Welcome to this unscheduled, totally random personal post on my otherwise quite professional, by which I mean, only “work” related, blog. If you dropped by hoping to feast your eyes on some new wedding imagery, I’m sorry to disappoint. I promise to blog a new wedding this weekend! However, I need to take a few minutes here and introduce you to someone “furry” special!

Meet Jasper, the new king of the castle at casa PhotoKisses.

Jasper, a Maine Coon mix, came home to me from Lollypop Farm, a local humane society, on January 5th. He is a very big boy with huge paws and a long, silky orange coat. As you can see, his left ear is tipped, which I guess is how certain organizations keep track of cats that have been fixed, such as our local feral cat trap-neuter-release program in Henrietta. I love his round amber eyes which are lined with white, and the sheer size of him, especially when he parades around the room like he owns me, the house, and all of PhotoKisses business, including the brides and grooms that come over for consultations. (I guess this would be a good time to say, if you are allergic to cats, perhaps we should meet at a coffee place somewhere!)Jasper is a curious kitty, and I expect him to be watching over my editing and album design as soon as he learns the ropes (and how to paw the office door open!)

Myla, my miniature schnauzer puppy, says “pffft, I’m not jealous at all. I still get to be the first one to greet and bark at all your clients when they come to visit you.”

So there you have it, now you’ve met the new addition to the family!

I have chosen a comment winner for the Morrow wedding by entering the total amount of comments into a random number generator. This is what popped out:

Congrats to Michelle Scaglione for being lucky commentator on Mary Kate and Cory’s blog post! Send me a message or write on my Facebook wall to receive your Starbucks gift card!
Thanks to all your contributions, having collected 85+ LIKES and 39 comments, the lucky newlyweds have won $75 in account credit. Perhaps I can see a mounted print or a canvas in your future? *wink wink*

-Your favorite Rochester wedding photographer, wishing you a fabulous Monday.

P.S. New wedding blog post coming up tonight, so check back soon!

Lyndsay and David’s wedding blog post contest has ended! With 65 LIKES and 20 comments they came very close to winning in both categories. The newlyweds have won $25 account credit for receiving over 50 likes – CONGRATS! Also, I have chosen a comment winner by entering the total amount of comments into a random number generator. This is what popped out:

All bow down to Payne wedding comment winner #14 – Amy Langone! Amy, email me with your address and I will send you your Starbucks gift card

This is something that has been a concern of mine in the past, and of other photographers I know as well. The issue of image credit has come up almost every time right after  I posted a new blog or a new images to Facebook. We photographers put a lot of work into our images and when we post it online for everyone to see it is like displaying the best of the best in our portfolio – so why do clients still think it’s OK to strip the image of any identifying marks (logos) when they repost it on their own social media sites?

Drew is an awesome wedding photographer down in Orange County couldn’t have said it any better, so here it is verbatim:

“I get asked a lot by both photographers and clients what my policy is on letting my clients post their images to their blogs and facebook account. I personally love it when my clients post their family pictures on their blogs, facebook, etc. It shows me that they truly love their images! I encourage my clients to “steal” their pictures from my blog to use on the internet. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that you should think about when reposting your images:

1) DO ask your photographer what their specific policy is on taking pictures off of their blogs. Some photographers encourage it and some don’t allow it. If this is important to you this is something you should ask BEFORE you hire your photographer!

2) DO include your photographer’s name and website under the images (a link would be super nice!). That’s just the polite thing to do

3) DON’T crop out their logo. Unless you have paid for the digital negatives don’t alter the files in anyway. Most photographers use their blogs to advertise their work and do so as a courtesy to give their clients a sneak peek. If a client crops out the logo then how will other people know who took the picture?

4) DON’T edit the picture in any way. Taking the pictures is only half of a photographers job. The other half is editing. If you think you can do a better job or want to edit out some of your wrinkles or use selective coloring please don’t show and/or tell your photographer. That is super insulting. If you don’t like your photographers editing enough to want to edit it yourself than maybe you need to find another photographer next year.

5) DON’T try to print from the files on the blog. For me specifically I know that the files I upload to my blog are too small to be printed in a 4×6 size. It’s not cool to invest in a family session and then print the images off of the blog and not pay for prints. Make sure you know how much the prints cost before the session to avoid sticker shock. Same goes for scanning prints that you already bought. Not cool! Some of my family members are guilty of printing images off of my blog. It makes me cringe when I see them FRAMED in their homes with my logo still on there! To be fair, I’m also not great at emailing them the file when they ask for it ”

Thanks Drew, I couldn’t have said it any better!

Please respect your photographer.

*Photographers, you can re-post this information, just as long as you give Drew credit. (http://www.drewbphotography.com/)

* If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at kristina [at] photokisses [dot] com

Just a quick out-of-office note: I will be in San Diego this whole weekend for a wedding and an engagement session. Regular programming will resume upon my return on Monday I will have access to email and phone – just don’t call me at 9am because that’s 6am there. I can’t wait to share pictures from this trip, which I know will be amazing! I get to photograph a wedding with Becker, which is an amazing honor in itself (remember when I was the [b] school featured member this January? Well, he’s the mastermind and creator of the [b] school, as well as a fabulous wedding photographer in California), and I also get to photograph an engagement session for one of my couples who is getting married here in Rochester, but they booked my national travel package. I love travel! Yay!  See you later, gators!

Remember the wedding of two Monroe county sheriffs I posted a few days ago? Well, after I posted the teaser image of the couple on their Harley right after the wedding last August, it was discovered by the Hampton Roads Bride magazine (a publication in VA), that was looking for non-stock images that had to do with how couples got to the ceremony and/or reception. After a nice chat with the editor, I sent the full resolution file to the magazine and it got published this January! So now I can add another bridal magazine publication in addition to my already very treasured cover images on the Rochester Wedding Magazine. Yay!

I took this image with my cell phone immediately upon receiving the printed copy of the magazine, so the quality isn’t the greatest.

Later I received a PDF version of the page in which my image appeared. Yay for photo credit!

Kelly (the bride) always wanted to be in a magazine – well, your wish has been granted Kelly!

Wow! What an honor and what an amazing way to start the New Year!  I have been selected as member of the month over at the [B] school, a nationally renowned learning and networking website for professional photographers from all over the world.  Check out the interview! It even has a video I made for them

The [B] School Interview with member of the month PhotoKisses

If you are a professional photographer and would like to enroll, just click the banner below:

Hi all! Apparently I can’t sit still. Must. Take. Pictures! So I have decided that in the wedding off- season I am going to give away random free photoshoots every few weeks, depending on what I’m in the mood for. I haven’t decided yet if I will make it Facebook-exclusive, or Blogsite-exclusive, seeing as how I haven’t done anything like this before.  In any case, the first weekend freebie has just been posted on my facebook fan page ! You are welcome to respond to it there (become a fan first so you can reply), or here in the comments section.

Rochester photography: weekend freebie #1 – PETS.

Just a few ground rules:

1. All photoshoots will be mini, meaning less than an hour long. Saturday/Sunday/Monday afternoon only.
2. On location only (meaning outdoors or at your house) in Rochester NY
3. Free actually means free. No strings attached. I will photograph, I will edit, and I will post ~20 images on Facebook (just like I did for Shadow). Oh, and you will get a free 5×7 print, too.
4. If you feel like spending money, I won’t stop you. For only $100, you may have all 20 images on disc with a print release.
5. Don’t be sad if I didn’t pick you for the weekend freebie. I will likely post the same kind of freebie in another few weeks, and you’re welcome to inquire again.
6. If you really really really want me to pick you (or your pet, or baby, or grandma, or whatever) for the weekend freebie photoshoot, you may want to tell me a few details or a cute story about your pet or baby or yourself. I love stories!

Finally, to all my wedding clients – I haven’t forgotten you, I’m preparing new blog posts about the rest of all the Rochester weddings and they will be coming soon!

As some of you may know, I am currently in Spain. I’m mostly just being a tourist and travelling a lot, but yesterday I got to shoot a Spanish wedding in Seville (southern Spain) it was absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to share some pictures! We started at 5 with a church ceremony (no bridal party and photographers right next to the priest at the altar) then had extremely quick formals where everyone just kind of knew where to stand and posed themselves, they released a dove which was blinded by the light and crashed into a wall, we drove around Seville for 2 hours taking some amazing pictures including at the plaza de EspaNa where star wars was filmed. The reception was nothing short of spectacular. We finished the wedding around 12:30 and proceeded to go to wedding #2 which Marco’s wife was photographing and found that apparently a famous singer was performing at it. It was fun to experience another wedding on the same night! We didn’t get home and to bed until almost 4:30am. Phew! I wish I had a way to share pictures now, but unfortunately they will have to wait until I return next week. Check back soon!