Krista Photography Blog » faith.LIFE

The Great Giveaway – TOMORROW!

Krista Guenin — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:11:47 +0000

For the past 3 years, my church, GENESIS, has done an event every May called The Great Giveaway. Basically, it’s a HUGE yard sale where everything is FREE, and it’s pretty awesome! We believe that God is generous and He gives so much to us (provision, life, love, salvation, and abundant blessings), and that we are called to be generous as He’s been generous to us. So each year we collect thousands of items – clothing, furniture, electronics, books, toys, strollers, appliances, home decor, linens, and more – and we give them away to anyone who needs/wants them! Plus, we throw in some super fun stuff for the kids to do (even a bouncy house!!), and we feed everyone while we’re at it! Frankly, it’s the funnest day of the year, and I’m getting super excited for tomorrow!!!!!

Last year, everyone lined up and was waiting for it to begin, and when it did, they all RAN in to check it all out!

The kids LOVE it!

The grown ups have been known to have some fun too…

And it’s always fun to see people walking away with things they really NEED!!

This year we’ve got about THREE TIMES MORE stuff to giveaway than we did last year!!!! Check out more photos of what we’ve got in store on the Facebook invite here.

The Great Giveaway is TOMORROW, Saturday May 19th from 10am – 12pm at GENESIS church (16 Wheeling Ave, Woburn)

I hope you can stop by and check it out!!! Be sure to say HI – I’ll be the one walking around with a camera ;)

You can see more of the fun from last year’s Great Giveaway here. And check out my post about the first Great Giveaway here.

Now Hiring!

Krista Guenin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:35:56 +0000

It’s that time of year, and things are getting pretty busy over here at Krista Photography! It’s shaping up to be our busiest season yet, which is awesome! With all of this busyness comes a lot more work on the back end, and I’m realizing that CoCo and I can’t do it alone! So, we’re looking for some more help around here…

What are we looking for?

One or 2 people to work part-time.
Background in photography, graphic design, marketing, administrative assisting, or other applicable skills
Honest, detail-oriented, hard-working, creative, problem-solver who’s eager to learn – preferably someone fun :)
Experience with some combination of Mac computers, Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, Social Media, Lightroom & Photoshop
You’ll need a car to get to my home office in Woburn
Someone who can start the sooner, the better!

What kinds of things could you be doing?

Managing vendor relations
Marketing & Social Media projects
Submitting images for publication
Updating & managing our website
Wedding Album Design
Administrative Tasks
Client Communication
Scheduling Assistants & Second Shooters
Culling & Color Correcting
Digital Asset Management
IT Troubleshooting
Assisting at weddings
Various projects
Cleaning the office for meetings :)

What will you get in return?

Pay commensurate with experience and final job description
Flexible Hours
Fun, relaxed & productive work environment
You’ll probably get to hear me singing to myself a lot, get to pet my cat a lot, and hopefully have a little fun while you’re here :)
You’ll get to work with US! Who wouldn’t want that?! :)

If you’re interested, please send an email telling me a bit about yourself, why you’re interested in working for Krista Photography, what kind of roles you’re interested in taking on, a link to your work if you’re a photographer, and a resume to kg@kristaphoto.com! Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Life is too short

Krista Guenin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:52:49 +0000

I’m going to get pretty personal here for a minute. For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, that won’t surprise you, but for those who are just stopping by for the first time – I hope you’ll indulge me…

Two weeks ago, a young woman from my church, Alanna, and her unborn son, were killed in a tragic accident while on vacation with her husband in Florida.

Alanna was a joyful, sweet woman – the kind of person that no one could say a bad thing about – just genuinely loving and kind. She always had a beautiful smile on her face. I remember the few conversations I had with her being completely pleasant, and walking away feeling encouraged and more grateful for my life and work than I was before. Our hearts have been so heavy within the GENESIS community, even for those of us who didn’t know Alanna very well. Her death affects us all because we are one Body. “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:4-5. And it’s that much harder for those who knew her well and for whom she was a big part of their lives. More than anything, my heart aches for her husband Michael, and her family. It’s an absolutely devastating loss.

For the last 2 weeks, I have been praying that God would use this for good. I have said it again and again, but her death, this whole thing is just so completely horrible – it’s so horrible that there is no way that God will not use it for good. God does not delight in tragedy, but in taking ashes and turning them into something beautiful. And I believe with all my heart that God will use Alanna’s death to bring about something beautiful in the lives of those left behind. I believe that He will reveal Himself to us, and to many. I have already seen it, and I trust that it will only grow as time passes.

I think Alanna’s legacy is her faith in and love for Jesus, and that above everything else, she would want people to know that about her, to see that in her, and to seek the same. On her Facebook page, in her “about me” section she wrote the lyrics to the song Legacy by Nichole Nordeman…

“I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy”

This is the legacy she leaves. Her entire life, and even her death points us to God. That’s what she wanted most, and I believe that’s what she’s done. And I rejoice in knowing that she’s with Him now – at perfect peace, in perfect joy, and hearing “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

For me personally, I feel overwhelmed with all I’ve learned in these last few days. I look at how she died in the midst of such joy – she’d said it was the happiest day of her life – and I realize that life is just too short for anything else. Life is too short to spend it being angry, or frustrated. Life is too short to waste our time on foolish things, on too many hours spent in front of a computer or a TV. Life is too short not to tell the people you love that you love them – not to show them that you love them. And most importantly, life is too short not to be lived in light of what we believe is most important. Alanna’s entire life, her entire personality, everything about her pointed the people around her to Jesus, spoke to them of His love. Will they say the same of me when I die someday? I hope so. I hope that I could leave half the mark on the people around me that Alanna has left. I look to her example, and am deeply challenged. I pray that my life would be different from here on out – that her life and death would not impact me just these last few weeks, but for the rest of my life.

You truly never know what moment will be your last, don’t waste them.

p.s. I wish I knew who the photographer was who took her wedding photo, so I could give him/her proper credit. I pulled this from Facebook, and she didn’t credit her photog. A reminder to all of us photographers to watermark our images… If you shot this photo, please let me know and I’ll edit the post!

Inspire 2012 is almost here!!

Krista Guenin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:37:31 +0000

Inspire.

It started out as an idea… What if there was a conference that felt more like a community? What if instead of flying around the country to hear people from California talk about running their businesses, we gathered photographers from right here in New England and asked them instead? What if we did it ourselves? These are the questions that Matt & Enna Grazier asked a few of us, as we all looked at them as if they were nuts. Brilliant. But nuts… If it had been my idea, it probably would have stayed an idea, but the Grazier’s are people of action, and thank God for that!

What began as an idea, a question, grew into a real life conference we called Inspire Boston. What was an incredible and inspiring two days in Concord with 100 photographers, grew to something more the next year… Inspire Boston 2011. We added mentoring sessions, shooting workshops, and a vendor lounge and this time 125 people came from all over New England and beyond!

So, here we are, 3 years later, and it’s just 12 days until Inspire 2012 kicks off! This year, we’ve changed the name from Inspire Boston to Inspire Photo Seminars – since it’s really not just about Boston anymore. We’ve moved it to the Sturbridge Host so we could have a bit more space and be a little more centralized for our primarily MA/CT attendees. We’ve got 18 Speaking Sessions, 8 Special Classes (shooting session, portfolio reviews, etc.), a special pre-conference all-day Pictage + ShootQ Bootcamp, an even bigger Vendor Lounge, a mid-conference party with KARAOKE (clearly that was my idea!), one-on-one and roundtable mentoring sessions with the speakers and sponsors, and a killer Wrap-Party at the end! It is going to be a JAM-PACKED couple of days!!!

I’ll be speaking at Inspire this year on Facebook Marketing Strategies. If you follow my blog, you’ve probably liked my Facebook page as well (and if not, what’s stopping you?!). And if you follow both, you’ve probably noticed that I post on Facebook WAY more often than on here. Facebook just makes it so EASY for me! It has dramatically changed and grown my business over the last 3 years. Last year my weddings doubled from the year before, and this year I’m almost entirely booked up for the year already! I give most of that credit to how I share images and communicate via Facebook – but I guess I’ll give a little of the credit to my photographs too, yeah? ;) I’ve been super excited to share my Facebook strategies and theories with the Inspire community, and wouldn’t you know it, Facebook went and changed everything about their business pages three weeks before the conference! So, I’m reworking my talk and trying to learn as much about all the changes as possible, and now I’m even more excited :) I mean, what better time to talk about how to set up and use a Facebook page than right when everything about them has changed and everyone’s wondering what to do?! OK, so I’m excited and also a little overwhelmed, but I do think it’s an exciting time to be sharing about this and I’m hoping that it will be really beneficial to everyone to comes to my talk!

If you’re a photographer, and you aren’t signed up for Inspire yet, what are you waiting for?! It’s going to be FUN! You’re going to meet a TON of awesome local photographers who may just become your nearest and dearest friends (I’ve gone on vacation with ladies I met at Inspire, and don’t get me started on how much I love the Planning Team). You’re going to LEARN something new! You’re going to leave feeling INSPIRED and EMPOWERED to make some great changes in your business and maybe even in your life. It’s not too late to sign up and come be a part of it all!! I’ve got a $50 off discount code that is good for the first 3 people who use it! Go HERE and use the code KRISTAPHOTO2012 to get $50 off your registration! I hope you can come!!!

The end of a year

Krista Guenin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:19:35 +0000

Today I’m officially observing New Year’s Day! Every year, I normally spend New Year’s Day sleeping in (check), having a nice long quiet time of journaling and praying (check), work out a budget for the new year (um, pass, I don’t feel like it), going through my calendar for the last year (check), and reminiscing about all that’s happened (check). It’s been a challenging year for sure, especially the last few months of the year when life got doubly stressful, but as I look back I have a much better perspective and am able to truly thank God for this year!

Here’s a little peek at my 2011 in no particular order…

Shot 14 fabulous weddings from January through December in Boston, on the Cape, and in Connecticut

Took voice lessons for the first time

Renovated my home office

Fell in love with my new neph-dog, Buckeye

Brought on CoCo as a paid office assistant

FINALLY bough an iPhone!!!!

Lead a LIFEgroup of fabulous women for a few months

Got published in The Knot Boston, twice!

Said goodbye to too many dear friends as they moved away

Joyfully welcomed back a few friends as they returned home

Spoke at the Boston PUG on Facebook Marketing, and with Enna Grazier at Inspire 2011 on Branding

Shot 12 Engagement Sessions in Boston, on the Cape, and in New York

Donated over $4800 to various non-profits as part of our GIVE program!! So cool!

Sang lots of karaoke (sometimes while shooting weddings ;)

Helped organize and pull off the 2nd Inspire Photo Conference, and began planning the 3rd (it’s going to be sweet, you photogs should come!)

: photo by RAW Photo Design

Shot 10 Family Portrait Sessions in Boston, Indianapolis & Chicago

Holiday Portrait Party!

sang on the Worship Team at GENESIS on a lot of Sunday mornings

Shot 5 Corporate photo sessions

Bought a new iMac to add to my collection

Discovered the Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice and held a British mini-series marathon that caused some random British accents to pop into conversations for a month or so

Travelled to Dallas for my cousin’s wedding, a photo conference, and a visit with a friend – whirlwind weekend for sure!

Watched Butler lose the NCAA Finals for the 2nd year in a row. wah wah :(

Scratched the surface of understanding the word GRACE and what God’s love is really like

Spent a long weekend at Loon Mountain with some of my favorite photog ladies

Lots of visits from Mom & Dad (aka Mimi & Papa)

Discovered & fell in love with The Civil Wars, Pinterest, and truffle oil tater tots

The Great Giveaway!

8 friends got married, 3 more got engaged, and 6 had babies, adopt or get pregnant!

Spent as much time at the beach as I possibly could

2 weeks in Indianapolis, and the annual Guenin Family Vacation

Cried over the end of the Harry Potter series

Said goodbye as too many friends moved away, rejoiced as a couple of friends returned home

Watched my sister’s kids get far too big

Hunkered down for Hurricane Irene

Threw some fun parties

Cookie Face Race!

Dexter. Psych. Pushing Daisies. Mad Men. My So Called Life. The joy of Hulu & Netflix…

Turned 34. yep.

Finished reading through the entire Bible for the second time (it only took me 5 1/2 years…)

Did NOT have anyone move into or out of my house!! A first for the last many years – so thankful for my awesome roommate!

Laughed a lot, cried a lot, went to the chiropractor a lot, ate too much pizza, drank too much Coke, sat at my computer a lot a lot a lot…

All in all, that’s a pretty great year! I have more to be thankful for than I remembered yesterday – so that’s pretty awesome :)

Here’s to a great 2012!!

xoxo

Krista

Krista Photography Internships Available!

Krista Guenin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:22:25 +0000

When I started out in photography almost 10 years ago, my first job was assisting at a big wedding studio in Chicago. I remember the very first task they gave me… shovel the sidewalk :) I started at the very bottom of the food chain. As months went by, I became the studio manager, and then began shooting as an Associate photographer for the company. A few years later, I moved out on my own and started at the bottom again in a new town, with a new studio. I have worked hard over the past 5 years to create a business that I love and that actually supports me. I don’t ever forget those first few months though, and the opportunity I was given to learn from someone successful and to see it all from the inside before I went off on my own.

Over the years, I’ve tried to pay that same opportunity forward. I’ve brought on interns the last few seasons, and it’s been great! I get some much-needed help, and they have hopefully had the chance to learn things they couldn’t have learned in school. This past year, I got a new intern, CoCo, who actually interned at the studio in Chicago just after I moved to Boston, and then moved to Boston herself. She’s so awesome though, that I had to take her on as a paid assistant/photo editor. And man, she’s been SUCH a help to me!!! But here we are, reaching the peak of wedding season (in Boston at least), and we need some more help! So, we’re hoping to find a new intern to add to the team!! If you’re interested, check out the details below to see if you’d be a good fit!!

What are we looking for?

Photography, graphic-design, or marketing student, or someone just starting out in the photography business
honest, detail-oriented, hard-working, creative, problem-solver who’s eager to learn – preferably someone fun :)
experience with Mac computers, Microsoft Word, Lightroom & Photoshop
you’ll need a car to get to my home office in Woburn
6-8 hours/week
Commitment through the end of the year, starting ASAP!

What kinds of things will you be doing?

contact management/data entry
shipping packages
scanning film
culling/editing shoots
burning discs
office organization/filing
research projects
social media tasks
designing print materials
running errands
various projects (i.e. setting us up with ShootQ)
shoveling the sidewalk ;)

What will you get in return?

Opportunity to learn how to run a wedding photography business from a seasoned professional
Intern Day each quarter where we’ll spend the day focusing only on what you want to learn, and giving you portfolio feedback – lunch included
This is unpaid, but I’ll buy or make you lunch each week :)
Opportunity to assist at weddings and portrait sessions (PAID)
You’ll probably get to hear me singing to myself a lot, get to pet my cat a lot, and hopefully have a little fun while you’re here :)

If you’re interested, please send an email telling me a bit about yourself, why you’re interested in the internship, a link to your work, and a resume to kg@kristaphoto.com!

Inspire Boston 2011

Krista Guenin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:21:11 +0000

You may or may not know that for the last 2 years, I’ve been part of a small group of photographers who have planned, organized, and put on a local wedding photography conference called Inspire Boston. The first year was awesome, and this year’s was even better! The whole conference is based around the concept of peer-to-peer mentoring and the idea that as we build relationships with one another and our community grows stronger – we’ll all become better photographers and business owners. It was an intimate conference of just 125 people, and we held it at Concord’s Colonial Inn which gave the whole thing a very cozy and New Englandy vibe. There were a handful of great (mostly local) instructors for presentations, shooting workshops, and mentoring sessions. We also scheduled in tons of free time so that even more learning, inspiration, and encouragement could happen in between the formal class times. And this year we added in Vendor Lounge so that people could connect with some of the industry and the area’s best vendors. All in all, it was pretty fabulous!

Between preparing for my presentation and organizing all the logistics – I didn’t take too many photos for those three days! But here are a few of my favorites from the last day of the conference…

My fabulous assistant, CoCo Boardman shot a few images during & after my presentation with Enna Grazier. Our presentation was on Creating a Sustainable Brand. It went really well, which was exciting, and also a huge relief!

It was especially cool talking with people after the presentation, hearing their feedback – but also watching people talking and brainstorming together. People seemed really inspired to figure out who they really are, and what they want their business to be. Love it!

Later that night we had a Wrap Party at LensProToGo complete with pizza, raffle prizes and a very fun ring light to play with :) I loved this shot CoCo got of me!

Tabitha looks like she’s singing a sad song… I love her :)

that’s tougher than it looks, eh Larry?

dude, CoCo’s mean!

aw, Paul & Krystal :)

Here’s a shot of the whole crowd at the Wrap Party (courtesy of Raw Photo Design)

And the “Dream Team” who planned & organized the event: CoCo, me, Mark Higgins, Krystal & Paul McNerney, Carla Ten Eyk, Candice Coppola, Diana Chouinard, Matt & Enna Grazier (the masterminds behind the whole thing), and Richard Esposito. What a blessing it’s been to work with these lovely people!!

After the wrap party, came the best part, really – the AFTER PARTY! A bunch of us went back to the Inn for a concert by Jimmy Mazzy & Friends – the most fabulous little old jazz band in the world. Oh, they were soooo fun!!! And they play every Wednesday night at the Colonial Inn, if you ever want to check them out!!

Gid. He’s my favorite!

The Incredible Mr. Jimmy Mazzy!

I had to show Gid how to use his camera on his phone, but once he figured it out, he couldn’t put it down!

see, he’s just delightful :)

Thanks again to everyone who participated in Inspire Boston 2011!!!! I had a great time, and am already excited for next year! We’ve already begun planning for 2012 so stay tuned for details coming in the next few months!!

If you’d like to view more of my images from Inspire Boston, check out the album on Facebook.

GO BULLDOGS!!!

Krista Guenin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:50:22 +0000

Just for the record… I graduated from Butler University, and I will be rooting for the BULLDOGS to win the NCAA Basketball championship tonight! I think that you should too. :)

**/edit/**

I’m so sad they lost last night, but I think this article is just awesome! I was not impressed with their playing last night, but I am beyond impressed with how they handled it.

Inspire Boston 2011

Krista Guenin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:04:31 +0000

In November of 2009, my friends Matt & Enna Grazier gathered some friends and asked us to if we’d be interested in helping them put together a conference for local New England photographers. Sounded great to me, and just 3 short months later, Inspire Boston was underway! It was such an awesome time of learning and networking – everyone had a blast. Check out this great video that Richard Esposito put together for it:

In fact, it went so great that we decided to do it all again this year! Fast forward a few months, and here I am today, sitting in the Colonial Inn in Concord, bracing myself for the start of Inspire Boston 2011! This year we’ve made it a little longer, added some more shooting workshops, improved our mentoring sessions, and added a Vendor Lounge. I’m so pumped! Plus, this year I’m actually speaking at the conference…gulp! Enna Grazier and I are speaking on Creating a Sustainable Brand, and I’m both excited and also nervous :) It’s going to be a great couple of days though! Hopefully I’ll be able to share some photos and such later in the week!

Facebook

Krista Guenin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:38:26 +0000

Earlier this year, Constant Contact (the company I use to send out newsletters) interviewed me about how I use social media. Apparently, they found my “strategy” really exciting and interesting – which came as quite a surprise to me. I use a hodge podge of social media resources including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, this blog, my website, emails via Constant Contact, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and just about anything I find. I probably use Facebook more than anything else though. I love Facebook – I love being able to connect with old friends, friends who live far away, friends I see all the time, friends I might never hear from again if it weren’t for the site, old clients, new clients, other photographers, my Mom, and all sorts of friends, family & business associates in between. I love that I can know what’s going on in their lives and feel closer to them, like I know them a little better (and vice versa). And I LOVE that I can share photos with my clients, with their friends, with my friends & their friends, and so on. And of course, I love that my friends & their friends can see my work and maybe they’ll think of me when they need a photographer :) I’ve also booked work because people have seen my photos of their friends, or because my friends recommended me to someone b/c of what they’d seen on fb. It’s pretty cool! I mean, it takes some time, but I’d probably be spending that time on fb anyway… at least this way I’ve got work as an excuse ;)

Anyway, Constant Contact recently did a study on small businesses’ use of Facebook and found that most small business owners believe Facebook is even more important than face to face marketing. Well, Reuters found out about the results, and wanted to do an article – so they called to see if I’d mind being interviewed! Naturally, I agreed! I mean, how cool is that?! You want to interview me about why I love Facebook? Um, ok! They even asked me to take a photo of myself at my desk to use with the article, haha! Check it out…

I think the article turned out great! It’s still a little crazy to me, but it’s definitely cool! You can read the full article here :) And of course, you can always find me on Facebook here… ;)

Photo Shoot at Fenway Park!

Krista Guenin — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:00:37 +0000

I had the opportunity this summer to shoot a family portrait session inside of Fenway Park! I’m not actually a fan (of any sports team, really), but it was still very cool to get into the Park while it was mostly empty and go out on the field and behind the scenes a bit! It was so fun to photograph a family here! I can’t share those images with you, but I thought I’d share a few of my faves of the Park. For all of you Boston Red Sox fans out there, these are for you :)

Fenway

The view from Left Field

Foul Line

The stands

self portrait on the dugout

The Green Monster

The field

batting cages

My first Red Sox Game!

Krista Guenin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:58:30 +0000

One of my best friends was just in town for a few days for a family reunion that I got to photograph. Later that week they all headed down to Boston for a Red Sox – Indians game and invited me along. I’d never been to a Red Sox game and never been to Fenway, so I was pretty excited to go! When we were younger, Marietta got me into the Braves and I followed them for years… until they traded David Justice to the Indians and I decided it just wasn’t worth caring about a team if the owners were just going to split them up! I mean, jeez! (Clearly, I’m more of a people person than a team person) So, I’m not really a fan of any sports team anymore – though I always root for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and occasionally the Colts. But I’m fascinated by sports fans and am always up for people-watching at a game & hanging out with friends :)

Austin got a little sleepy on the walk to the park. You’ll notice he & his Daddy are Indians fans. That’ll happen when you’re from Ohio…

That baby is too cute!

Me & “Mommy”

I pretty much just want to kiss those cheeks all the time!

Fenway did not disappoint!

The only part of the game that I even remember was this huge fight that broke out when the Indians pitcher hit a guy with the ball, like for the 3rd time…

Just for fun, here’s a few photos of Marietta & I over the years…. hehe :]

Marietta & I met doing synchronized swimming. Our first routine was a duet we swam together. We were pretty cute, huh? (~1987)

My first professional baseball game! Rooting for the Braves at Cincinnati (1994)

And here we are now… Times have definitely changed, but it’s so wonderful to have friends who have known you for most of your life!!!

The Great Giveaway

Krista Guenin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:02:37 +0000

Earlier this summer, my church GENESIS held an event called The Great Giveaway. This was our way of reaching out and blessing the community of Woburn. We’re a very new church in the area, and thought this might be a great way to meet our neighbors. We basically had a HUGE yard sale where everything was given away for FREE! Hundreds of people came and almost everything was taken by the end of the day (what wasn’t taken was donated to Salvation Army). It was the coolest thing! People could not get over the fact that everything was free, and that there were no strings attached. It was so fun!

We spent HOURS going through all the donations, organizing everything, and then putting it out in the parking lot. There was a TON of stuff!!

People were lined up at the entrance for hours waiting for the event to start. It was so cool to watch them run when we opened the gates!

THOUSANDS of items of clothing were given away!

Just for fun, I shot some film with my Holga :)

Leg Warmers!!

And this guy found some roller skates, and rolled away on them – and they even matched his shirt! He was so excited! :)

there was face-painting for the kiddos

and a bouncy house!

Even Justin, Gretchen & Chloe came :)

I am so blessed to be part of this community! I definitely hope we do this again next year :)

Back from Vacation!

Krista Guenin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:45:16 +0000

Well, I have finally returned from my road trip to the Midwest! It was a very fun vacation, with a little work thrown in to the mix! Here’s a quick recap…

Drove with my sister & her 3 kids (ages 3-7) from Boston to Niagara Falls.

Came down with bronchitis.

Visited my old synchronized swimming coach who was coaching at Nationals nearby. The only other times I’ve been to Niagara Falls is when I’ve been to synchro meets! (yes, I was a synchronized swimmer & coach for 15 years!)

Visited Niagara Falls and went on the Maid of the Mist for the first time! Very cool – and very wet!!

Drove with Kyla & the kids from Niagara Falls to Columbus, OH.

are we there yet? are we there yet?

Visited lots of Kyla’s friends in Columbus, ate lots of Graeter’s Ice Cream. yum!

Drove with Kyla & the kids from Columbus to Mom & Dad’s house in Indianapolis.

cough. cough. nap. cough. whine.

Fireworks on the White River for Independence Day!

Watched a lot of the Tour de France with my Dad.

Visited with some old college friends & their babies.

Pool party. boat rides. playground. Did I mention bronchitis? doctor’s office. sprinkler park. water park.

Brother-in-law arrived. Kids excited because “now we’re a family!”

Drove with the whole fam up to Monticello, IN for Guenin Family Vacation 2010! 25 of my favorite Guenins vacationing it up for 3 glorious days :) Lots of baseball and swimming in the pool, and Euchre, and food, and more boat rides!

Visited a dairy farm. Almost saw a cow give birth. scarred for life.

Drove all by my lonesome to Chicago.

Ate at some of my favorite restaurants with some of my favorite girls!

Photo shoot. Photo shoot.

Drive back to Indy.

Nephew’s 7th Birthday extravaganza! Star Wars. Toy Story 3. repeat.

Got caught on the boat in the POURING rain.

Photo shoot.

Drove solo from Indy to Columbus to Rochester, NY to Woburn, MA.

sigh.

It sure was FUN! And super exhausting ;) I would share more photos, but I think my clients need me to get back to work after all this time off! Back to editing I go… :)

Portrait Days

Krista Guenin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:00:10 +0000

To celebrate the launch of my new portraits website, I’m planning to host a few Portrait Days in July. I’ll be traveling back and forth between Boston and Indianapolis with my family next month, so we’ll have Portrait Days in a number of cities along the way!

Portrait Days will include consecutive mini portrait sessions at a set location on a specified day (see schedule below). All sessions will be about 45 minutes long and may include any number of people. Sessions are only $150 (plus tax for MA residents) and will include all images posted online for proofing. There are a limited number of sessions per day, so please call or email to schedule your session today! For cities where a location has not yet been determined, the first person to sign up will get to help decide :)

2010 Portrait Days

Wednesday, July 7th – INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Indianapolis Art Museum

Tuesday, July 13th – CHICAGO, IL – Location TBD

Thursday, July 15th – COLUMBUS, OH – Location TBD

Friday, July 16th – NEW YORK, NY – Location TBD

Saturday, July 24th – BOSTON, MA – Mystic River Reservation

*full portrait sessions may also be available in your city on or around these dates, so contact me if you’d like to schedule a full shoot!

Krista Photography Portraits site is LIVE!

Krista Guenin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:29:48 +0000

Oh boy, I’ve been waiting for this post for MONTHS! I’ve been working hard to collect and edit down my favorite portrait photos to fill the galleries of my BRAND NEW portraits website! And now, I proudly introduce you to www.kristaphotoportraits.com!

It basically looks and works just like my weddings site, but is all about portraits. Geniusy, eh? Take a look! Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

Featured Weddings

Krista Guenin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:00:41 +0000

In the last few weeks it’s been very fun and pretty exciting to see a bunch of my weddings featured on some awesome wedding blogs!

Elena & Dan’s wedding was featured on Beantown Bride this week. Beantown Bride is a great new site for local Boston Brides, I’m excited to be a part of it!

Megan & Mike’s wedding was featured on WeddingWire. Coincidentally, I saw all three of Megan’s bridesmaids that week! So fun!

and Britt & Mike’s wedding was also featured on WeddingWire!

I’m honored to have my work featured on both of these excellent resources! It’s really very exciting and a little overwhelming!

The Great Giveaway!

Krista Guenin — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:44:26 +0000

Well, I’m back from vacation, and man it was WONDERFUL! It was so relaxing, and very very fun :) If I’m lucky, I might even be able to share some photos with you guys before next year’s vacation comes around!

This week has been pretty busy though because I’ve been preparing for a huge event we’re putting on at my church, GENESIS. It’s called The Great Giveaway, and basically it’s a huge yard sale where everything is FREE! That’s right, FREE! GENESIS was planted in Woburn last September as a brand new church and our mission is simply to love God and to love people. This is our way of introducing ourselves to the community, and just one way we’re hoping to live out our mission. If you live in the Boston area, I hope you can come!!

The Great Giveaway

GENESIS Community Church – 16 Wheeling Avenue, Woburn, MA

Saturday, May 22nd (that’s tomorrow!)

10am – 2pm

If you would like to donate anything to The Great Giveaway, it’s not too late! Our final drop-off time is this afternoon/evening. Just bring your furniture, clothing, kids toys, sporting equipment, books, CDs, salad spinners, or what have you to the church between 2pm – 9pm!

Going on VACATION!!

Krista Guenin — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:15:17 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again! Time for a trip to the BEACH with the fam!! I will officially be off-line for most of next week, so don’t expect an email or call from me unless it’s REALLY important! I’ll be busy…

Looking at clouds…

watching dolphins swim free…

having a ridiculous amount of fun with my niece & nephews, sister, bro-in-law, and parents…

We will be sure to grab some family portraits too!

I’ll even get a couple photos of ME! (my sister took this one :)

And my nephew, Tristan took this one!

And, since it’s Mother’s Day… Here’s me & my Momma! Happy Mother’s Day Mom! I love you, and double-love that we get to spend the day together on the beach!!!!!!!! S.W.A.K!

Ok, I’m off! Have a great week people!

Baby Tellen

Krista Guenin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:00:59 +0000

I hope you people like cute babies! Because there’s no shortage of them over here these days! All my clients, and friends are having babies it seems. Love it! :)

I was hanging out with my friend’s baby, Tellen, the other day. And I could not resist photographing her gorgeous little face. I mean her little nose, and her chubby cheeks were seriously just TOO MUCH!!

She looks a little freaked out, but trust me, we’re totally buds!

See!

Oh. my. goodness!

Apparently this last shot right here, this sleeping child, made me the “Tellen-whisperer” :)

Tellen – you’re too cute for words!

Get Lit!

Krista Guenin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:50:34 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve attended some great workshops lately! One of the first was Doug Levy’s Get Lit Workshop hosted by ASA Photographic. The whole day was focused on learning more about off-camera flash. I have some experience with off-camera flash, but since I prefer to shoot with natural light, I figured it would be good to invest in learning a bit more. It’s always good to try new things and step outside your comfort zone a little bit!

The day started with some intensive teaching in the morning, and we spent some time trying out what we’d learned and playing with Doug & ASA’s gear in the afternoon :)

here’s Doug…

At one point we broke up into teams and had to recreate one of Doug’s favorite shots using a model and whatever lights we wanted. We got pretty close to the same lighting Doug used in his original…

Later, Doug gave each person a real life challenge. When you’re on a shoot, crazy things can happen and it’s good to be prepared for any situation. My assignment was to shoot with one off-camera flash to get a nice portrait while balancing the ambient light using gels. The trick to my assignment was that I had 7 minutes total, and was NOT allowed to use my LCD screen to see if I’d gotten it right. Not even the histograms! As someone who’s never used gels, this was a little crazy. You’ll see that I’m showing you the image in black & white…. I think I got a good shot, but the color was totally off! Sometimes the best learning experiences are failures ;)

Thanks Doug for a great workshop! Here’s to playing more with lighting at my shoots this year!

The “off” season

Krista Guenin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:27:22 +0000

So, I realized yesterday that it’s been almost a month since I last blogged! WHOA! This is probably the longest I’ve ever neglected my darling little blog… poor thing! ;) The truth of the matter is that I haven’t been shooting so I’ve forgotten to blog. This is what we wedding photographers like to call the “off season.” It’s the “off” season because there aren’t many weddings in New England in the miserable winter time, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we aren’t working this time of year! It’s actually been a fairly busy time! So, what does a wedding photographer actually DO this time of year??? I’ll tell you…

- Seminars, Workshops, and Conferences, oh my! I’m not kidding, there are so many to choose from it’s overwhelming! I finally settled on just a few that I thought would be really helpful. Justin & Mary Marantz’ Spread the Love workshop, Doug Levy’s Get Lit Workshop on off-camera flash, Inspire Boston which I helped my dear friends the Graziers organize, and the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference in Dallas. Each was awesome for very different reasons, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to blog about them in the coming days to tell you all about them!

- Albums, albums, albums! This is the time of year when we finally have some time to sit down with my brides and help them choose images for their albums. And I’ve brought on a new album designer, Andrea, who’s doing an amazing job creating beautiful albums that tell the stories my brides hope to someday share with their kids and grandkids. I’ll try to blog a few designs for you, so you can see for yourself!

- Marketing… This is also the time of year when I go back to the drawing board on my website and decide it needs all new photos! So, I’m busy working on that and trying to narrow down my favorites, which is always the hardest part! It’s also when I need to sit down and rethink my marketing strategies, make sure I’m only advertising on the right websites, and reaching the right brides (i.e. the fabulous brides who want to work with me, and vice versa). This basically means a lot of decision making for me – and I can say without reservation that decision-making is not my strong suit ;)

- Taxes. ugh! ‘nough said.

- Reconnect. The best part of the off-season is that I actually get to spend some time hanging out with my friends – both in the industry and outside! So, each week my calendar seems ridiculously filled with lunches, dinners, karaoke nights, and all sorts of fun things! I’m not complaining :)

Oh, I’ve also finally gotten around to editing some of my personal photos from last year! Here are a few of my niece & nephews – because they’re the cutest and because a post without photos is lame!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to! Now it’s time to get back to working on those other blog posts… I’ll talk to you soon! ;)

Featured Wedding on Beantown Bride!

Krista Guenin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:30 +0000

My friend and fellow photographer, Brittany Blando, recently launched a great new wedding resource for planning luxury weddings in and around Boston, called Beantown Bride. Martha Stewart Weddings even twittered about it the other day, so you know it’s good if Martha likes it ;) It is a fabulous blog, full of great local inspiration and I was very excited when they asked to feature Liana & James’ wedding! The article was just released, so head over here and check it out!!

Boston Weddings Magazine

Krista Guenin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:39:48 +0000

If you remember Elizabeth and Ryan’s wedding from early this summer, you’ll know how absolutely gorgeous it was! It was just such a beautiful day and they have been such a wonderful couple to work with! So, I was super excited when the editor of the Boston Weddings magazine called to talk with me about publishing their wedding in the Spring/Summer 2010 edition!! Eeek! Talk about excited!

I didn’t want to mention it until it was official – you know, just in case. But the edition came out not too long ago, so I guess it’s ok to share now!

Eek! I’m so excited for my first publication!! Go out and pick up a copy! Or, go here and read it online :)

Also, I’d like to note that Images #4 & #9 were shot by my 2nd shooter, Mark Higgins, and image #8 was shot by my assistant, Elizabeth Hannah. The photo credit should have read Krista Photography instead of Krista Guenin – every wedding is a TEAM effort!!!

Welcome to my fancy new blog!!

Krista Guenin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:51:57 +0000

[this post will remain at the top for a little while, so please scroll down to see some newer posts!]

I have been dreaming and working for months and months to get myself a fancy new blog of my very own. My friend Ashley of Pixel Lily has worked tirelessly with me to make it just what I was hoping for, and more. I LOVE how it turned out and am SO excited to share it with you all at last! Please take a look around and let me know what you think!! I hope you love it too :)