Dea + Kevin's Family Portraits

Check out Dea and Kevin's family! When I saw that the kids, ranging from age 6 to age 2 were just like little stair steps down from one another, I immediately knew lining them up like the wooden Russian Matrushka Dolls would be a precious photograph. And in this image, everyone is doing their own thing. Classic!


Kinleigh, their youngest, is just darling! I think I caught her trying to crawl into my back seat and come home with me! ;)


I call this montage: the many faces of Keliana. I *love* how expressive kids are. It just begs to be put into a series, because just one of the photos doesn't tell the whole story.


Two words for Kyler and Kyren: double trouble. ;)

"Do you limit the number of people in a family session?" was one of Dea's very first questions
Of course not, I told her. Heck, I'm one of 4 kids and am used to a little chaos. ;)
"We have 5 kids," she said.
No problem!
"All 6 years old and younger," she added.
That sounds perfect, I tell her.

And the kids WERE! Very. Well. Behaved. Of course, there was the promise of C-A-N-D-Y if everyone listened, but a little motivation never hurts, right? ;)

Your portrait session was a blast, Dea and Kevin! To see a slideshow of my favorites from your session, please CLICK HERE.

Kelsy + Erin's engagement preview

Recently I met up with Kelsy and Erin for their engagement session. I've known Kelsy, of Images by Kelsy, for a few years and she's photographed my daughter, Maddie, on more than one occasion. So I didn't hesitate when she asked me if I'd like to photograph the two of them.


After photographing them with their dog, Buster, we headed downtown to a few locations I'd previously scouted. Kelsy told me they wanted something fun, different and unexpected so when I found these semi trailers parked across the street from the new downtown arena, I knew we'd have to stop there.


As we were leaving the arena, Kelsy began telling me of an alley she'd found that she wanted to shoot in. As she described it to me it sounded awfully familiar. As it turns out, it, too, was on my list of places I'd scouted!


And not only did Kelsy know where she wanted to shoot, she and Erin also struck this pose without me even asking them to. This is why I love the lifestyle session so much! I had a few ideas of where to shoot heading into this but I had no idea what we were going to actually come away with!


By the time we were finished, we'd spent nearly three hours tromping around - mostly downtown - and had exhausted all available light but they never waned in enthusiasm for photography or in their affection for each other. -Mike

Robin + Chris' Wedding Album is IN!!!!!!!!!!!!

YIPPIE!!!!!!! This is just the beginning of our flush of albums that will be coming through the office.

Don't you love beautiful packaging? I sure do!


AAAAAAAND the paper is made from recycled pineapple leaves. The beautiful ribbon is made from recycled mulberry leavees ... the the beautiful leaves are made from skeleton leaves + dried flowers.

Beautiful, no? We are a member of Greener Photography and it's fantastic that we work with companies that make re-using and recycled products.

We try to be responsible with our natural resources and not keep a bunch of extraneous albums lying about. SO I'm photographing them to have some more 'virtual' samples. Besides, many of our couples live outside of Wichita or Salina, so they're viewing albums to select their perfect album via the Internet anyways.


Their album is a beautiful black leather with a fun, 5x5 photo inset on the front.


Check out the detail on their names.


And .... HELLO .... 100 pages makes for one THICK album!



The pages are thin, but durable. :)


And the pages lie flat. Nice, eh?


See the seam? I love how none of the photo is lost in the fold. Beautiful!

I'll close with a photo of a few of my favorite spreads!

Happy Anniversary, Mary + Ty!

A year ago, Mike and I hit the road to Phillipsburg to document Mary and Ty's wedding. It was such a beautiful day, with one of the liveliest receptions we've been to.

Please CLICK HERE to check out the slideshow of their rockin' wedding day.

Mary + Ty's Album Design

Ok, ok, we've kept you waiting long enough! As promised, we have Mary and Ty's wedding album design ready. It's a fun mix of whimsy and country!


Their album is a whopping 62 pages long.This is going to be beautiful once it's printed .... I can hardly wait!

To view the entire album design, please CLICK HERE.

Helping out — Kassy + Will

Psssst .... brides ..... I have a little secret to share. Your wedding photographer probably talks to OTHER wedding photographers. In fact, we even hang out, chat and have lunch on a regular basis.

Cuz we're social creatures. Ok, because we get crosseyed and nutty when we edit in the dark, all by ourselves with just the cat or dog to talk to. We love to be a little social every once in awhile. It's even good for you, our couples! It might sound like backward thinking, but it's SO good to have an awesome network of photographers we know and are friends with, because every once in awhile, someone ends up in a bind and needs some help. Someone gets sick, breaks an arm or leg, can't get out of bed, you name it. And that's where having a super network of friends who are also wedding photographers comes in handy. I've helped out others in a pinch, and we've had friends assist us when we needed help.

On May 30, a friend of mine from Hays needed a bit of help, so I was happy to trek out to Phillipsburg to help Kathryn of Everyday You.


She talks about Kassy and Will's wedding on her blog.

Isn't Kassy a beautiful bride?


With some awesome hair bling!


And a beautiful bouquet!


Since she and Will opted for a first look, we had more time to make beautiful portraits.


Gotta love stained glass!


Check out how beautiful Kassy is on the old-fashioned merry go round behind the church!


A beautiful hug during the ceremony.


And a nice details of one of the hymnals. Gotta love the song name! :)

Hellllllooooo, reception time! There are a lot of details coming up ... :)


They had these signs all over, they were super cute.


A little decoration detail.


Reception mints ... they were so colorful!


A beautiful cake detail.


Another ... just because I'm crazy about this light!


And the reception was in a tent in Will's parents backyard. SO cool!


The tent made a cool scene for their first dance.


Some dramatic lighting for the father/daughter dance. Spectacular, isn't it?


Love the lighting for this .... so stunning! Lighting/music were from the fantastic Absolute Sound out of Wichita.


Last photo .... some fun with off camera flash during the dance.

Helping out means I can try photos that might be more out of the box than I normally would, which is fun. :)

Sneak Peek — Mary + Ty's Wedding Album II

It's been awhile since the teaser for Mary and Ty's wedding album, but believe me, the wait will be worth it! Just another week before we can unveil it! :)

Products — Brag Book II

I have to say, I'm a big fan of the brag book. They come in an 8x8 or 5x5 size.


We had the parents of some of our brides order some recently .... and they're AWESOME because they can get exactly the photos they want! One photo per page ...


... with a beautiful photo on the cover.