Gorgeous Wedding at Tower Ridge with Carla Ten Eyck & Erik Maziarz

Sheer joy. Pure happiness. Super funocity (that's not a word , is it?). These are the first words that come to mind when I think of describing my experience at Kevin & Kerri's wedding on Saturday at Tower Ridge Country Club in Simsbury. My extreme good luck ended in spending an awesome Saturday with some of the most fun, fabulous, and sincere people. But I would be remiss if I did not tell you how my luck began. I only served as an assistant on this wedding, the first wedding where I assisted the uber-fabulous, super talented, and amazingly artistic Carla Ten Eyck. Have you checked out her website yet? Click on her name if you haven't. I also have to give Mr. Maziarz a shout out - he was shooting with Carla that day and oh my Lord, is he awesome too! Woo!

I recently started working with Carla and her studio team. I do office "stuff" and a little shooting here and there. And boy does that make me count my lucky stars. I am so humbled to be working amongst such amazing talent. I couldn't be happier if I tried.

While being an assistant I do get to shoot a little too. (Dang, I am so thankful for that!!!!) And while I know that I don't have near the awesomeness ("there is no charge for the awesomeness" - what movie??) that Carla and her team have, I am going to share a couple of my favorite images that came from my camera that day. Enjoy! :)

Kerri's dress was so pretty




Kevin's mom brought a special little piece of lace


Loved the muted colors of Kerri's bouquet, they looked gorgeous against her dress


See?


Love the light here and overexposure here. It was so ethereal to me and complemented Kerri's happiness so well.


SUCH a happy (and beautiful!!!) bride!


Holy SMOKES!!!


Here's a quiet moment just before Kerri and Kevin's first look.


Right after their first look Kerri and Kevin sat down and she read a heartfelt letter to him. It was such a sweet moment.


The sacred moment!!!




So glad I was a part of your super fun and beautiful celebration guys! Thank you!

Boys

Boys. My boys. My two, not-so-little-anymore, little boys. My WHOLE life is about boys. Boy clothes, boy toys, boy smells, boy language - you name it - boys.

When I was a teenager my mom may have told me, more than once, that my whole life was about boys, but that was different. Really different. Back then I just wanted boys to like me, I wanted them to think I was cute, and funny, and creative, and HOT. But it was hard to get them to like a tall, stringy, big-eyed girl whose ears stuck out a little too far, whose eye makeup spoke a little too loud, whose cheeks glowed a little too red, whose body was far from curvaceous, and whose gangly awkwardness got in the way of even walking down a school corridor in a normal, far-from-hot, fashion.

I guess today we could say not much has changed. Though I wear less eye makeup my ears still stick out a little too far, my cheeks are still red, and I never found those womanly curves I had been looking for. BUT my life is still about boys and trying to get them to like me. While I don't doubt for a minute that my boys love me, I am extremely confident in the knowledge that they do not like my camera. And when I have my camera pointed in their direction, they surely do not like me. Oh well, such is life. With boys.

For this round of camera + boys I told them we were going on a photo adventure. Adventure is a boy word, right? Well, to my kids, adventure means constant running, jumping, exploring, etc. it does not mean standing still, turning towards me, looking at my lens, etc. But they braved a freezing cold, windy winter day. For me. I won't tell you about all the whining I heard though, because then you might think my boys are kinda girlie or something. ;) Trust me, as a girl, I have done my fair share of whining. And no - they didn't learn it from me. Or did they?

Um, holy sunset, Batman.


Yup, he's in midair.


yeah, not my photo op outfit of choice, but DANG, it was cold!





Yup, that's a little tiny boogie. Thanks for noticing! :)

And just because I think this is a pretty photo...


xo,

Katie

In Celebration of Winter!

Winter kills me - seriously. It's a drag!!! Yes, yes, it is beautiful don't get me wrong. I try really hard to appreciate what winter has to offer (insert sarcasm here) like bare trees, burningly cold air, flu, dirty snow, black ice, wool, and icicles, hooooray for icicles! Oh, and Christmas, I pretty much think Christmas is okay! However, I so want to be outside running my fingers through the warm dirt, planting tomatoes, swinging at the park, swimming in our little pool, sitting on the beach - anything but holed up like I have been for the past 4 months. I've kind of reached my limit with winter and I'd like it to skedaddle. And quickly. Very quickly.

Another thing about winter that I don't like so much is that it is tough to be outside taking super cute photos. So in honor of winter I am offering a little Winter Blues special to warm up your life (okay, mine too!). How about a CD of edited high-resolution images (with printing rights) and a two hour session for $100? If it sounds good, email me at kcslater@gmail.com to set up a time. These can be photos of anything and anyone. You and your honey, your kids, your dog, etc. I am open to hearing fun ideas too! This is a very limited offer though so contact me by February 28th...or ELSE! :)

And of course no post about celebration would be complete without a photo...here is our dear friend Renee whose energy, spunk, and giggles we are so happy to have in our life. Happy Birthday!!!

Two hours in the life of Slater. WARNING: Incredibly Uninteresting. Serious.

Wanna see what happened here in Slaterville today? Come on, I know you do!!!! I took my camera along on our errands today. Here goes...

First stop, (oops not really an errand) my favorite fast food stop, Taco Bell!!! Yeah baby!!! Don't judge!


Oh, what's my little Charliepants eating? A taco!!!!! The taco doesn't fall far from the tree! He sure has his momma's love of mexican.


Beware this next photo is incredibly interesting. Thank you Taco Bell for the following wetnap and breath mint - which Charlie immediately stole and ate.


On to Tarjay (the most upscale retail establishment in all of Enfield! Serious!) where we run into a guy feeding seagulls from the window of his car. Awesome.


Tarjay's aftermath, though perhaps this photo would have been more effective if I had taken a photo of my empty wallet. :/


We let the dog out...


We let the dog in... (love my little Annie Blue and her one blue eye!)


Charlie had a popsicle.


Jack came home from school.


I got Jack a popsicle too, and then proceeded to leave the freezer door open for about 10 minutes. Don't you totally love my ghetto freezer and it's accompanying mess? I don't.


Jack crackin' up at one of my super funny jokes. ;)


Jack and I making faces in front of the camera for a couple minutes. Does Tarjay carry Botox? Would anyone like to give me some Botox? PLEASE?


And that concludes story hour folks. Love ya all!

Payin' it forward - Robin Dini style!

A little while back, right before Christmas (ok, a long while back?) Robin Dini, a fabulously fun CT photographer, wrote the following:

"So, as a fellow photographer, my gift to Connecticut photographers out there, if they so choose to accept, is a family portrait session courtesy of me. This could be a day in the life session, a quick session with the family, or just you and your spouse on a walk for an hour or so. Basically, I want to hang out with you guys, chat it up, and give you some fun pictures of YOU in them! It could be so fun!"

Well, I jumped on the bandwagon as fast as I possibly could and emailed Robin right away. You see, despite the fact that I take photos of other people and their families, the last time someone (my husband's super but non-photographer friend) took a photo of my family together was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2006 and with my old point and shoot camera. Ummm, it's 2009 already. Hello, three years have quickly passed and I realized I had no up-to-date photos of me and my favorite boys. So, when Robin emailed me back to say I was one of the first people to contact her, I was soo excited! We set up a date, got dressed and ready to roll, and then smiled pretty for the camera.

Click HERE to take a look at the rest of our photos. Go on and give Robin a little comment love while you are at it!

I love the gift that Robin has given us. For when the time comes for me to look back on my life, I know from the bottom of my heart that the thing that will matter most to me is the time I spent with my family, the people I love most in life. For Robin to give us the gift of a photograph that captures just a moment of our time together, is absolutely priceless. And for that I am forever grateful. Thank you Robin for your gift of time and photography, I am so happy to have these photos of my family. SO. Incredibly. Happy. Thank you.

So, now it's my turn. For any CT photographer out there who is interested in capturing a moment of your or your family's life, I am paying it forward. It's my turn to take some photos of you. If you are interested please email me. We'll spend some time together and then I'll edit and give you the photos from your session on a CD. I will only ask for one thing in return - that YOU pay it forward too! So if you are interested, email me! Can't wait to hear from you!! :)