Oh yes we did. The Portnoy breeding program has officially come to it’s end. We have always wanted three kids and by jolly…..we have done it. Many of you read of our tragic miscarriage back in November 2008. As we grieve the loss of one child we now are able to celebrate the birth of another. We could not be more humbled or in awe of God’s love and mercy on our family.

So we want you to applaud our amazing timing of bringing a baby into the world on the “off season”. We are just that considerate (wink). We will be up and running by next spring no problem.

Thank you for celebrating with us! Blessings.

Looking back at these last 3 and a half years of children, I see a woman who has grown in so many ways. You took on a challenge that you didn’t know you could pull off. I know you doubt yourself. I know you have fears. I know you feel inadequate, but I want you to know that I could not have hand-picked a better woman to raise our children. God knew what he was doing and I thank Him for you I admire you. I want to be like you. I love you.

Michele and Kenley set the bar high for our 2010 wedding season. What a way to start the season!

Michele was stunning!!! Her skin is like glass.

Ryan said when he popped into Kenley’s room he saw all of this laid out perfectly. I’m not gonna lie, it made me smile. Me likey some anal organizing.

Michele entering the room for their “first look”

Let’s get our pose on….

I know this is similar to the last, but I love them both and couldn’t choose.

We moved inside for a few shots using their fun decor.

Kenley wanted in on the action grabbing his brother’s camera while we were shooting Michele at the bar.
There is Kelley Boykin our lovely assistant and friend who came down from Palm Springs to help us out for the day.

Getting ready for the main event!

The pastor going over his notes.

The beautiful grandparents.

Kenley’s parents

I think Michele’s grandma has one of the sweetest smiles.

The cocktail hour area.

Michele’s father gave a beautiful speech.

and then he serenade the audience with some John Denver tunes!

The man LOVES to sing.

I have to end with this photo because it makes me laugh. Charlie (who is in blue to the right) is the older brother of the subject in the photo. His brother was getting increasingly boisterous on the dance floor and Charlie leaned over to me and said, “You just wait, he’s going to be the guy with the tie around his head before you know it.” About an hour later……

MONEY!!!!! Who’s got two thumbs and wears a tie around his head….that guy! Haha.

Michele and Kenley, it was a killer wedding. You guys were the picture of relaxation and happiness on your wedding day. The venue, the weather, your family….perfection! Thank you for kicking off our wedding season with a bang. We loved Miami and we love you guys!

After a year of unimaginable loss for Kristie and Dean….the Lord saw fit to bless them with a son. Oh man was there shrieking when she told me she was pregnant again. So insanely excited to meet this little miracle in just a few weeks.

Kristie and I made plans yesterday to hang out while the kids napped. I also threw out that I wanted to take pictures of her “fat with child”. She agreed and although we were tethered to our house we made do with our porch swing and back yard. Enjoy some of my favorites of our wonderful Kricket.

Meet Levi

Jeremy is a master of off camera lighting, Photoshop, and truly a photojournalist (I hate how that term is tossed around in the photography industry). His bodies of work are along two distinctively different veins, the “haves” and the “have nots”. Carrie Underwood one day and Africa the next. He has had two books published documenting his travels overseas including my personal favorite, Hope in the Dark.

I will say it, I came on board with Jeremy only because of Ryan. Ryan has been following Jeremy since his graphic and web design days….long before he was the official tour photographer for Brittany Spears. Ryan is a true blue loyal fan of Jeremy’s work.

I am a fan of Jeremy’s heart (and so is Ry). He loves him some Jesus and he has an extreme soft spot for those in the world that are “the least of these”. He is passionate to tell the stories of those who can not do it for themselves, to bring humanitarian relief, medical care, and love. THIS, my friends, is worth taking a moments pause. THIS is what makes my heart race and my pulse quicken. THIS is using gifts to bless others in eternal ways.

So that is Jeremy. He’s pretty radicalmungo!

Back to the workshop. This was Ryan and my first time attending a photography workshop. We were pretty pumped that it was generic in the sense that it wasn’t wedding-focused. Don’t get me wrong, we can talk shop about weddings all day but we know we won’t be doing that forever, let us just learn more about the scope of photography. We sat in a room with 18 other photographers, some just starting, some seasoned in their field. Jeremy’s theme was simple and yet profound, “What is your passion?”

The first night Jeremy walked us through his journey growing up exploring the creative arts. He also took us through his entire website critiquing his own work and telling stories about certain celebrities or breaking down the way he lights things. Apparently, Jeremy and I were surfing the same wavelength because in a room full of 20 people you could hear my nasally chuckle on and off for two hours. Me and ONLY me was laughing at his commentary. What can I say, I am a sucker for dry, self-deprecating humor!

The next day was full of lighting knowledge as we watched Jeremy work with four models lighting things off-camera and with natural lighting. We watched how his direction, posing, and composition come together. Each of us gleaning little nuggets of wisdom from a master. Then it was our turn to work with the models and for his assistant to come around and let us lock into some off-camera lighting. We had an hour and then we had to pick three photos to be projected on a MASSIVE wall and critiqued.

Cue nervous sweat and poo cramps. OH MAN…I don’t care how many comments we receive, how many fans on FB or Twitter followers….you are your own worst critic. We always chuckle when people sing our praises (although very much appreciated!!) If you think we are big fish then you clearly don’t know how big the pond is! To have a little piece of your soul projected 20 feet by 12 feet on a wall is humbling.

******HONESTY ALERT******

I, Kelly Portnoy, have never shot in manual until the Jeremy Cowart workshop. For those of you non-photographers reading you could care less about that statement. For those of you photographers reading you may have gasped a little.

I mean REALLY…and you call yourself a professional? Yup, darn skippy I do.

I remember clearly listening to a photography GIANT, Cliff Mauntner speak on the showroom floor at WPPI last year bagging on photography snobs that say you HAVE to shoot on manual. He confessed he doesn’t shoot manual all the time and he is known as one of the top ten wedding photographers in THE WORLD! It’s the end product we are going for and there are a gazillion ways to achieve that. So what if I shoot aperture value or shudder priority. I achieve what I am going for.

BUT, I confess…I am a parasitical photographer of Ryan’s skills. We joke that Ryan has technology autism. Me, not so much. He can read a manual folks (gag) and digest and retain all that he reads. I am visual ALLLLL the way. Show me, let me see what you are talking about, practice it, (cue lightbulb) AHA! That is how I learn and that is how I have been learning all along the way. Organically! Truthfully, I have felt insecure though not being able to shoot in manual. I wanted to understand the camera more and be able to troubleshoot lighting situations without my little nerd husband (said lovingly) being there to bail me out if I got stuck. It was important to me. I decided for 2010 I was going manual, not that I won’t have a fling or two on the side with AV and TV….but I was going to show my camera who was boss. Own it baby!

So here we go….I am in a group with four other ladies and given a professional model to work with. Lacey was incredible! Sweet as the day is long. I don’t know who I felt more sorry for, her or me. It was 5:1 ratio and her name was being yelled every two seconds to look here or there, act this way or that. It is very hard to grab a shot or frame up a shot when you are literally on top of another photographer doing the same thing. Five vultures on a fresh piece of meat.

Example: I do not lie…this was the reality

I took my time, talking myself through my settings and just went for it on manual. This is what I came up with during my time with Lacey and the vultures (I LOVED the ladies I was with).

This is where I will say my epiphany happened. I really really love photographing women. Figuring out feminine angles and body language. I love pulling the vulnerability and inner beauty out. I love processing with soft, vintage tones, this is ME in photo form. This is where I want to continue to go.

Transitioning outside.

The windows she was just leaning against acted as the most amazing reflector when we brought her further into the courtyard. None of these next photos were shot with a flash.

So then we moved into this very cool restaurant with awesome blue glass walls aptly called Sapphire. This is what the room looked like without any lighting whatsoever.

CONFESSION #2!!! Here is the moment folks, the first time I locked into off-camera lighting. Besides running a sharpening action, these are right out of camera.
Ryan is the only one who uses off-camera when we shoot receptions or portraits. I stick with my external flash. Ignorance is bliss or is it?

Loved using it! It was great practicing with it. I also enjoyed going back to Jeremy’s studio and watching him use these insane octobanks showing us how to balance off camera lighting. He immediately showed us frame by frame what each shot looked like as more lighting was added and moved around. Visual Kelly grabbed on immediately…AHA!

So then came the critique time. Both Ryan and I were fairly unscathed with just minor criticisms of our post processing and composition. Jeremy was gentle.

There is so much more but this post is enormous and I haven’t even addressed what is ahead for Kellan. We learned a lot while we were there, mostly subtle things about our business future. We had 9 hours in the car to discuss what was on our heart about Kellan and our passions. Where were we going and shy and how does this affect our marriage, our children, Ryan’s full-time job.

Most people do not realize that this is not a full-time gig for us and there are no plans for it going full time. Although we have been blown away by what the Lord has done with Kellan in 3.5 years we also learned the hard way in 2008 that pursuing wedding photography full time is not a fit for us. We have such a young family and plan on adding one more freakishly large child to the crew in the near future. We have only been married for 4.5 years and rather enjoy being together at home. Ryan was blessed with an AMAZING day job as a commercial photographer and web designer for a SAHWEET leather design company, Moore and Giles Inc. He gets to use his camera skills almost daily and loves it!

We drastically backed off on bookings in 2009 to just two weddings/month and for 2010 we backed off even more to one wedding/ month (with the exception of Oct and July). Our priority is our marriage and family and because of that we have had to make the choice to conscientiously step back from the wedding industry, get really darn picky about our clients and travel at a rate that fits our family. If you are one of our 2010 clients then pat yourself on the back, you made the cut! HA! I think we are going to get even more stingy about 2011.

We will never regret putting our marriage and children first and walking away from a lot of success that was handed to us so quickly. This is what is right for US, this is our conviction and what we feel clearly the Lord is showing us to do.

We learned we are passionate about making “pretty” photos. That may sound elementary but you have to understand how fickle this industry is. You can literally sell your first born to keep up with equipment. Editing trends come and go like the tide. Lighting options are endless. Finding your voice in an industry that is SATURATED is very difficult to do. The bottom line is we are paid very well by our clients and they should get our best. What will always be timeless and something we are proud of, especially when working with mostly brides is pretty photos. Photos that make you say “OOOOOHHHHHHH”. We want women, brides and couples to see our photos and say, THAT is how I have always dreamed of being photographed. This is what we want to be known for, that is where we feel we are approaching but want to push ourselves even farther.

I hope you have enjoyed a little voyage into my brain and back again. We hope to continue to encourage and inspire those who are fair-weathered voyeurs of our work and to those budding photographers looking for advice or seasoned vets that sharpen us in the industry. Thanks for 3.5 years of love, support and patience as we continually learn to grow in our craft.

So we ask you to take a moment with each category, consider it, savor it, marinate in it, and cast your vote! There are 15 categories so scroll all the way down.

It is just that easy!

We will open the polls on Monday, January 4 and close them on Monday, January 11 at midnight. The winners from the 15 categories will then go into a random drawing. First winner will receive a 16 X 24 canvas wrap, the second winner will receive a 12 X 12 canvas wrap and the third winner will receive an 12 X 18 enlargement. JUST FOR BEING THE BESTEST!!! How rad is that?

BUT WAIT DEAR VOTERS…..you can win too! By leaving a comment at the end of the post you will be eligible for a drawing for a $15.00 Starbucks card. All you have to do is link to a photo that meant something to you in 2009. It could be a personal photo, a photo from another photographer or one of ours. We would love to see what moves or inspires you! That’s it…..leave a comment, be in a drawing. (Unfortunately, Facebook links will not work)

Get your clicking finger ready and vote, vote, vote….THANK YOU for helping support our awesome 2009 clients.

And…. Begin!

Romance

Mark and Katherine:

Adam and Lauren:

Ellen and Erik:

Heather and Tim:

Dustin and Christy

Hillary and Josh:

Cindy and Josh:

HOT POTATOES

Sara and Todd:

Candace:

Heather and Tim:

Chrissy and Jay:

Ellen and Erik:

Molly and Chris:

Thad with groomsmen:

CUTIE PETUTIES

Amanda and Jason:

Jamie and Paula:

Jill and Jed:

Cindy with bridesmaids:

Julie and Steve:

Joe and Joanna

PASSION

Jamie and Paula:

Chrissy and Jay:

Kristin and Tim:

Adam and Lauren:

COLOR POP

Jamie and Paula:

Heather and Tim:

Kristin and Tim:

Stitch in Time Editorial Shoot:

Jay with groomsmen:

Chrissy with bridesmaids:

Josh with groomsmen:

BEST UPS

Joe and Joanna

Christy and Dustin

Erik and groomsmen

Chrissy and Jay

Jed and groomsmen

Tim and groomsmen

JUST PLAIN PURDY

Jill

Sara

Jill and Chris

Ellen

Natalia

Lauren

SHOES GLORIOUS SHOES

Molly

Ellen

Jill

Heather

Hillary

PUT A RING ON IT

Cindy and Josh- Charity tokens

Molly and Chris

Comic book lovers Kenley and Michele

Chrissy and Matt’s signature drink at their reception

Jill and Jed

Heather and Tim avid gin lovers

Susan and Thad

Catherine and Nick

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

Molly

Candace

Kenley and Michele

Chrissy and Matt

Susan and Thad

Joe and Joanna

INTENSE

Natalia

Ellen’s mom

Michele

Jill and Jed

Molly hugging her mom down the aisle

Jay

Kristin dancing with her dad

DETAILS THAT CAN’T BE IGNORED

Molly’s awesome derby hat

Ellen’s chalk signs at reception

Ellen’s vintage bridal shoot wearing her mothers wedding gown, grandmothers headpiece at the church her parents got married at.

Jill’s mother’s necklace worn on her wedding day.

Set up a ring shot on Chrissy’s favorite tattoo of Jays: Lion/God defeating the Snake/Satan.

Tim’s grandfather watch that was given to him after his passing, held by his grandmother, the recent widow.

Ellen standing on the tractor her grandfather used to ride on many decades earlier. It now resides on their friends farm.

Josh’s dad officiated his son’s wedding ceremony to Cindy. This is the Bible he used to read scripture and during the vows.

MISCELLANEOUS

During Ellen’s vintage bridal shoot, we worked in a portrait of her mother wearing the original bridal gown.

Heather and Tim’s wedding…flower girl hit her limit.

Molly and Chris’s wedding. Bridesmaids switched to flip flops and shoved into a photo booth together.

Matt and Chrissy read separate vows to each other after their ceremony but had an ill-timed moment where they bashed heads.

Kristin and her mom during reception.

My brother Jamie putting out the vibe.

Dustin doing yoga in the desert

OUT OF A MOVIE

Jill and Jed

Chrissy and Jay

Catherine and Nick

Cindy and Josh

Adam and Lauren

In the meantime, please keep up with us through our often witty and sometimes melodramatic twitters at:
kellyportnoy and ryanportnoy (very clever, we know!) Or you can go to the cute little blue bird on the home page, right-hand column and click on our latest tweet.

Also, we have never pushed our Facebook fanpage on our website but if you are a Facebook junkie than please come and get connected to us here. There is a junior higher in all of us waiting to be affirmed in every public forum. Let us sit with you at the lunch table, will you?

Have a very Merry Christmas and New Year. We are so thankful for the incredible brides and grooms we have had the privilege to work with this year. By far, the best year ever! We can’t wait to recap some favorite moments in the Besties. Stay tuned!!

Because Jesus was born,

Kelly, Ryan, Chloe and Bennett!!

Here’s a short teaser for Kenley and Michele. We didn’t think we would get a chance to meet these two in person before their Miami wedding in March….turns out this impromptu vacation to NYC put us all in the same town so we could squeeze in an engagement shoot and dinner to get to know them better. Such a GREAT couple! Can’t wait to show you more.

Remember Jill and Jed the really really really really ridiculously good looking couple from the summer?

I told you there were much more than pretty faces, they are also super duper sweet. Jill emailed us about six weeks ago to say that they were opening up their apartment in NYC for us to come stay at whenever we wanted. It was like a gallon of water falling on our desert of a love life. A getaway….FOR US!!! No kids, no snot, sneezing, poopie diaper, getting up at 6:45am every day for three years…kids? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE our kids and love being home with them….but getting away is vital for my sanity and for the health of our marriage.

So all that to say, we are less than 48 hours away from arrival to NYC. FOUR GLORIOUS days to do whatever the heck we want. If we want to sleep in till noon, watch HGTV for 4 hours and drink coffee in bed….dang it, WE WILL DO IT!!! We are going to see Wicked on Broadway, shop till we drop at B & H Photo, eat great food and visit some awesome friends. We will NOT be answering emails, phone calls, editing a single picture or laying out albums. You will just have to live with out us.

So please excuse us while we go frolic in the leaves and pretend to be “city folk” for a few days. Have a great week, stay tuned for a few posts with our features….very very exciting.