kathleen and kyle

They met at the Texas Tech Library. As the story goes, she was sleeping, yep, snoozing and he was passing through and as they say, "the rest is history". Or at least part of it.

Kathleen is marrying Kyle this spring and I couldn't be happier for them both. I've know "Kat" forever it seems and she comes from "good people" as we say in West Texas. Her family attends the church where I worship, and they are long supporters of St. Joseph School. That's where I first met Kat.

Anyhoo...Kyle was in town on a break from Ranching and we scrambled to find time and warmth (which we didn't) to get some photographs of just the two of them. Yes, it was cold and all three of us had the sniffles, but by looking at these images, these two really didn't care. They were snuggly and sweet and silly and just YUM.

Congratulations you two! Can hardly wait for April!











I love how you can see the horseshoes on her boots! For luck, right?








Kyle can do this freaky thing with his eyebrows! It is so funny! When he does one side, he looks tough, kinda mean...sort of like the villain in a Bruce Willis movie. The other side? More like a rodeo clown or something! LOL

My favorite shot of the session. I just love the way she looks in this photo and the cleft in his chin. I LOVE how it makes me feel, which is safe when I think of how she feels. He just does it for her and I like that. This is what I refer to as a "yum" shot. YUM!

a basketball weekend

Kalyn, my oldest daughter, had a BB Tournament over in Levelland all weekend. They finished up yesterday at Noon and lost to Frendship School for First Place. UGH! I video taped the game. Yes. Very hard to do, when you are trained for stills, but I did. And it was a GREAT Game, but many tears flowed as they lost in the final few seconds.

Kalyn played great and hustled and her game has so improved! I call her my "little munchkin" due to her size, but gosh she sure can shut them down on defense!

I'm also one of those embarassing moms that I'm sure many of you have sat next to at sporting events. You know the kind? Loud, sweaty, and full of opinions that the ref should hear? Yep. That's me. One of the reasons I stay on the floor with a camera, usually. When I'm photographing, I tend to keep my mouth shut. That so helps.

Here's a few from the weekend.

To see ALL the images, simply click HERE.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

January is most definitely a time of "lag" for us Wedding Photographers. There's just not a lot of romance in the month of January. Too much football. That's my theory. But I blew that theory back 16 years ago. I married Devin on Jan. 26, 1991 and I'm so glad I did. My life has been CRAZY and so full of changes, but it's been so GREAT and such a blessing, too.

So, when Mary Ann called me and asked if I would be able to photograph her wedding, of course I jumped at the chance! I LOVE weddings! And this one, was just one I'm so glad I got to be a part of!

It was wonderful. The groom expressed excitement upon seeing her in her gown. They laughed, they hugged, they touched, and they prayed. It was a simple and small ceremony. It consisted of the bride and groom, their "witnesses" , the minister and me. I was very excited to document this intimate event, but never expected that the minister would prefer that I NOT photograph the ceremony.

What? I'm sure my jaw dropped. I just never thought it would be a problem.

Yep. He asked me "are you going to be doing that the entire time?" as i took a shot of the couple in the prayer room laughing. Me? I just said, immediately, "not if you don't want me to." Which he replied, "no, not while this is taking place."

Well, I didn't photograph out of respect for his wishes. But when the heater kicked on, (and the noise filled the room) I shot a couple of frames, and then, when I had the chance to move during the blessing (and they knelt) I bolted for the back door and quickly changed lenses and did what I was hired to do. Document their day.

Congratulations you two! I'm so thrilled that you found love together at this journey in your lives. BEST WISHES!

rampage catching up

I've already busted a "new year's resolution". To stay on top of personal photographs. I told myself that my family must come first and that when I take personal photographs, put them in the workflow. I was doing very well around Christmas and then I totally blew it last Wednesday. I blame it on Kalyn, my oldest daughter. Darn it. She took most of these. She should be editing them, right? HA!

The girl is getting so good, but she is so hard on herself. Reminds me of someone....

hmm....
who?















On the technical side of things, because I know you will email me and want to know how I did this, what my fstop was, and hey, what lens?

These were shot with the 70-200 with the image stablizer turned off. Very important when shooting action. It just slows your focusing down. Many were wide open, 2.8 with an iso of 1600 or so. After a bit, I switched to TV (or shutter speed mode) at 125 - 250. I also used my 5d with the 85 1.8 (still my favorite!) wide open as well. Most were cropped in camera and converted in photoshop CS2. Some were cropped after, however, those were mainly because Kalyn couldn't find the focal ring for telephoto zoom on that big BAD boy of a lens.

Yep, goobers. Each and every one of us!

a saturday at home

and the snow was a major let down compared to what the news said would come. My gosh! I mean, they had folks thinking the world was going to end or something! Bottled water was sold out almost everywhere, the wood place on 1585 was NUTS for days! And I even saw a car in Slaton with chains on their tires! Oh, dear. People go crazy!

I took a walk about today with the girls while lunch was brewing on the stove.

tech info
camera: 5d
lens: 16-35 2.8
shooting mode: aperature priority (most of these shot @ 2.8 although many as high as 4 or even 11
iso: 100 but a couple 400 iso (girls in trees, I think)

we are such squares

Okay, so this is what I do when I'm hanging with "my girls".

Notice the black and white conversion on the "old one". HA!










I picked up the girls from school yesterday and really wanted to go find adequate snow gear for the weekend. I'm thinking, 4 wheelers, sleds, snow boot kinda fun, you know? We had most of the gear, just really needed the sliding device.

After searching at 3 different stores, forget it! I'll just use the lid off the dog's food storage can.

fyi

Just wanted to remind everyone about 2007 dates. In case you are sitting on the fence deciding which collection, DON'T. Just decide if you want me! Dates for 2007 are filling quickly and I would hate for someone to miss out, just becuase they couldn't decide which album.

Please CLICK HERE to view dates.

art prints

I love these!

Look what I just got in today! And well worth the wait, I might add.

I've now decided that all presentation boxes (for those clients that choose the loose prints) will be filled with yummy images that have lovely, white borders. I just love how they have a vintage, finished feel to your wedding images! Don't you? Almost like a postcard.

more ice

Yep. We taste tested it!

brrr

I'm sure you've seen the news.

Ice Storm Hits Texas

Yep...it did.

So, pretty!

These are from Sunday morning. The dear hubby took us for a little drive after church. What is with men and spinning tires. They just get so darn giddy.










From today...the sun came out, but it was still 19 degrees when I took this.

brrrrr.....





All mom's will love this.

What did you leave in your car overnight that froze the next morning? Thank you Lord, it wasn't a soda.

purple and brown

Oh, dear, as Kyle would say.

I've been watching these guys for a bit now and thought you might enjoy the humor, too.

I know, I spend way too much time at the keyboards.

LOL

slideshows (again)

It's so much fun to create these and share them with you!

Click HERE for Melanie and Joseph's E-session slideshow.

Here's a few from their session because I can't stand to not have an image showing when I post.

LOL

mother nature and her early morning colors

It's that moment before the world wakes up.

announcing a new little treat

All my wedding collections and private sessions receive a "best of" dvd slideshow for clients to watch and love over and over again. They are great! And don't get me wrong, I love that they are loved and watched. However, many guests, family and friends, don't get to enjoy the slideshow, so I thought I would try something new for my 2007 couples.

You can view the first one by clicking HERE to see Amber and Tj's slideshow from their wedding. So much fun! And so cool to share with family and friends.

I will add more as the year goes by, and you can find all the shows anytime by clicking on the slideshow link to the right of this post. (right under the verse of the day)

Take care!
Kristin

june...i have to wait until june

read all about it HERE.

kim + craig

Kim, Kris, and Cheryl (my mom)
circa 1991

EGADS! I'm totally embarrassing myself here. Just check out that photo above. Oh, my GOSH! Could my hair be any bigger? This image was taken the weekend of my wedding. My family was in Lubbock for the first time and it had been ages since we had our photograph taken together. I so missed my family. I had been in Slaton for over a year and really hadn't bonded or had a good friend. It was just plain sad.

My sister Kim lives in sunny CA. I try and do a wedding or two out there once in a while so I can visit my neice and nephew and just plain keep in touch.

She's wonderful.

She wasn't always, but now she is. Of course, no one loves their sibling all the time, but when our parent's were going through a divorce (I was in 4th, she 5th) it was awful. Horrible. Miserable.

And we had each other.

We still do.

We talk almost every day and she is such a great human being and wonderful mother that I can't help but look up to her. She gets me through the tough days and I try and make her smile once in a while.

I love you Kim!

It's was her Anniversary on Sunday. She married Craig many moons ago and I love you both and wish you well! This blog post is dedicated to just you two. You are such great role models for me and our little family. You put God first in everything you do and always ask for his opinion and blessing. I think you two are fun, cool CA people without all that CA crap.

You know?

Give each other a hug and a kiss from me and I'll try and book a wedding soon and come visit!

I love you!

This is a shot I took at their wedding back in 1995.
And here they are from a "mini session" I took this past May when I was there for Mya and Chase's wedding. Aren't they just adorable!











If you know of a couple that is living the dream and loving each other every day, give me a call. Maybe they need a session to celebrate their anniversary!

the wedding

Ahhh....what a day!

Such a great celebration.

Amber Lawless married TJ Callaway last night at First United Methodist Church and I have lots to share and discuss here, so on to the day!

We started out at a salon in Lubbock and it was so nice that all the maids could just sit around all day there without going to multiple locations to get beautiful. Worked great! And it helped that it had natural light in abundance due to some wonderful south facing windows. 10 minutes into our day I realized I knew the salon owner and his family. A very friendly guy named Larry. I first met him at Mary and Manual's wedding back in August of 2005. It's great he's opened his own place and it suits him well. They guy had a smile on his face the entire time and obviously loves what he does. That's so cool!

We were a bit worried about the weather, but hey! Clear skies!



Yum. Amber's veil on the counter at the salon.



Her ring shot with the 100 macro 2.8. Love the red in this ad slick for Revlon! Worked well, don't cha think?



The lovely, future Mrs. Callaway.



Amber and her mom enjoying the morning.




Amber's sister, Andrea. I totally go a Faith Hill kind of vibe after Larry finished with her hair. VAVOOM!



See the red jacket Amber has on? Her mom bought all the bride's maids zipper hoodies/pj's to hang out in. Such a cool idea. And some cool bags to carry all their beautimus things in.




Ahh...TJ.



and his boys



And Amber? Playing hearts in the bride's room. I did mention that this couple is totally laid back, right?





Amber and I didn't have the chance to do a bridal before her wedding, so I made sure to get some major shots of just her in this gown.






The flowers were perfect. I love it when the roses are almost spent. You know? When they are completely wide open and lovely and full and just perfect.



First Church looked AMAZING! 5 PM was the perfect time. The sun was streaming through and everything just glowed.

YUM!



The kiss!



Okay, I probably shouldn't mention this, but this is such a cool thing that First Church does. I'm sure Marilyn doesn't appreciate me photographing this, because she wants to create a special moment for just the bride and groom. She takes them outside immediately after the ceremony, or close after and gives them just a moment or two to be alone and let the emotions of what they just did, sink in. I love it!

But she seriously doesn't want anyone else there. I understand. It wouldn't be their moment if family and friends were there. But I swear I was in the bushes a good 100 feet away shooting with my long lens. The sun was hitting just perfectly in this little corner. And I just had to take a shot or two. (or 50) LOL

I love the way TJ is holding her and he made sure to set her flowers down so they could really get into this moment! Well done, dude! Total "yum" moment for me!



The Happy Couple!



The reception was held at the Merkett Center on Texas Tech Campus. Great atmosphere for a wedding!