Emily - Davis Senior

And now for a post on a shoot I did just a few weeks ago...meaning I am finally caught up on my blogging!!!

This senior portrait session was the result of a Session that I donated to a fundraiser auction for an organization that I am a part of and support. I have never done something like that before, but it was very exciting to see people bid and it felt great to know that I had helped a non-profit in a meaningful way. It was even more exciting because I had to leave before the auction was finished, so I had no idea who ended up getting it!

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I was finally contacted and we set up this Senior portrait shoot.
Emily was an extremely fun and easy senior to photograph. Plus, it was the absolutely perfect time of year to take pictures. The location we shot at only has lush grass for a few months out of the year, and the daffodils only bloom for around a month. It is one of my favorite places to shoot portraits, but isn't available for most of the year, so I was thrilled when I discovered that the time was right.

We met in true Davis fashion, all on our bikes, and then got to work. Here are some of my favorites.

 If you are a senior in high school or college, or you are a parent of one, please feel free to contact me at kcgeddert@gmail.com if you would like to set up a portrait session.

Suzie and Joel - Fresno Wedding

Back in October (yes, I am that far behind in my blogging) I got to shoot Joel and Suzie's Wedding in Fresno. I followed the couple throughout the day, from the morning preparations to the evening goodbyes. The day began with my taking pictures of the bride and groom getting ready. The groom was done first, so while the girls were finishing up, we went outside to take some pictures. Then everyone was whisked back inside (so that Joel wouldn't see Suzie before the big moment) and I took pictures with the bride and brides maids.

Joel with his groom's men and woman

 Suzie and her bride's maids

Then it was time for the actual wedding, which went very smoothly. In my opinion, it was the absolute perfect length. Not too short, not too long; just enough time to be very meaningful. I loved it! I had staked out my "spot" ahead of time, so all that was left was for me to capture all of the important moments. The lighting is absolutely beautiful in this church, so my job was made pretty easy for me

And then it was time for the reception. There was delicious food, toasts and dancing.

The cake!

 And then finally we had some moments to take pictures of the bride and groom together.

And then the day was over! These are of course just snippets of the whole day. I took so many pictures and had an absolute blast catching all of the moments.

Kevin and Michelle - Davis Engagement

I love taking portraits of all kinds, but Engagement Sessions are by far my favorite. Couples who love each other are so easy to photograph, as they are all smiles and bring out the best in each other. I always feel so honored that I am allowed to witness their love and excitement. The emotion is palpable.

Kevin and Michelle were no different in this regard. I loved taking pictures of them. We had a lot of fun with our pictures, biking, climbing trees, and finding the very best locations in the Arboretum here in Davis.

Senior Portraits in Downtown Fresno

The following pictures were taken in August. Yes, August. So, I am a wee tiny bit late :-P

I have a pretty good excuse though, I am currently enrolled in the UC Davis teaching credential program, which fits both a teaching credential and a masters into one and half year. So I am student teaching in a 5th grade class, and taking both teaching credentialling and masters classes at the same time! But now it is finally winter break, and I finally have time for more fun responsibilities, such as my photography.

These are my brother's senior portraits. We went to downtown Fresno and just wandered around. The downtown area has really nice old buildings that provided both an interesting backdrop and really nice light. We had a lot of fun.

When I shoot senior portraits, I work hard to incorporate the senior's interests into the photo. I think that photos should scream YOU, and that means getting my seniors to both have fun and be natural in front of the camera, as well as incorporating props.

Normally, I ask the senior lots of questions to help figure out what kinds of things the senior would like to be photographed with. However, since I was taking pictures of my brother, this time I decided for him =p. My brother has been playing violin since Kindergarden, and he wears that white fedora all the time, so they both made appearances in the photos.

Hope you enjoyed them. I should be updating soon with some belated wedding and also engagement photos that I took in the last two months.

Sue and Gary's Wedding

On August 1st, I had the pleasure of shooting my very first wedding, up at Bass Lake. The fact that I shot it at all, was a very short notice affair as I literally talked to the bride for the very first time on the day of her wedding to hash out details. The wedding was held at the beach at the camp I worked and was very small, with only 15 guests (mostly camp staff). It was low budget and absolutely fantastic! I was so impressed with how much they were able to accomplish with little, and the atmosphere was just lovely.

This is what the wedding venue looked like. The wedding guests created an aisle using the logs, which didn't even end up being used, since the bride arrived via pontoon boat from the water. Everyone ended up just crowding around the canopy for the wedding ceremony.

The groom (on the left) practicing what he was going to say during the ceremony with Pastor Bob (on the right)

Then the bride arrived via boat, and the ceremony was started.

There was some nice accompaniment of Amazing Grace, and another hymn.

Then after the ceremony, the plan was for everyone to immediately jump into the pontoon boat and head over to the reception which was at a burger place across the lake. But I begged for some time to take a few portrait shots, so they gave me 10 minutes to do that. The lighting was absolutely gorgeous! I am happy with some of the portraits that I got, but imagine if I had actually had an hour to take pictures, as would be usual for me with my portrait sessions!

This is the bride and groom and all of the wedding guests. As said, it was a small affair.

The End :-)

I just recently took my brother's senior portraits, so that blog post will be coming soon.

Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp

I have been pretty much completely silent on this blog and my facebook photography page, so I thought I would leave an update on what I have been up to.

This summer for the second year in a row, I am working at Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp as a Camp Photographer. My basic responsibilities include photographing camp activities and uploading at least one picture per camper every single day, which ends up being between 100-200 pictures a day. I also shoot video, create Mid-session and End-session video/photo recaps, and create a yearbook for every two week session.
All the staff here go by nicknames for the extent of the summer, so everyone here knows me as 'Slick"; a nickname I earned from tumbling down a steep rockface after slipping on a slick spot. I make sure to remind everyone of this by stumbling and falling on even the most smooth of surfaces...completely on purpose and not because I am really clumsy, of course!

Anyways, I thought I would share a few of the pictures I have been taking. For the most part, I take pictures of the various activities the campers do, which includes ropes courses, slip and slides, lake activities and much more.

My absolute favorite activity to photograph is banana boating! Heck, that is also my favorite activity to do myself. It is fun! And I get some great shots with kids just having a blast, with the occasional epic falling picture. My new 7d is really handy here for its 8 shots per second to just get that perfect falling off moment 

 

 

Another fun camp activity to photograph are the various night games. The staff get super silly and dressed up, and then the campers have to chase them around and accomplish some objective or another. This year, the summer theme is Wild Wild West, and all of the night games are somehow related. One of the best night games is called Cattle Roundup, where the campers must figure out how to collect various staff members that are dressed up as cows, pigs, mice, you name it! But watch out for the wolves, cause they will make your animals stampede away!

  

 

 

Camp also has a great tradition of an offcampus all day long Capture the Flag game. The boys go off on the first Thursday of the session to play at what they call "Outpost" and the girls leave on Sunday to play "Uzemahti" (warrior princess theme). As a girl myself, I only take pictures of Uzemahti. It is super epic with a Capture the Flag field that goes across creeks and streams, through forests, and across ravines over several acres. Then at the end of the day, we have a massive mud fight!

  

  

Then, there are various other events: Flower Sunday, in which everyone goes around giving each other flowers accompanied by a meaningful compliment; Yosemite Day, where the youngest campers head over to Yosemite National Park to go on various hikes such as the pictured Vernal Falls, and a wide variety of camp games, camp songs and so much more.

 So basically, this is the best place ever and I am having a blast! Hope you enjoyed the photos!