Kelly McCord Photography Blog

V-B-S is F-U-N

Every year for the last at least 20+ years of my life, (with a break of a few years when I was away at college), basically since sixth grade, I've been volunteering at our church's Vacation Bible School. Specifically for the last 4-5 (or six?) years, I've volunteered as the VBS Photography Director, and have had the privilege of shooting the 250+ kids for the entire week; every day, all day. It's exhilerating, exhausting and SO fantastic that I get a chance to volunteer for (and serve) the kids every year. I love it so much, and it's an ongoing debate whether we (the adult volunteers), or the kids (at the camp) have more fun , and I'd say it's a wash -- we all have a great time. It really is something very near and dear to my heart, and we eargerly anticipate the week-long fun every year. In fact, it doesn't feel like summer until we've experienced VBS.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel comes every year, to document and write about all the F-U-N that we have, and this year was no exception. What's kind of fun (for me, anyway) is that the picture they in the paper this year was of me!  So, if you've been wondering where I've been, this photo is a good illustration of what I get to do all week.  And while VBS is D-U-N, =) wedding season has ramped up, so while I've been very bad at updating my blog, I'll try and do better, despite being in the midst of my busiest time of year. I still haven't told you about so many of the fun weddings and cool portrait sessions I've shot; so stay tuned for lots more photographic phun! =)

Kate and Matt's Isla de Mujeres Wedding Album

I've written before about how very blessed I was to be able to shoot Kate and Matt's wedding in Cancun, or more specifically, on the tiny little island of Isla de Mujeres, off the coast of Cancun. Where the island is so small most people get around by golf cart (including us, with all our photography gear!) -- it was an adventure, to say the least, and such an incredible pleasure and honor!! =)  And not only was it super-awesome to get to shoot a destination wedding (and I'm open and willing to do more destination weddings, people!! all you have to do is ask!!!).

ANYhow, I loved not only getting to shoot their wedding, but get to know Kate and Matt, along with their friends and family!  Really, it was one of the highlights of 2007!!  Definitely one of the highlights. My cousin Mia, is a flight attendant, for a private airplane, and Matt is one of the pilots she flies with, and she referred me to Kate and Matt, so again -- thanks Mia!! It was so fun, and I have you to thank!

So we just had the Bridal Expo, last weekend, and I made two new albums to show prospective clients; the one in the post below, of M'Kenzi and Jordan's wedding at (the incredible and fabulous) Rancho Soquel, but also of Kate and Matt's amazingly awesome Isla de Mujeres wedding, on Zama Beach (I'm not sure if it's 'on Zama Beach' or 'at Zama Beach Resort), but either way, that's where it was; Zama Beach Resort. Anyway, I wanted two very different albums, and so I did the local Rancho Soquel wedding (to see that album, it's the post below this one), and Kate and Matt's Isla de Mujeres, very Mexcian, very destination wedding-y wedding.  As I was with the Rancho Soquel album, I was really so excited and happy with how this album turned out. In fact, I can't decide which one I like the most, as they're both completely different and unique, both in style, and the look and feel of both.  If you'd like to check out the album I made to show clients Kate and Matt's destination wedding, you can click here, to go see the wedding album slideshow.

It's fun for me to see the wedding all together in an album (even if you're only seeing it online), as when I shoot, throughout the day, I am shooting with the final album in mind, and I think both of these wedding albums show that.  So go check out Kate and Matt's album, and then, if you want to see more wedding album goodness, click here, to read about M'Kenzi' and Jordan's Rancho  Soquel Wedding album.

Also, if you'd like a quick peek of how my booth looked at the wedding fair this year, here's how it looked (can you believe that none of my friends/fellow photographers brought their cameras? I'm not kidding, isn't that funny? I asked 3 other friends who were exhibiting there, and none of us had brought a camera with us. So please forgive the iPhone-esque nature of this photo!). =) But it at least gives you an idea of how it looked (I'm so embarrassed - these are literally the worst quality photos I've ever posted -- augh!)...click on 'continue reading' to see rest of the photos from the Bridal Expo! =)

And, many, many, many thanks goes to my dear friend Megs, for working the Bridal Expo with me -- Megs, you're the absolute BEST!!  And I can't forget my incredible Aunt Susi, who did all the super-fun,, whimsical flower arrangements for my booth -- she is ALSO the absolute BEST! =) (Click here to be taken to her website, and see some of her wedding work, it's amazing).

M'Kenzi and Jordan's Rancho Soquel Wedding Album

I recently finished an album for one of my favorite weddings of the year, Jordan and M'Kenzi's!  If you haven't seen their photos, please feel free to check their wedding photos and slideshow out by clicking here.  

If you would like to look at the album we designed for them, you can see their shiny-new album by clicking here. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, as I had my incredibly-talented-super-awesome-hubby design the whole album for me, and not only that, but my album company did an INCREDIBLE job with it; the colors are gorgeous and so saturated, and it's just one of my all-time faves!  You have to see it in person to really do it justice, but the web-version gives you a good feel for how the album looks! =) Stay tuned, I also created an album for my adorable Mexico couple, Matt and Kate, which I'll be posting here soon!   So check back in the next couple of days to see another new album! =)

I Was Quoted!

I keep forgetting to blog about how I was quoted in WedPix, a wedding photography magazine devoted to wedding photojournalism. I never want to post it on one of my weddings posts, and I couldn't figure out where else to put it. So to heck with it.  Here's the link to the article I was quoted in Click here to go read the article. It discusses the way photographers see patterns, etc., and they called and interviewed me because of one of my photos that won an award (which, surprise(!) had repetition in it! I know! Go figure!). If you want to hear more about the image, that made them interview me, you can read/go see it here.

Like I said, I feel weird tooting my own horn, but there it is. =)

Toot. Toot.

I'm In Elle Magazine!!!

I am thrilled to let you in on a little secret. One of my wedding photos is in the March issue o f Elle Magazine.  I'm not kidding. It's something I've known might happen for a while, but have been waiting to see if it would happen.  One of the other florists I think is great (yes, there are other florists besides my Aunt Susi (but only a small handful) that I think are great, anyhow, Teresa, of Bonny Doon Garden Co., and I have worked together on a few weddings. One of the weddings we worked on together was Valentine and Darrell's wedding.

And what was really unique about Valentine and Darrell's wedding, was that they did all their flowers organic. So Teresa called me up ahead of time, and asked me to take some shots for her, since it would be a unique thing, and she knew of a woman working on a book about the organic flower industry, Amy Stewart, who might be interested in using them, or at least seeing them. So, after the wedding we showed them to Amy, and she contacted us later in the year, to let us know that Elle was going to be writing about her book, and could she send a few from that wedding, in case they wanted to use some. So fast forward to today, and I got an email from Teresa, letting me know that they used one of the  shots I took. How awesome is that?!?!? I am thrilled.To be in Elle magazine in any capacity is exciting.  The shot featured here is the shot they used, and once I get a copy of the magazine, I'll post that as well.

This news is icing on the cake of  a great couple of weeks for me. I've booked 8 new weddings for this year, in the span of less than a week, I'm already starting to book 2008, and I'm starting my season this upcoming weekend. So things are great, and busy. I've got 18 weddings already for this year, which is considerably more than I had at this time last year.

One of my clients, who hired me last year, Kate and Matt,  were originally going to have their wedding in Chico, decided to scale way back, and have a small destination wedding in Cancun, of which they asked me to go and shoot. I'm SO excited, as I love travelling, and I love shooting, so to get to combine them in an official capacity is more than thrilling. Plus, I really like Kate, and get along with her so well already, that I know it's going to be a blast.  I'm so stoked they're able to fly me and my assistant out to shoot their wedding, and I can't wait!! It's been one of my goals to shoot an international destination wedding (I've shot destination weddings before, just not internaltionally), my next goal is in Europe or the UK (preferably Italy, of course). =)  So things have been really great the past few weeks, albeit, still very busy. But good busy, not, I've I'm-not-sleeping-because-I-have-to-get-stuff-done kind of busy, just regular busy, which is much more mangeable.

The Knot: Jule and Ryan

A few days ago, I received, The Knot's, Northern California Edition. And in that magazine? A shot I'd taken, of Julie and Ryan at their wedding last year.  How fun, to be in a highly regarded wedding magazine!  I'm hoping this is the first of many of my photos being featured in a publication. Thanks Julie, for submitting us! =) It's fun to see your name in print. And I love that their photo is so different, and fun from all the rest - it really makes them stand out.

Celebs, Suites, The Good Life and More

That's a commercial shot of my sister as model, for my friend Kiersten's company, which I'll explain more below.

Also, I shot my couple-that-I-can't-tell-you-about  last week for their engagement shoot. It was so fun and amazing, and I wish I could show you the photos, and tell you all about it. And I may be able to at some point, but not now.

I will say, shooting someone who is absolutely sure of herself in front of a camera, and used to doing it, is an incredible thing for a photographer, and I think the pictures reflect that.

In other news, our family flew down to L.A. this weekend, to support my friend Kiersten, with a pre-Oscar event her company was invited to participate in. Have you heard of gifting suites? If not, here's a quick run-down.  Celebrities are invited to come 'shop' (which isn't really shopping, because they're giving products away for free) at a gifting event.  So Kiersten was invited to show at this event (which means, give her products away for free).  And because I'm a photographer and because it was also her 30th birthday that weekend (and I wanted to be with her for that anyway), we decided to go down and support her. 

So last Tuesdsay Kiersten overnighted me her latest products for Milkdudz, and my sis and I got to work. If you want to see all the shots from the photo shoot for Milkdudz, you can do so by clicking here. Those are all Kiersten's prouducts, featuring my sister, my daughter Sofia and my nephew Maddox. If you want to hear about my trip to L.A., (or see some celeb shots) continue after the jump...