9.30.2008

elizabeth + ryan: in love at the drive through

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elizabeth + ryan . . . i'm gonna love shooting their wedding!

we met for their engagement session on a glorious late summer evening at . . . the bank drive-through. yep, you read that right: the bank drive-through! Get this: elizabeth + ryan met while working as tellers at this downtown columbia bank, so we had to make some pictures there.

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and right across the street . . . i never realized how cute a parking meter could be, but put a couple-in-love in front of one and voila!

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and something else you should know about elizabeth + ryan: they have started their own pet sitting business. It's called Tiger Tail Pet Sitters, and they will come to your home to care for pets (and home and plants etc.) when you're out of town. Next time we take a trip, I'm calling them! Click here to see their website (and check out their own sweet guy below):

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click to see more pictures in their slideshow, set to music performed by our favorite guitarist, Thom Howard.
here comes the sun.
it's Fall.
the leaves are turning.
give that sweetie of yours a kiss.

~kim

9.27.2008

sneak peak extravaganza: blown away by Cott-n-Candy

it's been a busy but terrific couple of weeks.


- kim and i took part in a 1-light workshop in KC and met + learned with photographers from around the country whose work we've long admired but whom we did not KNOW IN PERSON . . . until THIS WEEK that is!!!

- tycho turned EIGHT (can it be?!) and we had a massive all-day "block" party

- there are so many SilverBox heirloom albums in production that Queensberry is on our speed dial. and we ALMOST know what time we should place those calls to new zealand (though, well...not quite; time zones are trickier to us than to the average bear it seems) please note: all orders must be finished in our offices by october 20th to guarantee christmas delivery. the heat is on (and we -mostly- LOVE it!)

- today is paul's birthday and i LOVE HIM! though it seems he won't be in his 30s that much longer . . . hope you and that lil man are having fun today honey!!! enjoy those giant turkey legs :D

and, and AND

today marks candy + scott's 2 week anniversary and i can't think of a single SilverBox couple that:
a. i so quickly fell so deeply and completely in love with
(i tell you, i MISS them! and oh that l-o-o-o-o-v-e-l-y butler family, don't even get me started, what a JOY it was to spend an oregon weekend with them)
NOR can i think of a SilverBox couple
b. who's had to wait more than 10 days to see their images + slideshow online.

ooh, candy + scott, i'm so sorry that i'm not quite ready.
the editing is going well.
the images are BEAUTIFUL
and well, here's a sneak peak.
your slideshow will be online before the end of the month I PROMISE.

here's a lil' something in the mean time:

many a bride feels nearly blown over with the emotion, the love, the joy of her wedding day . . . and look, candy butler nearly was!

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that immense out-of-nowhere windstorm makes these announcement cards i'd printed up after friday night's festivities seem like foreshadowing:

[note esp. the one on the left]
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friday of the cott-n-candy wedding weekend was jam-packed and just out-of-this-world, but for the quick sneak-peak version of this, we're going to start with scott + candy's "first glance" ~ if the trailhead sign is correct we would have been about 905 paces from the devil's punchbowl at this point :D

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candy is the youngest of 3 girls.
and you cannot imagine how very wonderful these 3 women (and their relationship with each other, their husbands and their parents) truly are.
ali told me with tears in her eyes at friday's nights beach-bonfire that she was just so very happy because:
"i just didn't know if there could be a wedding -- if there could even be a place to HAVE a wedding -- as unique and perfect as candy deserves. she is such a great and wonderful person and i'm just so glad this is happening for her. i'm so happy that she's so happy"
(and candy is her little sister! - is that THE most touching thing you've ever heard ~ by this point there were tears in my eyes, too, let me tell you!)
here's ally + her new-ish husband the morning of the wedding. i just love this image; will share lots of them all dressed up in wedding attire later, but THIS captures the moment and how they feel about each other i think:

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. . . .and THIS was the moment immediately following
a sweet niece with her uncle:

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the oldest of the Butler girls with her family AND scott + candy:

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and lindsey, in a quiet moment at the tented reception, pulled me aside, (again, tears in the eyes -- hers and mine) and said
"i just can't think you enough. these pictures will mean so much to candy and to scott and to all of us. thank you. really. thank you."
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my guess is that kids learn to express joy + gratitude and "ma and pa" butler
(i just made that up; they're not very old so may not appreciate that . . . anyway, we'll see if they READ this or just look at the pictures) ~ but where was i going with that? oh yes, mr. and mrs. butler have daughters who epitomize grace and are surely darn impressive teachers (no fabrication or exaggeration on THAT part i'm most certain.)

you've ever-so-quickly met candy's dad (who tethered her to the earth as they were walking down the aisle before officiating his daughter's wedding" but it just wouldn't be right for you to not have a chance to meet Susan Butler -- the mom, the mastermind, the SEAMSTRESS of ALL of the bridesmaid's dresses (yep, she custom ordered 40 yards of this lovely linen fabric and wow!)

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those DRESSES:

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oh, and the boys:

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the oregon coast, with whipping wind that would soon grow MUCH mightier . . .

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. . . we got a few couple shots in down at the beach, but soon retreated to the base of the stairs:

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candy had specifically requested a wide-angle type of shot and though being sandblasted . . . look how the wedding party managed to tough it out. i shouted to each couple "just um. Interact." and it just cracks me up to see how scott + candy translated that direction :D

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there are MANY more coming soon and oh, just wait till you see THIS slideshow.

oh, and i thought of another image i just can't wait to share. WAIT until you see scott + his sister!!!!
ok, THAT image, and many more will soon-to-come.

thanks for your patience guys.
thanks esp. the letting me spend time with you.
am not sure if i mentioned it, but i just might be finding my way out to YOUR place in portland (with paul + kids in tow) at every major holiday for the next decade or so. am i too old to be adopted? (like a joint custody with my own parents type of thing??)

much love to ya!
~amy enderle

9.21.2008

matt + elizabeth :: just married!

how impressive is THIS?:
matthew fails taught a 3:30 friday afternoon comparative politics class before driving to fulton for his rehearsal.
now that's a dedicated college instructor!
later in the weekend i learned that he and i (and many of our respective friends + yes, even our spouses, too) had had the same professor in our own undergrad comparative classes: dr. ishiyama. truman state.
and though it was 16 or 17 YEARS AGO for me, i think i may also have drawn that 3:30 MWF time slot.

(soon, more rambling. first. rehearsal dinner was at BEKs in fulton. and boy is it CUTE! - i'm going back (and i'm taking paul!!!! CLICK HERE to see matt + elizabeth's wedding highlight slideshow, incl. a few shots of bek's fri night. LOVE IT!)

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ok, who can resist the ramble . . .

it's just that
oh i LOVED college!

"what?" people sometimes say --"you're not even using your degree(s)."

maybe i'm feeling esp. feisty this morning but EXCUSE ME?! . . . oh how i beg to differ.
the things i thought about + pondered . . . the ideas i was exposed to . . . the kinds of people i encountered ~ well all of that, THAT really important stuff that makes up the quality of one's life....all of THAT grew exponentially during my college years.

how often in life do you get the pure luxury of reading profound thoughts and chatting about ideas those thoughts inspire 'till the wee hours of the morning? college is this amazing respite in life.
i worked, but i didn't have to earn enough working to make a living ~ scholarships, loans, family support for things like medical insurance . . . being able to survive on little ~ all of that came together to give me this amazing chance to think and to ponder.
to learn and to wonder.
and my college experience was so much beyond what was discussed in class.
it was professors and advisors (many of whom now i regard as insightful friends) often "held court" while flocks of undergrads sat nearby discussing, debating, wondering.
"not USING your degrees" -- pleeeeease, liberal arts education is NOT meant to be some sort of vo-tech training. truth be told, i feel like i utilize, draw from or expand on something i learned or thought about while an undergrad at truman (or a graduate student/TA at MU) pretty much every day.
EVERYDAY.
every single day.
could i DO this job, photographing these important moments in people's lives, if i hadn't gone to college and grad school? well, maybe....but not nearly as well.
and furthermore, i'm not sure i would have forged the opportunity to make it happen.
and yes, BTW - none, not one of my classes was in photography ~ didn't need to be.

WAIT...i'm rambling about me and chattering about my pro-education bias . . . clearly i could perch upon this indulgent soapbox for a very long time, when what i MEANT to do is introduce you to this amazing couple: matt + elizabeth.

upon their "first glance":

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like paul and i, they met at college at truman.
perhaps unlike paul + myself, geez look HOW CUTE they are together!!

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THIS is good use of the berlin wall, eh?
(i think one or the other of these is annika's but am not looking at the meta-data at the moment)

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and pretty good use of a gravel road, too:

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at one point in her maid-of-honor speech, sarah talked about how, even attaining a PhD and law degree doesn't thrill them more then coming up with + creating the PERFECT halloween costume. and that's when i knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that indeed matt + elizabeth ARE my kind of people!

the lovely church on westminster's campus was as deliciously light-filled as always.

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and how perfect is this little english side garden for a private first moment:

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does it make you chuckle to see winston overseeing such history?!

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kimball ballroom: beautiful, beautiful, beautiful (click here to see this matt + elizabeth highlight slideshow if you haven't already!!) and big shout out to Salon Nefisa for doing such a fabulous job with girl's makeup. LOVELY!

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and well, josh keller once again rocked the house.
AND it was esp nice of him to so quickly respond to my 10PM text last night as i inquired about matt + elizabeth's first song.
i remembered i LOVED it;
i remembered that i knew it and knew it well.
but gosh darn, i just didn't remember what it WAS.

i was floored with josh's immediate and impressive recall.
"what a memory!" i text-d with my thanks.

i wish . . .
the laptop has a memory like an elephant.


btw at 10:10PM that's EVEN funnier.

this job. . .
working in spaces like the sir-christopher-wren church + the impeccably renovated kimball ballroom . . .
working on a daily basis with someone as insightful + inspiring as kim wade
and on weekly basis with people like the amazing annika miller, the terrific staff of salon nefisa and the magic-memory of josh keller and well, documenting unfolding stories like THESE just-married glimpses (oh how i wish i had a picture like this with my mom (see left), and (center) a picture of my mom together with my mother-in-law like this and the final shot....do you have a brother? or kid sister?? - how special is this!) . . .

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and my oh my . . .
ONE MORE:

. . . hearing toasts like the one dennis wilhelmi delivered on his daughter's wedding day . . .

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. . . well we've said it before.
we'll say it again, but this,
THIS is what, at the end of the day, life is all about.

and well, i've taken enough courses,
done enough reading,
had enough meaningful interaction with people (+ ideas!) near and dear to me
to recognize just how very lucky i am.
and for that, (whether it LOOKS to the world like i'm using those beloved degrees of mine or not), i just want to say thanks.

sadly, we will not, we do not remember our days, or our years or long passages of prose.
luckily, we remember MOMENTS.
. . . and we SHARE THEM (and keep them alive!) with pictures.

hug people you love!
read things that make you think!
and if you get a chance, call your mom.

at this very moment, on this very morning, THESE things seem to be the secret of a well-lived life.

~amy

9.19.2008

check this out . . .

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makes me think that when selecting your bridal party you should first think 
OK, of all my friends, who really makes me LAUGH!

am playing with this new temporary template a bit. 
[ hey kim, surprise! and THANKS SO MUCH, MADELINE! ]

. . . gonna see how big we can make these photos and well, how big we like 'em.

remember that weekly reader picture game? 
you'd see a close close-up of a bit of something and have to figure out just what you were looking at? -- any ideas on THIS one:

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aah gosh, when the picture is THIS big, it's pretty easy, but just in case you'd like a bit more context, see:

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so, indeed THIS weekend, a grand matt + elizabeth slideshow gets posted 
PLUS 
lots more playing with our new blogger template, too.

fun times! ~ amy

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mere moments after making it official:

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9.18.2008

impromptu headshots, successful quests+ a sneak peak, too

ODE TO (come now, hum ode to joy* will ye??)
ODE TO (THE QUEST for) the perfect . . . .

~ shoes
~ bag
~ lipgloss
~ watch
~ couch
can men relate to this? 
though maybe um girly? one (endearing?) trait kim + i share is that we're often on a quest for the perfect __________.  
through years of trial + error or just crazy vision (?), we tend to figure out JUST what we want, but then must figure out WHERE to find it or HOW to make it.

now solidly in my 30s, i've actually FOUND some of the above 
shoes:  earth, but a style now discontinued...aargh ]

[ bag ~ at least a bag for camera LENSES, see:  www.shootsac.com;]

[ couch:  paul + i stumbled upon it HERE in tower grove -- it's a custom-made modern-design piece clearly crafted-per-client request in the 1960s.  the-future's-antiques-store uncovered it at an estate sale, and we LOVE it. It's an L-shaped sectional made from 7 subtlely different sun + foliage shades of genuine Naugahyde; you've gotta see it to believe just how great it is!]

[ wristwatch -- found!!! -- for our 15th wedding anniversary, paul gave me the MOST FABULOUS watch with a card reading "had a feeling this would be just PERFECT" ~ his insight especially right-on since i'd sent him THIS LINK 
yoga starts soon; here's the abbreviated version:

silly me, racing out the door last week DROPPED my wonderful still-pretty-new seaglass watch on the cement floor of my office ~well the seaglass survived PERFECTLY (b/c in the course of its life has endured much greater force), the watch face, however c-r-a-c-k-e-d. 
well god-bless-google; found the artist (jessica lee); sent her an email with the story and she responded (no kidding, though it sounds to good to be true)

"You can return the watch and I will replace the face - no charge! 

Just send it to the studio..."

followed by her shipping address:  in PORTLAND. 
(where i would by flying into a mere two days later!) 

well that 15th anniversary watch is now one of my most favorite things. 
so OF COURSE i wanted to meet the artist and, fingers-crossed, get it repaired in time for scott + candy's wedding on the coast. so yep, you guessed it, i dropped in. and LOOK who i found:
this is jessica, jewelry designer extraordinaire:


and office assistant and aspiring-photographer michelle (who answered the door with close-to-my-dream shoes and the most adorable haircut):

how fun is this!

i was THERE, my cameras + lenses were in the trunk of the rental car just outside and i've yet to meet an artist who isn't in need of an updated head-shot. PLUS, i got to look through mountains of the most amazing, hand-made jewelry you've ever seen. OMG
the beauty of jessica lee's pieces. her jewelry is created from reclaimed items ~ seaglass, old buttons, vintage pottery. the word perfect comes to mind. perfect as in quest-ending-perfection. 
my advice:  jot down your x-mas list and head straight over to this website.
or click here for a list of boutiques carrying the jl925 line near you.

~amy enderle, just hours away from having elizabeth + matthew images to share, and what fun they are!



and i'm equally ecstatic for you to see meet candy + scott, in full force
and whewwwwww THESE NOT-YET-PROCESSED images are breathtaking. . . keep in touch / check back soon!

* one of my favorite versions of this, (and yes, these are the results of another quest . . . i think i was making a mix CD for zoe several years ago):  LOVE sally harmon's Jump For Joy rendition click here, then scroll down to the PIROUETTE album. click and play. (and smile! -- life is good!!)

9.14.2008

sherri + doug ~ married!

doug and sherri . . . i've been grinning from ear-to-ear while picking out pictures for this blog entry just thinking about how fairy-tale-BEAUTIFUL their wedding was. From the horse-drawn carriage and the doves, to the lovely setting at Stone Hill Winery in Hermann with its brick buildings, vineyards, wine cellars:


. . . but it was sherri and doug -- their obvious devotion to one another AND to their friends -- that made their wedding such a joy to be at.

sherri RADIATED joy the entire day. these are some of my favorite EVER "getting ready" pictures:




. . . the picture above of sherri with her friends is pure wedding photojournalism. i love the unbridled joy of it. and the picture below of doug with his friends (made by annika) is just GREAT! . . . perfect use of depth-of-field to distinguish doug in the crowd
. . . and what a fun crowd it was! doug and sherri and their wedding party did just about everything that Hermann has to offer in a day. we hung out in the vineyards, visited Stone Hill's wine cellars, and strolled across the missouri river bridge:





. . . and then, a surprise to guests, sherri arrived by carriage to be escorted by her brother to the ceremony

these looks by sherri reminds me of the note she's placed on her cell phone main menu screen: "love doug forever"

other ceremony favorites:



and the party . . . since doug works at Millers Professional Imaging, there were tons of fun-loving, cigar-smoking, karaoki-singing millers folks. amy and i thank our lucky stars that millers photo lab is located in columbia; it was a treat to finally get to meet a lot of the people who make millers as great as it is.




i could say lots more, but sherri may be up waiting for this blog entry to hit her in-box at this very moment, so i'm sending it off to cyberspace with a heartfelt "THANK YOU" to doug and sherri for trusting SilverBox to photograph their wedding.

and hey, click on their wedding slideshow for even more pictures.

~kim