katy gray blog

florida

katy — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:15:58 +0000

After our trip to Charleston, I figured that since I was on maternity leave ANYWAY, I might as well hop a plane and go visit my prarents in Florida. As luck would have it, my brother was able to fly in from New York for the weekend and we got to have a super fun family visit. Nate couldn’t make it, which meant I had to do all of the traveling with both kids by myself….terrifying. But my fellow travelers were absolutely wonderful – I got lots of offers of help, people carried my things for me, and my mom even got to come through security in Sarasota to help me with the first leg. It’s not something I want to do every day, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as I was worried it would be. It does help that Milo is obsessed with the iPad and spent most of the Atlanta -> Salt Lake flight playing Angry Birds and watching movies.

A few photos from the trip -

On our way to Midnight Pass.

Ew, sandy orange. And beach baby!!

Tiny sandy toes.

My parents have 5-6 pools around their condo complex. Quite the pool buffet for a three year old.

Making bread with Uncle Bob & Grandpa.

AAAAAH!!! LEAF MONSTER!!!

At Sarasota Jungle Gardens. The flamingoes (or pie-yingos, if you’re three) are super tame and will eat right out of your hand. And they’re hilarious, they make the funniest sounds and rove back and forth across their area in a big clump.

Bob & Jasper.

Jetty on the Gulf.

Thanks so much for looking!

xoxokt

south carolina

katy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:07:21 +0000

At the end of February we took a trip to South Carolina to photograph a family wedding and spend some time with Nate’s family. I have never really spent any time in the south and was pretty excited to see an area that is so different than what I’m used to. A few things that stand out -

Boiled peanuts.

All side dishes are called vegetables. So under the ‘vegetables’ heading on a menu, you’ll find applesauce, mac & cheese, and fruit salad.

Deep fried EVERYTHING.

Amazing history – houses from the 1800′s, streets that are 300 years old, cannons from the revolutionary war…pretty cool stuff.

A few of my favorite images from the trip -

Live oaks at the Boone Plantation.

Milo & Nate on the beach at our condo on Isle of Palms.

Hey look, pictures of me! These were at a candy store in Charleston. Chocolate pralines are TO DIE FOR.

At Hyman’s Seafood.

The boys.

Milo & Jasper with their uncle Chris.

It’s me again! What’s going on here?

At the Charleston Aquarium.

From here I went on to Florida with just Milo & Jasper – quite an adventure to travel with a three year old and an infant on my own! Photos to come… :)

xoxokt

dulcie & alvin – charleston wedding photographer

katy — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:32:58 +0000

Well over a year ago Nate’s cousin Dulcie contacted us to see if we would consider shooting her wedding. Of course we said yes – what is family for? And when she decided to have it at the historic Boone Plantation in Charleston, SC, that was just gravy. A few months later, I found out I was pregnant with Jasper. Would she mind if we had a six week old baby along? Of course not!

At the end of February we headed down to South Carolina to meet up with Nate’s family and photograph Dulcie & Alvin’s wedding at the Cotton Dock of the Boone Plantation (where apparently part of The Notebook was filmed!). Dulcie did a ton of the work herself – including putting together all those beautiful cotton bouquets!

A few of my favorites from the day…

They decided to do a first look, which I love.

MMy favorite from the day.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Milo was the ringbearer? :)

Dulcie & Alvin – thanks so much for having us! We had a great time.

Thanks for looking and please feel free to leave comments! Click here to check out their slideshow, or head over to Facebook to see some more of my favorites.

xoxokt

ella – jackson hole baby photographer

katy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:30:30 +0000

I first met Melissa in Julie’s pre-natal exercise class – she was due just a week after I was and we exchanged numbers so we could hang out during our shared maternity leaves. After the first class, she realized that we had actually even met before at a mutual friend’s birthday party and then again for some apres ski fun last winter and that Nate and her husband Jason had worked on some of the same projects around town. Small world! Or rather, small town. :)

Turns out that Jasper was born early and Ella was born late, so they are almost three weeks apart. I think they can still be friends though.

A few of my favorites from our shoot -

Thanks so much for looking and don’t forget how much I love comments.

xokt

brothers – jackson hole children’s photographer

katy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:19:14 +0000

A few of Milo and Jasper together. I can’t believe how sweet Milo is with his little brother – he wants to hold him all the time and is always saying how much he loves him. It’s super cute.

And in other news, a new color scheme and watermark! What do you all think? I’d love some feedback.a :)

2011 wedding favorites

katy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:47 +0000

And to wrap up my series of 2011 retrospectives, here are some of my favorite wedding images from the past year – enjoy!!

Thanks so much for looking, here’s to a fabulous 2012!

xokt

jasper – jackson hole newborn photographer

katy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:00:06 +0000

Our new little guy at six days old.

Thanks so much for looking!

xokt

jasper robert gray

katy — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:00:41 +0000

He’s here! After thirty nine weeks of incubation, Jasper Gray made his debut appearance on 1/4 at 11:21 AM after what might have been one of the fastest labors ever.

** WARNING **

You may not want to read this if you:

Are squeamish

Don’t like babies

Have had a difficult labor

Have had a long labor

Have had a bad epidural

Have had to push for a long time

Have a baby who doesn’t eat

Have a baby who doesn’t sleep

Have a toddler who doesn’t like their new sibling

We checked in at St. John’s Hospital here in Jackson around 6:30 AM on Wednesday, 1/4. We had originally been scheduled to induce on the fifth but when Dr. G gave me the option of going in a day early, I went for it. Of course the message didn’t quite get to the hospital staff, but after a few phone calls it was all straightened out and I was comfortably ensconced in the same room I had delivered Milo in with the same nurse (go Kristin!). They got me all hooked up to the IV and started Pitocin around 8 am.

I was getting a little worried as time passed and I didn’t feel any contractions yet, but around 8:30 I felt my first little twinge and knew we were on our way. I was already about a 4 or 5 before the drugs even started, so we were hoping for my own hormones to take over once the Pitocin gave me a little jump start.

The contractions gradually got worse, although there wasn’t really a point where they were so bad that I couldn’t talk through them. Around 10 AM one of the other OBs from Dr. G’s office came in to break my water and check up on things – she asked if I was considering an epidural and when I said that I was, suggested I get it now because otherwise it may be too late. And who am I to ignore a doctor’s advice? So about 10 minutes later my favorite doctor EVER, Dr. T the anaesthesiologist (that is not spelled correctly at all) came in and got the party started.

I told Dr. T that I wanted a light dose – something to take the edge off but not render me completely numb from the waist down. He nailed it with just the right amount – the contractions faded away but I was still able to move around and get comfortable and participate in things, which was nice.

Well…the contractions faded away until transition labor, that is. All of a sudden – CONTRACTION! OOOOOO!!! But again, not so bad that I couldn’t talk through it. Six or seven of those and it was time to push – just needed an OB and we were off to the races. Dr. A got there and gowned up and about 11:15 I started pushing. And then at 11:21 Jasper was born, weighing 7 lbs, 5 oz and 19.5″ long. That’s right, approximately five or six minutes of pushing (or three pushes, if you’d rather) and we had a brand new baby boy!!

I am under no illusions that this is how the birth process works for most people – I know I’m lucky! I was able to walk around on my own within two or three hours of delivering and had our lovely candlelight (well, LED light. safety first!) dinner at the hospital that evening. We were cleared and discharged by 2 PM the next day and have been getting the hang of this two kid thing ever since. Milo adores his baby brother, loves being a big brother and is really annoyed with us for not giving him all the attention, all of the time. :P Overall he’s doing really really well and we’re very proud of how he’s handling it all.

Following are some photos that Nate took at the hospital – enjoy and thank you for looking!

xokt

2011 portrait faves

katy — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:00:37 +0000

A few of my favorite portraits from 2011 – and I know there are a few sessions I haven’t blogged yet; I’m working on it, I promise!! And yes, Jasper photos are on their way as well. So much to do!

xokt

2011 iPhone images

katy — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:41:26 +0000

Like most people, I think I have more day-to-day photos on my iphone than anywhere else.

OK, that’s not true at all, I have thousands of day to day photos on my computer. BUT – the beauty of the iPhone photos is that you shoot and you’re done – no post-processing, no downloading to the computer, no fiddling around with book layouts, nada. The downside is that sometimes they just sit on my phone and never get looked at again.

So I thought I’d let my favorites from this year have their own little (HA! This thing is huge) blog post.

Thanks so much for looking – happy holidays and have a great New Year!!

xokt