My Wedding Shot List

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

Today is Wednesday Words day and I’ve decided I would like to share a little business secret with you all. This is a list I wish I could have accessed when I first started photographing weddings. I remember so many questions running through my mind always. What kind of staple shots does every bride and groom want? How many shots of the bridal party should I take and in how many different formations? How can I best capture the ceremony for the bride and groom? Well, three full wedding season summers later here is what I have come up with on my own.

Keep in mind these are only the bare essentials. They are the easy, but necessary shots. All the artsy stuff, of course, is incorporated also but those are different for every wedding because of the flavor of that wedding and what the day and locations have to offer. I take WAY more pictures than the list below and have WAY too much fun with creative poses and shots, I know this looks stiff but please don’t fret… I really am fun 🙂 Don’t believe me, check out my work HERE.

Bridal Detail

dress
shoes
jewelry
flowers
other (handkerchief, special pin, etc…)

Groom Detail

boutonniere
cuff links
tie

Getting Ready

just candids but I like to get a bird’s eye picture of the bride applying mascara if I can

Bride Alone
(smiling, serious, and looking over shoulder)

full length
mid-waist level
chest level

Groom Alone
(smiling, serious, and looking away)

full length
mid-waist level
chest level

Ceremony

processional: stand (shooting up at people isn’t flattering) near the front of the center aisle, tucked into an aisle if you can manage
back, wide
right, wide
left, wide
behind (if available), wide
back, 50mm or 85mm
musicians
audience shots (particularly bridesmaids, groomsmen, bride’s parents, groom’s parents)
candids of all the main events (kiss, exchange of rings, vows (particularly their facial expressions during this), candle lighting, etc

Family Portraits
I ask for a family shot list so any additional arrangements come from that form.

Bride with mom
Bride with dad
Bride with parents
Bride with siblings
Bride with each sibling separately
Bride with immediate family
Bride with grandparents (if in attendance)
Repeat with Groom
B & G with both sets of parents
B & G with both immediate families

Bridal Party/Couple Pictures

B & G smiling (full length, waist level, chest level)
B & G looking at each other
B & G kiss
Ladies smiling in a straight line (flowers held at the belly button)
Bride with each bridesmaid separately
Bridesmaid’s flowers
Guys smiling in a straight line (hands in pockets)
Groom with each groomsman separately
3+ more arrangements of both the guys and the girls
Full bridal party smiling in a straight line (guys on groom’s side, girls on bride’s)
Full bridal party smiling in a straight line (guy, girl, guy, girl, etc…)
3+ more arrangements of the full bridal party

Reception

your number one job at a receptions is to capture the moments (introductions, cake cutting, first dances, speeches, etc… the list below excludes these obvious needs)
ring shot
place cards
room shots
cake
table
head table details
details on table
any other visual decor details

These are all the things I have logged in my brain to capture at every wedding. It’s a sort of mental checklist that I have never written down until now. Outside all this stuff is all the creative freedom, but these things are important so don’t forget them!

My Most Embarrassing Moment

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

I do a “Question of the Day” via social media Monday – Friday. Last week was “funny week” so I asked “What is your most embarrassing moment?” It occurred to me that telling my most embarrassing moment in a blog post would be much more fun that jotting it down in my feed. So, here we go.

I have this brown convertible dress. Convertible dresses are a skirt and two wraps, so-to-speak. You can make your dress a halter top, criss-cross, regular, strapless, and so on. You can completely lose yourself in the dress, get trapped in it, or you can fall right out of it. These dresses are a fine art.

One day I decided to go strapless.

On this day I was also doing a family photo session.

Sometimes when I get an idea I attempt it no matter the cost. Wearing this dress in general is risky. During photo sessions I am up, down, bendy, straight, in trees, and in the grass. I need tops I can count on. So why I decided that day was the day to attempt the most risky form my convertible dress could take, I have no idea.

I arrived at our session location and happened upon a good friend before meeting up with the clients. Almost immediately she leaned in and said “Kaia, I can see your boob.” It seems that the wrap around technique I tried shifted ever so slightly, revealing a peek of one of my ladies. I suppose I should be grateful I ran into her before I met my clients and I’m sure you’re thinking my punch line involved the whole thing coming undone, but for a girl who wouldn’t so much as wear a v-neck…

My eyes almost popped out of my head and my cheeks burned red. I think I mumbled some scattered and incoherent mumbo jumbo as my fingers attempted to amend the situation despite the immediate tremor that took over them. After that I hurried away from my friend and into the nearest bathroom. I switched the dress to a halter, my safest option, and moved on to my session meeting place. I was still shaking and pink when I got to the door but they were in such a mad rush I had plenty of time to talk myself out of my horror before we got started.

Since then, I have banished that dress indefinitely to my closet. And now I wear v-necks instead 😉

I also am embarrassed all over again having told all of you, so perhaps you would be so kind as to share with me…

What is your most embarrassing moment?

My second most embarrassing moment is coming up next 🙂

I Love Composting

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

Illustration by: N.I

For you faithful readers and friends you have probably gathered by now that I am a tree-hugging, animal loving nature freak. The older I get and the more I learn the more I change my lifestyle to better serve the preservation of this beautiful world. I am not only a naturally inclined nature lover but I am a firm believer that I bring God lots of joy by reworking my lifestyle to be a better steward of the world He has given me dominion over. This includes trash. Josh and I were able to start recycling in the home we currently reside in. But we still had trash and I knew I could do better. Composting is one of those things I wanted to do but didn’t do because I didn’t know how. I did a little reading and in one of my chosen books on the subject the author said something like “you can’t go wrong when composting.” I was instantly encouraged. She went on to say that people can get as obsessed or as lazy about their process and ultimately your compost will turn to dirt. I decided to challenge this and take the more lazy style of composting by creating a general compost pile in the backyard. I didn’t even do the layering technique so many compost folk say is required. I just toss my little bin of goodies at the end of every day or two into my outdoor pile. I thought it wouldn’t work and I would have to revise my strategy, but upon coming home from a week away my eyes fell upon a gorgeous pile of black earth where my compost once was. SO STOKED! So, y’all, get on board! It’s easy and saves the environment just that much more landfill material.

Illustration by: sepponet

Here are some simple rules…

Only pitch the “green stuff.”

These are any plant based scraps – anything from spoiled fruits, to potato peelings and even bread and paper. Egg shells, chicken, and goat droppings, cow manure, dry leaves, tea bags, and coffee grounds are actually safe, good even, to compost. DO NOT put dog turds or meat scraps into your compost. Although, if you dog is a vegetarian I have a feeling that poo is safe. It’s really the meat that is the hazard.

Throw it in a pile at a back corner of your yard.

In case it stinks. If it does, and you can’t stand it, put a layer of paper scraps or dry leaves over the top and that should take care of it.

Watch and wait.

Soon some rich, black dirt will magically replace your garbage. Talk about some yummy soil for your garden!

There are other more composting methods if you don’t think you could handle the potential eye sore in your yard. Check out Little House in the Suburbs or The Essential Urban Farmer for more information on different techniques or for fine tuning your compost composition (if you’re a gardener there are different benefits to tossing different morsels in your compost for different plants).

Ta ta for now!

Kaia Calhoun

P.S. Sorry I don’t remember the name of the book… bad Kaia.

P.P.S. CLICK HERE for more Wednesday Words posts.

Racial Profiling

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

At church this past Sunday (Willow Creek Community Church) Bill took a few moments to discuss the court event that is hot on the press lately. At a point in the talk he mentioned racial profiling and how white folk couldn’t possibly understand what it is like for an African America father to have to explain racial profiling to his kids in order to keep them best protected, particularly with the cops. I racked my brain to verify he was right, that I couldn’t understand, but surprisingly I did find a common ground.

While I studied for 5 months in East Africa I almost immediately grew weary of the badgering requests by locals for money – one man even came right up to me while I was working on an essay, sat down next to me, and asked if he could have my computer. I remember trying to explain myself in all of these encounters. I tried to explain that I had actually saved up for this trip for a long time and that if I gave them my money I wouldn’t be able to eat lunch and if I gave them my computer I wouldn’t be able to buy another one to do my school work. Was I ultimately better off than them, probably, but that by no means meant I would be able to survive my trip there if I gave away the meager supplies and funds I had.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that these people were asking me for money and things because I have white skin. I was a walking wallet to them, not a real, emotional person. I loathed this. In fact, I loathed it so much that I grew a strong distaste for most of the locals I came across. Granted, just a few weeks after I arrived I was brutally mugged so maybe that had something to do with it too. Regardless, before long it was only the students at my school and my host family, or the host families of other US students, that I felt safe with and like my skin color didn’t matter. But what was most troubling about this was that I felt completely alone in my feelings. To this day, I don’t think a single one of the other US students in the program grew a dislike for any one African. And I wonder if they simply didn’t notice that they were being constantly profiled or that they really didn’t care.

The brief chat about racial profiling this past Sunday liberated me. I finally realized that I wasn’t alone with my feelings. If no other whites in Africa shared my feelings I now know at least African Americans do here. And now I feel for them more than I ever did because I get it. I get how it feels to be watched by beady eyes. I get how it feels to not be received with an open mind. Friends, it hurts to not be seen as a person. In Africa I was seen as a thing, as money. Here, I think we too often view African American’s as a threat. Isn’t it right to view each person with a clean slate until they prove you otherwise – innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent? Just some thoughts.

I’m going out on a limb here. I may not be politically correct with my words. But I am trying to view racial profiling through the lens of solidarity. Truth is, yes I experienced racial profiling. But the truth also is that I have not experienced the sort of racial profiling that African Americans experience every day here. I cannot claim complete understanding, but I can at least claim a shred.

What do you think?

Children’s Books | Book Reviews

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

I love children’s books. Last week I read through a batch of seven that were recommended in Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market and I loved all but one. These were all promised to reveal great writer/illustrator relationships – picture books that the illustrators work not only adds color and animation to the story but actually adds to the story itself.

Here are the six I now want to add to my collection.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

This is a quirky tale of a farmer at odds with his dairy cows because of a sudden typing ability. These cows discovered a typewriter in the barn and set to work making demands of the farmer. I was skeptical of this book at first, I figured it wasn’t my type of tale but I’m glad I read it because I giggled my way all the way to the end.

The Wriggly, Wriggly Baby

A set of new parents finds themselves always trying to hang onto their baby. This little baby is always on the move and, in this story, gets out of the house for a full day of adventures around town. Without his trusty sidekicks, dog and cat, in tow this story shares what could have been a bad ending if it weren’t for them. This rhyming book is a great read; the illustrations are colorful interpretations of the adventures in ways that makes them worthy of continuous hearty chuckles.

The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman

Very simply, this is a story of a niece who misses her uncle. The tale starts with a letter written by the niece requesting a visit from her uncle. He replies that he can’t make it but Oliver K. Woodman would love to make the trip in his stead. The catch, Oliver K. Woodman is actually a life-size wooden doll figurine, so you can imagine how his hitchhiking across the county would be thoroughly entertaining.

Bertie Was a Watchdog

Bertie is a teeny tiny little mutt. One night a big, bad burglar enters his home and when Bertie sounds the alarm the burglar simply laughs and starts picking on the pooch. Bertie is clever though and ultimately outwits the burglar. This is a feel good tale of how even the seemingly inadequate can prevail if they tap into their unique gifting – the perfect kind of book for teaching kids that just because they can’t do things the way the world says they should doesn’t mean they are any worse off to do the things God has gifted them to.

A Very Hairy Scary Story

Sarah stayed too late at her friend’s house. The minute she stepped outside to walk home she was struck with fear of the night and imagines multitudes of terrifying creatures in her midst. It’s a tale of learning how to obey your parents the hard way isn’t always the best idea but it sure does stick.

The Day the Goose Got Loose

The goose is a family pet. One day she gets out and causes trouble in every niche of town. Ultimately it is a tale of imagination and friendship with a rockin’ rhythm and illustrious drawings.