NEW BLOG AND SITE

Alrighty,

I've still need to fill in some galleries, and work on a few things... BUT....

The new site and blog are up and running!

Please visit www.kellyleephotography.com which will also have a link to kellyleephotography.com/blog. Please bookmark these new sites... You'll still be able to view all my old blog posts on the NEW BLOG! How amazing is that!

I couldn't be happier with everything! This site speaks so much more about my work as well as who I am as a person.. it's the perfect joining of my personality and business... and I'm in love with it!

Thanks for all the patience and I'll see you all on the new site and blog! WOOHOO!

Preview!!!!!!!

Changes coming - site still down

With my website crash still being a pain I'm using it as an opp to do the things I've wanted to but not had the "must do now motivation too."

Namely,

I'm making a new website at the newer domain I have
Kellyleephotography.com (KLP)

I will be pointing Capturedforlifephotography.com to redirect to KLP

I will be creating a new blog
.....

I'm also going to be getting some help in the office so I can focus on serving my clients during this hectic time. With my website being down I'm not sure if I've lost emails. If you have sent an email to me and have not heard back please send again to kelly@capturedforlifephotography.com

WHEW....


Just a few things to do ;-)
I'll update you once everything is taking place... but the new Kelly Lee Photography thanks you for your patience as we make these changes so we can focus all our efforts on serving you.

God Bless.

Website is down....

I've been fighting the past few days with multiple people. The problem is widespread across my sites. My website now points to the portrait portal instead of the splash page with the options for portraits, blog, or wedding. The clients proofing site is down as well.

My main concern at the moment is with the proofing site. While I can look in my file manager and still see images and folders.... They aren't showing on the screen (nothing is actually.) We're hopeful that when the programmers get the language straightened out that everything will be OK... however... there is a chance that it may have affected the translating of orders for fulfillment to me. IF you are waiting on an order of images, I ask that you please email me at Kelly@capturedforlifephotography.com with your order information.

Thank you for your patience at this time as I work to get everything back up.

Kelly

Alan and Megan

Alan and Megan were seriously so much fun to work with. For one, Alan's brother happens to be a very close friend with my boyfriend... and his family is my boyfriends 2nd family. Who knew the world through google could be so small!

They are without a doubt one of the most fun couples of the season... and I think they'll be hard to top. They held their wedding at the Chesapeake conference center on the day of a tropical storm. But, as you'll see below, by the time they got married, the rain and wind stopped, and the streets dried up!



























This little beauty has some of the most naturally brilliant and blue eyes I've ever seen. There was no enhancement done to those beauties!

Family

Dawn gave me a call prior to coming into town for her friend Megan's wedding which I was shooting. We met down at 89th street to take some family photos. It was a lot of fun getting to meet everyone before the day of the wedding and getting used to Megan's ring bearer and his "antics" ;-)

Here's a preview of some of the shots

Cyril and Sarah - NoVa

I went up to Northern Virginia to shoot Cyril and Sarah's completely wonderful wedding! I met everyone... and I mean everyone at Sarah's family's house.... Sarah is one of 11 siblings! Between ALL the bridesmaids and siblings... as well as nephews and more it was a full.... and VERY fun place to be! The church they got married in was such a pleasure to work with, beautiful, and full of wonderful natural light... and we had fun pretty much wherever we went! It also was one of the few times in my life that I was "short" compared to everyone... including the bride! At 5"11 that doesn't happen often, it felt good! I need to just get to the photos, this will be another long post~















Sarah's 17 year old sister did all the flowers! She did a VERY good job!


























































Sisters
























The start of I think my fave series of garter toss photos! One of Sarah's younger brothers caught it... however... she also has a brother in the Marines. He decided his brother should have to work for it!






To be honest, I'm surprised I wasn't kicked during this scuffle!




Of course his big bro won!


His mothers face says it all :-)


But he was nice enough to still let him have it. What are brothers for?


Sarah (and Cyril) come from wonderful, close, loving families... Evident in this last photo ;-) Don't you just love her little brothers face!?


Sarah and Cyril, Thank you for allowing me to tell your story. I had so much fun and loved getting to know your families. I wish you all the best and may your marriage be blessed.

Introducing.........

THE "KODI" BEAR!!!!!



Oh gosh, have I been waiting to introduce you to my wonderful puppy, Kodi! He is an Abstract Standard poodle and I love his little "tux!"

I wish this post could be all pleasant however this poor boy has already been through a lot in his short life. I saw Kodi at the "Pet-go-round" pet store at the pembroke mall back when he was about 4 months old. The time not being right for a dog I resisted. I also don't like pet stores. Fast forward to him being 6 months old and he was still there. My dream of having a black standard poodle was in front of me and to be honest... the price was very VERY discounted and low. He was basically priced as a rescue and that truly is what he was.

He was a "purebred" Spoo (Standard Poodle) however it wasn't until after I got him I learned he was a product of the "hunte corporation." One of the worst.. and largest puppy mills in the US. The fact that he survived the journey to the pet store is amazing!

Once we got him home we learned that his ear plucking which the "groomer has been doing" had never EVER been done. So, at 6 months of age, his ears had NEVER been plucked or cleaned and were now very VERY infected. At the Vet that 1st week we not only had to take care of his ear infections, but because of lack of exercise and being kept in a tiny cage for 6 months, he had severe muscle atrophy in his legs. We also had hip concerns. On top of all that he was very scared of movement, noise, and was incredibly skittish. Couldn't walk on a leash, didn't move at all for 2 days! (We had to carry him out of our friends house and even in public! The 35 lb puppy who couldn't walk!)

This week our worst fears were confirmed. Kodi was diagnosed with Severe Hip Dysplasia in both hips. We are being referred to NC State's Orthopedic Surgery program to find out what he faces and what options we truly have. While his ear infections and atrophy are a result of the poor care and neglect of "pet go round" the hips are a direct result of his puppy mill breeding by the "hunte corporation." This is why I hate pet stores.

I wish that was the end of this horror. The day we purchased Kodi, a gentleman was in the store looking at a Great Dane puppy. Thad saw this while I was signing papers and said to the man, "Oh, the great dane! Those are wonderful dogs." The man replied, "I know! My wife had one growing up so I got this ones brother last week for her from the Lynnhaven mall location. He died this morning and she doesn't know as she is out of town. I don't know what to do or how to tell her."

Not only that but a few weeks later I found this at the store.

This poor puppy was dyed blue to advertise the dye... (The sign was on his cage "This puppy was dyed with the ___ dye which can be found in ___ aisle") but worse than that by someone who was clearly not experienced. Not only is his sensitive puppy skin subjected to the chemicals, but you can see (albeit badly in this photo) that the dye ran through his eyes and had tinted his fur around one eye!

Virginia Beach, PLEASE do not support this store which not only harms animals, but lies to you about their health (I was assured his ears were up on cleaning and he was cleared of hip issues) and gets their puppies from the worst breeder in America!

This doesn't just ruin 1 life (the dogs) but it ruins many. It has ruined the life of all those who know and love Kodi...

While we eagerly await our trip to NC state to learn what (if anything) we can do we are going to continue to love and play with our boy. I've slacked a lot with pictures of him as I'm so booked right now in wedding season ;-) but I have managed a few! Here is the amazing, loving, and fighter, Kodi Bear! (I named him "Kodi" after my favorite bear, the Kodiak ;-)

The scared pup in my car right after we bought him


Another from his first day home


Kodi and his best friend, Nixon


First Beach trip


Starting to break out of his shell


the first time we saw him "active!"


First Groom


"That" face




Ugh, awful pic of me, but he's my baby!


Begging (Camera on a stair, on interval 4 a second for you geeks out there ;-)


The determined face


The pillow hog! He LOVES sleeping on pillows!


That's the life of the Kodi bear! But seriously! Please take the time to research a proper breeder or rescue a dog that needs a home! Please don't support a dangerous place like "Pet go round" or puppy mills like the hunte corporation. (who ships out over 1,500 puppies a week, btw!) Read about the horrors here http://www.petstorecruelty.org/Hunte%20Corp.htm

Making life easier - Photojunction Remix

Disclaimer - this is all technical and "stuff." Mainly for the photographers who read my blog ;-)

This day in age there are a lot of things that make life easier... but they also make life vary little across the board. The same holds true for photography! There are a lot of amazing "Actions" that are sold out there that can make our lives easier. The click of a button in photoshop... and few adjustments to the formula, and BAM! Look just like the pros who make over $10k a wedding (even if you have no clue how to work photoshop!). I've personally never been a fan of actions. At least not those purchased from a "main stream" photographer. Many of them have made, in my humble opinion, photos look the same and taken away a desire for people to learn a skill crucial to their profession, photoshop. The less we have people in our industry learning the less we can grow and reinvent!

The same can be said for designing albums. I talk a lot about my favorite supplier, "KISS Wedding Books" but, how do I put them together?

Instead of spending a thousand dollars on a program with pre-designed click and drag layouts I chose to once again go in a more original direction. The Australian company Photojunction is still pretty new to the market but their program is outstanding! It makes life so incredibly easy! I can organize an albums worth of photos with a few clicks, apply one of my own photoshop actions to a photo and immediately use it in the album layout, and it's so easy to continually come up with new layouts. PJ Remix has made my life and making albums so much easier.... for you other photogs reading, check them out! I think you'll like them too! (And PS, you won't spend anywhere NEAR $1,000 for it!)

www.photojunction.com

Stephen and Nastassia - Charles City

I went out to one of the most beautiful areas around here for this wedding. Charles City is about 2 hrs from Virginia Beach and it was worth the journey. The wedding was held on a bluff and overlooked the river. It was absolutely beautiful!













Never know what you'll find while doing cake photos ;-)
































I think this is one of the most amazing and cutest things I've ever seen at a wedding. The ring bearer dedicated Kiss' "I was made for loving you" to the bride and then proceeded to air guitar, sing, and rock it out! He knew all the words!










It was a beautiful evening with a beautiful couple. Stephen and Nastassia I wish you all the happiness in your marriage. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the day.

In Memmoriam

When I chose to go to Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio), where I got my business degree, I had to make a hard decision. While I knew it was the right school for me, I had to give up my dream of playing Collegiate Volleyball and turn down my chance to play for another University. While I easily made the decision, it wasn't easy to give up playing.

When I got to the University I quickly became involved in the Fieldhouse as a medic for the Rugby and Soccer Teams (Our only sports teams then) and Intramural Sports program. I also met some other Freshman girls that year that were in the same boat as me and we would dominate the Volleyball teams every year.... My Junior year talks were made and we worked ourself into being a NCAA D-III provisional school. That same year myself and the 2 girls I entered with became the Captains of the first ever Franciscan University Womens Volleyball team. That also marked the first year of Cross Country and Softball. The year or two before we had begun basketball, soccer, and baseball teams.

Yesterday, Tuesday August 19th, around 4:30pm a SUV carrying 7 members of the Cross Country team are thought to have swerved to miss a tire on Rt. 22 between Steubenville and Pittsburgh. The SUV lost control, went through a guardrail, down a hill, and flipped several times before coming to rest in the trees. A sophomore Political Science and Business major, Kelly Roggensack, died instantly. 2 students were airlifted to UPMC and the rest were transported to a local hospital.

With having only 2,000 students representing 36 majors, we are a very small school. Our athletics department is even smaller. One of the great things about the school is whether you know personally all 2000 students, you know either their name, or face. While I did not know this student, as I really don't know anyone there anymore, I know what happens on the campus when we loose a student. And it's beautiful.

While many people choose to focus on the sadness of the loss of a person we, as a student body, are blessed to see the glory that they are now experiencing is beyond that of what we have here on earth. Not to negate the sadness or sense of loss, or that there are no tears. There will be many tears, however, from those tears will also flow tears of joy that one of our sisters has... in the words of St. Paul, Run the race and fought the good fight. In fact, in Kelly's case how true are those words, that in her travels to physically run the race... she also completed the greatest race of all.

Please keep Kelly's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers as well as the entire University family.

Thank You.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Ryan and Beth

Saturday marked the wedding for Ryan and Beth. One thing I loved about shooting their wedding was that between their engagement portraits and Beth's bridals I really had a chance to get to know them. By the time I stepped to the venue on Saturday it felt very relaxed and just good to see everyone again. The whole day was beautiful as well as carefree and full of fun. I really have enjoyed working with Ryan, Beth, and their families over the past 6 months or so....