Britain and Todd
November 17, 2007

Deep in the Heart of Texas!! Burnett, Texas.

Photography by KB Image Photography for www.brooksweddings.com

Every year at this time I begin my slow season. And while on one hand I curse the gods who put me in this godforsaken area of the country where I can often go 4-5 months with no income, I have learned to adapt. I have learned that when I am feeling rich rich rich in June and July I need to think about how poor poor poor I will be in January and put some freaking money in savings!!!This has forced my hand at not only being an artist, but a business person.

What it has also afforded me is the opportunity to slow down, revamp my goals and to do some personal projects like shooting with photographers that I admire and want to learn from. For the first time in many years, I had the opportunity to shoot with two people that I adore, Brooks and Leighanne Whittington from Dallas Texas. We've drank a lot of Appletini's together over the years at photography conventions. We've talked in depth about our passion for wedding photojournalism...the real stuff. But this was the first time we shot together. The wedding was spectacular. We had a great time and we made some great images together. And oh, I learned. Lots and lots of stuff.

The pay off for me came a day later when in a courtyard of a San Antonio hotel Brooks and I downloaded our cards and had probably one of the most fantastic conversations of my photographic career. I looked at my images and I was not embarrassed by my take, but I began to see what I could have tried to make them better. He was kind..."why did you include that in the frame?' "Do you see how if you had done this, framed it like that"...but he also would look at an image and say "That is fantastic. I wished I would have taken that”. Critiques like that from a peer are invaluable to me.

I have the best, the best, the best job in the world :) I am thankful for what I do and to have the honor of recording weddings for my clients. And I am thankful for friends like Brooks and Leighanne Whittington. You can view their website at
www.brookswedding.com

Click Here to See Britain and Todd's Wedding Slideshow

YAY!! Finally......

I think I've entered this image in about 10 separate contests and it finally got some recognition at the latest WPJA contest. It placed #14, but I'll take it :)

This was taken at Heather and Randy's wedding in June, at the beautiful St Josphat Basilica here in Milwaukee.

I'm famous on the internet!

What happens when you take 6 female wedding photographers together in New York City, give them two bottles of champagne and then get them to talk about weddings?

I warn you....it's long. It's a bit irreverent. And if you are wearing a strapless dress, don't say I didn't warn you :)

Click here for Podcast #44 Goes Off The Hook, with 6 Top Women Wedding Photographers

“Yes you do work your own hours. It’s called 24/7.” - Allegra

“When I’m shooting I’m a rock star. It’s when I get home and I’m downloading that I go, what the h*&$% is this?” - Kim Bednarski

Photograph © 2007 Kristin Reimer

Today we’re doing something completely different. Welcome to a completely unscripted conversation with 6 top women wedding photographers. Come listen in to this fun and friendly conversation, as Susan, Jen, Allegra, Kristin, Jen, and Kim tell all about shooting weddings. What are the most gratifying things about shooting weddings? What are the most difficult? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen at a wedding? The funniest story? The dresses. The shoes. The drunken bridesmaids. It’s all here.

This podcast was recorded on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 during the Photo Plus Expo in NYC. Please understand that this podcast has been minimally edited, and it contains some language that may offend. Parental warning advised.

Special thanks to these extremely talented photographers:

Susan Stripling: http://www.susanstripling.com

Allegra: http://www.allegrasstudio.com

Jen Bebb: http://www.tyingtheknot.net

Kim Bednarski: http://www.kbimagephoto.com

Jen Capone: http://www.jencapone.com

And of course, the PhotoMuse herself, Kristin Reimer: http://www.photomuse.com

Amy and Tim
October 27, 2007
West Bend, Wisconsin

Wedding: St John's Lutheran West Bend
Reception: Fillmore Turner Hall, Fredonia Wisconsin

Click here to see Amy and Tim's wedding slide show!

TJ and Becky
October 13,2007
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin

Wedding and Reception: Koshkonong Mounds Country Club



Click here to see TJ and Becky's wedding slide show!

Kate and Kelly
October 12, 2007
Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Wedding: Paine Art Center
Reception: Hilton Garden Inn


Click here for Kate and Kelly's wedding slide show!

Morgan and Liz
October 6, 2007

Wedding: The Farm, Bristol County
Reception: Scottish Rite

Click here to see Morgan and Liz's wedding slide show!

I thought I hated "Celebration" and "We are Family"

If you had asked me before I saw this video, I would have sworn up and down that the ultimate wedding processional would forever and always be "Pachelbel's Canon in D" (uuuh, it was mine back in '92) but this video gives it a whole new meaning. I guess no matter what profession you are in, too much of a good thing will drive you a little batty. Watch the whole thing, it's quite brilliant!

"Pachelbels' Hell"

Brad and Nikki....My little brother and his bride

September 15, 2007


Click Here to See Brad and Nikki's Wedding Slide Show

Right to left...My Blister Tracy, my brother Beenie (aka Jeff), Brad the groom, and me

Sara and Chris
September 1, 2007

Wedding: Holy Name Catholic Church, Sheboygan Wi

Reception: The Osthoff Resort, Elkhart Lake, Wi

Click here to see Sara and Chris' wedding slide show!

Stephanie and Mike
August 25, 2007

Highland Park Illinois
Wedding and Reception at the family home
KB Image Photography for Susan Stripling.

Click here to watch Stephanie and Mike's wedding slide show

Nicole and Brian
August 18, 2007

Wedding : St Bernadette, Appleton Wi
Reception: The Paper Valley Hotel, Appleton, Wi

Click Here to see Nicole and Brian's Wedding Slide Show!

The Importance of Back Up

Being a wedding photographer, this is a subject that I thought was near and dear to my heart. In this age of digital data, maintaining clients images is pretty much the second most important part of my job. For a Libra, I am exceedingly paranoid about back ups. I keep weddings and portrait sessions on two separate external hard drives not associated with my main computer, on my servers, and on DVD back up.

Unless...you are talking about my own personal data. Pictures of my kids, my family vacations. That I stored on one external hard drive. That went bad this past week. Is it backed up? Some of it, yes. But when I get enmeshed in wedding season I let personal stuff fall aside and I was "going to get" to archiving all of the pictures from the past year "when things slowed down". When I made the call to a company that retrieves lost data the representative told me that if she had a dime for every photographer who called with lost personal data she would be a rich woman. What's the saying about the shoemaker's children have no shoes? The good news is they have a 90% success rate retrieving the data. The bad news? It's going to cost me around 2K. Yeah. As in two thousand dollars. That's putting a price on memories, isn't it?

I shared this story last night with a bunch of my girlfriends who, like everyone else have digital cameras and tons of photos stored on their computers. And when I asked them if they had the photos backed up to CD's/DVD's or archived somewhere else (Kodak and some of the camera makers offer off site storage of your digital images) they admitted they didn't. They didn't understand that if their computer hard drive failed that those photos were likely gone forever, or savable only by very costly means.

So, don't put it off. Even if you do it a few a day, back up those pictures. If your computer doesn't have a CD burner then go buy an external one that will plug into a USB port. The cost of backing up the photos will save you a lot of heartache and money.

October 1, 2007....one amazing day

My friend Tina just had her first baby. Miss Tina took some time to find the love of her life, and when she did, they were not sure if they wanted kids. One day last year she surprised us by telling us that she was pregnant. As soon as she told me I told her that I wanted to be there to document when that baby was born. She looked at me like I was nuts, but I told her that I promised I would photograph it as it happened, but nothing gory or distasteful. Miss Tina is a girly girl, you see...and she doesn't like to go anywhere not looking all put together. Knowing she was going to be having her baby in the past week, she gave her own self a pedicure so her toes would be pretty for the Dr. Who gives themselves a pedicure at 9 months??

When my friend Christal and I got the call, Tina was checking in to the hospital around 2PM. She was in light labor, and they wanted to watch her. If nothing else, she was scheduled to be induced Wednesday morning. Christal and I agreed to take a ride out to the hospital just to take a few shots of her checking in. I fully expected to go home, and probably get the call early the next morning, or even sometime the next day.

We got to the hospital at 4:30 PM..and baby was born at 6:15 PM. It was amazingly fast and we all joked with Tina that if she ever wanted to consider a second career that it should be a surrogate. That was one amazingly fast, amazingly awesome birth. I am so thankful that Tina allowed me to be in the room to see things from the other side of the table. I promise there is nothing scary or horrifically bloody in this slideshow, so if you are squeamish, no worries. And as my friend Tina warned me as I photographed the birth "No cootie shots" either

Click here to watch the slideshow of baby Hintz

I'm number 17!!

The results of the Wedding Photojournalist 2nd quarter contest were just announced and to my delight one of my images placed! Word is that this contest had over 4,000 entries, so I didn't have high hopes. There is some amazing talent and work out there. I placed number 17 in the "Humor" category from a picture taken during the getting ready from Lisa and Al's wedding. As you can imagine, there is a story behind this image :)

The second image I have posted was taken by the uber talented Mr. Cliff Brunk from San Francisco who came to shoot a few weddings with me this summer, and he totally kicked my ass and took first place in the "Cake Cutting" category.

Here's a Kevin Bacon six degrees thing to consider: Cliff shot two weddings with me, two week ends in a row. The first was Lisa and Al's, and I won with an image from their wedding. The next week end we shot Heather and Randy's, and Cliff won with an image from their wedding. Here's where it gets even freakier....at Heather and Randy's wedding during pictures at the Art Museum Lisa and Al walked by and ran over to say hi to Cliff and I. This also convinced Cliff that I am a total rock star photographer and EVERY ONE knows who I am. But alas, now that he has kicked my ass, that's probably all over.

You owe me a Vineyard wedding Brunk :)

Cliff's kick ass cake cutting shot of Heather

I'm caught up on my blogging, and it feels sooooo good!!!

Every week I swear I am going to not let this blogging thing get away from me, and guess what...every week it does. Get ready for a read because I just blogged 7 weddings! You can sign up to subscribe to this blog by scrolling allll the way to the bottom and clicking on "Subscribe to posts". That way whenever I do an update you'll be notified. And if you don't get notification that I am blogging, feel free to send me a email scolding me for forgetting my blogging :)

Blog on,
Kim

Sarah and Andy

August 11, 2007
Wedding and Reception: The Humphrey Scottish Rite, Milwaukee Wisconsin

I don't think I've seen a bride be so excited for her wedding as Sarah Not nervous, just totally excited. It was so great to see. At one point someone told Sarah how beautiful she looked and she said with total sincerity "I'm so happy today, I feel like I've never been more beautiful". I think Andy would agree. And speaking of Andy, it's always the quiet ones that surprise you. He read an awesome poem to Sarah and busted out his moves for the garter toss, which totally caught me off guard. What a great wedding, what an awesome couple. Congratulations!

Click here to see Sarah and Andy's wedding slide show

Cara and Casey

August 4, 2008
Wedding: Heidel House, Green Lake Wisconsin
Reception: Tuscumbia Golf Club, Green Lake, Wisconsin

This blogging thing is odd, because for it to go in order of the weddings I have shot, I have to post them backwards. And as I was loading Cara and Casey's wedding onto my blog, I realized that after this posting you will read about Xue and John's wedding, where I go on about how ALL of my outdoor weddings have had spectacular weather. Errr.....whoopsie? But then I realized that the reason it had not stuck in my mind that the weather conditions for Cara and Casey's outdoor wedding were not "quite" perfect is that no one cared. All the guests happily sat outside with their umbrellas and the drizzle bothered no one. It was a bit funny when the officiant began the "Apache Wedding Blessing" which starts "And now you shall feel no rain".

Congratulations!

View Cara and Casey's wedding slide show

Xue and John

July 28, 2007
Wedding: Racine Assembly of God
Reception: Delafield Brewhaus

I have to say this year I've had the most outdoor weddings that I have ever had, and every single one of them has had unbelievably fabulous weather. How does this happen in Wisconsin? Xue and John had great weather and had some of the cutest little kids in their wedding I have seen in a long time. Congratulations!



View Xue and John's Wedding Slide Show Here

Liz and Ryan

July 21, 2007
Wedding: St Josaphat's , Chicago Il
Reception : The Hyatt, Rosemont Il


This wedding was full of firsts for me. I often joke that I feel like I've done/seen it all at weddings. While each wedding has it's own personality, lots of the traditions are similar. The reception songs are similar. It's always the people that make them different. So this is the first time that upon putting on her gown on I had a bride say "Wow, I wish this thing had pockets". Vera Wang, are you listening?? Liz needs pockets! Also on the never had this happen before list, this was the first time I went to Burger King with the bridal party and the first time I got to photograph the bridal party play Euchre in between the wedding and reception. Liz and Ryan, they had it their way :) Congratulations!

To view Liz and Ryan's Wedding Slide Show, Click Here!

Sarah and Mike

July 14, 2007
Racine Wisconsin
Wedding : On the family farm
Reception: The Marriot, Racine Wisconsin

This wedding was kind of special to me because I grew up very near the area that Sarah's family farm is in Southeastern Wisconsin. It was to be the last big event before Sarah's parents sold the farm so I knew this was going to be a really special wedding. And it was...it was an awesome day, great weather and happy people everywhere. Congratulations!

View Sarah and Mike's wedding slide show

Brenda and Micha
7-07-07

Wedding: St John's Cathedral, Milwaukee Wi
Reception: The Hilton, downtown Milwaukee

Ah, the coveted wedding date of 7-07-07. If there was one day I wish I could have cloned myself, that was the day. I had 23 inquiries for that date after Brenda and Micha hired me, but I have to say I'm glad they found me. I couldn't have found a nicer couple to photograph on that memorable date. Despite the heat, Brenda and Micah kept on smiling, and so did their wedding party. (The stop in between to the Up and Under Pub on Brady Street probably didn't hurt ) Congratulations!

Brenda and Micah's wedding slide show