“I love people who make me laugh.

I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh.

It cures a multitude of ills.

It’s probably the most important thing in a person.”

~Audrey Hepburn

I’ll blog the whole entire wedding at a later date for sure! But for now you can take a look at the feature on Grace Ormonde! Yay!

Click on the photo above to read their sweet, heart-warming yet heart-breaking story.

xoxo,

Katie

About 15 months ago my little brother decided that he was going to pop the question to his long time girl, Karina. We all love and adore Karina in the Babcock family and we were all so exited to hear the news! I told my brother I’d photograph it for him! How fun!! So he made some plans to surprise Karina at the airport as she returned from a work trip – and the rest is history. Here’s the story in photos:

This is my brother.

This is my brother and my hubby.

Just landed! Not that you can see it  because I was shaking so bad!!!

Here she comes!

I love you guys! Can’t wait until October!!!!! :)

xoxo,

Katie

I adore taking family photos. And I had so much fun with these guys! It was a beautiful afternoon, with gorgeous light and a little breeze, absolutely a perfect day for a family portrait session! Thanks Andrea, Ken, and lil’ Alexandrea. You guys are so, so great together. Don’t ever change! xoxo

I KNOW this is a blurry photo below. But what about it draws me in? I am not sure but I adore it. Weird? I know. :)

xo,

Katie

Deep Breath. I have reached the point in my year where I am desperately seeking to photograph people again. In this mild winter we are in the midst of, I have let my hands, my heart and my mind take a break from photography. In the past couple of weeks, I have recharged my soul and refreshed my spirit. When work gets so busy in the summer and fall months it’s hard to hear what speaks loudly, wildly in my heart. But I can hear it again. And for that I am very thankful, and very glad. I absolutely adore what I do. I adore that photography is meaningful to people. I love that in 50 years the photos I have taken of weddings, and families will still exist. But I have a couple of goals to make my style of photography even more meaningful to people. I am going to throw these goals out into the universe to see what happens. Sometimes all you need to do is state your desires and they can happen. You never know.

So if you can help or want to help with my goals or knows someone who can help with my goals – feel free to share or reach out to me! I’s absolutely love to hear from you!

Another deep breath:

1. I would very much like to be part of a birth. I would like to very quietly and unobtrusively photograph a birth. For me it’s about moment, emotion, love, pain, and life. It’s not about what’s going on “down there” – frankly, I actually don’t want to see what’s happening down there!! I want to make a book of this and present it to you. And I want you to have it forever and to share it with your kids when they get older. If you know of someone who might be interested in this – please share this with them or reach out to me!

2. I am looking for a couple who wants photos of themselves. BUT! I don’t want it to be posey. I want you to go through stuff. I want them to be emotional, loving, and beautiful but not because you had your hair and makeup done pretty, but because they are raw, emotional, real, and reflective of the people you truly are together. Again, if you know of anyone who is interested in this please share my name with them.

3. Here’s a big one. This one is a little ridiculous and probably nothing I should share online, but truly – what do I have to lose. Okay. I love to travel. I love to photograph people and weddings and families. How amazing if I could do this all over the world. A dream of mine would be to have enough work booked around the world where I could take my kids out of school for the year and travel all over with them. (I told you this was big, hairy and ridiculous!) I’d be happy to start small here. :)

Anyway – I just thought I’d throw out some goals of mine. They are not all of my goals, they just represent a few. But they mean a lot to me. And it would fill my entire heart up with happiness if you shared them with someone who may want photography like this!!!

And of course we need to add a photo in this post so I thought I’d in some personal iPhone photos! You can find them all online by following @slatie on Instagram!!

Love you all! And thanks for listening!

xo,

Katie

See my full post here: CarlaTenEyck.com

C10 Studio: Best of Katie 2011 from Carla Ten Eyck on Vimeo.

Right before Thanksgiving this year Sandra Costello of Studio SMC and I went down to Miami to photograph V & O’s Miami wedding. I have known V since 2010 when I went to Peru to volunteer with Coprodeli. It was so fun to reconnect with her, meet her family and of course, meet her amazing hubby. The days we spent with them were WARM, emotional, super fun and incredibly happy. I will never forget my days down in Miami, FL photographing their wedding.

A huge thank you to my buddy Sandra without whom I could not have survived 2011. To have a solid sounding-board in your life that values art, photography and business the same as I do has been an invaluable experience. I am beyond happy that we are such good friends. Sandra, thank you! xo Sandra is a fabulous wedding and portrait photographer. Please go check out her work.

Here are the photos:

Sandra’s photo on the bottom left.

this is Sandra’s photo:

Sandra spent some time with the boys. All the following boy shots are hers!

I love these girls!

First look time so we could get all out photos in before boarding the yacht! This first look was incredibly sweet.

Shoe shot by Sandra!

So much excitement here. All of these shots are Sandra’s.

Sandra’s shot below.

Sandra’s shot below.

Sandra’s shot in the bottom left corner.

Sandra’s shot below.

Top shot is mine the other two are Sandra’s.

Winner of the most enthusiastic kiss of the year!!!!!!!! LOVE!!!

The shots below are Sandra’s.

Sandra’s rad jump shot!

A HEART cloud!!!!!! WHAT!!??!?!?!?!? How amazing!!!!!!!

We spent about 20 minutes the day after the wedding playing silly on the beach. Here’s what we got! First shot is Sandra’s.

Probably one of my most fave shots. ever.

V & O thank you for your kindness, hospitality, and love. Sandra and I had such a blast photographing your wedding in Miami. Here’s to a lifetime of love and togetherness, forever and ever.

xoxo,

Katie

After the short time I was with them, I drove home thinking I had become a little wiser on the meaning of life. (The meaning of life is something I ponder upon quite often actually!) These two exposed to me something valuable, something I have probably known all along, and something I hope we can all say we have done when our time to move on comes along.

To love and be loved.

That’s it. We are here simply to love others, and be loved back. It’s pretty elementary, right? The more I think about it, the more real and true it becomes in my heart. There is no other reason why we are here but to love and be loved.

With sadness in my heart, I will tell you that the gentle soul in these photos, Chuck, passed away this week. He will be forever missed by his lovely family and brave, beautiful wife. My heart goes out to them that they may find comfort and peace in their hearts soon. I will be praying for them.

And I’d like to end this post on a happy note if possible! On this day of thanksgiving I am announcing the winning families of the Thankful Family Contest that I held this year! I am so happy to announce the two families but first I’d like to share that anyone who entered the contest in the correct timeframe will receive a gift certificate for themselves and the family they entered for $150 to be used towards a portrait session! Every. Single. Entry. was beautiful and touching and heartbreaking. Everyone had so much love to share about the families that they submitted!! I was beyond humbled by kindness and grace. Reading through the nominations brought tears to my eyes constantly. So, a huge thank you to all the people who submitted entries!

The winning families are the Wilson family and the Neumuth family! Both families are from Marlborough, CT! You will both receive a comlimentary family portrait session and a 16×24 canvas of any print you’d like!

If you are a winning family or if you’d like to claim your $150 gift certificate towards a family portrait session, please email me at katie(at)katieslaterphotography.com with your address so I can mail you your certificate!

Thank you all so much for participating!!

From the bottom of my heart, Happy Thanksgiving!

xo,

Katie

Sometimes I get to thinking that it won’t always be this good and that’s a thought that scares the sh!t out of me. But today, I have two healthy, smart and loving kids. My kind, wonderful husband hugs me, loves me, and makes me laugh on a daily basis. My parents are so loving and thoughtful. My siblings are all successful and happy. I have good health insurance. A warm house. Two sweet dogs. Good neighbors and friends. Clients that like my work. While what we have isn’t the most expensive, or biggest, or newest, or cleanest (!) what we have (or what I have) – is perfect today.  For this I am thankful. And grateful. My heart is full.

And so, on that thought, I want to give back. I want to give family portraits to a family who may be struggling with some of life’s basic luxuries. Not everyone can afford family photos. But I want people to have them anyway. If you know of a family that would be thankful for the surprise of family photos, I want to hear from you. Tell me their story, tell me how you know them, what you love about them, and why you think they’d want something like this. In nominating a special family for portraits, you in turn nominate yourself. That’s right, if the family you nominate wins – you win too! The exact same thing!

I am offering a family portrait session and a 16×24 canvas of any print you’d like. (A total value of $550!)

Please email your nominations to katie(at)katieslaterphotography.com. All stories and names will remain confidential. These stories are sacred and special. I completely respect and understand that. Deadline for submissions is Tuesday November 22nd, 2011. I will announce the winner Thanksgiving evening.

Thanks for participating! Please share this contest opportunity with your friends! If I receive more than 25 entries I will choose two winners!!!

And upon closing, I leave you with a family portrait of my own family. I love these people and couldn’t be happier that I get to call them mine. Oh, and if you are wondering who Deb Schwedhelm is – she just so happens to be my favorite family and child photographer. She is absolutely amazing and her work is nothing short of fantastically beautiful, emotional, and just simply gorgeous. She met us up in North Carolina this past April to photograph our family on the Outer Banks. Her photographs of us are my most prized possession. I love them dearly and I can only imagine that I will treasure them until the day I die.

Here are a couple:

Thanks for paticipating in the contest! I can’t wait to hear from you all!

xo,

Katie