Ruffles everywhere

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Just a sweet little HIP APP detail shot.

Andrea and Jeremy’s wedding

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Photography by KES Weddings traveled to Batesville for Andrea and Jeremy’s wedding a few weeks ago.  The day could not have been more perfect.  It was a perfectly overcast sky and cool.  Not cold, but cool.  I normally post these to my website, but it’s currently undergoing a massive renovation and facelift courtesy of Michelle at Mockingbird Creative.  So you’ll have to wait a few weeks before they are posted on-line.  You can see their full gallery on my Facebook page by clicking here.A few days after Andrea’s gallery was posted on-line, she sent me this lovely e-mail:

Karen! Oh my goodness, they are awesome!!!!!! We just got through all of them & I honestly have NO idea how we’re going to choose our favorites! You do such great work, Thank you SO much!!! What do we do now? Besides show them off to everyone)!  They are amazing!!!!! Thank you SO much for capturing the most wonderful night of our lives!!!THANK YOU!!!!!  Andrea & Jeremy

Here are the vendor specs:

Floral – Distinctive Designs by Tanarah

Cake – Cakes by Sabra, Sabra Elmer from Newport

Band – Danny Dozier Band from Batesville

Dress – “Exclusive Bridal”, Low’s, Brinkley

Hair & Makeup – Beth Hardaway Ezell, Nashville, TN

Programs – Something Blue Paperie, Conway; Karan Kendall Pierce

Enjoy the gallery!

Why I love this job.

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Many of my photographer friends (the non-wedding ones) have often asked me why I enjoy being a wedding photographer. There are so many reasons why, but especially when I get e-mails like this: “Karen, Oh my gosh!!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE our pictures!!!! You did such an amazing job, literally, amazing job laying out all the books!!! I love them soo much and we have been showing them off to everyone!!! Thank you so much for all the work you did to make our wedding like a working living still-framed film! It really is perfect and we are very grateful for your work!! I have told everyone I know to book you because of the great job you did with our stuff! Thanks again! It was great working with you!! Thank you again!”You can see Emily and Drew’s entire wedding by visiting my website here.

My Alter Ego

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To all my brides and fans of all things weddings, I must apologize for my absence over the past week or so.You see, I am a two-faced photographer.There are two different sides of me.  One of them, my Alter Ego, which can be found here, took over my persona for the past week for the love of basketball.  I’m not a huge fan of the sport itself, but when it comes to tournament time, I swing into high gear.I love tournament time.The Summit Arena in Hot Springs has hosted both the Sub Belt Tournment as well as Arkansas’ High School finals over the past several years and there could not be a better place to have the events.  I get to see photographers that I seldom see throughout the year.  I gave up my last Sunday off and headed to HS to shoot hoops.  Afterwards, I made three other trips to HS for the love of college and HS hoops.  Honestly, I have no idea how many games I shot and I don’t really care.The days are long:  Often 10+ hours with little break.  The food is not great.  I meals are somewhat tasty, but as one of ONLY A FEW women running around a media area, it’s not like there’s a spread of fresh fruit and a huge salad bar.  But I love the camaraderie with the other photographers.  I may bitch and moan to myself if my hard earned photos are not the desired images, but in the end, I love my Alter Ego and I would not trade it for anything.Below are some of my favorites from the past week.  In my opinion, the reactionary photos to a win or a loss are often more telling than the game photos themselves.And I must add in a nod to the UALR Trojans and the UALR Lady Trojans for both making it to the big dance. Congrats to you all.  You’ve earned it. 

   

The Power of the Pen

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I received a little surprise in the mail last week.  It was something I’ve received in the past – just not that often.  A Thank You card.  This was an ACTUAL, hand-written note.  Not a thank you e-mail….  Not a thank you text….  Not a thank you Facebook message or post…..  It was an actual hand-written card.   Oh how I miss these.The note came from Courteney and Andrew.  Back in January, they won a free engagement session from me at the 2011 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Bridal Fair.  They used one of their photos for their Save the Date cards which came from Something Blue Paperie in Conway.In this overly articulated, plugged-in world, too many people – myself included – rely way too much on their computers to send a word of thanks.  It’s faster to type an e-mail than write a note.  I’m just as guilty as everyone else.  But here at Photography by KES Weddings, I cherish all my thank you’s.  I save every piece of correspondence, both the e-versions and the hand-written ones.  All my thank you cards are taped to the doors of my work curio.  This one will proudly by added to the collection ….with thanks.Thank You Karen! We appreciate you so much!  I was so excited to win the e-session with you – the photos are perfect! The save the date turned out to be so cute – I love it!  Thank you for your work on that.  I’ll be placing orders next   Thanks again, it was great working with you Karen.   — Courteney & Andrew

You both are very welcome.

Hello world!

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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Taste of Spring

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Just a little hint of things to come.  Sunny skies and warmer days.

Valentine’s Day

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My husband and I work opposite schedules so we don’t see each other much during the week.  For this Valentine’s Day, we spent all of two hours with each other.  11 p.m. to 1 a.m.  Since we were so tired, we just vegged on the couch and watched the Westminster Dog show.  Aren’t we fun???But when I did get home, I had this waiting for me in the fridge.  I might share one —- MIGHT.I hope everyone had a great Happy Heart’s Day.

Love stories

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In honor of Valentine’s Day – which is today in case you are completely blind or just forgot -  Photography by KES Weddings asked our clients for love stories and a chance to win a 16×16 float canvas wrap.How did he propose?  Was it creative and unique?  Traditional and romantic?  Or just plain weird?   The one voted as the best story will win.Who is voting?  You are, all my clients as of now for 2011 and 2012.   There one catch:  You cannot vote for your own, please vote for someone else’s love story.So without further delay…..read on for some great love stories.Our proposal was a little different, but very memorable and completely romantic-in a weird way.  It’s not a proposal you read about in love novels.  It’s not a cliché, cheesy, predictable proposal that you hear about over and over again.  It was the perfect proposal.  It fully describes us- silly, carefree, and definitely unforgettable. I came home from work that Thursday evening expecting to put on my comfy clothes and watch some E! News.  Jacob had other plans for us. He told me to get dressed up and ready for dinner.  I was so excited because it was a treat to go out on a “work night” but I didn’t really think much about it. Jacob picked me up for dinner and we got in his truck.  He was a little hesitant to get going and I wondered why we hadn’t started moving.  All of a sudden he picked up a water bottle to take a “drink”.  He totally missed his mouth and spilled half of the water on him and all over his pants.  He was a little flustered and asked me to grab some napkins out of the glove box.  I opened up the glove box and started tearing through it looking for napkins.  I said, “Jacob, there aren’t any napkins in here.”   He said, “Look a little closer.”  And there it was, my beautiful ring sitting in its box.  I looked at him and probably said “shut up” or “no way.”  Then he leaned over and said, “Lindsey, will you marry me?”  The tears began pouring and I basically jumped over to the other side of the truck screaming “Yes, yes, yes”!  I was laughing and crying all at the same time to where it turned into my ugly, gasping for air cry. We ran inside my house to tell my roommate the good news.  We were all caught up in the moment celebrating and taking pictures.  We finally headed off to dinner and I was looking at the pictures we had just taken.  The pictures were great except for one little thing.  Yep, you guessed it.  It looked like Jacob had had an accident.  It was the funniest, sweetest thing in the world.  I felt pretty lucky to have a fiancé that would “wet himself” just to hear me say yes and to make me the happiest girl in the world. -Lindsey and JacobI spent the week after Christmas in Austin with Adam where we shopped, ate at some of his local favorites, drove around looking for an open cupcakery, watched “Top Gear”, and chilled. Rarely do we have a full week together (I live and work in Conway and Adam lives and works in Austin), but when we do I treasure the time we spend together. Long-distance relationships are hard, especially when said relationship has been long distance for a year and a half.All week, Adam had mentioned going to the New Year’s Eve fireworks downtown, but after we spent the day downtown shopping and saw how bad the parking and traffic was already getting, he decided to scratch that idea. We got back to his apartment and freshened up a bit so we could go “out on the town” for the night. A bit after 5 Adam said, “Let’s go,” to which I replied, “It’s only 5. We aren’t grandparents.” Then he said he wanted to go catch the last sunset of 2010. Okay then.The two of us loaded up in his car and he drove us to Mount Bonnell. Mount Bonnell has a gorgeous view of Lake Austin and the amazing houses surrounding it and a view of downtown Austin (complete with an unfortunate view of the Texas Tower), as well as a beautiful pavilion where lots of tourists snap pictures or hangout. After we parked the car we walked up the ridiculously steep stairs to the summit. Mind you, I’m wearing cute pointy-toe ballet flats – because that’s what all experienced hikers wear.At the top, Adam takes me over to a smaller somewhat private overlook and I notice we arrived at just the perfect time, because the sun has just begun to set and cast a pink hue across the sky. It was breathtaking. We stand there for a good while chatting about how pretty the view was and which houses on the lake I wanted him to buy me.  Hey, a girl can dream right? Next thing I know Adam is PROPOSING!! TO ME!!!  I don’t even remember everything he said leading up to the “Will you marry me” part, but I remember being a bit surprised. In a good way. Right then and there I went from girlfriend to fiancée and I was beaming. I ended 2010 as Adam’s fiancée and I’ve spent every day of 2011, thus far, with a huge smile on my face, because I get to MARRY the most amazing guy I know!! Ah!Fun sidenote: Adam and I have been together for 3 years and for the last, oh, year and a half, I had taken to humming Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in the car whenever we have a dull moment.  In part because I love the song and its accompanying video, but also because it was about dang time for a ring to show up on MY finger. Come to find out, Adam named this whole proposal “Operation: No More Beyonce”.-Megan and AdamAs I sat around trying to come up with a good way to propose, throwing around a couple ideas, one kept coming to mind. I knew how much she loved flowers, so I thought of a really good way to put the two together. To start the day off, I sent her twenty-four red roses to work with a note that said “With my love, I send you 24 red roses for the 24 hours in a day I love you.” ( I was in shock at the unexpected surprise, sent for no apparent reason except to say “I love you!” Who doesn’t like sweet surprises to make the co-workers jealous that you have the greatest man in the world!!) Then, I put seven yellow roses in her car with a note that said “7 yellow roses for the 7 days a week you are my best friend.”  (From Rickelle — I had just given him the key to my car weeks before because I had a really bad habit of locking myself out! Fortunately for him, it fit right into his plan! By now I’m speechless, the love of my life has done the sweetest thing to ever happen to me! I’m also trying to figure out if I’m the one who forgot something! It’s not our anniversary, it’s not my birthday, and the closest holiday was Thanksgiving!) I waited anxiously for her at home to hear how her day was. When she walked thru the door, I met her on one knee with a white rose in my hand and the ring tied to it with a ribbon, I said “This one white rose is for the life time of love I would enjoy spending with you.”-Kevin and RickelleThe secret was reaching critical mass. I knew we couldn’t preserve it much longer. Since we had picked a venue and set a date, I had bought a dress and started planning details. Maybe one would call this backwards, but I just like to refer to it as unconventional. Evan and I knew we wanted to get married in 2011, but we had just whimsically discussed the month of May. Completely ignoring all cliches about marrying in the month of May, we decided to reserve our venue in Little Rock for May 14th, their only opening this year. Evan asked my father’s permission to marry me after he had already written a check to book the day. Of course, he happily agreed. As the week after our Arkansas excursion to spend time with my parents expired (we live in Tennessee), I was starting to get a little impatient. I wanted to tell everyone so bad! On Saturday, January 29th, it became official! After a trip home to Chattanooga which he gave vague intentions for, he picked me up at my apartment for a routine Starbucks visit. I was a little annoyed to find a envelope on my car windshield, thinking someone was advertising at the apartment complex. My annoyance continued until Evan acted like a middle school prankster, urging me to open it up. Thats when I knew. He was gonna pop the question. Thus began a series of clues that would lead me on the best scavenger hunt of my life! After we had coffee in hand, he handed me the next clue, a picture of us with our New Year’s hoppin John and hog jowl we cooked for friends. Following these leads, we arrived at his friends house where some unknown perpetrator had hidden the next clue, along with some pink tulips. Leading us down Gainsboro grade to Cummins Falls, the perpetrator of this wild goose chase was about to be revealed. The cold winter air accompanied us down the trail towards the falls. Once we arrived at the overlook (where he kissed me for the first time!), we stood and watched the falls. The white water roared and Evan held me close. “Enough is enough” he said “I’m the one who’s been leading you on this wild goose chase!” I didn’t notice him pulling the ring out of his pocket. He knelt and said it “Sara Kathryn, I love you. Will you Marry Me?” I didn’t even look at the ring as I grabbed his face and kissed him. “Yes!” I said. We embraced and kissed for a while, before he placed the ring on my finger. It was beautiful! I wasn’t expecting a three stone ring. Soon after, we noticed Evan’s dad and roommate up the hill stalking us with a camera! The whole thing is captured on film! After photos, we made the trek back to the car and rode off into the sunset. After some stalling, he led me to his apartment where his Mom planned a surprise party for us and friends so I could finally share the happy news we’d been keeping a secret! What a happy beginning to the rest of our life together!-Sara Kathryn and EvanAfter more than 4 years together, Austin and I decided it was about time to start seriously thinking about a wedding. I think we knew after only 2 years of being together that we were going to get married, but we were broke and in college so we wanted to wait until the right time. So last spring we started looking at rings online and he started saving money. I let my mom know that we had started looking for a ring and so the next time I took a trip home she had a surprise for me. She took me outside and handed me a ring box. I knew exactly which ring it was and immediately started crying. It was one of her most cherished pieces of jewelry, a solitaire diamond ring that she had splurged and bought herself many years ago. She told me that she wanted me to use the diamond in my engagement ring. Austin and I were both elated to receive such a generous and sentimental gift. So he and I headed to Jones & Son in Little Rock to pick out a setting. We found the perfect one and were able to leave the store with the ring that day. I was insanely happy! We stopped at Barnes & Noble on the way home and I asked him if I could please, please wear it inside. Keep in mind, he hadn’t proposed to me yet. Even though my mom gave us a diamond, he still hadn’t technically asked my Dad for “permission” to marry me. He did let me wear it into Barnes & Noble, but after that day it went in a dresser drawer and stayed there…for a month! Let’s just say I was a bit anxious. Finally, on May 24^th I came home from work and saw a white paper box on the kitchen counter. Because he knows how nosey I am, he just sat at the computer until I mentioned the box, which took all of 10 seconds. He told me to open it. Inside were cupcakes with “Will you marry me?” written in icing on each one. Unfortunately, I can’t remember everything he said when he was down on his knee. I only kept thinking, “This is happening! You’re getting proposed to!”  There were no tears, only excitement. He gave me a bouquet of different colored roses and told me to get dressed to eat dinner at Capers. It was a surreal day.  After all those years together, it felt great that the right time had finally come. -Brittney & Austin

Finally – for good measure – here’s my love story.There was no way I was going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day. After years of working in restaurants, it’s one of the worst nights as a customer.  As a server, it was great.  You turned tables quickly and you could easily head home with $200 – not bad for a college student.  But as a guest, service was often hurried, it was too loud to have a decent conversation, they ran out of nearly everything and they often crammed you at a two-top.  Mike and I are tall so a table for two is a bit too snug.So when Mike asked me on February 2006 where I wanted to go for dinner for V-Day, I said Cafe’ Prego.  But I knew it was better to go the day before, which we did. Dinner was uneventful.  Honestly it was.  Sure we had nice conversation, but did he break out a ring?  No.  In fact, we talked about moving – to Cincinnati.  You see, I was being romanced by another — another newspaper.  I had applied for a new position with my alter ego career at The Cincinnati Inquirer and I was among the finalists for the job.  So we talked about the possibility of my moving.  My main questions was simple:  Would Mike move with me? We headed home.While watching the winter olympics in our bedroom, I began to change from my dinner clothes to something a little more comfy.  It was figure skating night so China was on the ice.  As I was standing near the closet watching TV, I was wearing part of my dinner ensemble:  a brown sweater, black socks and my undies: plain and cotton.  Mike was changing too.  As he put away his jacket, he took something out of the pocket.“Now… this is not your Valentine’s Day present….,” he said as I looked at the little green box from Mary Healey’s.  Before I knew it, I hugged him so tightly and cried.  I don’t actually remember him saying “Will you marry me?” but he swears he said it.  He says I was crying too hard to hear him.I found out later that he wanted to ask me the previous November, but his plans were changed because I was sent to Mississippi on a week-long assignment three months following Hurricane Katrina.  We had a week-long camping trip planned, but my boss asked me if I’d cancel and head to MS.  Mike normally understands that assignment opportunities pop up, but this time when I agreed to go – he was angry.  Now I know why.We got married on November 4, 2006.

The last roll of Kodachrome

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Back on December 20, 2010, Photography by KES Weddings posted an interesting little tidbit about Kodachrome.  You can read the blog post by clicking here.  If not, below is a small segment of that post:Kodachrome?  Have you heard of this?  If so, raise your hands with pride. If not – you’re not alone.

Kodachrome, AKA slide film, has been (was) around for decades.  After I made the transition from BW film to color film (waaaaaay back in the early 1990s) I was soon introduced to Kodachrome as were thousands of photographers from around the country.  “Crome” as well called it for short, was brutal and not forgiving.  With negative film, there was room for error.  If you were under/overexposed, you could correct for this in the darkroom.  Not with chrome.  You had to be accurate….deadly accurate.  If you screwed up – it showed….and it was horrible.The early days of digital was just like shooting on chrome.  You had to be very accurate with your expose and your color balance or else your photos looked like crap.  Today, with the beauty that is known as camera RAW, if something is amiss, you can compensate.Last year, Kodak stopped producing the film and the chemicals needed to develop the film and only a handful of businesses were supplied with enough chemicals to process the film.  Well the end of an era has arrived.  The last rolls of Kodachrome were processed.Anyway, the last roll of Kodachrome was sold to photographer Steve McCurry.  That final roll has now been processed.  To see his images, check out this article from Vanity Fair Magazine. Some of the images are quite surprising.  My favorite is No. 15.  What’s yours?