remember sunshine?

and water? and suntans? and taquitos?

yes.

taquitos.

we're off to mexico folks. be back in a week.

it's max's first [sniff sniff] official two year old flight, which means WE PAY.

do you think they would let him on in one of these instead?

i think he'd like it.....

?

so this means i will not be available via telly until next week and no orders will be processed until then either. and i won't be booking any appointments until then. ok,  i really will be doing pretty much nothing until a week from monday. 

period.

peace. =)

one for now...

more for later.

p.s. thanks for all the nice comments about max's quilt. here's the story of how it came to be. and here's the rest of max's room...

don't you just want to EAT him??

Oh is this not the yummiest baby ever? Easton was so sleepy and cuddley the whooooole time! I loved it. This was my third session with this family and it has been so fun to see this little family grow. During our very first shoot, big brother Brayden pointed his little two year old finger right at my camera and yelled "noooooo!"  The third time around, Brayden held my hand and showed me his room and his toys and was so good in front of the camera. That has got to be one of my favorite parts about repeat clients! 

the trunk is a family heirloom, i was so excited when they showed it to me and suggested using it in the shoot!

this has to be one of my very favorites!

can't wait to see the canvas easton's mommy and daddy ordered of this one!

getting creative to get a shot of Easton in his cradle handmade by his grandpa

of course the cocoon...

love all of Brayden's three year old expressions. 

I could have posted 20 of these! haha!

the whole family- thanks for another fun time guys!

party of three...

sweet baby ryker was such a cutie! this now one year old was born at only 24 weeks gestation. he is quite the fighter and can you tell he is the apple of his parents eye? =)

happy guy...

little sam had the BIGGEST smiles i have ever seen on a 7 month old! and he has the cuuuutest little baby teeth. the good news is that sam is coming to MY house for a little indoor shoot tomorrow! lucky me!

my favorite. =)

i had so much fun photographing my good friend aubrey's newborn sammy and big sister brooklyn way back in DECEMBER.
yes. I am that behind on posting. =) enjoy my attempts to get caught up!

ROUND ONE. so impressed!

check out these lovelies from my first round of mentoring with alaina and lacey! they were both so fun to work with and seriously, didn't they get amazing shots??!

alaina and i spend 3 hours together (2 shooting, one photoshop) and had so much fun- she really wanted to learn more about lighting so you'll notice we worked with lots of different kinds of light- SOOO fun and she got some great pictures (obviously!!)

. we also worked on posing, composition, photoshop and focus techniques. we did an indoor shoot at my house as well, but you will have to wait for her to post those! and i just might snag carrie to model for me again- she was awesome!

lacey flew all the way out from VEGAS just to spend 4 hours with me! i was honored and she did a great job. lacey is just getting started with photography and we covered a lot of lighting, composition, posing, and shooting in manual, focus technique as well as photoshop workflow.   i'd say she got some killer shots!

so maybe someday i will get my act together and post some of my shots as well- and maybe catch up on all the sessions i need to blog.... sorry! my blogging motivation has been slacking a bit.... or a lot. yea. A LOT. 

picture of the day.

i love my guy.

and his new yellow room. =)

camera envy?

have you outgrown your camera? there's really nothing worse is there. that's why you should skip on over to KRISTEN'S blog and snap up her D200 for a steal of a deal- $700 for the body. used equipment is a great way to save bucu bucks but there's always that risk of someone being dishonest and selling you a lemon. well, this girl is a peach (not to mention a GREAT photographer) and i wouldn't hesitate to send you over! don't miss it!

goodbye winter...

i am SO ready for spring! i can almost feel it. the sun is out and it's borderline warm. i can't wait to play outside without coats and runny noses. and remember GRASS??! i can't wait for grass. and flowers. and swimming pools. maybe we should skip spring and head strait to summer. mmmmmmm...

sold out.

WOW. Thank you so much to everyone who e-mailed me today about mentoring! Truly I am so flattered. I had no idea so many people would be interested. I currently have 14 people from various states ready to take the plunge. For now I think that may be all I can handle! Please e-mail me if you would like to be on a cancellation list (you just never know!) or if you would like to be notified FIRST before I offer more sessions next time around. When it all happens next totally depends on how the scheduling works out for the first group of people. 

Also, I will be offering mentoring / portrait sessions in the SEATTLE AREA in the beginning of May as well as in ORANGE COUNTY sometime late spring/early summer. Let me know if you're interested!

cat's out of the bag.

 old photo. still funny.                                          

Well, gee. Now I just feel silly. I'm ready to share my fun news, but hopefully after my little teaser it isn't a let down.  ?   And no,  [sigh]  I am not announcing my completed website [double sigh]. I swear, I'm working on it! Let's set a goal together. How about the end of the month?

ANYWAY, about that LITTLE SECRET  that I mentioned a while back. As you know, I am not really a secretive person. ABOUT ANYTHING really. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, for better or for worse. And trust me, sometimes it's for WORSE. ha!  However, since December I have been keeping something to myself. 

**oh boy. and no I am not pregnant either! you're all so sweet. but when that happens I will just post a picture of vomit. 'cause that's how I roll... for the whole glorious 9 months. **

Ever since the big Q and A, I have had lots of people ask if I would be willing to offer mentoring sessions or workshop of some kind. And up until recently, the whole idea was pretty intimidating to me! Stand in front of a group teaching photography? Ummm, scary. The whole confidence factor was a big deal to get over! However, I accepted my first mentor session this December and had so much fun. So far I have taken on five "pupils" (ha!) and each experience has been so fun and the response has been great! 

So here's the skinnny. Sessions are available to anyone regardless of location. The format I have found works out best is a minimum of two hours-  at least one hour of shooting and one hour of photoshop. But of course you can use the time however you want, since mentoring sessions are all about you! This is basically a run down of how things have typically gone.  Some popular topics are USING and FINDING good light- outside AND inside, getting good EXPOSURES while shooting in MANUAL, POSING, perfecting your focus to get the sharpest images possible, etc.  In photoshop, I basically take you through my typical workflow using the images you took during our shoot. I will show you how to save TIME and lots of headaches, how to enhance your pictures rather than spend hours fixing them, and show you all the little tricks and tips I use to get the look and style of my photos. We will learn about actions too- how to make your own, how to make some of my personal actions, and how to use various sets that you can purchase on your own (i.e. nicole van, totally rad, itty bitty etc.). Contact me for additional info or if you have any questions! I don't claim to be an expert on everything, but I am an expert on MY style and MY technique. If that's something you want to learn, this may be just the thing for you. 

Just for fun, here are some images from my last two clients. Both are from just last week!

How gorgeous is this shot by JENIFER WILLIAMS! Finding the right light makes ALL the difference. 

Image by MEGHAN ROBLES.  Remember? I took pictures of her TWINS last fall. This is the product of good manual exposure and a few of the right editing techniques. =)  I LOVE the color!

Well, there you go. That's my news! If you are interested in mentoring, drop me an e-mail at 

jesslkettle@yahoo.com. Let me know what you want to focus on and please include a blog address or sample of your work!  

sweetest sneak peek!

Now, I know this is out of order and that I am supposed to be posting all the other stuff I promised, but I know one mom who just has to have a sneak peek of her little man!  He was amazingly easy to photograph and he's obviously adorable. I can't wait to start editing the rest! For now, here are my two favorites. =)

look closer, you will see some little toes peeking through the knit! it's tricky to find in the web sized black and white but I LOVE those toes!

he was THIS GOOD the whole time! I couldn't believe it. Such a beautiful AND calm baby?

Mr. Easton is going to have to give pointers to all my future newborns. haha!