A couple years ago, I started seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis. I'd been having some pretty regular shoulder and neck pain for a few years, and decided it was time to do something about it. Turns out, carrying heavy camera equipment on my back and holding a camera to my face and a flash over my head for hours at a time, is not so good for my spine. Like many people, I was really skeptical of
chiropractic even though lots of photographers had told me it had really helped them. Dr. Lieschen McGarry had become a friend through church, and so I figured I'd give it a try since she was someone I felt really comfortable with and could trust. She explained to me that when your spine is out of line (
subluxation), it can disrupt the nerves sending signals to your whole body, which can lead not just to pain but to all sorts of health issues. She also showed me how when your spine is out of line for an extended period of time, it can cause structural damage as well (
subluxation degeneration). Looking at my x-ray was a little scary (apparently I have the spine of a 40-year old), so I started going for adjustments on a regular basis, and still do. And it's really helped!
So, when Lieschen told me she was working on a new
website for the office and needed some photographs, I was thrilled to work with her on them!
We started out with some headshots...
Gorgeous, and talented - gotta love it!
This is Maggie, one of the office assistants
And Jessica
They're a great team!
This is the view from the adjustment room - that's lovely downtown
Winchester
Dr. McGarry explaining Subluxation Degeneration to a patient
Two of the adorable babies she treats
A big part of Dr. McGarry's practice, is working with families and children. A lot of people freak out at the idea of adjusting children, but she's incredibly gentle. We photographed her adjusting some babies and kids, so people could see what that looks like.
See, smiling faces :)
Thanks Lieschen for such a fun and different shoot! And thank you especially for all the care you've given me over the last couple years! I don't know how I'd make it through a wedding season without you :)
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One of my 2008 brides,
Jessica, emailed me the other day about a charity event she's planning and asked if I would help spread the word. If you've visited this blog before, or visited my website, you know that I'm very much into charity work, and using my photography and my business to support organizations that are really helping people. I checked out the info on Jessica's event and I think it sounds great!!
SpringFest is a charity fair hosted by
Berkland Baptist Church to raise funds and awareness for the
China Nest of Hope Orphanage in Beijing, China. The orphanage is part of the China Nest of Hope Foundation, a charitable organization that strives to help orphaned and underprivileged children in Beijing. SpringFest festivities will feature family-friendly activities like games, arts and crafts, demonstrations, music, food and more. There will also be a charity raffle with awesome prizes like airplane tickets & iPods, and winners will be drawn throughout the day.
I love that I get to work with great brides like Jessica, who do cool stuff like this! Visit
www.SpringFestBoston.com for more information about SpringFest and about the China Nest of Hope Orphanage, and hopefully I'll see you there! :)
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For those of you who have followed my blog for a while (like since the beginning), you know that I'm a HUGE fan of
Invisible Children! Invisible Children began as a documentary about children in Northern Uganda who would commute miles each night from the villages to the city to avoid being abducted and forced into the rebel army (the LRA). [If you haven't seen the film, please buy it and watch it - or ask to borrow it from me!!] And now, Invisible Children has become a movement of young people who want to do something to end the 20+ year war in Uganda.
Peace talks have failed once again, and Invisible Children, along with much of the international community is calling for the arrest of Joseph Kony (the leader of the LRA) and the rescue of the thousands of abducted children who make up his army. On April 25th, 2009, Invisible Children is calling on the youth of the world to abduct themselves to free the abducted by participating in an event called
The Rescue. The Rescue is taking place in Boston, and dozens of cities all over the world. Go to the site to find a city near you!
A couple years ago, IC put on a similar event called
DisplaceME to raise awareness about the plight of Ugandans being forced to live in IDP Camps because of the ongoing war. A group of my friends from
church and I went down to New York to participate and it was a very cool experience - one that I never did share on this blog... No time like the present, huh? :)
This is Bobby Bailey, one of the filmmakers who started Invisible Children.
love this
it was a cold wet night, but people stayed and really slept in card board shelters! (except me, I'm a wimp and I slept in the car ;)
I really love this organization! I wish I could be there to participate on April 25th (though I'm not sad that I'll be on vacation in FLORIDA). I'm happy that I can support Invisible Children by just passing on the word - and because they're one of the organizations I support through my wedding photography
GIVE program - where 10% of every wedding photography goes to charity. Maybe someday I'll get to go to Uganda and shoot some photos for them... Hey, I can dream!!
Take a minute and go to
www.invisiblechildren.com to learn more. And if you have 30 minutes to watch a powerful video on child soldiers, please click
HERE.
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Last season I had the chance to second shoot with a bunch of great photographers, but haven't had a chance to share any of the images with you. Until now :)
This event was shot with my dear friend
Erica Pelaccia. We drove down to Newport, RI for the beautiful wedding of Beth & Steve at The Officer's Club at the Naval Station Newport. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day...
Beth & Steve got married outside by the water, with the sun getting ready to set behind them. It was a beautiful scene, and definitely a fun challenge to shoot!
After the ceremony and the family portraits, we got to spend a little time with just Beth & Steve and the golden sunset. It was gorgeous!!!
Erica working her magic :)
Their reception ended up being one of the funnest parties EVER! It started with a choreographed first dance...
Then the father-daughter dance
Then the best part was that the band was an
80s cover band!!!!! They even dressed up!!! Oh my gosh, they were SO AWESOME!
At first I was a little worried that the crowd wouldn't be into an 80s band, but I was WRONG! This crowd ate it up!! Everyone from kids to 80 year-old grandparents were gettin' down on the dance floor all night long. It was a AWESOME!!!
Erica, gettin' down with her bad self! I love you, Erica ;)
The party was so fun that we closed the place down! On the way to the car, I saw this and just had to get a shot... Gorgeous!
Thank you
Erica for inviting me to come shoot with you! It was lovely as always :) Thank you Beth & Steve for having me at your wedding - it was great to meet you guys and enjoy a night boogying with your friends & family! And thank you
Fast Times for the best wedding music ever! You guys ROCK - I've got to make plans to come out for a show in Boston soooon!
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It's been a busy week around here! Wedding albums being designed and ordered, I've had 3 photo shoots, and most importantly - I've been busy preparing for my family vacation in FLORIDA!! :D As of tomorrow morning, I will be on vacation for a whole WEEK! YAY!!
And just because I'm getting pumped up, here are some photos from last year's Florida Vacation!
My niece Reilly
My sister, Kyla and baby Caeden
Michael & Tristan
One of my favorite photos EVER! Me with my little Reilly. Gotta love that face!!!
We had a family portrait session on the beach one evening. I'm debating whether or not to bring my tripod so we can get one of the whole fam... It's a whole other bag though and you shouldn't have to carry a lot of stuff on vacation!
The kids were having a great time, no really
The kids and their Kiki :)
It works a whole lot better with my sister running around and being ridiculous behind me. Way more genuine smiles - especially when she fell down in the sand ;)
My Mom & Dad - the amazing people who make it happen!
And this will be my view for the next few days! Don't be jealous ;)
I'll be responding to emails and phone calls when I get back. Have a great week!!! :D
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For the past 3 years, my church, GENESIS, has done an event every May called The Great Giveaway. Basically, it’s a HUGE yard sale where everything is FREE, and it’s pretty awesome! We believe that God is generous and He gives so much to us (provision, life, love, salvation, and abundant blessings), and that we are called to be generous as He’s been generous to us. So each year we collect thousands of items – clothing, furniture, electronics, books, toys, strollers, appliances, home decor, linens, and more – and we give them away to anyone who needs/wants them! Plus, we throw in some super fun stuff for the kids to do (even a bouncy house!!), and we feed everyone while we’re at it! Frankly, it’s the funnest day of the year, and I’m getting super excited for tomorrow!!!!!
Last year, everyone lined up and was waiting for it to begin, and when it did, they all RAN in to check it all out!
The kids LOVE it!
The grown ups have been known to have some fun too…
And it’s always fun to see people walking away with things they really NEED!!
This year we’ve got about THREE TIMES MORE stuff to giveaway than we did last year!!!! Check out more photos of what we’ve got in store on the Facebook invite here.
The Great Giveaway is TOMORROW, Saturday May 19th from 10am – 12pm at GENESIS church (16 Wheeling Ave, Woburn)
I hope you can stop by and check it out!!! Be sure to say HI – I’ll be the one walking around with a camera ;)
You can see more of the fun from last year’s Great Giveaway here. And check out my post about the first Great Giveaway here.
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It’s that time of year, and things are getting pretty busy over here at Krista Photography! It’s shaping up to be our busiest season yet, which is awesome! With all of this busyness comes a lot more work on the back end, and I’m realizing that CoCo and I can’t do it alone! So, we’re looking for some more help around here…
What are we looking for?
- One or 2 people to work part-time.
- Background in photography, graphic design, marketing, administrative assisting, or other applicable skills
- Honest, detail-oriented, hard-working, creative, problem-solver who’s eager to learn – preferably someone fun :)
- Experience with some combination of Mac computers, Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, Social Media, Lightroom & Photoshop
- You’ll need a car to get to my home office in Woburn
- Someone who can start the sooner, the better!
What kinds of things could you be doing?
- Managing vendor relations
- Marketing & Social Media projects
- Submitting images for publication
- Updating & managing our website
- Wedding Album Design
- Administrative Tasks
- Client Communication
- Scheduling Assistants & Second Shooters
- Culling & Color Correcting
- Digital Asset Management
- IT Troubleshooting
- Assisting at weddings
- Various projects
- Cleaning the office for meetings :)
What will you get in return?
- Pay commensurate with experience and final job description
- Flexible Hours
- Fun, relaxed & productive work environment
- You’ll probably get to hear me singing to myself a lot, get to pet my cat a lot, and hopefully have a little fun while you’re here :)
- You’ll get to work with US! Who wouldn’t want that?! :)
If you’re interested, please send an email telling me a bit about yourself, why you’re interested in working for Krista Photography, what kind of roles you’re interested in taking on, a link to your work if you’re a photographer, and a resume to kg@kristaphoto.com! Looking forward to hearing from you!!!
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I basically didn’t blog most of my weddings from last year… but there are some that I just HAVE to share! It may take me a while, but I’m going to try to post a few of last year’s weddings, along with this year’s weddings. We’ll see how it goes! For now, allow me to introduce you to Claire & Matan…
Claire & Matan are just beautiful people. They’re gorgeous, clearly, but they’re also really beautiful people from the inside out, where it really counts. They’re lives are committed to helping people – him by working in foreign policy and her working in humanitarian aid. They’ve travelled the world putting their education and skills to work to make other people’s lives better, and I think that’s pretty awesome! It’s been so lovely working with them and getting to know them over the course of the last two years as they planned their wedding, shot their engagement session and the big day, and now we’ve designed their wedding album. But being at their wedding and hearing their friends and family speak of them, that’s when you really see how wonderful, and how loved they really are. I’m so so glad I have been able to be a part of their celebration and the beginning of their life together!
We shot their engagement session on rainy summer day in Rockport, but they absolutely made it work!
Their wedding at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge was the exact opposite – HOT and SUNNY! But once again, they made it work and everything turned out great!!
Photo below by my fabulous second shooter, Allana Taranto
Quite possibly my favorite First Look ever!
Photo below by my wonderful Assistant, CoCo Boardman
A few sunny portraits along the River
Another great shot by Allana
Allana had the brilliant idea of putting them in this tree, and I LOVE how it turned out!!
A shot from my widelux in black & white film
Then it was back to the Hyatt for the festivities!
My favorite shot of Claire and her father!
Widelux film shot of the ceremony
Their vows were so lovely, even I was crying at this point!
Allana’s view
They literally danced their way out!! Talk about excited :)
Loved this shot of Claire’s friend and her husband :)
Allana’s shots from the first dance, the Hora, and the toasts
LOVE this one Allana!!!!
Dance floor by CoCo
Their dance floor was definitely a BLAST!!
Claire & Matan! Thank you so much for inviting me into this happy day in your lives, and for making all of the months of work leading up to and away from the day such a pleasure!!!
*To view more of my favorites from this wedding & engagement session, check out the album on Facebook!
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I’m going to get pretty personal here for a minute. For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, that won’t surprise you, but for those who are just stopping by for the first time – I hope you’ll indulge me…
Two weeks ago, a young woman from my church, Alanna, and her unborn son, were killed in a tragic accident while on vacation with her husband in Florida.
Alanna was a joyful, sweet woman – the kind of person that no one could say a bad thing about – just genuinely loving and kind. She always had a beautiful smile on her face. I remember the few conversations I had with her being completely pleasant, and walking away feeling encouraged and more grateful for my life and work than I was before. Our hearts have been so heavy within the GENESIS community, even for those of us who didn’t know Alanna very well. Her death affects us all because we are one Body. “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:4-5. And it’s that much harder for those who knew her well and for whom she was a big part of their lives. More than anything, my heart aches for her husband Michael, and her family. It’s an absolutely devastating loss.
For the last 2 weeks, I have been praying that God would use this for good. I have said it again and again, but her death, this whole thing is just so completely horrible – it’s so horrible that there is no way that God will not use it for good. God does not delight in tragedy, but in taking ashes and turning them into something beautiful. And I believe with all my heart that God will use Alanna’s death to bring about something beautiful in the lives of those left behind. I believe that He will reveal Himself to us, and to many. I have already seen it, and I trust that it will only grow as time passes.
I think Alanna’s legacy is her faith in and love for Jesus, and that above everything else, she would want people to know that about her, to see that in her, and to seek the same. On her Facebook page, in her “about me” section she wrote the lyrics to the song Legacy by Nichole Nordeman…
“I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy”
This is the legacy she leaves. Her entire life, and even her death points us to God. That’s what she wanted most, and I believe that’s what she’s done. And I rejoice in knowing that she’s with Him now – at perfect peace, in perfect joy, and hearing “well done, my good and faithful servant.”
For me personally, I feel overwhelmed with all I’ve learned in these last few days. I look at how she died in the midst of such joy – she’d said it was the happiest day of her life – and I realize that life is just too short for anything else. Life is too short to spend it being angry, or frustrated. Life is too short to waste our time on foolish things, on too many hours spent in front of a computer or a TV. Life is too short not to tell the people you love that you love them – not to show them that you love them. And most importantly, life is too short not to be lived in light of what we believe is most important. Alanna’s entire life, her entire personality, everything about her pointed the people around her to Jesus, spoke to them of His love. Will they say the same of me when I die someday? I hope so. I hope that I could leave half the mark on the people around me that Alanna has left. I look to her example, and am deeply challenged. I pray that my life would be different from here on out – that her life and death would not impact me just these last few weeks, but for the rest of my life.
You truly never know what moment will be your last, don’t waste them.
p.s. I wish I knew who the photographer was who took her wedding photo, so I could give him/her proper credit. I pulled this from Facebook, and she didn’t credit her photog. A reminder to all of us photographers to watermark our images… If you shot this photo, please let me know and I’ll edit the post!
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Inspire.
It started out as an idea… What if there was a conference that felt more like a community? What if instead of flying around the country to hear people from California talk about running their businesses, we gathered photographers from right here in New England and asked them instead? What if we did it ourselves? These are the questions that Matt & Enna Grazier asked a few of us, as we all looked at them as if they were nuts. Brilliant. But nuts… If it had been my idea, it probably would have stayed an idea, but the Grazier’s are people of action, and thank God for that!
What began as an idea, a question, grew into a real life conference we called Inspire Boston. What was an incredible and inspiring two days in Concord with 100 photographers, grew to something more the next year… Inspire Boston 2011. We added mentoring sessions, shooting workshops, and a vendor lounge and this time 125 people came from all over New England and beyond!
So, here we are, 3 years later, and it’s just 12 days until Inspire 2012 kicks off! This year, we’ve changed the name from Inspire Boston to Inspire Photo Seminars – since it’s really not just about Boston anymore. We’ve moved it to the Sturbridge Host so we could have a bit more space and be a little more centralized for our primarily MA/CT attendees. We’ve got 18 Speaking Sessions, 8 Special Classes (shooting session, portfolio reviews, etc.), a special pre-conference all-day Pictage + ShootQ Bootcamp, an even bigger Vendor Lounge, a mid-conference party with KARAOKE (clearly that was my idea!), one-on-one and roundtable mentoring sessions with the speakers and sponsors, and a killer Wrap-Party at the end! It is going to be a JAM-PACKED couple of days!!!
I’ll be speaking at Inspire this year on Facebook Marketing Strategies. If you follow my blog, you’ve probably liked my Facebook page as well (and if not, what’s stopping you?!). And if you follow both, you’ve probably noticed that I post on Facebook WAY more often than on here. Facebook just makes it so EASY for me! It has dramatically changed and grown my business over the last 3 years. Last year my weddings doubled from the year before, and this year I’m almost entirely booked up for the year already! I give most of that credit to how I share images and communicate via Facebook – but I guess I’ll give a little of the credit to my photographs too, yeah? ;) I’ve been super excited to share my Facebook strategies and theories with the Inspire community, and wouldn’t you know it, Facebook went and changed everything about their business pages three weeks before the conference! So, I’m reworking my talk and trying to learn as much about all the changes as possible, and now I’m even more excited :) I mean, what better time to talk about how to set up and use a Facebook page than right when everything about them has changed and everyone’s wondering what to do?! OK, so I’m excited and also a little overwhelmed, but I do think it’s an exciting time to be sharing about this and I’m hoping that it will be really beneficial to everyone to comes to my talk!
If you’re a photographer, and you aren’t signed up for Inspire yet, what are you waiting for?! It’s going to be FUN! You’re going to meet a TON of awesome local photographers who may just become your nearest and dearest friends (I’ve gone on vacation with ladies I met at Inspire, and don’t get me started on how much I love the Planning Team). You’re going to LEARN something new! You’re going to leave feeling INSPIRED and EMPOWERED to make some great changes in your business and maybe even in your life. It’s not too late to sign up and come be a part of it all!! I’ve got a $50 off discount code that is good for the first 3 people who use it! Go HERE and use the code KRISTAPHOTO2012 to get $50 off your registration! I hope you can come!!!
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