Chicago Destination Lifestyle Wedding Photographer - Kenny Kim Photography » Tuscany

Tuscany Wedding of Meghan & Justin – Montepulciano, Italy

kennykim — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:05:05 +0000

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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Lessons From the Road – Landscape Photography & Traveling

kennykim — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:28:44 +0000

Hey everyone! I am back in Italy again. This time I am here to photograph a fabulous wedding of Meghan & Justin next week. I’m also here to plan out the details for my next PhotoVenture in the fall as well as a small private tour that I will conducting for some of my close friends & family in the summer. I arrived here few days early to get adjusted to the time zone here and to do some “PhotoVenture”ing on my own. After a long flight to Rome & an hour train ride to Terni, my friend Max Brunelli picked me from the station and we went back to his home. As I was resting there, I could feel my body wanting to shut down. One of the best way to fight jet lag is to get adjusted to their time zone immediately. So rather than sleeping, I forced myself to stay awake by going for a long drive with Max to the countryside of Umbria. We drove through various parts of Umbria passing by Narni, Amelia & Todi. Along the way we stopped at numerous locations to take some landscape photos. Speaking of which, I am making an effort to capture more landscape photos this year in hopes that somewhere down the road, I will be able to make my own travel book.

Here is some of my quick attempt at landscape photography. I was falling half asleep as I was editing them so please be kind. I’ll have plenty more after my trip/wedding shoot is done:

Finally, I want to leave you with a quote from Rick Steves, a prominent expert on world traveling: “Thoughtful travel engages us with the world… it reminds us what is truly important. By broadening perspectives, travel teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity, helping us understand and appreciate other cultures. Rather than fear the diversity, celebrate it. Among your most prized souvenirs will be the strands of different cultures you choose to knit into your own character. The world is a culture yarn shop, and travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.”

Buon Viaggio!

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Wedding in Labro, Italy? Yes Please.

kennykim — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:29:32 +0000

Well not really. It was not an actual wedding. But it was a vision. A vision to create a scenario to be able to capture some wedding images from Italy – which is what a group of us did when we went on our first PhotoVenture trip to Italy this past September of 2009. With the help by our tour coordinator Max Brunelli, we organized a photoshoot with Italian models and for few hours where we photographed them in their wedding attires and came up with some really cool wedding images. My goal was that all of us will walk away with some beautiful images for their portfolio. But not only that, I wanted them to challenge themselves to work in any kind of environment despite the language barrier to come up with shots that they needed. My personal goal was to photograph more weddings here in Italy so I wanted to build a portfolio to showcase more of my work in a unique backdrop only Italy can offer. Last year I had the privilege of photographing a beautiful wedding for Bob Davis and I fell in love there and told myself that I will make a goal and my vision to photograph more weddings here.

For this reason, the mock wedding photoshoot took place in a small acquaint hilltop medieval town of Labro tucked away between the mountains. Labro is in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, located about 70 km northeast of Rome. The town's population is about 350 and is so small that you cannot find it in most tour guide books. They also still have a prince that still lives and governs there.

When we started our shoot, we had couple of obstacle to overcome: 1) Rain. Which meant that we had to pose them in places where they were under the cover and/or the umbrella. Fortunately the rain stopped after about an half hour into the shoot. We learned the lesson of quickly adapting to things we cannot change (such as weather) and rather than letting that discourage us, think of more creative ways to capture the subject.

Despite the rain, we came up with some really cool images

Trying to explain to the them 'almost kiss but not all the way' was little tricky

2) Language barrier: Another challenge we had to face was that none of the models spoke any English. And we didn’t speak Italian so many times we had to use our body language, eye contact and just repeating things slowly and audibly so that they can somewhat understand what we were saying. And because many words were used in repetition, they eventually picked up some of our instruction and we also picked up a few phrases of their own. Lesson learned: that communication is very important during a photoshoot even with our clients. Often times I see workshop attendees just silent while they shoot away at their subject. It is important to keep the conversation flowing during our shoot.

Despite our language differences, I was still able to communicate to them on the reactions that I wanted

Often times we can use the photoshoot time to get to know things around us. We spent some time w/ the old man in the background and found out that he is 95 years old and has been the pastor of the church we were photographing for over 70 years old. Wow!

I love the breath-taking backdrops that only Italy can provide. Rainy weather meant bright blue sky to follow shortly after!

As we were driving away at night, we were mesmerized by how clear the sky was and how the bright stars were illuminating the city. Then we asked ourselves: "Did we really just shoot there?"

I am thankful for the experience that we had together as a group. I am putting it on my vision board to photograph more Italian weddings in 2010 so hopefully it will happen soon. In the mean time, I am taking a group of photographers again in less than 13 days on another PhotoVenture with Kenny & Friends. We have people from all over the States & Canada coming to this one. Kevin Swan from KISS Wedding books will also be joining us on this journey and I cannot wait to explore the region of Campania Felix (Amalfi, Napoli, Sorrento, Rovello, Positano, Pompeii, plus more.) It is not too late to sign up! If you are interested in joining us on this adventure, contact me. Until next time, happy traveling!

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