I took portraits of some ridiculously adorable babies and families (still yet to blog!)

some twins

and triplets (!)

shot a Korean Dol for Kyle, the little brother of adorable Tessa from a few years back

and some engagements for good friends

I still owe you more from this one

and a gorgeous and serene wedding as well

I have also been traveling like a mad woman – to San Francisco (a lot) for a bridal shower I threw for one of my best friends who was getting married

and her dress fitting

and then to her wedding

to San Diego for an engagement party for another of my good friends

and to Kansas to visit family including our adorable baby niece (don’t you just want to squeeze her cheeks?!)

and oh, did I mention my kids are now almost TWO?! when did that happen?! I’m pretty sure they’re the cutest 21 month old kids I know… but I might be biased they like to be tickled

and make funny faces

and wear hats (which is hilarious).

they’re pretty much awesome.

So as you can see my life (and business) is busy (and fabulous all at the same time) and will continue to be so throughout the summer. I have three (!!) more weddings in June, non-stop action in July as well (including Ben’s brother’s wedding, woohoo!) and an extra special surprise in August that I’ll be filling you in on soon. I know I have said it before but I PROMISE that I will be blogging more regularly from here on out. Scout’s honor

I narrowed it down to my favorite four but there wasn’t a single one of these four that I could throw out… so I have changed the rules (hey, it’s my contest right?) and added one extra finalist.  Please vote for your favorite by clicking on the poll below.  One vote per person please.  I won’t be playing hall monitor but please play fair   Voting will close on Sunday night August 16 at midnight pacific.  Good luck to all of the finalists and once again thank you so much to everyone who participated!

#1 – Jen’s family memories

Special memories…we are making lots of them these days. My husband and I just recently celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary I guess nine doesn’t have the same ring as ten, but we will get there. I am really proud of the fact that we are making this marriage work for the long haul–unfortunately we have begun to see people we know divorce. Along with the happiness of celebrating this milestone, we recently had our second daughter, Avery, who joins the proudest big sister you have ever seen, Olivia. Olivia is starting kindergarten in the fall, learning to read, write and draw. She is an amazing artist! Avery is a little love–four months old, very good-natured and so eager to move after her big sister. I guess what I am trying to say (on little caffeine–oh the woes of motherhood!) is that I feel like this is THE year of love for me. I am overcome by love for my husband and proud of his accomplishments. I marvel at the love I feel for Olivia who everyday becomes spunkier, more independent, more charming and less of a little girl. And I am completely overjoyed that my heart has expanded to love this new little person, Avery, who we are delighted to learn more about everyday. I would love to record this time in our lives (although I, unlike you, have NOT lost all of the baby weight, yet–congratulations!). It would be amazing to have your beautiful photography capture this moment of ever growing love in our family!

#2 – Ryan’s gift to his wife

I would like to nominate my wife, Heather, we have two young kids and as much as I think I am the breadwinner and she is the stay at home mom, I have realized with every passing day and year that she is the full time employee and I am the one that gets to socialize and be selfish in my own work atmosphere. She is a selfless human being and I admire her and love her not only as my wife and the mother of my children but as a role model. Our society is filled with immediate gratification and results and too see my wife devote her life to the raising and teaching of our two children has been truly inspirational for me and for everybody that comes to know and love my wife. I am writing because my daughter is having her 4 year old birthday this week and her “Princess” party is this weekend at our home. My wife, even on a very tight budget—-thanks to our crumbling California economy, has been simply amazing when it comes to being resourceful all in hopes that my daughter (and our family) have a special day to remember forever.She has asked me if we can afford the opportunity to take our family to a local company for our annual family photo as well as my daughter’s 4 year old Birthday pictures and I feel that this would be a great way to surprise my wife and Thank her with a “Real” photo shoot as opposed to something that comes directly out of the mall (kiddie candids).  I wish nothing more but to be able to finally give back to my wife for all the love and support that she has created w/in our family.  Thanks again in advance for your consideration and I applaud you for taking time out of your schedule to give back——-Be it loving your family, loving your spouse or simply loving what you do for a living…..that’s life’s biggest blessing

#3 – Amanda’s retro re-creation

This is such an amazing giveaway! My fiancee and I are newly engaged and would love to do a portrait session. I would love to do a session as a homage to my parents marriage. My parents eloped to Carmel, CA in 1972, on my Dad’s birthday with my Mom sporting a pink mini-dress. They had a wonderful and strong 22 year marriage until my Mom died suddenly when I was 14 years old. Though no pictures were taken on their wedding day, I can only image how chic and cool they were in my fathers red hot rod and I would love to take pictures recreating their day (mini-dress and all). My Dad constantly tells me how much I remind him of my Mom and so this would be a wonderful gift for him as well as to us. We want our marriage to be as solid and loving as theirs was and I can’t think of a better way to start it off.

#4 -Martha & Hector’s beautiful boys

Martha and Hector were friends many years ago. They fell out of contact, but then re-united and the love between them grew. They married not too long after (on 7/7/07). They now have two beautiful boys. Dylan, Martha’s son from a previous relationship, is now Hector’s son. Hector so easily filled father role that Dylan yearned for. And just last year, Jake was born; a beautiful little boy who just beginning to crawl. This family is so loving, and it would be wonderful if you captured that.

]]> http://katyregnier.com/news/2009/08/11/the-final-four-giveaway/feed/ 2 http://katyregnier.com/news/2009/08/02/spread-the-love-giveaway/ http://katyregnier.com/news/2009/08/02/spread-the-love-giveaway/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:43:06 +0000 Katy http://katyregnier.com/news/?p=440 As you can tell from my last post I’m on a sort of an “I love my job!” kick. I also went out and got a new haircut this weekend which I’ve been dying to do for a while now… sort of the cherry on top of my “I just lost my baby weight makeover” that I’ve been working on for the last few months. I was growing my hair for my sister’s wedding and now that the wedding is over I decided it was time for a change. I just have to say that I absolutely love a good short haircut and this one is no exception To top it all off my birthday is next week and all of that put together means that I have been having quite a good weekend!

Because I’m so excited I’ve decided to pass on a little bit of my happiness by hosting a giveaway! I have been wanting to do a session giveaway for a long time and now just seemed like the perfect opportunity!

Entering is easy, just send me an email at info@katyregnier.com with “spread the love” in the subject line. In your email tell me about yourself or the person you’re nominating. Are you newly engaged? Welcoming a new bundle of joy into your family? Maybe you just want to remember how ridiculously cute your kids are right this very moment. Let me know why you’re looking for a photoshoot and what kind of love you want to document. I’ll choose my favorite three entries and post them on the blog for you, my faithful readers, to read and vote on. Entries will be accepted until next Monday, August 10th (my birthday… woohoo!). The winner will receive a free photoshoot at the location of their choice (San Diego, Los Angeles or Orange County) along with a disc of the images captured at their session AND a 16×20 gallery wrapped canvas. All these goodies add up to a value of over $500… talk about spreading the love

I have been working a lot lately. I have so many weddings and photo shoots to edit that sometimes it feels like my whole life is editing, punctuated by brief and exciting little nuggets of fun time where I am out shooting. It’s easy during the busy times of year to get a little overwhelmed with all the “work” that we have to do and forget why we’re even doing it. Sometimes it just takes a step back and another look at the images to really see what it’s about.

As I was going through a stack of images from my sister’s wedding (sorry Allison, I know you’re going to kill me for posting these “scrunchy face photos” but I love them) I found these ones. She had just gotten her wedding gift from her soon to be husband delivered to the getting ready room. Her reaction to opening and reading the card was a rush of emotion. Pure and raw. Love, excitement, butterflies…. I remember it so well from my own wedding day.

He had made her this AMAZING jewelry box from scratch in his own wood shop and had been slaving away at it for months in secret. Inside were a pair of beautiful earrings for her to wear on their big day, and what I can only assume by her reaction was the world’s best handwritten card.

I love that I was there, not only to experience that moment, but to be able to capture it and save it and share it with her. I am a very visual person and I know that my sister is too. And my hope is that whenever she sees those images, or ones of her intense happiness, anticipation, beauty and radiance on that day, that a little bit of that day will come rushing back to her.

Our memories are shaped and perfected by reminders that we have of the experiences. Some of the most powerful reminders we have are photographs. I feel truly blessed that I am able to provide those memories for my clients. How amazing is it be be able to give someone that perfect reminder of one of the best times in their lives?! I’m blessed not only to capture weddings, but so many of life’s most amazing moments. Love between a couple, a family, a new baby. I know I’m on a kind of a sentimental kick right now but I am feeling overwhelmed with the feeling of LOVE. Capturing, spreading, and sharing love. A few of my favorite moments of love from the last few months…

I can very clearly recall a conversation I had with Ben, long before we had kids, before we got married, and before I was a photographer. We were sitting on a grassy hill and watching a family play. The kids were running up the hill and rolling down, squealing with glee. The parents were playing with their kids and one of them was snapping pictures. I remember thinking aloud to Ben that someday, when we had kids, I wanted to be able to take good pictures of them. I’m surprised he didn’t run screaming from that hill but instead we sat and talked about photography, about life, about the importance of memories. From that day on I made it my mission to learn to use my camera to its fullest potential. I became completely immersed in learning everything there was to learn about photography. I was excited and passionate and LOVED taking pictures. I knew I had found my calling.

Some days when I’ve put in long hours at the computer I forget that passion, that first love of capturing life. But all I have to do is look at my screen, at the smiling faces of my children and those of my dear friends, to know that I’ve succeeded in attaining that goal I set back on the hill that day. I do take good pictures of my kids. No, I take great pictures of my kids. And I’m very proud of myself for it. One of my new favorites, the babies with their grandma.

I love what I do

How delicious does this cake look?! YUMMM!!

A couple of Allison’s friends

There was a “not yet newlywed” game where Allison’s fiance had been previously videotaped answering a bunch of questions. They had to match up their answers… here’s the bride to be thinking very hard about the answer to one of the questions (they did pretty well by the way, only 6 wrong I think)

The super hostess and lovely bride to be!

A bunch of the shower attendees. A couple of girls had already left before we took this. Yes Tara and I are huge in this shot, but at least we look cute so it’s ok Thanks Holly for grabbing this photo for us!

Allison I can’t believe your wedding is just a few short months away!! I am so excited to be your matron of honor and see you make such a huge step on your life’s journey. I hope you had as much fun at your shower as I did… your wedding is going to be the best ever (except for mine of course!). Lots of love, your big sis.

Congratulations V…. can’t wait to meet your little lady!!

Bridget and I have been friends since we were kids and I’ve watched her go from community children’s theater to high school theater to Broadway and TV commercials… and now this. I am so unbelievably proud of her and all that she has accomplished and I cannot wait to watch her every week on her new show! Here are a couple of super fun things for you to check out so you can share in my excitement …. a promo photo…