The Art of Life

The first half of the year has FLOWN by! And I have proven, once again, I cannot blog to save my life.

I took the first half of 2010 off from shooting sessions, and that proved to be really beneficial to the family…and to me…as it turns out, we are expecting our 3rd little Franke! I spent the greater part of March, April & May in sheer exhaustion as I got through the deadly first trimester, so I was grateful to be “off” work. But now I am feeling better & excited to get back into sessions, which are already booking up quickly. I will also not be shooting any sessions beyond October this year. So, if you are looking to get in yet this year, call now to get on the schedule!

My family also took our first family vacation in May to California! We hit Disneyland & San Diego and it was a wonderful week of fun for all of us. Here’s a few images from our adventures

This fall has been unbelievably busy, but also so fun! I have had the pleasure to work with so many great families and the weather was amazing (up until the last few days)! So, please bear with me as I get through all the work to get all the sessions edited & up for viewing! November not only happens to the craziest month for business, the month that I start preparing to host the family Thanksgiving, the month that the reality of Christmas (& the preparation panic) sets in, the month that we seem to have a million field trips & school projects going on…but it is also the month of a gazillion family birthdays! So…well…I don’t sleep much this month! But…I promise, even if you don’t hear from me or think I forgot about you…I most definitely didn’t! I am working away at all my sessions & I will get them all done as soon as I physically can! I promise I work well under pressure!

In the meantime, enjoy some faves from some recent sessions…what a treat to work with these great families…and their very very handsome boys! And as a side note…in this first session (could they all be any more handsome (and beautiful!) by the way???) we ventured over to my friend’s family farm and I just absolutely love it there! So…this location is always an option for future sessions!

(click on images to view bigger)

Yes, it is true, I am a bit of a candle addict…but I will not settle for any candle.  My loyalty lies with the world’s best candles ever…exclusively sold by a mother & daughter artist team in my area…art & soul candles.  I have been buying these candles for almost 6 years and I have to say there is no doubt, they are the best there is.  Handmade to order in America’s heartland by real artists, of the highest quality ingredients, these candles burn forever and smell better than any other candles I have ever had experience with.  These are way better than partylites & yankee candles.  Yes, I may sound like an infomercial, but I am so for real!  These candles make my house home…and the great part…my husband is even more addicted than me!

So, usually every fall I have a party and one of the candle ladies comes with all her samples and I have all my friends over and we have snacks and drinks and buy candles.  This year I am just too busy, but instead I am just going to share these awesome candles with everyone!  So…go check them out at

 www.artandsoulinc.com/candles 

and if you buy something, just put my name (Kristin Franke) in the hostess section at checkout and specify if you want her to ship to you, pickup at her house in Waukesha or pickup from me (I will be having a little gathering when they come in with snacks and beverages!).  She does out of state orders as well.

So go check them out!  If you need recommendations I am happy to offer them!  My personal favorite is Evening mocha (warm glow)…we go through about one of the hearth size a month.  My other current favorite is white tea and berries (evanscent). Other good ones for fall & winter are hot apple butter, fall harvest, cranberry vanilla, & nutmeg & cream…plus all the great holiday decorative ones.

for the families, community & school district who are mourning the tragic loss of Jennifer Bukosky, her unborn daughter Sophia & her 10 year old daughter Courtney Bella in the fatal collision in Oconomowoc last Friday. Also, her son Zachary, who survived the accident with minor physical trauma and the 10 year old friend who was also in the car and is still in the hospital. Jennifer was the much loved assistant principal at the local high school and now an entire school district suffers along with the family…this accident has impacted an entire community. It was so tragic. so sad. so wrong. You can read the details here. There has been extensive coverage in the area and there is such a deep sadness to this tragedy. The man responsible also needs prayers, as well as his family. Unfortunately, no matter what justice comes to the man who caused this, no one wins, as three lives are still lost and many families are forever changed. Please pray for everyone involved.

the Davies family! Thank you to everyone who stopped by on Saturday to see us at the Lake Country Community Fest! We had a great time meeting you all & I hope that I will get to see many of you again for a session! The winner of our drawing for a complimentary session and 8×10 is the Davies family! Everyone else who entered thank you for signing up & keep an eye out in your email for our next newsletter as there will be a contest & another chance to win a session! For everyone else who was interested in getting booked, please call or email right away so you can get on the schedule before I get booked.

 from LifeArt Images

I had a fabulous time last weekend at photographer’s workshop & get together in the lovely and frigid state of MN! It was a wonderful time…I learned lots & I mad some fabulous new friends. The talent & creativity there was amazing and I am still soaking in everything! The great Mark Stein was our leader and I must say, coming from my humble home-based business, his studio was AWESOME! Mark has been doing this forever and if even a little bit of his experience and confidence rubbed off on me then I will be incredibly grateful! Anyways…enough babble…onto the pics!

The group shot (© Mark/Stacey Stein): {L to R} Top Row – Ali Hohn, Kelly Bennett, Mark Stein, Kristin Franke (me), Alicia Thiede, Natalie Bacon, Martha Bravo. Bottom Row – Kenneth Deboe, Shannon Steffens, Alisha Robertson, Jodi Friedman, Faith Essary, Kristie Kulik and Carolyn Jones (bottom)

And some images of one of our gorgeous models…I’m getting excited for the ’09 seniors!!

My kids are truly my inspiration…they are what re-ignited my passion for photography. The best part is that I have two fun kids that I can try new things with whenever I want (a little bribery is sometimes necessary but worth it!). Here’s a few recent pics of my kids that make me smile…and one of our naughty cat Pip that likes to steal and eats their Polly pocket dresses and just generally harass the rest of the family!