 22, my friend Monica is getting married.” But I was. Karma, fate? When things like that happen you know there’s a reason for everything.

Because they are just so cute, I had to include a few of their engagement photos in the slideshow. We took the photos at the place where they met and took their first walk together. And one year later to the day, they married.

Congratulations!

Click here to see a slideshow of Monica and Jason's wedding!

Adrienne and Chris

July 15, 2006

Wedding: Gesu Parish, Marquette University

Reception: Historic Pfister Hotel

This is probably the third wedding I have photographed for what I affectionately refer to as “Marquette People”. And without exception, every single one of those weddings have been great. Happy people. Fun wedding parties. And most of all, just a great spirit of FUN. Adrienne and Chris didn’t let me down. Even though it was HOT. And not just, oh, a little warm, but HOT HOT. But that didn’t deter them at all.

As I was editing this wedding, I kept laughing. Because in about 90% of the pictures, Adrienne is laughing. I couldn’t believe it, there are maybe 5 pictures from the wedding where she is not laughing or smiling. You’d be laughing and smiling too if you married a great guy like Chris. When they were planning the wedding at the Pfister Adrienne wanted the pretty purple chair covers to complete her wedding dream, but the practical side of her won out and she decided that was too big of an added expense. So as a surprise to Adrienne, he contacted the Pfister and got her the chair covers without her knowing it. I think she just married the man of her dreams.

Click here to see a slideshow of Adrienne and Chris' wedding!

Erin and Adam

July 8, 2006

Wedding and Reception: Cedar Beach, Belgium, Wisconsin.

I know after reading these wedding blogs you must think to yourself “Could Kim possibly really like each and every one of her clients THAT much?” The answer is yes. I mean, COME ON. Check out Erin and Adam’s slideshow, don’t you LOVE them by the end of it? If you don’t. there is something very, very wrong. Look at how Adam looks at her with his adorable mop of hair, look at Erin’s face when she puts on her gown for the first time and all her funny faces that she makes and how she gazes at Adam during the ceremony. And FYI, do you see the people dancing at the reception? Sure you do. But if it was 90 degrees outside and it was in a venue that had no air conditioning would you and your guests dance like that? They did. All night. I could NOT believe it. I was fretting like the mother that I am that everyone would go home and it would be 5 drunk people on the dance floor all night. No way. People danced like crazy, they sweated like crazy and they had fun like crazy.

When Erin and Adam processed down the aisle after the wedding the thunderstorms that had been threatening all day finally hit and the skies opened up JUST as they got to the end of the aisle. It was the perfect ending…and they processed to “It a Beautiful Day” by U2. It was a beautiful day all around. You don’t have to have perfect weather to have the perfect wedding. You just gotta have the love. Erin and Adam, they have it.