Ashby Park Pediatric Dentistry is opening a second office in Spartanburg, SC this fall and I am thrilled they chose to use my photography for their wall decor again! The photos from the session this summer will be interspersed with those from last year, so the style is the same. Once again the children I had the opportunity to photograph were all so cooperative and wonderful to work with. A big THANK YOU to all their parents for bringing them out on a hot Saturday morning!
Wow, I just looked at the calendar and realized how quickly Mother’s Day is approaching–MAY 9th! So, if you are like me and tend to do things at the last minute, here is an idea for you. How about getting that special person a unique piece of photo jewelry. These necklaces, rings, and bracelets are all made from repurposed materials…old car parts, washers, key rings, magnets. What I love about them is that the lids are interchangeable so when you get a new set of photos taken you can also replace the lids with new images.
I am not currently doing any sessions to provide new images for this jewelry, but if you are a former client you can let me know which image you would like to use from a PREVIOUS SESSION and I can have it made for you. The photo can be b&w or color. The lids are about 1.25 inches and are interchangeable for all the various jewelry pieces.
All orders need to be paid in full and placed by Friday, April 23rd to give time for delivery. If you would like something for another occasion besides Mother’s Day, you can order at any time. Please contact me for pricing and more information at kmphoto@charter.net .
I am very sentimental, sometimes to a fault. I print close to 3,000 snapshots a year and will one day put them in albums. Other than photographs to document important things in my life I have a few material possessions that are very special to me.
This is a new necklace that I had made to symbolize my three children. The ceramic pendants were made by Katie Coston of Illyria Pottery. She uses items found in nature to create her stamps and these particular stamps were chosen to represent the personalities of each of my children–one orderly and stuctured, one random and wild, and one calm and flowing…that was supposed to be the personality of #3 however she is starting to be more wild like her big brothers! Katie also made the earrings to match. Check out her etsy shop and her new “booklaces” at art & light gallery.
I took the pendants to The Beaded Frog to be assembled into a necklace and Elizabeth Tate (who also has a studio in the Pendleton Street Arts District) created the most stunning necklace I could ask for. We discussed ideas for the necklace and she put it together in a fashion even more beautiful than I could have imagined. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. It will be at least a year or so until I am again wearing necklaces on a regular basis considering child #3 is still being carried in a sling most days and loves to pull them, but when I get the chance to wear this one I am especially happy to think about all the care that went into its creation.
Ceramic jewelry is special to me. Before I had children I used to do pottery on the wheel. The big pregnant belly made that a little tough, so I started exploring photography. Unfortunately, I have not ventured back into the pottery world, but enjoy wearing my ceramic jewelry like this necklace and others by Lily Stratton (of Lily Pottery ) and Shane Bryant.
A special thanks to my fantastic husband who snapped these pictures of me in between grilling dinner and wrangling the kids to come inside. He is not only patient with my photo requests, but does a great job taking the photos! Check out that focus!
These two seniors were such great sports during their session. They were so easy-going and fun. As many of you know I have been doing very limited sessions since my third child was born and this family was so helpful and cooperative with everything from scheduling to finalizing orders. Thanks for traveling to Greenville! Hope you enjoy your images!
Here are the photos from the office of Ashby Park Pediatric Dentistry. All the images are gallery wrapped canvases. They range in size from 16×20 to 30×40. This is a great example of using the appropriate size image on a wall. A 30×40 sounds huge, but if you have a large wall to fill it suddenly does not look so large afterall. I’d love to hear what you think of the final outcome! If you want to see the photos up close, check out the earlier blogpost here.
People are always asking my advice about how to display their photos– what sizes to purchase, what finishes (metallic, lustre, canvas), to frame or not to frame, glass or no glass, standout or gallery wrapped canvas. Well, as the old saying goes, “a picture is worth 1000 words”. So, with that said I would really love to see how my clients display the photos they have had taken by me in their homes. I know some of you have grouped them in very creative ways, others have one large image. Some of you have collages. The combinations are endless.
Here is an example of a newborn photo I took of the baby next to the bridal photo of the Mom that I took previously. The bridal portrait is a framed 24×36 print. This is also an example of lifestyle portraiture as compared to a traditional portrait.
I would like to dedicate an entire post to show examples, so please send a jpeg file of your wall to my email address kmphoto@charter.net. I will post the photos as I collect them in the future.
This is an extra special session for me because I have had the honor of photographing this family since before Mr. B was even born! You can see his newborn photos here. I cannot believe how fast the time has passed and now he is ONE! This couple has seen me pregnant with two of my three children and has been so patient with me during the process of getting back into work mode multiple times. We have a variety of photos of Mr. B. We started out having an outdoor adventure, but then finished up with some indoor photos in the comfort of his own home. I hope you enjoy your preview and I will have the gallery up soon!
WOW! I cannot believe how much energy was buzzing around Saturday afternoon at art & light gallery!! I had 4 families, 2 little girls, and 1 newborn family who trekked downtown to play in front of the camera. I learned several lessons during this year’s round of mini-sessions. FIrst of all, I need to schedule more time for families (or just save familiy portraits for regular sessions) because even though I had an assisstant to help me with things I felt like I missed out on the chance to catch up with everyone. I was rushing too much to “take pictures” and not doing enough of what I feel is one of my strong points, “capturing interactions”. Another idea is to try mini-sessions with families in a rural setting next time because even though I love the urban setting, having a bunch of kids near a busy street was not always the ideal situation.
That being said, I am beginning to edit the photos and am happy to report that we got a great variety for everyone, even with a bit of chaos thrown into the mix throughout the day! Everyone was so cooperative with corraling the kids and moving furniture props indoors and out. The older siblings kept trying to entertain their younger siblings and the solo kids just ate up the camera.
Thanks again to Teresa at art & light gallery and to Kina Baddorf for the use of her beautiful hand-knit diaper cover (found now at art & light, along with the rest of her fantastic hats, sweaters, and booties). And a huge THANK YOU to all my wonderful clients for participating!! I will let you know via email when you full gallery is online, but here is a preview!
Mini-sessions are coming up this weekend at art & light gallery in West Greenville. Browse the posts below to see photos of previous mini-sessions. For those of you who are participating, there are so many great options for backgrounds and clothing. You can use the insdie of the gallery for a modern take on the neutral background or the outside of the building with its variety of colors and textures. Teresa has a fantastic inventory of furniture right now that she is providing as props. These chairs are just a few examples of what can be used. Check out her blog and inventory page for more samples.
The theme at art & light this month is “Threaded” with the participating artists using the concept as part of their work. Kina Taylor Baddorf is an artist who creates beautiful knitted and crocheted items for babies and adults. She has several of her items on display and has volunteered the use of them as well for the mini-sessions. To learn more about Kina, look here. To see her etsy shop, look here.
I can’t wait to see everyone this weekend! It will be a whirlwind of fun, so please arrive about ten minutes early for your appointment to be able to maximize your session time.
Kacy Mehlem Photography had the pleasure of being featured on WYFF News Channel 4 this past Sunday morning as their featured blog of the week. They have a site called “Sound Off South” that highlights blogs in the Upstate. It was such a great experience! Thank you so much to Kelly Coakley, the news anchor who coordinated everything, for making me feel so comfortable and welcome. I had a fantastic time. I wish I had taken my camera to take some “behind the scenes” photos of the morning.
As part of the interview preparation Kelly asked me to answer some questions to learn more about the blog and me. Since the interview is a quick summary, I thought I would include the written interview since I often get asked many of the same questions by clients. Thank you Kelly for giving me a reason to sit down and put these thoughts in writing!
1. Why did you decide to start your blog and how long have you been keeping it?
I was not updating my website as often as I wanted to since it was a more involved process, so I started the blog to be able to have immediate updates and text to go along with it. I also wanted a way to keep people informed about what was going on with the business other than sending mass emails. I began the blog in May 2008 to promote a gallery show I did at art & light gallery on Pendleton St. I like the idea of having a blogsite rather than a separate blog and website.
2. Tell me how you got into photography.
I was a chemistry teacher for five years before moving here in 2001. I was a drug rep for about three years until I had my first child in 2004. I always liked taking pictures, but when he was about a year old I was given a digital camera and a film SLR camera. I was hooked and started taking pictures all the time. I took pictures for friends for fun and then it started to turn into friends of friends asking me to take pictures. That is when I decided I needed to make it official and start a business. I never anticipated the business turning me into a “working Mom”, which is why I try very hard to keep the balance between work and home.
3. What kinds of pictures do you take?
Contemporary lifestyle portraits, meaning photos that capture the interactions between people in more of an casual, non-traditional style. l feel like it is different than photojournalism in that the clients are conscious of the camera and I still have them move around sometimes to be sure to capture them the best way possible, but I try to find ways to get their personalities to come forth in the photo, not just their face. The one area I tend to be a bit more traditional with is newborns. I have tried all sorts of settings and props, but still come back to the simple basic approach to really capture the delicate features of the newborn.
I have photographed everything from maternity portraits to families to commercial sessions, but want to concentrate now on newborns and high school seniors.
4. What do you write about on your blog?
I generally highlight recent sessions. Since I am still not fully back from maternity leave and doing many sessions I want to write some entries about photography topics and tips for how people can take better photos themselves.
5. What kind of feedback do you get from your blog?
Most people tend to send me emails rather than post comments on the blog. Most of the feedback I get is from people commenting on the sessions or asking questions about my rates, business details, etc. Sometimes other photographers will ask questions about the photos they see posted.
6. How has your blog helped your business?
It is an up-to-date porfolio of whatever projects I am involved in. I think people like the immediate sneak preview of their session and the ability to share it with people. It is a great way to spread awareness of my business through word-of-mouth since a blog address can be quickly sent through emails.
7. What do you enjoy about taking pictures?
Freezing a moment in time forever. I don’t collect anything or have a bunch of knick knacks around my house, but I do have a ton of photographs waiting to be put in albums. They are the legacy of my family that will hopefully carry through the generations. I want my clients to feel that way as well. That is one big reason why I do sessions the way I do, capturing all sorts of things, not just smiling at the camera and saying “cheese”. I like session albums because they show the big picture.
8. Your have a baby and two other children — what has it been like getting back into the swing of work?
It is definitely tougher this time around. I have always done my business part time, taking photos on the weekend when my husband can be with the kids and doing all the rest at night for the most part. I am definitely being challenged to find a way to do my work at reasonable hours of the day (other than between 9pm and 1am) and do all the things for my family the way I want them to be done. I have to be more diligent about setting boundaries and not crossing the lines between work and home as much.
9. What tips can you give for getting good pictures of babies and toddlers?
My biggest tip is to find some good natural light and turn off the flash. Of course fancy cameras are nice, but simple point and shoot cameras can take great pictures if they are used under ideal circumstances. Try to keep the subject facing the light without being in direct harsh sunlight.
Try to get genuine expressions, find real ways to get smiles rather than just telling the subject to say “cheese”. Even if you don’t get smiles, realize that all those other expressions are part of the subject too and value them as picture-worthy.
Babies and toddlers are not predictable, so be prepared for anything to happen. Naked newborns will wet all over things, crawlers might not sit or look at the camera, toddlers tend to run everywhere, so be prepared to chase them.
If you really want to get kids to look at the camera, give them a reason to. Have something for them to look at next to the camera, bubbles, toys, someone being silly, whatever it is that they like to see. If that excitement is across the room that is where they will be focusing their eyes.
Consider taking portraits in your home rather than at the park, or some other location. When children are at home in their comfort zone the photographer is the new and exciting thing for them to focus on. When you are out somewhere the child will most likely be looking all over the place checking out their new environment and not paying much attention to the photographer.
10. What tips for taking great Senior portraits?
Be sure the subject is comfortable with you, the environment and how they look/what they are wearing. If one of those things is not right, they won’t be comfortable in the situation.
Keep the conversation going. Teens generally like to talk. If you can capture the subject when they are engaged, you are likely to get natural looking photos. Of course, everyone needs that senior headshot too, so they will need to stop talking occasionally to get those.
One thing about most teens is that they want to look good and are generally very cooperative to make that happen in their photos.
11. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
There are tons of great cameras out there and lots of photographers. If you are hiring a photographer talk to them first and check out their portfolio to see if your styles mesh to be sure that you both have the same expectations. If you want to take photos yourself learn everything you can about how to use your camera to its fullest potential. A fancy camera put on auto might not give you much of a different result than a simple camera used under ideal circumstances. The more you know about how to use your camera the less you will have to think about what you are doing when you are trying to capture that important moment.
Thanks again Kelly Coakley and WYFF News Channel 4!
Ashby Park Pediatric Dentistry is opening a second office in Spartanburg, SC this fall and I am thrilled they chose to use my photography for their wall decor again! The photos from the session this summer will be interspersed with those from last year, so the style is the same. Once again the children I had the opportunity to photograph were all so cooperative and wonderful to work with. A big THANK YOU to all their parents for bringing them out on a hot Saturday morning!
Mini-sessions are coming up this weekend at art & light gallery in West Greenville. Browse the posts below to see photos of previous mini-sessions. For those of you who are participating, there are so many great options for backgrounds and clothing. You can use the insdie of the gallery for a modern take on the neutral background or the outside of the building with its variety of colors and textures. Teresa has a fantastic inventory of furniture right now that she is providing as props. These chairs are just a few examples of what can be used. Check out her 
Kacy Mehlem Photography had the pleasure of being featured on WYFF News Channel 4 this past Sunday morning as their featured blog of the week. They have a site called