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.