Monthly Archives: September 2008

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I really love …

September 21, 2008 – 1:53 pm

my Chaco sandals.

I know it’s getting late in the season and summer is almost over, but I felt as though I couldn’t let it slip by before I gave a little shout-out to this amazing footwear that has been my best friend over the past three months.

If you are already familiar with the Chaco brand, you know how much these rock and if you aren’t, you really should do yourself a favor and introduce yourself.

What makes Chacos so great? Comfort for starters. I wore these things five days straight, 12 hours a day in San Francisco (walking miles a day) and never once got a blister.

They’re also some of the most durable shoes I own, so believe me when I say they are 100 percent worth the cost.

Oh, and this is one pair of sandals that can’t be worn with socks. So, Amy, that’s reason enough alone to buy Jeff a pair.

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Justin and Dana’s Wedding

September 17, 2008 – 8:54 pm

Growing up, my parents would take me to a lot of weddings. And always, it seemed, I would love every one.

There was just something about the crowds, the congratulatory hugs and the choruses of “Mony Mony” that made me hate to see the night come to an end.

Fond childhood memories like those are a big reason behind why I love to shoot weddings today. And I had a great time a few weeks back tagging along as a third shooter for Justin and Dana’s wedding in Indianapolis. Here’s a few moments from their day:

It was hard to describe Dana as anything less than “radiant” in this bridal ensemble

Me likey a nice shot of good-looking men in tuxes :)

A sweet moment with Dana and her dad pre-ceremony

The church was gorgeous!

“I do” — they did! :)

Justin is a firefighter and a neat twist to their exit was passing under the axes of his colleagues

Dana’s bouquet was a detail that could not be ignored. Can you believe she threw this thing at the bouquet toss? It must have weighed five pounds!

Hands-down one of the cutest ring bearers in the wedding biz! (His name was Charlie and the whole day you could hear “Where’s Charlie?” “CHARLIE!” “Have you seen Charlie?” I grew pretty fond of his name - it suited him :) )

A candid moment as Buffy took their portraits. This is one of my favorite images from the day …

Ingredients for a great reception:

A live band

Decor out of a Martha Stewart wedding magazine (seriously, limes in a vase? GENIUS!)

and a cake that darn near stole the bride and groom’s thunder (and yes, it WAS as good as it looks!)

One to end the night on of Justin and his mother dancing. How sweet is this photo!?! It may be one of my favorite wedding images I’ve ever shot. The moment was so real. So real, that when I turned around after taking this, I caught Justin’s sweet sister in tears of happiness. Every mother of the groom deserves a shot of her son like this, don’tcha think?

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Saving the best for last …

September 11, 2008 – 8:10 pm

Or my favorites of this senior session anyway!

I can’t tell you what a pleasure it was to work with Cheri, who just radiated a natural beauty — the kind I’m not even sure she fully realizes she possesses (though I kept telling her as I clicked away).

With some yummy pre-sunset light, a patch of weeds in a corn field, and a chair I borrowed from my folks, I asked Cheri if she was up for a few more shots to end the evening on. She was happy to oblige.

Cheri, thank you so much for trusting my vision. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say I’m not the only one who feels your faith in me was worth the results!

I don’t know what it is about this image, but it just kept whispering “Look at me, look at me!” while I edited. So, in a way, it kind of picked itself for this post …

Who doesn’t love a little sun flare? I DO, I DO!!! :)

I’m not usually a fan of sepia processing, but it worked so well on this image. Shortly after processing this shot, I called up this woman and told her she was out of a job. Ralph wants Cheri for his next campaign …

Saving the sweetest, most wholesome, most Americana shot for last. Aaawwwww…. :)

What’s on the horizon for Gail Werner Photography? More weddings, a new nephew (yes, another one — I tell ya, the Koch/Werner clan was all about popping out babies in ‘08) and more family shoots. Oh, and Ashley and Jeremy, we can still get that engagement session in this fall if you want! Give me a holla!!!!!

By | Posted in Seniors | Comments (2)

Cheri: Senior Photos

September 10, 2008 – 11:18 pm

It’s amazing how little acts of friendship can lead to awesome professional opportunities.

Last November, I took some photos of my friend Kristen with her newborn, Cyenna. It was a great visit with an old friend and so fun to see her as a momma.

Speaking of mommas, Kristen’s mom, Mary, was a fan of the photos I took and rang me up a few weeks back asking if I’d like to take senior photos of her younger daughter, Cheri. WOULD I? :) OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!

What made this all the more fun was that I remembered Cheri being a little kid, so to come to this shoot and see this athletic, gorgeous, natural, down-to-earth girl well … it made me feel old (I’m not gonna lie). But more than that, excited for a shoot that went off without a hitch!

Cheri, I hope you had as much fun as I did! On with the show ….

Cheri is serious about her athletics, involved in cross-country, basketball and softball. I knew how important it was for both her and her mom to get a few shots of her showing off all that sports bling. And lucky me, I pulled up to find this awesome display Cheri had created that afternoon, with a backdrop and everything.

While processing this one, I felt like I’d taken a photo of Kristen’s twin! These two look a lot alike in this photo, I think …

After shots at the house, we took off down the road to an abandoned one-room school house. Crazy enough, this is where my dad went to school when he was a kid. Hard to believe 50-odd years later, I’d be taking photos at the doorstep!

PS - How hot is Cheri in this photo? She WORKED IT OUT! :)

If Tyra saw this photo, she’d definitely call it fierce …

I love capturing candid photos of my clients. When their guard is down, out comes the real smile (her dad was probably making her laugh here!)

And finally, one of my FAVORITES. Ralph Lauren or Tommy ad, anyone?

More to come from Cheri’s session tomorrow. Did you think I could stop this with just one post? Nope — I’m having too much fun!!!!

{After a frustrated start to my week with this calibrator, I finally got things straight tonight and I love how lush the colors are coming off my screen - YAHOO!}

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Cheri: Senior Sneak Peek

September 6, 2008 – 10:00 am

I’m trying really, really, REALLY hard to hold off on editing the whole lot of Cheri’s senior photos until I can calibrate my monitor but it’s hard because every time I open LightRoom, I am greeted by frame after frame of shots like this:

Yeah, I know right? She’s G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many more to come — hopefully next week! (come onnnnnnnnnnnnnn Mr. UPS man, bring that software to my doorstep! :) )

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Andrew and Kelly’s Wedding

September 3, 2008 – 10:35 pm

A while back I had the awesome opportunity to second shoot a wedding with friend and fellow photog Sarah Brown. Sarah and her awesome boyfriend Billy let me tag along with them for my first wedding shoot and it was so much fun to be their shadow for the day!

I’ll shush with the talking and move on to the main event.

First things first … a few details

Why is it the corsage always requires assistance?

Hands-down one of my favorite images from the day. How sweet are these two?

What bride doesn’t remember those tense moments before the doors open to the church? Kelly had a hand from her maid of honor in the veil department. She was SO calm!

I love this — such a genuine moment.

Who’s a happy groom in this photo?

After the ceremony, I high-tailed it behind scenes to be with Andrew and Kelly in their first moment as husband and wife. This is what I captured …

A shower of lavender for the newlyweds …

And a few post-”I do” kisses too!

Kelly’s grandparents couldn’t make it for their big day but they made sure to give the bride a call in time for the reception. Their reactions here are so great!

Speaking of grandparents, Andrew’s had to get a good peek at that ring. How dashing! :)

What’s a reception without a garter dance? Judging by Kelly’s reaction, I think Andrew’s up to no good!

And to end this post on a silly note, Andrew and his groomsmen certainly kept the day lively! They had Sarah and I laughing the whole afternoon and well into the evening. Sarah tends to give everyone a nickname and well, the fella on the left who hurt his arm during a softball tournament? Yeah … he became Robo-Groomsman. Lucky for Sarah, he was a great sport about it and joined in the laugh :)

Thanks again Sarah for the awesome experience and readers, if you made it to the bottom of this post, God bless you! I was just so excited about these images it was impossible to stop at just a few!

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Mmmmm … smoothies

September 2, 2008 – 10:52 pm

We here in the Werner household have been on a bit of a smoothie kick lately.

Maybe it’s the shine of the glass-and-steel blender Nick picked up at Target yesterday that’s calling my name from our kitchen counter (he ran our old plastic one into the ground!)

Or maybe it’s how much I’m still dreaming about the smoothies Nick and I gave ourselves brain freezes over during our bike ride along the Cardinal Greenway yesterday (they were THAT good), but tonight, I thought I’d give it my own try.

Look good on a 90-degree day? The recipe was SO simple! Two kiwi fruit chopped up, one banana, a few scoops of non-fat frozen yogurt, a dash of OJ and a handful of ice cubes. Yummy!!!!

Lots of fun stuff coming down the pipe. I’ve got weddings to blog AND an awesome senior session. I’ve purchased a calibration system for my monitor and I can’t wait for it to come. That means nothing to you all, but for me, it means spot-on color results between my computer and my printer with every order (so, maybe in the long run, if you buy prints off me it WILL mean something to you :) )

(And I just noticed when I previewed this entry that the color of my smoothie matches my site!!! :) )

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