we hung out with emily & brian in ft. collins recently for their engagement shoot. they were very chill and relaxed, which made our job easy!
Check out the music slideshow by clicking here >>.



We love this color blue, which we stumbled upon in Old Town.


Emily and Brian seem so on the ball in organizing their wedding; they met with us over a year before their wedding! That made us feel really special.


Nothin' wrong with a little comic relief every now and then...


Emily and Brian love to rock climb, so we gave them a barefoot climbing challenge (which they easily conquered!).





They jump in style!




We caught this moment in a mirror reflection in our signature colorful style.


Such a romantic glow!


Cute, especially with the color in the sky!


Sunset glow on Brian & Emily.




Speed trap, ahead!


Shortly after this shot, we all filled up on ice cream in summertime style.

I haven't given myself any self-propelled photo projects since Dozen Espressos, so this evening I strolled around the Route 66 in Albuquerque in search of Electric Color in electric boxes. I used one 50mm f/1.4 lens, no filters, no flashes, no tripod: just available light, a dash of traditional dark room cross-processing techniques, and some in-camera color saturation. Check out the complete flash gallery here >> (Be patient as it loads, it is worth it. And if you want to have some fun, refresh your web browser and see a whole new composition).



Sometimes some of the most mundane objects can be miniature works of art.


Primary colors opposite on the color wheel give wonderful juxtaposition and vibe!

Diggin' through old photo archives, I stumpled upon these two favorite images taken at the Botanic Gardens in Washington, DC several years ago with a loaned 105 macro lens from the National Geographic Society. These two images are among my favorite every taken with this amazing sharp lens (we usually use the lens for close-up ring shots and the occasional portrait. I have always thought this one resembles an oil cool painting (Nicole's eye and camera was behind this one).


This one reminds me of a dozens birthday cake candles.


And this cactus reminds me of those little cellophane Asian noodles!

Friday night Paragon Martial Arts proudly bestowed the honor of awarding Adam Smith with his first degree black belt. We have had the joy to teach Adam for over 3 years. The evening was filled with tons of nervous moments, cool board breaks, sparring, loud kihaps, and important milestone memories. And here is our special shot of Mr. Adam Smith, 1st degree Black Belt decided.



Proud Instructors, 3rd Degree Black Belt R. J. Kern, 1st degree black belt Nicole Kern, and new 1st degree black belt Adam Smith. What a fun night!

The long awaited release of book 7 (the final in the Harry Potter series) excited Nicole so much we camped out at the Lakwewood Borders bookstore and experienced the 'Grand Hallows Ball', which provided Potter fans a chance to show their enthusiasm for the book release. Nicole's orange bracelet meant she was among the first group to receive their copy, precisely at the stroke of midnight.


There could have been more people than books at Borders during the midnight release.


Book 7, ready to be read cover to cover in one sitting (RJ might read it sometime this decade).

Nicole and Mo's big day at the Boettcher Mansion in Lookout Mountain was filled with story book Irish romanticism complete with green clovers, tradition, and genuine warm spirits and laughter. It was a joy with work with Christina Dooley to photograph such a special day. So many familiar faces were seen during the day, I felt like I was at a family reunion!!! The mountain air up at nearly 8,000 feet made for a pleasant afternoon and evening. And now, introducing Nicole and Mo...


I think EVERY guys struggles with this challenge.


These shoes were made for CHILLIN.


Love that attention to detail!


Almost made me want to grab one and fill'er up!


There were so many cool nooks and crannies to shoot from, I felt like a little kid playing hide and seek!


Words of wisdom shared!


Relishing the moment in the glow of sunset.


What chemistry!


Nicole's natural smile is so beautiful!


Christina takes a break from the camera to enjoy some laughter with Nicole & Mo.


The guys in Colorado's finest ponderosa pines.


Mo gets a candid knuckle-sandwich from his best man.


Classy details in turquoise and brown, very stylin' colors.


Nicole's rock just about burnt my retinas.


Gotta love those Bobble Heads!


This was a parting shot, with Nicole and Mo relaxing on benches in the ambiance of the Boettcher Mansion.

Family portraits can be a pure blast, as I experienced hanging with the Wells family not to long ago. I think kids have such a natural way of being themselves, it makes us grown-ups kinda do the same.



We love natural window light!


Nothing wrong with breakin' some rules every now and then....


Huddle up for a family pow-wow and soak up the sun!


This shot reminds me of a sunny Sunday afternoon picnic in the park.

Murray & Cheryl (Nicole's folks) treated us kids (Tonya & Jeremy) to a wonderful concert the the Denver Botanic Gardens to see Aaron Neville & The Neville Brothers from New Orleans. The show was terrific and Aaron gave his spirited rendition of "Amazing Grace," which sent goose-bumps into the crowd. A special thanks to Murray for the know-how of camping at the gate hours early and then know to run and get the best seats! They were worth it. We got there early and enjoyed some summer picnic treats before the concert started.



Aaron doing his thing. The guy has got soul!


Charles Neville making that brass sing!


Check out those 60 year-old biceps and the cool T-shirt!


I love simplicity. "Brevity is the sole of wit," my father once told me.


The 360 degree stage at the Botanic Gardens makes for an interesting backdrop, not typical for a outdoor music venue.


Aaron Neville singing a beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace" with soul and passion!


And with the light being great, it was hard not to escape to the gardens to capture some botanics in our style.


I like the cinematic quality in this one.


And, similarly, in this little guy, too.

Being 7-7-07, we decided to stay away from any slot machines, so we went to Chatfield State Park where they have a great off-leash dog park. We had a blast with Dash swimming and running, yet he decided to disappear for about an hour, and then was found by a kind park ranger (apparently he 'hung out' with another dog family) and they called us. We got our workout in running around calling 'Dash.'


Then we headed down the to Cherry Creek Arts Festival and watched a cool performance by an Australian dance company on 15 foot poles. We've never seen anything like it!


While at the festival, we met up with buddy Alan and brainstormed some new logo designs, shortly after Nicole was caught stealing a second waffle sample!!!

Here's a fun little shot of Alan and his sister and Mom, which was taken just outside of the surprise 50th wedding anniversary party....nothing like some quick candids!


We love this shot of the three of them!

What a colorful, fun-loving family!

Girls just being girls...

We love shadow portraits!

We love huge anniversaries! A great big congrats to Pauline & Miguel for celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary on. There was a cool surprise party thrown for them at a old school dive called the Retreat in Denver where Pauline and Miguel have played dice for many, many years! Here's Pauline, utterly surprised! Check out the slideshow by clicking here!



And there was a great crowd to surprise them!


Sharing cake, 50 years later (see original cake in photo on left).


It's inspiring to see such a couple still holding hands. That's something I think will NEVER go out of style!


Showing off a 'Hawaiian kiss.'


Pauline donning the 50 year headress!


Alan and Janet got this really cool fleece blaket printed up for them as a surprise!



What a cute couple (also pictured above):

The World's Game, bar-ba-que, Independence day, fireworks...all perfect ingredients for a wonderful evening with Nicole.


One of the most recognizable and beloved mascots in the NBA, Supermascot Rocky, caused some trouble during the halftime game...

And again chasing girls...

I love these guys are such true athletes...check out that flexibility!

All the crowds hit the field in anticipation of the fireworks....here we are in true Kern-Photo style with our fish-eye, self-portrait lens.


What a blast!

Gotta dig those colors!


Shooting fireworks is one of those tricky challenges, but our trusty Nikon 50mm f/1.4 does such a great job at f/2.0 with the ISO cranked!

Today we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! I love, love, love you and am so glad I made the decision to ask you to marry me....and I'm so glad you said YES!!!

And here she is!

Sometimes our best little buddy can be so funny while being so serious!



If Dash could fly, these would be his wings (pictured in a snowstorm on Green Mountain!).


Dash looking for another bouncing ball at sunset.


A dog can pontificate, too!


What a character he can be when asked to pose with his new, fancy Lindsay Design's collar!


No, Dash doesn't have a modeling agent. But we feel he is good at pulling off that GQ look...