Kellan Studios » Anytime Shoot

Alea~Lifestyle Portraits

Kelly — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:44:27 +0000

When I was 19 I had a perm, gigantic teased early 90’s hair (representing upstate NY well!) I was boy crazy, talked too much, and was selfish. Now I had great qualities too but when I think back to how immature and silly I looked, I cringe.

We got an email from a young lady, Alea, a few months ago. She was finishing up an internship with Walt Disney World and was driving home to New Jersey in May. She loved our style and wanted a lifestyle session worked into her travel agenda as she was passing through Virginia. Ummmm…yes please!

We met up with Alea and her dad on Saturday morning. It was a hazy, foggy, drizzly, dreary morning until the most amazing shoes emerged from her jam-packed car.

“KELLY”

Attached to those shoes was the most adorable, sweet, soft spoken NINETEEN year old!

“KELLY”

I’m gonna be honest, I would be a wretched bouncer. I would NEVER have guessed she was just a freshman in college and still a teenager. I would have guessed like 25 years old at least! ALTHOUGH…and this is the BEST although….she thought I looked 23. (taking a bow) I am just shy of my 35th b-day so that was literally the most amazing compliment ever! Apparently, my crows feet aren’t as obvious as I thought. I digress….

So Alea wanted us to give her two distinct looks for her shoot. An urban and a rural location. We started out in our humble little downtown to acquire the urban look first before she transitioned into her very feminine sundress and bare feet. So without further ado….this is urban Alea for you.

****Sidenote…we get asked often about how Ryan and I shoot together. Do we shoot differently? Can we tell our work apart? Do we favor different lenses? Do we process our images different? The answer to ALL of that is a resounding YES! We shoot very differently indeed. We can usually tell our work apart at a glance. He favors primes while I tend to shoot with adjustable lenses. I do 95% of our editing due to division of duties in Kellan but for this post Ryan pulled some of his own images and edited them in his own style. I am going to label our images with “Kelly” and “Ryan” ABOVE the photo for you to see the differences in angles and processing and lens choice.

“Ryan shot, Kelly edit”

“KELLY”

“RYAN”

“RYAN”

Ryan left/Kelly right

“KELLY”

“KELLY”

“KELLY”

“KELLY”

“RYAN”

“KELLY”

“KELLY”

“RYAN”

“KELLY”

“RYAN”

“KELLY”

“Ryan”

“Kelly”

“Kelly”

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SCENE TWO: Rural abandoned cabin

Kelly

Kelly

Ryan

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Ryan shot, Kelly edit

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Ryan- he was using a softbox on and off during this scene

Ryan

Kelly

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Kelly left/Ryan right

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Ryan with Kelly edits

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Ryan with Kelly edit

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I have to stop and give MAD PROPS to her father, Ralph. He generously lugged equipment and lighting and held the softbox for us. Such an unbelievably helpful and sweet man. You are amazing Ralph and mad our morning a 100 times easier!

Kelly

Kelly

Ryan

Ryan

We moved to our friends farm adjacent to the cabin. They had a one week old lamb that Alea agreed to hold. He was a wet and muddy but cute none the less!
Kelly left/Ryan right

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So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed seeing the difference in shooting and editing style. It may seem small to pick up the different nuances but I assure you it is huge to us. That is part of the husband wife team we have had to work hard at…adapting a style that reflects both of us and is cohesive at the same time. And just for a fun fact, because Ryan is 16 inches taller than me, and our clients can attest to this, he frequently stands right behind me and shoots the exact same time. So I literally back into him and step on his toes all day long but we are still able to get the angles we want at the same time. That’s what our freaky height difference gives us…equal opportunity!

Alea, you were the bomb! You are fierce in front of the camera with your confidence and yet vulnerable expressions. You go from looking so intense to the SWEETEST dimpled girl within seconds. We had soooo much fun with you and your dad. Thank you for driving WAY out of your way to spend the morning with us. Here is one for the road.

Sunshine Barlowe Studios~ Portraits

Kelly — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:59:06 +0000

She is beauty, love and laughter, creativity and talent…. I mean her name is Sunshine after all! Not only was she blessed with one of the sexiest singing voices but the girl can paint! After much prodding from friends and family…Sunshine Barlowe Lewis is about to embark upon a business venture taking her private paintings and making them available for public purchase. We were so happy to be a part of her brand launching by providing a portrait session that would showcase a little of her work, a lot of her personality and a pinch of her in action. Keep checking back for her pending website, you won’t be disappointed! Enjoy our friend with the contagious smile and infectious laugh.

Lauren and Kristin~ Editorial Part 2

Kelly — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:37:08 +0000

Now for the final installment. I am gonna be honest, these are my favorite shots from the whole session. The sun completely and utterly cooperated with us on the timing of the final scene. Nothing but dreamy, creamy, warm backlighting. The girls did an amazing job styling themselves for the field shots in their sundresses, boots, and accessories. The beauty of friendship and motherhood seems to ooze from these and I find myself smiling with each edit. Please be inspired and leave them some love.

Once again my wonderful friend Sarah, from Solace Restoration, hooked us up with some great props. For mother’s day, her husband made this amazing sign from some old barn wood. He hand stenciled a portion of a song of blessing on the sign. It is a powerful song with incredible lyrics of blessing for children. The sign was perfect for these mommies-to-be. I also grabbed some vintage pillows that she sewed out of old sugar sacks. The quilt is actually an unexpected find of Adam and Lauren’s. If I remember correctly, they were given an antique china cabinet from Adam’s great grandmother and in one of the drawers they found this half sewn quilt made by his great grandmother from the 1950’s. The quilt will grace Beatrice’s nursery. Without further ado……

Scene 3: “The Field”

ADDENDUM since posting: Some of you asked for full lyrics. Here they are. Song written by Dennis Jernigan.

I bless you with joy and peace and love that won’t let go. I bless you with grace and faith and fire in your soul. I bless you with dreams and visions most men don’t know of. i bless you with a deeper knowledge of our Fathers love.
I bless you with strength and power, grace through any trial. I bless you with wisdom and with comfort in your smile. I bless you with great adventures, journeys yet unknown. I bless you with hearts gone wild because you are His own.
I bless you with the heart of a warrior, grace to stand and fight, I bless you with brothers who will stand right by your side. I bless you with courage till the battles have been won, I bless you with the faith to hear your Father say “well done”.

CHORUS:
I bless you with joy and laughter, I bless you with a steadfast faith, I bless you with the hopes and the dreams that your heart goes after, I bless you with amazing grace.

This next one cracks me up….either we are really funny or we were confusing them with directions.

Beatrice was making her presence known.

These girls are amazing at pulling out vulnerable, beautiful looks.

A little out-take. Getting in this position for Lauren was a logistical feat. She had to balance against Kristin’s thigh which Kristin was a little too zealous to lend; tipping her over.

Much better.

Before we end with the adorable watermelon eating I just want to break to our two prop wenches that helped load and unload all over the property for us. These are not flattering shots but alas, we want to give honorable mention.

This is Kristin’s Adam working the pinwheel while frolicking with the horses.

and Lauren’s Adam taking a quick shot for Kristin’s sister.

These watermelon shots absolutely crack me up. The girls were starving by the end as it was a HOT, long five hours from start to finish. They devoured these watermelon slices in seconds.

Le sigh…..

Girls, I have said it a million times but THANK YOU! You exceeded each and every expectation I had for this shoot. We are so proud of the images and we are so pleased that these remind you of the blessing of pregnancy and friendship. We can’t wait to meet Violet and Beatrice in the upcoming months. Blessings!

Candace Marie Design~ Headshots

Kelly — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:48:56 +0000

My dear, sweet and insanely talented friend, Candace Grahl is going on an adventure. She is jumping head first into the event design business. With an affinity for color, paper, fabric and baking….she is taking those passions and channeling them into Candace Marie Design. We, her friends, have been benefiting from her delicious baked goods, creative crafting, and decorating tips for years. With a gentle nudge from her husband and her friends holding up pom poms and banners…she is going for it! Her main focus will be on the dessert tables/small-time catering & the designing details like tags, ribbons, and things of that fashion. The finishing touches are happening with her website so stay tuned for her official launch in late spring.

She approached Ryan and me in the fall to grab some headshots for the site. FIsh in a barrel! Not only is she a looker, she has an insane range of facial expressions. Candace is one of my most animated friends which makes for some great photos. She also happens to think Ryan and I are pretty darn funny so getting her laughing is a cinch! Enjoy some of my favorites of her as well as a sneak peek at some of her work from our little friend, Ella’s, first birthday party.

***Yellow cupcake donated by my friend and baker extraordinaire, Beth from Taste Selects Confectionery***

Check out those gams!!! She was training for a marathon at the time. Literally running her butt off.

location change…little more rustic

such a Candace face

Now on to a Candace Marie event. This was a 1st birthday party for our dear friends Sarah and Nathans daughter, Ella Jade!

Check out the beautiful table…..

and the adorable birthday girl!

Ella actually had a violent reaction to the taste of frosting. She yelled and shook…then she realized she was CRAZY and enjoyed it.

So keep your bookmarks set for Candace Marie Design to see more of what Candace has cooking in the kitchen…literally!

Featured: Sara and Todd on Green Wedding Shoes

Kelly — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:28:05 +0000

We are so delighted that Sara and Todd are front and center on the always inspiring Green Wedding Shoes blog today!
The winning combination of great style, details and amazing chemistry make this one of our favorite shoots of 2009.

Click on over to see which images Jenny chose to feature.

Sara and Todd ~ Part III ” Boho Meets the Great Outdoors”

Kelly — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:08:15 +0000

Our third and final installment of Sara and Hot Toddie.

I am so excited to share this last set. In some ways it is my favorite. Probably because Ryan and I are friends with them so we know how much they laugh together as a couple and how laid back they are. These pictures really focus on that lighthearted side.

Todd grabbed his guitar and serenaded us to a haunting little medley as well as a “colorful” rendition of “Following the Leader”- Peter Pan. Between all of us laughing and gabbing we were able to wrap up this session successfully!

Todd grabbed some of his mom’s old records to throw in a few shots.

Todd decided to get the laughing ball rolling by throwing his head back and doing some ridiculous fake laughter which eventually turned into genuine belly laughter by all of us.

Got it together for a few more serious ones.

Heading in for one last change. I haven’t mentioned that this amazing location is my wonderful, godly mentors farm. It is a virtual goldmine of backgrounds. Mary doesn’t understand why we want to come out there and shoot, she just can’t see how all these “old” things and rustic backgrounds work into photo shoots. I think we could shoot there a hundred times before running out of original spaces. Thank you Mary and Ronnie!!!

It’s SMORES time! Sara and Todd are huge campers. I thought it would be fun to make some smores and wrap up the night with a campfire. Really, how can you go wrong with smores? Everybody was a gooey winner with strings of sticky marshmallow on their chins by the end.

Flaming mallows…fire, fire, fire. My favorite comment of the night by Ryan, “Sara, where did you get that sweatshirt, I can’t tell?” Love sarcasm….LURVE it.

Sara and Todd, there are no words to express how much fun this shoot was. You rocked it out outfit change after outfit change. Thank you for going the extra mile in styling this shoot. There was so much to inspire and work with. Your marriage and friendship is such a blessing to us. Thank you for giving us one of the best photo shoots ever!!! We love you guys. ~ The Pantis’s

Sara and Todd ~ Part II “Glam meets Boho”

Kelly — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:30:25 +0000

We now return to Part II of Sara and Todd’s shoot. Things went from funky to glam and I couldn’t be happier. Sarah sported this AWESOME headpiece made by my friend and kick butt photographer, Lyndzee Ellsworth. She makes, one of a kind, vintage headpieces that are over the top terrific! Go check out her new stock on Lady Vintique.

Zee money shot. Love the way light eyes photograph.

We now transition into our next theme.

The pendulum has swung from glam to bohemian. Sara has an awesome eye for styling herself from head to toe. There are not many people who can pull this outfit off but she looks amazing. Her headpiece is from Urban Outfitters, love it!

Part III will finish up their boho set and move us into the final session including gooey smores!

Sara and Todd~ PART I “Bringing the funk”

Kelly — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:16:07 +0000

Here is Part one of a three part series on Todd and Sara. I mentioned in their teaser that Sara is a local photographer here in Lynchburg specializing in uber chic children’s portaits. She is vivacious, stylish, sincere and just a darn good friend to have. Todd is the perfect compliment to her personality. He unloads what we fondly call “joke grenades” clever little quips, sayings, quotes, and funnies that take a moment to sink in before you start busting a gut. He is sweet, kind, and genuine. They drip talent together. Todd can play just about any instrument you throw at him. I wish I had a recording of their “colorful” rendition of Peter Pans “Following the Leader”.

Sara and Todd have been together for over a decade and besides their wedding day they have never ever had a photo shoot done. She emailed us a few months ago with an idea for a trade out. We are in DIRE need of some family photos so we jumped at the chance to make these two sexy pants shine! Sara and I let the emails fly for ideas. They did an incredible job of styling the shoot with mad style. I am pretty sure Sara can pull off a paper bag on her head! The Toddster did a great job being her arm candy. He also earned two fabulous names during our shoot. One is “Hot Toddie” and the other is Toddio (said like Fabio). It made for good banter and getting him to smile.

Drum roll…….everybody chant “Sara and Toddio, Sara and Toddio, Sara and Toddio….”

Sara had the audacity to say she wasn’t photogenic. I mean really?????

It’s amazing how walking around in sneakers between shots can kill your “cool points”. Lot’s of gym teacher references.

Stay tuned for Part II….glam, glam, glam. Then Part III…bohemian meets the outdoors.

Sara and Todd Anytime Shoot Teaser

Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:07:31 +0000

I do believe this couple is our Thanksgiving gift to Kellan. It isn’t often that a couple goes all out style like Sara and Todd did. I seriously can’t control myself making just the teaser short. We will be doing several blog entries to cover their session. I know the word “swoon” gets overused in the wedding blogging world, but I am swooning from their images….giddy, giddy,giddy!!!

Sara is an awesome children’s photographer in town and also happens to be a friend whom we love. She and Todd are the ying to our yang of humor. I think we all resort to middle schoolers when we are around each other so making them comfortable and getting them to laugh was not an issue.

Enjoy a teaser to our final session of 2009 and boy did we go out with a bang! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, we will be back in the office on Monday. Have a blessed holiday weekend!

I know they were hard to look at, thanks for hanging in there. I mean FOR REAL!!!!! You know you want more of this shoot!

Our baby girl turns THREE!!!

Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:36:15 +0000

How is it possible in just three years this little girl has stolen our hearts, brought us unexplainable joy and countless bouts of laughter?

Our roley poley butter ball baby with giant chocolate eyes and amazing hair. She is smart, articulate, and sassy. She is mostly sweet with a dash of spice sprinkled on top.

I can not say it enough, I love having a little girl! One whose favorite color is purple, who loves princess dresses and her nails to be hot pink. As feminine as she can be she is most definitely a tomboy. She is, by far, always dirtier and more disheveled than Bennett. Her heart is completely broken when she has to come inside and although she runs like Quasimodo there is still such a daintiness to her hand motions and mannerisms.

Cue jokes: “She’s got more chins than a Chinese phone book.” “Got more rolls than a bakery.” We’ve heard them all. I loved every single one of those delicious rolls and was very sad as they have slowly disappeared over the years.

I don’t know when it happened but we went from limited communication to having incredible adult conversations. Her brain is magical. She is clever, artistic, creative and imaginative. I love how she sees the world and I can’t wait to see how she blossoms over the next few years.

It is truly hard to believe that we just celebrated her 3rd birthday. It was a small little gathering of her girlfriends and their mommies. The theme was “Tiara’s and Tutu’s” and of course there was copious amounts of purple thrown in for Chloe. Enjoy some moments from her princess party!

We must start out with the “crowning” detail…the cupcakes! My good friend and super talent, Beth Baxter of Taste Selects struck again! She took our theme and delivered the most mouth-watering, beautiful cupcakes! Her new site is coming soon. If you are in the Burg, you must go downtown to her new shop and grab a cupcake and coffee, you will thank me!

My second favorite detail and labor of love were the tutu’s for the girls. Many hours of my life sitting cutting and tying tulle…but oh how lovely they were. My very talented mother-in-law made these amazing embroidered medallions for each girl. Should she not open an etsy shop? They are stellar, just made the tutu’s so special!

The craft table where tiara-making happened.

Chloe getting a peek at her room for the first time.

Let the good times roll. As Ryan said, “It’s her party and she’ll wear antlers if she wants to.”

I told her to lick off her candle but she actually ate the end of it. How she swallowed that hard, tasteless wax is beyond me.

Making crowns.

Chloe got to discover the joy of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Classic.

Bennett, party of one, Bennett, party of one..your table is ready.

After all her partying she took a moment to reflect on her long three years on this planet.