It's been a really long time since I've sat down to write about my thoughts and processes. It used to be a habit when I took IB Art back in High School, but it was easy then. I was required to document that sort of stuff. While no one's forcing me to do that anymore, I've enjoyed the little bits I've written here and there since I made that leap-of-faith-purchase with Sammy for our DSLR cameras that August of 2014.  I've really gotten to see how far I've come and how I was feeling along the way.

I just finished editing this new set of engagement photos of a sweet couple, Taylor and Bryan, from Elizabeth City who drove to meet us here for this shoot in Winston-Salem. Taylor's also working on a photography business of her own which I believe she mentioned having started sometime late last year. After getting referred to us from her future brother-in-law, who also happens to be a teammate of mine at work, she told me she looked at my work and trusted me to pick the location and timing of the shoot, so long that it was during the golden hours of the day. Of course she would know about that! And I was flattered that she trusted me so much to work out the details of our scheduled shoot.

The weekend had been so windy and we were scheduled to shoot for Saturday initially, but the wind was not our friend. We decided to postpone for the next day on Sunday instead and it was much better by then. I thought it went really well! Sammy was great helping me with our checklist of poses, angles, and lightening up the mood. He's become a much better photographer since helping me as my second shooter these last several shoots we've been on together.  In fact, I've actually picked out a few of his shots in this set you'd probably never guess were his!

So getting back on topic, the point was to write about my progress. The shoot was done which left editing; the part that really distinguishes an individual's personal style, and one that I feel keeps changing for me! I've never been afraid to experiment and I do so with each and every shoot I've done. Asides customizing the shoot details for every client I've worked with, my editing has also been unique to each shoot. There hasn't been one job that's been the same as the next. The overwhelming green of the park and gardens were beautiful in person, but in the photos seemed like too much. So I tried to create a more dynamic source of light from photo to photo so that it didn't seem overwhelming green and monotonous. It makes for a less boring shot, I think. 

SUPER happy with the way these turned out though! Taylor's biggest push was to shoot during the golden hours of the day so I kept that in mind as I edited these, knowing that she was probably looking for that warm glow-y feel while at the same time, added my own personal touches as well. 

Now it's almost midnight and I can finally wrap up. The weekend's mostly consisted of monitoring social updates for work, an over-hyped massive yard sale, a long due grocery shopping trip, cooking, and a movie in with my husband and brother over cheese and wine...and I'm not complaining. :)

It's crazy to think it's been since April since writing about our last creative/professional experiences. It just seems like so long ago now. This past Saturday, we had the pleasure of shooting our first official wedding. IN INDIANA. We had made 2 contracts from last year for the short 4 months we were living there, late 2014. So here we are following up with our promises.

Currently, we're editing the set of pictures from the wedding we shot at Rose Hulman. The upload into Lightroom is taking awhile so this seemed like the productive thing to do in the meantime. The White Chapel is a beautiful place! We were surprised such a place existed there with its out-of-place futuristic design and intentionally thought out landscaping. So we're looking forward to seeing how these turn out!

Leading up to this shoot we've been busy with our new jobs in our new home state of North Carolina. Sammy's been busy taking up more video work at his website development job and I've been working with Lowes Foods managing our new Social Media Strategy at a corporate level and getting LOTS of practice taking plenty of photos with the company. I'm excited to see that my work's getting hung up in our new store renovations and that my photography is being used across the entire company beyond just Social Media. There's something extremely special about getting to make significant contributions to an organization that appreciates and values your work. Every day I go into work feeling like my work is making a difference and everyone is bringing huge things to the table. I can see great changes happening here and I'm confident the world's going to start noticing too. 

It's been a rainy last several days this week, but miraculously for these seniors, the rain cleared just long enough for a humid, but sunny prom photo shoot. The shoot went pretty quickly and as willingly as high school kids could stand around hungry and hot in the humid weather but all in all we got to crank out some pretty awesome shots. Just started editing but trying to get these done as quick as possible between my new full time job and the photo gig. Already couldnt't wait and had to get a sneak peek out. 

I was on a walk yesterday evening with my husband and Kito when something about the final light of day caught my attention as it hit Kito's small, but confident frame. I was compelled and frustrated I didn't have my camera or phone on me to capture it. Fortunately, Sammy had his iPhone 5 on him that I used to snap this shot. Although simple, it's very natural and captures a candid, in-the-moment feeling that I often find difficult to achieve otherwise, and that's why I loved it so much. The snapshot below is what I got, taken and edited within the iPhone 5. And it got me thinking how much better and faster I can now  frame and edit my pictures from when I first started back in August, on my DSLR and even now to my camera phone.

So we've heard this phrase many times, and I know it sounds really cliche, but it's still very much true! If not perfect, then practice at least makes you a lot better than you were before. You can only really get better when you do something over and over again, and for me, ever since I really started to focus on my photography, the better I've naturally been able to take any sort of photo from shots on my DSLR down to my iPhone 6+. And I'm really excited about that! Being able to see results in my own work takes huge strides in differences and I'm finally starting to see a difference. Even my cell phone shots are getting better because of all the time I've spent working through my DSLR and Lightroom. 

Kleege Video & Photography has moved from our location in Terre Haute, IN to Advance, NC. While we're saddened to leave the community we've grown close to with the Terre Haute Humane Society and new friends we've become connected with, the move was the best decision for us at this time in our lives.

This morning, we had the privilege in joining Novelis by shooting their weather balloon launch for the Terre Town Elementary School kids. Their excitement and joy was contagious and it was hard not to smile big as the cameras rolled and they got the opportunity to ask questions. A few silly ones included, "Will it run into the sun?", "Where can I buy one of those?", and "Is that a real balloon?" The weather balloon guys, Jay and Trey, attached GoPro cameras to the orange box that the balloon is carrying so we'll be able to have a range of footage both from our cameras and theirs. It's going to make for a great highlight reel! Can't wait to see the amazing images it's going to capture from it's 100,000 feet ascent into the sky as it makes it's way nearly 60 miles over to the next town. We'll be returning to the school to shoot again when the team presents its findings and video to the students for part 2 of our video project. 

We've always been in the business of personally capturing photos and creating videos (as many of our friends and family know), but until this year decided that we would finally go into it as a formal business together. Combining our experiences, talents, and ideas together - we began with Wat Lao Samakhitham's annual Labor Day Weekend Sports Tournament. This was an opportunity for us to cover an event that we've been so closely associated with the last several years and contribute back to the community at the same time in capturing the moment in a way others haven't in the past, from intense action shots of players in live competition to candid moments between friends and family enjoying Laotian culture together. It's been a truly special event for us and we're so happy to have had the opportunity to be the team to have covered it. On top of photography, we've also managed to capture some dramatic video clips that we plan to edit together to collage the event in a way no one's seen it before. A teaser video can be seen on our Facebook page here and we'll continue to update it with further news of progress from that. In the meantime, if you like our work or just want to stay in the loop with what we're doing, we'd encourage your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KleegeVP. Thanks a bunch!