Me Ra Koh Photography has some fun news to share! We just received a copy of New York magazine, and they did a cool write up on our studio in their City Weddings Section! Check it out! It will be on stands December 25th-January 1st 2007.

It’s not a big write up, but none the less, we’re SUPER excited! My favorite is when the writer said, “their photography is poetry.” Wow! What a huge compliment!

A big thanks to New York magazine and all our east coast friends! We’re so excited to be with you in April for the photography workshop!

By the time you read this, I’ll be tucked away in a secret place in the middle of a private getaway! Yes, that’s right. No kids or husband. Can you believe that!

The other night Brian and I were talking about 2007. We are so pumped for all the upcoming things we’re going to be doing for our moms and brides. So many surprises to come with speaking engagements and weddings in the most beautiful places.

So I asked Brian if I could go away for a night or two and just spend some time writing, shooting and thinking about the year to come. There are so many projects buzzing in my head I thought it’d be a good idea to start the year feeling refreshed with my creativity juiced up. He said yes! (don’t I have an amazing husband!)

So wish me luck as I wander streets I’ve never walked, taking photos and writing about whatever comes to mind. My desire is to find unexpected inspiration I can share with all of you! (And wish Brian luck as he does the Mr. Mom thing! :))

Thank you for making 2006 such an amazing year! We look forward to all the good things to come in 2007!

(p.s. For those of you who are not on our snail mailing list, we’re going to post our Christmas photo and letter early next week! Stay tuned!)

Last weekend, Brian came down from upstairs and said the kids really wanted me to say goodnight before naps. I was a little annoyed because I didn’t want to come upstairs. I was enjoying my first bits of time alone. But Brian wouldn’t let it go.

I walked into their bedroom to find them both in Pascaline’s bed, comfy and snug as two bugs. (Now you have to remember Pascaline DOES NOT like to be touched.) She was hugging and snuggling Blaze saying, (I kid you not) “I LOVE having a baby brother! Blaze is the best!” You can guess my reaction!

“BRIAN, GET THE CAMERA AND VIDEO CAMERA!”

But seriously, the light was beautiful (a soft, late afternoon light). So I forgot about my afternoon plans and grabbed the camera. And I’m so glad I did. It’s these unexpected moments that sometimes provide the most wonderful images.

Pascaline working the camera!

She knows exactly what she’s doing!

Sweet baby bear…can you ever imagine him dumping a pitcher of water over his sister’s head? Me neither! And yet he did!

As the kids scooted up on the bed, they moved out of the window light. So Brian, my partner in crime, jumped in and got them to move back down on the bed so mom could have her window light back. These shots turned out to be some of my favorites!

Photographing your kids is always a bit “unexpected” because you never know when the moment will come that you want to shoot something they’re doing. And yet, I find more and more how I enjoy setting up the moments…helping them happen. Brian and I often do this with our bride and groom.

The couple sees our portfolio, and they want natural shots too. But they’re not used to being in front of the camera and need some coaching along the way to help them relax. Kids are the same way. We almost need to teach them how to be at ease with the camera, otherwise we’ll always be getting those “say cheese” shots.

But there are also the moments that happen unexpectedly. I almost miss them because I don’t want to be interrupted, or I’m finally getting a moment to myself. As moms, we get so task oriented with cleaning up lunch, thinking about dinner, returning emails, starting nap time… that when we finally get a break we want the break. (Doesn’t it seem like holidays raise this intensity even higher? )

The exercise for “Unexpected Shots” is simple and low stress.

Just be open to unexpected moments.

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.

This is a favorite little trick Brian and I have a blast with. (I confess, we’ve had fun playing this trick on adults too. :)) Since most aren’t familiar with the mechanics of a big lense, you can ask them to look real hard and see if they see your eye inside the lense. The results are hilarious!

It goes something like this, “Blazey come here!! Quick, come over here and look at this!” (I’m sitting on the floor with the camera ready to go.) Brian gets real close to the camera with Blaze and says, “Look in the the lense and see if you can see mom’s eye! Can you see it? Her big eye is right there! Look REAL hard!”

This is what I shoot as Blazey looks deep into the lense trying to find my eye.

Then he looks even closer…

And then he starts to laugh, as if he realizes we’re joking with him! I just love it!

Kids love this little exercise. They are often intrigued by the camera gear and wonder what’s going on inside that “thing” clicking away. When you have the family over this Christmas, try this exercise out on the kids. I guarantee you get some great results!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.

A year ago, Brian and I volunteered to host the monthly PUG (Pictage User Group) meetings at our home. Our vision was to provide a place for photographers to come together, find support, learn some new tricks, be encouraged, and most of all have fun! Brian and I had no idea what wonderful friends and community we would gain by hosting a PUG group! The laughs have been AWESOME!

Check out these great photos Bill Cawley of Cloud Spot took at our Christmas PUG Bash! We had about 25 photographers, wonderful caterers!, and a saxophone solo by the incredible Brian Hartman (yes, he not only shoots beautiful images, but he also brings the house down with his saxophone!)

Below is Todd Kim. He and his wife, Rebekah, have been coming to our meetings from day one! If you ever need to be encouraged Todd is the guy! He has such a BIG heart and always words to lift you up.

This is Stephanie! She has the best smile! And if you’re a photographer looking for album ideas, Stephanie is your woman. Her work with Art Leather is awesome!

The BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED catering team! Heather and Carol! The food was amazing! But on top of that, they also did this incredible display with the food. Every thing was in silver and just gorgeous!

The man himself!

His beautiful and talented wife, Jennifer! (She won the door prize and was a good sport to where some fake snow for the shot.)

The below shots are to die for! These guys will probably kill me when they see this stuff posted, but I had to post! Bill helped me make this “winter scene” in our play room with snow tipped mountains in the background. And then Bleu and Ginger brought over their skis and poles, so we could do some wintry ski shots! I just love these guys for being such great sports!

Here’s Yuriy! Doesn’t he look like the ski stud! And don’t you like the effect of our fake tree with cotton looking snow on it? It’s almost to good to post! He also released his new website! Check it out!

Todd and Rebekah were such great sports!!

And last, but NEVER least, Steve and Larry! These guys are a hilarious! Not only do they make the most amazing pastries, have great taste in wine, but they can make you laugh so hard you almost pee your pants! And Steve’s a great photographer on top of it all!

Me and Jennifer laughing together!

Ron Storer, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet! A passion for photography and love for people! You can’t help but love Ron!

And the cutest, smallest attendee of our Christmas party, little Brogan, Bleu and Ginger’s daughter!

Thanks again Bill for taking these shots!

And thanks to every one who came! Brian and I loved being with all of you! Your friendship has made 2006 a blast! We love you all, and we wish you the best holidays!!!

A few photographers have asked this week, so I think it’s time to make it a bit more official on our blog.

We are SUPER excited for Me Ra Koh Photography to be offering “The Hampton 2007 Photography Workshop“!!!!

This is a workshop for the aspiring/professional portrait and/or wedding photographer. We plan to spend an intense 4 days together, teaching you how we do just about every thing in our business from Threshold Marketing and Branding to Shooting Techniques and Post Process Secrets to Pricing, Hiring on Associates and National Exposure.

Click the image below for all the fun details!

Seating is limited to 14 photographers, and 4 spots have been taken already. Pictage is honoring us by being a key sponsor! They will be doing an email blast to their mailing list in the next few weeks, so be sure to email us if you’re interested in receiving more information.

We also want to encourage husband/wife teams to come. All that Brian and I do in our studio is based on working as a team, so we’re giving a BIG discount to spouses and/or a second studio photographer/associate (see the link). Our passion is to see you enjoying this in your marriage as much as we are!

Brian and I are excited to see you in the Hamptons this coming year!

For more info, email mera@merakoh.com or our Workshop Coordinator, Heather, at heather@merakoh.com.

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To see Brian and Me Ra in action with VH1, view our trailer!

To find out more information on our photography workshops for moms, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.

Brian and I had this issue in our marriage. He thinks Blazey needs a haircut.

I think Blazey looks perfect!

He thinks Blazey should be able to see.

I’m convinced a haircut will make him look 4 years older overnight, and I’m simply not ready to lose my baby.

Aside from all this back and forth conversation (that has lasted months!), we told Blaze he was going to get his haircut today. He actually jumped up in the air and yelled, “YEAH!!” Then he ran to the car and hung off the car door handle trying to get in (something I’ve never seen him do!).

I think he was more ready than I realized!

So I grabbed my tripod and said, ‘I’m going to make the BEST of this situation and shoot the heck out of it. I’m going to get the best shots so I won’t freak out but instead LOVE this moment in his life.” Look below to see how that turned out. As you can see I wasn’t exactly shooting the heck out of any thing!

It took every thing in me not to CRY! The hair stylist was so sweet. I knew she could tell I was struggling. She suggested a little skater boy cut. We both fell for it! She was awesome!

And here he is; Blazey with his new Skater haircut! (And all his golden locks of hair stuffed in an envelope in my purse.)

He was pretty excited about the whole experience of sitting on a motorcycle. I don’t even know that he realized he was getting his hair chopped. And even though I feel like the neighbor’s boy is in my kitchen, I have to admit, he’s still pretty cute (and still my baby :)).

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Exercise for “Haircuts for Kids”

1. If this is a first haircut, you definitely need a second adult to support you! Two BIG reasons for this, 1. If your little one is feeling uncomfortable, it helps to have another adult keep them occupied while you shoot. If nothing else, if you can’t shoot b/c you’re so overwhelmed emotionally there is someone else who can take a picture or two.

2. Unless there is a TON of natural light in your salon, you’ll want to bump up your ISO setting. In some ways, ISO is what we used to call film speed. You’d buy 100 if you had bright sun and wanted good color saturation. You’d buy 400 for action shots. Maybe 800 for dark lit receptions or rooms, and we used to even buy 3200 for really dark rooms. But now with digital, you can just bump up your ISO instead of having to shoot through a whole roll of film at one speed. It’s pretty great! For these shots, we needed our ISO at 800. I just couldn’t get enough light at 400. My aperture was down at 2.8, and the shutter speed was usually around 1/60 to 1/80.

3. If you’re not emotionally tied up in this event, try and take shots that have different angles instead of having them all be straight on. Look over they stylist’s shoulder and try to clip part of her shoulder in it so the image shares the story of what was happening in the moment. My favorite one like this is image number 5.

4. And be sure to take a quick “before shot” on your way out the door. That was image number 1. I wanted just one quick shot of Blaze today (minutes away from his big haircut).

5. Be creative with your setting. Knowing that Blaze was going to get a haircut had me thinking for months about what setting to choose. Should we have a hairstylist come to our home, and do it in the kitchen for a classic shot? Should I take him to our salon with the big windows and mirrors? As you can see, we decided on the kid salon for this time around. I think it was a good move for us b/c of Blazey’s passion for motorcycles and airplanes. But when he’s seven or so, I want to do a shoot of him in our salon, with a big long cape around his neck sitting high on a booster in the black chair–that kind of Norman Rockwell look. It’s fun to think about how you’ll set up the shots before they happen.

6. Last but not least, bring Kleenex! Something I forgot!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.

The phone is ringing, the emails are coming in, bills need to be done, dinner is still up in the air, lunches for tomorrow haven’t been made, the cat is hiding under the Christmas tree AGAIN and my 2 year old is trying to fix it, just as I find an empty bag of raisins in the living room he announces his THIRD poopy diaper of the day; it’s a wonder that motherhood isn’t a complete blur.

How do we keep it from being a blur?

Photography has been one of my resolves.

Photography forces me to notice the small things and to do this, I’ve got to slow the blur down once in a while. Small hands and small feet are what I tend to notice when I slow down.

As a writer, you strive to find details that will show (rather than tell) the reader about a character. If these details are expressed well, they create a three dimensional character in our imagination. As a photographer, capturing the details is at the core of every shot for my brides, my families, and my children. If Brian and I have done our job well, the details shots I caputre will show the story of who they are as individuals.

I know some day the obvious will happen. I will miss the noise of little feet running around upstairs instead of fretting about the mess they’re making. I will long for the laughter as they gurgled their juice. And I will try to remember what it felt like when Blaze reached up and tugged and tugged and tugged on my shirt to get my attention. All these things involve their small hands and small feet. And for me this is all the reason I need to try and capture them before they grow.

Do you remember how your little one used to hold and play with your hands while they nursed? I couldn’t resist taking these shots during a short nursing break for a family shoot we were doing.

Below is one of my favorite “hand shots” during a pregnancy shoot we did. The “soon to be” big sister wasn’t sure what she thought of this new baby, and you can almost feel her uncertainty in the image.

Little side note on this photo: I felt this uncertainty from little Eva before we started the photo shoot. I knew I was going to do a hands shot with her momma’s tummy and the parents’ hands, but as I felt her uncertainty I also knew I wanted to blur Eva out in the background to give her a voice. I could tell she felt like she was in the background of all the excitement surrounding the new baby’s arrival, and I wanted her to someday look back on this photo and feel validated. I wanted her to know I saw her and all her uncertainty, and even though it was scary as a 5 year old it was also beautiful and real. Does that make sense?

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Exercise for “Small Hands, Small Feet”

1. Take five minutes with a pen and paper and sit down in your kid’s room. Look around at their clothes, shoes, toys, dolls, beds, and make a short list of the details that symbolize who they are at this present age. From that list, work on taking shots of those specific things; maybe it’s their little shoes, hands and feet, mittens, hats, dolls, a princess dress hanging on the back of a bedroom door, a superman cape, etc. (If you’re like me, you often don’t feel like you have five minutes. So I set a timer for myself so I know I’ll only take five minutes and then I’ll get back to my “to do list”.)

2. Try lowering your F-stop to it’s lowest setting (2.8 or lower if your lense is able). The lower F-stop is what creates the blurred background and sharp focus on the single subject.

3. If you have a baby, while you’re nursing or your husband is bottle feeding, take some shots of what their hands are doing. This works great for 6 months olds. I’ve noticed this age is particularly active with their hands while nursing. (little trick; wait 30 minutes longer to feed so they’re extra hungry and more interested in eating than looking at your camera clicking :)).

4. If you have older children, take some photos of their shoes, their bare feet up in the air, or their bare feet poking out from underneath a skirt or rolled up overalls.

5. If you’re pregnant, have a friend, husband, or professional take some photos of your little ones hands on your bare tummy. Classic shot that is so special in years to come.

6. Remember, the trick is to lower your F-stop and use natural light for soft lighting. Happy shooting!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.

Five years ago, I walked into a local camera shop to buy my first flash. I told the salesman I wanted to start shooting weddings. I’ll never forget his response, he looked at me and rolled his eyes. Then he raised his voice and waved his hands in the air, “Lady, who do you think you are? What makes YOU think you can be a wedding photographer? I love how people think they can just buy a camera and flash and start shooting weddings. You have no idea how technical this business is, and you want to risk ruining someone’s wedding day!”

Needless to say, I bought my flash somewhere else.

Six months later, I was at my first photography workshop taught by Bambi Cantrell. I’ll never forget how much Bambi inspired me as a woman and as a photographer. She talked about the photography industry still being a “man’s industry”. Bambi told us to be ready for that particular battle as a woman photographer, and to remember that the battle to be a part of the industry was worth it.

Well, I’m happy to say I don’t meet or know many men like the one at the local camera shop. But every once in awhile, I do have the pleasure. This morning in particular… I had the pleasure of reading what thirty or so men thought about me and my technical knowledge/capabilities on a photography forum.

In my “Momma’s Wish List” post, I said the Canon 5D is something I wouldn’t recommend for wedding photography. Wow! Apparently, this opinion caused quite a stir!

But you know what? I’m flattered so many looked at our blog and website, expect for the fact that most of the posters think I’m a man. And I especially have to give a shout out to Jason Stone for going against the tide. AND…we had an extra 300 unique visitors on Sunday due to the forum’s post! Can’t go wrong!

It’s threads/posts like this that make me smile. If it was up to a couple of these men, I wouldn’t ever hold a camera as a professional. I’m so glad it’s up to me, and what I believe I can accomplish (and goodness knows the support of Brian is detrimental too!). If I had a dime for every time someone made me feel like I didn’t belong or wasn’t capable of doing something I’d be so stinking rich. You’ve got to figure in a water ski accident that almost paralyzed me and took close to 15 years of rehabilitative work for me to be running again, Dyslexia, an Audio Deficit Disorder, and somehow still finishing Graduate School with a 3.9, being sexually victimized in college, writing and publishing a book on a “keep quiet” subject of date rape, this list goes on and on, as I’m sure it does for many of you too.

All that to say, this post is for those of you (men and women) who have been told you can’t do something or “don’t belong”. I encourage you to take it as affirmation that you’re probably in the right place, doing the right thing. It seems there is always resistance when we’re onto something really good.

And I have to end with some really GREAT NEWS!

This last Friday I had the privilege of talking with Lexar. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lexar, they are the makers of the BEST memory cards on the market, among many other “must haves” they provide. During our conversation, they offered to sponsor our Mom Workshops and our NEW Professional Photographer Workshop in 2007. It’s huge! Lexar gets a handful of calls a week to work with professional photographers, but they said Brian and I stood out to them. The honor is beyond words!

As many of you know, Me Ra Koh Photography takes this wonderful new turn in 2007 with photography workshops for moms. We have three workshops, and there are only two spots left in the March one. I’m so excited!

The women attending all vary in their knowledge of photography. Some have almost no experience and some are doing beautiful work on a professional level. It’s going to be incredible to be together and inspire one another in our creativity!

One woman is flying in from Texas to join us for the February workshop. Janelle sent me a couple shots yesterday, and I just died! They are stunning! She’s been reading the blog, trying the exercises, and look at what she’s captured!

I had to post it because it’s a great example of having the mom in her spaghetti strap tank top while holding the bare chested baby (see photography tips for moms). The more skin showing the more natural mom and baby look. Janelle’s phone is going to be ringing off the hook when this mom shows her friends! Wouldn’t you die to have a shot like this of you and your baby! To see more of Janelle’s work, check out her blog!

Plus…A Party INVITE to all our photography friends!!!!

for any of you in the Northwest who are professional wedding or portrait photographers. Brian and I are having a big photography Christmas party at our place this Wednesday, December 13th. You are invited! If you’re interested email me at mera@merakoh.com. We would love to have you!

Thanks Janelle for sending us your beautiful shots! What a gift!

And to the rest of you moms, if you’re comfortable, I’d love to see the images you’re getting from the exercises! I promise not to put it on our blog (unless you say it’s okay :)).