Goodness I am cute!

The joys of parenthood....

As many of you know, I have two boys, Caleb, who is 12 and Joey, who is 9. And this past week was "Catholic Schools Week" at their school which basically means they have different fun events at school like "Crazy Hat Day" and "Mix and Match Day" and my personal favorite "80's day" which makes me feel as old as the hills since when I went to school in the 80's we had "60's day". Don't laugh, just wait until your kids have "2000 Day". You'll know what I mean, and my kids will be grown and I'll be retired on a beach in Fiji . So when the schedule came home for the different days, one of the days listed was "Dress like a Historical Person Day". I specifically asked them if they wanted to do this, and they both rolled their eyes at me like that was the STUPIDEST thing they had ever heard. Hey, good with me, less work for me, right?

Fast forward to Monday of this past week. The scene: Dinner time. I am pouring milk, dishing out some various form of chicken and the Mandatory Green Vegetable when I hear them discussing this:

Caleb: "I'm going to be Abraham Lincon. Me and James are gonna be the Lincoln twins"
(Mom responding without really hearing what he said "James and I", not "Me and James")

Joey: "I'm going to be George Washington Carver" (The inventor of peanut butter. In Joey's mind, the man is a god and a genius because of this)

Suddenly I tune in. I look at them both, incredulous. It's Monday night. "Dress like an Historical Person" Day is Wednesday. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have a million phone calls to make, yearly sales tax is due, and I have two client consults, an album rep meeting, and have to schlep Joey to basketball practice. I slowly and carefully put down the milk and ask "Where are you going to get these costumes? From the "Historical Character" closet in the front hall?" They look at me...stammer...uhhh. Um... Sigh.

After carefully and politically correctly explaining to Joey that George Washington Carver would be really cool, but would require a pretty elaborate costume since he is black, he changed his request to "Uncle Sam".

Let's just say you know you are a parent when you somehow figure out how to pull it off despite what you have going on. And someday, when their kids have "2020 Day" at school I will laugh at them as they scramble with construction paper and glue guns to make sure their kids feel like their parents cared enough to make sure they weren't the only kid who didn't have a costume.

Just you wait :)

Kim

Tammy and Mark,Peek of the Week!

This section will be used to feature weddings that are in the process of being edited and do not yet appear online. So yeah, it's kinda a teaser

Because I am sure you are fascinated, let me first explain the process behind editing a wedding. When I get home from a wedding, I have a strict protocol. Greet the dogs, get into my jammies and grab a beer :) Okay, now on to the technical stuff. All of the wedding images are immediatly downloaded to my computer where I make two back ups and save them on two seperate hard drives. Yeah, I'm paranoid. But that's a good thing, I think. This takes a few hours and I allow myself to "peek" at the images. Just peek. Because usually I have a few other weddings queued up ahead of the wedding I just shot, and maybe an album design or two, and I need to give my full attention to those projects when I am working on them. So when I tell you I'm excited to see your wedding pictures, I really mean it!

I usually peek to find images I have in mind will be really cool because I had the feeling it was going to be a good one when I took it. And, oh, about 90% of the time I am wrong. It's almost always a shot I barely remember taking. I tend to get in a "zen" place when I am shooting, and it's not unusal to hear me mutter while editing "Wow, great shot. I wonder who took it?" :)

I'll post more remarks on this great wedding when it goes live, but I'll say this for sure:you gotta love a bride and groom who are willing to take pictures on a roof in January in Wisconsin. Tammy and Mark, look for your photos to be online the week of February 13th, and I hope you had a great honeymoon in Jamacia!

Bragging on myself for a minute :)

I belong to an organization called WPJA, which stands for the Wedding Photojournalist Association. I'm proud to be in this organization because they accept less than 5% of the applicants that they get. It also helps promote the integrity of Wedding Photojournalism. They sponser photo contests every quarter and I'm happy to report that in the last contest I received first place for one of my images in the "Good Light" catagory. This was taken in a church basement as the wedding party was getting ready to go up to the church for the wedding ceremony. The three little flower girls were spinning to see their dresses "poof" out...I raised my camera, fired off one shot just as they got scolded to stop spinning :) It turned out to be the lucky charm.

Diane and Mike. January 7, 2006

Wedding: First Advent Lutheran, Cedarburg WI
Reception: Alpine Village, Mequon WI


This wedding is an example of why I truly love my job. I didn't know Diane well, but I know much of her family. And I knew a few things for sure going into the job: Her mom and her sister are crazy amazingly crafty/organizer people and are just those kind of people who make Martha Stewart look like a poser. So I figured that all of the "touches" of the wedding would be awesome...and I was right. From the way the church was decked out to the green velvet cloaks that Diane's Mom sewed for all the members of the wedding party, this wedding was picture perfect from the start. And Diane's gown...don't EVEN get me going on her gown. Now, let's just say I've seen a few wedding gowns in my time. This one, my friends, took my breath away. Everything was so lovely, so timeless...

And then I met Mike, the groom and his family. Can you say FUN? Yeah, I knew you could.
Mike's family is what I think of when I think of when I think of what real Wisconsin people are all about. Real. No pretentions. Friends from all walks of life. Traditions that mean something. My first clue was when grandma started doing shots :)

What a wonderful blend of families for them both. Diane looked happy and radiant...and like a bride should. You go, girl.

Kim

Heather and Craig. December 31, 2005

Wedding at The Old Courthouse, West Bend WI
Reception at The Claremont Inn, West Bend WI


Heather and Craig had a very cool wedding at the Old Courthouse in West Bend. It's just such a neat old building with lots of great architecture. In the dressing room behind the scenes when Heather was getting dressed there was a whole lotta giggling going on...and it just never stopped. This was a crowd that knew how to have fun. And check out the cool feathers in Heather's hair...she got the idea from a wedding scene in the movie "Love Actually". I'm constantly amazed at the ingenuity of my brides :) My favorite memory of Heather and Craigs wedding was when Heather and her mom started giggling together...and I swear you cannot tell them apart. They have the SAME LAUGH. That was probably the only time in my career that I wished my camera had sound :)

Kim

Amelia and Mark. December 17, 2005

Wedding and Reception Held At: The Renaissance Place, Milwaukee, WI
Flowers by A New Leaf Floral

What a lovely couple and a lovely venue! I knew about 3 minutes into being in the dressing room with Amelia and her Bridesmaids that this wedding was going to be a fun one. First, Amelia chose a gown that was so different from all the current "fads" and just suited her perfectly. And if I had to pick one word that would describe how Amelia and Mark acted when they were together it would be "Giddy" :)

And thanks for putting me at the "College Friends" table at dinner. I had a blast with those guys!

Kim