We’re always in the mood for a good laugh so when we saw this video on PetaPixel, we couldn’t help but repost it for ourselves.  Here’s a great example of what you WON’T experience on a portrait session with us, courtesy of one of our favorite shows, Parks & Recreation . . .

In honor of Easter, we decided it would be fun to have our readers do a little “Virtual Easter Egg Hunt” on our new website!  There will be six Easter eggs hidden on different pages of the site – your job is to find as many as you can.  Whoever finds the most eggs will win a $50 American Express Gift Card! Woo-hoo! If there is a tie, it’s raffle time again!  So here’s what you do:

1) Click on the “website” link on the menu bar at the top of our blog.

2) Find as many Easter Eggs as you can – they could be hidden anywhere so make sure you look around a bit.  And be sure to submit even if you can’t find them all.  There’s a good chance that no one will find all six.  Here’s a little sample of what they look like but different sizes:

3) Come back here and enter the contest by telling us where you found them on the easy form below.  Don’t worry too much about exactly how to describe each location – just keep it simple so we’ll get the idea.  (Example: Ryan & Denise page, by HGTV logo)

As long as you submit your entry before midnight on Easter Sunday, you’ll qualify for a chance to win.

Happy Easter everybody!

**** Post updated 4/26/11: And the winner is . . . . Liz Bonnice!  Congratulations Liz!  We’ll be contacting you to arrange for delivery of your prize :-)

We LOVE being photographers!  And the fact that we get to do it together, as a married couple, makes the gig even sweeter :-)  We love capturing special moments in our clients lives and we have a lot of fun doing it.  Throughout the year, we make it a point to grab images of each other in action to help us remember what our world looks like from BEHIND the lens instead of only how we see the world THROUGH it.  So without further adieu, here we are “in action” in 2010 (and a couple favs from 2009 that never found their way into the public eye).

(Ashley & Jesse’s Wedding – Sept. 2010)

I love this one of Ryan shooting AND demonstrating a pose at the same time.  As you can see, that hubby of mine is pretty entertaining to shoot with!

(Smart/Collins Portrait Session – Aug. 2010)

“I know it sounds weird guys, but seriously, it’s gonna look awesome!” – Ryan

(Katie & Justin’s Bridal Session – Oct. 2009)

We really do cherish the special moments we get to share with each of our couples.  Ryan loves the times when he gets to “chill” with the groom while he’s waiting to see his bride for the first time.

(Lilia & Lou’s Bridal Session – Oct. 2010)

(Audrey & Aaron’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

Not only are we photographers, we also come with a long list of other talents as well.  Like dress fluffing.  I’m an expert dress fluffer.

(Amanda & Caleb’s Bridal Session – March 2010)

And Ryan is an expert bouquet holder . . .  what a stud, am I right?

(Shaina & Matt’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

Now THAT’s talent :-)

(Jennie & Scott’s Wedding – Nov. 2010)

Perching on random objects is pretty much normal for us.

(Shaina & Matt’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

(Vanessa & TJ’s Bridal Session – Nov. 2009)

(Amanda & Caleb’s Wedding – March 2010)

And once in a while you have to get down and dirty to get the shot.

(Amanda & Alex’s Wedding – May 2009)

(Amanda & Caleb’s Wedding – March 2010)

(Lilia & Lou’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

This one’s extra special since Ryan is shooting his cousin Allison for her senior photos :-)

(Allison’s Senior Session – Jan 2010)

The ability to sneak up on people is also a must.  Sure, it may look like we’re stalkers now and then, but believe me, we’re not as creepy as we appear.

(Katie & Justin’s Engagement Session – Aug. 2009)

(Lilia & Lou’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

And yes, I did almost fall in the water several times during this ceremony!

(Shaina & Matt’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

This shot was actually taken by Flo’s maid of honor Tracy- she was kind enough to send us her “photographer in action” shot.  Love it! And BTW . . . we weren’t shooting Flo’s butt.  The back of her hoodie said “Mrs. Hettle September 18, 2010″

(Flo & Brad’s Wedding – Sept. 2010)

“Ok guys, how about a kiss?” – Denise

(Katie & Justin’s Bridal Session – Oct. 2009)

Cocktail hour = Gotcher photo op time :-)

(Shaina & Matt’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

(Shaina & Matt’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

(Renate & Carlos Engagement Session – Dec. 2010)

(Renate & Carlos Engagement Session – Dec. 2010)

And once in a while the stars align and we manage to snag a shot with BOTH of us in it :-)  This one just makes me smile.  Nice shot sweetie!

(Ashley & Jesse’s Wedding – Sept. 2010)

We just couldn’t pass up this self portrait opportunity :-)  Please excuse the bizarro house of mirrors affect.

(Audrey & Aaron’s Engagement Session – April 2010)

Testing lighting is always a good time to grab an “in action” shot.

(Lilia & Lou’s Wedding – Oct. 2010)

That’s typically when things start to  get a little silly too . . . like Ryan showing off his russian marching dance?  Is that what you’d call this?

(Dasia & Scott’s Wedding – Sept. 2010)

What can we say?  The party bus was calling our name.  Well, at least the pole in the party bus was calling Ryan’s name :-)

(Dasia & Scott’s Rehearsal Dinner – Sept. 2010)

(Dasia & Scott’s Rehearsal Dinner – Sept. 2010)

At pretty much every reception, a guest asks us what our Fong’s (the Gary Fong Lightsphere Diffusers) are for.  In this case, I probably told them it was a cup holder.

(Amanda & Alex’s Wedding – May 2009)

Sombrero anyone?

(Amy & Bryant’s Wedding – Oct. 2009)

Hope you all enjoyed a little behind the scenes look at Simply Knot Photography!  There’s a whole lot more silliness in the slideshow below so make sure you take a look!

After such a busy holiday season, we decided to stay home in our comfy PJs to ring in the new year.  And what Gotcher New Years celebration would be complete without a few self portraits? We did invite one special guest to join us . . . the life-size cut out of Justin Beiber that Ryan got me for Christmas.  Beiber Fever anyone? Oh the silliness :-)

Cheers to a wonderful 2011!  2010 was pretty awesome, but we can’t wait to see what this year will bring :-)

I recently learned that the word “slapdash” is a synonym for the word random.  After laughing about it for a while, the thought occurred to me that it would make a fabulous title for an ongoing blog series about completely random things.  One of the goals of our blog, along with sharing our work and giving our clients a way to share their photos with others, is to be able to document our personal lives and help our readers get to know us personally.  Well, up to this point, we’ve never been very good at the “personal” part :-(  Maybe it’s because we worry that people won’t really care?  (And maybe they really won’t – I don’t know.)  But if there’s one thing that Facebook and other forms of social networking have taught us, it’s that people just want to connect and sometimes that means finding common ground on the most mundane of topics.

So, in the interest of relationship building, personal disclosure, and overall slapdashery (yep, I think I just made up an awesome new word) – the first ever addition of Slapdash!

Movies are a big deal in the Gotcher house.  We have A LOT of them and watch A LOT of them.  No particular genre either – our taste is pretty much all over the board: comedy, drama, romance, action, classic black and white, even the occasional documentary.  In our house the true test of how much we liked a movie isn’t just based on our initial viewing.  The next day, one of us inevitably asks the other one, “So, did you think about [insert movie title here] today?”  (I tend to think about the previous night’s movie in the shower the next morning – not that you needed to know that.)

Recently, the movies that have been leaving the most lasting impression on us have been independent films.  There’s something so awesome about low-budget, film festival type movies that just blows the big name blockbusters out of the water.  It seems that when filmmakers don’t have the benefit of an actor who’s name can open a movie all by itself or the money for huge stunts and crazy special effects,  they have to get back to the heart of what makes movies so amazing – like story line and character development, making you actually FEEL something and THINK about something.

Here are two of our recent favorites you should totally check out:

Adam: An incredibly heartfelt love story of a man with Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of Autism), that falls in love with a woman who moves into his apartment building.  Not only is the story super charming and heart wrenching at the same time, the film does a great job of surrounding the central story line with supporting characters that have purpose and are thoughtfully written (a major drawback in a lot of movies.)

500 Days of Summer: If you’ve seen it already, SEE IT AGAIN.  Yes, it’s that awesome.  It’s a quirky, clever NON-love story that’s great on too many levels to describe.  And of course, Zooey Deschanel is in it – one of the few women Ryan would probably leave me for if given the chance and I would pretty much totally support his decision.

All kidding aside, check these movies out – they’re so great!  And you won’t walk away thinking, “Well that was two hours of my life I’ll never get back.”

A couple of shout outs to other random things that have made my life especially happy these last few weeks:

New Boots!: Ryan got me these AMAZING knee high boots for Christmas and I simply can NOT have a bad day when I’m wearing them!  (I couldn’t find a photo of my exact pair online, but this ought to give you an idea.  Mine have a slimmer heel and awesome detailing on the side and top – they’re way cuter actually!)

Apple TV: Ryan’s dad got us Apple TV for Christmas!  Yay!!!  Being the avid movie watchers that we are, it gives us access to tons of great movies without having to go to the video store (who does that anymore?) or wait for a Netflix movie to come in the mail.  We can just browse the selections and a great new movie is only a click away!  I also love that we can listen to all of our iTunes music and view photos on our big TV screen – so cool!

Twitter & TweetDeck: I have to admit, I’ve been a little lax in my Twitter duties for a few months, but with a little extra time in my schedule lately, I finally took the time to do a little Twitter clean up.  I’m now following a bunch of new awesome “tweeters” and I’ve unfollowed all the random people that I’ve unknowingly collected while I’ve had my account set to automatically follow everyone who follows me – big mistake!  Now that things are back in order, I’ve fallen in love with Twitter all over again :-)  TweetDeck, the ultimate desktop Twitter management tool has made this all much, much easier, although I have to admit that my productivity at the old day job has probably taken a bit of a hit with all those happy little notifications flying in all day.  If you want to follow me on twitter I’m @denisegotcher and Ryan is @ryangotcher.  We also have a Simply Knot Photos account @simplyknot, but we don’t update it quite as much as our personal ones.

Have a great week everybody!

Another photographer friend of ours posted this video on Facebook the other day and I just thought is was far too hillarious not to share. It’s actually a deleted scene from the movie “I Love You Man”. Very funny stuff so check it out!

Shooting with is us is . . . well, nothing like this actually, but it’s funny stuff none the less :-) Have a great week everybody!