KC Marston Photography : Waterford, Connecticut

Meteor Showers & The Little Dipper

2009-11-16T22:21:00.000-08:00

Above is a photo I took during the meteor shower we had early this morning... Technically it's still going on, but I don't feel like watching it anymore. It's put me in a strange mood.

I think it's because I could clearly see the Little Dipper.

That sounds strange, I know. But here is the story about that.

When I was little, my mom noticed that the freckles on my make make the Big Dipper. We all thought it was so funny... But then she noticed on my little brother's back, Kevin, that his freckles made the Little Dipper. It was so strange, yet so amazing!

Now whenever I see the Little Dipper I think of my brother, naturally. He's going to be 17 in February (and it makes me feel so old!), a junior in high school, he's looking into college, he's very involved with our high school drama club (like I was... well, I still am!), and he's all around an awesome kid. I'm so lucky to have him as a little brother... We've always gotten along really well, except for the understandable sibling fights. He's pretty much my best friend.

And tonight I saw the Little Dipper so clearly. All the stars are beautiful right now, but the Little Dipper seemed to shine brighter than the rest. Then it struck me- I've NEVER been able to find the Little or Big Dipper on my own. And now I finally found one of them!

Why did this put me in such a strange mood? I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I wish my brother was outside watching the stars with me instead of sleep. Maybe it's because I didn't have a tripod so I couldn't take a good photos of the Little Dipper (the photo I took my camera was laying across the hot tub cover). Maybe I'm just over tired and thinking too much- girls tend to do that, a lot, trust me I'm a pro.

But nevertheless... I love my brother. He's the best. He's my Little Dipper. And whenever I see that constellation, I will always think of him.

Attention All Photographers: Check THIS Out!

2009-11-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

How cool is this?!
Michelle of My Two Seasons is giving away a one year subscription on Open Scrapbook to celebrate HER birthday! That's one generous birthday girl! Checkout her blog and her twitter for more details.
(And Michelle, if you read this... pick me! ;] )

Hope all is well with everybody! New photos to come soon! In the meantime, check out the website. I just gave it a nice, clean makeover!

Jessica & Julia

2009-11-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

Oh goodness, long time no blog! So sorry about that, the past few months have been very busy- but the good kind of busy, very good kind of busy!

Anyways.

I did a senior portrait session with Jessica and Julia. They go to high school together and are really good friends- you can imagine how much we were laughing during their shoot! It's was a blast and I had a great time. Plus, all of their shots came out AMAZING! I don't think I can pick a favorite!

But here are a few shots for you to take a peak at.

Jessica

Julia

The Little Details

2009-08-09T18:13:00.001-07:00

When I go photograph weddings my favorite part of the day is capturing all the little details. It brings character to the day. From the boutonnieres, to the dress, and don't forget the rings! It's so much fun to see all the planning brides and grooms (okay, maybe just the brides!) do with the decorations and center pieces and each wedding is so different from the rest. Plus, it gives me ideas for my own wedding someday. ;]

I assisted another wedding with Jay Fleming recently, and here are a few of the details from that day!

Noah

2009-08-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

This Saturday Noah will be celebrating his Bar-mitzvah's, so to celebrate we took some wonderful photos to send to friends and family.

Then Saturday evening I will be photographing the after party... Can't wait for that! Be sure to check for photos from that as well!

Weston

2009-07-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I did a portrait session with Weston, a freshmen at WHS. He needed a few headshots for the acting camp he is attending to- that kid is going to be a Broadway Star someday, just you watch! He was Theo in WATERFORDrama's production of PIPPIN this past March and he was amazing! He may be young but has an amazing singing voice already!

Break a leg on the 31st, Weston- he'll be performing for the national tour director of Hairspray when he goes back to camp!

Assisting Jay Fleming, Tracy & Tom's Wedding

2009-07-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to assist Jay Fleming, 2004 Hallmark Alumni, at a wedding in Shelton, CT. It was so great to meet Jay and get to know him, as well as be able to talk to another person about Hallmark. Jay is a great guy and photographer. You should definitely check out his website and see his amazing work; Fleming Portrait Design.

Here are my favorite photographs from the day- Thanks you, Jay, for letting me post these, as well as asking me to come along!

McCahills

2009-07-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Monday I did a family portrait sessions with Gary, Lee, and Cole McCahill. They are such a great family! We went to Harkness Memorial State Park to do the shoot, which is my favorite place to do photos! The McCahills were so much fun to work with and their photos came out beautiful!

Doesn't Cole have a great smile?!

You can just see how much Cole loves his Mom.

Nothing better than a father and son.

Caitlin Alexandra : Maternity June 2009

2009-07-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Caitlin and her husband Mark are excepting their first child in just under two months. I was honored to do a maternity session with Caitlin- and she was absolutely GLOWING! I don't know anyone who deserves so much love other than her. Mark and Caitlin are expecting a baby girl who will be named Ariana Rose! I can't wait to meet her, as well as take some great pictures of her.

Here are just a few of my favorite shots from our two hours session.

Schlink Family Reunion

2009-07-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July.... yesterday! Hope everyone had delicious cookouts, had fun with friends and family, and got to see a firework or two!

We had a family reunion yesterday, which was interesting to say the least! It was great to meet cousins from Florida and to see some people I haven't seen in years.

The theme for the day was a luau.... Even Rowdy got dressed up for the ocassion!

This is my cousin Lucy, our very own Victoria Beckham... Fashion, spunk, and all!

I have a big family... These are almost all of my cousins and myself. Not a bad looking group!

One of my littlest cousins, Grace, changing into her swimsuit.. After she spilt water all over herself!

And finally, my beautiful mom.... Now you know where I get my good looks from!

Rowdy Roo

2009-07-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a new family member arrived at my house... A puppy! His name is Rowdy, but I prefer to call him Roo Roo. He's a flat coated retriever and is the CUTEST thing ever. But he is a bit of a brat, but I'll forgive him.

Class of 2009

2009-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

© Righter Imaging

Yesterday I graduated from Hallmark Insitute of Photography. It's a bittersweet feeling. I'm so excited to start my photography career, but at the same time I'm going to miss everyone so much.

I wrote a testimonial for the school website and it basically describes how I feel about the past ten months of my life.

When I walked into the Educational Center on the first day of school, I knew the next 10 months of my life were going to be life changing. At Hallmark, not only did I learn about all the different aspects of photography, but I learned more about myself than I could ever imagine. The faculty, staff, and my peers became my family away from home, helping each other become the best person and photographer they could be. I couldn't recommend a school, or family, better than Hallmark Institute of Photography.

Here's to the HIP Class of 2009. I love you all and wish everyone the best!

Final Portfolio

2009-05-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday I turned in my Final Portfolio for Hallmark- hmmm, a breathe of fresh air! The stress is done, for now, 'till I go to my portfolio review next Friday/Monday. But until then, I'm home in Connecticut relaxing and enjoying time off with my family and friends. Plus, I already have a few client for the summer season, so I think it's going to be a great summer! Plus, I got a haircut, so I have that great feeling of fresh, clean hair.

Here are a few of my photographs from my portfolio.

Enjoy!

Tim and Victoria Muller

2009-05-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I photographed my first wedding for Tim and Victoria Mullen. I had such a great time, despite a few seconds of rain. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and the reception hall was unbelievable! I'm so happy I was able to be there on Tim and Victoria's special day.

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from the day.

Hope everyone is well!

Kelly Vasami Photography

2009-05-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I assisted Kelly Vasami at an Indian Wedding.

Kelly is a wedding and portrait photographer out of New York, and she is amazing! Not only is she a great photographer, but she's a wonderful person. I was able to learn so much from her this weekend, from photographing a wedding to networking in this crazy industry. I even ended up shooting a little bit!

Here's a link to here website:
Kelly Vasami Photography

If you're in the New York area, I highly reccommend hiring her as your photographer! Once I get the photos from the wedding, I'll post a few up here.

Hope everything is well for everyone- things are starting to settle down here at Hallmark!

My Cousins

2009-04-23T05:33:00.000-07:00

I have a rather large family, and by rather I mean very. My dad is the youngest of seven kids... So as you can imagine, holidays and birthdays are packed! I am the middle child of about 20 cousins, and I love all of them! I have three baby cousins; Jaxson, Grace, and Izabella. Jax is almost two, Grace is fourteen months, and Izzy is just about two months! Needless to say, I love photographing them, especially Grace! She many be barely one, but she has the attitude of a top model already!

Here are a few recent photos of them... Expect more of them in the future for sure!

Website Launched!:edit

2009-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

KC Marston Photography website is officially up and ready to go!
Enjoy!

www.kcmarston.com

Good Weekend, Good Weather, Good Times.

2009-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been great. The weather was amazing, in the 70's, beautiful skies, just great. I was walking around in jeans and a tank top, something I never thought I'd ever do again after having so much snow this winter. On top of that, I got a lot shot. I haven't really been able to go through all of the photos and see what I have, but once I get back to school I'm hoping to have at least six shots done for my portfolio.

Yesterday I did a shoot with two of my best friends, Rachel and Kaitlyn. I've know Rachel since 7th grade and Kaitlyn since 2nd grade, so we're pretty tight. It was so great to have lunch with them, talk, catch up, and take photos with them. I can't wait for the summer so I can chill with all my friends again, because I miss them all terrribly.

So I'm off to do some shots of my friend's Tanning Salon for their website, then I'm off to Greenfield to get some editing done... I don't think I've ever been this excited to edit photos, haha.

Hope everyone's well!

Kaitlyn, Rachel, and Myself between shots.

Connecticut Group Shoot

2009-04-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went home for the day to do a shoot with a bunch of my friends from high school. It was so much fun, and I got a ton of great photos out of it! Here are just a few of my favorites.

2009-04-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've been super busy shooting & editing for my graduation final. But here are some photos I shot lately, which I think you'll enjoy.

Best of College

2009-03-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

I found out last night that one of my photos that I submitted to a contest in October is being published in the Photographer's Forum magazine's 29th Annual College Photography Book. :] I'm super excited, I haven't even graduated and I'm a published photographer. I'm also a finalist which means I could win a grant and a new camera- yipee!

The photo above is the one that's being published.

Phase III Portfolio

2009-02-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

on Monday, my portfolio was due for Phase Three. Here's the out come!

^ High Key Portrait. Model is my friend Jasmine. I love this one, it's very me and funky. It's different too, not your traditional portrait.

^ Low Key Portrait. Model is my boyfriend, Justin. <3 Um I dunno about you but I think he looks really sexy in this photo. Enough said.

^ Outdoor Portrait. Model is my little brother. He's turning 16 this week, though he's 6 foot and looks much older than that. I really love that I dragged the shutter in this photo and the lighting, and the location is sick.

^ CD cover Design. Model is Irene. This shoot was so much fun. It's at the same location as my Outdoor Portrait.

^ Cover of my brochure. I'm not going to post the rest cause it's just boring text. This shoot was very stressful but the photo came out okay.

^ Reflective Object. My boyfriend's pocket watch. This came out sick, thought it was a challenge. It took my instructor Paul and I almost 5 hours to get it properly set up. But it looks pretty snazzy, I believe.

^ Glassware. Took maybe 30 minutes, but I love how it came out. I don't like commercial studio and I get really mad when I'm dong it, but I've been getting better.

^ Advertisement. Model is a great girl named Kati. This was her first real shoot and she did amazing! It's only half finished really cause I ran out of time but I still really like it. A lot of photoshop was involved but it's okay cause I love retouching and editing.

^ PR shot. My mama! Pretty good, I think she looks great. And she likes the photo a lot, which I'm very happy with.

^ PR alternative. We're Disney people, so this was just her being all silly. The fill light died during the shoot and I didn't realize it so I had to do the fill in Lightroom.

^ Family Portrait. My first one and I think it looks pretty good, minus the pole that's all scratched up that I was 100% too lazy to Photoshop. I'll do it eventually.

^ Environmental Portrait. Good shot but ugh, I don't want to go into how awful of an experience that was.

^ Executive Portrait. My least favorite photo cause I did it the day before the final was due. My uncle Don is the model. Bah.

^ Child Portrait. That's Gracie, my goddaughter!!!! I think this was my favorite shoot because she's just so damn cute!!! She just turned 1 so we did a birthday cake shoot and it was so hysterical to watch her devour the cake. We two of us were COVERED by the time I was done.

^ Drop & Pop #1: I'm really proud of myself for these cause I'm awful at using the pen took in Photoshop and these came out okay!

^ Drop & Pop #2: Same caption as above. Haha.

And that's it!
Feedback is more than welcomed!

Phase Three Final: High Key and Low Key

2009-01-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

The start of my Phase III Final Portfolio.

Family Portraits

2009-01-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

Window Light Portrait

2009-01-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Jasmine is an amazing model. I love shooting her.

These were for our Window Light Portrait.

Environmental Portrait

2009-01-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is my boyfriend, Justin. We did a shoot for school for an "environmental portrait".

If he's not consumed with World of Warcraft, he's at the fire house.

Silly boy.

Photoshop: Retouching

2008-12-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

We've been learning basic retouching the past two weeks at school, so I thought I would post my first attempt.

Before

After

- Karen Olivia

High Key Portraiture

2008-12-18T06:45:00.001-08:00

We started high key portraiture the other day. Um, I'm in love. Period.

There will be more, I promise!

I'm leaving for my school vacation tomorrow, so there won't be photos for a week or so. But, you never know!!!

- Karen Olivia

Couples

2008-12-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

One of our latest assignments at HIP, posing and photographing couples.
We had too much fun during this shoot.

Models: Natasha & TJ

- Karen Olivia

New York City: Dec 6, 2008

2008-12-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

New York City. By far, it is my favorite place in the world. It's my second home. This year alone, I have been to the city 8 times. I will live there someday, maybe not for a long time... But, I'll live there.

I took these photos two weekends ago. My boyfriend, Justin, and I went and saw EQUUS. It was fantastic.
My boyfriend is the cute boy in the photos, with the stupid Patriots hat.

Oh, and all of these were taken with the Nikon D3. A pretty fantastic camera, and that's coming from a Canon person.

My Boy, my love. <3 size="5">-Karen Olivia

Commercial Studio

2008-12-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we started using out Leaf Aptus Backs in the commercial studio using out 4x5 cameras. Here are some photos I've taken with them.

- Karen Olivia

Natasha

2008-12-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

At Hallmark, I've been some awesome friends. But my best friend here by far is my friend Natasha. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she's an amazing model, too. So here are a ton of photos that I've taken with her the past few weeks.

Enjoy!

These next few are a collaboration 'Tash and I did together. We both love the organization To Write Love On Her Arms, so we took photos in honor of To Write Love On Her Arms day.

Her concept. My camera.
One Awesome Team.

New England Life Stock Photos

2008-12-16T09:17:00.001-08:00

For an assignment, we learned how to photograph stock photography. Our theme was New England Life Style. Here are the photos I ended up taking. The model is my friend, Brianne.

- Karen Olivia

Phase One Final Assignmet

2008-12-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

Here are photos from my Phase One final. I'm not posting any photos before that because, to be honest, they aren't that good and I'm not proud of them. But now that I've got the swing of things, I'll be posting a lot for now on.

Self Portrait

Product Shot

Breaking Lines

Indoor Portrait with Flash

Outdoor Backlit Portrait with Flash

Warm Colors on Cool Colors

Cool Colors on Warm Colors

Outdoor Portrait

Show Motion

Stop Motion

Hello!

2008-12-16T04:17:00.001-08:00

Hey there.

This is going to be a rather quick post, since I would love to get photos up as soon as possible.

My name is Karen. I am eighteen years old. Right now, I am attending Hallmark Institute of Photography, at ten month photography program located in Turners Falls, MA. I am having the time of my life and I couldn't ask for a better school.

This blog is a place for me to upload my photos. Whether it's photos I take at school, photos I take for clients, or just for my personal leisure, I'll post them here. That way I can keep everyone up to date.

Feel free to stick around and explore, comment, ask questions, critique harshly, anything. It'll all make me a better photographer.

Thanks & I hope you enjoy!

- Karen Olivia