Sneak Peek: Kacie Maternity Session

So, let's see. Those who have taken it upon themselves to police my "Live with Less" challenge (see previous post)...I'm only trying to meet the three bolded goals.

I'm realistic...those three are a big enough challenge for me. But I appreciate the friendly scoldings I've gotten from like John-John when I try to buy lunch from McDonalds. But (said sweetly) back off, JJ, I want my fries and ice cream!!! =) I try to plan anything I can for the hours of 4 to 6 to fill in those two empty hours without a tv or computer. I sprained my ankle last week and I'm still hobbling around so it definitely puts a damper on any real activities. Scott seems to think we've switched the two hours of tv time for two hours of daily napping. But I really like the challenge so far. Try it with us, people!!! You can come over and we all sit together in my quiet living room. And I've been sticking to the <8 minute showers but I wonder if it counts because I've been averaging two showers a day.

I did sprain my ankle a week ago. Stupid running. That'll teach me to run ever. And this weekend was pretty busy with two family shoots. I usually try to space them out but timing wouldn't allow it. So, what a blessing, that God brought me a second shooter in the form of my super awesome friend, Joy. After visiting family in Ohio for a vacation that extended to SIX MONTHS, she finally returned to us. And she came to help me carry props and get more shots as I hobbled around the beach getting sand stuck to the velcro of my ankle brace. Hey, people really luck out when I can bribe her into tagging along, they get two for the price of one. And she's just a sweetheart who charms people while I'm off the to the side staring at my LCD display and grunting at the controls. It's a a great partnership.

This is just a quick sneak peek from a maternity/family shoot we did at Kalama Beach Park. I can't wait to blog about it since it was made even more colorful by my husband and our good friends tagging along so they could play in the surf at the same time. Here's a hint...me crouching in the vines and bushes.... squinting through my camera to get the shot of the couple kissing on a sandy path under the outstretched branches of two framing trees with the sky and ocean behind them...which is right when my husband choosed to rise out of the surf directly behind the couple with water glistening off his studly bare (and hairy) chest and bright yellow surf shorts. Suh-weet!!!

This was at the end of the session after we had dragged them all over the beach and I asked "hey, I know you're pregnant and all...but how would you like to lie down on the sand in a dress?" Thank goodness Kacie rocks...because she said yes and I got my favorite picture. The ocean and sky was so pretty that it almost looks like a painting.

Growing Up: Senior Portraits Dylan and Irish at Kualoa Ranch

What: Senior Portrait Session with Dylan and his sis, Irish
When: Prince Kuhio Day, March 26th, 2009
8:00 am
Where: Kualoa Ranch

I have to give props to my friend and client, Bow, whose maternity session really generated more opportunities for me to photograph other beautiful people too. And by the way, Bow just gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl, Mikaela, a week ago. Note the spelling of her name, the third choice they settled on (if you've been keeping up with my posts). Stay tuned for some sneak peeks of that newborn session.

So shortly after Bow's maternity session, I received an email from ....tada....Gina. I've known Gina for a few years already, we both volunteer in the baby nursery at Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay every other Sunday. She's also a good friend of Bow's and loved the pictures. She asked if I would consider taking senior pictures of her son, Dylan, and doing a portrait session with her daughter,Irish, on the same day. Um, Gina, of course. I knew Irish because she, like her mom, also volunteers in the nursery but I hadn't met Dylan before so mom had to email me his school picture. We set the day for Prince Kuhio Day, a State of Hawaii holiday, for which I'm not really sure why. Scott is going to mock my hawaiian education, considering I went to a school only for part-Native Hawaiians, but I don't know who or what Prince Kuhio did. I think Kuhio was from the Big Island too because we have a mall named after him in Hilo.

It was so awesome for me, because Gina already had an idea of where we could hold the session and she was able to get a permit to shoot at Kualoa Ranch on the north shore. I met her, Dylan and Irish there at 8 in the morning. Poor things, having to wake up so early when you don't have school. And I was a little nervous because Gina claimed that Dylan and Irish didn't like taking pictures. If that's the case, I don't know who she swapped in for them because these two teens were complete hams. Seriously, you can never call these two shy. The location was so awesome and just fun to explore. They climbed trees and walls so I had the easy job of just chasing after them. We were done in no time at all and I LOVED their pictures.

Dylan is laid-back, his mom says always reading a book or playing a video game. Once the camera turned on him, he gave Zoolander a run for his money.

We don't have fields of wheat but I finally found a field that I could get this shot. I'm always tempted to let our yard get seriously overgrown so i can use my backyard, but I think my neighbors would glare at me.





I love this next one...I don't know why. He just looks like he's the king of the castle.

Irish, the slightly younger sister, is not shy at all. She's an avid volleyball player and you can see her every other Sunday in a room full of 2 year olds at church. She's also gorgeous, just look at the photos.

Irish was resisting the urge to play up her farmer side...she cracked me up.



I love this next shot, I wish I had taken a few more and had them pose. But Irish was just climbing up and I got nervous and had her come down. There was a significant drop on the other side.

This one...MY FAVORITE!!!


This was my first senior portrait session and my subjects are usually well over twenty or under the age of three, so I was a tad nervous. Can I just say, that was the most fun session ever!!! I had to call the hubby on the way home and just gush about the entire experience. Thanks to Gina for raising beautiful kids, and Dylan and Irish for being totally cool with my crazy ideas and going with it. You guys rock!!!

To view these pictures and more from their entire session, please visit www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com and click on "Dylan and Irish Portrait Session."

And stay tuned in the next week for photos from Whitni's Maternity Session and baby Mikaela's newborn session.

Wedding: Tiffany and Bill (north shore)

What: Wedding of Tiffany and Bill
Where: North shore of Oahu's coast
When: March 20th, 2009, 4:00 pm

Scott and I recently had another wedding through one of the island's best wedding planners, Moana Bjur. She met us on the north shore of Oahu on the sandy shores of Kawela Bay. It was the first time that either of us had been there before and we even missed the access path driving by the first. Kawela Bay is a white sandy beach hidden away near blue waters without another soul in sight. The afternoon was quite warm with the sun beating down on the water's edge, but I really fell in love with a banyan grove that you walk through to get to the beach. I'd love to go there more often, if only it wasn't an hour from my house (we island people aren't used to things being farther than 10 minutes away).

Tiffany and Bill chose our Hawaiian paradise to wed after three years of dating. They brought close family members with them in a romantic destination wedding. Tiffany walked down the aisle to soft strains of a Brother Iz remake of the classic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" being played on the ukulele. I couldn't help but sing along softly under my breath. I would have sung louder but I doubt everyone else would have enjoyed it as much as I do. The only uninvited guests were some horses and their riders riding far in the distance on the sand.

What a small world. I found that the ukulele player was actually my high school classmate, Kanekoa. No wonder I was having a Song Contest flashback when I was singing to myself during his song list. Our high school was heavy on it's musical influence.



















To view or purchase images from this event, please visit the online gallery at http://keaosphotography.instaproofs.com/

Just me and my life-Run Lola Run

Following Scott and my adventure doing the Great Aloha Run (see Scott's blog), I was inspired.

Early sunday morning, the first morning of March 2009, I found myself at Kapiolani Park surrounded by a crowd of women all wearing pastel dry weave running tanks and black shorts. I actually used to love running, I ran track, soccer, and mostly just for fun. The only community runs I did was the Straub Women's 10K race back in high school. Fifteen years later, and 20...30...maybe 40 lbs heavier, I signed up again. I've been running a little frequently but I mix it in with a lot of walking so I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I was really curious to find out.

Sunday, March 1st 2009

5:00 phone alarm goes off
5:00-5:15 Hitting snooze alarm multiple times...even lying on cell phone to muffle sound
5:30 rushing to the car with tons of stuff for church
5:31 stopping to toss some stuff into Scott's car
5:32 In car and going going going
5:42 Pondering "I did toss my running shoes in the car, right? Yah, I definitely did."
6:10 Finding a sweet parking spot only 1/4 mile from the race start
6:10 Sitting in my car realizing that I maybe didn't bring my shoes after all

Yup, I'm sitting, all decked out in my workout clothes...and my black rubbah slippahs. Hmm. I called Scott and woke him up all distraught. Even in a deep sleep, he was able to offer insightful advice. He thought I should go to the officials and ask if I could borrow their shoes. He was really serious. When I didn't jump at the idea of asking strangers to lend me their shoes, he volunteered to jump in the car and bring me my shoes. Yah, Scottie, my hero!!!

While waiting, I jumped in line for the bathroom at Kapiolani Park which took forever...scott actually had drive from Kaneohe to Waikiki before I got to the front of the line...and that's even with the women taking over the men side as well. Much to the dismay of the very drunk weird guy who kept yelling "what? You got to be kidding me!!!" even as he patiently stood at the end of the line. And Scott got there five minutes before the starting gun went off, bless my bestest husband ever.

As I stood in the crowd of maybe a couple hundred women and waited nervously for the race start, I started to get the feel that perhaps I'm a little behind the times. All these girls that these earbuds with cords that disappeared into these cute little miniscule white mp3 players on armbands or in some pocket.

Here's my music player of choice:

I can't believe these are out of style already...I finally made the big switch from a walkman to the discman a few years ago. Scott and I hosted a dinner at someone else's house and the host apologized that the stereo system was broken but offered IPOD speakers. Scott and I had to scoff a little and say "IPOD? We don't have IPODS."

I also can't stand having things in my pockets. So, guess what was clenched in my sweaty hand for 6 miles.

And let's face it, I'm not in the best shape. Check out these chubby legs. Do they look like capable of speed? I think not. These babies are meant for sitting on the couch watching Top Chef.

During the run, I tried to pace myself but I pushed myself too hard in the middle section cause I died at the end. I had to start walking at the end but then people kept stopping and encouraging me to run with them. So, when I crossed the line, I felt like I was going to throw up. And they have volunteers that form a tunnel and channel you to the middle of the park. They were waving their hands in my face and I pushed through them praying "please don't throw up on them...don't throw up...don't throw up." Thankfully I finally calmed down and got my breath back.

I'm so proud of myself and I want to keep going with this.
Final Time ~ 1 hr 7 min (10.8 min/mile)

Erin and Anthony's Wedding- Oct 11 at Ko Olina

I smell like the ash at the bottom of a firepit at camp. Last night at my other job, otherwise known as "the not-as-fun" job, I had to go to the scene of a fire at the preschool at Central Union Church on Punahou Street. It was overnight so no one was present at the time of the fire. Apparently it took about forty firemen and two oceans of water to put it out because there was a nice lake in the rooms when I got there. I wear crappy shoes to work and they are pretty absorbent so they sucked in all the ashy water and I was squishing around while I took photographs. We're supposed to be issued galoshes for this reason but they never issued 'em to me. My shoes dried out but they still smell like the remnants of a campfire. Not a horrible smell so I guess it will just fade away. When I got there, there was tons of firemen roaming around rolling up their hoses and cleaning up. Someone joked "Hey, Keao, look at all these young strapping men here for you to look at." I replied "No way!!! I'm married. I can't look.......too slowly. Just a few quick looks and that's it." None of them can compare to Scottie!!!

Here are photos from my third wedding this past weekend working with Moana from A Treasured Moment Weddings. This one was at Ko Olina...I had absolutely no clue that if you walk to the right when facing the lagoon, you would find these beaches that people use for weddings. Apparently, everyone else on Oahu knows because during this wedding, there was another wedding going on, two brides/grooms and their photog shadows were clambering on the rocks behind us as well as two more couples having their photographs taken for what I assume are their engagement sessions. Crazy. No wonder because it was absolutely beautiful...it epitomizes what you may dream up of as an island paradise. The sun was going down towards the end and created this eerie blue cast in the photos which I actually really dug. And Moana sets up such beautiful environments for the ceremony and moments.

the maid of honor

I should crop the following in more...but I do love these bouquet shots

Oh, she started to tear up during her vows...so touching. It reminded me of Scott bawling his eyes out during our wedding....aaaahhh

The following is probably my favorite shot...like ever.

For more photos, you can view the entire album at http://www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com/ and clicking on Erin and Anthony.

Shannon and Robert's Wedding-October 20th 2008 at Ko Olina

Trying to catch up...when you pray for rain...better be happy when it pours. Here I've been struggling to find work and practice for my photography and photoshop processing skills. And, the month of October has offered multiple weddings with A Treasured Moment Hawaiian Weddings. As soon as I finished with one wedding, it's already time for the next one.

I had an assistant for this wedding, I corraled Joy Pishcura into accompanying me and second shooting. It was awesome because we could get different perspectives at the same time. i hope that one day we can go into business together, I've heard a lot of wedding photography businesses are married couples, but Scott is pretty happy in his pastoral job. I think Joy and I could come up with a business name like "Joyful Light Photography" or "Joy and Light Photography." (My name means light in case you were wondering). This couple was Shannon and Robert from Alaska. Hey, I've been to Alaska. I joked with them that I'm from Hawaii and went to Alaska for my honeymoon and they did the exact opposite. Shannon gave me these beautiful moments when she laughed and I caught her giving this look right at the camera. Looking at the pictures, it made you feel so included in their intimate ceremony. There was also this adorable little boy Carter with striking blue eyes (rare here in these islands) and I saw my assistant a little distracted as she must have taken like fifteen frames just with him.

This ceremony had a dove release and a butterfly release. I've never seen the butterfly release before and I loved it. They seemed to want to take their time dancing around before landing on leaves nearby.

I don't know what she whispered to the bridesmaids but I'm still curious

A hawaiian lei ceremony.

What? Is it picnic time already? I think there might be something else in there.

They also released two butterflies that flittered around and landed nearby. So beautiful.

there's that over the shoulder glances that made me feel like she was sharing a secret with me.

The friends and family of Shannon and Robert, married October 20th 2008 at Ko Olina.

To see more images and information on how you may purchase prints, visit www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com. You will need to input your email in order to view the album, the email will only be used to notify you when the album is taken off-line. Prints can be purchased directly from the site and will be delivered to your residence. Digital images may be purchased from the photographer through email (simply provide the image title and description) to keaosphotography@gmail.com

Ross and Jeannine-Vow Renewal at Waimanalo Beach

These are my favorites from the last of the batch from Ross and Jeannine's vow renewal on Waimanalo Beach. These manage to capture the emotion they obviously have for each other. I hope Scott and I will have that tenderness when we've been together for another 5 years.

I wonder how they enjoyed the rest of their vacation on the Big Island. They said they were going to explore Kilauea Volcano National Park. That is one of my favorite parts of the Big Island, no, it's one of my favorite parts in the entire state.

I had a wedding planned for October 1st but they've moved it until December. So my next two weddings are not for two weeks. Tune in this week for images from my session with 7 month old HB and 5 month old twin girls.