Kemster Photo - A Moment In Your Memories, Forever in a Photograph

Megan - A girl and her horse

2010-10-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

I met Megan a few years ago and was super pleased when she contacted me for a portrait session. But this was no ordinary session, you see Megan and Mitch got married in Vegas in the summer and although they got some amazing photos, there was something Megan was missing. Megan who is an avid horse rider wanted her horses and her love of riding to show up in her wedding photos but there was no easy way to get her horse on the plane to Vegas :). This is where I came in!!..after I got over my fear of the horse kicking me in the the face..I mean kicking my camera..I realized he was actually a very gentle nice horse who was more than happy to be in my photos :). It was a very very very fun and interesting session. Watching Megan manouver her horse was an art to watch and getting some shots of them was amazing as well. Thanks Megan for asking me to share in both your loves, Mitch and horsey :).

Quick change of outfits before getting on the horse as the wedding dress was not quite condusive to climbing on a horse :)

Mitch was not quite prepared to be in photos but he looked so darn dashing that we had to ask him to come in a few :)

Thanks so much Megan and Mitch for allowing me to shoot you again.

As special thanks goes to my husband who was standing by me the whole way during this shoot to calm my crazy nerves from fear of horses. :)

Lauren

2010-10-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

I did this photo-shoot in the summer of Lauren and it was truly an eye opening and fun experience. Lauren and I met through a mutual friend and she wanted some photos for her portfolio. Lauren is a triple threat you see...she is a singer, dancer and a model. I had the opportunity to drive down to the photo location with her and we chatted about life and the direction she was heading with her career and I can tell you that this young lady is going to do BIG things soon. She not only has a good head (and pretty head) on her shoulders, she is also super smart and very very humble. From taking the photos, I got to see the dancer and model come out in one, I am yet to hear her singing but if she is as dedicated to it as she is to her other talents, I'm sure she sounds amazing. Thank you Lauren for allowing me to shoot you and for showing me some of your work. All the best!!

Hazel Eyez Entertainment - DJ Hazel Eyez

2010-06-01T12:30:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I did a promo photo-shoot with the Hazel Eyez entertainment team. Hazel Eyez Entertainment is an entertainment company that houses a Record label (Hazel Eyez Records), a Clothing line (Hazel Eyez Designs), and an event organization arm (Hazel Eyez Entertainment).

The first person I shot was Helena - otherwise know as DJ Hazel Eyez . You can tell just by looking at the photos how she earned this nickname. She is an EXCELLENT DJ - she's doing my wedding so maybe I am partial. It was a blast shooting Helena and no shoot is complete with a DJ without some nice jams to rock to and this shoot certainly had that. Enjoy!

See HOT Hazel eyes!!

Jayne Doe - R&B Singer

2010-05-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

I had a fun shoot with Jayne Doe recently and the following are my favorite images from that shoot. Jayne and I had so much fun considering it was super early in the morning and frigid outside. We made it work! Thanks Jayne for being such a pleasure to shoot and goodluck with your career. Enjoy!

Jayne Doe Sneak Peek

2010-05-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

I recently did a photo shoot with an Edmonton based up and coming R&B singer - Jayne Doe. We had soo much fun and here are a couple of my favorite images from the shoot. Much more to come!

Is anybody there?...

2010-02-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

Hello blogworld! I'm so sorry I have been gone for this long. Life has become crazy busy right now, but as always I'm capturing every moment with my camera in hand. Just forget to post sometimes :(. I will be back though with some exciting images. Can't wait to share with you all! Oh..Happy New Year!!!

Adventures at 50mm

2009-11-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Blogworld..I hope you have not given up on me yet.

In order to keep motivated in my photography, I have decided to embark on a small project with my 50 mm lens

I bought the lens in the summer but I haven't used it much because with my camera I have to manually focus with it and that scared me a bit. The idea of being precise with my focusing all by myself seemed too daunting. So in the last week or so, I've been doing a lot of research and it's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. In my research, I found a flickr group for users of the 50mm lens. Read about it here.

I blew the dust over my lens and went on my way. Basically over the next 365 days, I will be taking a photo a day with my 50mm till I'm a 50mm focusing machine. Every month, I will post my last 30 days with my new best friend :). To kick off, here's something I took at the Rouge Poetry night in Edmonton. My sister runs a poetry night here in Edmonton and if you are in town, you MUST check it out. It's every Tuesday night at 8.30 pm and it's simply awesome.

This is Nick who is Titi's co-host and fellow poet at Rouge.

Why Photography?

2009-10-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of new beginnings and new logos and a new blog look :), I realized that I never really officially introduced myself on this blog. Shame shame. So I decided to make a fresh start and say "Why Photography?;

I have always loved the art of photography and grew up in a household where photos were constantly being taken because my dad is an avid photographer. I find myself wandering around looking at things or people differently because I am constantly taking photos and framing in my head without my camera with me. And my family and friends can testify to the fact that I'm always either behind a camera or browsing photos on the internet or bugging them to send me pictures of themselves. It has just always been there I guess. I feel like I connect with the person in the photo just by looking at it and so why not create my own.

So a few years ago, I went out and bought my very first SLR camera, set it on "auto" mode and off I went. Having that baby in my hand felt like I was part of some exclusive club - "yes my friend, my camera can have different lenses, what can yours do? Oh nothing, just a point and shoot? how so so sad ;)". I fiddled and dambled with my new toy constantly, where I went, it went (I mean "she" went).

You can tell by looking at my photos that I've definately graduated from using auto mode on my camera - ok fine I still use it when I'm lazy - but you get the point. I've been able to learn so much from just practicing and bugging my photographer friends I've met along the way *cough* Thanks Bola *cough*.

I was inspired by my dear friend and amazing photographer Onada and my family to take my hobby to another level so here we are..

I love the fact that photography allows me to capture a single moment in time and lock it in a photo for years to come. Being able to capture the most important life events for people is amazing to me and I love being able to share that with people.

Thanks for visiting my blog and hang on because it's sure going to be an exciting ride

Love Kemi

PS
The name Kemster - hmm...It's just something I've always been called, there's no real explanation for it. I couldn't have imagined calling my business anything else. It just made sense and I never have to explain to my friends what it means because they don't know either. Yeah nothing profound made me chose it, it chose me :)

Femie - Fun

2009-08-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

I recently did a fun shoot with Femie. She's super photogenic and we had tons of fun. The shoot took place at the Beach Club in Summerside here in Edmonton.
I'm trying out a new logo and a new look for my photos so let me know what you all think about both the logo and the tone of the photos. More exciting things to come in the coming weeks so stay tuned
Enjoy!

Femie - Fun

2009-08-16T14:45:00.001-07:00

Here's a little preview of the hotness that is to come your way

...raaawwwhhhh

Baby Makes 3 - Shankeetha and Mayooran

2009-07-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to shoot and awesome maternity session with a very lovely couple 2 weeks ago. It was a first for me as it was my first maternity shoot. The baby is coincidently due a day before my birthday!!
Here are a few of my favorites..
Thanks Shankeetha and Mayooran for taking time out for me and can't wait to see the little one.

Isn't she gorge!

My fav of the day:

Bridal Shoot - Hana, Kristina, Kristen and Danee

2009-07-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the final photos from the Couture Bridal Shoot. Like I said these girls are insanely gorge and just a pleasure to shoot. Enjoy!

Hana

Hana and I actually met in Uni and I always thought she had amazing features and so when I got to the shoot and saw she was one of the models, I wasn't surprised :)

Kristina

Kristen

and Danee...

Like I said, over and over again, doing this shoot was a blast and just made me want to work harder and harder and just expand my photography.

Thanks again guys!

Just Because..Happy Friday

2009-07-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Onada is having a nail polish giveaway and even though techinically I don't qualify since I'm not in the US of A. I'm going to dedicate this post to her just because she is oh so fab and I'm sure she will send me a special present anyway just for being so nice :)

Happy Friday!!!

I have some awesome posts coming up in the next few days - more from the bridal shoot and my first maternity shoot. Woohoo!

Bridal Shoot - Iryna

2009-07-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favs from the bridal shoot over the weekend. Iryna was a trooper and ended up holding the reflector for most of the day. Thanks so much Iryna!

Bridal Shoot

2009-07-06T18:01:00.001-07:00

This weekend was another adventurous one for me.
Ok - So under the most random circumstances, I added Katya Nova as a friend on facebook. I have always admired her work and since she lived in the same city as me, I thought hey, why not randomly message her and ask if I can tag along on one of her shoots. So I did...and she said SURE! What? I was beyond shocked and nervous! She had set up this CRAZY fun bridal shoot with another local photographer Candice Popik and guess who would be the able to shoot while being an awesome reflector holder - yeah-uh me me me! Anyways so I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, picked up my handy camera and my new lens (50mm 1.8 lens - best thing evur!)and took off to a farm in Nisku - owned by Candice' family. I thought for sure I would be the first one there but nope Katya and Candice were there already set up and one of the models (Sarah - the one I'm featuring today) was already half done her makeup. We were later joined by the great and talented bridal designer - Lana Van Rooyen as well as 8 other models. The wonderful makeup was done by Nicola Gavins and hair by Danielle Aitken
So not only would this be my very first bridal shoot, I would get a chance to 8 brides (sweaty palms started..). The models at Hi-Fi led by Fiona McNair, had work ethic like no other. Not only were they gorgeous - seriously skin like BUTTER!, they were real troopers. They had little old me poking the camera in their faces and they remained unfazed. Working it like no other..
To Katya - You were truly a blessing in disguise and just watching you work was magical. The sounds you were making were urrr interesting but the passion behind it was truly inspiring. Thanks for giving me a chance and being so patient.
To Candice - Random meetings like these don't come by often. You were awesome and soo patient and helpful. Like Katya, watching you in your element was admirable.
Anyways - less blabbing and more pictures. Ok so like i said TONS of models and TONS of photos. So I will be featuring one model a day and by the end you can see the collection that I got by the end of it.
Be sure to check out both their blogs as I'm sure you'll be blown away: Katya Nova, Candice Popik
So without further blabbery - I present Sarah

And just to tease you for what's coming next, here's Iryna getting ready:

Yes you can drool cos I sure did!

Kuad and Jenna - Love

2009-06-29T23:46:00.001-07:00

This weekend was an adventurous one for me. I decided that I would take advantage of the morning light and schedule an engagement shoot for bright and early Saturday morning. The lucky couple that had to share the wonderful light with me were - Kuad and Jenna!!. It was great of them to oblige my crazy idea and I think it worked wonders! Thank you so much guys for coming out and congrats on your engagement!

Preview - Jenna and Kuad

2009-06-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a preview of the yummy goodness coming your way this week...

Stay tuned!!

Morenike and Gboyega - Love

2009-06-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorites from my shoot with my sister (Morenike) and Gboyega. There were tons of laughs for sure and it was just great fun all around. Thanks guys for putting up with me and my demands haha. Enjoy!

Teaser - Morenike and Gboyega

2009-06-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

Just a little taste of an engagement shoot that I had this weekend. Stay tuned!!! Lots more fun shots to come.

Tinu : Good Times

2009-06-04T21:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some of my favorites from my shoot with Tinu. She was awesome to shoot and pretty much ready to try anything. We only spent about 30 minutes doing the shoot but I think we got some pretty neat shots. Thanks Tinu for being so great!

Pretending to be coy...

Work it!!..

And some fun B&Ws

Here's the Vancouver knockoff of the "Love" sign:

My turn! (you dont want to see what was behind that camera - haha)

Teaser - Tinu

2009-06-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Peoples!

Yes, I've been gone for waaayy to long. I'm back now and with a bang! There's been soo many changes going on but I'm back for good.
I have so much in store for my photography and I can't wait to share all my new images with you all. For now, here's a teaser with a fun shoot I did with Tinu! More images from the shoot to come

Cynthanii - Engagement

2008-12-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah - It's been AGES!. I've been so busy with work and life that I've abandoned one of the things I enjoy most. Well its a new year (soon) and a new beginning. I plan on updating the blog as much as I can.

The first post is an engagement session for great friends of mine - Nii Ayi and Cynthia (Cynthanii - get it?). They were great to shoot and great sports as it was a frigid -18degrees out in Sunny Calgary. Thanks so much guys for enduring the blitering cold for my sake. It was great, can't wait for your wedding :)

Enjoy the photos!

Lightroom

2008-08-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hey!

I've been playing with lightroom lately and this cutie pie right here is D'vonte..my future husband :). What do you think of the before and after? too much? too little?.

Thoughts appreciated

Love
Kemi

BEFORE

AFTER

Canada Day Fun!

2008-07-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Canada Day. As part of Canada day, a local brazillian group put on a street festival. I got the opportunity to do some shooting and it was TONS of fun. The culture is so vibrant and interesting. Exotic performances by Ache Brasil included Capoeira (afro-brazilian marshal arts), Sambao, Samba reggae, Samba de Roda, Maculele, Maracatu, Frevo, Forro, Coco de Roda, Timbalada, and Lambada. It was really HOT HOT HOT HOT (I mean the weather ;) ). Enjoy!

Love,
Kemi

She was a great dancer!

Some Capoeira

Even girls took part in the Capoeira action!!

More Dancing

So yeah, it was great time - nice way to enjoy the weather and culture!

Random Vancouver Day

2008-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Club Shoot

2008-06-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

Heyyy! Sooo..its been a while since I posted new pics. Work has been crazy busy and I haven't had a chance to shoot anything too interesting. The latest is a club shoot I recently did, I was asked by my cousin to shoot some promo shots for his club nights this past weekend. I was nervous at first because I didn't think my lil' old D40 could handle it but it was actually a REALLY fun night and people are more than willing to pose for photos when they have had a few drinks ;). I was a little intimidated by the other club photographers and their big ol' cameras (d300 - grrr) and flashes. I actually couldn't get an external flash before the shoot so I decided to work with what I had. Considering I didn't have the flash though, I think the photos turned out ok. Here are a few of my fav shoots. I recently got the GIMP program so I used this to enhance some of the images. Hope it looks good. Let me know what you think!

Love,
Kemi

Photographer Extraordinaire!!

Model Shoot

2008-04-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hey

Here are some pics from a studio shoot that I took part of a few weeks ago. It was super fun and the models were awesome to work with. Thanks Alexandra and Syx.

Love,
Kemi

Night Photography

2008-03-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hey fans!
The following are photos taken on a night field trip with my class. I experimented with long exposure and I think I got some pretty good results. What do you guys think?

Love,
Kemi

My fave!

Field Trip - Yaletown

2008-03-09T21:25:00.001-07:00

So..I'm taking this photography class to learn new ways of using my camera.
Below are some shots from a field trip we recently took. It was a really fun day out - 3 hours of straight shooting. It started out rainy but ended up being a sunny(ish) day. I was able to use a different White Balancing (Cloudy) mode than I have used before so that was pretty exciting and also I was able to stop water! (yes...very exciting :)). Most of these shots are not the most artistic, my aim was mostly to try out different modes of my camera than I would use on a regular basis.

...Cup of coffee to start my day..it was too pretty to pass on a photo-op..

This is one of my favorite shots of the day, there's not much to it but I still feel like i captured something..maybe its the way the lines are aligned...

Stopping Water..!!.. Very exciting..not a very artistic shot though. My plan was to find the ideal shutterspeed and now that I have an idea, I will play more with water shots

Another favorite shot..I like the way the light is coming out of the sky..kinda eerie..

So yeah, those are some of my favorite shots of the day. Not much to them but I feel like I'm learning a lot about my camera and will continue to work on composition..

Hope you like them! Thoughts? Comments?

Love,
Kemi

Fresh Start

2008-03-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt at documenting the world through my lenses. I recently took up photography with my new(ish) Nikon D40 Camera.
I'm taking a photography class to develop and this blog is a way of documenting my progress.
I welcome (constructive) critisism and look forward to learning more and more as I go along..

Love,
Kemi