Christmas Tag

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, & try not to be a SCROOGE! Copy this entire post & paste onto your own new post! Change all the answers so they apply to you. Then tag a bunch of people you know....Tis the Season to be NICE!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like wrapping paper but sometimes gift bags are so much easier.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial because of allergies and ease of set-up.

3. When do you put up the tree? We try to do it the weekend after Thanksgiving, this weekend Bill was hunting so we had to wait.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day

5. Do you like Egg Nog? Yuck!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Either a camera or a barbie

7. Hardest person to buy for? Depends on the year!

8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids, any boy toys will do!

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I do but it's not out this year because of Collin.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? One of these days I'll mail them out!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Giant undies from my grandma!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? "It's a wonderful life" w/Jimmy Stewart or Polar Express

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December sometime, closer to Christmas though!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only in White Elephants

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The candy/chocolate, all of it!

16. Lights on the tree? I like white and we put it on twinkle.

17. Favorite Christmas song? "A baby changes everything" by Faith Hill

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel, we go see my dad up north the weekend before, my MIL's family sometime before, my mom's Christmas Eve, my in-laws Christmas morning, my mom's family that afternoon, and my FIL's family New Year's Eve or the weekend after.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Most of them, but sometimes I need help.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? yup.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? stress!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? red or blue.

24. Favorite Christmas dinner? One that is spent with family and yummy food!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? That we can have a low key enjoyable Christmas!

You all are tagged!

How cool, a personalized video from Santa!

A fellow photographer gave me the link to personalize a video from Santa to your child. It is so cool how excited my 4yo was to see Santa and have him talk right to him!

Click this link if you want to see it or make your own video here!

Artistic Vision

I came across an article written by Anne Ruthmann answering the question "Why do wedding photos take so long?" It may be written about wedding photos, but I thought it would also answer any questions about why custom portraits in general can take so much longer than when you go to say a mall chain photo studio. Please take a moment to read the article.

Custom portraits are a work of art. Every session is as unique as the individuals being photographed. As an artist, there are no formulas for creating the original image or for transforming it into the final product that you see. I don't have a studio set up with standard lighting or use a set of poses for each session. I craft each image individually, from tweaking the exposure and color, to fixing blemishes, to any other processing that the image inspires. If I don't love it, I won't show it. The end product is a representation of my artistic vision, no two images will ever be the same.

This sums it all up for me:

The Photographers Prayer
Dear Lord, as I bring my subject into focus & prepare to make each portrait, never let me forget that I'm creating treasures for a family, a keepsake for loved ones. Make me sensitive to the qualities and virtues of others, that I may draw out into the light the beautiful radiant belongings of their hearts.
Help me to be an artist, collecting the beauty of every soul, the glow of youth, the gentleness, the laughter or tears of each life that is precious in Thy sight. Deeper than a means of livelihood, give me the perspective to see my photographer's art as a service to others, making life richer and more memorable.
And, dear Lord, between the lights and shadows, the ups and downs and the rolling years, keep me from getting out of focus or off center, so that my life and work may be framed with dignity and colored with contentment. Amen.
-author unknown

Giving is awesome!

You know someone. You know someone who's experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can't afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family's spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography-a free session and a print credit {about a $250 value, but we'll talk}. Whether it's canvas or albums, prints for Grandma, or a slideshow to watch over and over, it's in your power to give them the artwork they deserve this holiday season.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a $50 print credit towards a future session. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself or an immediate family member, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in the Phoenix Metro area. Tell me who you know, what they're experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must e-mail me the full story : kayla @ kaylarenckly.com {remove the spaces}.

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve -- get nominating! I can't wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season -- and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

With love,

Kayla Renckly

P.S. If you know someone deserving in another state, let me know and I'll tell you how you can still nominate them!

Computer is up!

Update: I managed to get rid of the worm/trojan so I'm playing catch-up now. I will still have to wipe the computer, but after the holidays. So far it doesn't look like I've lost any files but I have still have some programs that are acting up and will have to uninstalled/reinstalled. Anybody that has ever had to deal with Vundo can understand how time consuming it is to get rid of this horrible computer problem. If you ever get it, I recommend downloading "Super Anti-Spyware", Google it and you'll find it.

Don't forget to be CAREFUL online and back-up your important files either on CD, an external hard drive, online, or even better a combination.

Computer woes

Ugh! So my computer has slowly been slowing down cuz I have so much stuff on it and it's like 5 years old. But last Thursday it all of a sudden got slooooow! And slower Friday so I rebooted before bed. Saturday it was taking 20 minutes to run a simple action on 1 photo. My dh has been hearing me complain for months so he kinda tuned me out. He tells me to back all my stuff up (cuz I'm lame like that) and we'll wipe the computer but run the anti-virus and spybot. So I spent all day Saturday weeding through my crud so I could defrag overnight. No faster. Then an internet window pops up over and over and McAfee keeps finding Trojans. Crap. DH finally comes to look at it and starts swearing. The computer crashed, I thought I was going to throw up. I have worms. I have no idea where I got them from. Luckily it's back up but now I have no choice but to wipe the computer clean. And I have way too much going on to have this happen.

Moral of the story:
Back-up everything
Be careful of the sites you visit
Don't download anything that isn't from a trusted source (I don't but you never know)
Don't open attachments if you don't know the sender (I don't do that either)
And make sure your anti-virus, spyware/malware, and OS are up to date.

I am very careful but it happened anyway. So I may be scarce for a few days. If you are waiting on something from me, I will do my best to get it done as fast as possible!

Cyber Monday

Today is Cyber Monday! That means all of you that plan to do online shopping today is the day to get great deals! I know I'll be doing as much as I can today and found a great way to help a favorite charity at the same time. GoodShop is a site that allows you to enter your charity and then shop through a list of up to 700 participating stores. They will then donate part of your purchase to that charity and lots of them even have extra discounts and deals for you! It's a great way to get a great deal and help someone at the same time (and not just today)!

BTW if you don't have a charity in mind, please consider the ALS Association of Arizona - Phoenix Chapter. It is very near and dear to my heart after losing my grandmother to this deadly disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Catching up a little, Halloween

Here's a couple of my kiddos in their Halloween costumes. My MIL was wonderful enough to teach me to sew so tat I could make these little astronaut suits for them. Without her help they never would have gotten done. My oldest wasn't very photogenic so I had to try again but my
youngest hammed it up!




And here is a composite with them together since it didn't happen!



I'll try to post a few of some detailed shots of the costumes to. Next year needs to be a little simpler!

Behind again!

Sorry for the lack of posting! I've been so consumed with finishing my new website I've neglected the blog! I will announce the new site in a couple days when I finish tweaking it and announce a sale at that time! And a new blog is in the works too!

If you have emailed me and haven't heard back, please email me again! My email is really having issues with the switch and I've been informed that people haven't been getting my emails or I'm not getting theirs. Not ignoring you! If I haven't heard back, I'll resend today. I've been very sick the last few days and I'm a little behind so I'm trying to catch up by Thanksgiving!

It's that time of year again!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Saturday afternoon in downtown Austin

Still going backwards here! We met up at the state capital and started there, walked around finding interesting places to photograph, and ended at a bridge with a large bat colony to watch them. Sadly we were about two weeks late to see much, most had already migrated to Mexico.

She has the greatest wardrobe!


She wasn't feeling like being photographed so I just talked to her and snapped a few.

This was in front of a tattoo parlor


Austin skyline, I couldn't get a picture with the bats though.

Revamping again!

I found a way to make the pictures bigger so I am switching things up. I'll work on it this week between proofing pictures, blowing my nose, sewing my kids Halloween costumes, coughing, yeah I'm sick and I'm really hoping my kids don't get it. They're going trick-or-treating no matter what! If you haven't heard from me it's because I'm drugged up on cold medicine and I'm afraid of saying something silly (at least I can edit it here LOL!). I'll be back to you within a couple days!

I've been tagged!

Carole of Carole Marie Photography has tagged me!

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 7 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag.

Here are 7 random things about me:

1. I LOVE to eat! Chocolate, cheese, fried, and veggies with salt and butter, yum!
2. I do not like scary movies! They give me horrible nightmares!
3. I hate sweating and turn into a hermit in the summer. I live in the wrong climate but I can't imagine moving!
4. I married my best friend, we've known each other for 20 years and married 5!
5. I recently decided to take up knitting in my spare time (ha!), not really making anything, just knitting.
6. I have ADD and have been struggling with it lately.
7. My favorite color is red. I adore red! Except red food coloring, I'm allergic!

I'm tagging Cindy, Arya, Julie, Stefanie, Mariel, Heather, Karmen!

Sunday in Downtown Austin

I'm working backwards because I'm a goober and I like to do things differently. Sunday morning before I headed back to Phoenix, we headed back to downtown Austin with a couple of the girls' kids to try a few locations for some urban shots.

Miss "C" was the only willing model we had that morning, she was hamming it up!



Mr "M" was in a serious mood after he decided he wasn't Spiderman and sat down long enough for us to take a few photos.



And poor Miss "B" was so wiped out from the long weekend that she just wanted to sleep.


I'll post more in the coming days!

Isn't she adorable?

She is so gorgeous! Miss "N" has to be the biggest newborn I've ever photographed! She weighed just over 10 lbs at birth and was only 8 days old here! I'm told she is very calm and never cries but apparently not the case while I was there. Enjoy your sneak peek mom and dad,
I'll be talking to you soon!

I'm ba-ack!

I got home Sunday evening and was exhausted! We must have walked the entire downtown of Austin and it feels like I did at least 1,000 squats! I took Monday off to recuperate and I'm playing catch-up today. I have a newborn session to finish up and then I will share some photos from Austin, it was a blast!

Out of Town

I know I've been a Lame Blogger (as one of favorite photographers calls herself)! I promise to do better when I get back! I will be out of town from October 9th through October 12th at a Workshop in Austin! I'm looking forward to learning from some incredibly talented photographers and getting a little vacation by myself! I will return all phone calls and emails at that time.

Yummy Newborn

I met this family through my mom's group and when I saw them I knew I had to photograph them! These boys are so stinkin cute! Between their stunning big eyes and their gorgeous skin, I wanted them in front of my camera! Here's your sneak peek Krystal:

Back to work

Well, I had to take a longer break than I planned. A couple weeks ago, my husband and I found out we were unexpectedly pregnant with our third child. We decided to keep it to ourselves until we had seen the doctor. A week ago Saturday, I started to bleed. I knew there was something wrong. By Tuesday I was sure I had miscarried. A set of blood tests, an ultrasound and an OB visit confirmed my fear. I appreciate all the well-wishes and prayers that have been sent my way. Thank you all for your compassion and understanding. I'm ready to get back to work and all calls, emails, and orders will be taken care of by this weekend.

Out of the office

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be unavailable until later in the week (probably Friday) while tending to personal matters. I will return all emails/phone calls at that time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for understanding.

Isn't she lovely?

I may be a little partial since she is family, but I think she looks beautiful pregnant! I had a blast (I'm glad the dogs decided I was okay LOL!) and can't wait to meet your baby girl when she makes her debut!

Cake Smash

I know I'm a little behind posting this but customer's photos come first. My little man turned one back in June, so to celebrate I did a Cake Smash session.

The aftermath

And just for fun

Website facelift in progress!

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to work on my new website. I have a short break in sessions so I plan to try to get it done this weekend, sounds ambitious even just writing it. I have pulled my current website as I don't think it accurately displayed my current work, though you can still access your galleries via the same page.

I just had to post this photo after I finished proofing this session, I just loved the tenderness!

Perfect Pair

I had the pleasure of photographing this incredible set of twins recently. They were perfect, they were so cooperative and adorable. Baby girl is a little bigger than her brother, and she gave me the most serious looks!

Beautiful redhead

Here is the beautiful little baby girl from a recent maternity session (mom was 38 weeks at that time). Look at her gorgeous red hair and big eyes!

Another gorgeous mama!

This is to be their last baby so they wanted to have portraits to remember how beautiful she looked. I'm sure their baby girl will be as cute as her older brothers are!