I know I’ve been going on a lot of rants about my personal life lately, so I appologize if you’re sick of me by now. Don’t worry, we have some awesome shoots coming up real soon… but in the meantime I’m going to share the other half of my office space, Sienna’s nursery.

I’m very proud of this nursery, hence why I feel the need to share it. I dreamt of a space that’s dazzling with color and bursting with creativity for our little girl to grow in. Who better to fill the space with love but our very own friends and family!? They say it takes a village to raise a child, and “they” are absolutley right! In the midst of Sienna’s daily development I want to teach her to have a very LARGE imagination. I feel that creativity and imagination are vital in raising a child who possesses great character, so here’s to trying!

As a gift from our gal pal, Gaby, we received 5 commissioned artworks from Sienna’s cousins who range in age 8 to 2. The young artists were given the task {before Sienna’s world debut} to draw what they think Sienna will look like. These are truly gems and so much fun to look at. Sienna’s Crayola Portraits were placed in bright and bold frames which really set the tone for the vibe we were going for.

Our friend Kate, who is not only a very talented snowboarder, but also a skilled water color artist, painted the most beautifully vibrant and colorful peacock. She can shake that paint brush like it’s no bodies business! I would someday like to transfer that beauty onto a snowboard for Sienna! How awesome would that be.

Our girl Lauren who is a crafty little crafter sent us the letters that live above the crib. Spelling out SIENNA in an artsy yet fashionable way, we love these colorful pieces. My long time friend, Megan {who the heck knew she even had this skill? Not me!} made the pink elephant who watches over the room. And our friends Lisa & Thahn commissioned Lisa’s sister, Kristen {who is an awesome illustrator} the painting of bunnies in a hot air balloon floating through the fresh mtn air.

We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such creativity and love all day long.

Peace, Love & The Handmade Nursery,

April K

Nursery Artists:

Peacock watercolor by Kate Wynkoop
Knit Elephant by Megan Bochette
Sienna letters by Lauren Badger
Bunnys in Balloon Painting by Kristen Cavallo –  http://kristenleecavallo.blogspot.com/
Drawings Of Sienna by: Kyleigh, Cohen, Addison, Lily & Quinn {My nieces & nephews}

When words cannot describe, photography grabs ahold and explains…

Purely exhausted from the most physical exhilaration I’ve ever known mashed against the most euphoric, sublime feeling known to woman.

Peace, Love & High On Life,

April K

January 1st, it’s such a near and dear date to my heart. It’s not only the first day of a fresh new year, but it’s also the day that Justin proposed to me! {details here}. Since that was “the day” for us, we now spend every 1/1 doing something special… which usually means eating a super special breakfast and then going on some sort of hike (I’m a tree hugger, let’s face it).

Since Justin and I both work for ourselves we have the luxury of creating our own schedules (usually). If he’s out late for work we will make it up by spending time together in the morning.  We usually decide to take a walk through Hale Reservation. It’s such a quiet time and we’ll talk about our companies, our relationship, or just life in general. For some reason, when I get walking I start talking, a lot! If i’m just sitting around I don’t talk as much, it’s really strange.

Anyway, on 1/1/13 we took a nice 3 mile hike around Rocky Woods in Medfield. What an awesome spot, well at least it was for the first mile. After mile one, my walking turned into shuffling at a snails pace {35 weeks pregnant}. Of course I had my camera with me, being outdoors with my camera is my ideal way of being. While on this walk I also sort of vocalized my realization of a goal… a goal that I’d like to reach while in my 30′s (not 30 yet, but my “Dirty Thirty” will be this July)… I’m not really sure how it would come to be or if I would even like it as much as I love to shoot weddings… but I’ll tell you anyway.  My ultimate photography goal is to become a photographer for outdoor gear/equipment companies. I’m talking scaling mountains on my snowboard with my camera, going deep into the woods with a team of fellow experts for an Ad Campaign for say a camping tent company or a snowboard company or all weather gear company… I’ve always loved creative advertising and I just think that would be an awesome experience.

Anyway, here are some moments from our New Years day hike.

Peace, Love & Fresh Thoughts,

April K

If you want to find me in all of my glory, totally blissed out… you’ll find me somewhere among the great outdoors. Nature wakes me up and reminds me that there is a lot more going on besides facebook, instagram and wedding blogs. When I need a break from my “computer life”, which is more often than not, and need some inspiration, I take a quiet walk through the woods.

Autumn/fall, whatever you call it, is my favorite time of the year. It’s a time when the air starts to crisp up, the world becomes a vibrant palette of oranges, yellows and deep reds, wonderful flavors are flooding the shelves at the market, I can light my Mulled Cider candle in the season it was meant to be lit {I usually keep one on hand year round!}, and I can wear boots, comfy cozy sweaters and my favorite…. winter hats! It really is the most wonderful time of the year for me.

I am a VERY lucky girl to have such a great husband who is supportive of my wants and dreams. When I told him I need a vacation in the mountains {because the mtns are my “spot”}, he not only listened, but he delivered in a major way. He brought me up to a remote town in Vermont for a long weekend.This vacation couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’ve been working like a clydesdale, with a few days off here and there, never 2 in a row, and often times I’m still answering emails on my days off. I can’t complain, business is great mostly because of the people who support this small business, people like you! But I get burned out just like the rest of you. I’m also a big believer in the necessity of vacations.

I was so grateful to be able to stop, rest, and think… enjoy some computer and iphone detox… play in mud, hike mountains and stare at colorful leaves. I needed to live my life for a few days without thinking about anything else… but life!

She wakes up at 5:30 am Monday-Friday, gets ready for work, wakes up the kids, get’s them ready for school/day care, drops them off at school/daycare, goes to work managing the Speech Pathology department at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center,  picks the kids up from school/daycare, takes them to gymnastics, soccer and swimming, cooks them dinner, helps with homework, plays with them, gives them a tubby, puts them to bed, makes lunches for tomorrow, finishes up work she didn’t get done in the office…and finally unwinds with her man.

Those are just  a few jobs of any given mom, and in this case, my sister Kristy the super-mom. Watching her in action usually leaves me puzzled, how did you get all that done and how do you still have energy?! {Don’t ask me}

Anyway, she wanted to do a family photo shoot {we’re working on the configuration of prints/frames for her giant living room wall… it’s going to be mega awesome, stay tuned!}. Here are a few of the photos we created while they were in Boston to visit.

Peace, Love & #beingamomispuremaddness,

April K

And my personal Fav

Summer time… and the livin’ is… well, it’s been really super busy for me. I was happy that I could find time to have my sister Kristy and her family here to visit for a few days. She comes with Luke and the kids at least once a summer to enjoy the New England sites. It’s always fun to have my gal pal and niece Kyleigh by my side and to see how quickly Cohen and Quinn are growing. The boys are both complete hams and all three of them will do anything to make you laugh. The boys also love to see their BFF Justin {and Justin loves having a good reason to watch cartoons and act like a kid again}.

Life moves so quickly and I find it’s very important to make time to spend on these short but epic moments. I guess it all circles back to balance, which is hard to do mid-wedding season!

Here is a little snippet of my heaven…

Peace, Love & Wet & Wild Fun,

April K

Live to inspire… that’s one of the mantra’s I live by these days. If it has to do with photography or weddings or anything in my personal life, I always aim to inspire others.

Why? Because finding things or people that truly inspire me does not happen very easily, mostly because there is a lot of mediocre crap flying past your eyes day in and day out. I’m addicted to that feeling of finally finding something that get’s my blood pumping and wheels spinning. Trying to fly above, we’ll call it, Level M (M = mediocrity) isn’t always a cake walk, but it’s what keeps me happy. When I find something that has inspired me I will share it until I’m blue in the face.

Epic Man is one brand that has truly inspired me. The first time I saw this craziness go down was last year (as my long time followers may recall in this post).  I was so inspired that I went from not being able to run more than 2 miles, to running a half marathon! Now for those of you (like my old self) who hates running and can’t breathe after mile 1, a half marathon was a HUGE feat; a feat made possible by the inspiration and motivation that the 2011 Epic Man team pumped me with, they were my inspiration.

This year Justin and I were the overnight support vehicle + 2/4th of the photo crew + cheerleaders for this amazing and growing team. (photo below by Alpengraphik)

This journey started out at Petite Jacqueline in Portland, ME owned by one of the 4 Epic Ladies, Liz. If you’re ever in Portland, ME and really hungry, I highly recommend the food, soooo good.

Thinking back to this day, the one thing that sticks out most in my mind was the ENERGY in the room once everyone arrived. It was off the hook!!! Probably my favorite part of the whole journey, catching up on the last year, prepping the mind and body for an incredible journey.

Also, I HAVE to give a shout out to all of the Epic Man Kids – Carter, Alec & Ty

So after a yummy dinner the team headed over to the Tri-Maine office to fix up the bikes, have a few beers and talk strategy!

Bikes so light you can carry them in your mouth!

After that little strategy and pep talk, we all headed over to the bar for PARTY TIME!!!! (excellent)

Yes, even though they’re about to kayak 2.5 miles, bike 160 miles OVERNIGHT, and then run the Boston Marathon… they still have time for a drink or 2. Epic!

The next morning we all gathered and rode down to the ferry station where we crossed over to Peaks Island to kayak back to the main land.

With signs in tow, the Epic Man team and fans followed to cheer them on every step of the way.

Watching them all try and squirm into a wet suit was pretty hilarious and entertaining!

Fashionista, Ed… Sporting the scarf/wet suit combo, well done!

I had to share these, you know I love me some cool tattoos The one on the right might remind you of this post, long ago!

And they’re off!

And we cheered them on every step of the way!

After we got to the main land, we all enjoyed some woodfire pizza at Flatbread.

And they were off for the first leg of the bike, 70 miles to Portsmouth, NH. Bellies were full, spirits were high and the sun was shining!

You can always rely on Skip for a good laugh!

We stopped about every hour along the route to rest and re-fuel…

… And as I was editing all of these pictures, I realized… Jake never puts his phone down! The Epic Communicator.

Once we arrived at the Trek store in Portsmouth, NH owned by another Epic Lady (and mother of 2) Olivia, we had Chipotle, beers (water too) and of course stretched a little.

And we were off to the Mitchell residence where the team would rest and relax, and if possible get a little shut eye for an hour. After that, it was time to strategize through the night ride, because it is very dangerous.

And as always, Ace & Gary kept the team laughing and in good spirits.

With stops throughout the night, Justin and I would pump the music loud and get out and cheer everyone on. As the night grew longer energy was becoming less and less abundant but the laughs never stopped coming.

And when we ran out of water and finally found a Walgreens that was open at 3:00am they were still cracking jokes.

We finally made it to Hopkinton where the Epic Man team would race in the Boston Marathon. Yes, you read that right… after no sleep and riding a bike 170 miles, they were going to now run on the hottest marathon day of the year (91 degrees) 26.2 miles.

While the team was STILL full of energy and adrenaline, Justin and I were BEAT! We were so happy to be heading home for some shut eye.

And this was our epic ride home… Boston bumper 2 bumper!

The one thing that I truly loved about being on this journey with the Epic Man team was being part of a team again… even if I was in the car driving behind them making sure they didn’t get run over. I’ve always been on a team my whole life until I went solo with photography, I miss team life.

This team is made of some pretty amazing stories. Stories of people who have never run or biked before, people who have overcome serious injuries etc… each person has an epic story that has given them the inspiration to join the team. Read more about each member of the team here – www.alwaysbeepic.com

Peace, Love & Team Epic,

April K

As I sit here going through my wedding photos today I’m so overwhelmed with emotion. I am turning through saying “Ok i’m going to order this one for her, this one for them, this one for him” and it was really fun at first.  But sitting here really going through the ceremony bit by bit… all of the feelings I felt that day are rushing back to me! It’s like a freight train of emotion! Just sitting here… examining each photo of all of the natural expressions going on throughout the day.

I quickly grabbed the box of Kleenex to prepare myself for the ceremony… looking at each picture of the girls walking down, what did they look like?

I didn’t realize little Lilly and Quinn could work a crowd like they did coming down the aisle!

Cohen and Addie held their sign perfectly… well, kinda… Cohen was pulling Addie by the end of it.

And the look Justin had in his eye as he saw me walk down the aisle. (Yes, even though we did a first look it was JUST as emotional, as if we never saw one another yet that day).

What provoked me to write this blog post was when it got to the pictures of my father and I. I knew what I felt that day… but I didn’t know what I looked liked walking down the aisle… I am SO THANKFUL I have these photographs capturing the tears running down my face as I realized what was happening. All of the people that mean the most to both Justin and I, there… together under one barn roof.

(As I write this I’m actually crying!)

Looking through these photographs make me so happy that I have these moments FOREVER.  I will hold this photograph of the tears running down my dad’s face as he gave me away. And I’ll alway have the look on Justin’s face.

I’m not done examining all of my pictures yet, but when I am, I’ll be sure to do a post featuring my favorites!

All photographs taken by the wonderful + beautifully talented, Michelle Gardella Photography

Peace, Love & Stay Tuned!

April K

Hey Comrads,

I haven’t written a personal post in a while because I’ve been over here shooting weddings + engagements like mad, meeting new friends via Social Boston Sports (very important for self employed peeps like myself), keeping my veggie garden alive, and booking the coolest couples for 2013 (mega awesome “how we met” stories).

In the midst of my editing, I decided to browse National Geographic (sidenote: it was always my dream to shoot for them… I could totally picture myself scaling a city wall or busting through the jungle in South America just to get the sick shot). See, I always try and keep something besides Facebook as my “go to” when I need a mind break. I’m usually looking for inspiration and nature seems to inspire me the most, so naturally I go to my favorite site, Nationalgeographic.com. Today I came across this post about patience. Something of which I’ve vastly improved upon over the years, but something that continually needs to be worked on.

Patience is something that I’ve really been improving upon this wedding season in particular. In my quest to figure out what the most important elements of wedding photography are, patience definitely is at the top of the list.  Over the years I’ve had to consciously tell myself to stop shooting blindly.

Now I’ve come to that turning point in my photography where I am not so worried about technically shooting the scene. Admittedly, I shoot on manual ALL OF THE TIME! When I first got into photography I was shooting black and white film and the teacher told me that we all need to be able to shoot on manual. Well I learned to do it and now I can’t go back to auto settings. This could be good or bad… it depends on the situation. Now my camera and all of it’s hundreds of settings is starting to become second nature in quickly trying to figure out what lighting ratio I need in order to nail the lighting in the room for the next 4 minutes.

I’m also learning to just hang out and observe the story, “chill n watch” if you will. Like thinking before you speak, you should CNW before you shoot.

“chill n watch” = If you just slow down, chill out and just watch the scene/people… you can compose a thoughtful piece of art much easier than just shooting and praying you’ve got a good shot in there somewhere.

Patience in photography is so important whether you’re a professional with a fancy shmancy DSLR or you’re just a guy with an iphone. Do me a favor, chill out and just watch the next time you compose an image, let me know if it works for you!

{watch video here} –> Patience by NatGeo

{This shot of a young and wild 26 year old April K… Camping with my (fancy for me at the time) Nikon D200… just CNW’ing}

Peace, Love & Patience,

April K

When I started my first post about the US Burton Open I didn’t realize I had so much to say about the weekend! So I broke it out into 2 portions. My last post focused more on Nokia Connects and my experience with them. This post focuses more on the awesome-ness of snowboarding and why it goes hand in hand with creative photography.

The word to focus on in both instances (photography and snowboarding) is the word, PROGRESSION.

Let’s start with Photography and it’s progression from film to digital.

Since I am a mostly self taught photographer, this is certainly not the gospel. I started my photographic journey on black and white film. I learned to process the film and how to navigate the darkroom. As much as you’d think being in a dark room can only be so fun… it is absolutely one of my favorite places to be (or at least it was in college). In the past the stakes were higher in terms of exclusivity and the learning curve was a longer period of time because there was no such thing as an LCD screen to check your exposures.

Since the introduction of digital, more and more people have the ability to capture the world as they see it. I think that’s great, however, in talking with some old school photogs, they’re a little bitter. I get it, they learned the hard way and the “right” way. But this progression of digital (digital dark room/post processing included), just over the past 5 years, has been astounding. Photographers are now, more than ever, trying to differentiate themselves and evolving to be more unique. It’s more popular to challenge the “rules” rather than follow them and photogs are really pushing each and every lighting situation to create their own unique and emotional masterpiece.

Snowboarding is very similar to the progression of photography, in regards to the evolution of equipment as well as creativity. While Burton was making snowboards out of his barn in 1977, the US Open started in 1982 in Vermont…Half pipes were introduced  in 1988 and in 1991 many riders threw inverts for the first time in competition. Snowboarding was then introduced into the Olympics in 1998 (Nagano) and in 2002 dominated the scene (booya).

This sport is so new and progressing so swiftly because of the creativity involved. See, the snowboarding community generally agrees that snowboarding is a form of self expression… therefore making it an art. For the most part you teach yourself to snowboard and develop your own style (much like photography) and then you take a few lessons to tweak your weaknesses (if you want, I never have taken a lesson – oops). Creativity is strewn across the parks, jibs and all sorts of other crazy quirky tricks they can come up with. One thing I respect most about the Burton brand is they do it for the riders. In 2007 Burton ran a “Poach For Freedom” campaign. The contest let riders submit videos of themselves poaching the four mountains that didn’t allow snowboarding at the time.

Jake Burton is the name and face of one of the world’s largest snowboarding and snowboarding equipment manufacturers. During this interview (where above picture was taken) Jake was talking about his rise to bringing snowboarding mainstream. “It was a lonely trail for a while but it got better as snowboarding was more accepted”.

Lonely is right! I think I get lonely sitting in my office on days I don’t meet with clients… Psh, at least I have Skype, facebook and twitter to keep me company! Can you imagine how hard it must have been, with no social media, and no acceptance of the sport at most mountains, to build a company and have it be this successful?! Wowzers.

So enough of my rambling… here are some more photographs of the weekend… starting with my favorite moment as you climb the stairs to the base of the mountain… and see all the happiness that is a ski resort

This is Bruce, I met him while I was waiting for Kate to arrive (I didn’t even ask I just started snapping away… the scene, his mooostache and all… it was so Vermont). We got to talking and he turns out to be the most connected man on the mountain! He introduced me to Hubert Schriebl, Stratton’s mountain photographer since 1968. He is the neatest old man on skis that’s for sure! He had his D700 around his neck with an old school 85mm on along with his vintage ski outfit. Hubert is pretty awesome and was the recipient of the Paul Robbins Ski Journalism Award which is the most kick@$$ award I’ve ever heard of!  Siiiick. The award recognizes a Vermonter who performs his/her skill in written, broadcast, or photo journalism with ethics, humor, good taste and always with the promotion of Vermont skiing and the larger skiing community in mind. This is a lifetime service award… um… Ski Journalism, that exists? Can I get that award!?

My set up for the day… Burton Camera backpack (complete with mtn camera equipment) + my board + glades = true love

I saw this frame as it was happening (right before she was sizing up the challenge ahead of her) and the thought of Courage popped into my head… I don’t know why, and then I snapped this picture. I thought the two went hand in hand.

And she’s off!

Peace, Love & Shredding,

April K