Throw on your boots, don your cowboy hats, and come on down to Get Hitched Give Hope’s very first beer tasting event, Hope Brew!!!! As if raising nearly $85k last month at our yearly wedding charity auction wasn’t enough fun, we want to bring it down a notch, open it up, and throw a couple back with some local brewers!

Join us for an evening of beer tasting for a great cause! We’re super excited to shoot you in our Wild West Photobooth, taste some beer by four local home brewers (Filthy Beer, to name one!!!!), listen (and dance?!) to some bluegrass music by Pickled Okra, admire some purdy western centerpieces by Willow and Bloom, raffles, doorprizes, and much, much more!

• Who: Get Hitched Give Hope presents Hope Brew
• What: A home-brewed charity brew fest
• When: Thursday November 17th, 6:30-9pm
• Where: EM Fine Art Gallery, 410 Dexter Ave N., Seattle, WA
• Why: Because we like beer. And granting wishes to folks who have been given a terminal diagnosis.
• How: Tickets: $15-40. The $40 one gets you a Golden Mug… an ACTUAL beer mug with unlimited beer and four raffle tickets. Dude….

Help us spread the word: share the Facebook event page!
Buy tickets here : http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/207865

p.s. I’m wearing spurs. Yep. spurs.

It’s that time of year again!!!!! Get Hitched Give Hope is in T-minus 3 weeks!!!! And I’m giving away a FULL engagement session package!!!!

What is Get Hitched Give Hope, you ask?? Well, lemme tell you. It’s a volunteer-run non-profit organization that I co-founded in 2007 with some lovely pals in the wedding industry. Among other FUNdraising activities, we throw a yearly cocktail gala in downtown Seattle where brides and grooms can “get gorgeous goods for their wedding by giving back.”  The money that is raised that night and throughout the year not only raises awareness for breast cancer and supports survivors, but also GRANTS WISHES for those whom the cure can’t come soon enough, no matter what the illness may be! A truly worthy cause funded by a really INCREDIBLE event! (check out last year’s event, it was too amazing for words, and we raised over $64,000! SIXTY FOUR THOUSAND!!!) The support from the wedding industry, professional community, AND our community is truly amazing (thank you, friends, clients, and colleagues!!!).

Now, I know you’re thinking, “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?” Not only are there drinks, great LIVE music, and fun little surprises throughout the event, nevermind the heart-pumping live auction and exciting silent auction, but I’m auctioning off a FULL ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE! It includes a photography adventure for us 3 (think: picnic in the park. wine tasting in woodinville. urban exploration downtown. game night and cookies at home.), an online proofing gallery, disc of high resolution images, and a beautiful lil’ guest book album where your wedding guests can write little love notes to you! Normally, this would be well over $1,250, but since silent auctions start at a fraction of retail prices, you could get lucky. REAL lucky. (and yes, you can parlay this into a wedding photography package, or this can be used for a baby or family shoot!)

Let’s recap:

1. You’re granting wishes simply by BEING there.
2. Free drinks and fancy finger foods. YUM.
3. Live auctions are pretty dang exciting. BETTER THAN CHRISTMAS.
4. You could win some REAL awesome stuff, but mostly want to bid on my engagement package! PHOTOGRAPHY!!!
5. It’s October 27th, at the swanktastic Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle!!!! FANCY PANTS.

So what are you waiting for? Buy tickets here, and if you’re uber lucky, there still might be swag bag tickets available!!! There is something there for everyone, whether you’re a bride, groom, or friend! (I once won a magnum of wine. Let’s just ponder that for a second…) Just by looking at the sponsors, you KNOW it’s gonna be good!!

(event photos courtesy our good friends at La Vie Photography)

As always, if you’re unable to attend but still want to support, we’d be ever-so-grateful for your donation online, and if you want to get involved as a volunteer for this month’s event or get on the sponsorship list for future events, PLEASE DO!!! Info can be found through our website HERE. If you know someone who is losing their battle with a life threatening illenss and is in need of a wish, please visit our recipient organization, Dream Foundation.

See you there with your party shoes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hip Hip Hooray!!! We are looking for a fun, vibrant, and creative being to join our boutique photography studio in Seattle!!! We have so many projects on the back burner it’s driving us batty, so here begins our journey for finding Awesome Person Number Three, specializing in light, easy-peasy marketing and sales tasks!!

RESPONSIBILITIES MAY INCLUDE:
Marketing:

• Image distribution and submission (Fulfill image requests to vendors and editorial submissions)
• Blog prep
• Design: albums, marketing materials
• Quarterly newsletter
• Social media promotion

Client Relations:

• pre-formatting and sending client workflow emails, light client communication, and managing production checklists
• online shopping cart management with promotions, sales, and maintenance
• billing

Things you won’t have to do:

• answer the phone
• edit or retouch
• fulfill print orders
• get me coffee or pick up dog poop (I don’t even have dogs)
• take pictures

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Basic Photoshop and image handling knowledge (resizing, color space, cropping for web, etc)
• Basic design knowledge (using Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign): layouts, graphics
• Simple copywriting: ability to form full sentences void of any spelling or grammatical errors (apparently this is not a given, these days?)
• Would be helpful if you had familiarity with: ShootQ, RedCart, Photojunction, Bridge, Apple operating systems

QUALITIES:

• Thorough: double-checker, like measuring twice and cutting once
• Driven: problem-solver and idea-haver
• Industry knowledge, either in the wedding industry or photography industry. Gold star if both
• Quirky and fun personality a definite plus

PARAMETERS:

• 4 hours per week, in-studio, to start. Once we get to know each other better, you can work remotely if you’d like, take on more responsibilities if you want, and increase your hours to 8 or 12 per week.
• You’ll need your own business license and will need to invoice me for your time (i.e. contractor status. don’t worry about being fancy, a word document works dandy!)
• Note: This is not an internship or an opportunity to learn. It is a job opportunity to work with a flexible and fun boutique creative studio that welcomes custom music playlists, food truck field trips, and practical jokes.

HOW TO APPLY:
Send an email showing us:

• what you’ve got (i.e. resume, URL, etc. Woo us!!)
• your hourly rate

to jobs AT mcconnellphoto DOT com along with your hourly rate. There is no closing date, we will search until we find the perfect addition to our little family We ask for your forgiveness in advance, we’re not able to respond to each and every email incoming, but really really really appreciate your time and energy! Feel free to re-post this- we’ll update here when the position has been filled.

High fives, superstars!!!!

2010 has been a wonderful year. We finally moved into our first “grownup” house, we got some ridiculously fun & entertaining fur machines, I got to speak for Nikon, shoot a few wedding proposals, and the weddings, oh the weddings!! Our clients this past year threw some truly amazing affairs, and boy are we excited to start sharing them!! I feel awful that we haven’t been able to blog each and every shoot the last year, so perhaps that will be one of our new year’s resolutions: take on less and blog more! I guess that’s what the rainy months are for.

Back in October, I threw together a “Best of 2010 (October-to-October anyway)” book for a little bridal event called Get Hitched Give Hope. So here we go. The year in pictures. The best {weddng} images from us of 2010. It definitely should include a ton more- I hope you enjoy.

Happy holidays from our studio mascots, Marmaduke and Esmeralda!

And in case you were wondering, no people were harmed in the making of this holiday card, although I’m pretty sure Duke had a full tummy after all the treats (he figured out quickly that hat=treats=hat again=treats again) and Ez was only going to give me one very irritated frame. Outtakes from our Cats In Christmas Hats shoot are below!

A few months ago, I was approached with a fun little idea for a really big project. The Seattle Public Library system needed help: their budget was brutally slashed and they needed a little ol’ fashioned PR. The Friends of the Library, a non-profit designed specifically to help create awareness for the Seattle Libraries, wanted to publish a calendar. The images wouldn’t be of books, of characters in books, but rather characters who loved books. Enter some of Seattle’s most notable celebrities, artists, and business people. After days of scouting and countless planning emails reaching all over the city and back, a plan was formed. It involved an artist, an author, a book-lover, a symphony musician, a businessman, a gal who has her own action figure, a man who sings about Lump, and a chef. And the list just kept growing. Here we were, about to flit all over the most amazing building in all of Seattle, the Central Library, with free reign to shoot just about anywhere we wanted. The result? Here goes!

Above four images: Chris Ballew, a.k.a.  Caspar Babypants. The 16 yr. old inside of me secretly did the whole “shrieking jumping mega-fan dance” when we heard about this Mr. January stepping on board for this project. Not only is he a super famous children’s entertainer (if you run in those circles!), but is probably more well known in Grownup Land for his involvement in the Seattle rock band Presidents of the United States of America. Not only did we get to start the day off by shooting Chris first, but our little crew also got a private concert right there in the children’s section of the downtown library. My favorite PUSA song: Lump. Like, duh.

Above three images: Meet the handsome and eloquent Leonard Garfield, Executive Director of MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry). After a few giggles and jokes, we were able to capture the serious side of this local James Bond stand-in. (joking. or at least… I don’t THINK he has secret missions…. except maybe to get the ladies to go see the clutch exhibit currently at the museum…).

Above image: Ken Kirkpatrick, President of US Bank. Ken was a pleasure to meet and joke with. He worked his way up the ol’ corporate ladder the old fashioned way. A local boy, graduate of UW among other schools, he started his career at US bank in 1971 as a teller! His favorite book: If I Ran The Zoo by Dr. Seuss. And look where he is now. (insert smiley face)

Above image: Rev. Samuel McKinney. Lover of books, activist, and former reverend of one of the most prominent and oldest churches in Seattle, Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Rev. McKinney was a leader in the movement for human rights in the 60′s, and playing a major role in the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC). He also marched alongside some of our nation’s most powerful civil rights leaders. And, he was friends with the one and only Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am in awe of his long lifetime full of accomplishments. And his purple velvet blazer, by the way.

Above two images: Chef Jason Wilson of the upscale American restaurant Crush. With his boyish good looks and great sense of humor, it was a pleasure to photograph this one. He’s just about to open a new restaurant alongside and within Urban Enoteca- I can’t wait to stop in and try his culinary creations!

Above two images: I don’t know if I’ve ever met a sweeter woman than my Miss May,  Nancy Rawles. A critically acclaimed  and award winning author and playwright, she was all laughs and sincere smiles, even when I lost her in the crazy-confusing escalators at the library. Can you imagine? The Photographer Who Lost Her Muse On An Escalator. It’ll be her next bestseller. You just wait.

Above two images: This one has her own action figure with real shushing action. She’s a legend. The most famous librarian in the world, who writes about and talks about books, even appearing on NPR. Here is Nancy Pearl in the self service holds-pickup area at the Central branch, where she worked for 20 years. We couldn’t hardly shoot a frame without someone recognizing her. This little lady sure does light up a room. I think she should be Miss September.

Above image: Our second private concert for the shoot was provided by the one and only Elisa Barton, the beautiful (and bubbly!) Principal Second Violinist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. DANG the acoustics were great in this stairwell, but I’m sure it had more to do with Elisa’s award-winning and phenomenal talent. Within seconds she had our whole little chatty crew silent with amazement!

Above 2 images: Josephine Cheng was next up. She arrived ready to rock n roll, naturally, because she’s a broadcast journalist. It was surreal and a pleasure meeting her in person after seeing her on our living room tv all these years! She has been a reporter for Seattle based shows such as Evening Magazine and currently hosts About The Money on KCTS.

Above image: Encaustic painter Joan Stuart Ross. With Collections at the Seattle Art Museum and National Museum of Women in the Arts among many others, this artist is one to keep an eye on. Her work is bright and colorful, which is nothing short of what I expected from a gal equally bright and colorful! She’s totally my Miss April, and we had a blast riding the escolator up and down (during regular library hours nonetheless) a million jillion times to get this shot.

Above Image: Here we have the CEO of South Lake Union-based Tommy Bahama, Terry Pillow! He blew in off the street with a jovial smile and a relaxed attitude, absolutely the embodiment of the company he runs. This man knows fashion- he comes from Neiman Marcus, A/X Armani Exchange, Coach, and Polo Ralph Lauren. He’s just the kind of guy you want to be around- so nice and oh-so fashionable.

Above images: My Miss Septembers, Deb Rock and Judith Berman. They head up the Interbay P-Patch Foodbank, which provides fresh fruits and veggies to the local food bank. An amazing idea, and wonderful cause, doncha think? I mean, these P Patches sprout up all over the city, perhaps on unusable or inconvenient land, and not only provide a place for our city folk to garden, but also grow food for their community. MAN, look at that beet.

Above three images: A man who needs no introduction, yet I still will, we have Municipal Court Judge Michael Hurtado.  I have a feeling he was the class clown as a kid. It was all fun and no work photographing him in the law section of the library. This guy has been around the block a few times: after growing up in gang territory in LA and serving in Viet Nam and Thailand, he studied law, graduating from University of Washington. Judge Hurtado has recently been celebrated by receiving the State Trial Judge of the Year Award from the the Washington State Bar Association and KOMO TV’s “Home Town Hero” Award. Thanks for entertaining us girls, Mike!

As much as I was nervous and excited and exhausted after getting lost and shooting such amazing people all over such a HUGE library, this was such a fun project. I mean… I got to work with makeup artist Michelle Chappron for the first time, collaborate with some lovely members of the community (hi Alice & Maggie and Lisa!), meet some movers and shakers, see a real-life action figure in person, and shake the hand of the man that sung about peaches and Lump. I am humbled by their energetic and generous support for such a wonderful community resource as our public library system.

So… I’m curious… what’s YOUR favorite book? Share it with us by leaving it in the comments below!

Last week I got the privilege of working with the lovely ladies of Ravishing Radish. Famous for their mashed potato bar, Ravishing Radish is a neat little venue and wedding/event catering company down on Lake Union. Their new happy hour spot on Eastlake, called simply Ravish, was the perfect backdrop for our shoot.  The concept was a no-brainer- Lisbet, Vickie, JoAnna, and Heather are sassy gals who love to have fun. Oh, and they LOVE champagne. Add in some pretty pumps and frilly aprons from Antrhopologie, bake at 350, and voila! Holiday Card A La Fun!