With my daughter growing so fast, the desire to capture her infancy before it's gone is stronger than ever.  I'm just amazed at her everyday; she learns something new or outgrows yet another set of clothes.  It blows my mind to see just how quick and brilliant she is.  There are only three ways to capture this time in her life:  pictures, video and memories.  I don't want to rely just on memories, so I need to photograph her and take video.

Over the weekend I pulled out my camera again.  It's been sitting in it's case in the office since Anna turned one.  I've been feeling frustrated with myself and it, so I took a little break.  I had bought this gorgeous little white dress before she was ever born and I wanted to take some pictures before she outgrew it.  Even though the dress is frilly and dainty, I knew I wanted a more moody look so I went with natural lighting.  I shot these in my living room with just minimal light from the windows and a couple of floor lamps.  I used Photoshop and Alien Skin Exposure to edit the images. 

My baby isn't such a baby anymore.

 Getting in a little practice with my darling daughter.  I'm excited to be shooting my first infant session tomorrow.

New Directions

I'm taking my photography in a new direction!  Keep an eye out for images of newborns, infants and families.  Thanks for taking this ride with me.

New Look for my website!

Smugmug has unveiled their newest incarnation of their website.  After much deliberation (and more than a few curse words), I've managed to move my site to the new format.  Please take a look!  Http://www.valeriekokphotography.com

Bothell High School

I had the pleasure of assisting on a Michael James Photography photoshoot yesterday.  We were shooting the three football teams, coaches and cheerleaders of Bothell High School.  What a great group of kids they were.  It was really great to work with the other assistant photographers; I hope to have the chance to work with them again.  I had a lot of fun.

I haven't been shooting like I'd hoped to be, but life just seems to be getting in the way lately.  Still, I was able to shoot a very dear friend's wedding and I picked up a new product client.  I've got another shoot coming up next week with another friend, but I'm not going to post those images here.  You can see those images on my website.  I've decided to make this my play area.  Stay tuned for more images.

Entiat River

I got the opportunity to work with a new designer the past couple of weeks.  Gorgeous stuff!  Intricate, delicate jewelry that still manages to pack a punch!  I was very impressed with their work and I'm happy to say that they were pleased with mine.

Product Photography

A while back I met a really sweet and wonderful woman who trusted me so much that she loaned me some of her gorgeous jewelry so that I could put together a shoot for her.  This past weekend, she trusted me again with her full collection so I could shoot her work for next year's shows.  I hope that I have done her work justice in these photos.  Here are but a few of her amazing designs for Chrysalis.  Find her at http://www.sulisstudio.com/

Jesse and Nick

Just before my vacation (which was soooo relaxing!), I had the pleasure of photographing two very funny young men - Jesse and Nick.  These two had me in stitches.  It's easy to see why they are best friends and why they will continue to be so.  I can totally see them as partners in a squad car, can't you?

This was Jesse's senior portrait session but he wanted to have his bestie and his girlfriend in many of the images.  I was happy to accomodate.  They were quite the trio.

As we have or will experience in our lifetimes, that moment when you KNOW you are done - be it school or whatever other milestone - is worth celebrating.

Off line

I will be out of town for the next week or so, so there will not be any posts.  I'll post images from my trip when I return along with other work that I'm doing.  Have a great week and keep snapping!

Valerie

Fall is in the Air!

It is that time of year again...yep!  Senior Photos!  We start of this year with Christopher.  What a nice young man...full of energy and spunk.  It was a pleasure photographing him.

Ashley and Brian part two

I'm happy to say that Ashley loved her pictures. 

Ashley and Brian

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph a friend's wedding.  I hadn't seen her in several years. not since she was a teenager, and it was a bit surreal to see her as a grown woman.  She made an absolutely stunning bride and was obviously very happy.  I had so much fun photographing them and the rest of the wedding.  Because they have not seen the images yet, I will wait to post the ones of them, but here are some detail shots that I really liked. 

Aqua Fest 2011

I was in Lake Stevens this past weekend, attending and photographing Aqua Fest.  This was my first time there and I have to say that Lake Stevens really knows how to put on a party.  There was literally something going on at all times.  Up first for me was the tennis and softball tournaments.   It was blazingly hot, but I have to hand it to the participants - they didn't let it get to them.  (Unlike me, I swear my shoes were filled with hot lava.)  What a bunch of enthusiastic and fun loving people. 

For someone who's never shot sports photography before, I'm fairly happy with the results.  Best thing?  Got to use my new long lens!

Among the other events: a classic car show, $50 boat races, pennies-in-the-hay, foot races, a duck dash, a boat parade, and a grand parade.  All-in-all, it was a fun weekend. 

Welcome to my world.

Valerie Kok Photography has finally joined the blogosphere!  Um, yay?  While I really have no idea what I'm going to write about, me being a pretty poor writer and all, I do believe that this will be a good place to tell you the back stories on my photography and how I achieve my results.  Please bear with me while I get this party started.