3/29/13

Salem Photographer| Life Stories: The story of my first born.

Welcome to Life Stories, a monthly blog circle among photographers. Make sure that you click on the link at the end of this post to visit the next photographer's blog and see their life stories post. 



I was 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant with my first child.
My water broke at about 4am.
After about 18 hours of labor, followed by a c-section, 
~Kayden Ecco Ward~
was born at 9:49pm in La Grande, OR.

He was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 22 inches long.

We expected our baby to be bald or to have red or blonde hair, but much to our surprise he was born with a full head of dark  hair. He's the only baby of our three that looked like himself from the very beginning. Meaning, if you look at baby pictures of the other two, there's little to no resemblance to them now. Kayden, however, is easy to identify in all of his baby photos.


Please excuse the poor quality of these photos. 






And here his now...THIRTEEN YEARS OLD!
He is smart, compassionate, artistic, nice, and funny. 
He is into drawing, listening to music, playing the bass clarinet, hanging out with friends, and loves to play dodgeball. 









3/28/13

What to Wear | Blue and Yellow.

While there may be snow in the ground in many parts of the country, that is not the case here in the Willamette Valley! The sun keeps making an appearance and the flowers are blooming, which means it is time to book your spring portraits and start thinking about outfits. Here is some inspiration for you, featuring a blue and yellow palette. All of these pieces are available at gap.com and are perfect for family photos!








3/22/13

Retro Rewind | Keystone Auto Instant 125x



This Retro Rewind post is a little different.
Why? Because I did not take these images. 
I found the film an antique shop in Salem, OR with film already in it! The roll was finished, but obviously old. 
I took it to Photo Vision lab in Salem, OR for processing and then scanned the images myself. I really wasn't expecting to see anything on the negatives, but sure enough, there were people who appeared to have been photographed in the 1970s! The quality is not great, but the people are easily recognizable. 
I would LOVE to try and find the people in these images, so please feel free to share this blog post! The more people that see it, the better.


Camera: Keystone Auto-Instant 125x
Film: 126 cartridge film
Produced: 1970
Developing: Photo Vision














I figure whoever is in that belly is close to my age now!



If you know who these people are, please email me at:
kel@kelwardphotography.com

I'd love to get these negatives to you!




3/20/13

Salem Portrait Photographer | Haunting Film Shot.



I captured this beautiful little girl on film recently. 
Her instructions were "Stand here and do whatever you want. Smile, not smile, whatever you want." and she gave me this stunning expression. 

3/12/13

Salem Family Photographer | Sweet family.



 I am so sad that this family recently moved away. This was our last session, which was a holiday mini back in the fall. Gah, I adore this baby!











3/10/13

10 Mile Project.

The 10 mile project was started by Chris Kandel of Schenectady, NY. 
The idea is very simple, yet challenging. 
You drive 10 miles from your home (or from your work, say on a lunch break) and attempt to take an interesting photo. Sounds easy enough, right?
Well, the driving party is easy. I quite enjoy it, actually. 
The challenging part is that you don't know where you're going to end up or what will be there to photograph. It could be a parking lot at a grocery store, a school, or smack dab in the middle of nowhere. 

I waited until just this morning to do my driving. Procrastinate much?
I was surprised when I ended up at a well known park in my town. It's only about 5 miles from  my house, but apparently, if you take back roads and go the long way, it's exactly 10 miles! 
Sadly, though, everything was brown and dull.

I parked my car in the middle of the road, hopped out, and got this shot. 
I was in my pajamas. My blue polka dotted pajamas. And slippers. 
I swear there was not a single car in sight until I stepped out of the car. Then, out of nowhere, EIGHT cars drive by. Really?!




Please CLICK HERE to check out the 10 mile project blog post of Kate Marlowe of Play {with Purpose} in New Mexico.  

3/8/13

Salem Model Photographer | Sunshine.

It was a pleasure working with the beautiful Miss Porshe. 
We worked together on styling this session and I love how it turned out.
Oh, are you wondering why it looks so beautiful and sunny while there are blizzards around the country? That is because this is from early fall and I'm just now getting around to blogging it. I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to blogging, in case you haven't noticed. 

This session was a combination of digital and film, including 
multiple film cameras and formats. 






























Just a few "artsy" shots, taken with one of my vintage cameras...