Confessions of an Errant Blogger

“Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.” John Archibald Wheeler

Apparently, even time could not prevent everything from happening at once. My absence is due to many things and I’m not about to make excuses. My intentions were good and then the month of May happened.

Like a shadow in the night, the 6th anniversary of my humble blog came and passed. At the last minute, an opportunity to photograph a beautifully intimate wedding on Maui serendipitously came into my life. And to think I’d never been to Hawaii in my life and honestly wondered if I was the only person who’d never been there. Another opportunity arrived to travel back to Maui and teach a natural lighting class as part of the very intensive Tropical Island Boot Camp for Creative Photography. Getting the proper permits to shoot from the Hawaii Film Commission alone, took a month.

The workshop was born from the sweat and passion of Maui photographer Randy Jay Braun— an 8 day workshop with a small number of inspired and creative photographers. A lifetime of friendships from an amazing 8 days of grueling challenges. That trip alone added 3,700 images to my hard drive.

randykepple.com

What else has been happening? Well, for the past several years, I’ve been honored to be part of the prerelease beta testing for Adobe Photoshop. Starting with Photoshop CS, I’ve been involved with Photoshop CS2/CS3/CS4 and the recent release of Adobe Photoshop CS5. A year of testing, squashing bugs and feature development ended in May. I’m also proud of a collaboration with Adobe Senior Creative Director Russell Brown that resulted in a new Adobe Watermark Panel for CS5. It’s been a lot of late nights sitting in front of my computer, watching one day pass into another.
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Jamie BosworthAugust 7, 2010 - 9:12 am

Lovely image…
I’m pretty sure that’s not the proper speed limit for your life, though.

Much luck with all of your growing pains… at least you are still growing.

Kim O'NeilAugust 7, 2010 - 8:56 pm

Randy, I have only recently subscribed to your site and this post really spoke to me. As a fairly new photographer (3 years in business), I find myself getting swept away by the whole “hype” of it all. Your statement “I tire of the constant hype and pimping that I see on most blogs. Where is the substance?” struck me. Thank you for sharing…now I have a lot to think about…I’m subscribed and will look forward to your next posts.

Scott RiggsAugust 7, 2010 - 9:22 pm

Ok I won’t be shy. Not a professional, but I have a passion for making images of people. Your “Way of the Artist” gallery connected with me. I would love to see more of your work that you do for you.

Good to see you posting again.

Riggs

RandyAugust 8, 2010 - 12:38 pm

Jamie… thank you my friend! And you are right… I live a life where there are no speed limits! Or so it feels most days. I hope to continue growing the rest of my life and if I’m really lucky, I’ll be able to share that journey with you.

Kim… Thank you for posting! It’s nice to know someone is actually reading my blog and as I stated, even better to know that what I’m trying to say is resonating with you. I hope you continue to speak out and share your thoughts.

Scott… Welcome! Thanks for stepping out into the light on the internet! I will continue to share the work that I do for myself. I’ve been trying to challenge myself to do that more these days. As I shared with you in the blog post, I’m tired of all the hype. Those days will come, it’s the nature of being self-employed. You have to toot your own horn most days, but I hope to make this blog a bit more rounded. Sharing the process, the struggle to be personally inspired while providing a service to clients.

Thanks for your support and for sharing your thoughts!

Randy

Gary CanazziAugust 10, 2010 - 2:00 pm

Randy,

Nice to see you blogging again, and I say that from a totally selfish point of view. I’m always inspired here and feel like I never leave without something. Thanks for your openness and all the effort this takes to produce. So just keep doing what you are doing here. And if you need to take a break, no problem, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

RandyAugust 10, 2010 - 2:23 pm

Thanks Gary! I appreciate that you find inspiration here. That makes it worth doing and continuing to do. You of all people can appreciate how much time it takes to run a photography business and do things like blogging. Especially when you are trying to create content that more than just marketing hype!

So, what should I do to celebrate the 6th blogging birthday (belated)? Any ideas?
:)

AmberAugust 11, 2010 - 11:50 am

Here you have done it again. :) I teared up reading this post.

This… “Sharing the thought process behind the creation. The challenges and how they were handled.” …is exactly what I feel from you when I look at your work. I felt this way before we had our shoot and I especially feel it since.

You’re wonderful.

RandyAugust 11, 2010 - 12:17 pm

Thank you Amber! I always enjoy hearing from you and appreciate your continued support of my efforts.

YOU my friend are wonderfully beautiful. Thank you!

Stephanie and Josh | Portland Waterfront Engagement Session

Stephanie and Josh drove almost 2 hours one chilly weekend to Portland for an engagement session along the scenic waterfront. You can almost feel the love between them. There is no denying how much they care for each other.

Josh is currently deployed in the Armed Forces, so finding a weekend he was available was challenging. Stephanie is a full time student, so this beloved session was all the more special. Josh has the most amazing blue eyes and Stephanie has an infectious smile and easy-going personality. To say we never felt the chill in the air is not a stretch of the truth.

Rumor has it that Josh recently returned just long enough for the two of them to be married this past week. Congratulations to the newly married couple! I wish you both a lifetime of happiness. And a special thanks to Josh for your service to our country. It was an honor to meet both of you and share in this moment of your life. Congratulations!

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Scott RiggsJune 12, 2010 - 6:52 pm

Randy,
I really enjoyed this series. You did a great job capturing their feelings for each other. Nice work.
Scott

clarisseteagenJune 20, 2010 - 5:33 pm

Nice one :D Infectious laughter that girl.
Your pictures are so natural :)

Prutch Family Portraits on the Washington Coast

It’s important to photograph your family. Easily said, but hard to do given the busy lifestyles of today’s modern families. Kids grow up fast and change even faster. Before you know it, they’re off to college. I know this first hand. Being a photographer, I understand the importance of documenting family, but it’s tough to be on both sides of the camera. Everyone comments that I must have a million pictures of my family, but that’s not true. And I know it’s a similar story for many others.

Amy and JP, aka, the Prutches are a husband and wife team of photographers. They literally reside 4 blocks from me. We met 10 years ago, after being introduced by our FedEx driver. Our kids go to the same schools and we celebrate most of our holidays together. The most famous of which is our annual 4th of July block party. JP is one of the few people I know with as as much technical knowledge as I have and we talk nearly every day. I call him the other half of my brain. Amy calls me his boyfriend. Needless to say, they’re family.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to explore a new direction in my work. My current style is cinematic, accomplished with the compression and environmental isolation of my beloved 70-200 telephoto lens. I like the storytelling aspect of wide angle lenses, but they have an inherent depth of field, meaning everything is in focus even wide open. Canon has a couple of wide angle lenses which have a very wide aperture. This would give me a shallow depth of field. In short, this means I could control my plane of focus and make things in the background dreamy and soft as I do with my longer lenses. I contacted Canon and had them send me two lenses for evaluation. The Canon 24mm f1.4 and the 35mm f1.4.

It just happened that the Prutches invited our family to Long Beach, Washington for a weekend getaway. We have endeared this coming together of our families as “KepPrutch” time. I asked if they were willing to let me photograph their family and they graciously agreed. Our mutual friend, David Williams from Australia, has made it his mission to encourage photographers to document each other’s families. Pay it forward. I know it’s hard for Amy and JP to get family portraits done since they are BOTH photographers. The hard part for me is that if there’s one thing I know by now about the Prutches, it’s that they are anything but normal. That was the challenge.

I mean, come on. Anyone who names their blog “The Shutter Monkey” has got to be somewhat irreverent. Posing on the beach is not something that authentically captures who they are as a family. Not to lessen their affection for each other, but they are not the type to hold hands and gaze into each other’s eyes. They’d be laughing before I could release the shutter. They were the perfect family to challenge myself with a new style of shooting portraits that are different than what you’d expect to see from a family portrait session at the beach.

My Facebook friends challenged me to illustrate how a wide angle lens could be used effectively in environmental portraiture. I also brought along my beloved Lensbaby for something even more distinctly different. At the end of the day, we had great fun with the Prutches. I was nervous shooting for two other professionals, but pushed myself to do it regardless of the outcome. Long Beach is one of the few beaches in Washington where you can actually drive on the beach. We threw the kids in the back of the Dodge Ram pickup and took off for a day of adventure. The kids never stopped smiling and we all left with more KepPrutch memories.

So tell me. What do you think of this new direction? What do you like or dislike about these images? Do they tell a story? Is this something you’d want for your own family? Does this capture a moment that will be remembered when our kids are parents themselves?

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AmberJuly 1, 2010 - 1:56 pm

Oh Randy Kepple… these are SO SO SO great!! They capture Wyatt’s fun personality, Hunter’s smiling eyes, Amy & JP’s ‘goofballness’ & love… I’m sitting here at my desk giggling, awwww-ing and a couple of these photos gave me goosebumps.

These are fantastic and capture the Prutches beautifully!!

and by the way…The Godfather photo… perfect!

Great stuff!

MichelleJuly 20, 2010 - 7:34 pm

Randy these are AWESOME!! Knowing these guys, you captured their personalities perfectly! There is such a variety too which I love. Really fabulous work! :)

My Life My Future | Allie’s Senior Portrait

Heritage High School prepares life long learners who are compassionate, who are globally aware and who have the courage to persevere in a changing world.

Meet Allie. Graduating high school senior, valedictorian of her class—a rare combination of brains and beauty. The perfect student to represent the mission statement of her teachers. You can be sure you’ll be seeing more of this talented woman as she makes her mark in the world. And the world will be a better place for it!

Allie wanted the backdrop of Vancouver for her high school senior portrait session. We had a great time getting to know each other and I even brought along another talented high school senior, Ian.

He shadowed me during December for his high school culminating project. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of shooting going on at that time, so he spent his week watching me work in front of my computer. As much a real world experience as that is, it’s just not the rock star photographer image everyone has of what I do for a living. Perception versus reality. Two worlds colliding. Look for a behind-the-scenes image of Ian in this set. So, without further ado… let me introduce Allie.

randykepple.com

My name is: Allie
I’m a Senior at: Heritage High School
Childhood Ambition: Changed a lot. Finally decided on businesswoman.
Fondest Memory: Spending a week in Hawaii with the family.
Soundtrack: Everything is Beautiful – Starfield.
Retreat: Going on a run through the park.
Wildest Dream: To be in a movie—my lifelong secret desire!
Proudest Moment: Giving a speech at 8th grade graduation as valedictorian.
Biggest Challenge: Not catching senioritis.
Alarm Clock: My cell phone… and if that doesn’t work, my mother.
Perfect Day: SUNNY, warm, and no rain.
First Job: Tutor for a family friend.
Indulgence: Shopping.
Last Purchase: Sixteen-ounce Peach Pleasure from Jamba Juice.
Favorite Movie: The Count of Monte Cristo.
Inspiration: Jesus, all the way.
My Life: Will make an exciting change as I attend George Fox University this fall.
My Future: Is directed by God. It will be grand!

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Brian LaurentMay 5, 2010 - 8:55 am

Great shoot Randy. As always, I’m impressed by the harmony of the palette in each shot, especially the orange-amber-rust along the graffiti wall and the pale blue-green-grays of the riverside gravelbed. How does you do it? And I like the cascading fountain background and lensbaby stuff across the street. I’m pretty sure I know exactly the place. But tell Ian to tone it down. He looked pretty fired up. ;)

RandyMay 5, 2010 - 10:42 am

Thanks Brian!

I appreciate your comments. I just told Allie to bring along some of her favorite outfits and suggested what to wear based on where we were at. My favorite outfit of hers was the yellow sweater and the green top. Really worked with her skin tones and the area we were shooting.

And Ian? Yeah… he was a little embarrassed about having his picture taken I think…

Save the Date | The Wedding Chicks Have Gone Mad

Let me introduce you to The Wedding Chicks, Amy and Jocey. That’s me in the image below toasting these funky fun, hip chicks. Who are these guys and why should you care?

They have one of the coolest wedding related sites going these days. If you’re a bride looking for inspiration, ideas, do-it-yourself freebies, then you need to visit their site and follow them on Twitter. They’re always featuring new products, running contests and just kicking it hard for you brides.

randykepple.com

So Randy, why all the love for the Wedding Chicks, you ask? Because they featured a very cool freebie on their site that was put together by a hard working behind the scenes chick, who’s getting married in October. The theme for their wedding is inspired by the Mad Men series on AMC.

If you haven’t seen this show yet, you really owe it to yourself to rent the entire series. Right now. Seriously. It’s that good. One of the best written, engaging shows you’ll ever watch. From the authenticity of the props to the issues featured as the backdrop for the show. If you lived in the 60′s or are intrigued by all things retro, you’ll enjoy this show.

What is the freebie that inspired me to write? This Save the Date card generator. You choose the colors, add a couple lines of text and have a 4×6 version emailed to you immediately, ready to print.

randykepple.com

randykepple.com

And yes… my wedding anniversary is May 23rd. These are two versions that I created and really liked. Makes me wish I was getting married again, just so I could send out these cool cards. What do you think? Isn’t this the coolest thing ever?

Thanks Wedding Chicks!

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joceyApril 30, 2010 - 1:47 pm

who hoo Randy thank you so much for being a fan! Super impressive. Love it. Love Jocey