This has nothing and every thing to do with photography! I had to share!

For those of you who own your home, you know how much your credit score plays into what kind of loan and interest rate you end up with. It’s almost sickening when you realize how much these three little scores affect your life. Brian and I have been working hard at improving our credit scores. And we’re so fortunate b/c one of our closest friends, Zane Ferry, has also been our loan officer for years. His daughter was the Easter bunny hit!

So a couple months ago, Zane came across this new tool where you can pay $30, and it will run a report telling you what exact amount to pay on a specific credit card and how many points it will raise your score! To good to be true, huh! He tried it first and has been keeping Brian and I updated. So far every thing they advise has worked even better than what they predicted. So last night we had him run the program for us, and I about fell over when we got the results!

I had been thinking about paying a large amount on one of our credit cards to get the balance down, but the report said that if I only paid $462 down on a different card it would boost one of my credit scores 37 points! What do I have to lose but try! I’ll keep you updated on what happens!

What does this have to do with photography? Every thing! If you get to the point where you want to apply for a SBA or line of credit for your business, the first thing they look at is your credit scores. So having your scores as high as possible (710 or higher) can save you a lot of money! Brian and I are wanting to invest more in the real estate arena, so we’ve already hired ecreditattorney, but this little tool Zane found is so GREAT! I’m smiling ear to ear this morning!

If you want to have Zane run this tool for you, here is his cell. He’s probably going to kill me for giving this out, but seriously, this program he has is unbelievable (and he’s an AMAZING loan guy!! 253-752-3325.

Bad news first. The DVD is taking longer, way longer, than I ever dreamed! Our hope was to ship to you by the end of this month. We’re not going to make it, and I feel horrible! I feel like I’m much to blame for this b/c I had ideas of when we could have this DVD done, but I’ve never done this type of project and had no idea how MANY variables played into having a final product.

We are all working around the clock on this, and we’ve even hired on extra help to speed up the process. We want you to know we appreciate all your support and orders, and we hate to disappoint. I can tell you it’s going to be soon, very soon, just not the end of April.

Basically this is where we’re at. We have all the chapters finished for DVD 1 and are finishing up the Special Features section along with the various Menus and graphics. We’ve even got a great trailer for DVD 2 and upcoming workshops included. BUT I didn’t factor in the time it would take for Brian and I to okay every thing, make changes and then have the replication and stamping process happen. Totally new land for me! So I feeeeeeeel like it should be done and on it’s way to you in May, but I’m scared to even say that. It feels like every time I think I know when this will be ready to ship, I’m informed of another step that needs to be done.

To make it up to you, we’re going to send all of you who have pre-ordered a little gift from me! My friend, Carey, helped me find something fun. So I’m excited about including that surprise for you as a small thank you for your patience.

Good news–Good news! We have an amazing song to add to the DVD music. Kirsten Wenlock is a wife, mother of three and talented singer that I met through a mutual friend. When I heard her voice and songs, I cried b/c this is the type of music my heart dreamed of having to finish off the DVD series. Simply put, her words and music mixed with this DVD series is breathtaking! Isn’t she beautiful! Inside and out!

I can’t wait for you to see how we incorporated her music. It’s like sugar sprinkled on top of a yummy dessert! We found Kirsten only days ago. I was so moved by a particular song, so she and her producer in LA cleaned it up, added a full band to it, more vocals and turned out an amazing piece in two days. We were able to get it in time for the DVD stamping. You’ll be the first to hear it!

The thought of actually shipping the first DVD feels like a dream! We’re going to ship later than I had hoped, but I’m crossing my fingers that you will be pleasantly surprised at what we’ve created for you. Lots of surprises to come!

Thank you so much for your patience! And thank you again and again for all the wonderful posts you left for Pascaline! She was so touched by it all, just giddy about it!

For info on how to Pre-Order the DVD series, Documenting a Child’s Life, click here!

**Click Here to Vote for Us!** as Best Photography Blog!

We found out we were nominated for three categories; Best Photography Blog, Best Educator Blog and Hottest Mommy Blogger (Brian nominated me for Hottest Mommy–he’s a good husband! :))!!

My blog started as a journal, but it has transformed into this wonderful place of learning, growing, teaching, educating, inspiring and being inspired. I love meeting all of you here, learning from all of you. The greatest joy is when I post a technique or skill, and you let me know that after years of trying to understand it finally makes sense! Wow, that is the best feeling! You all give me more than you’ll ever know. Thank you for nominating us! What a gift!

It looks like you have to sign up to vote, but it seems to be pretty quick and painless. Thanks for your unending support! We’ve got 10 votes so far and need 200 more to take the lead!

Go Vote!!

This was our first full weekend home in a while. Pascaline and I were so excited b/c it was also the annual YMCA “Run for Kids” race. Last year she did the kid’s race. It was a mile long and at the end she was mad b/c she wanted to keep racing. So this year, I signed her up to join me for the 5K adult race. Oh boy!

Let’s just say she was a bit of a yo-yo. One minute she was unsure of the whole thing and then next minute she was rearing to go. We put glitter all over our face and hands and named ourselves the “Glitter Girls”.

Pascaline wanted to line up at the front of the starting line to have a better chance at beating everyone. Can you see us in the middle?

The clock started, and we were off! The first half mile she was doing AWESOME!

But then someone on the sidelines cheered for her number, and she totally went into a tantrum b/c she thought they were making fun of her. People cheering was a totally new experience that overwhelmed her (and you can guess at how many cheered for her b/c of her size :)). Every time someone yelled “Go 363!” Oh boy, we were in trouble.

At two miles into it, she wanted to give up. I’m so proud of Pascaline b/c on her own she decided to keep going and finish. At one point she even looked at me and said, “I thought you’d have to catch up with me the whole time mom, but instead you’ve had to slow down for me. I really appreciate you sticking with me.” (totally made me want to cry)

We walked half of the race, but at the end she decided to run again. Her dad was so proud! Brian said he was a little worried when I came home with our registration for a 5K, but then he saw us come around the corner and was so excited!

And Pascaline made it across the finish line at 44:57 minutes!

That’s my girl! A 5K for a 6 year old is a HUGE thing! And with all the meltdowns we went through I wasn’t sure if we’d be doing another one together. But to my surprise, she told me she can’t wait to do the next one with me!

Pascaline’s excited for this post, so if you have a free minute leave her a message!

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To those of you that love our photo recipes and exercises, here they are!

For the shots of Pascaline and I pinning on her number, giving each other high fives, lining up at the start line, Brian had his shutter speed at 320. He kept his aperture at 2.8 and ISO at 100. He shot all these photos with the zoom lense.

But when we were running, Brian needed a fast shutter speed to shoot us in motion with us also being sharp and crisp instead of blurry. So his shutter speed went up to 640, aperture stayed 2.8, and his ISO stayed at 100. The key is the faster shutter speed for motion or action photos, like soccer games or kids riding their bikes. If your shutter speed is to slow, your child will be blurry.

Try experimenting with Shutter Speed!

1. Put your camera in TV mode (this is shutter speed priority where you determine the shutter speed and the camera decides the aperture for you).

2. Have your kids run around in the backyard. (tough one huh! :))

3. Take a couple photos at a slow shutter speed (maybe a 1/100). Then speed up your shutter speed to 1/600 and see what happens. Is the shot with the faster shutter speed more crisp than the first?

4. Remember, play around with your settings trying different things all the time. This is the fastest way to get a better understanding of your camera’s shutter speed, aperture and ISO!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops and DVD series for parents, visit DVD series and “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

To see our day job, visit our website.

We’re working away at the most beautiful wedding we recently shot in Cincinnati, Ohio. I promised Kisha and Damon that I would pull a handful of images on our blog. I want Kisha to get a peak at how gorgeous she was on her wedding day! If you have time, post a comment and tell her how stunning she was! Isn’t her smile AMAZING! (a new one to surprise those of you who have already hit the blog!)

Damon isn’t so bad either! His speech at the rehearsal dinner made me cry. I walked away completely inspired and told him that we MUST have more time with together. Damon is an amazing man, who oozes inspiration and empowerment. Who can get enough of that?

Kisha had an incredible vision for her wedding day. Every single detail had been thought through. She even set me an amazing three ring binder full of sample shots she likes, details to her wedding day, possible page layouts for her album! and my itinerary with all my confirmation numbers! It made our traveling so much easier! Check out these detail shots.

For her ring, she brought me a teacup b/c she loved the concept of a ring with a teacup. What a fun experiment!

Her colors were ivory and robin egg blue with pearls, pearls, pearls. Wait till you see the pearl photos (I’d show them now, but I’ve got to save something for the upcoming slideshow!)

And then dancing at the reception! It was off the chart! Damon and his fraternity brothers did a spontaneous line dance that blew me away!

I love you Kisha! These are just a few of the photos with many, many more to come! But now you have proof of just how stunning you two were on your wedding day!

Much love, Me Ra

We are finally back home! A pot of homemade soup never tasted so good! Our flight came in Sunday night from an amazing four days in Dallas. We shot Stephen and Erica Hayes wedding in Carrollton, TX and the next day turned around and did a photography workshop. Sunday morning we went to Pastor Mike and Kathy Hayes church to hear a sermon that felt like it had been inspired by my recent journaling! What a gift their family is to us, especially their daughter Amie (my kindred spirit)! Brian and I have even been invited to document their orphanage in Nicaragua, we can hardly wait. (and it’s still a secret, but we got the okay for Pascaline to join us! can you imagine an experience like that at 6 1/2 years old! we’re so excited!)

But on to “Off Camera Lighting Demystified!”

SO, I’ve been intimidated most my photography life by off camera lighting. Why? I think some guy told me once that’s it REALLY complicated, and I just believed him. But that excuse doesn’t work any more as of this year! Every year I pick one thing to really fine tune. Last year it was color. I had a blast trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone. This year I decided on off camera lighting–the whole strobe, transmitting signals to fire flashes elsewhere thingy.

I started with the getting ready photos. To Brian’s surprise, I grabbed the light stand, opened the umbrella, pointed my flash right into it, and then hid the umbrella and flash behind Erica’s dresses. Check out the results!! I’m so excited!

You wouldn’t even guess that it was the middle of the day, and the room was fully lit. But since I fired the flash from behind her dress it illuminated all of them. In post process, I up’d the contrast to make it a bit more dramatic.

When we shoot destination weddings, we often have extra time b/c we figure that even though their package said we’d shoot for nine hours, why not stay for fourteen and get some fun shots. Let’s just say, I went crazy with lighting. Here’s her shoe shot!

I hope it’s okay to share how I did this and that by sharing the secret I’m not ruining the image for you. But I just think you’d have such fun playing with your flashes too if you felt encouraged.

For the shoe image, I gathered all her tulling and set her shoes on top. I had Brian hold the flash underneath her tulling so when it fired her tulling lit up like a high key lighting studio shot. So fun!

But here’s my favorite!

I’m going crazy over this image!!! We set up a light stand, pointed the umbrella at the back of the singer’s head, fired two flashes into the umbrella and VOILA!! How fun is that!

Are you intimidated by flashes or off camera lighting? If so, you can totally do this! Grab your flash, set your camera up so it fires a signal (Pocket Wizards are the BEST for this!) to your flash, and then put your flash somewhere, anywhere, and just try it out. The only way to learn is by trying and making a lot of mistakes along the way. But before you know it, you’ll start getting a better understanding of light and the direction of light, and you’ll blow yourself away!

If you have any other questions about the above shots, feel free to post them!

p.s. It’s good to be home and back on the blog with all of you! Upcoming this week is a video Brian and I made while on location and TX (just for you! :)), wedding photos from Cincinnati, and more tips!

If you’re in Dallas or Carrollton, TX this weekend, come join me for a photography workshop I’m teaching at Covenant Church! Below is all the information, including the phone number to call. I believe you have to pre-register since seating is limited. Hope to see you this Saturday!!

Press Release from Covenant!

Passionate about Photography?
Women’s Ministry Presents Me Ra Koh Photography
Saturday, April 14th 2007
11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Covenant Church Narthex (map it)

Women’s Ministry proudly welcomes Me Ra Koh, the highly-acclaimed children and wedding photographer from Seattle. Me Ra will be featured on HBO, VH1’s Fabulous Weddings and has been a guest on over 50 television and radio shows nationwide. She is also the author of the inspiring book, Beauty Restored. Simply stated, Me Ra Koh is one of the best! We are pleased to have her featured during two sessions on Saturday, April 14th, in the Narthex.

Session 1: 11 am - 1 pm & Session 2: 2 pm - 4 pm. Lunch will be provided. The cost is $50.00 for either session or $100.00 for both sessions.To take part in this incredible opportunity, please call 972-512-4403.

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops and DVD series for parents, visit DVD series and “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

To see our day job, visit our website.

As many of you know, we were shooting a wedding in Cincinnati, Ohio over Easter weekend. It was one of the most memorable weddings we’ve ever done. Brian and I came home so blessed by the people we’d met, I had to sit and journal it all down.

Kisha and Damon are incredibly inspiring. They are both African American, and they come from families full of wisdom, talent and vision. Damon’s speech at the rehearsal dinner made me cry when he talked about the importance of his uncles, and the struggle of being a black man in society who is respected and successful.

His seventy year old grandma talked with me for almost a hour about being a woman, a mother, a wife and finding happiness in all of it. Grannie stole my heart. And then I found out that Damon’s cousin is John Legend who just picked up a bunch of Grammy awards. His song Ordinary People is wonderful. But the reception, that part was UNBELIEVABLE!!! The dancing was out of this world! Wait until you see the photos!

But it didn’t end there. We were in David Ziser’s neck of the woods. So when we finished up at midnight, we headed over to the Hilton’s famous Hall of Mirrors where David was shooting a Russian Orthodox Jewish wedding. Talk about one extreme to the next in culture! David was so gracious and took some time out to talk with Brian and I. For those of you who don’t know him, you have to check out his website and read his bio. Ziser has been in the business for years and has so much wisdom to share.

When we left, we passed by a fun spot called Havana Martini. Salsa music was pouring out the doors, so we had to go in! It was 2am, and there we were, Brian and I dancing salsa to a live band.

What an amazing time! And what an incredible group of people!

Here’s a post that will make you smile! Meet my dad!

He is the inspiration behind my storytelling. And, not only does he tell good story, he loves being in front of the camera.

I’ve heard this story since I don’t know when. And every time he does the tiger’s groans. Now Blazey and Pascaline ask Papa to tell them the “tiger story”. It’s hilarious that he, without even thinking about it, shared this on the spot. Got to love it!

This clip and a bunch of other fun surprises will be in the Special Features section for the DVD series! Can’t wait for you to see it all!

Does the Easter Bunny get any cuter than this?

We had a wedding in Cincinnati over Easter weekend, so we did our Easter a week early. What a blast! My parents and our friends joined us for our traditional Easter crepes! But the kids…the kids could barely eat. They were so excited to hunt for their Easter eggs.

Blaze just kept giggling over all the eggs he was finding!

I can’t believe they sat still for a group shot! I love Solenne as the little bunny in the back.

My parents are so amazing! If a family ever went through hell and back and back to hell and back again, it’s ours. And doesn’t my mom look like my sister? Everyone has always thought so. And my dad, wow, he travels out of the country every month for the last thirty years. But wherever he is, no matter what the time zone, he still gets up and exercises. He’s got a six pack that drives Brian nuts!

Tomorrow’s blog will be a video podcast of my dad. Don’t miss it!

I know, this type of shot Brian and I is surprising (lol). We’re either laughing or crying together. The crying photos aren’t to flattering.