kristianne koch photography—-photo blog

After a relaxing morning Jim and Merrik decided to go out and drive the new R/C truck offroad somewhere there was lots of open space. I put Maliea down for a nap and received a phone call from Jim instructing me to “pack an overnight bag” for everyone. So when he and Merrik returned we tidied up the house and we were off on a surprise escape for my birthday.

We arrived at the Monte Carlo suite of the Doubletree hotel in Dana Point-about 10 miles from home. After relaxing with a glass of wine on the patio overlooking Doheny Beach, we all marched off to the pool and jacuzzi where Maliea threatened to jump in at every turn. So I could relax I suggested we head back to the room and go in the jacuzzi tub.

Later we entertained the kids at Ichibiri’s teppanyaki grill. My first choice was TakaO for sushi but with kids in tow the teppan ended up being a brilliant idea on Dad’s part. The next morning we braved the oncoming storm and headed out for a brisk and brief bike ride in Doheny State Park.

Kristianne Koch Photography

Kristianne Koch specializes in on-location portrait photography for the contemporary family and child for all of Southern California. 949-702-7707 kristianne.koch@cox.net

December 30th, 2009 | Tags: birthday, dana point, getaway | Category: my family | Leave a comment

Kristianne Koch Photography

Kristianne Koch specializes in on-location portrait photography for the contemporary family and child for all of Southern California. 949-702-7707 kristianne.koch@cox.net

December 28th, 2009 | Tags: maliea, merrik, north beach, sunset | Category: my family | Leave a comment

I hope everyone had a stylin’ Christmas and spent much joyous time with family and friends. Wishing everyone an abundant and healthy new year. xo

Kristianne Koch Photography

Kristianne Koch specializes in on-location portrait photography for the contemporary family and child for all of Southern California. 949-702-7707 kristianne.koch@cox.net

December 27th, 2009 | Tags: christmas | Category: my family | Leave a comment

I finally had an opportunity to escape the responsibilities of home and spend a day learning new tools and techniques to improve my photography skills. It’s been 18 years since I have taken a course in photography for anything-lighting, technique, workflow. I came across the photography workshops offered by Zach and Jody Grey only a few months ago and was lucky enough to get the last seat in their In-Camera: Shooting & Post Workshop right here in Orange County.

Most workshops I’ve seen are either way out of my price range ($900+) or out of my circle of travel (Los Angeles, San Francisco). I am still not ready and willing to fly or drive all over the state, away from my family, to learn new things about photography. One bit of reassurance I received from the workshop was that everything they taught for workflow was exactly as I have already developed as my own workflow just by trial and error over the last year. It gives me a lot of confidence that I do know what I am doing and am editing, processing and archiving in a logical manner!

I am posting a few of my favorite images from the shoot session here. After a morning of instruction in which I picked up a fresh understanding of white balance and perfecting exposure, we headed out to try our ‘camera’ at capturing a perfectly lit, balanced and exposed image in-camera. It was easier and harder than a usual session: easier because the model held still and had incredible camera presence and harder because there were 9 other photographers at any one time jumping in front of you to get ‘their’ shot. To see more about the workshops visit Zach and Jody’s blog.

…and some of my most favorite images from the workshop hands-on session are the behind the scenes grabs I got…

Kristianne Koch Photography

Kristianne Koch specializes in on-location portrait photography for the contemporary family and child for all of Southern California. 949-702-7707 kristianne.koch@cox.net

December 14th, 2009 | Tags: lighting, workshops | Category: photography | Comments (2)

The kids are in awe of the Christmas tree. There is something amazing about a lavishly decorated and well lit tree that makes the house smell like you are in the woods. Merrik helped put ornaments on today and ended up loving them all in the same place. There is a little cluster of sailboats all at his level that just look like they are supposed to be there.

Maliea would just stand and wiggle and watch the tree and train for moments at a time. She always put back any ornaments she took off to look at and revered the tree as much as Merrik.

I wanted to capture both of them sitting in front of the tree just like an image I captured of the two of them last year. It’s an image that has landed itself in a magnetic frame on our fridge somehow. I don’t usually get around to putting photos in those things so they are usually empty for years. But this one made it in and I have fallen in love with it. Mostly I think because it is so hard to get them in a photo together where they both look half awake and happy.

Kristianne Koch Photography

Kristianne Koch specializes in on-location portrait photography for the contemporary family and child for all of Southern California. 949-702-7707 kristianne.koch@cox.net

December 12th, 2009 | Tags: christmas, maliea, merrik | Category: my family | Leave a comment