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