Jumpology

One of my assignments in a high school photography class was called "jumpology" -- it was grounded (hee hee) on the idea that a photograph of someone jumping can reveal something about their personality.

Well, what can we say about the Wilsons? How about TONS of energy, life & personality?! And Elizabeth, WOW, you can fly-in-style, girl!

The Wilsons wanted a family photo shoot at their farm . . . Bruce has been passing his PASSION for horses along to his sons. So I followed them around one evening as they drove the tractor, rode horses, fed cattle, took walks.



And after all that activity . . . how about a little fence sitting? They chose the photo below for their family holiday card. This picture . . . the entire photo shoot . . . could not have happened in a portrait studio. LOve loVE LoVE being on-location!
~ kim

contest entry contemplation . . .

the deadline for wedding photojournalist association's final contest for images created in 2007 is quickly approaching. in thinly veiled attempt to make sure it's not a sand-drenched me headlining the blog; thought i'd do a quick post of real moments i'm contemplating entering . . . . with wpja it's all about moments which is probably why kim + i appreciate it so much. hmmm . . . any thoughts/advise/insight always appreciated:



a new rehearsal dinner category has been added for this contest . . . we definitely think of rehearsal as part of the story, so i'm hoping to go back through images this afternoon; hmmmm . . . can you tell what's going on here? cute-as-pie flower girl, Gracie, has just opened her thank you gift from molly + adam "my own DIAMOND bracelet" she gasped:

thanks for taking a look!
~amy

back at ya

ok, amy enderle...try 2 hours. and hey, here's "back" at ya!...i wasn't gonna share this photo with the world ('cause, ya know, not everyone loves pictures of their own backside)...BUT it does go to show just how far (apparently shoulder-deep) amy will go for a great photo.

And speaking of great photos...here's what amy's sprawling on the sand with a camera can yield:and to anyone and everyone reading this late: sweet dreams.
~kim

good times . . .

teee-hhhe-heeeeee
a little experiment:

let's see how long it takes my fabulous business partner kim wade to discover THIS image i just uncovered of HER, knee-deep in the pacific:

and here's the frame before it, which makes me smile + cheers my heart just to reminisce:

oh what fun we had with the van matre and stock families in oregon . . . amanda + brennan are such an amazing, inspiring couple . . . but can there be a greater joy + richness in life than girlfriends who'll jump in the {freezing cold!} pacific ocean with you, laughing + splashing the whole way?!?!
love it!

thanks for being exactly that kind of friend, kim!

~amy

. . . there in spirit (?)

we've boldly decided NOT at participate in wedding shows this year . . . kind of a tough decision because we've met some really great brides at shows in the past. we still feel so amazingly lucky that eryn mcgary's mom (+ andrea!) stopped by our booth and oh how sad we'd be if ashley guy hadn't found us. but it made more sense for us this year to focus on reaching out to past clients and elevating our on-line presence. all that being said, it sure was fun to get a call from natalie merrill of Event Solutions asking if she could hang a VERY large bobby + stacy image at HER booth. hope you had fun, nat! thanks for helping us be there in spirit!

~ amy enderle + kim wade

PS oh weren't stacy hirt's flowers AMAZING...it seems a sin to not post a close-up of them.....oh just makes you want them on your TABLE this very moment, doesn't IT! can flowers be described as scrumptious? if yes, THESE fit that bill . . . great work (yet again!) Kent!!

the best $3 you can spend a month....

Roadside Assistance.
thru your PHONE, no kidding.
unsolicited enthusiastic support ahead.....
kim and i have a lot in common (style of shooting; life experiences; voting record; neighborhood; kid's ages....and the list goes on and on) and we also share, in the words of Jen Eckart (half of our website-creation team), the "same disease" ~ the where are my keys?..., did i hand you my cell phone?..., hmmmmm, did i drop that in the mail?.... type of (endearing?) absent-mindedness.

Here's the defense (though weak perhaps) ~ we're arguably either so (on one side of the spectrum) In The Moment or the alternate: thinking Big Idea! Thoughts that little daily near-automatic necessities (i.e. have keys in hand or purse or camera bag BEFORE locking car door; have stamp on letter BEFORE dropping in city mailbox) kind of go by the wayside....or in this case, the ROADside...

ah, the Roadside! but really it's even driveway-side (or a church parking lot) whether it's flat tire, dead battery, needing gas or the dreaded have-locked-keys-in-the-car (again) all it takes is a #HELP phone call on the cell phone....
now as far as i know, this is only available thru AT&T and you have to sign up first (though the first few months may be free)
What I know for sure: the total cost to you is $3 a month. Want to hear the best part?; as long as you're with your phone it covers YOU, and thus WHATEVER CAR YOU happen to be IN or near....
so, we were together, you were driving and he car got a flat tire; or we found ourselves locked at of your car; I could dial #HELP and yep, help is on the way....at no additional charge to either of us.

anyone who's ever locked keys in their car knows this:
a single service call is likely to cost more than the amount you'd spend in a full year with this program.

Perhaps you've already guessed, but I'm waiting for roadside asst to come them RIGHT NOW as it seems, cars somehow don't appreciate? having headlights left on for very many hours when parked just outside....
aah well, live + learn??

and that's your helpful SilverBox tip-for-the-day; CALL 1.877.263.2600 to sign up unless of course you don't have AT&T...then...hmm;
a) switch coverage;
b) get iPhone;
c) call the above....or something like that ;)

~amy enderle

in the shadow of the state capitol . . .

full disclosure time:
THIS NEXT PICTURE....one of my most favorite of chris + stephanie's wedding day.......
(ok, perhaps even one of my favorite wedding pictures EVER!)........
.....was created by NOT ME (darnnit, as kim's daughter sophie likes to say....) annika is the artist of record.

i love, love, love, love, love it! -- the scope, the scale, the composition, the clarity of the story, the light, the soft curves of that train.....wow! love, too, how the only man pictured (chris's dad) is centered between all those women ~ sometimes a picture of someone else taking a picture has a big way-too-cheesey factor; but THIS ONE...WOW!

there were lots + lots of wow moments during chris + stephanie's wedding day ....like this image during a fleeting, quiet, "stolen-moment" (I was shooting from behind a poinsettia if you're wondering about the red in the foreground)
see what's happening here? note the activity of all the OTHER people photographed ....(it's shhh...opening prayer; stephanie's dad had just escorted her up the aisle)
there are great pictures of steph with her dad (his grandkids call him "pops") throughout the day, but to introduce you....here he is first seeing stephanie in her wedding dress:
and HERE's the 1st time chris and his mom were together at the church:
oh how we delight in documenting relationships!!!!!!
isn't it wonderful when through a picture you see how people feel about each other....

sometimes we simply search for the artistic angle and watch for the moments; being witness to all that's unfolding....... (marcy -- flowergirl and neice of uncle chris -- with her dad, below:)

and here you can see marcy in action....
her mom, (pivoting around in the pew to take a picture of her own) shares the "main subject" role here .... MOMENTS may be our primary passion,
but we DO create some planned and posed pictures, too.....

2nd confession of entry:
creating great group shots is significantly trickier in the winter when the world is not as bright/inviting/warm.
Making INTERIOR group shots look lovely is technically, pretty darn tough

[note: when interviewing photographers, always ask to see their INDOOR group images....look at light, shadows, posture...are you seeing good skin color, interesting posing, relaxed postures, light that has a lovely quality? 

believe me; taking a nice family or group shot out-of-doors is like playing chopsticks on the piano compared to, hmmmm.....sight-reading Chopin?]

inside when working with groups, having a ladder helps:
as does having beautiful (and kind, and patient, and funny, and impressive, and melodic, too!) women at hand....
oh, too much rambling, not enough picutes, eh?.....
here's a bit more from chris + stephanie's wedding day..............
...............in the category of Documentary Moments:
as well as Planned / Photographer-Directed Category of pictures....
and the wonderful yummy Category of (?) "Somewhere In-Between" :

A few more favorite-throughout-the-day moments (or to see their slideshow, click here!):

pictured above: larry young (at edge of frame, congratulating chris) and dr. candy young with stephanie (my undergrad advisor, and paul's, too! -- it was in her class that i MET my terrific husband ~ there were LOTS of fabulous Truman grads in the festivities!)
[thinking about our one-last-stop-at-the-state-capitol, here's one more word of warning when selecting a photographer: exterior lighting at night....it might be another one of those things that separates "the....um? .....women from the boys"....]

comment on following image:
often, we employ shallow-depth-of-field (i.e. shooting with prime lenses wide open), but in image below, "going shallow" is combined it with "panning"~ a fun technique i'd toyed with in junior high while shooting sports....liking the feel panning helps create here:

our 3 kids (plus all the many cousins) call paul's dad POPS, too...
not sure if that's why i felt such an affinity for steve, or if it's because steve would, too, probably put on a big pink bunny suit if his grandkids made it for him (see my x-mas entry, below) OR...................OR if it's because during his dance with his daughter (moments after the above) he grabbed chris to finish the dad-daughter dance in his stead so that he could reach out for pat, his wonderful wife:
to the Amick and Bell families, my heartfelt thanks! -- what a wonderful way to end of the year!
and to the made-in-heaven wedding party: whoa, our fingers are crossed for the chance to document YOUR weddings someday...it's hard to think of anything we'd love more!!!

off to the gym!
amy enderle

PS is it that i just can't help myself or that i'm procrastinating b/c i don't so love going to the gym????
.....ok, so we really work to enhance and maximize our files (SilverBox post-processing is not for faint-of-heart).....
and we always think -- "hey, we should share the before-and-after", so THIS TIME, here's a side-by-side:

happy new year! our family favs ~ fall '07

Happy new year! I LOVE this time of year . . . startin' fresh . . . gettin' caught up . . . and Amy, thanks for that (however misplaced) vote of confidence in my organizational skills (and next Christmas morning, what would it take to convince you to come to OUR house and make pictures . . . those of your family are ADORABLE!) . . .

but just so ya know, here's what I was REALLY doing when YOU thought I was being productive: I was editing family photos I'd taken since LAST AUGUST that had not yet seen the light of day! One might think, since we're photographers, that our OWN family photos would be up-to-date and beautifully organized into albums, but that would not be accurate. (I feel more like the plumber who's too busy fixing other folks' sinks to tend to his own leaky faucet).

But I was motivated to make some little albums for my kids for Christmas, so I got down to business, and here are a few favs from these past months:

~ from our trip to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in northern Michigan where we camped and hiked along Lake Superior. WOW! it was grand . . . perfect PERFECT for kids . . . here's why my kids were happy as clams to be here:

. . . soft sand and cold water

. . . the most beautifully colored smooth pebbles, perfect for stacking, throwing, adding to sand sculptures. . . and when you're standing neck-deep in the lake, the water is SO clear that you can see all the way down to your toes
. . . a lighthouse with winding staircase and a birds' eye view that leads to canada
. . . shipwrecks to explore!!!
. . . sand dunes. these take about a minute to run down, and then half an hour plus everything you've got to climb up
. . . a 3.5 mile hiking trail along wooded paths, wildflowers, waterfalls

. . . that leads to this:


I'm psyched my kids made that 7 mile roundtrip hike (in good spirits the entire way). Next summer: the mountains!

~and then, for sophie, her first day of kindergarten, walking to school with her brand new backpack:
and Kiki, who saw us off and has taken to waiting for the kids here each afternoon when they come home:
. . . and these next pictures . . . you can just see sophie's first-day-of-school nervousness, and elliot, being a sport of a big brother:



~of course, by mid-semester, it's all old hat. One of my favorite traditions at Grant Elementary School is the annual halloween parade . . . sophie as a cheerleader:
. . . elliot as a pirate:


. . . and amy's daughter, zoe, on the far right:
so here's an out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-better-late-than-never so long to 2007 and happy new year to all!

~kim