if you ever find yourself hunting for tickets to a sold-out red rocks concert, don't fret. the secret to getting day-of tickets is this: show up when the box office opens, generally two hours before gates open, and you stand a decent chance at purchasing tickets for seats never issued or were not been released, usually because they were unused comp tickets given to the band or vips. you can buy those premium the seats for face value and don't have to grab your ankles pay service charges.

we successfully used this same tactic for monday's sold-out police & elvis costello concert. i arrived 10 minutes before the office opened, was third in line, and had no problem purchasing two tickets behind the sound board in row 16. party on!

it gets better: i asked the gal at the ticket office if photography was allowed. she said they allowed "small cameras," meaning i could bring the nikon d300 minus the vertical grip and the 85 f/1.4.

nicole & i did our usual pt cruiser tailgater, complete with fruit, crackers, cheese, and some hoegaarden belgian white beer, our favorite summer brew . the concert was the loudest red rocks show we'd ever head. our ears were still ringing the following evening :( nicole had to some explaining to do when listening in the stethoscope at work... instead of listening to heartbeats, all she heard was ringing!!! we know, ear plugs next time.

sting made his first appearance towards the end of elvis costello's opening set.



20 years since their 1986 breakup, the police still sounded awesome and gave out so much energy.


a shot of the megatron composite featuring band members sting, andy summers, and stewart copland.


without fail, the police played all the biggest hits and two encores :)

3 years ago we tied the knot.... and i dedicate this blog entry to nicole, my wife, lover, pooper picker-upper, church goer, movie buddy, bench press spotter, cuddle bug, pie maker, 'white-trash news flash' laughing companion,  associate shooter, mother of a four-legged child (that would be dash), medical expert, spanish translater, interior decorator, travel-on-a-shoestring mate, comical parallel parker, back tickler, photo critiquer, first-degree black belt instructor, name rememberer, and i can go on and on....   i love you and cherish the thought of knowing you'll always be with me with God at our side. 

all images taken by our stellar wedding photographer, jason hayes.



ahhh.... i can vividly remember this moment.


we danced to robbi williams singing "beyond the sea"


shortly after the ceremony, outside the university of denver chapel, nicole's alma mater... i still love her dress to this day!!!


it was about 95 degrees when this was shot, but it remains of my favorite photos from our wedding day :)


mmmm... hands down the best wedding cake i've ever tasted :)

if you are blog reader, you know how much we value the learning resources over at the strobist. however, the photographic learning never is fully complete without putting the theories and techniques into practice.... under a time pressure and in front of people whom you've just met that know much more than you about lighting. it's a kick in the pants.

last night about handful of photographers met on the rooftop of a random parking garage in boulder to test our mettle. we each had 30 minutes to try out an idea and explain our thought process and share the resulting image. we used each other as models. my self-assignment was inspired by john michael cooper's (and soon to be my) favorite technique of painting with light. he demonstrates the whole shebang here. there's a wild surprise at the very end :)

below is my best shot from tonight using a nikon d-80 with a nikon 28-70 f/2.8 lens at 28mm, 30 second exposure at f/4.8, iso 200 on tripod, incandescent white balance, lightpainted with two halogen flashlights, and a manual triggered off-camera nikon sb-800 flash in a small softbox (which revealed subtle asphalt texture and two cigarettes on the pavement, difficult to see on the web version of the image). photographer john heisel was the 'dead' model. running back to the camera near the end of my exposure, i drew a line on the pavement with my flashlight which created the circle and line of light near his left foot.

hey photographers! we'll be featured during the studio spotlight at the next denver pictage user group meeting (PUG) held on march 5, 2008 @ 6pm at the blake street tavern in denver. we're excited to share a little bit about what makes kern-photo, well, kern-photo.

complete details here.

for those non-pictage users, PUGs are basically a great networking opportunity for fellow wedding & portrait photographers in denver who just happen to use pictage. best of all they are free to pictage photographers. we come together once a month and share, learn, and network. the PUGS are wonderful and just happen to be listed #7 on our list of 10 reasons why we use pictage.

each month focuses on a different studio (thus the name, studio spotlight), and then something to help out with the business or creative aspect of photography. at the next meeting, there will be some a discussions about digital workflow in photography... the good, the bad, and the ugly.

this should be an interesting, as we'd rather be shooting than driving a desk :)

nicole's huge birthday candle on lemon cookies at maggiano's last night drew a smile on nicole and the family. we were treated to a wonderful dinner by nicole's parents and it was great to spend quality time with family. since it is lent, we did ask for a one-day pardon to indulge in birthday treats like a small dessert, (read: two huge indulgent desserts) and a nice glass of vino. here's a sweet low-light shot from our little iphone camera:

tuesday evening we displayed our work and met engaged couples at superb red carpet bridal event sponsored by the fort collins country club, mountain avenue bridal, and simply elegant wedding and event planning. only 12 vendors were invited to this event, so we were tickled to be considered. we shared a captive audience of about 50 guests with photographer dave russell (fellow pictage user and nikonian). our display was simple: a few metallic prints and albums, our signature square marketing cards (think business cards on steroids), and a slideshow. spray-painted pvc pipe from home depot and cheapo black material from the seconds bin at walmart made our fancy 'pipe & drape' display economical and easy to set-up.... and it also expands to become a large seamless paper backdrop stand inspired by this article (another macgyver trick). we will graduate to bigger and better display in due time... but we like keeping things simple right now :)

'imagine a photo shoot where each moment is a last moment, where there will be no second takes, where what you're doing means everything.'

this quote struck a powerful chord with me after reading it the website for 'now i lay me down to sleep,' a non-profit organization supports infant bereavement photography. named after the classic children's prayer from the 18th century, 'now i lay me down to sleep' has created a strong network of denver photographers dedicated to helping parents experiencing the pain and suffering of an early infant loss. click and HERE and HERE to read news stories of photographers and families they touched.i recently volunteered for the first time with 'now i lay me down to sleep.' it opened my eyes, to say the least. this powerful experience reminded me of the fragility of human condidition. the re-alignment of priorities comes easy when witnessing death.

on a personal level, my brother, peter, died when he was 10 days old. my parents have never shown me a photograph of him, and i do not know if one exists. while my parents rarely speak of him, i know it is difficult still for my parents talk about, let alone think about. my father, being an ob-gyn, witnesses such challenges on a regular basis with his patients. i spoke with my father about my recent experience with 'now i lay me down to sleep' and gained instant endorsement :) my father will be giving a presentation at an upcoming medical conference and plans to mention the potential power such a program plays in the infant bereavement process.

the parents, grandparents, and the family were very inviting and open to me being in their lives during this time of loss. as soon as we stepped into the hospital room, it seemed the parents were extremely grateful for that we were there, which was a big relief.

i shadowed photographer rosalyn sample at mountain hi photography since this was my first time photographing in a hospital under such conditions. rosalyn and the nurses were patient and helpful and were a valuable part of my experience. thank you! i felt honored and blessed to be gain access and i ensured i worked hard to ensure upmost respect with my interaction of the family. right off the bat, the father seemed excited for us being there. in conversation, he resonated a sense of warmth in describing how he intended to 'photoshop' the images so that they were a sentimental blend of color and black & white. i smiled and joined him in his enthusiasm. i was glad to offer up images :). fast forward to a few days later, i received a call from the family informing me that they would be using several of my images to print and display at the memorial service. i felt honored that i could be apart of that. i also knew the grace of God was with the child and the family.

i look forward to continued involvement with 'now i lay me down to sleep.' words can not describe the feeling of death, especially of an infant. however, i appreciate how the power of a simple photograph can help grieving parents.

if you are a photographer interested in participating, i encourage you to click here to apply. the approval process is rather simple, and once on-board, emails are sent as services are needed. it is completely voluntary to join. photographers do not charge for services and the clients receive all images on CD. such an assignment is not for the faint of heart, but totally worth it!

if you are not a photographer, but want to help, you may make a charitable-contribute and donate here.

to honor the couple's privacy, images will not be posted.

no, we're not talking about the nfl team that didn't make it to the super bowl. we're talking about the real mccoy's....a real piece of americana: bucking broncos. featured here are legendary national western stock show & rodeo broncos worthy of attention. this is also our first experiment in texture overlay processing of photographs in photoshop. the textured overlay were snaps taken the week prior in sante fe of adobe walls at sunset. jesh de rox served as the wonderful inspiration for these textured techniques. we'd love to see these blown up to 20" x 30" canvas gallery wraps for an upcoming art show.

we woke up saturday morning with an urge to sleuth out one of the final days of the national western rodeo & stock show. here are a few of our favorite shots from our mini-escape in denver. we love rodeo clowns...


... almost as good as mutton bustin' (no kids or animals were hurt:)


so the kiddo was actual fine, and got to kiss one of the rodeo cowgirls to make him smile :)


buckin' broncos:


one major annoyed bull.... i wonder why?


comic relief:


four generations of buckin' broncos:


kkk sheep:

... those were the fine words of the late dr. martin luther king, jr. if you haven't seen his 'i have a dream speech,' view it below. it is a mini-history lesson worth reviewing.

happy martin luther king day :)


______

ps- we are enjoying some "r &r" " in santa fe, new mexico. each time we visit this photographer's mecca, we return creativity invigorated. as part of goals #34 and #84 of my 101 goals in 1,001 days, i chose not to bring any digital slr cameras and brought a holga, a medium format film camer. they are a wonderful, plastic camera which you can purchase here for $24.99. we took 3 rolls of ilford sfx film and a red filter which are capable of obtaining a pseudo-infrared look. we giggled when we heard the little holga shutter go "click," which sounds toyish compared to what we're used to in our digital slr cameras. however, we expect the results to be creatively different. stay tuned to some of the developed printed results from a few of the pearls of the american southwest: bandelier national monument, the taos pueblo, and some southwestern santa fe architecture.

our christmas present this year from my brother was two tickets to the denver pro rodeo held at the denver coliseum on wednesday. nicole has been to the national western stock show & rodeo over two dozen times, but neither of us have witnessed the pro bull riding rodeo event, which is a quintessential piece of americana, right next to apple pie, democracy, and the super bowl. here's the opening show featuring all of the riders:


a comedic hit of the show was this rodeo clown, a cross between brian boitano and an european soccer star :)


these guys are huge. i mean huge. and mean.


about to get tossed:


and another.



the gear and behind the scenes effort that goes into these events is amazing.


about to release the bull...


and the toy version.


our favorite rodeo clown discovered four nuns enjoying the bull riding.

last sunday i surprised nicole at her favorite study spot (rei starbucks in denver) cramming for her pharmacology final. two weeks, 5 finals, and three take home exams later, nicole is finally finished and is well-deserving of some time off. nicole completed her third semester of a 3-year physician assistant master's program at the university of colorado health science center. the glass is half full and she is now over the hump, if that makes any sense :) we're off to ski/board at winter park for the next 3 days to celebrate, check out, and veg out with dash.

taken handheld with a 2.0 megapixel apple iphone. not to shabby in available light!

so it just dawned on me where a potential source of inspiration for our logo colors came from: our ikea candlesticks and kitchen table mats. after sifting through some test shots with our new nikon 85 mm f/1.4 lens photographing of our kitchen table, i found this image:


ikea has always been a super cool place for us. moments after stepping off the plane in portland, i noticed the big blue and yellow ikea sign right from the airport. i was giddy. we've had several spontaneous purchases their over the years, which has resulted in stellar macgyver tactics in bringing our bounty home. last night was no different. weeks ago i agreed to let my wife transform our psuedo-bachelor pad into something that makes her smile. during her final exam week, it all went down :) it started with purchase #1. i was thinking this would be something fairly easy to check with my luggage on the flight back to denver (note the spiffy packaging tape handle).

(ps- all shots taken with our my 2 megapixel iphone camera)

one thing led to another, and...

thank goodness i got a free upgrade to a convertible, otherwise there'd be no way i get this back to the hotel! it was a chilly ride home, needless to say!

packing the goods with a feat, especially as the hours approached midnight at the local fedex/kinkos:


it will be worth it to have a completely redecorated kitchen and living room for under $600, not to mention a happy wife ("happy wife" = "happy life"). PS- shipping costs were $72 for 5 packages exceeding 140 lbs thanks to fedex express with hundredweight pricing! justification: that was just a tad over typical sales tax in colorado.... thanks to no sales tax in oregon! the end.

longtime buddy ryan otto (also a groomsman at our wedding) had his first major fashion gig at the volunteers of america max fashion show, held on saturday at at the exdo event center in denver. you may remember him from our posting back in february here and here. he did such a terrific job for being a first time up on the catwalk. way to go, man!

civic lesson 101 commences sharply at 8 am tomorrow for me. for the record, your honor, i've never served jury duty, nor been summoned. i am secretly excited serve an important roll in our democratic justice system. i'm keeping my fingers crossed it isn't another drawn out oj case.

ps - i am one step closer on fulfilling #10 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days. i have successfully blogged for over a month in a row (33 days to be exact), which has been tough but worthwhile. i've also been hard at work at meeting several other goals on the list. stay tuned for details...

nicole's folks invited the whole family over for turkey feast this year and it was GRAND. i could eat turkey ever day, and this bird was slow cooked to perfection. feast your eyes:


the proud chefs, cheryl and murray.


it was grandpa ron's 70th birthday. i told him 'chicks dig older men' and he laughed.


here's his bride laughing at an AARP-inspired, all-purpose remote control complete with super-sized buttons!


it was also jeremy's 32nd b-day. cheers, man!


tonya viewed her completed wedding album for the very first time. she was so excited!


the sisters.


a normal rockwell thanksgiving mother & daughter portrait.


the whole gang.


dash's thanksgiving meal with large dash of turkey & sweet potatoes which was...


gone in 60 seconds!

we wish a blessed thanksgiving to all. we have so much to be thankful for.... namely:

1. faith

2. family & friends

3. furry friends (i.e. our 4-legged little boy, dash)

the mcbride's (nicole's parents) are cooking up a feast for the family in a few hours. here is a quick snap documenting one of the most important kitchen tools at thanksgiving.... the serving utensils.

we're excited to ski up in winter park on friday with r. j.'s family and will be posting some of our favorites soon!

one of the perks of shooting for the denver sports guide is the opportunity to be apart of important events about local heroes. jasmine warfield, a 16-year-old gateway high school junior in aurora, co, won the 'in my shoes' back-to-school contest. her award: court time with denver nuggets' carmelo anthony ('melo') on her high school court. family, friends, her team, among many others, turned out to support her sunday. jasmine’s winning contest entry read:

“In my shoes…I will run faster, jump higher, and score more points. I will cross my defender and drive hard to the basket. I will create plays on offense and move the ball to the open man. I will be a team player! In my shoes…I will protect my goal like a lion protects the jungle. I will take a charge, be big in the paint, and I will forever have my hands up on defense! In my shoes…I will practice like a champion, and I will play like a champion. I will leave it all on the court. I will walk in the gym with confidence and walk out with humility. And the next time I step to my opponent, she will not be ready for me…in my shoes!”

witnessing her first 15 minutes of fame was wonderful! in a game of 'horse', jasmine pleased the crowd as the shots got more and more difficult.


denver's BEST mascot, rocky, dropped by for additional encouragment. featured left-to-right: jasmine, rocky, 'melo,' and my assistant, robert fisher.


'melo' offers jasmine tips from his pro basketball experience. i love the detail lighting effect on 'melo,' which reveals his sincere side, despite recent bad press. detailed rim light created by a nikon sb-28 at 1/4 power triggered remotely across the gym. for a top-notch article detailing different lighting strategies specifically in prep basketball, check out the strobist's 'on-assignment' article discussing (1) big gym, little lights and (2) prep basketball. for the techies, this shot was taken with the 70-200mm at f/2.8 iso 800 with the strobe at 1/4 power and 85mm spread.


during the q & a, 'melo' drew intense focus from a large crowd including gateway high school basketball players.


my assistant, robert, provided great assistance with lighting logistics. dimly lit gyms present challenges when photographing action. our strobist-inspired answer: nikon sb-28 and sb-800 flashes triggered remotely by quantum radio slaves mounted near the bleachers.


30 seconds of one-on-one time with 'melo' proved worthwhile in tickling our creative brains. we used our 'light on a stick' to capture this candid. stay tuned for a kern-photo tutorial with specific details.


'melo' being melo.


we had little time to set up a shot with 'melo' and jasmine. i used two of jasmine's friends to serve as lighting models to pre-visualize 'the big shot.' i wanted to get 'melo' dunking in the background with jasmine up close, similar to the shot below. previsualization is great, but when your 'professional' model would rather not dunk (his coach would kill him), plans change. so we had to react.

here's my 'big shot' at my first editorial-style shoot of a professional athlete.

technical recipe: to overpower the harsh overhead lights, i used a single lumedyne strobes at full power (200W) bounced into 40" westcott silver-lined umbrella with direct sb-28 at 1/4 power for rim light. taken with d-200, 28-70 lens at 28mm, 1/250 sec shutter, f/6.7, iso 200, standing on chair. set up and taken down was less than 10 minutes.

u2 tribute band under a blood red sky (uabrs) has been good to us ever since we shot them at a sold-out red rocks concert. they invited us to nissis, an award-winning new restaurant and music venue in lafayette, co, to hear them perform. we sat down in our comfy seats, ordered up some wonderful food, and enjoyed the show :) if you're ever in the area, you gotta stop by for a show AND dinner (which is normally priced at what you would pay for JUST a show in denver!).

our good friends joey & nicole (newlywed kern-photo models) invited us over to warm up their brand spankin' new house. nicole whipped up a killer turkey, mashed taters... the works. there's nothing like that homey feeling of a good home-cooked meal.... mmmm, a blissful treat. dessert ingredients were on full display even before dinner was ready.... here's the smorgasbord of caramel apple dippin' goodies, precisely labeled.


mark, who played the supporting role in the recent nicole & mark wedding, had a country fair of a good time with his m&m dipped apple.


a new kern-photo record was made in this self-portrait featuring 11.25 human heads.


bill nye the science guy inspired the efforts to create this homemade pumpkin bomb by the three boys (father included).


the pumpkin didn't explode, but *only* caught fire, providing a mild house-warming effect. way to go, joey!

stumbling on old pictures is grand. so many memories can be linked to looking at a single photograph. looking beyond the the funky hair or goofy outfits, a photograph can transcend to deeper feelings, like joys, sorrows, giddyness, anxieties, yada yada yada. you can imagine when we stumbled on our websites filled with forgotten images, it was like finding a diamond in the rough. how your 'find' a old website. here's a blast from the past... all taken with my first digital camera, a waterproof pentax 3.1 megapixel point & shoot:

click on the photo to view each gallery:

old friends (all guys in this 2004 photograph will be featured groomsman in my brother sean and molly's wedding on december 29, 2007).


meet the parents.


the kids staying out of trouble


the proposal... the complete story of how it went down.


it's a boy! here's dash saying goodbye to his mom, echo, from dobson kennels in brookings, south dakota. view gallery 1 and gallery 2. and here's the movies: puppy imovie 1 -- puppy imovie 2 -- puppy imovie 3 -- puppy imovie 4

i love photographer brouhahas, especially when fellow OSP photographers show & tell, share, and play nice. isn't that what wedding photography 2.0 is all about? that is exactly what went down at the center avenue imaging pad hosted by gracious shannon kaple (a fellow nikonian!). too many to name photographers were there, including a long-time hero, chris humphreys, all the way from cali (pictured below).


rumor has it [b]ecker is capable of doing self-portraits (while holding the camera) with 9 others, kinda like this. we easily beat him this evening with 11 and could have easily fit another 9.


thanks, guys, for a wonderful night (my nicole would have totally been there, but she had a major exam to study for).

happy GIS day! this day is dedicated to the efforts made by professionals, educators, and students to spread the word about using gis and to create greater geographic awareness needed in the world. r. j.'s day job is teaching geographic information systems (GIS) using ESRI software to the bureau of indian affairs and federally-recognized tribes. so any excuse to tele-evangelize his GIS enthusiasm is great! while making maps isn't all GIS does, but making pretty maps is r. j. loves to do. here's to geography!

all digital cartographic products were creating using ArcGIS Desktop 9.1 software with data provided by ESRI Data & Maps 2005.

nicole is home sick with a killer cold that has lasted for almost a week. i am in albuquerque teaching for the week. go figure. i hate that helpless feeling that you want to try and do something to help, but can't be there. so i know my honey bunny will be checking this blog in a few hours ('cause she usually does), so i'm gonna give her a wee surprise.

this photograph was taken on our first *real* date at the denver art museum a few years ago. it is also the site of our first kiss... which happened about 2 minutes after this photo was snapped. and it was like the BEST KISS, EVER (ps - forgive the hat and red shoes, but a guy has to do what a guy has to do that drives a pt cruiser with purple flames! hindsight is always better than foresight, especially with respect to r.j.'s cool fashion taste).

so, yes, our dash is almost the color of pumpkin. but instead of dressing him up as a horse (which needs little dressing up for other than a doll lashed to his back), we're featuring the *scary* dash this evening. even though r. j. got scared by the movie '1408' and WILL have bad dreams tonight (thanks, nicole!), at least there was some scary creativeness to boot. nicole painstakingly carved out this scary pumpkin in surgical pa-like precision (which stands for Physician Assistant, which her current studies take up all but 10% of her waking hours). dash happened to cast a scary shadow from our porch light. we got 5 trick or treaters, which is an all time high for us, considering our location. the remainder of the candy will go to a good cause....

part of the meet's event provided a mini-tour of old salvage yard... great for vivid colors and cool textures.


i loved the grass growin' out of this old piece of metal...

father & son bonding at it's best. the people at car meets are the BEST part...

... with president lincoln's home in the background


in vintage style...



concours judging.


these guys look in every nook and cranny to rate how well the car reflects the original production model the day it rolled outta the factory.

the Chrysler 300 International Club's 20007 Fall meet held in Springfield, Illinois drew over 20 Chrysler letter cars... wonderful grounds for stellar father and son bonding. 'mopsy', my dad's restored chrysler 300 C won people's choice award last year (click here for gallery link), but this year we flew out to spend more time with the fine club folks. the cars were moving works of art and a delight to behold. car restorers are some of the most patient people i know. some of these guys buy a fix-er up for a few grand, jack-up the headlights, change the car and BAM.... a completely restored classic car (easier said than done). we had clean, clear lighting and sunsets for the entire meet, which made for pleasant weather and great photography opportunities. buckle-up.... here's a few of our favorites.



and a 2006 Chrysler 300 Heritage Edition for contemporaries...