Brook's senior photos

Last week, I met up with Brook and her mother to photograph Brook's senior photos. When we first began discussing the project, I was asked to recommend a location. It's not our style to dictate where we should photograph. Instead, I told them to think of a place that has particularly special meaning to them or a place of which they have fond memories. Immediately Brook suggested Starwoods girl scout camp southwest of Wichita.


We met about dinner time and photographed until the sun went down. We started at the camp's iconic covered pedestrian bridge.


I must say, I think Brook's glasses are the coolest I've ever seen! I've worn glasses since I was six years old and I don't ever remember having a pair of cool frames during the years when appearance mattered the most.


Her glasses match her personality - sophisticated yet uniquely fun!


Brook wanted to make sure we spent some time photographing near the lake. Because it was getting dark, I pulled a light stand and umbrella out of my car to add some drama and contrast to an otherwise overcast twilight.


Lastly, this photo is for Brook's mom, Lisa. Throughout the shoot she told her she had to do "thumbs up" because it's, apparently, a trademarked gesture. Brook was reluctant but I think it might be THE photo of the shoot. Brook, thanks for asking me to photograph your senior photos! I had a great time! -Mike

Baby Nate

I suppose it's about time for another one of those "Where's Mike been?" posts. My wife and I recently welcomed our second child, Nathan Michael, into the world and we've spent the past few months preparing for and adjusting to life with two kids! It's been overwhelming at times and a breeze at others. To say we're busy would be an understatement. But, nevertheless, I'm documenting Nate's first year with a daily photo blog just like I did for his sister, Maddie. Click here to see it.

With wedding season just around the corner, documenting my own life solidifies why I like to do the same for others. The feelings I get when I look at photos of my growing family are indescribable.

Nate's a big boy, measuring 9 pounds, 4 ounces and 22 inches at birth. At six weeks old, he's already wearing three month outfits. The best part? He sleeps like a champ, just like Maddie did. The photos above are from his newborn portrait session at our house at about 10 days. I'm hoping he grows up to play baseball. Really, though, I just want him to be happy.

Art.is

With not a lot of action on our blog, it might just seem like the slow season. Believe me, it's anything BUT! Most of our activity, however, is stuff that's non-visual. Getting contracts signed, working on wedding day timelines, scheduling engagement sessions. Just not visual stuff.


So, I thought I'd pull a few of the artsy photos I'm toying with adding to the "art" side of our new Web site.


Some photographers take multiple photos, meld them together, do a lot of Photoshop work and call it art. It *is* art, but Mike and I are more drawn toward the realism. The still life. Scenes or objects that seem ordinary, but when we turn our lens on them, can be extraordinary.


I'm not sure how exactly we'll offer these on the art site. Notecards? Framed prints? Prints only? There's just so much going on (taxes, anyone?) that my brain hasn't expended mental energy on it. But if you have a preference on the type of product you'd like to see us offer, DO leave a comment. We'd love to know!

Magnificent Metal Prints!

Two back-to-back posts with Cristina and Josh ... crazy talk!

Here are a few photos of some stunning metal prints Cristina and Josh ordered. They are STUNNING.


When the light hits these prints just right, they look almost 3D ... really amazing! It was difficult to capture their luminescence in a photo, but the above photo comes pretty close.


A set of 3 8x10s. I suspect they're going into Josh's "man room" that has lots of cool firefighting memorabilia (he's a 3rd generation firefighter).


Last photo is a comparison ... the one hanging on my wall is a 16x20. The lower one is an 8x10. I think it really helps to see comparisons like this ... as I talked about last week, if you're going to hang only one photo on your wall, which size would YOU want? :)

You can also see these metal prints are ready to hang on the wall when you pick them up. And they sort of float about 1/2 an inch off the wall (see photo on the left). These are an uber-cool product. I was reading some blogs about metal prints and really dislike it when people say "you have to see it to believe it" ... but this is TRULY something you have to see to appreciate!

Cristina + Josh's Wedidng Album Design

I'm just *in love* with Cristina and Josh's wedding album design!


This stunning 40 page album is fantastic to preview, but it's going to be spectacular, with a two-tone red and black leather cover ... oh, words just won't do it justice!

Please CLICK HERE to view the entire album design ... and once Cristina and Josh approve it, I'm extremely keen to order it, because it's going to look like nothing else we've ordered!

Photo placing and groupings

My sister was visiting me here in Salina over the weekend, and she was walking around my house and said "This photo isn't in the right place." And she was right. I've been moving photos around in hopes of making a few examples for our faithful blog readers.

First, let's start with a simulation of a possible photo grouping.


The size of the photo in the middle is a 20x30, then it's framed. I know what you're thinking out there: "Yikes! Did Karen REALLY say 20x30? That's GINORMOUS!"

Yes, it IS a big photo, but check out how well it fills the space up. The photos that flank it on the right and left are 8x10s, and they accent it nicely, but can't carry the wall by themselves.

Here are a few quick snaps of examples from my living room wall.


This photo is 16x24(honestly, it needs to be a bit bigger because of the length of the couch!), and then it's framed. It normally hangs in my dining room, but I wanted to show this in comparison to a full-sized couch.


If you don't want to get crazy with photos quite *that* big, you can opt for a 10x15 (basically an 11x14), but you gotta use at least TWO of them!

I'm continuing to work on the "back" side of our *new* web site. It has these sorts of examples, plus additional ideas for photo groupings and album ideas. Some of our clients are using it and loving it. Having a "back" side of the site works well for our clients who don't live in the same city, but allows them to view our product offerings without being in the same room. :) I also take beauty shots of the albums our clients order, and having a virtual showroom allows us to have fewer samples, being a more "green" photography studio.

Sarah Palin's visit to Kansas

I was extremely honored when my friend and the photo editor of The Wichita Eagle asked me to photograph former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's visit to Salina, Kansas last week.

Access was extremely limited, which is unfortunate. Of course, I have the "traditional" podium photo, but it's not as interesting, so I only have one photo to share.

Have a lovely weekend!