stepping into the studio is something we do very little of, because we love shooting outside the constraints of 4 walls. however, exploring creative possibilities afforded by the not-so-scary studio environment can invigorate the creative mind with such tools as powerful $ strobes with fast recharge, 7 foot octabanks not blowing in the wind, clean seamless backdrops, privacy, a jamming stereo, a stocked fridge, and roof protection from afternoon thunderstorms.

while we had a fabalicious time at elyse & corey's wedding, we did not get a chance to shoot their engagement session and a trash the dress session wasn't in the picture, yet. in lou, we gave a jump start to elyse's modeling portfolio with corey playing a supporting role of cab driver and gear shlepper in between reading paragraphs of his academic PA school studies. he was a good sport. both were willing to move like bendy gumby models like you wouldn't believe.

in our 4 hour session, there were lots of outfit changes, lots of posing and anti-posing, lots of locations and lighting. in addition, shannon kaple & christina "sherpa" dooley stepped up to the plate and hit back-to-back grand slams by sharing their creativity :)



less is more, especially when it comes to lighting. for all your studio lighting fanatics out there, here's the behind the scenes of the studio setup with just one light and with christina featured to the right. btw, christina is a walking encyclopedia of lighting and art direction and served as a marvelous resource and inspiration.


40s glam:



and here are a few for her modeling portfolio:

jayme otto's stellar writing and saavy marketing has made her an up and coming freelance writer in boulder, colorado specializing in cycling, nutrition, travel, and wellness. her most recent work has been published in velonews and rocky mountain sports. in her free time, jayme serves as a captain for a local cycling team and races frequently. talk about growth! i vividly remember her first few wobbly rides with clipless pedals. ah, but we won't tell those stories :)

she's a wonderful friend and i'm excited to see her grow creatively. she studied english in college years ago, and is just now starting to put the writing energies on the front-burner.

her husband, ryan, has the model look enough to walk the catwalk. this time, however, it was jayme's turn in front of the camera. here are a few portraits for her first pulitzer prize winning book just waiting to be written.

she's sassy:

smart:

and sincere:

thank you for your friendship over the years. we wish all the very best in your creative pursuits :)

now that both of billy's sister's are hitched, we didn't want him to feel lonely, so we shot him with his wonderful girlfriend, jessica.

after marathon backyard games of ladder ball, (similar to horseshoes, this game originated in an american campground), we made a dash to a nearby grazing pasture in south dakota for a fun mini-portrait session.

jessica & billy are good friends surrounded by the contagious bliss called love.





billy is a 100% pure goofball.


south dakotan bugs are hungry. very hungry. billy laughed it off.

desi & ryan have been married for 5 years and still share that first date fresh-in-love. we treated them to a destination portrait session in kona, hawaii. we lucked out hitting the 'good light' once in three attempts, thanks to the notorious vog.

sunset on the kona coast of hawaii, practicing those dancing moves, with God's good light:

ps- God must have known my eyes were strong, as i pretty much went blind for a minute after the shot was taken (think about putting a 300mm telescope up to your eyes and face it directly to the sun :)

desi has beautiful brown german eyes:


golf courses make for vivid backdrops... and it doesn't get much better when the course is on the edge of the hawaii coastline.


beautiful wrap-around lighting thanks to the wonders of Mother Nature!


on the last day ran through the golf course like kids, soaking up every last bit of vacation (with permission, of course :)


here's some real action while trying on a wild idea.... this was a super happy misteak taken with a 2 megapixel camera.


... by braving the waves in high spirits (with our trustry nikon d300 12 megapixel camera)


soaking in the healing waters of champagne pond, featuring mild-heated waters from volcanic steam near the coast of kapoho bay on the big island of hawaii. for those used to bathing in hot springs, you may be used to the putrid sulfur smell. good news: there's no such smell at champagne pond!

1 y.o. maren hammed it up during the bradley family portrait session this week. she's a beauty queen in the making just dying to show us what she's all about :)

view their slideshow here.



a favorite candid moment:



'there's something down there!" in 1 y.o. speak.


some real moments:


after we finished all the group family portraits, truman & nisa had shared some romantic time in a nearby open space park in louisville, colorado.


of course when i met indy, i decided we had to include him in our portrait session :) he's is a gregarious english pointer with handsome taste in dog collars :)


he can jump!

keith, angie, zack, & ben invited me to gig harbor, washington last week to dodge some raindrops and catch a glimpse of their fun family. it rained and rained (as it usually does in seattle), but we pulled out every trick in the book to avoid getting drenched, including driving where there was a clear opening in the sky a few miles away (which lasted a few minutes before the sky opened up back where we started... so it goes :).

the cold weather didn't dampen our spirits. they were perfect models in a perfect setting simply being themselves...



kinda reminds you of a drunken sailor :)


gotta dig the color coordination :)



angie & keith are such a cute couple :)


a boys' moment.



playing 'fireman':



simply magic:



a favorite family portrait. i love how the focus is off just enough to make things a bit fresh. modern. fun.

we shot melissa & drew's wedding early last summer (click here to view slideshow) and it was an honor to shoot their new new addition to their family, baby boy they named 'breckin.'

"it's the best thing that ever happened to me," melissa says.

and yes, he's named after drew's favorite place, breckenridge, colorado. now, that's our kinda baby name!

meet breckin:



we've been there before :)


he's a charmer...


a favorite moment.


the fingers are found :)


it felt so special being apart of this special time in their life. i know melissa & drew are gonna be a super-star parents.


male bonding:


i wish my walls looked kinda like this :)




lungs of steel.


yes, that would mean 'peace out.'


hands down my favorite shot from our session... melissa's hair featured in the upper left.


we've seen this before, but it is still so frickin' cute.


BUTT... we haven't seen this before :) i count over 30 wrinkles....

it's been a year since i last shot ryan otto for his maximum talent agency portfolio. we've both grown in our creative outlets and while it is fun to look back at some of our old work here, we set out to photograph in a different mentality: photograph with the end result in mind. he wanted some shots to show off his triathlete-cut physique and i wanted to learn how to best to place such a model in the best light possible. a special thanks to his wife, jayme, for assisting with lighting, outfit changes, and reminding us how time flies when you're having fun (and how 68 degrees turns into 40 when the sun goes down :)




this shot was made possible using our newly developed mini-softbox-on-a-stick technology, inspired by the strobist and macgyver.



a classic american-crew shot.


jason hayes shared a cool lighting tricks of 'skimming the light' using a giant softbox positioned perpendicular and in front of the subject. this technique creates wrap-around lighting, adding dimensionality to the subject. learning this technique meet the requirement for goal #78 on my list of 101 photo goals in 1,001 days.

here's ryan's edgy euro look (color temperature lowered for effect):


and this was ryan's all-american, well-rounded look:


these were shot with a single beauty dish positioned in the upper left and a softbox reflection for the background on the right.


and here's our favorite shot of the whole shoot:

fellow wedding videographer brian martinez was in need of some new images for his modeling portfolio. brian is currently represented by donna baldwin modeling agency in denver and does quite a bit of commercial modeling for some cool companies. he is also a brand new papa for a 6-week-old baby boy. working with professional models is something we are new at and brian's confidence and willingness to be creative sealed the deal. we shot outside in 68 degree weather with available light using one lens (you guessed it, our 85 f/1.4) for as long as we could and were very pleased with the results.


we found a dark alley and put to use a new signature mini-softbox wireless ttl light-on-a-stick (stay tuned in a later post about the complete blueprint details)


our wedding photographer, jason hayes, lent us his sweeeet studio and was also kind enough to offer a mini-class in lighting. thanks, jason!


towards the end we busted out the ringlight, which offers a unique lighting effect often used in high-impact fashion photography. here are a few of my favorite first shots using a ring-flash (which also happens to be goal #81 on my list of 101 photo goals in 1,001 days.

a bunch of photographers geeked-out today at red rocks in an event sponsored by the newly-formed innovative imagemakers. there was no cost to shoot, the high school models were great sports, and i had another wonderful opportunity to meet and greet with other fellow photographers. i recognized a few familiar faces, but for the most i felt brand spankin' new to many. in between the rapid succession to clicks at candid grins, laughter broke the ice nicely and by the end of the shoot many photographers were on a first name basis with one another. and despite the plethora of canon shooters in the portrait and wedding photography world, i enjoyed mingling with the strong nikonian presence. yes, we know, cameras are just tools but we are proud to remain on the 'dark side' :)

the game plan was simple: each team for 4-6 photographers spent about 30 minutes with each model, experimenting with new ideas, exploring new poses and locations, and just having fun. several tourist passerby's wondered if the models were famous... my reply, 'you bet!' i think these high schoolers felt like super stars and were ready for act in america's next top model.

events like this remind me why 'new school photography' is so cool. there is no such thing in photography as magic tricks, just things we haven't learned yet. and 'new school' photographers are eager to share and play nicely with others :)

here are a few of the favorites:




and here's the paparazzi in action:

the moment nicole promised me i could photograph her in her wedding dress, i was in bliss. there was no better woman to photograph than my wife in her wedding dress. the occasion was the day after my brother's wedding in grand bahama island (yesterday). after 2.5 years of marriage and lots of wedding cake (we're wedding photographers, you know), her dress fit her like i remember on our wedding day: july 2, 2005. we pulled off something special together and i'm super proud to show off all her sexyliciousness:

susen, dave, & tommy tagged-team with our previous entry clients (isabell, bill, & lilly) to meet at red rocks for a little pre-holiday p-session. susen and isabell are both sisters, so you might notice a resemblance :). tommy joined the fun to be featured along with his brother, dave. here's the trio with a subtle colorado sunset:


we went for a rock-star portrait of dave with some kern-photo tricks :)


susen featuring her snow white smile:


and a genuine moment of tommy:


here are the love bugs:


susen & dave were very cool trying out some new ideas inside this little red rock cove.


the lighting was perfect for this relaxed portrait with a post-sunset glow:

3-year-old lilly gave us a run for our money yesterday at red rocks during her family portrait session. despite the cold, we kept things moving and had tons of fun. textured backgrounds, great light, and fun subjects make our job easy:



peek-a-boo.


in colorado style:



gq bill.


we've been going after some edgier shots.... and this won our hearts :)


lilly showing off her brand new dress. i think all girls must feel this way:

i've had the pleasure of getting to know tom pehrson and his booming wedding videography buisness, peak impact productions. we recently gave him an early christmas present and photographed him, his wonderful wife tina, and their family of beautiful pooches. this evening tom wrote the following note to us:

"I just wanted to say thanks for agreeing to work with us last weekend.  It was great to see your style in action.  I got Tina to finally take a look at your blog and [she] loves your work.  Once she started looking at the photos, she went through every entry.  That's a good sign and hopefully everyone who visits your blog has the same experience.  By the time they get done, they're ready to hire you.  She says she really loves how people's eyes seem to stand out in your photos.  So, thanks again!"

then comes the hard part:

"On a sad note, we had to put Sophie down this evening.  She was a good dog, but she took a turn for the worst in the last few days and it would have been cruel for us to keep her alive with no hope of recovery.  We're really glad that we got you to capture her and thanks for working with us on such short notice."

this blog entry is dedicated to sophie.

here she is in her glory:


feel free to write your condolences in the comments section below. your comments will be great appreciated :)

here are her siblings:


dogs and fire hydrants go hand and hand.


here are the pooches with full attention on a floating knit hat:



if we had a professional videographer at our wedding, without reservations we would higher him. here's he is with his videography tool:


here's tina and tom:


and the whole gang:

katie's fiance, shawn, serves in the army and has been stationed in iraq since january. having grown up in a military family myself (r. j.), being a 'military brat' was a fact of life. my grandfather was a marine in vietnam, my father is a retired O-6 in the navy, my brother graduated from the air force academy, and my brother's fiance from west point. when we meet with a client and find out their loved one is stationed overseas, our hearts go out to them. care packages come in many forms, including home-made cookies, handwritten love notes, and pictures of loved ones. we decided to offer katie a *free* portrait session so she could send her man some love in pictures. and here she is:

ps- we are proud to offer a 10% discount on any wedding or portrait packages to active duty military personnel.

faun, bill, and little gage hired us last year for a family portrait and loved it so much they hired us again this year. family portrait sessions (p-sessions) with a 2.5 year-old ain't easy. after we snapped their 'money shot' for their buisness/family christmas card....


... we did a little fresh. modern. fun. with gage. he's not a model yet, but we'll give him a year or so and those agents WILL be calling!





we get gage's undivided attention for about .25 seconds, until this usually happens:


as our session winded down, we had a bit more creative license to experiment with strong backlighting sans flash.


then comes the funny part. moments before wrapping things up, gage spotted a cute girl in the window of a jewelry store. she is three. gage was aloof at first.


... then gradually warmed up to the idea that flirting is OK.

we love fan mail. two recent clients sent some kind words our way about their recent kern-photos. here's what the kelly sparks had to say about her family portrait:

"Kern-photo absolutely exceeded all our expectations from start to finish - all the way from helping us prepare for the session to helping us choose and order photos afterward."

"RJ really was able to capture all the emotion in little moments when we weren’t just posing for the photo but were simply enjoying being there. He got some shots of my son in the moment of discovery – his first dandelion! It was completely spontaneous and magical. RJ absolutely captured my son’s amazement and concentration on this little bit of nature… and even got my husband and I looking on in the background. It’s my favorite shot."

"I’d recommend kern-photo to absolutely anyone. We will be specifically sending a recommendation to my sister who has a wedding coming up and to ALL my “mom friends” to get amazing photos of their babies and families!"


tara & justin wrote this about their wedding photos: "Justin and I just looked at all the pictures... WE LOVE THEM!!! You captured so much of what we wanted.... thank you! They are absolutely amazing. As we looked at them, Justin said, "We are so recommending R. J. to anyone we know."  :) Thanks for AMAZING pictures!!!!"

in light of some creative reflection, i've dug back into the archives.... and i'm talking about 15 years in the archives of some of my earliest, showable work. ricker winsor, my high school art teacher and photo inspiration at charles wright academy, has been an inspiration to me. ricker lead me to think differently about photography through experimentation and through learning to embrace the 'happy mistake.' the origin of these creative moments is usually at the will of a frantic moment, mixed with the dash of creativity, and a twist of the will of GOD. this image was my first simultaneous collision of 'perfect creative moment' while completing a self-portrait assignment.

the 'mistake' was a double exposure at the end of a roll of 36 using my father's honeywell pentax slr which later became my first 'real' camera (the fisher price one doesn't count). the shutter exposed more than a frame and a half of 35mm t-max film. the double exposure was actually longer than 35mm wide in length, giving the appearance of a panoramic image. while the image certainly isn't pulitzer prize winning material, it was an important lesson which continues to inform my creative conscious.

i did not realize the importance of this image to me until about 3 years ago, when i started to get paid for my photographic creativity and began looking back at earlier work. i kept this image at the forefront of my mind during my college photography experiences, during personal work on travels, and shooting for profit at events. i realized 'happy mistakes' should supplement the creative consciousness. technically, 'creative mistakes' may be deemed by a seasoned professional as "amateurism". but here is where it gets better: rules are meant to be broken, and it is often those 'happy mistakes' which leads to a new discovery. following along with creativity, i've been able to produce some of my most original work. most often it is not the camera, or even the lens that contributed to the creative discovery, but the courage to create.

when colgate university alum buddy, alex, found his way to denver recently, we met up for a killer good time and whipped up a little portrait session to try out some new tricks. since r. j. has known alex for more than a decade and was groomsman in our wedding, he was well prepared for what we had in store. alex grew up in a small village near kiev, russia, which was a strong inspiration for our mood. he came to the u.s. when he was 13 and went on to graduate with an mba from columbia university. we met up at our favorite shooting place and dash's favorite off-leash training grounds, green mountain park in lakewood. VIEW SLIDESHOW HERE. here we go with a few of our favorites:


alex loved his new coat, which was modeled proudly.


alex's jordan impression.


with sunny blue skies to set the mood, here we are for a little self-portrait.

kelly, tony, and little hudson met up for a portrait session recently in denver. r. j. has known kelly since his gis learning met up with her gis training source years ago. kelly is a phenomenal teacher, and one of the best when it comes to gis trainining. tony is the creative brains behind the graphic design studio, ragu. CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW. and here's some of the fun that was shared with our lens:


hudson was determined to step on every railroad track plank.


kelly & tony.


the smallest wonders of the world pointed out by hudson.



the pooches deserved a candid portrait as well.



here's gis training sensei, kelly:


ultimate frisbee stud, tony:


mmmm, chicken fingers taste like chicken.

reporting live from nashville, tn: for those well acquainted with our beloved viszla dash, you may know he refuses to wear anything but colorful, handmade dog collars made by lindsay designs. well, r. j. met up with lindsay and her boyfriend, taylor, at the parthenon, a stunning full-scale replica of the classical architectural marvel. we were up for the challenge to emphasize perspective and angles, use no studio strobes, and shoot in a downpour of rain at night, uphill both ways, yada yada yada. we kept things creative, edgy, and different and had a pure blast doing so. CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW. and here's a smattering of our favorites:



check out the little streaks of rain backlit by the huge monster flood lights:


let's not forget calypso:

a tender, romantic moment:


look, ma, no photoshop! (green color created in camera by halogen lights)


we ended on a high note going for high-impact:


shadow shots are easy when you have good shadow models.



our final shot:

the levalley's invited us over to their beautiful home in fort collins for a 'p-session,' which is a blend of traditional portraiture (for those christmas cards) and our candid 'fresh. modern. fun.' kern-photo style. CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW. here's the whole gang outside (we ordered up a totally real color-cordinated sky):



it got a little chilly outside, so we warmed up on the couch:


then the motley crue came out.


there's garrett:


and marissa with her pearly whites....


and with the not-so innocent look of a troublemaker!


cole in style.


and rachel.


and brad (we'll save this one for the cover of 'time' magazine).


then we cut the kids loose for some shenanigans and a little game of hide & seek. garrett seeks a good spot under the pool table.


garrett is found!


a favorite ball.


young gun cole with his GQ look.