So we lost most of last week to a bad cold, and the first thing to go was the blogging.  To make up for it, I give you a sneak peek at the photos I was shooting this AM of the twins for their Valentine's Day present for Mommy.  (Hopefully, Kristina is too busy this week to be reading my blog.)  I'll photograph Caroline when she gets home from school this afternoon.

To be on the safe side, maybe we should put the photos on the other side of the jump, don't you think?

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Created by Sweet Surrender of Louisville

Since they first started, we've had a very close relationship with Jacki Allen's Kentucky Bride magazine. We've had a number of weddings featured in there, and also done a bridal fashion shoot for them at the Castle Post in Versailles, as well as a floral shoot with E. Stephen Hein, Florist at his store.  It shouldn't be a surprise, I suppose, Jacki was literally the first person I met in the wedding industry here!

Created by Artisan Kitchen of Paducah

For the Winter issue of the magazine this year, Jacki, Julie and Jaimeson, the creative team at the magazine, brought me in to shoot a series of cakes from some of Kentucky's best designers, plus a couple of cool accessories.  If you've ever been to the Kentucky Bride offices, well, they're in one of the usual office parks that are great for getting work done, but they're definitely not a commercial photography studio.

What to do?  We set up our own studio, right in the foyer of the building.  (There may or may not have been fire codes broken.)  I set up backgrounds, flew studio lights sitting out in the parking lot through windows to simulate window light, and we had a lot of fun.

more images after the jump...

Designed by Martine's Pastries of Lexington. The trick to this one was to light it gently while still making the bling shine.

We had four cakes from all over the state-- one from Mert's Cakes of Louisville, one from Martine's Pastries here in Lexington, one from Sweet Surrender in Louisville, and one all the way from Paducah, courtesy of Artisan Kitchen.  Cake stands came from WeddingCakePedestals.com, RaiseTheCake.com and one that jacki & jamieson, wedding and event planners had in their stock.

By Mert's Cakes of Louisville. All that chocolate smelled even better than it looked.

I'll let you in on a little secret-- while you, as a bride, get to taste their best work, I don't get that opportunity. Most bridal show pieces as well as the ones for photo shoots are foam inserts that are decorated appropriately-- otherwise, they're a little too heavy to move around the way I need to on a shoot.  That's also a lot of cake that would go to waste after the 30 minutes in front of the lens.

By Sweet Surrender of Louisville.

The cake spreads can be found on pages 29-32 of the Winter issue of Kentucky Bride, on sale now.

By Artisan Kitchen of Paducah

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Miniature phalaenopsis orchid (left) and calla lilly (right)

As long as they had me, they also figured, "Why not get some additional photos done?"  You'll see four boutonnieres from The Best of Flowers in Lexington on pages 19 & 20.

Green hydrangea, poppy pods and curly willow (right) and white rose.

I also shot some additional accessories for pages 13-15...

Custom wedding charms from The Copper Poppy

Invites by Checkerboard Invitations

Headband by Bethany Lorelle, Blue Lagoon Ring by Christine Darnell

Fabric Flower Shoe Clips by No. 144

Ringbearer Pillow by Maihar Design

Rhinestone Shoe Applique by Mindy Weiss

Linkage:
The Copper Poppy
Bethany Lorelle
Christine Darnell
Checkerboard Invitations
No. 144
Maihar Design
Mindy Weiss - Unveiled Bridal (Cake stand by Raise The Cake)

I've been waiting a long time to post this one....

In November of 2008, Jacki Allen and Jaimeson Gann of Kentucky Bride Magazine brought me in to shoot their Bouquets For Every Season spread for the January 2009 issue of the magazine, appearing on pages 54-57. It took the better part of an afternoon to shoot these lovely bouquets and boutonniers, crafted by E. Stephen Hein Florist, and we did the shoot at their spacious store on Winchester Road.

Jacki was kind enough to take a little footage and snap a photo or two of me at work with my little Leica point and shoot camera, and I synced it up so you'll see what shots coincided with which images.

I've been sitting on the footage for 2 months-- the day after the shoot, I had it edited into this footage so I could send my daughter Caroline the movie to show her a little of what Daddy does all day. Hope you enjoy it too!

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If you have a bridal show specials flyer from either of my appearances this month, I'm extending the show specials to include weddings booked by January 28th. Call today at 859.402.0634 for an appointment!

Shot the family Christmas Card this weekend. Probably cut it a little too close to lunchtime, and we had a very pouty Caroline to deal with. I worked around her for the most part, and basically got two usable frames of her with siblings, and even that took getting a ham sandwich into her just to pull it off. (Needless to say, those two are in the final product, and not here.)

For those who Kristina has on our list, I won't blow the surprise of the final card, but I did want to share a couple of my favorite shots of Declan and Audrey. I'm pretty sure the two individual ones here will make it onto our walls in a nice 20x30 or so.

So, I get a call from my Mom yesterday... she needs an emergency head shot done for a seminar she's teaching soon. So I start setting up the lights and backgrounds in my living room when... my daughter wakes up from her nap. Now I still haven't taken my test shots, checked my exposures, or for that matter, decided if I want to use the studio flashes or just go with window light. But, my daughter needs amusement.

So... what do I do? Combine the two! (Of course, her mother would have asked me to do something about the bed head, but I was in a rush!)