That's a confusing way of saying "We've moved!"

You may have been wondering "Why haven't Matt & Krystal updated their blog in a month?" You may also be wondering "Why do the good die young?" and "Who DID let the dogs out, anyway?" I don't know the answer to the latter two questions, but as to the former, the answer is we've been busy working on our brand-spankin' new blog and savin' all our lovin' just for it.

Thanks mucho to Brock and Dave at infinet designs for creating the all new Verve Studio Lounge at vervestudioblog.com. Isn't it cool? If you've been a subscriber to this blog, make sure to update your RSS readers for the new digs, or you'll miss out on all the action and adventure and pictures of our cat. Oh, and we're also running a contest for our wonderful clients in celebration of the new launch, so check that out!

While you're at it, load up the vervestudio.com main site, too, as we've also got a slick new splash page. Just when you thought we couldn't get any cooler, BAM, we kicked it up another notch.



It's been fun gang, and we'll keep this blog alive for quit awhile so you can still look back through our 2006-2009 adventures, but no new posts over here!

Hugs & kisses,

Matt & Krystal

Happy Halloween... don't get too jacked up like our Jack-o-lantern!



Cheers,
M&K

I have stumbled on another yummy blog that I'm am charmed with, Completely Unveiled, which also has a print magazine that is filled with lovely images. This site is loaded with modern sophisticated style and ideas.



And I don't normally repost other sites & pics but when I saw this one on 100 Layer Cake earlier this week I simply couldn't help myself.

What charming and personal little details for the men in our lives! This feels so much more like dudes than purple roses doesn't it?



Please to Enjoy!
Krystal

BigFolio, our dear friend Susan Stripling, Krystal and I all humbly invite you photographers out there to Get Bent.   

This is kind of a ridiculously good deal!

Let's see, you get 2 days hands-on instruction from not only Master Photographers Matt & Krystal Radlinski, but also Susan Stripling, who's probably the preeminent destination wedding photographer alive today, AND you also get a free BigFolio website, and a NextProof account for 6 months, and an SEO training DVD for professional photographers.

Oh! And BigFolio will buy you lift tickets to ski Mt. Bachelor with us for the two days before the seminar. You realize Mt. Bachelor is the 2nd largest ski resort in the continental United States after Vail, right? And it's spring? And that spring skiing (or snowboarding, whatever) is awesome?

So, let's see here...instruction in art and business from three of the most sought-after wedding photographers of our time, a kickin' new website, cool interweb training, and free skiing on a tax-deductible trip for a measly $795? Uh, what exactly are you waiting for? That's kind of the definition of "value." Sign up now! We put up the website yesterday, didn't even announce it, and already have two attendees. Something tells me we're going to meet our "sold out" goal of 20 students pretty fast.

...and I finally got around to blogging it. Last month at the Professional Photographers of America annual convention in Phoenix, Krystal and I both received our Master of Photography degrees.

The Professional Photographers of America is the world's largest and oldest nonprofit association for professional photographers and strives to promote the highest standards of photographic artistry and business ethics. The PPA was founded in 1880...basically, as soon as there was photography, there was the PPA. We've both been proud members for seven years.

The "Master of Photography" degree is about the highest award for photographic excellence the PPA confers. It took years of hard work and dedication to achieve this honor, and we're so thankful to all our wonderful photographic mentors who supported us along the way. I don't want to start naming names because I know I'd accidently leave too many out. But you know who you are, and we thank you.

Most of all, thank you to our wonderful clients, without whose trust in us to preserve their most precious memories, none of this would be possible. We are blessed to have you in our lives and joyful and thankful that we may share in yours.

Sincerely,

Krystal & Matt Radlinski

M. Photog.

Seriously, and cake for a cause... totally guilt free right? Proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

And for professionals and aspiring bakers you can even be part of a baking contest judged by some of the heavyweights in the industry!

Super-sweet, literally. Oh frosting, how do I love thee?



What?
Let’s Eat Cake! is a wedding cake competition benefitting St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Our goal is to donate at least $50,000 to this deserving organization. 100% of our proceeds will be directly donated to St. Jude’s. Let’s Eat Cake! will include a cake design and taste challenge as well as a live cake auction. The most coveted award is a "crowd's favorite" award, which will be determined by our guests after trying all of the delicious cakes. 

Ooooh, you can be those lucky guests!

When?
6pm on February 17, 2009

Where?
Paramount Plaza Resort
2900 SW 13th Street
Gainesville, FL 32608

Want more details?
Go to the Let's Eat Cake Blog

Let’s Eat Cake! is a wedding cake competition benefitting St.
Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Our goal is to donate at least $50,000
to this deserving organization. 100% of our proceeds will be
directly donated to St. Jude’s.

Let’s Eat Cake! will include a cake design and taste challenge
as well as a live cake auction. The most coveted award is a
"crowd's favorite" award, which will be determined by our
guests after trying all of the delicious cakes. 

Professional pastry chefs from all over the southeast are invited to compete. Aspiring pastry
chefs and at-home bakers will also be invited to compete in the amateur division. So, if you have been
taking those classes at Michaels.. now it's time to show it off!

Local and celebrity judges have volunteered their time to judge the event. All participating bakers
will be asked to make a faux wedding cake to be displayed and judged. There is no theme for the
wedding cakes, so the pastry chefs are encouraged to use their imagination. In addition to this, all
participating chefs must prepare sheet cake to be tasted by the judges and the crowd. Cakes will
be judged on appearance, attention to detail, taste & flavor combination, and texture. We will have
a tasting station set up for our guests to try all of the participating cakes and cast their vote for the
professional and amateur divisions. The winners of each division will be announced at the
commencement of the event. We have four categories in each division; Best of Show, Most Beautiful
& Creative Design, Tastiest Cake, and Crowd’s Favorite.

If you'd like to attend (and get to nibble on all those fab cakes), donate or just want more details go to:
Let's Eat Cake Blog

AND...



Just for this week!!! You can make Melissa pay. She has pledged to donate $1 for any blogs on which "Let's Eat Cake" details appears. So pass it on and be sure to send Melissa DiStephano a link (info@masterpieceweddings.net) so she can pay up!

That is all.

We all want to make our mark on the world, don't we? As photographers, we want to leave behind beautiful works of art that tell the story of who you, our wonderful clients and friends, are. It could be said that conservation is the heart and soul of photography.

At the same time, we'd like to make sure we don't leave anything else behind, like landfills full of discarded packaging materials and toxic chemicals leaked from batteries and printing processes.

That's why Krystal and I are proud to be members of Greener Photography, founded by Thea Dodds and Dawn Tacker. Greener Photography is a coalition of eco-minded photographers dedicated to making our industry more green by implementing environmentally-friendly practices, and encouraging our suppliers to do the same.

We've always run an environmentally-conscious business, reusing and recycling packaging materials, using rechargeable batteries and recycling them when they expire, using recycled materials and the like. The great thing about Greener Photography is how easily available they make tons of wonderful ideas for making your business (photography or otherwise!) more earth-friendly. There are a few of these ideas we hadn't been implementing, but we're going to start. We're going to be making a few changes in our business, and we hope you, our clients, will understand our efforts. We're no longer going to offer bottled water during meetings, although we're happy to provide filtered water. Your beautiful prints might not be packaged quite as prettily as they have been in the past. Also, while we've been excited to offer electronic contracts and documents recently, we're going to start using electronic media exclusively to reduce waste. We're also going to be introducing some new cruelty-free album options. When our new website is ready in a few months, we'll be sure to have a page explaining our choices and our efforts to improve our environment.

Photographers, we encourage you, too to join and donate to Greener Photography.

Warm Regards,

Matt

And by "kind of awesome" we mean "really awesome." We love Melissa and she's one of our favorite wedding planners. We just photographed Greg and Amanda's wedding with Melissa et al. a few weeks ago (blog post coming this week!) and had a blast. Melissa did an amazing job and couldn't have been more fun to work with. Well, unless she'd made balloon animals or something. But that might be taking things a bit far.

So, turns out she's running a "Photography Week" special feature over on her blog and included little old us! We're flattered. Hopefully our interview is entertaining. Leave a comment if you like it.

Since any blog post is useless without pictures, a few shots of Melissa and staff in action.



Amanda decided not wear her veil, so Melissa tried it on instead.



And a member of her staff helped keep me dry while creating a portrait of Greg and the guys before the wedding. How's that for service?! (And yes I've gotten my hair cut since. I like it long but that got a little crazy)



Melissa, thanks for featuring us, referring us, and just being wonderful all the way around.

Your friends,

Matt & Krystal