k. holly photography  :: the blog bio picture
  • Welcome to the K. Holly Photography Blog!

    Hello! I'm so glad you're here!  I'm Kristen Carlson, a Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is my photo blog, continuously updated with my most recent weddings and sessions, along with a few personal stories, and a behind the scenes look at what I do. Check back often!

    For information on availability and booking, head on over to the Official K. Holly Website

    So get comfy and have a look around.  You'll get to know me, my amazing clients, and my photography style a little better.  And hopefully, it'll inspire you to look at life and this amazing world around us a little differently too  :)

    *** Newly engaged? Make sure to enter the Flaunt Your Rock contest! Know someone who is? Spread the word! ***

    :) Kristen

{ Gettin’ Schooled & Inspired in Vegas! }

K. Holly Photography will be out of office for the next 7 days!

Why?  Because I’m going to Vegas to get my LEARN on!  As a member of WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) and PPA  (Professional Photographers of America), I am able to take a few days out of the year to focus on my business, my knowledge, and my creativity.  I’ll be spending the next 7 days shooting with and listening to some of the most amazing photographers in the world. I’m attending a workshop with one of the most inspiring photographers in the industry, shooting with another group of great photographers to benefit the Portrait House Charities, attending classes and networking events, and even attending/shooting a local photographer’s wedding!!  It’s going to be a crazy-exciting time, and I can’t wait to soak it all up and share it all with you!

If you would like to follow along on what I’m up to, I’ll be updating on twitter and facebook!  If you’re a photographer and you’re going to be there, look for me and say hi!  I’m the tall girl with pink hair  ; )

Because of the crazy schedule, I’ll have very limited access to phone and email.  I’ll answer all emails and voicemails once I’m back in the office.  Viiiiivvaaaaaa Las Vegas!!

wppi vegas kholly

amanda and ben - I’m so excited for you, and our coffee date when you return!
YES!

ashley folkema - Have a wonderful time!

Leilani - I’m so jealous…..I’ll be there next year–mark my words! :)

{ Little Kalin :: 6 Months! }

I am so excited to blog this!  Remember cutie-pie little Kalin from his newborn session?  He’s growing SO fast!  It’s so fun to see his curiosity and personality coming through, his facial features, and  of course his adorable expressions!  Laura and Matt are such great parents, and Kalin is SUCH a cool little dude!  We had a great time at his 6-month session, it reminded me of how much I love baby photography!

Daddy’s tie, too cute!

Excuse me, Miss Lexi?  This is not your photo shoot, as much as you would like it to be :)

Eee!  He is such a happy kid, and they are such a happy family.  It makes my heart smile just to know them :)

Toes!

This was his first time standing in the snow – documented!  He wasn’t sure what to think about that cold, soft stuff!

Awww  :)  I love you guys!!!

Laura F - These are awesome Kristen! Thank you Jamie for not making Kristen throw that yellow chair out. Way cool!

Grandma Janet - …. these are beautiful…. you have captured the loving feeling of this family very well. Nice job Kristen…

Ann Bass - Wonderful pictures! How can we get a copy??

Matt Fouty - Kristin, thanks again. The pictures are great! Ann we will send out a fb message with the info. ;)

Nicole Praniewicz - So adorable! I love the cool backdrop/fabric you used with the photos of him in his white shirt and blue jeans!

Nana Fouty - Very nice job Kristen! Oh what precious family pictures they are!!!

ashley folkema - I love his little smile! Great job Kristen. :)

Christa Meola - Adorable!! Beautiful shots Kristen! Love the little tie and cool backdrop :)

Grandma Sue Ayres - WOW. WOW. WOW. Speechless.

Anonymous - I was relieved – Kalin has clothes. I wasn’t too sure at first. Great pictures, but then, he is a precious little guy. And mom and dad aren’t too bad either. Loved them all. Grandma Ayres

Matt Fouty - Kristen,

I just wanted to relay the message that everyone who has seen the pics comments on how much the love the photographer. If you didn’t know already, I’ll tell you again… You Are Awesome! Have fun in Vegas!

Michelle + Matt { engaged! }

After rescheduling a couple of times due to a lack of fresh snow, we finally got a perfect winter afternoon.  We had fresh snow, we had a bit of falling snow, and even a few moments of bright lovely sunshine!  I’m so happy to be working with Michelle and Matt – you may recognize Michelle as the maid of honor from Katie & Luke’s Wedding!  After chatting with them about their wedding plans, I’m very much looking forward to their big day this summer as well!

For their engagement session, which was just a two days before Valentine’s Day, we were going for soft, romantic and playful, with a bright wintery backdrop.  I’ll jump right in with one of my top favorite pictures of the afternoon ~

Cute Mitts!



Ahh, I love winter  ^-^  Have a lovely week!

Nicole - love the little hearts! very cute =)

ashley folkema - Why hello yummy lighting! Beautiful Kristen! :)

daisy - You make me love winter :)

Kellie - Love the one of them laying on the ground! So cute!

Regina White - Look at you making winter look fabulous. Awesome shots. Congrats to the bride to be and groom to be. Love em K.

amanda - those pictures sure make me want to go make a snow angel :)

Syreena B - These are soooooo pretty!!! And i LOVE the paper hearts, I am sOOOO using this idea (we can see how original I am…LoL)!

Bradley James - Kristen, love the way you used back lighting in some of these shots!! Very creative! :)

Stephanie - Unbelievable! These are absolutely precious pictures! Getting so excited for the big day! Love you both!

Katelyn + Doug { married! }

Katelyn and Doug planned an amazing wedding day.  The perfect venue, incredible details, and a gorgeous winter day.  Doug’s brother said it best, in the comments after I posted their sneak peek:  ”Big, Classy, and Awesome”  That says it!  The Henry Ford’s Lovett Hall is one of my all-time favorite venues, and Emerald City Designs did a fabulous job with the flowers and overall vision in the ballroom.  Katelyn & Doug held both their ceremony and reception at Lovett Hall, complete with a carriage ride around the Greenfield Village. The bridal party and families got ready at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan.  Katelyn and the girls were in the super gorgeous bridal suite, along with Katelyn’s super gorgeous shoes! And details!!

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!  There’s nothing like the glamour of a cage veil ~

cage veil detroit wedding photography

Meeeooow Katelyn!

Meanwhile, Doug and the guys were getting ready in another suite ~

{ First Look! }

green white yellow bouquet wedding detroit michigan

Meet the bridal party!

The carriage ride was a little chilly, but they were an awesome group, and we definitely made it fun.  And the girls came prepared with glamorous gloves and fur wraps, of course!

detroit wedding photography glamorous cage veil I love these next few images and how overall, the day felt so old-world glamorous and romantic.

train station wedding photography michigan detroit library wedding photography michigan detroit

One of my favorites of the day, just before walking down the aisle ~

detroit wedding photography glamorous

Ceremony!  Music by Rondo String Quartet.  Reception music provided by Mark Evans Entertainment.

{ married! }

apple place cards green brown white cake wedding ring shot Congratulations again Katelyn & Doug!  Wishing you the very, very best.  You are wonderful!

Dusty Brown - EN EYE SEE EEEE!!! {nice} Congrats to your couple and to you on these sweet looking images!

Amy Boeve - oh – my – GAWSH! so pretty!

Kellie - Beautiful!! How gorgeous!

Joanne - These are absolutely amazing…Great Job! Katelyn looks fantastic!

Ashley - STUNNING! What an amazing wedding! Beautiful work.

Amanda - Kristen these are amazing! What a beautiful wedding!

Kristin Mier - Uhhh…amazing! I rush to every blog when I see its updated via fb. These photos are by far some of your very best and truly some of the best I have ever seen. You are rockin’! Keep it up K.Holly! :)

Michelle - Katelyn, you look gorgeous. I love your earings, I want some, where did you get them?

Samantha V. - OOOOOOO, Love it! What better photog to capture the day!

Christina - GORGEOUS! I love all of the poses you did! What a great venue too!

ashley folkema - Seriously gorgeous!

Nicole Praniewicz - Just BEAUTIFUL! You captured some amazing couple shots! Love the details and decorations at the reception =)

Regina - Very classy. What a beautiful setting. Love em.

Betty Jane - Thank you for sharing these truly beautiful wedding pictures.
What a lovely bride and handsome groom – also that Maid of Honor was smashing!

Jaclyn Marie - That venue?!?! BLOWING my MIND! These are incredible!

Vanessa - These are absolutely gorgeous!!! Love the B & G portraits! Soooo lovely!

Sara Martin - These wedding photos are stunning. I absolutely love your work!

{ Good Morning Sunshine }

If you live in Michigan, you know how depressing the winter can be. We go for days and days without seeing the sunshine, just long bleak stretches of gray. At that point, even seeing more snow fall makes us happy, just to see something other than the plain gray sky. So when the sun makes an appearance, you can actually feel it. I woke up this morning with golden sunshine filling my bedroom, and it instantly put me in a good mood. I smiled as I sat up, stretched my arms to the sky, gave Lexi a little snuggle, and grabbed my camera. These are the days that make winter bearable, and days most beautiful.






Even inside, everything is happy :)

Edit:  Went out to get the mail, fell in love with the blue sky!  BLUE!! Just a couple more… Good AFTERNOON sunshine!!

Have a beautiful day!

Nicole Praniewicz - BEAUTIFUL! It was so nice driving to work this morning with a sunrise, it put me in a good mood too! =)

amanda and ben - I felt the same way! I woke up and was like YES! sun! winter! oh ya!

Kathy Balch - I thought the same thing this morning, and brought my camera out with me when I took out the trash. My photos weren’t nearly this beautiful, but it was still great to see the sun and blue skies for a change! :)

amy - BEAUTIFUL!!!

{ Flaunt Your Rock :: An Engagement Contest }

LOVE is in the air! Did you recently get engaged and are beaming with pride over the shiny rock on your finger? Want to flaunt it some more? In honor of all the love going around, K. Holly Photography is holding a contest for you engaged love birds to show off your new bling!

What do you get for flaunting that shiny new rock? The winner will receive a full engagement session and a $100 print credit!

PLUS the winners of each local Flaunt Your Rock contests will be placed in a national contest to win a Grand Prize worth over $450! The grand prize includes custom invites from Paper & Ink Studio, a wedding cake topper from Custom Cake Toppers, a custom clutch from Clutch That and a wedding accessory from Little White Chapel Accessories!

The Details:

* Submit 1 photograph of your ring and 1 photograph of yourselves.

* Encourage all of your friends and family to vote for you. The ring with the most votes wins!

* Engaged couples only.

All submissions must be received by midnight March 5th, 2010.

Entries will be judged by a panel of photographers who will narrow down the selection to 3 rings. The finalists will be posted on K. Holly Photography’s blog and the winner will be chosen via a public voting poll. Voting will occur between March 7-March 13, 2010. There are specific rules around voting that will be clarified during the voting round of the contest.

Winners will be announced on March 15th, 2010. Winning session must take place between March 22-May 1st. Winners must sign a release to allow K. Holly Photography to display images on blog, website, Facebook Business Page and any other print or web materials as deemed appropriate.

____

Don’t live in the Grand Rapids/Chicago/Detroit area? Have friends across the country?

Check out these photographers who have Flaunt Your Rock contests running in other cities!

____

UNITED STATES

Boston, Massachusetts: Helen Makadia Photography
Denver, Colorado: Keri Doolittle Photography
Columbia, Missouri: Ashley Turner Photography
Seattle, Washington: Susan Berman of Whimsical Photo Design
Philadelphia and Main Line, Pennsylvania: April Ziegler Photography
Boise, Idaho: Lucid Design & Photography
Grand Rapids, Michigan: K. Holly Photography
Spokane, Washington: Cameron Glass Photography
Phoenix, Arizona: Jeanette LeBlanc Photography
Ft. Smith, Arkansas: Beaty Photography
San Jose, California: V&J Photography
Tampa/St. Petersburg: Stephanie A. Smith Photography

CANADA

Edmonton/Vancouver Canada: Jen Williams Photographer
Fort McMurray/Northern Alberta: Leslie Brown Photography
Powell River BC/Vancouver Island: Jennifer Kennedy
Central Interior, BC: Andrea Blair
Langley, BC: Cathy Empey

____

The Fine Print:  This is a nationwide contest, the rules have been set. We have researched many different ways of voting and there are pros and cons and hanging chads in just about every method out there. This is how we have decided to run our contest. if it’s not a fit for you, we respectfully accept your decision to decline participation. We also know there are ways to work around the system, so we will actively monitor IP addresses and research anything that appears to be fishy. We reserve the right to disqualify any entry that appears to be suspicious.

By entering this contest, all participants agree to allow images to be displayed on K. Holly Photography’s blog. Winning participants must sign a release allowing images taken by K. Holly Photography to be displayed on web site, blog, Facebook and print advertising sources. Participants must also agree to standard Terms & Conditions of K. Holly Photography.  Regular session terms and conditions apply.  We require an electronically marked consent that you are entering this contest voluntarily and that K. Holly Photography is not promising any winnings or other compensation for participation.  When entering contest, please do not submit images taken by another professional photographer.

Whew! Now that all of that is over,

> > > CLICK HERE TO ENTER! < < <

Good luck!

Lisa Ing - Consider adding this to http://www.wedding-promotions.com! Great contest

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