Kellan Studios » Lifestyle

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!

Sylvette and Nate~ Engagement Teaser

Kelly — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:48:44 +0000

Our marathon trip up to DC has commenced. We are overly giddy about the two couples we got to spend copious amounts of time with. In a weird twist of fate we found out both grooms went to high school together and know each other but had no idea they had the same wedding photographers…..US!!!

Sylvette and Nate were first up to bat. I seriously had to tell myself “too many Kelly” while picking some teaser photos. I could not narrow down just a few. Sylvette is one sassy looking mama. If you watch the show Modern Family you may find a similarity between “Gloria” Sophia Vergara and Sylvette our Puerto Rican lovely. Nate can hold his own with his freckles, dimples, perfect teeth and charm. Enjoy this teaser of our gorgeous Saturday evening shoot.

le sigh…..this light was magical.

Featured: Sara and Todd on The Bride’s Cafe

Kelly — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:18:08 +0000

Well this is Sara and Todd’s run on the internet. I believe they will be signing autographs this Friday from 5:00-8:00pm at Barnes and Noble….Kidding. I woke up this morning to the sweetest post on The Brides Cafe on Kellan Studios featuring Sara and Todd’s super fly shoot and giving us some big, fat sloppy kisses of praise. If you missed their shoot first time around, you have to take a second and check it out. Truly, one of our favorites this year!

“Whirling Turban” Lifestyle shoot with The Brides Cafe

Kelly — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:40:43 +0000

We were so honored to be asked by Janie at The Brides Cafe to come photograph another lifestyle shoot. Back in the fall we photographed a collaborative effort with Janie and Courtney of Merriment Events, called“Stitch in Time”. We had an awesome time working together so when Janie was sent some incredible vintage dresses from Whirling Turban she was ready for us to reunite for another shoot. If you are into vintage dresses you MUST spend some time on Whirling Turbans site…amazing!

We asked our friend Sara, of our recent three part series labeled “Todd and Sara” to come stand in as a model. I wish you could understand how insanely cold it was outside. It was literally only in the 20’s with a severe windchill. These girls were TROOPERS. With goosebumps and chattering teeth they soldiered on as if it were a lovely spring day.

To see Janie and The Brides Cafe posting on this shoot click here. To see Courtney and Little White Book posting on this shoot click here.

We had to give in and let them wear their coats. I mean we are humane :-)

Flowers by Janie Medley of JM Flora and The Brides Café

Styling by Courtney Spencer of Merriment Events and little white book

Dresses by Whirling Turban

Makeup by Erika Nixon of Makeup on Demand makupondemand@comcast.net

Cupcakes by Two Sweet

Pink feather fascinator by One Little Dove

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!

Superstar….

Kelly — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:11:46 +0000

Sometimes you just have to flip the camera on yourself. I really do think it is a great idea for photographers to be photographed at least once a year to remember how it is to be the subject. All your insecurities float to the top and now you question every angle and giggle nervously until you get into the flow. I am no exception. I can pick apart my face, my crescent moon profile, carefully trying to control my “horse smile”. (when I smile too big and expose 5 inches of gum! )

Ryan and I have been needing some new photos for our pending website so Saturday was my day to shine.

It helps to have a husband say, “Um, Kel, you aren’t going to like that angle, take it down a notch.” We went to a couple locations around town while we waited for our wedding rings to get their annual cleaning. Here are some of my favorites.

This bus is a common shooting location around our town. We are pretty hard up for some unique places to photograph. You need to make sure your tetanus shots are up to date inside the bus, but it is totally worth traversing the rubble on the ground to get some good shots further in.

I love small town humor. A little old man came walking by while we were shooting and yelled out to me, “If you are waiting for that bus to move you are going to be waiting for a LONG time!”

Can I just say this is the first time I have ever used false eyelashes. I picked a pair up at Walmart for $5.00 and thought I would give it a whirl. It really wasn’t as hard as I thought. I did have to trim them back, they were a little too “showgirl” for me. I didn’t use any mascara on them so they look really natural. Ryan didn’t even notice.

Just had to add this photo in. This guy came running over while we were shooting yelling, “You want to buy my bus?” Apparently, this was his family’s bus. He told us a history on the bus and was so nice and enthusiastic about it all. Ryan asked if he would hop in a picture with me. So funny.

Friends don’t let friends…

Kelly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:18:48 +0000

…plan boring weddings. I know, gasp, how rude! Well it’s true. Can we be honest, I mean really really honest? Photographers like to take pictures of beautiful, unique, and colorful things. It’s true, they really like that. It is like water to their souls.

It isn’t that I don’t like white tulle, red roses or votive candles (am I stepping on toes yet?) it’s just, well, weddings 101. Did you know there are sites out there 100% dedicated to giving you some of the tastiest wedding eye candy you have ever seen? Did you know, did you know?

Well there is.

We have been married for only 3.5 years. When I got engaged I did what most girls do, I bought two bridal magazines and ripped a few pictures out. I started a little scrap book of ideas trying to come up with some unique things that represented Ryan and me. This is a great start…but there was so much more I could have done to get ideas that were creative, inexpensive, and totally out of the box.

We did manage to come up with some pretty fun details such as our invitations, our programs which were actually booklets. We got really fun pink and green ties from J-Crew, I had a sweet brown and pink polka dot cake, I even got a dress with a little belt thing when that was popular.

Our wedding was very very pretty but not extremely original. We had some high points but most were status quo.

Maybe you are okay with status quo or maybe you just don’t know where to begin. Let me guide your hand, dear bride, ideas are only a click away.

With the impending launch of our new site there will be so many great resources listed….but seeing as that is still a little ways off I am going to give you the 411 right now.

These sites will become your new planning OBSESSION!!!!

Southern Weddings, coming March 1st we will be partnering with them as a new sponsor and featuring some of our recent work! Can’t wait.

The Brides Cafe. We were just recently featured here for two “e sessions” (That is engagement sessions for you scratching your heads)

Weddings Unveiled. Another one of my favorites!

Wedding Chicks. If I could have a second wedding I think I would have these girls design the whole thing! Quirky and original ideas.

Style Me Pretty. Sounds good to me!

Veils are great….but have you thought of wearing netting, a feather, a broach, a box hat, etc…..
For unique headpiece ideas that are mucho affordable and sure to be a stunner in every photo. Check out Smittens site on Etsy. Etsy in general will have your mind spinning with handmade items that you can incorporate into your wedding.

For great vintage dress ideas for uber cheap

This is only the tip of the iceberg. I am just letting you in on a few of the biggies out there. I could link for days.

For our future brides out there, make these links a priority to browse. We love what we do and we LOVE submitting work to online blogs and magazines so if you want YOUR wedding to be considered you have to pour it on thick with the unique details. It doesn’t mean you have to sell your first born, it just means you need to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! You can find fun colored shoes at Target for $30.00, a head piece on Etsy will run you around $40.00 more! Now you just took your whole wedding look to different level! Voila!

I hope that gives you guys some ideas to play with. Get your pointer finger ready, it’s going to be doing a lot of clicking!

Best of luck…fist of victory raised to you as you plan your big day. Don’t be shy to email me, I am FULL of ideas!