Ken Kienow Wedding Photography

Mandy and Trevor, San Luis Obispo CA

2010-02-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

Mandy and Trevor are getting married at The Cliffs in Shell Beach this March. For their engagement session we started near Bishop's Peak in San Luis Obispo, headed down to the pier at Avila Beach, and finished up in some spring flowers back in SLO. It ended up being such an awesome day...I don't know why more people don't get married in January and February on the central coast...our weather has been unbelievable lately!

:(

2010-02-05T21:35:00.001-08:00

A sad thing happened a few days ago. Cameron was coming in from outside, and tripped and hit his mouth on a tractor toy that he has. The impact cut his lip pretty badly, and jammed one of his front teeth back and up into his gums. He handled it well and only cried for probably 5-6 minutes, but it bled a lot and we could tell it hurt. He sat on mom's lap and watched Cars for awhile and that seemed to help a little.

So we went to the dentist yesterday, and it sounds like everything's going to be ok. The baby tooth that got jammed up into his gums actually angled itself away from the permanent tooth buds, so as long as nothing gets infected it looks like it won't be a permanent problem. He might need to get it pulled if it doesn't come back down on its own, unfortunately. Meanwhile, his smile is a little different, but that's fine. :) Battle wound, right?

The hardest part of this whole ordeal was the trip to the dentist. He's a little wary in the dentist office anyway, but getting an x-ray really freaked him out. It's probably the most upset/scared I've ever seen him. He's such a polite little guy, and he learned to say "No thank you" lately. When we were trying to get a decent x-ray of his teeth (and having to hold him down), he was crying and screaming "NO THANK YOU!" over and over. Such a heartbreaking thing to have to deal with, but he was fine after it was over.

The day after it happened he was a little melancholy. Here's an iPhone photo of his xray:

By today, though, he was back to normal and doing things like this:

April and Josh, San Luis Obispo CA

2010-01-29T17:27:00.001-08:00

April and Josh. Josh and April. We went out and shot a few photos near San Luis Obispo a few days ago, and got rad light and weather. April is the owner of April Flowers in San Luis Obispo, and has done floral arrangements for many of the weddings I've shot. If you're looking for a florist, check her out. All of the couples I've spoken with who have used April have had nothing but glowing reviews.

Jessica and Khang, San Luis Obispo CA

2010-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

Jessica and Khang are dancers. Crazy good ones, at that. They met through Cal Poly's Salsa Club and are getting married this year. We hung out in downtown SLO and Montaña de Oro for their engagement session, and ended up getting a pretty rad sunset.

Lately...

2010-01-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Cameron Ingalls and Mike Smith at Ash Imagery, I've decided to test my iPhone-tography skills. Check out Cameron's blog to see the man who coined the term phonetography, and check out Mike's iPhone print on www.switchcities.com that's being auctioned to benefit the Haiti relief effort.

All images taken with my iPhone 3gs:

Jen and Antoine's Maternity Session, SLO CA

2010-01-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

Jen Rodriguez is an awesome wedding photographer in San Luis Obispo. We've shot together a few times, and when it came time for her and Antoine's maternity session, she gave me a call. It's so fun to shoot other photographers - they did super well, and I can't wait to meet Kaden. I hope I spelled Kaden right.

Featured on Style Me Pretty

2010-01-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Melissa and Ryan's totally rad wedding has been featured on Style Me Pretty.

Melissa and Ryan's Wedding, Dana Powers Barn CA

2010-01-07T20:44:00.001-08:00

This was a very special wedding to me. Ryan and Melissa are very good friends of Courtney and I - Courtney has known Melissa since 2001 when they met in the dorms at Cal Poly, and when Courtney and I started dating I had the privilege of getting to know Melissa too. Then Ryan came along.

Courtney and I had him under the microscope for the first few times we were around him. Was this guy good for Melissa? The first few times they left our house we would talk about what we thought about Ryan.

Shortly, Ryan and I became friends and would surf a few times a week together. He's a little quieter than many of my other friends, so it took me a few times to really warm up to him...but once I got an idea for what sort of man Ryan is, my questions (and Courtney's) of whether he was good for Melissa were totally washed away. He's an amazing guy, totally perfect for Melissa, and we couldn't be happier for the two of them.

I don't know if I've ever looked forward to a wedding more than theirs. It brought me to tears seeing her come down the aisle and the way he was looking at her, and I feel so proud to have been their photographer and to be able to get to know this amazing couple even more now that they're married.

Ryan and Melissa - this is the biggest CONGRATULATIONS I've ever mustered. We love you both and can't wait to hear about the honeymoons. :)

Venue: Dana Powers Barn
Flowers: April Flowers
Dress: Provonias

Recognize that bug? It's Ryan's, and is the same one that was in their engagement session. The inside of its roof was their guest sign-in. How awesome is that? They get to drive around with their guests' well-wishes on the roof of their car. :)

22 months.

2010-01-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Nicole and Brad, San Luis Obispo CA

2009-12-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

Nicole and Brad are getting married next year, and are good friends of Courtney and I. It was so fun hanging out with them, and I think that comes out in these photos. :) Congrats, you two.

Amber+Sean on Ruffled Blog

2009-12-21T08:20:00.001-08:00

Amber and Sean's awesome intimate wedding has been published on Ruffled Blog. See it here:

Amber and Sean on Ruffled Blog

Amber and Sean's Wedding, Cambria CA

2009-12-16T14:27:00.001-08:00

Amber and Sean had an amazing intimate wedding in Cambria on Monday. It was at Linn's Farm Store, which is waaaay out Santa Rosa Creek road. The rains the previous week made the creek into a small river instead of the trickle it normally is, and the weather was perfect. Everything was clean from the rain, green, crisp, and clear.

They had a wedding ceremony, followed by their first dance. We then did their photos, and they had a small pie reception afterwards (exceptional pie from Linn's in Cambria, I might add).

Amber and Sean were so fun to shoot. We have a lot of mutual friends, but had never met somehow. Glad we finally did.

Sean and Amber walked into the ceremony area at the same time, which was really cool. He came in from the front, and she came in from the back. Here's Sean waiting to see his beautiful bride for the first time.

Their first dance:

Featured on Wedding Chicks

2009-12-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

Keri and Justin's Wedding has been featured on Wedding Chicks!

Fabi and Josh, Fresno CA

2009-12-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to get to shoot around Downtown Fresno a little bit - I've done a lot of rural sessions lately just because I live in a very rural area, so it was fun to get to shoot in the city with Fabi and Josh. They were a super fun couple to shoot. :)

Barbara and Adam, Fresno CA

2009-12-08T12:12:00.001-08:00

Barbara, Adam, and I met up on one of the windiest days I've ever experienced in Fresno, so I was glad to find a little bit of a wind haven in Woodward Park, somewhere I'd never shot before. We lucked into some great fall colors too. :)

Sunny and Adam, San Luis Obispo CA

2009-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

I've known Adam since 7th grade, I think. He and Sunny came over to SLO for their engagement session a few weeks ago, and it was fun to catch up with him after so long.

Sarah and Josh's Engagement, San Luis Obispo CA

2009-11-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

Sarah and Josh came over from Bakersfield for their engagement session. Sarah had asked me if we could shoot at the barns, and it ended up being a SUPER nice fall day for photos. :)

Kara and Seth Featured on Green Wedding Shoes

2009-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

Kara and Seth have been featured on Green Wedding Shoes today. Check it out: Kara and Seth on Green Wedding Shoes

Head over to greenweddingshoes.blogspot.com out if you're planning a wedding, Jen's always got some really great inspiration posted!

Kara and Seth's Wedding, Los Olivos CA

2009-11-20T16:23:00.000-08:00

Kara and Seth put together an incredible barn wedding - one barn for cocktail hour, the other for the reception. They were married in a small grove of trees on Seth's parents' ranch. You might recognize the T-Rex in the first photo if you've ever driven between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. :)

The band, Impact, was an amazing cover band. Every single song they performed sounded like the original. This was also my last wedding of the "season" - a stretch that saw weddings every weekend since mid-August. It was a great one to end on - a heartfelt, fun, absolutely beautiful event on an amazing ranch under a very starry sky.

Janelle and Albert's Engagement, San Luis Obispo CA

2009-11-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

Janelle, Albert, and I explored some new territory on their engagement session, and we found some great spots. Trivia: Albert and his brothers built a volkswagen dune buggy, and Janelle gets to push start it when it won't run. :)

Dana and Collie's Engagement, Santa Maria CA

2009-11-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Dana and Collie took me up to an awesome area that I didn't know about - an area outside of Sisquoc, which is itself a hardly known, tiny town outside of Santa Maria. :) We shot around an old church there, which was where they got engaged. The cemetery there had graves dating back to the early 1800's and even late 1700's. Crazy.

Janelle and Albert Preview

2009-11-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Felt like posting a quick one from a fun engagement session tonight. :)

Truck.

2009-11-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

Nicole and Ryan's Wedding, Pismo Beach CA

2009-11-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

I left this wedding so stoked for such a rad couple. Nicole and Ryan are the type of people that make you feel like you've known them for years, even after having known them for a few short hours. Their friends, family, and bridal party were awesome and their wedding reception/party was incredibly fun.

Nicole gave Ryan a letter before they were married, and also a note that Ryan had written her in high school.

If you've ever been in a hotel room with bridesmaids getting ready, you know that champagne and cheez-its are a perfectly normal pre-wedding pairing.

Ryan and Nicole's son Nathan stole away for a few adventures during the ceremony. :)

This guy's 76 years old, and was dancing like crazy the entire night!

Monica and Chris's Engagement, Lafayette CA

2009-11-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

We walked over 2 miles around the Lafayette Reservoir. We hung out on a dock. We geeked out over miniature sensor networks. We visited downtown Lafayette. It was awesome. I like Monica and Chris. :)