the time is here…i can announce our BIG NEWS! 

I am so excited to announce that Erin & I will be opening our new studio, Atelier Photography, on June 28 in the North Cherry Creek shopping area. We have been waiting and dreaming and planning and talking about this day for so long. 

Here is a picture of the outside of our new studio.

isn’t it darling? We will be taking over the downstairs as well as the upstairs portion that you see above. We have been doing some MAJOR work to make the place as welcoming and inviting as possible (picture flowers in the pot, new banner, AMAZING gallery wrap canvases and samples.

We even have already had our FIRST photo shoot there. I will share images from that shoot in the next few days ~ I can tell you now though that it was very *special* and fun and we had some great *models*.

Please visit our new blog at Atelier Photography for future information, specials, events and randomness.

for very exciting….

news…

changes…

images…

and specials…

it will be worth the wait…more than worth the wait.

i know, i know…this is long overdue, but a few weeks ago i wrote about my friend from childhood named Laura and her engagement to a wonderful man (who is just younger than me to seem like a boy still)…but that’s cool, Laura….you GO girl…

I told a story about how Laura went home from a slumber party b/c i scared her when we were little, but that is only one of hundreds of memories i have of Laura.

I think of Laura as STRONg…..sometimes things in life don’t go as planned, and we persevere…and Laura is a testament to that. She is a fighter…literally, a TouGh person….i can’t recall a physical fight she may have ever been in, but i can tell you that had i been in one when we were growing up, i wouldn’t have wanted it to be with her. Does that make sense?…she scares me a little…in a good way….she doesn’t put up with anyone’s sh*&….

Her images with her fiance, Jake, are great….and i don’t mean that to sound like i did a good job photographing her, i mean that in that WHO THEY ARE really shows through the lens. You photograph people and you pose them, move them into a flattering light or whatever, but only in TRUE people and TRUE moments does who a person TRULY is at heart who through all of that.

Their love is something to be treasured…and you see it. 

I was asked last year to write something for mine and Clint’s best friend, Jessica’s, wedding….it was an honor to be asked to read in a wedding, but to be asked to WRITE something was scary…but when i found the words and it REALLY told who they were…they were so perfect, i almost didn’t believe that i had written them. These words that follow must ring true for all “meant to be couples” because they were my favorite in what i wrote and they are also true for Laura and Jake.

“What he keeps safe, she keeps possible.”

He is her strength, her safety, her rock…she is his laughter, his soul, his light….

and i think these images show that.

i hope you enjoy watching this slideshow…there are a few glitches (repeat images at the end and a few areas where it skips black) but i think that being a photographer (and not just someone with a camera) is really being able to tell a story…with characters and not needing the words to describe who they are.

Laura, Jake and Davina….ps…i recommend clicking on the slideshow so that it takes you to YOUTUBE and then going FUll Screen…

i still get goosebumps when i think about the KU basketball game and the National Championship…some people just don’t get it, That’s okay.

someone forwarded this link to me and i recommend if you LOVE Kansas basketball you check it out….

http://vimeo.com/902736

it is a beautiful day here in Colorado. The sky is bright blue and signs of spring are popping up everywhere. Builders are popping houses up in just weeks and excavators are busy at work (way too early…6 am) making the lake next to our house look all pretty and fancy.

Tonight we are headed to a Rockies game and i am just so happy that it’s FINALLY nice enough out to be outdoors. 

The first hike was Erin’s first…ever…and i made her go through Mt. Sanidas in Boulder. It only took us and hour and a half and i was so excited except that the next day Clint and I went back and he made me do it in HALF AN HOUR…and it is no easy hike, let me tell you…it is all incline, step after step after step…my legs felt like they were popping in and out of socket with each step.

Yesterday we went back up to Boulder but for a different hike on a trail called the Royal Arch….even harder….but a much better view from the top and more beautiful scenery all-together.

I just love being able to hike….and go to baseball games that look over the mountains…and walk the park and sit on my favorite rock and see the mountain range for miles in every direction…and watch the sun set over the mountains from my own front porch.

Sometimes, when i get a little homesick….i get to do these things and it makes it all better b/c these are the things I love in life….and let’s face it…for me, Kansas only offers my family.

So, we have been very busy meeting with our broker, Meg, going over spaces to lease and tomorrow we get to go view our top 9….from there, negotiations begin and we can proceed with the bank loan to make it all happen. It is exciting because we are ready to make the move back to the busy, high quality standard of a studio we are both so used to. We are happy to make our dreams of a boutique studio happen in Denver.

Well, I am off to go get some lunch at Udi’s…yum….but keep your eyes out for an engagement session i LOVED and a perfect little baby.

when i booked a ticket to go home to KS a few months ago, my intentions were merely to drive up to Omaha with my brother, parents, sister-in-law and niece and nephew to take Jackson to see his favorite *group* The Wiggles. Yes, I flew home to see The Wiggles…4 grown Australian men who dress like they are on Star Trek sing about “Fruit Salad” and “Getting Strong”…it was worth every minute. My *normally* hyper 2 and a half year old nephew was STARSTRUCK and the cutest little thing ever in his Captain Feathersword hat (someday he will deny this, but look, i have proof)

ps…the scratch on his cheek happened when i was outside playing with him and he fell on something?!?!?! He cried for a 1/2 second and my mom freaked out….

and a random picture of my dad and i at The Wiggles and while that was *a blast*…okay, i actually enjoyed seeing my 31-year-old brother pretending he was Quack Quack Quack Quack…Cock-a-doodle-do….dancing in his seat, the MOST fun i had took place later in the week. As many of you know, I am a MAJOR KU basketball fan….who knew that i would be in Lawrence for the week of the tournament? When i flew home, i actually was in the air for the BIGGEST game of the year versus North Carolina (where our Coach Roy Williams left us for. Winning against him would’ve been enough, but OH NO….we took it one step further and won the NCAA National Championship title for the first time since 1988. IT WAS BEYOND AMAZING TO GET TO BE THERE. and if you watched the game, it was the most exciting show of collegiate sports ever…down by 9 with 2 minutes left, a 3-point shot to take us into overtime, then WINNING! Tears, hugs, jumping around, screaming outside,  My mom and i were at my brother’s house watching the game, and then got into our car to head down to Massachusetts Street to party with over 50,000 screaming, crying, drunken, wild college students. UNTIL 1 AM my mom wasn’t so sure about going down there, but i think she loved it…i KNOW she got to brag to her friends over coffee the next morning. This is us with my sister-in-law and NOT very happy, sleepy Jackson my nephews, Ryan and Patrick all of us….and you can see the crowd behind us and one of my favorites, me with some policemen who were *keeping the peace*…not that it as needed, it was the most jubilant, safe, happy gather of 50,000 i could ever imagine my mom wasn’t sure what to think about that picture….and was quite upset with me when i joked that i wanted a picture of myself hand-cuffed, she grabbed my sleeve and pulled me away. and while i could go on and on with how happy i am to have won, i think my 6 new Championship t-shirts, pint glasses, stickers, pants, and all of the other stuff i didn’t need but had to have will speak for itself. oh, i was also able to photograph my friend Laura from my last post and meet my best friend, Whitney’s, baby boy Greysen…. the Jayhawks Lucky Charm…more images of him….which are AMAZING to come  

i just love being able to post a favorite image and tease a client with it.

I am home in Kansas this week (Rock Chalk Jayhawk)….and was asked to photograph the engagment/family pictures for a childhood friend whom i have known for about 25 years.

Laura is 1/2 of a brother-sister-twin combo that i grew up with. One of my favorite and oldest memories is the night Laura stayed over for her first sleepover at my house. We had a large window in the family room where we slept that was right by our couch bed. I convinced her something along of the lines of the fact that that was where the boogey-man or a burglar or some big, bad man came into our house in the night.

Needless to say, that sleepover ended shortly thereafter as Laura went home.

Throughout the years, Laura and i played on every sports team together, were friends and i am sure at some point mortal enemies, we even got ourselves *suspended* from a volleyball tournament or something together for calling the coach a bad name…which, of course, we denied….which, of course, we actually DID.

So, this is only one of MANY images we were able to shoot this past weekend with her fiance, Jake. Her daughter, Davina, is in several of the other images we have, but this is one of my very favorites.

From what little i have witnessed of Jake & Laura’s relationship, he is very caring….he makes her laugh…he is silly and she sucks it all in. He worships her and his daughter and this image envelops all that is their relationship.

You can see Laura relaxing into Jake, and he is securely embracing her…nothing bad will come her way.

many more images to come, but that’s it for  now.

among the many memories i will always carry with me of the night the Kansas JAYHAWKS became the 2008 NCAA National Champions, I will remember this commercial that aired on the television. My sister-in-law and nephews were “my better is bettering” each other. I hadn’t seen the commercial before, but you know that feeling you get when you watch it? That motivated, inspired, i think this means i can do anything feeling?…well, that is how i will always remember the pride and happiness i felt that night.

I love this commercial and the song is *List of Demands* by Saul Williams.  

i hate it when people say *so…i was sitting in an airport and*….insert personal drama, realization, funny story…whatever, but i am about to go there.

i am sitting at Denver International Airport awaiting a plane that is scheduled for an hour-late departure. AND I COULN’T BE HAPPIER.

that extra hour means i will get to see THE SINGLE MOST important basketball game in the history of MY history as a University of Kansas fan (see, this is the personal drama actualization i was talking about)

Had I known 2 months ago when i booked this ticket that the KU vs. UNC (that’s North Carolina for you non-Jayhawks out there…North Carolina as in Roy Williams….the FORMER coach who promised to NEVER leave, then announced at a nation-wide press conferece he was doing just that….i can still hear James Taylor’s “in my mind i’m going to carolina”)…okay okay…you get it…

i have not forgiven him. don’t think i can. Loyal to a fault. 

I am sitting at the bar at the airport listening to grown men make predictions and watching women wring their fingers….serious drama here.

Clint says “it’s just a game, Jess” and i say “My ass”….it’s a face-off…it’s a war…it’s a fight for honor…something Roy WIlliams needs to be reminded of…and tonight is the night to do just that.

So, as i try to remain a “classy Jayhawk” i want to tell all of you out there that no matter what happens, no matter who wins, in the end it IS just a game, but it’s so important to me. Every March Madness season, i wear my lucky Jayhawk ring, i remember many nights of going to KU games, my pride in my school, our history. 

I get all sappy when i talk about it, but my heart is racing and the panic that i feel in knowing that when i walk off the plane tonight, we are either headed to the Dance or making a proud return to Lawrence terrifies the crap out of me. 

All i know is, i better see my dad (who is sick with a fever) standing there with a BIG thumbs-up….

today was the stapleton easter egg hunt in town center. I went to introduce myself to some of the families and to watch the pandemonium.there must’ve been a 500 kids and the egg hunt was over in 14 seconds.it was a fairly nice day, weather in the fifties, but i swear that within the 20 minutes i was there the temperature dropped 20 degrees. and a quick shot of the Easter Bunny himself with the cutest little girl! it was so nice to meet all of you and please call if you have any questions or to inquire about your FREE family portrait session,HAPPY EASTER everyone,Jessie & Erin