Happy 2010!

It has been snowing like crazy here the last few days and then and sun came out and it's so beautiful! Thank you everyone for a wonderful 2009, it was filled with wonderful new and old friendships, creative inspiration and challenges, and a few shooting stars to boot!
I am wishing everyone much peace and joy for the new year! Cheers!
Kara

Happy Holidays!

In French: Joyeuses Fêtes!
In Spanish: Felices Fiestas!
In Swedish: Trevlig Helg!
In Portuguese: Boas Festas!
In Turkish: Mutlu Bayramlar!
In Romanian: Sarbatori Fericite!
In Mandarin: Jie Ri Yu Kuai
In Catalan: Bones Festes!
In Japanese: Tanoshii kurisumasu wo! (Have a happy Christmas)
In Italian: Buone Feste!
In South African (Xhose): Ii holide eximnandi
In German: Forhe Feiertage
In Dutch: Prettige feestdagen
In Hawaiian: Hau'oli Lanui (pronounced how-oh-lay la-new-ee)
In Gaelic: Beannachtaí na Féile
In Slovenian: Vesele Praznike
In Indonesian: Selamat Hari Raya!
In Croatian: Sretni praznici!

Thank you everyone for a wonderful 2009!
love ya Kara

Rainbows + Love + a little bit of rain = Sunshine?

These two are so stinking sweet and in love! Their wedding was held in a high mountain meadow on a overcast day. Just as the vows were about to be spoken a rainbow appeared over the trees. Gave us all goosebumps! It gets luckier, as the ceremony ended and the Bride and Groom walked down the aisle together it started dumping down rain. So everyone ran for cover. It was so much fun! I love the rain :)


The tale of Amy and Jeffery's wedding day from kara jensen on Vimeo.
Here is a gorgeous still photo from the day by the super talented Kimberly Kay Photography http://www.kkayphoto.com/




Coordinating+ Ali King, An Affair to Remember http://www.affairtoremember.net/

Inspiration

The above photo is by Otto Pfenninger taken in 1906.
I love how he was able to capture this moment in time and tell a story. I came across this image in a book and just stopped and read the image for a bit. As my eyes wondered around the image I found myself thinking about every person in the photograph and wondering about their lives and thoughts (especially the naked butt one :) WTH?). This ability to share point of view through an image is what I strive to achieve in filmmaking and find this so inspirational when I see it in others images.
"Pfenninger, an early pioneer of colour photography, designed and built a special camera that used 3-colour separated plates to create full-colour photographic images. In the Summer of 1906, Pfenninger took his tri-colour, single exposure camera to the parks and beaches of Brighton and created some of the earliest colour images of the seaside town." http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/index.htm

Happy Halloween

California on my mind

Just returned from a trip to San Francisco and Yosemite. The first 4 days I spent in the amazing city of San Francisco taking part in a conference teaching about wedding film making called Re:Frame. I had an incredible time meeting and learning from some of the top industry pros. Why aren't there more women in this industry? Weddings are perfect for our emotional and intuitive sensibilities. This industry can tend to get pretty gear focused. Good to be reminded that it's what you do with the equipment, not what equipment you have. :) That being said I am planning on purchasing the new Canon 5D camera. The footage that film makers are getting off this camera is stunning and I can't wait to shoot with that camera again soon! Gorgeous. I am in love and want to share that with my clients!
The last four days in California I traveled to Yosemite for the Yosemite Film Festival with my sister, Bridget McGinn, to receive the Silver Sierra award for our short documentary, "Song for the badlands". The festival was great fun and we met some amazing film makers from around the world that I hope to visit someday. (I love to travel)
Holy cow, Yosemite was so beautiful. That place is like a magic kingdom. Majestic and regal. WOW! I shot 3 cartridges of Super 8 film, it was so much fun. I can't wait to get the film back and put together a little edit. I'll post it here when its done.
Editing Janessa and J's wonderful wedding over this week and its such a sweet reminder on how the ties of family keep us all together. They are so close and the wedding was held in the famillies garden nursery. Cant wait to finish it up and pass it on to the whole family!

A video glimpse

I came across this little bit of video of me, pre-shoot at a wedding, getting gear ready to go. Thought it was a good little piece to share.

Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult

Found a nice bit of copy by Paul Graham for the Yale MFA photography graduation book entitled: Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult
The article really made me think about why I love telling stories and shooting but it also has something for everyone who has ever taken a camera to their eye.

A bite:

"And hopefully I will carry on, and develop it, because it is worthwhile. carry on because it matters when other things don't seem to matter so much: the money job, the editorial assignment, the fashion shoot. Then one day it will be complete enough to believe it is finished. Made. Existing. Done. And in its own way: a contribution, and all that effort and frustration and time and money will fall away. It was worth it, because it is something real, that didn't exist before you made it exist: a sentient work of art and power and sensitivity, that speaks of this world and your fellow human beings place within it. Isn't that beautiful?"

By Paul Graham

Christie+Dave = The Ranch Reception

This was one fantastic wedding reception! I have never seen so many cowboy hats and boots at a wedding reception before. Plus, there were jumpy tents, hay wagon rides, horses, face painters and on and on :) This family really knows how to throw a party!

Christi + Dave Marriage celebration from kara jensen on Vimeo.

Yeah for the 4th of July

I have to say that I love the fourth of July, its tank tops, shorts, watermelon, cold drink days! For the first time in about 8 years I dont have a wedding booked. :(
I am actually going to a BBQ and planning on relaxing. Yes! Now I gotta go buy some sparklers!

By next week I should have Christi and Dave's wedding story up on the blog. It was shot all in HD at a huge and amazing ranch/arena just outside Sisters,OR and it is fabulous and really beautiful too!

What a view!

Wow, is really the only word that can come close to describing how amazing this wedding was! Held in a 50,000 sf barn. With mountains, sunsets, smiling happy people, horses, new born colts (sooo cute), hay rides, jumpy tents, face painting, great band. It was just plain fun fun fun! Editing as we sit here so trailer should be up here so for you all to see!

Destination Weddings

Is your event or project out of Central Oregon? No problem. We love to travel and are happy to work with you on affordable packaging to meet your needs so that we can be there for you. Wherever "there" is...

Spring Fever

Where to begin? The wedding of Jess and Rich at the Great Hall, Sunriver, OR was just so amazing. I have always loved New Years Eve weddings and what a gorgeous couple in a gorgeous place with wonderful friends and family. It doesn't get much better!


Jess and Rich, Wedding Story from kara jensen on Vimeo.

Also, Team Homespun, consisting of my sister Bridget McGinn, Bob Sant, Lynn Rothan, my brother Patrick Mcginn and myself, participated in the International Documentary Challenge again this year. A 5 day documentary challenge. It was an amazing experience, full of creative energy or as Bob said "the creative vortex". Our film was about Mark Quon, a local musician and a song he wrote after the death of his friend of 35 years, Jim Witty. The piece turned out beautiful and we are all loving it.It will be showing on the big screen this April 30th at the Sisters Movie House at 7:30 along with a sampling of other shorts from the challenge. Come see it!

Behind the scenes at the Bravo Wedding Showcase

Finished up a little film on the Central Oregon Bravo Wedding Showcase. What a great bunch of people I get to work with! See for yourself.
Bravo Central Oregon Wedding Showcase from kara jensen on Vimeo.

Love is in the air

I found this valentine in my childhood memory book. Thought I would share it with all of you. I love it's vintage rustic look!
The yogi opposes the evil in the wrong-doer, but not the wrong-doer. Love ya!

Heart to Heart

Remember that show Heart to Heart. Ugh. That isn't what this post is about. Thank goodness! It's about telling stories about love. I recently discovered this great article by a wonderful wedding filmmaker Laura Moses. Her article sums up the reason's I love shooting weddings so beautifully. I just have to share it with you. Take a look: http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=52453

Wedding Showcase

Hey everybody! Here is a fun shot of Michelle Tullis of Tullis photo http://www.tullisphoto.com/ and I in front of our booth 2 weeks ago. Showing gratitude to all the amazing folks who came and talked with us! Now I am getting ready for another amazing wedding show this Saturday out at the fairgrounds in Redmond. Here is a link if you want more information: http://www.bravocentraloregonwedding.com/index.php/About-the-Showcase/aboutshowcase.html . We would love to see you there. Come say hello!

Central Oregon Wedding and Event Show

Hey, I can't believe its January, the weather in Central Oregon is gorgeous, warm and spring like. Love it! I wanted to let you know that I will be exhibiting at this Saturday's Central Oregon Wedding and Event Show at the Riverhouse Convention Center in Bend, Oregon.

No matter where you are at in your event planning process, I encourage you to stop by this Saturday January 17th between 10am-4pm for this dynamic, informative event. Which will feature continuous how-to seminars, a fashion show of bridal trends and demonstrations of creative entertainment ideas for Weddings and Corporate Event Planners. All this in addition to exhibitor booths with helpful resources such as caterers, coordinators, suppliers, locations, entertainment and more. Admission is a can of soup which will be donated to Bethlehem Inn to feed the Homeless. You can't beat that!

If you do attend, please stop by my booth to introduce yourself! Some of you I've met, but most of you I haven't, so please take a moment and say hi!

See you there!

New Years wedding and Promo fun

Just unpacking the gear bags from an amazing New Years wedding with Jessica & Rich at Sunriver. What a beautiful evening and really sweet and kind couple. I will post the trailer here when it is done. (Next week hopefully)
Finished a promo video for Dave Star of Star Productions DJ's. It was fun following him around at a gorgeous wedding at Broken Top club. We had a great time putting this together for his website.
Star Productions DJ's from kara jensen on Vimeo.