Contest Day #2

First off, our winner for Saturday is: Jessica Calvillo!!! Congrats Jessica! You win your choice of the color or B/W sets.

Sorry for being a bit late on the announcement, we had a long day yesterday and I forgot to post the winner. I'll make another post tonite with the winner for Sunday.

In the meantime, I'm contemplating getting this shirt:



Link Here

How big of a photoshop nerd would I be if I did? I know I'm a geek, but I wonder if I'm ready for the rest of the normal world to know?

Somehow I feel like that's just one step away from attending Star Trek conventions and dressing up as photoshop tools for Halloween. I'll keep you updated on whether I get the shirt or not. I just find it hilarious for some reason.

Keep those entries coming.. We still have 5 days left of winning to go!!

Props Group Buy

For those on Props..

First Day of the Contest

The first day of the contest, and we're off with a bang! I loved getting all the entries today, I felt so popular with my inbox getting new messages. If you could only see me, checking it every 10 minutes, cursing the email gods when no new messages appeared..

Our first winner, chosen at random (actually, Lilly picked the number 9 and we counted down that many emails on the current list).. The winner is.. *DRUM ROLL PLEASE* Dum Da Da Dum.....

Leah Savage!!!!

She gets her choice of either the Color or B/W actions.... and is still in the pot for the grand prize. Congrats Leah!!!!

Remember, no matter when you entered, you will be eligible for the grand prize (oh that sounds so special.. Grand prize!!), as well as the daily prizes, so just because you didn't win today doesn't mean you won't win tommorrow! But if you want to enter again just to make sure I keep getting emails, you can do that ;)

I had to include an image with this post... On this day (May 12th) 4 years ago, our little Lilly bug was born:



And here she is, blowing out the candles on her cake at her party:



My little Lilly Bug, you light up my life, I'm so lucky to have you as a daughter. Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!!

Keep those entries coming...thanks everyone for participating!

As Promised.......phaunt's Contest!!!

A crazy week this week, but I've finally gotten around to posting. Our first contest/giveaway!

I thought long and hard (okay maybe not so long, but definitely hard) about what to give away, and I wanted to make it fun, but keep it simple so people get the hang of it. Besides, I just love giving things away.. ask my husband, he's always getting his Christmas and birthday presents early because I can't wait to give them to him!

So.. Here's the rules. I decided to keep our first contest simple, you don't have to do anything to win.. just enter!

To enter, you must email me at actions@kyliebanks.com with CONTEST in the subject line. You DO NOT have to have purchased any of my actions to enter.. Anyone is free to enter! The only thing you need to include in your email is your Name, where you heard of the site/actions, and a link to your blog or business website/portfolio. So.. Copy paste this into your email, fill it out, and you're ready to go:

If you're lazy like me and don't want to open up your outlook to create an email.. Use this link and fill out the form to send me an email HERE Just make sure you put contest in the subject line.

Name:
Blog/Business site:
Where you heard of phaunt Actions:

At the end of the week, one person will be chosen at random to win not only The Whole SheBang (both the color and B/w sets, plus extras), but ALSO a $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com, where you can buy anything you want! I was going to chose a photography related book, but I decided to let you decide for yourself! If the winner has already purchased the actions, you will still get the gift certificate, and will have a credit with me for any future set you want.

But WAIT.. there's more! Just for entering, I'll send you a FREE action teaser! I'm working on a NEW bleach action that I'm really excited about.. here's a few examples of what it does:

(click photos to view larger)




To really kick things off with a bang, I'm going to be giving away one of the action sets to one entrant PER DAY! So you not only get a FREE action just for entering, and a chance for the big prize, but you also could get one of the action sets! I'm choosing one entrant per day from the entire pool, so you don't need to enter every day to be eligible for the daily drawing.

So that's the skinny.. Don't just stand there, ENTER... You never know, you may win! Check back to see our daily winners.. and there MAY just be a few specials posted on the blog *hint* *hint*.. you never know :)

((The contest is starting May 11th, first single set winner will be picked Friday evening, but you can enter any time between now and then. Contest ends Thursday the 17th at midnite.. the GRAND PRIZE winner will be announced Friday, May 18th))

Our First Showcase!

I had this super cool idea to showcase other photographers and some of their work, to see how they use the actions, and to get to know them better. Also I like to have an excuse to ask people anything I want.

So our fist victim...er.. I mean Volunteer is the uber talented Jeremi Broadhurst, from Logan, UT.

So.. we'll just envision that Jeremi and I just sat down for a cup of Starbucks.. Me with my Grande Java Chip Frappucino and a huge chocolate chip cookie (all mine!).... I'll let you listen in to our conversation..

Kylie: Sooooo Jeremi, how did you get into photography?

Jeremi: My Grandfather and my Dad were always hobbyist’s and so they had camera’s laying around. Of course my little hands found them and used up quite a bit of film. My favorite was the Polaroid since I got near instant results. Maybe that is why I am so drawn to digital. I didn’t get serious about it until after my children were born and then I wanted to capture beautiful images of them doing the things they do everyday, hence my slogan: Life….as it happens!

K: Describe your Style in 3 words:
J: Fresh
Relaxed
Real



K: What is your favorite Subject to Photograph?

J: My girls!

K :When you need to get inspired what do you do?

J: Check out other photographer’s work! I especially love going to the library to check out the old books with black and white photography in them from years ago. The images are truly timeless and emotional.




K: You have a whole day to yourself, no kids, work, or any other chores to do, what do you do?

J: Well my day wouldn’t be complete without checking my daily blogline of other photographers. I also love to read and take hot baths so you’d probably find me in a hot bath reading a novel or a photography magazine, lol.

K: What are your fave websites to waste time on?
J: Props & Lime Light Photography

K: What's your favorite Photoshop Tool or tip?
J: I seem to be good friends with the burn tool for some reason!

K: What is your favorite phaunt Action?
J: Oooh this is a tough one! I love to use the Sunshine in your hand in combination with Beastly color for the color pop! But the contrasty Whole Lotta Soul is right up my alley as well.



Links to Jeremi's Sites:

Business
Blog



Thanks Jeremi for being the first brave soul.. I hope to feature other awesome photographers periodically....

Also.. The next post WILL Feature a contest/give away of some sort, so be watching.. you don't wanna miss it..

Till next time....

Engagement

I really didn't think that I'd like doing anything other than children's portraits when I started out, but I've found that engagement photos are a lot of fun. I think the fact that the subjects actually LISTEN to you and take direction well (some kids do, but lets face it, most don't!), as well as how much fun it is to see two people in love! It's fun to remember how new love feels, those giddy months before the wedding. Here's a few shots from my latest engagement shoot. We went to an awesome orchard, I wish I could take some kids there, but it's full of bees right now so I'm afraid one of them would get stung!

(CLICK PHOTOS TO SEE THEM LARGER)


We also headed to a park and took a few pics on a bridge...




Then headed downtown to get those urban/grunge/brick shots. ;)








Later this week I'll be posting our first "showcase"... with the talented Jeremi Broadhurst so be sure to check back and see her awesome images and learn a little bit about her!

Also.. I have a contest in the works.. more details to come.. :)

Awesome Product

One of the BEST things I ever have done to speed up my photoshop workflow was to learn the shortcuts! PS has a ton of handy keyboard shortcuts built in that really do save you time. I think the figure was that you can shave 40% off your workflow time by using shortcuts!

This site: Editor Keys

has some awesome stickers for your keyboard that have the shortcuts on them.



I've always wanted one of the neato Photoshop keyboards, but couldn't drop $60 on one. These are on sale for only $13!

I got mine a few days ago and already have learned a bunch of new shortcuts.