Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a beautiful Christmas and that the new years brings all that you wish for.

I will be taking this week off from blogging but am looking forward to all of next year's weddings and all of the amazing photographs I will have the honor to capture.

Happy New Year Everyone!

xoxo,

Kandie

Pacific Islands Media is a wedding photographer in Santa Barbara, CA

Holga project update

I picked up the first two rolls of film from my Holga project this weekend and I'm sorry to say they were awful. I know what your thinking, this girl has a BA in professional photography and expects me to hire her to photograph my wedding. Yes I do and yes I do. I would never use a camera or technique I was unsure of when shooting your wedding. Shooting with my Holga has been all about fun. It has no shutter or aperture control and no flash. All you can do is point and click. I tried to push the poor little things to far by using it at night. The good news, I've learned a few things about shooting with my Holga such as only shoot with it in bright light. I love to learn new things which is part of why this project is so much fun. Hopefully my next roll will be better.

While I did not get any images worth posting from this past weeks Holga rolls, Dustin took this really cool photo of me with our Canon. I hope you like it.

Don't forget, Pacific Islands Media gift certificates are available all year and make an excellent gift for any occasion.

xoxo,

Kandie

Last minute Christmas gift ideas

A Pacific Islands Media gift certificate will make the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for that engaged couple on your list. Actually it would be a perfect gift for everyone on your list. Photography captures a moment in time so really your gift would be a part of your loved ones personal history.

For the engaged couple on your list:

Planning a wedding requires loads of work and the costs can add up very quickly. To help take some of the stress out of paying for it all, Pacific Islands Media has started a gift certificate program. You are welcome to buy gift certificates in whatever amount works for you and each couple may use the credit towards which ever services and/or products they prefer.

For everyone else on your list:

We love shooting weddings and feel it is such an honor to capture your wedding day. But we also shoot family portraitures, maternity photos, and boudoir images. Our gift certificates can be used for any of these sessions as well and make a wonderful gift. Your credit can be used towards setting fees and/or prints and albums.

Pacific Islands Media gift certificates are available all year and make an excellent gift for any occasion.

xoxo,

Kandie

All the things I never said...

To My Papa,

Thank you for being my foundation when my parents were too young, for bringing me my bottle even though I hit you on the head with it when you fell asleep during the story before I did, and for making up stories about Ralph the mouse and his tiny motorcycle just to entertain me. Thank you for taking me to L&P to buy a new toy everyday, for teaching me about big money, for spoiling me, and still wanting me there even when I was behaving like a spoiled rotten brat. Thank you for sneaking me all the Bon Jovi albums when my mom said no more rock music. Thank you for letting me believe that my eyes are green just like Papa's. Thank you for being there on my first day and letting me be there on your last. Most of all thank you loving me so unconditionally. I'm so proud to call you my papa. I miss you more then imaginable. I love you.

All my love,

Kandie

Starting My Holga Project

I have officially broken my poor little Holga out of its camera bag and started photographing downtown Santa Barbara with it. Taking photos with the Holga is super easy and surprisingly fun. Of course I tossed the instruction booklet away ages ago so I can only guess at the settings and figure them out as I shoot. Shutter speed and aperture values are set and cannot be changed so I have no real exposure control. Having no control over my exposure adds a level of suspense that I'm not use to when taking photos. I still have no clue how the final images are going to look but I'm excited to develop my film this weekend and find out. My Holga is the 120 medium format so the film is a bit larger then 35mm, which is the most common size film used by most people. It gives me the choice between 12 or 16 images per roll. For this roll I have chosen to shot 16 images of downtown Santa Barbara at night. I love all the white lights wrapped around the tress that line State Street. It really is a beautiful view and I hope that comes across in these photos. For this first roll I am shooting black and white film because of the timeless quality associated with the look it provides. To me Christmas has that same timeless feeling so using black and white film seemed like the obvious choice.

Don't be surprised if a photo or two of Hobbes pop up along. After all he is just way too cute not to photograph.

xo,

Kandie

Staying Creative

One of the things I love most about photography is how creative it is. But lets face it, anything we do for a living can become a job no matter how much passion we have for it. Please don't get me wrong. I love what I do and photographing your wedding is a great honor. To keep photography from ever turning into a 'job' I have found that working on personal projects make me a better wedding photographer and keeps me inspired. I'm really pumped about my newest personal project and I want to share some of it with you.
A few years ago I had heard other photographers talking about these really funky plastic cameras made by Holga. Because they are made out of plastic their light weight, inexpensive, and come in 120 or 35mm. The down side, they notoriously leak light. Naturally I purchased one. At the time I was terribly busy though with what I can't remember so my poor little Holga sat waiting for me to get unbusy. Anyone who has visited Santa Barbara in December knows how beautiful State Street is with lights and decorations brightening up the sidewalks. Last night as Dustin and I were walking downtown I was inspired to break out my Holga and begin a new project. Having never used it before I have no idea how the light leaks will affect the final shots but I think this will be part of the fun. My objective will be to shoot one roll of film per week for the next four weeks and share the best image of each roll with you. I hope you enjoy seeing my images as much as I enjoy making them.
xo,
Kandie

Holiday Bonus

Free Engagement Session in Santa Barbara with your paid reservation fee when booked before 31 December 2010.

We are so excited about next year's weddings and happy to note that our calendar has already started to fill up. I know it seems crazy to be thinking about anything but the holiday's right now but I have always believed that a little bit of crazy can be a good thing. When you book your wedding and pay your reservation fee before 31 December 2010 we will give you a free engagement session in Santa Barbara as a special thank you. You can book your session anytime next year and will include up to two locations.

An engagement session is a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other and you to share more about your wedding day specifics. On the day of your wedding I will be one of the people you spend the most time with and I want to help make sure that your wedding day is everything you have always dreamed it will be. Our engagement session will be an excellent chance for me to start getting to know exactly what you want for your wedding photography.

Happy Holidays!

xoxo,

Kandie

London 2010

Kandie and I took a 12 day holiday to London in early June. It was her 35^th birthday so I thought what a great present it would be to take her to her favorite city. I found London to be a target rich environment for photography. While there we took in a few shows including “Wicked” and my favorite, “Oliver”. We went to a pub for the England vs. USA football match. Watching the English watch the match was way more fun then watching the match. Those people can drink and party. When England scored they just about ripped the bar off of the foundation. Being the only American there we had some heated words back and forth and shared a few pints. I would absolutely recommend going. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

D&K

Bar Mitzvah Invitation Photos

We started this year off with an awesome shoot. Jake’s Bar Mitzvah will take place on 10 April 2010 and we had the pleasure of photographing him for his invitation. Jake was to cute and looked so hansom in his suit. Jake’s dad came to the temple for the shoot which was really cool because I knew he would know how to make him smile. Not that fake I’m having my picture taken smile but a genuine smile so I asked dad to say something that would make Jake laugh. It was a girls name that did the trick. And what a smile! Happy Bar Mitzvah Jake. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your special day.