Kimberly Reed Photography

have you guys ever met someone and instantly clicked with them? Michele is one of those people for me. When we first met a few months ago to talk about her wedding, it just felt like we were old friends. So I was excited to finally meet her fiance chris for their engagement session yesterday. we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to a park down the street from their house. they are such a cute couple; i just adore them. plus they have two pretty well behaved dogs (that mine could take some lessons from). oh, and chris is opening up his own world gym in pittsburgh in the next few months, which will offer a women’s program, plus a non-profit youth program. you should definitely check it out!

anyway, here are a few of my faves from the day:

workin’ a little lens flare

you can see their slideshow here.

i had such great time with you two yesterday. i’m so excited for your wedding, it’s going to be beautiful!

sorry i haven’t blogged lately…ray’s cousin (whom he was very close with) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on thursday morning. he was in his 30’s, and left behind a wife and four children. his family is pretty devastated, so please keep them in your prayers.

i shot jill and tony’s engagement session yesterday. they are a super fun couple who met when they were dancing partners in a play. they both have a love for theater and drama, so it was only natural to incorporate that into their session. we started out taking their dog gollum for a walk at the park, and then we went to the theater jill works at for some really fun shots. the evening included juice boxes, shadow puppets, and a captain hook costume. i was laughing so hard at one point that i started to cry! here are some of my faves from the evening:

gollum in his spiderman t-shirt

all three of us were wearing flip flops.

jill holding back a smile.

using the shadow stage (is that what it’s called?) and some props we found at the theater

jill sporting a fairy princess costume

such a cute couple

i was loving this heart

i had such a great time hanging out with you two. i’m so excited to shoot your wedding for you: i know it’s going to be amazing!

over 130 people came out to bootcamp on saturday. i saw a few old faces and met plenty of new folks. some of the folks i first met at podcamp in the fall that were here again: justin kownacki (the gentleman who spearheaded this operation), chris brogan (founder of the original podcamp in boston), alex landefield, justine, lindsay patross, mike woycheck of pittsburgh bloggers, and randy chambers. some of the people i met this time around included: cindy closkey, valerie head, jia ji of guru, matthew ebel, tommy vallier, mike sorg, and jim shireman. i love being surrounded by people who are doing really cool things!

i co-hosted a session on branding with lindsay of spreadshirt and i heart pgh, rachel of elias-savian and justine, which went pretty well. we had a lot of great questions and discussion. i also ended up co-hosting a session about flickr and social networking with chuck, paige, sriram and todd. Good times!

here’s what i loved about bootcamp: how helpful everyone was. how friendly everyone was. how they were just as interested in what i’m doing as they were in telling me what they were doing. how excited everyone was. the energy there. that so many people came out on a beautiful Saturday in pittsburgh, to learn more about what’s going on with blogging and podcasting and how they can incorporate new media into their lives.

i can’t wait for podcamp 2 in the fall.

john fetterman, mayor of braddock, made arrangements for open access to explore the Carrie blast furnace in Rankin this afternoon. Loving rusty old abandoned places like I do, I met up with some friends for an afternoon of wandering around exploring this fabulous old steel production facility. Here are a few of my shots from this afternoon:

industrial patterns

a talented graffiti artist

a pile of gloves

loved these curls of paint and this broken lightbulb

i love when you can find glimpses of life in amongst the decay

well…new-ish.
I had to update the portrait of me on my website because I got my hair cut and colored a few months ago, and I don’t look like that photo anymore. I’m one of those people that hates being in front of the camera, so I’ve been putting it off for a while now. I knew it was time when someone I met at bootcamp this weekend was looking at my photo on my website, and he didn’t realize it was me. So my friend emily came over today and snapped a few pictures for me. here’s the old:

and here’s the new:

ps…bootcamp was awesome, and deserves it’s own dedicated post. coming soon!

So, as a thank you, my friend shannon kidnapped me today and took me to sewickley for a little shopping, lunch at sewickley cafe (amazing tomato dill soup), and then some pampering treatments at sewickley spa. we had a really terrific time hanging out together and catching up, and i was so surprised by her thoughtfulness. i’m so blessed to have such amazing friends!

I read that quote on becker’s blog recently. And I thought, ‘amen to that’.

That lines right up with my experience with life thus far.

connie and steve flew in from california this weekend to get their marriage license, so we met up yesterday to shoot their engagement session. with the weather being yucky like it was, we decided to take the shoot inside, and met at phipps conservatory. the theme of their wedding is ‘fun’ (think- beer and polka), and they wanted these photos to reflect that. We got a few serious shots, but for the most part it was a pretty lighthearted shoot. Here are a few of my faves:

our interpretation of american gothic

this one is my fave

a little glimpse of steve’s personality

the ring on the left is connie’s engagement ring. the one on the right is a family heirloom steve’s mom gave her after they got engaged.

it was such a pleasure meeting and spending time with you two yesterday. i can’t wait to photograph your wedding- i know it’s going to be a blast!

the tipping point by malcolm gladwell is currently on my nightstand. i just finished love is the killer app by tim sanders, and i just bought creating customer evangelists by ben mcconnell and jackie huba, the anatomy of buzz by emanuel rosen, and selling the invisible by harry beckwith. i’m hoping to have them all finished by next weekend so i can utilize that new knowledge for my presentation on branding during podcamp bootcamp. i suspect that may be an overly aggressive goal… good thing i’m a quick reader!

check this out. my best time was 17.156 seconds, after several tries.

There is a new site online that caters to newly engaged couples with questions about wedding photography. Check it out here.