2009 May | ESSENTIAL IMAGERY, Philadelphia photographer

You'd love to have a family portrait session that fully captures who you are, how you connect, and how much affection surfaces when all the members of your family are present within the camera frame.

We're happy to capture your family in our studio, complete with gorgeous light and minimal distractions, or in your comfy-cozy home full of familiar toys and routines. No matter where our session takes place, we'll delight in your delight. And we'll encourage you to pay attention to one another instead of the camera, because there's no 'add happy' button in Photoshop.

We don't care whether you're barefoot or wearing fuzzy slippers, and we won't be sending over a twenty-page list of suggestions about what to wear. (We can make you look beautiful in sweat pants if you love each other.) We just want to capture your family. Your habits, your quirks, and your love. And when you view the images we've created together for the first time, we want the depth of love you feel for your family to grab you by the collar and bring tears to your eyes.

The video below provides a peek at how portrait sessions unfold. If you have questions or would like to schedule a portrait session, click on the 'Contact' link above or call 215-206-3689. Oh -- and thanks for stopping by, lovely!

-- Kristen & Haunani, Essential Imagery owners

P.S. That's Kristen up in the header -- Haunani is camera-shy.

Monthly Archives: May 2009

TWENTY-EIGHT ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.

I will be out of the loft until Friday, May 29th, when I come back as a 28-year-old. You all chose Kids with Cameras to be the beneficiary of my b-day funds, so here’s the deal: donate the price of the average birthday-girl-latte-with-an-extra-shot-of-espresso, $5, to Kids with Cameras.

This link will add $5 to your kids-with-cameras donation cart, or you can visit their official website to donate.

Then, leave a comment here letting me know you’ve donated, and one random commenter will receive a snail mail package full of goodness and love. (Believe me, it’s *so* worth donating to win.)

Okay, got it? Good. I’ll be sipping imaginary lattes and thinking of each of you with love tomorrow! Images of my bday shoot with Matt will be unveiled as soon as humanly possible!

Posted in neat stuff

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ESSENTIAL IMAGERY: KID-SIZED-CONE SESSIONS.

If you’ve swooned over Essential Imagery’s image galleries and envisioned your kiddo starring on the blog and website, but couldn’t swing the price point…

This is your chance to take part in a limited time offer to be a guinea pig for a business & sales experiment in connection to my photographic mentoring community, Easy As Pie. As a mentor in the photographic industry, I’m constantly on the lookout for sales trends in the photography world. How can we, as photographers, better serve our clients despite the economic slump?

Easy — we’ll offer smaller helpings of custom photography at smaller prices. (Instead of the banana split, how about a kid-sized serving of mint chocolate chip?)

Essential Imagery Small Sessions Wayne Pennsylvania

Essential Imagery is offering a kids-cone-sized session to ten clients, and only ten clients!

The session includes:

– a 30-minute loft studio session : 1 outfit, 1 child
– 10 black & white images displayed in an online gallery (Yup, black & white only!)
– 5 fully-retouched gift prints (a la carte value : $325)
– Loft portrait viewing session
– 50% off additional a la carte prints purchased at time of your viewing session

All of that happens for $350! Session must take place by June 16th, and payment in full is required to reserve your session date. Book by May 28th, and get an extra helping of awesome sauce with your completed order!

Hugs upon you,
Kristen

215.206.3689 | kristen@essentialimagery.com

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PORTRAIT V. PURSE

Many of my clients are *all about* designer handbags. If forced to choose between portraits and the purse, though…

This made-for-Vimeo short stars me (Kristen), my biz partner (Haunani), and a sense of humor.

Portrait v. purse from Kristen Kalp on Vimeo.

Posted in kristen tells all, neat stuff

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6TH ANNUAL ACHIEVEABILITY GALA

ACHIEVEability works to permanently break the cycle of poverty for single parent, low-income families, many formerly homeless, by providing a range of supportive services, including education, job readiness, and housing assistance. (In other words, they help people better their lives by being a hand up, not a handout. Awesome!)

The Sixth Annual ACHIEVEability Gala took place last Saturday at the absolutely divine Urban Outfitters headquarters in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The venue was truly lovely, especially for my natural-light loving self:

ACHIEVEability Interim CEO Joel Lawson, shown left, hangs with Urban Outfitters Chairman and President Richard Hayne. (Yes, ladies, he’s responsible for all that money you drop at Urban Outfitters AND Anthropologie AND Free People AND Terrain. He has good karma, though, so don’t hate him too much.)

Stephanie Goldstein, shown bottom left, was responsible for coordinating this giant event, and deserves praise for rockin’ it out!

Raffle & silent auction items — GORGEOUS!!

The lovely people of Briggs Auction House, who donated their time and talent — on the only 17′ couch I’ve ever encountered.

Finally, there were too many lovely people to include in the little preview, so here’s the (horribly compressed, but shared with no less love) event slideshow:

ACHIEVEability Gala from Kristen Kalp on Vimeo.

Posted in randomshoots

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CURE FOR THE MONDAYS.

If you’ve seen Office Space, you know about The Mondays…when you just. can’t. quite. get. it. together. Thus, a cure for today’s mondays: free desktop wallpaper!!

It’s this dandelion image — that one seed about to spring away from the rest — I heart it. And I hope you do, too. This bad boy is easy on the eyes, as wallpapers go, as I prefer gray tones to keep my eyes from getting any more fatigued while working long hours at the monitor.

Preview: