We're Moving!!! NEW BLOG :)

Wedding season is officially here and there are sooooo many changes at Adrienne Maples Photography! Over the winter we hired two new employees, Rob & Linda. (Adrienne will be posting more about them individually.) We are also working on a new website but today I am writing to announce that our NEW BLOG is ready to roll!!!

If you are one of our faithful readers, please bookmark our new link www.amaplesblog.com

The new blog is very interactive and we think that everyone will enjoy new format. We love hearing from our wonderful clients and new friends so please feel free to leave comments!!

See you on other side!!

~Ashlee

Go Greener: Organic Gardening

We all know that chemicals are not great for the environment. It's ironic that so many products made for growing plants and vegetables (which is good for the environment) can contain so many additives are bad for the environment. Adrienne and Scott picked up a book called "Giant Book of Garden Solutions: 1,954 Natural Remedies to Handle Your Toughest Garden Problems" by Jerry Baker. I think that faithful readers of this blog are aware of all of the troubles these two have had trying to grow tomatoes in their backyard and they hope that this book will lead them to a safe solution. Since it is about time to start preparing seeds, I thought I would share one of the first tips that the book offers for a Seed Starter Tonic. This promises to get your seeds off to a "rip-roarin' start".

The Recipe:

1 tsp. of baby shampoo

1 tsp. of Epsom Salts

1 qt. of weak tea water*

Mix the shampoo and Epsom salts in the tea. Then bundle up your seeds in cheesecloth or an old panty hose toe (one seed per bundle, unless you're aimin' for a casual mix). Drop the bundles into the liquid, and put the container in the fridge to soak for 24 hours. Your seeds will come out ready to go.
* Soak a used tea bag in a mix of 1 gallon of warm water and 1 spoon of liquid dish soap untl the mix is light brown.

Happy Gardening!!
~ Ashlee & Adrienne

What Happened to Spring?

The meteorologists called it, the big storm actually made it to Kansas City! All week they were back and forth on whether it would hit us or go south. Friday afternoon I saw how massive the storm was and knew that there was no way we were getting out of this one. Yesterday about noon I decided to do something crazy, I got my camera and went outside in the freezing rain and sleet to take pics of the ice coated trees. This first image is one of my favorites. I love the pink flowers.Evidence that a good coat of ice on budding trees....

Mixed with lots of slushy snow......Causes trees to fall on top of cars. That's right, there is a car under that pile o' tree!!

I got lucky this time, that is my usual parking spot!

I'm looking outside right now and can't believe the difference 24 hours makes. Looks like Spring again! Have a great week! ~ Ashlee

Kellan & Kyle | Windy Wedding

Kellan & Kyle's wedding was beautiful! Truly!! It was the first week of March and 75 degrees!! Hard to believe, but true. When looking out the window the week before you were confronted with 5 inches of powdery snow. Beautiful shots can be achieved facing this act of nature; however, not so beautiful for the guests driving into town!Although, it was a bit windy... we fought with it quite a bit while having a little fun before the ceremony. They were really great spots, didn't complain a bit but rather rolled with the unexpected elements of the day. We got a ton of great shots and the wind simply added more personality to the moment :)The amazing floral arrangements were put together by the fabulous Craig Sole. He not only crafts one of a kind designs but he's also a delight to work with! The couple was pelted with rice as they exited the church. I think they were a little surprised by how much it stung! It never amazes me how hard guests will fling rice!?! However this can provide some unexpected humorous moments.You have all been very patient waiting for me to blog this wedding! It's easy for me to get behind on the blog when I have so many exciting changes in the works for the year! Not to mention, my head exploding with ideas posed by the Photogirls.At the moment, I am still in Portland playing around town with Brooke. We decided to stay a few extra days to explore. Of course, we still find we are constantly teaching one another things. I loooove it & I've had so much fun! Thanks Brookie for exploring with me!

Photogirls Photobooth Fun

We are offering the Photobooth this year so we decided to have a little fun with our OWN photobooth. If you are interested in adding this to your Collection, contact Ashlee. Yep- that's me kissing Melanie. She totally rocked as a mullet man! Ha! Notice that sweet tattoo.. eyeliner folks.
We set up our own Photobooth last night & things got a little... well- crazy. We had a ton of fun being silly & finding our own creative ideas. Below you will notice Misha actually balancing a chess set on her head! Really- it was pretty impressive.
And here Melissa Jill is pointing out Misha's pregnant belly. They were pretty funny!
Me & Rebecca- she's a meanie popping my bubble like that!!
Here is Jena & Melissa acting sassy.
Needless to say, we are having a great time out here. I'm having some issues with my new laptop- so I haven't done as much work as I intended. But the girls continue to assure me that we actually NEED to take a break every once in a while. I am trying to take this to heart... although it's very difficult. We all need a little time away :) I actually shot landscape images for FUN today.

Happy St. Patty's Day from the Photogirls

Here is a stop motion gig that Tania, Melissa, & Rebecca put together!

Photogirls St. Patrick's Day Jig 2009 from Tania Lezak on Vimeo.

Photogirls in Manzanita | Day 2

My office is closed this week as I joined the Photogirls for our Second Annual Retreat. This year Jena & Misha planned our retreat along the coast of Oregon. The weather is questionable (we had rain intermixed with HAIL yesterday!) but it is absolutely beautiful out here. We braved the weather yesterday & I'll post photos soon.
Here are the Girls:
Khara KaBloom Studios
Adrienne Maples
Jena Murray
Kellie Kano
Sarah + Mel with Whitebox
Michele Waite
Rebecca Peters
Stacey Kane
Tania Lezak
Melissa Jill

Since I don't have any of my images ready, here are some awesome pictures on loaner from Khara! She took great photos of the Beach House before we arrived & covered the place with laptops, power cords, cameras... it didn't take us long to make ourselves at home!Here is our first workshop/ meeting on Monday. It's so great being surrounded by so many talented women. We talk about everything business related from gear & lighting to marketing & management. And quickly our conversation turns to life & love & how to find the ever elusive 'perfect' balance. We are about to start another group session, so I'll retire this post for now! I'll be back soon posting some of my own photos. We're going to set up a photobooth at some point this week- craziness will ensue :)

Kellan's Wedding Coming Soon!!!

Kellan was my first bride of the year! She married her man, Kyle, on March 7th and celebrated with 75 degree weather. It was snowing the Saturday before- so this was just another reason to celebrate :)

So- more photos from this fun couple soon! I am out spending the week on the Oregon Coast with the photogirls. For some fun photos, check out Khara's blog http://www.kabloomstudios.com/blog. Rebecca has already posted some fun things as well http://www.rpetersphotography.squarespace.com.

I'll be posting again soon, promise ;)