Mary and Tim are engaged

Mary and Tim are engaged to be married this coming spring. For their engagement photo session, we decided to use a few locations in and around Baltimore City. There were high expectations that this session would yield some good photos, as we had previously worked with Mary on several modeling sessions. We knew if we provided some great settings, she would make the pictures look good. Well, she lived up to our expectations as usual. Oh, and there was Tim . . . yeah, he was pretty good too.

The first goal was to get a few shots in a park like setting just before dusk. Since one of our planned stops for the evening was to be Fell's Point, the perfect park choice close to that location was Patterson Park. This park has a lot of character and charm, not to mention unlimited choices for portrait settings. Since Tim is active military, it seemed appropriate to get the cannons around the pagoda in at least one of the shots. As daylight faded, we left the park and headed to Fell's Point.

In Fell's point we took advantage of the waterfront view, charming shops, and quaint cobblestone streets to get several great portraits. Then we made our way inside one of the local coffee shops to warm ourselves with a hot drink, and to just take a break. There's no rest for the weary though, as we took advantage of this time to get the "close up of engagement ring with couple kissing out of focus in background" shot.

Wrapping up the evening's session, we made our way to the neon "LOVE" sign on the side of the American Visionary Art Museum near Federal Hill. This provided an interesting, and appropriate background for the newly engaged couple. Our final stop was on the steps of the Baltimore Basilica. Although this stop wasn't planned, the warm lighting and the beautiful columns at the entrance caught our attention. After a just a few shots, the guard chased us off and locked the gates.

Mary and Tim - We had a lot of fun doing this session and we hope you did too. Congratulations on your engagement, and we're looking forward to capturing your special day this spring. We can't wait!

Meet Jacob Max

This beautiful little baby is the newborn son of a long time friend of ours. She wanted us to capture portraits of him at home, so that the images could be used within a birth announcement...which we ended up designing for her.

The session started once Jacob was fed. Mom placed him down so that we could get some photos of him quietly asleep. We had little to time shoot because as soon as he was down...his eyes would just pop open, and he would start to fuss. It was almost as if he knew what was going on, and didn't want to miss anything. We did managed to get a few shots of him alone, but soon came to realize that he was more comfortable (and stayed asleep) while being held by mom.

With a little coaxing, we were also able to get Jacob's handsome older brother Joshua into a few pictures before we wrapped up the session. In fact, an image of Jacob being kissed by his older brother was the perfect picture for the inside flap of the birth announcement.

Jacob is such a beautiful boy. We feel honored in capturing some of his first portraits, and also in helping to announce his arrival to family and friends.

One Chilly Morning.

It was a chilly morning when we arrived at Piney Run Park. We were there to capture some photos of Kathy and her family, surrounded by the colors of the autumn season. Kathy was the lucky winner of a gift certificate we donated as a silent auction fundraiser item benefiting the UMBC women’s lacrosse.

The photo-session, originally scheduled the day before, had to be rescheduled due to…you guessed it, rain! We arrived at the park a little early, scouted a couple possible photo locations, and were ready to shoot. The Fall leaf colors weren't quite at their peak, but there was a little bit of color in them.

Everyone was a bit cold, so we kept coats and jackets on until we were ready to shoot. We would then take them off, and put them right back on again. Starting with the whole group, we captured photos of the entire family first.



The little ones were a little restless, so we did the best we could with the larger group. Then we broke things down into smaller groups. Eventually, we let the kids be kids, and they played on the park playground. Capturing images of the kids just having fun on the playground seemed most natural for them. Do you blame them? We hate posing for pictures too!



We included a few pics from the session in this post.
Enjoy!

Stacey and Travis are married!

Author John Ruskin is quoted as saying, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” This is exactly the attitude that Stacey and Travis took on their wedding day. You see, most of the plans they made for an outdoor wedding ceremony had to be changed when the weather didn’t cooperate.



The rain started a couple of days before, and continued right up to the day of the wedding. But that didn’t discourage Stacey and Travis. They were flexible with their plans, and embracing the rainy weather…made it a great day for a wedding.

A few months ago, we had a great time shooting an engagement session with Stacey and Travis, and we were excited to be part of their wedding day. We started the day getting shots of Stacey and her bride’s maids getting ready. All levels of the house buzzed with activity. In the basement, hair was being primped, make-up applied, and flowers delivered. Upstairs, the guys arrived and gathered to talk with the pastors and parents.


When the time arrived, all made their way outside to the tent where the ceremony would take place. Two pastors performed the ceremony. In a short while, Stacey and Travis were officially man and wife.

The wedding party headed back up to the house where we proceeded to capture some formal pictures, and then all made there way back out to the tent to celebrate this wonderful occasion. It was wet…fun…and all in all, a wonderful time.

Stacey and Travis - we wish you all Gods blessings as you two start your lives together as one. Thank you for letting us be a part of this special day.

Meet Ava

This little one has a definite future in modeling!

After about ten minutes of shooting, we started to think this girl knew exactly what she was doing. She was giving us cute expressions with a little bit of attitude. Along with those expressions came some really great poses…and most of this with little to no coaxing from us.



We brought along a few toys to catch her attention for the times when we wanted her looking at the camera. The noisy / squeaky toys worked the best...especially for the close up pictures.


And talk about close up shots…just look at those eyes! Aren't they gorgeous? You know, we like to take credit for our photography, but when the model is as cute and cooperative as Ava, it really helps to make us look good.





We look forward to taking more pictures of this cutie in the coming years.

Session Fee Increase

We will be increasing our session fees on October 1st. To secure the current price for a session after that date, please contact us before October 1st to set up an appointment.

Krista & Anthony

KandaStudios@verizon.net

A Family Reunion

Jenny and Nate live out of State. With him in the military, they are rarely in Maryland anymore. During their short visit for a family reunion (which was immediately after this photo session), Jenny had us come out to her parents house in the early morning for some family pictures. When we arrive at her parents house, we learned the meaning of the phrase "its a small world." The house looked familiar. Then we found out, Jenny's parents actually bought their home from some of our relatives a few years back.

We started out with just Jenny and Nate and got some pictures of them, as well as some with their dogs. The neighbors must have thought we were a little crazy when they heard us loudly yelling "kitty" to get the dogs attention...but it worked like a charm.

We then got a few shots of her mom and dad before getting all her sisters together for some photos of the entire family.

Despite a few setbacks, wet grass, buttons missing on shirts, water spills, and racing against the clock for those last few moments of shade, we got some great pictures!

Colin is 3 months old!

This sweet little baby boy came to our studio a few weekends ago and traveled so far to get here.... about 30 seconds! His mom was looking at the directions on how to get to the studio and realized that they were just around the corner, that's my kind of commute!

When they arrived Colin was wide awake and a little concerned with what was going on. But, after a little bit of cuddling with his mommy, he was ready to go. We were able to get some great smiles out of him and he was up for any ideas we wanted to try. His parents were wonderful and obviously so in love with their sweet baby boy.

Colin was so exhausted by the end of the session, as you can see, he fell asleep while sitting up in the family photos.

Kayla and MaKaehla

Here are a few photos from a recent shoot of Kayla and her daughter MaKaehla . We met them at Centennial Park one evening for the session. MaKaehla was wearing this adorable dress, and we instantly fell in love with her beautiful eyes and cute cheeks.

As you can see in the close-up photos, she has the darkest eyes. She was fascinated by the flowers and the tall grass at the park, and we took full advantage of her curiosity to get some great photos of her exploring.


We then left Centennial for Lake Kittamaqundi a few miles down the road. The fountain near the lake proved to be a good spot. MaKaehla seemed to really enjoy kicking her feet in the water, and wasn‘t happy at all when we left the fountain for another location. We couldn't blame her...it was hot and humid that day.


After a few more shots in near the lake, we could tell she was getting tired, and we all decided it was a good time to wrap things up.



Over all, we got some great shots of both mom and daughter during this shoot. Thanks Kayla & MaKaehla!

Dianne & Sam Are Married!

Dianne and Sam were married a couple weeks ago at Deer Park Methodist, followed with a reception a few miles away at Martins Westminster. We started this session at the bride's house, photographing the bride and bride's maids preparing for the wedding. This gave us many opportunities to get some great shots, as they joked around and acted silly with each other. Some of our favorites shots were taken when all the bride’s maids hands worked together to lace up the back of Dianne’s wedding gown.

The ceremony was wonderful, and the beautiful interior of the church added to the warmth of the moment. This wedding ceremony and reception was filled with love and lots of laughter! Although Dianne is known for her funny expressions when being photographed, when she smiled it would light up the room.

The dance floor was rarely vacant during the reception as the guest seemed more than happy to fill it up. Although Sam wasn’t much into hitting the dance floor, he looked so happy throughout the evening talking, laughing, and celebrating with his friends and family.


Dianne and Sam - we’re so grateful we had this chance to get to know you two a little better, and share in your special day. What a fantastic time we had!

Sophia is Five!

We had a great time photographing one of our regulars this past weekend. Sophia's mom is always up for anything... which makes our job a little more exciting. We had been scoping out this new location a few weeks earlier and it worked out perfectly. Sophia was great and we had fun capturing her little personality:)