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I am heading to Charlotte today to stay with my sister’s family, to photograph one of my very favorite FAMILY STORY clients who moved to Charlotte and to also photograph the 20th high school reunion of Myers Park class of 1990. My 20th is next year- crazy! I truly cannot believe how fast time flies! My plan is to take a group photo of all 150 attendees as well as get some good head shots of the members of this class which I will then pair with their senior portrait and make available on-line. I think this will be fascinating and fun to do! Post reunion update: The reunion was so much fun! There were over 150 alumni in attendance. I have not been back to Charlotte much since high school and was incredibly amazed at the changes in the queen city. The area in which the party was held was an urban wasteland when we were in high school. Now, there is a HUGE professional football stadium and a downtown where people live and work and come to relax. Wish it had been like that when I was there as a teenager! We had so much fun then, but were often relegated to hanging out in parking lots, cul de sacs or descending upon one of our homes when parents happened to be out of town. Now, 20 years later, it was just wonderful to see familiar faces and to catch up with old friends.

You can see the WHOLE STORY here in their on-line gallery. It is from this gallery that you can purchase prints, including the commemorative 8 x 10 shown below. Enjoy!

This weekend was hot! It feels like August already! But we had fun, nonetheless. On Saturday the kids and I went to the Nicholas Wheeler Vivian Foundation’s Annual Auction . This is a foundation that identifies families with financial challenges related to children’s medical expenses. They provide funds to offset the costs of medical equipment, prescription medications, and bills, as well as everyday necessities such as utilities and food. The foundation also works with the Chapel Hill-Durham Mothers of Multiples club to provide financial assistance for health care, education, and living expenses of families with twins and triplets. They raised an incredible $9000! I was so glad to be involved!

In this image from left to right going clockwise: a KPO Photo Family Story, which as won by Sarah Shunk. Thanks, Sarah!!! Then the beautiful Vivian family who hosted this event. All guests paid $10 to eat at an incredible buffet and all the children ate free. The children enjoyed getting their face painted by Paint Savvy. A mask and statue set was just one of the interesting things to bid on. Finally, on the lower, right-hand corner is Sarah Kenan Shunk with Piper and Avery.

The bidding was done through the computer, which was a cool way to do it.

After the event the kids and I went home to play. I had the idea of wedging our inflatable pool underneath the slide. What fun! Our neighbor, Cole, was over to help.

Then we headed inside to play. I will do a longer blog post about this later, but we have an amazing dollhouse with a long history. My uncles made it for me and my brother’s and sister when I was 5 or so. This house somehow has survived and my kids are helping to fix it up. My mom saved all the furniture and it was so interesting to see that they set up the rooms in the same way I did when I was little.

Last Friday despite the non-existent snow event, I ventured out of the house to photograph Fr. Dan McLellan at Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, NC. Cyndy Falgout is one of Father Dan’s parishioners and she happened to go onto the church’s Web site recently and saw a photo of him there. Unlike his actual warm, friendly demeanor, his head shot looks cold and imposing. She hired me to change that. A good portrait is something almost everyone could use.

On the left is a good old, clean backdrop image for various uses. Then I got to take Father Dan around to some of the most photogenic spots in the church. This is the part that I love! For the photo of the right we had originally placed him in front of another part of the stained glass window but after shooting it we all realized that Jesus was getting beaten with clubs in the background and we can’t have that. So we moved him over to the right where Jesus looks much happier. These two work well, I think. The one on the left was kind of tricky because we wanted to include the beautiful wooden cross but it is suspended high in the air. So I got down low which can usually be a bad angle for the human beings to be photographed. But Father Dan looks great. On the right we just had to include Mary since this is an Immaculate Conception church after all. Finally, I shot a couple of more backdrops just so they would have plenty to choose from. You just have to love the beautiful pipe organ on the left. Cyndy really wanted to include the altar and I am glad we did. The whole shoot lasted maybe 30 minutes and now he will have photographs to use for many different things for years to come. Thanks Father Dan and Cyndy!

This was a really busy week as I had the KPO Fall Special, Halloween activites, time doing mom stuff and our last wedding of the year out at Fearrington. Here is a little run down of some of the highlights. My good friend, Nice Polido just opened a new business in downtown Carrboro called Carrboro Raw . They make healthy drinks, made on demand with high quality ingredients. It is located directly across from Weaver Street Market, just behind Spotted Dog. Then, I just had to show this, I think, priceless interaction between a couple of two-year-olds. On the left is Hana, who came here for the fall special. On the right is Leo, my youngest. They are beyond cute. I think for most parents, Halloween is not just one day. It begins well before with discussions of what kind of costume each child wants to wear.

Amira, after several years as a princess, decided to be a witch. So did her cousin, Vivian, with whom she spent Halloween.

Roman, who is forever making complicated plans for pirate ships, trains and treehouses he wants to make, decided that he must construct a robot costume. He had a vision and the whole family worked together to turn a box into his dream.

Finally, Leo, wanted to be a bat. This was his costume last year, when, ironically, he did not want to wear it. So much has changed in a year as now he can explain everything to me. Finally the kids new school, Grady A. Brown, hosts a Halloween parade every year. The kindergarteners and all the teachers, who were absolutely dressed to the nines, parade around the bus lot to the loud roar of cheers from the rest of the school. The outstretched arms you see on the right belong to Amira as she shouts to her little bro.

I am loving this fall weather! Last week I had a bunch of fun events. I was out at night four nights in a row which is a really different schedule for me.

The first night I had dinner at Panzanella with the Sato Family- Jeannine, Mas and Hana. The occasion- Mas had a showing of some of his pieces at Wootini in Carr Mill Mall, which is about a block from my office. We have the table and chair set from his company at my house and we love it! It has been the site of many art projects and tea parties for the kids. Click HERE to see the Inai Inai Ba site.

On Thursday night Julie Jennings hosted the 10 year anniversary of book club. Anyone who has been in the club at any point in the past decade were welcome. It was great to see the ladies from my era and also meet the current members. The whole night had a Swedish theme as they had just read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Great to see you all!

Then on the third evening I attended Cocktails for Cancer . This is an annual fundraising event to increase awareness among the public at large about female cancers. This year’s event was held at The Franklin Hotel in Chapel Hill, NC on Friday the 16th of October.

Some of the items for the silent auction, including a KPO Photo Family Story.

Leah Forbes Waldrop, founder and chairperson of Cocktails for Cancer and her mom. KPO Photo photographed Leah and Justin’s wedding a few years ago. They are wonderful folks. Net proceeds from the 2009 Cocktails for Cancer fundraiser will be donated to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Paola Gehrig spoke on their behalf. She was my own doctor back in 2005 when I was pregnant with my second child. I was very grateful for her competent, personal care during that scary time. Eric Montross did an incredible job as the MC for the live auction. He said we are all touched at one point in our lives by women’s cancers. His own mom was diagnosed with cancer in May of this year and is doing well. A ball signed by the entire Carolina Basketball team. Don’t drop it, man! Tyler Hansbrough’s signed jersey! The board of director’s of this great event from left to right are Leah Forbes Waldrop, Mollie Lutwick, Kristen Kinney and Courtney Scott Fox.

Finally, on Saturday evening I had dinner with my best ladies in honor of Katie’s birthday. We love you, Katie! Thanks, Anna for hosting and thanks Prity for accompanying me for three of my four nights.

THE BOOK IS HERE!!! I in the past year I have been completing (at long last) some pretty big projects. First was this new blog and gallery which I am continuing to enjoy. I hope you are too!

Second is the publication of A Year in the Life of a Waldorf School . Since I started KPO Photo in 2001 I had been looking for a longer term photo story to tell. I work on many smaller projects, like wedding and family stories, but what if I could spend a whole year on a project? Well 9 years and 3 kids later I finally made it a priority to save some time to do this.

And here is the result– a 96-page, 10-inch wide, full-color book that tells the story of a unique place that has felt like shelter for us for the past five years. This publication is bittersweet, in a way, as my family will be going to a different school next year. We’ll be back with Leo in fall of 2010, though. Thank all of you for being like family to us!