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!