January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

taking my own advice

A week or two ago I wrote about the 10 Steps to Surviving Self Employment, and one of those very steps was to remember to PUNCH OUT!

I struggle with that, I'm not going to lie.

These days, Ryan is working crazy long hours (like 8am to 9pm everyday...boo!) so I'm left by myself for pretty much the whole day. It's hard not to just keep working until suddenly I realize it's 8:30 and Ryan will be on his way home soon.

But today, I am going to take my own advice to give my card a swipe at the ol' punch clock.

The plan?

Well...let's just say it includes a glass of champagne (shhh...Tuesdays can be celebrated too!), and some High School Musical 2. It's my guilty pleasure, what can I say?

So this is me, saying goodnight to the to-do list, goodnight to my iphone, to google calendar, to blogstop and lightroom and all of the other things I'm sure I left out. I'll see you bright and early ♥

one lucky ballot

This morning I woke up, remeinded myself that I wasn't having a baby (a really weird dream last night involving a Blackberry Pregnancy Test App...), had a drink of water, and skipped over to the den to reach my hand into the ballot bowl from this past weekend's Ottawa Wedding Show.

You see, I held a draw to win your choice of an engagement or a boudoir session, totally and completely free, with no pesky strings attached :)

With over 200 ballots in there, (I know, because I unfolded and read each and every one, and loaded every single email address into excel!) I made sure to reach right into the bowl, dig around a little bit, and yank out a teeny tiny blue ballot (which happened to have some cute handwriting on it.)

Joelle Lecours Bouchard

This lovely lady had the winning ballot and I simply cannot wait to meet her (again!).

Oh, and one more thing...to the girl who folded her ballot into a mini paper airplane: I admire your spunk and enthusiasm ;)

Saturday, January 28, 2012

let's build a booth | ottawa wedding show

It started out as an idea...

What if I could do something different? Forget the concrete floors and the black curtains and build something completely my own? Something completely LKP...

It was a combination of doodles, diagrams, long chats over dinner, and of course, some ham and cheese sandwiches for my manly workmen.

Beans spent every waking minute helping me build the walls of my booth, and he probably has no idea how grateful I am for it. Same goes for our families...they offered their support throughout the entire process, and we couldn't have done it without at least 10 pairs of hands ♥

But no booth building exists without a little bit of an inspiration board...

Well, enough of that...time to see how it all went down:

Alright here's the BEFORE! (and my feet, standing very proudly near my half-done laminate flooring!)

Floor done, time to get on with the real work!

C'mon Booth 320, make Mama proud ♥

Here's my spot in comparison to the main attraction (AKA the dresses and the fashion show haha!) I think I snagged myself some pretty killer real estate here.

Beans with my wonderful inlaws making stuff happen while I take the photos...

TA DA! I couldn't be happier with the booth, especially for my VERY FIRST TRADE SHOW EVER! I think I made a bit of a splash by doing something different, but hey...you do what you gotta do to stand out!

Chrystal's Baked Goodies supplied my booth with these un-freakin-believably cute cookies, or should I say...mini masterpieces, to look exactly like my logo. Love. Love. Love. Thanks Chrystal ♥

Day One {in review}

I am sitting down at my computer and it feels like heaven. Normally my butt starts to hurt from sitting at my computer too much in one day, but today it's the exact opposite. My feet are remembering what it was like to work at Things Engraved in St. Laurent Center (one of those booths in the mall who don't supply chairs so you have no option to sit).

I feel like I have talked myself into a bit of a headache today. I'm almost tired of my own voice. Imagine that...?

The day was phenomenal. It was a little bit dicey at 9am when my lights weren't installed, the tables were still upside down getting screwed into, and all of my promo material was still tucked away in a cardboard box, but something magical happened at around 10am and everything started coming together.

I spent the afternoon discussing my style, my esthetic, my method and approach to photographing weddings (and answering lots of questions about album design and omg-how-do-I-make-a-photobooth?!). I met so many wonderful couples, and I am giddy at the thought that I might be photographing some of those weddings.

I'm the luckiest gal on the block :)

In a nutshell, Booth 320 rocked my world today, and although I'm completely beat and probably won't move from the couch until Ryan peels me off and carries me to bed, I am pumped to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.

♥

the misadventures of laura kelly: famous in china

Misadventure #172: Laura Kelly Goes to China

A nice looking man parked his tripod right in front of my booth at the Ottawa Wedding Show this weekend (come over here to check out my super rad booth set up!). Of course, any chance for publicity and I'm already lined up.

So I start up a chat with this nice fella. I say hey you, can I be in this video? He says sure thing lady (the lingo was a little different, but you get the gist) and he points the camera at me, and my lovely assistant, Shawna, poses as a very interested prospective client.

We laugh, joke, point fingers at the promotional material, and pretend we have just met and are getting along swimmingly.

As he wraps up, I ask, where will this video end up?

China, he says.

I laugh, because it's funny. I laugh, because I'm 100% positive he is making some kind of statement about how everything comes from or goes to China at some point. I press further, but actually...who is gonna see this thing?

The Chinese.

Now I'm confused...is he just the victim of taking a joke one line too far? Or is he being 100% serious. Turns out it was the serious one.

This nice man is a freelance photographer who sniffed out the interest in all things relating to weddings, to be dubbed in Chinese, to be played on a Chinese News Station. And us Canadian gals chatting about weddings and such, we just struck him pure videographic gold, I'm sure!

So even though I've never been to China, I guess in some weird way...my face will have!

loving lately: toms + trends + a witty mother/daughter duo

1. TOMS
I realize that I'm late to join on this bandwagon, but I couldn't resist any longer. I purchased a pair of these and I plan on making them my best friends while in Vegas for WPPI.
They say dress for comfort! (Plus...I might have one or two pictures taken of me, and every photog loves a cute TOMS tag...am I right?!)

2. Home Sense
I have been furiously collecting goodies to make my booth at the Ottawa Wedding Show really feel like home.

This past week alone, I've picked up two vintage frames, a vase and some perfect peonies to fill it, and a yummy smelling candle!

With all the lovely things Home Sense has to offer...I'm starting to think this booth is going to look BETTER than my home!

3. Gilmore Girls.I just started watching this show, from the very beginning and frankly I'm shocked and appalled that no one told me how good slash funny this show is.

I am plowing through Season 1 and loving every second of it.

And, as always, here's a tune I'm loving lately :)

Straight Up by Paula Abdul

{A note about this song: some of you will have heard that new J Cole song that mimics the
chorus of the Paula Abdul original, and although I somewhat dislike that song,
it has reunited me with this tune, so at least something good came from it.}

Friday, January 27, 2012

{featured: poptastic bride} the sweetest thing: styled shoot

As you may have heard, I was pretty darn pumped when I found out that not only did Cynthia at Poptastic Bride like my submission of the Styled Shoot from this past November, but I also got to cross #22 off my 101 in 1001 list (to be featured on a wedding blog).

And...well...the time has come for a screenshot of my very first feature, and I couldn't be more excited :)

You can check out the full post here :)

#22 be featured on a wedding blog

#22: be featured on a wedding blog

I was siting in bed, lights out. Ryan still had his laptop out, and likely still had his eyes strained on a balance sheet of some kind. I heard that very familiar badunk sound that indicates a new email.

I stared at the preview on my inbox...Poptastic Bride...wait, what? If I was reading it correctly... our Styled Shoot from back in November would appear on Poptastic Bride in only a couple weeks...maybe even sooner.

I couldn't believe it.

I sat straight up, read the email another 3 or 4 times and turned over my shoulder and managed to throw together a of couple words:

I'm gonna featured.

It's sounded exactly as suave as it did in your head just then, I assure you.

Now, if there was any hope for me playing it cool with Cynthia, the editor of this fab and funky wedding blog they call the Poptastic Bride, I gave it up as soon as I replied at 5 minutes after midnight.

"It's a big night" I said, and after excitedly providing some more details of the shoot to Cynthia, I put my phone back on the charger and tried to close my eyes and sleep.

I just kept thinking don't forget this. It's a big night.

Another one crossed off the list...and this time is
wildly better than #71 if I do say so myself!

Stay tuned for the feature on Poptastic Bride!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

what is the world coming to?

Honestly, what is the world coming to when we can condense 16GB down to the size of a screw?! (and a teeny tiny screw at that!)

It's just wrong (and fabulous). Like a hotdog.

Over the next few hours I'll be going through folder after folder, collecting my absolute FAVOURITE wedding and engagement images, so that the lovey ladies & gents who are stopping by the Ottawa Wedding Show this weekend can peruse them on a 10" tablet at their leisure :)

Sounds like a trip down memory lane to meeeee!

P.S...I truly truly truly hope you're planning on coming by the show this weekend to visit me & get some super fabulous wedding ideas (who am I kidding, I'm sure you're going because you want to try out all of the cupcake samples), so if you see me around make sure to say HI!

Here are the deets!

Saturday January 28th - 11:00am-5:00pm

Sunday January 29th - 11:00am-5:00pm

CE Center

4899 Uplands Drive
Ottawa ON, K1V 2N6

Fashion shows are at 12:30pm and 3:30pm!

oh yeah...and ADMISSION IS FREE!

P.P.S...I just compared size using a screw...can you tell my house is looking very much like a workshop right now, as we prepare for the show?!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

caren + ziad | byward market engagement

It's a fabulous thing when a couple oozes with love, right in front of my eyes. Lucky for me, this was true for my engagement session with Caren and Ziad. Major lovey-oozage.

Caren, a fellow photographer herself, knew every pose, every hand on the hip, every booty pop known to man. Personally, I loved it.

Here are some of my favourites from our session in and around the Byward Market...

So freaking adorb (made up a new word, and pretty happy about it.)

Loooooove these gorgeous doorways of the Notre Dame church on Sussex Drive.

My fave from the session^^
...obviously ♥

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

withdrawal

I'm in it.

Majorly.

No Lightroom, no BlogStomp, no ANYTHING I use to function as a photographer, ever since the night of the tragic hard drive crash...

I have done so many adorable shoots since then, and I seriously cannot wait to post, but alas...I must wait. The computer is in the computer hospital, and I'm desperately searching for my Lightroom DVD (it's GOTTA be somewhere...!)

{This is where I would show you preview images of the cute shoots
to come, and since I can't do that, I am forced to describe them.
Somehow I think it will not have the affect I hope for...}

So there's this super cute one of a little redhead boy named Chace, and then this super steamy engagement session around Parliament Hill, ooh ooh and then a too-fab-for-words billboards-&-beer themed family session.

C'mon people, use your imaginations :)

Monday, January 23, 2012

videos worth viewing III

Here's where I insert a little diddy about my life, what's new, and what's exciting (but...I'm going to skip that part because life is pretty boring lately, just getting ready for the Ottawa Wedding Show next weekend!) And with that out of the way, get out the popcorn because here's another installment of videos worth viewing :)

Stop motion animation will never, EVER get old for me. Check out this amazing project from animator Steven Briand.

Take a second and think of how impossible it would be to pinpoint the funniest thing you've ever seen. Well, once you've seen this video, it'll be super easy for you.

Alright. It's cool. It's Four Letter Words from Rob Seward.