New Blog is LIVE!!

This blog is now officially retired :)

Head over to www.kareymichelleblog.com and update your Google Reader to the new address, and I'll see ya over there!

Wait for it...

There is a BRAND SPANKIN NEW BLOG on the way!! YAY! Just a little bit longer and I will be back in the blogging world again.

Wait for it...

very very soon!

:)

Dinangat Tribe Tour

Ok I suppose I should add a little commentary about this trip right? Where to start...!?!

In November, I had the opportunity to join a team from Hume Lake Christian Camps to Papua New Guinea and put together a camp for the missionary kids who live over there. If you aren't sure of where Papua New Guinea is, think Indonesia! It's just north of Australia, about one degree off of the equator so the rain came like clockwork every night around dinner time. We spent most of our time in the Eastern Highlands in the city of Goroka, which is about 5,000 ft-ish in elevation, and absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen a place so lush and green in my life... and that goes for the whole island. But it's also very 3rd world, and can be a bit of a shock to your senses at first. Things I learned about Papua New Guinea:

~If you get in a car accident, don't pull over! Drive straight to the police station.
~Cultural hierarchy puts: 1. Men, 2. Pigs, 3. Dogs, 4. Women, 5. Children.
~When in the marketplace, watch out for rascals.
~Oh and when a local clotheslines a rascal for stealing your camera and gives it back, consider yourself VERY lucky, and don't be surprised when the whole market crowds around your van. You are now a spectacle. (It wasn't my camera, but still it was a bit scary.)
~Coffee in Papua New Guinea is probably the best in the world. Blue Mountain coffee at your disposal! Can we say heaven?
~Decaf coffee doesn't exist much. It's expensive.
~The nationals *LOVE* to have their picture taken! Just make sure to show them the back of your camera.
~The pilots that fly into the bush are the best in the world in my opinion. We landed on a grass runway on a mountain-side. AMAZING.


Speaking of planes, in order to get there we flew through Tokyo for a 12 hour flight, and then flew into Port Moresby for another 10ish hour flight, and then we finally arrived in Goroka after another hour flight. Sounds horrible? I SLEPT the whole way!! It was great. So anyways we left on a Friday and arrived on Sunday, and at what time that was I can not remember. Monday we just got adjusted and planned some stuff out for camp, but I was soo excited for Tuesday... our trip into the bush! That's what most of these pictures are from. We just spent the day there and it went by wayyyy too quick. These are some of the images I took as we were getting a tour around the tribe...


More of the boys from the last post, they were too much fun!




















That should be enough for one post, the next one will be the meal they prepared for us. They were quite the gracious hosts!

PNG... Dinangat Tribe Kids

I just melted for these kids! There was a complete language barrier so the only communication was laughing and smiling and then watching them get a kick out of seeing themselves on the back of my camera...

Papua New Guinea Sneak Peak...

Just the beginning of a series from a trip that changed my life and perspective forever. It was in November but am still processing... for now enjoy..

I'm getting a brother!

Ok I mean brother-n-law, but that just makes it all the more exciting :) In November, while I was in Papua New Guinea (which I'll have a couple posts to dedicate to the trip later) my sister was proposed to by her amazing boyfriend Jake! They told me as soon as I got home...

Here's the story:

Having just flown from half way across the world from PNG with layovers in Singapore and Tokyo, I was ridiculously tired and a little out of it... so when they told me Jake was driving up from San Diego to have dinner with us at our family club house restaurant I thought nothing of it. Hmmm... it's a Tuesday night, Jake is driving an hour and a half just for dinner, and we're going to eat some super good food with the whole family. Totally should have picked up on that but I could barely keep my eyes open at the time :)

We sat down at our table and before we even get our menus Katey and Jake look like they are going to burst, and so they blurt, "WE"RE ENGAGED!!" Needless to say I woke right up and there were tears and hugs and wedding plans being shared for the rest of the night. So beautiful and I couldn't have been more excited to hear it. Cried like a tired little happy baby. I don't know if those exist, but that's my best shot.

Jake and Katey met while at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and are such the perfect compliments for each other. I have to tell you that I have never seen my sister so happy! It's like she has had the sugar high of her life, and if you know my sis, well you get it. I got to do their engagement pictures recently and we chose Jake's house. I mean his boat. He lives on a sailboat and I think its the coolest thing in the world... definitely something I would love to do someday. Here are some of my favorites of them...




Ok so we aren't on the boat yet but this is in the marina he lives in...



I had thought out loud... hmm I wonder if this is climbable... and Jake says yes it is!


















They are getting married September 12, 2009 in San Luis Obispo and I'm SOOOO excited! I love SLO, it's probably one of the best places on earth. It just fits them so well too since they are some of the most active and outdoorsy people I know and SLO is the place to be for hiking and bouldering and rock-climbing and FUN. I mean these kids got engaged on a camping trip where she saw the ring on the other side of a rock she was climbing over and he was on the other side on one knee. SO great. I'll be the Maid of Honor so I'll have a bit of different responsibilities to hold on the wedding day, should be fun! Jake, I'm so excited to have you in the family and absolutely adore spending time with the two of you. Congratulations Katey and Jake, LOVE YOU!!

New Site is UP!!!

Huge smiles on my face right now. Last week I killed it trying to get it live, and then this week my hosting company saved me a couple tears by bringing it back to life! I had hoped to get it up in time for the Pictage PartnerCon in LA these past couple days but its better late than never I guess. I'm still finishing up the galleries section so you'll see some improvements on the way but I was just too excited to wait and share it all. Go check it and let me know what you think? Thanks so much! www.kareymichelle.com







P.S. I have a lot of awesome weddings to post here in the near future; this last weekend I had a wedding at Hume Lake on Saturday and another one at Rancho Capistrano on Sunday! And now my head is spinning from the greatness of the PartnerConference with Pictage in LA... so much to post! Some day I'll catch up :) Until then, check out the new site!!

Wedding Party Feature...

I've been getting featured on the Wedding Party Blog every once in awhile now and it is just such a treat to see my work over there! It's a really awesome blog that helps anyone planning a wedding come up with some great and creative ideas from the featured posts... you'll find weddings from all over the world with all of the latest trends! So cool, and how fun that Erica and Deven's engagement shoot is on there today :)








And last week Amy and Travis were featured!







You can check out the Wedding Party Blog here: http://www.weddingparty.com/blog

Have fun!

Last weeks favorite piece...

from So You Think You Can Dance was definitely by Katee and Joshua with their contemporary piece. The song is gorgeous, Hometown Glory by Adele, but the choreography just took it to a whole new place... it's about two selfish people in a relationship unable to let go of themselves and experience life as one. It's just a beautiful yet painful piece of art, beautiful for its lyrical movement and painful for its truth. Stuff this good can only come from experiencing it first hand so it makes me sad to think about what inspired it, but at the same time I love it's honesty and ability to make me feel the disconnect they are dancing.



I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

See ya tomorrow :)

So You Think You Can Dance!

...is my FAVE show right now!! It's almost ridiculous how much I love it. I have a little bit of a dance background, not much, but enough to be hopelessly in love with dance and dreaming of the day I can get back into it. The last time I was on a stage it was at Cal Poly in 2005... Yikes time flies!! My favorite is usually contemporary (or modern) but this week on the show there was this hip-hop dance that was so brilliant it left me almost in tears by the end, and then watching it 10 times over! It's not very often that a piece can move you in such a way but this one really did. Mark and Chelsie just rocked it...



And then from the week before I LOVED this one by Courtney G and Gev. I watched it like 10 times over too. It's just so beautiful...




They are worth watching, PROMISE!

Today I am off to shoot a wedding for Amy and Travis in San Juan Capistrano so I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend :)

The new office building...

At the Turnip Rose!!

I LOVE it.


There it is!!




So pretty..







The entry inside...




Entry into the offices...




The waiting room...





And then the actual space is still being fixed up. I'll post those when it's all ready for you to see!

The best part is the story... this building used to be a school house back in the day before it just sat around unused for years... then they renovated it and the Turnip Rose used it for weddings. The funny part is that my dad used to actually GO to the elementary school in this building! Fun little history right there. Meant to be? Hmm... :)

I LAG!!

It has been ridiculously too long since my last post.

These last couple weeks have been absolutely AMAZING. I have shot a wedding in Santa Cruz with Amy and Eric, gone to Santa Barbara to shoot with my friend and favorite photographer Dane Sanders, and last week got to shoot at a venue I have been looking forward to in a LONG time.... 7 Degrees with Chrissy and Joe! The next morning we even did a "Trash The Dress" session out in the ocean in Laguna Beach. The images are coming soon... promise. To top it all off, I've officially moved into my NEW OFFICE!!!

This last year and a half has been such a blur with how fast things have taken off that coming to this next stage has been a bit unsettling. I never expected things to happen so fast... the biggest blessings have been working with my clients who continually believe in me as well as my photographer friends who are constantly inspiring me to grow. It's been a bit of a challenge to fully embrace it all, fears of failure, fears of success (weird?), facing weaknesses... the whole enchilada... but after wrestling through some of that with Dane recently I've been challenged to not let those things hold me back from really committing to who I am as a photographer and how that translates in my business. Everything he talks about within Fast Track Photographer just all of a sudden clicked... I knew the words, understood the concepts, but it all of a sudden made sense for me. It's been a really great growth spurt lately and I am so thankful for Dane and the other Founders. If you are a photographer and are reading this, I can't recommend signing up enough. It's by far one of the greatest investments I have made in my sanity and my biz. :)

So, after all of that, I find myself sitting in my lovely new office free of distractions and giving my blog this badly needed update. I have MANY more posts to make before I leave for another destination wedding this weekend, but until then here is a fave from Amy and Eric's wedding in Santa Cruz...







Happy Tuesday!

Message of the Day

A new friend...

This weekend I was lucky to have some time off so I headed out with my dad to Newport for some surfing! I went three mornings in a row and my second morning we met a new friend in the water...










Poor guy, the red tide made him sick so he was just hanging out on the beach until he felt better again.

As you can tell the surf wasn't ridiculously big which is super good for me! I'm still such a learner. Although I do have to share that on Sunday I purled and after my board smacked my face I ended up with a bloody nose and fat lip. Pretty!! I feel like I have had a collagen injection or something! Oh well, I guess it's just one of those things that happens and I can't say that I'm walking away from surfing any time soon. It's teaching me SO much... there are lessons out there on the water that translate into my life so perfectly... I'm learning how to be patient and wait for the good waves, find balance, rhythm, the ideal position for me in relation to the wave, how to fight through the white-wash, to anticipate the timing correctly, and most importantly to believe I can do it. It's so funny because I'll be out on the water in the morning and whatever the lesson of the day is in the ocean will reappear back at home while I'm working! I'm so grateful for those lessons and the growth it provokes. I'm really growing in how to focus better and find balance. What are you learning? How is it helping you grow? Feel free to share in the comments, it feels so much better for this to be a conversation :)

Time to get back to the working part, have a fabulously beautiful day!