Archive for June, 2010

Chicago Engagement Session: Justyna & Craig

June 24th, 2010

This is one of the more memorable engagement sessions I have shot so far. We were expecting a sunny day only to get rained on twice, getting kicked out of two places by security guards (surprise, surprise) and still managed to go for a bumpy boat on Lake Michigan. But despite all this, we ended [...]
 

This is one of the more memorable engagement sessions I have shot so far. We were expecting a sunny day only to get rained on twice, getting kicked out of two places by security guards (surprise, surprise) and still managed to go for a bumpy boat on Lake Michigan. But despite all this, we ended up with a great eSession. What’s there to not love about it? A great looking couple in Justyna & Craig, shooting them in their “car” which turned out to be a Ferrari, getting a tour of Craig’s huge photography collection and finishing on Lake Michigan going on a boat ride? And to top it off, my good friends, who just started their Chris & Oliver Cinema production came along and filmed the session.

I met Justyna & Craig at a bridal show hosted by the Metropolitan Club earlier this year. After our initial meeting, I’ll admit that I secretly kept my fingers crossed hoping that they would commission me as their photographer. Justyna is a beautiful girl and Craig and I have a same brand watch – which told me that we’ll get along just fine. On top of that, they are the nicest people you’ll meet and Craig has an affinity for photography so it was such an honor to be chosen for their wedding day.

Here are some photos from our shoot that day. To see the video from the shoot, scroll down to the bottom:

Boys will be boys!

Boys will be boys!

Check out the video below made by Chris & Oliver Cinema. You can contact them via email. If it does not load, visit Vimeo directly.

craig + justyna // fickle weather. fast cars. fair water from Chris & Oliver Cinema on Vimeo.

Thank you Justyna & Craig! Look forward to your fabulous wedding in the Fall!

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Tuscany Wedding of Meghan & Justin – Montepulciano, Italy

June 15th, 2010

Few weeks ago, I had the privilege of traveling across the pond to Italy to photograph a wedding for Justin & Meghan. I had to sit back and think really hard about how I wanted to blog this wedding – I spent a week with this couple and their friends & family – some of [...]
 

Few weeks ago, I had the privilege of traveling across the pond to Italy to photograph a wedding for Justin & Meghan. I had to sit back and think really hard about how I wanted to blog this wedding – I spent a week with this couple and their friends & family – some of the nicest and down to earth people I’ve met (And they are from the midwest!) It was tough for me to decide because SO many memories were made from this trip and with over 2,000 final images – I was a bit overwhelmed with how I wanted to portray this wedding in such short blog post. I know picture are worth 1,000 words but I sometimes wish there was one photo that could describe thousand photos!

The wedding took place at the wonderful farm house (agriturismo) of Paolo and his family called “Il Greppo.” Talk about small world. I met Paolo last year while I was on my first PhotoVenture tour. My tour guide & best friend in Italy Max Brunelli met Paolo together. He told us about his farm house but little did we realize 8 months later we would be there photographing this couple’s wedding. The world truly is a small place. Il Greppo is situated just outside of Montepulciano, in the heart of Tuscany where some of the best/finest wines are produced. Two of my favorite wines Brunello Di Montalcino and Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano are from this region.

Meghan is gorgeous and Justin isn’t too shabby either. He has a contagious laugh that makes everyone around him laugh. They are truly unique people and they wanted their wedding to reflect just that. For example, they decided to take their honeymoon before the wedding. And in doing so, Meghan & Justin were able to come out and planned this wedding just the way they dreamt it. With the help of Cristiana, the wedding coordinator in Italy, they were able to do just that. Cristiana, along with Max, helped them plan out the detail of the wedding with Meghan and everything that went to this wedding made it so memorable. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience and I feel like I’ve gained some good friends through this wedding. I can go on talking about it, but I will let the photos do the talking from here.

I managed to make a set of collages (24 in total), to describe the week’s worth of experience. I certain hope you guys enjoy them and I, as well as the couple, would love to hear your comments:

These are some photos from that week. Most of them are from events that took place days before or after the wedding:

Thank you Meghan & Justin – and your family and friends for the incredible week! I will be photographing another wedding in Italy later this year. I am looking forward to working with Max on this wedding again. Can’t wait! :) And I must admit, Max, Cristiana and I make quite a wedding team! :)

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Grace Ormonde Book Launch Party at the Trump Tower

June 14th, 2010

Last night I got to attend a party to celebrate the launch of Grace Ormonde’s new book: “Being in Love Never Goes Out of Style.” Grace needs no introduction – she is the premiere publication leader in the wedding industry. Her publication – Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine is widely circulated across the nation and [...]
 

Last night I got to attend a party to celebrate the launch of Grace Ormonde’s new book: “Being in Love Never Goes Out of Style.” Grace needs no introduction – she is the premiere publication leader in the wedding industry. Her publication – Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine is widely circulated across the nation and is the elite magazine for the wedding industry. I took this excerpt from their about us page:

Grace Ormonde has built an enviable reputation in the wedding industry for creating the platforms for wedding specialists to showcase their products and services while offering prospective brides and grooms a multitude of choices, ideas and alternatives for planning their wedding. She has consistently made creativity and innovation hallmarks of her enterprises.

Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine was first published as a regional New England wedding planning resource in 1998. After five regional issues, Wedding Style launched nationally in 2003.

The national launch of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style created the demand for a regional New England replacement that resulted in the creation and launch of the sister publication Grace Ormonde Marriage in 2003 later renamed to Wedding Style New England in 2007.

Grace Ormonde Wedding Style and Wedding Style New England are designed to assist prospective brides with choosing wedding services and offer informative, practical editorial content on topics ranging from wedding planning to home decorating and women’s health issues

To share a personal story, when I got into this industry 4 years ago, I went to a local bookstore to do some “research” to learn what it takes to be a wedding photographer. I perused through countless amount of wedding magazines on the rack but Grace’s Wedding Style magazine stood out above the rest. So I picked it up and was blown away by the imagery and the quality of the magazine. I set the bar since then and made it my personal goal to get a wedding featured on here one of these days. So getting to meet her last night in person was such an honor. I met her briefly at WPPI but did not get a chance to talk to her much. Her and her husband Yanni are one of the most down to earth people I’ve encountered.

Here are just a few images from the event. For more photos, please visit my facebook page:

It was an honor to share this moment with Grace. We got to hold each other’s book and snap this photo together. Thank you so much for the opportunity Grace! It was great having you and Yanni visit Chicago.

For more, visit: My Portfolio | Facebook Page | contact@kennykim.com | 800-539-1294
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Speaking at South Bend Indiana & Kina Grannis Concert

June 11th, 2010

Whew. Time really does fly. Subjectively & objectively. This past month of May has been a whirlwind. I got to attend my first Chicago Blackhawks playoff game, photographed a wedding in New Orleans, shot handful of engagement and family sessions, photographed an unbelievable wedding in Italy, came back to Chicago to photograph a gorgeous Indian [...]
 

Whew. Time really does fly. Subjectively & objectively. This past month of May has been a whirlwind. I got to attend my first Chicago Blackhawks playoff game, photographed a wedding in New Orleans, shot handful of engagement and family sessions, photographed an unbelievable wedding in Italy, came back to Chicago to photograph a gorgeous Indian wedding and more. June is no diferent. In just 10 days I photographed another eSession, wedding, spoke at South Bend, Indiana and got to attend a concert of an artist that I really enjoy listening to. Did I mention it’s only June 10th? I wanted to just quickly update you on 2 things:

I. SPEAKING AT SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
I was honored when Katie Whitcomb, a great photographer from South Bend, IN asked me to come out to speak at their local photographer’s meeting. So I dragged my roommate and trekked across state. I had a great time speaking to about 30+ photographers. Here are few photos from that event:

Everyone was so attentive and supported me with positive nods & smiles. I do have to admit though. We had this meeting inside of a chocolate store and the smell of chocolate was killing me!

Then I had a real treat waiting for me. My clients Cory & Sarah from a wedding I photographed in 11/11/2006 made a surprise visit to hear my talk! They drove over 2 hours to show their support. This almost brought tears to my eyes. As if being 2 hours was not bad enough, Sarah just delivered a baby three weeks ago and Cory is currently going through chemotherapy for his cancer! This couple has a special place in my heart as they are one of the reasons why I wanted to go into wedding photography in the first place. Read more about them here in my previous blog post.

I got to hold their precious baby Charis! Thank you Cory & Sarah so much for going out of your way to visit me here. I will continue to pray and think of you guys. Please keep in touch as often as you can!

And finally big thank you to Katie Whitcomb for organizing this meeting and inviting me to speak here. I look forward to coming back again. Shout out to my roommate Kenny Nakai from tagging along with me and capturing all these fun images as well!

II. KINA GRANNIS
I got to attend a concert by an up & coming talented artist in Kina Grannis. She is the youtube/online/twitter gal with a phenomenal voice & musical talent. I’m fascinated because she understands the power of the online social media and uses it to attract a huge following and allows her audience to connect with her through her transparency. This is a lesson we can all learn and apply to our business – allowing our clients to connect with us by sharing our lives with them. Everyone in the audience responded to Kina as if she was an old friend that they haven’t seen in awhile. She immediately connected with her audience just by being herself. I’ve been fan of her music and when she came to Chicago for her concert, I jumped at the opportunity to go listen to her live.

Of course being the camera geek that I am, I can’t help but to bring my camera along as my date and snapped a few photos of/for her:

Thanks for a great concert Kina. She is still on her national tour to promote her new CD called “Stairwells.” Check her out at one of the remaining cities here. Best wishes with the rest of your tour!

NOW AVAILABLE: The Digital Wedding Photographer’s Planner by Kenny Kim

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