My Studio is closed :(

After receiving numerous requests to shoot weddings all over the place, I must say officially that I cannot. ….sad face…. sad face.  I’m sad to report to all of you that I had decided to close my studio after more than a decade of being a wedding photographer. It was an extremely difficult decision to make and wasn’t made lightly. I have been dealing with a very unpredictable decline in my health after having had by little girl, Charlie. I closed my doors to my studio back in 09 after she was born. MS is a tricky disease and that some days I feel like a normal person, and then other days I feel like I may never walk again. I take the good with the bad and always pray for the best. I’m thankful to have a wonderful support system at home.

For clients who came before 09 who still had not ordered your album….I’m sad to say that I’m no longer taking new work orders for albums. I am only tendering final transactions from clients in 09 and beyond. There’s that little clause in the details that says complete them in one years’s time….under normal circumstances, I’ve always continued to design albums past their one year due dates assessed with new album pricing fees, but now I have to focus on my health and staying stress free to be as healthy a mamma as I can be.

It’s been a pleasure working with so many amazing people over the years. Who knows what the future holds for me and my creative endeavors, but when something new happens, I’ll be sure to post back and let you know.

Best to you all…

Christa

 

more fun details

So I tried to get quite a bit in my last post as far as images go. I realized I forgot to include some of the pictures I was describing. D’oh! I got a little excited, but let me get a little more carried away. Come with me to Haley & Kenny’s wedding Definitely worthy of an editorial feature ala Grace Ormonde.

I would really like to know how many pedals were needed to carpet this aisle. It was so beautiful! Below that, the picture with the crystals hanging, that is a chandelier hung inside the tent with orchids hanging from each strand. So beautiful! Below that is the cocktail area, they had a martini ice luge and fabulous lounge furniture. The peacock feathers adorned everything, and accented the color theme beautifully especially the modern wrapped white chairs with the rhinestones, love how that looked. Those chair covers were stunning.

Gracing the Silver Screen

So it may seem a wee bit odd for me to write about a movie. I mean, I am not a movie critic on the side or anything, although I think I’d like to be, I love, love, love a good movie and can appreciate excellent writing.  I have good reason to want to talk about one movie in particular.  Nancy Meyers, is just an outstanding writer/director. To her credit are movies like What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, & the The Holiday. In this movie, titled, It’s Complicated a comedy about love, divorce and everything in between, stars some of my absolute favorite actors of all time, Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin. Ummm….hello?  Who wouldn’t want to see the awe inspiring chemistry of these 3 on screen? So what’s the significance already? Twist my arm already, here’s the skinny. About 4 months ago I was on the phone with the prop master for this film at NBC Universal. She was looking for some specific types of photos for a scene in the movie. I put together a plethora of images and prints for Nancy herself to review for use in the film. I had get it all together rather quickly and Fed Ex it to them in New York just before they were set to begin filming. Apparently there was a meeting about this scene and they needed to review my images asap. Crazy I know. I was thrilled they chose 2 to use in the scene. So here’s what I do know about the scene, there’s a wedding being planned in Santa Barbara and I believe it’s between the characters being played by Alec Baldwin and the gorgeous Lake Bell.  They are going to be looking through a wedding album and looking at 2 of my images of cakes. I realize it may only be this microcosm of a detail in this film, but I get the opportunity to leave a footprint of my work to my credit that I never imagined before. Just knowing that someone like Nancy Meyers has seen my work along side some of the most talented actors on the planet just makes me giddy with excitement. I am honored to be an itty bitty part of such a cool project. It’s due out on Christmas Day. If you see a girl sitting in the front row with a small video camera intensely watching the credits, don’t disturb me please. hee hee!

Anyway, check out the trailer. Looks like a super cute movie.

sabrina + federico

Words just can’t describe the incredible love and beauty that encompasses the two of you. What a privilege to be a part of your wedding. It was nothing short of amazing you guys. Not just aesthetically, but to see such a celebration of the love for two of you with your friends and family was inspiring. I hope you  had a wonderful honeymoon. Congratulations again you two

jessica+brian engaged!

I am so glad you both made the trek up to Tahoe to play with me! I’m sorry your puppy was sick on the way up, but it was fun to capture all of you. The extra little trip we took was a beautiful drive, even though we still missed the wildflowers blooming up there! that was a bummer, but I do love those shots we took by the cool old cabin.  I had such a great time with you guys. Let me know if you need anything before the big day.

Katie & Casey

I wished so much that I would have been able to shoot this wedding. The day of this wedding, I was coming home from the hospital after just having delivered my baby. This wedding just looked like so much fun. I’m sad that I missed it. Katie, you were nothing short of a stunning bride. Just beautiful!!! My good friend and fellow photographer, Heather Whiting, shot this wedding in my absence. I have never not been able to shoot one of my weddings in the 10+ years I’ve been shooting, but I guess having a baby is the best excuse I could have ever had, I’m just sad it had to be this one. Heather did a wonderful job capturing every beautiful moment. Not even a rainy day could stop getting some gorgeous photos!

Amy & Dave Kosanke

Despite the gloom of rain and snow atop Heavenly, you two had an incredible wedding. I know everyone said how unusual it was to have a day like that in June, but of all the sunny June weddings I’ve shot in the past, I wouldn’t have traded the day you had for one sunny day! It was incredible. Wish you both much love and happiness on your lives together

Our little bug

of course, I can’t update my blog and not also update what our little charlie jane looks like at 7 weeks. Yesterday I was at the studio for a photoshoot and I couldn’t bare to not also get some of little miss charlie. after 7 weeks, she’s been growing into her skin and those feet!

Mallory Snyder’s beautiful maternity pics!

Pregnancy is such a sacred and beautiful time, I can’t imagine not having had a collection of images from this time in my own life. It is such a privilege and honor to be able to document these incredible moments for my friends too. Mallory & Greg are expecting their first child on June 25th and getting these beautiful images for them was so very special. It thrills me that of all the modeling shoots that Mallory  has done, even with Gap Maternity, these are the ones she will get to keep for herself. It would have been a tragedy not to get some beautiful images to keep! Kevin and I cannot wait to finally meet little Wyatt. We are so lucky to have them as our friends and neighbors. We wish you both nothing but the best!!

Delivering Charlie

So my huge news this week is I am no longer pregnant!!!! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me just in itself  

We finally had our baby on Friday, May 1st. I was on the fence for a really long time whether or not I would want my hubby, Kevin, to deliver her or not. Kevin is a family practice doc up here and he delivers babies all the time, but I was convinced for a long time I wanted him to leave his doctor hat at home and put on his hubby/daddy hat. I changed my mind at the last minute and wanted him to catch her when she was born, so I was ready for that now, but I was of course wanting to document something as special as that, so I of course brought my camera in tow with me and was ready to capture this moment from my perspective, something I thought would be amazing to see.

I was admitted on Thursday night for an induction. During the night Kimberly, our fabulous nurse, would check me and I wasn’t making too much progress, so we knew that we’d have to have the pitocin in the morning. Getting some sleep that night was great. I think I woke up maybe 3 times for checks and managed to sleep. Kevin on the other hand was sleeping on one of those chairs that fold out into bed, let’s just say he was much more exhausted than I was the next morning. I got my pitocin started around 7am, and then those nasty contractions really started kicking almost immediately, I was only 2cm dilated at that point. Around 8:30 Dr. Kobalter asked if ‘I wanted the…’ and I interrupted “epidural, um yes please.” So phone call was made, and the anesthesiologist was on his way. He came about 9am and gave me the kool aid for my back. Let me just tell you, I think I could  possibly be a walking poster child in support of epidurals. I felt no pain from the waist down, it was a gift. The contractions were definitely getting the labor going and I had no idea it was even happening. I got to enjoy my Delivering Charlie playlist on my ipod, talking to my bff Paula, and my hubby, all while getting this labor going. Joyous. 11am they checked me and I was 6cm, at noon they checked me and I was 10cm. It was the fastest dilation ever. When my nurse walked in she said I think we’re ready. I was like, “we are? that’s it, I need to push?” they rolled in the cart with all the tools on it, and I was a little shocked. I felt like I was next on stage for a broadway show and didn’t know my lines. Literally. The huge light came out of the ceiling, they dimmed all the other lights in the room, and with a flick of the switch and the spotlight shining in the least glamourous of areas I was about to do my thing, but I didn’t know how to do it yet. A little bizarre, particularly when you don’t know what “pushing” really means and especially so when you can’t feel anything from the waist down. I made grunting faces, but thought that’s all I was doing, was making grunting faces. I started laughing. How’s this? make a grunt face… I would laugh and Kevin would say, “perfect, she’s coming down, that was perfect honey.” I couldn’t believe it. I was just kidding, but my grunting faces were actually helping me to push, who knew. I would laugh and she was still coming. I grabbed my camera had my fisheye ready to go and I would get off a couple of shots. Dr. Kobalter was cracking up, couldn’t believe I was taking my own pictures. We started talking about cameras while I was in active labor. He’s a canon user but I may have switched him to the other side. Anyway, I started making more grunting faces and her head started to come out. I got my camera ready I  would push, then take a shot, push then take a shot. Kevin asked me to stop pushing because she had the cord wrapped around her neck once, so he unwrapped it and I pushed again and she came out in a whirlwind. I pushed maybe 12 times and she was out. My active labor started at 12:40 and she was born at 12:58. It was such an incredible experience I can’t imagine it being more beautiful or more perfect in every way. She was 6lbs 15oz and was 19″ long, blonde hair, blue eyes and with a combination of the ugliest feet you’ll ever see in your life, Kevin’s eagle tallons, and my long monkey toes, she can do both if you can believe that. She never had a chance to inherit any beauty in her feet, but she makes up for it everywhere else. I love her to pieces, she’s now become my little nugget. 

Here’s what it looked like from my perspective.