Peace and Pandemonium

Allow me to muse for a moment.

One thing I love about my job is meeting new people and making lasting friendships!
It is always a treat to shoot people that I didn't know before.
Not to take anything away from shooting friends and family, but there is something extra satisfying about engaging in a photo shoot with people I am unfamiliar with.
One big reason is the trust that is involved.
Photography is a very intimate process.
I ask people to relax and be themselves in front of a stranger with a huge lens pointed in their face.
I ask my subject to allow me into their personal space and in turn, into their personal lives for a glimpse at who they are and who they love.
This requires a deep amount of trust in me as their photographer.
I'm grateful for the great ability of my clients to let go of their insecurities and the natural instincts they may have to shy away.
I always try to have my subject conjure up loving, cherished thoughts while I take their photo because it really allows their most unguarded and vulnerable essence to shine through.
While I'm not always privy to those thoughts, we both walk away feeling a sense of connection that we didn't have before.
This is what I love and why I find photography so rewarding.
The connections made and true essence captured.
When I am photographing people I don't have any previous connection with, I feel that I am truly able to be a curious observer and watch individual personalities shine through with an open mind and a ready camera.



The Chappell family proved to be one of my favorite family shoots of this season. They took me up to the 100+ acres of land they own in beautiful Alpine. As we were driving up, I was following behind in my car thinking to myself, "oh it's gorgeous over there, I hope we turn left." Then sure enough we would turn left. Further down the road I'm thinking, "Turn right turn right!" Sure enough, we turned right. BAsically they drove me exactly where I hoped they would and I was very pleased with the scenery we had to work with. In a nutshell, the boys were full of energy and spunk. The baby was happy and absolutely ADORABLE and cuddly, and mom and dad obviously LOVE each other. The makings for a perfect family shoot.

Thanks Chappell Family. I hope you love these photos as much as I do!











The spit bubbles add a nice touch don't you think? :)













It was a chilly evening and lil' baby Sam was in the car staying warm while I was shooting his mom and dad. Then the boys came over to get in on the photo taking action. All of the sudden I was capturing the warmest yummiest light of the evening.



I rushed to get Sam out of the car for a family pic that included everyone! I'm so glad I did. These family shots are my favorite of the day.




To see more images from this shoot, (and really why would you not want to?) click HERE.

I dont know if anyone is out there still?

Hello??? hello hello hello hello...
Echo!! echo echo echo echo...

I haven't heard from many of you lately and I'm a little sad about it.
I know my blog is kinda boring lately.
Pictures pictures pictures, blurb blurb blurb. Thats it!
Shake it up Kiera!!!
I also know I haven't been a very good at commenting on your blogs lately.
For that I am sorry.
I am trying to do better.
I know how important (albeit totally superficial) comments are to bloggers.
So I will give, in an effort to receive. ;)

I realize I haven't been writing very much about my personal life on this, my "personal" blog.
At least it used to be.
I know I need to start a photo blog, strictly for clients. I'm working on that.
Maybe when I get all of that stuff worked out, I'll feel better about blabbing about myself and my family more often.

Until then,
I really want you to follow this link and check out these large format portraits of my family.
I am so thankful for my wonderfully talented friends who generously share their gifts with me.
These are exactly what I was hoping to get and sure enough my girl delivered!
There are more and when I have permission to, I hope to post them on my blog because I really want to show them all off.

I am thankful that you read my blog today. What do you think of those pictures???

I was hanging out with my friend Alisha last night and right after midnight we saw this.
It was incredible!!!
It literally lit up my entire living room like it was the middle of the day.
We watched it fall from the sky in a spectacular blaze of fire.
It was a little nerve wracking at first because I had no idea that the Leonid meteor shower was peaking yesterday.
We were stunned by what we saw and I feel lucky to have been able to witness such an amazing site.

I have had the pleasure of knowing the Bauer family for a few years now. We used to live in the same neighborhood and Bess and I had our first baby on the same day!! That is an instant connection right there.

I was thrilled when they decided to have me do their family photos this year. What a joy for me to capture all the adorableness that are their kids. I mean seriously, I was in lashes and freckle heaven. Bess and Micah are expecting their fourth child. When you have kids this cute, repopulating is a must. Can I get an Amen?

AMEN!

We went to Sundance to explore the grounds and play in the sun. It was a lovely afternoon.

Sophie went to a friends birthday party this morning where they had their faces painted and took at dance class. At the end of the party, they performed their dance for the parents. Well I didnt know this and I scheduled a haircut during the party so I didnt get to see the recital at the end. So imagine my joy when my friend Elisha emailed me this darling picture of Sophie from the party. It's been a while since I made the time to photograph my own kids. Shame on me! This picture has inspired me to get some pics of my own again.




Thanks Elisha. This is a FABULOUS photo!!

Yes, it's true, I could spend the time typing a really cute and cleaver anecdote about the Bingham family.

Maybe I could write about how each child cried for their dad to hold them and when they realized that he couldn't (and more importantly wouldn't) hold all of them at once, they each took their turn crying tears of sadness and protest. For example...



Or I could talk about the deer guts that we stumbled upon while exploring in the wild and how it was totally disgusting.

Or I could tell you the funny story about how baby Ben's feet litterally swung up behind him for no appartent reason and he went from standing happily to laying flat on his face in under .5 seconds. (Actually I'll just SHOW you those pictures)

Yeah I could write in detail about all of this but that would just postpone me from finally posting this blog after 2 full weeks. I don't think Alyson is going to care what I write at this point. I think she is just dying to see some pictures from the family session I had with her family on Halloween. Yes, thats right, October 31st! That tells you how far behind I am on editing. : ) So instead of doing all that, I'll just press post and get it over with already and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.






















One second...

The very next second.

Happy Birthday Claire.

Another Halloween.
Another All Hallow's Eve spent scrambling to come up with suitable costumes for my kiddies.
I wish I were one of those moms who had their kids costumes planned out a month ahead of time but alas, I'm not.
This year Sophie chose to be a witch.
Matias wanted to be a vampire.
Isaiah was the trickiest of all by dressing up as a sorcerer.














And, in a crazy turn of events, I even dressed up this year. As Medusa in case you couldn't tell what that crazy stuff on my head is. Good times.

First of all I have to announce that I finally got internet in my new house after nearly 3 months!!! I succumbed to the beast and to be honest, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I intend on keeping a reasonable amount of distance from life on the internet so as not to get sucked in, but at least now I can post blogs without driving to my moms house. That will be nice. It'll also be nice to respond to email in a more timely manner. I promise that from now on, I will be a better blogger, a better email corresponder, and a better friend on facebook. Oh who are we kidding, I'm not going to do that last one but the other two you can count on.

In more good news, I had the opportunity to photograph my dear friend Leah, and her gorgeous family a couple weeks ago. Despite some bumps in the road (a swine flu scare and a couple of super short , but handsome, haircuts) we managed to get the family out to a very special location. The Wrights are building a house and we decided that we needed to take pictures on the mound of dirt that will soon become their beautiful new home. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall afternoon and even though there were some tribulations and harships along the way (you like that Leah?), the pictures turned out beautifully. Well at least I think they did. :)

Enjoy...