Jim + Ravyn Photographers

Hello! We are Jim and Ravyn Stadick. Welcome to our little piece of the Internet pie. First things first, Jim is like Jim … or Gym, you get it, right? Ravyn is like the bird (enter bad bird impressions here). Stadick is like electricity. Yes, those are our real names, and no, we are not a wrestling duo. Together, we are a husband + wife photography team who love what we do and love our super fun, awesome, amazing clients even more. We are based in the Midwest, but our hearts sing big time when we travel.  You’ve made it to our blog + website. Everything you’ll need to know about us can be found here … if you just want to know more, click on the contact button to send us a message.

Be sure to scroll past this post to see our most recent work!

Cheers,

Jim + Ravyn

Get to know us better:

Visit our Facebook page + Follow Ravyn on Twitter + Follow Jim on Twitter

1. September: It’s officially here. The best month of the year. I mean, not only is this the month where the weather starts to change from that hot summer air to the awesomeness that is Autumn, but it’s also my (Ravyn) birthday month. I believe that one day isn’t long enough to celebrate, so I like to designate the entire month of September! I’ll be 25 this year, which my dad reminded me is sort of a big deal … I’m thinking Jim should do dishes the entire month of September, ya know, to celebrate this big milestone! … anyone? anyone?
2. Stiff: Between all we have going on these days, it’s hard to find an hour or even 20 minutes to sit down and read. I LOVE to read, but this lack of extra time is really encroaching on my book time. I bought Stiff back when we went to Portland in May. I started reading it on the plane ride home, and since then I’ve only had time to read 5-10 pages at a time. The other day, I got an entire hour to sit and read. I got through a few more chapters, which made me feel like I accomplished something huge. Anyway, this book is wonderful. I love how Mary Roach takes serious topics and reports them in a light way, while still keeping the integrity of the topic intact.    
3. $5 Movies: The movie theatre by our house has started playing their movies for $5.00, Monday through Thursday… no matter what time, no matter which movie. What-the-what? For a couple like us (cheap), we totally love being able to go see a movie during the week, and not spending $96589578 on tickets. Kudos to you AMC, you rock. 
4. Amazing Friends: My amazing friend Amy sent me a handmade Shootsac cover this week (will post photos soon). Are you kidding me? She’s so talented. Not only is it perfect (dimensions, materials, etc.), it’s beautiful. The fabric goes PERFECTLY with our brand (which was totally not planned) … I just can’t say enough. Love you Amy! You’re the best!! PS, Don’t worry, we’re still on the Oregon Trail bandwagon!! We’ll be in Portland before you know it!
5. Auto-tune: Have you heard of this? You probably have, unless your house is a rock, and you’re living under it. There are few things I love more than laughing, and funny internet videos have a special place in my heart. This morning, we watched these two videos and couldn’t stop laughing. I suggest you watch the original videos (click the links under the clips) to understand why these are so funny. I’d like to clarify that I do not like the auto-tune when it comes to music … it’s just annoying at that point, but when it’s applied this way, I can’t get enough!

See the original video here … This one might be funnier than the one above! 

See the original video here.

Ben + Kathleen are such an awesome couple. They love Scrabble, cupcakes, and they love quoting movies as much as we do. I especially love their story. You see, Ben + Kathleen met in high school, and have been lovin’ each other ever since. As of now, B + K have been lovin’ each other while hundreds of miles separate them. Ben is in the Air Force, and currently stationed in Texas.

Kathleen sent us an email a few weeks ago saying that she was sorry, but she found out that Ben wouldn’t be home until November and their engagement session would need to be postponed until then. The next day, we got another email with a much different tone! In what we’ve come to know as ‘typical Ben style’, he surprised Kathleen by calling her to tell her he was on I-465 and rolling into town! They were going to see each other in less than 20 minutes, and the engagement session was back on.

After their session, we couldn’t get over how amazing the two of them are. Ben + Kathleen: We were both witness to the amazing love that you two share! To know that two people can live so far apart, but yet, share a love like yours, is truly inspiring. We are so excited for your wedding next June, and even more excited for Scrabble night (round two) when Ben comes home again in November!

Kind of like they are getting ready to take on the World!

Love this shot!

I love Ben’s sense of humor … We love that Kathleen appreciates it, too. 

Admittedly, this was an accidental shot. But we liked it … so there. 

Love this one of B + K.

Today we wanted to talk about our new Moshi Cardette Ultra USB card reader. When we bought our new Mac Book Pros, we decided to sell our desktop computer which had 7 different card readers on the front. All was well until we upgraded to a Nikon D700, which only takes CF cards. Unfortunately our new computers only have card slots for the smaller SD cards. Up until we bought this card reader, we were hooking the D700 up to the computer every time we needed to transfer our files … Not only was it inconvenient, but it took forever to transfer the files.

While I was at the apple store, I found this card reader, and decided to give it a go. Let’s be completely honest … I really loved that this card reader matched my laptop. Yes, I’m a true girl with a little bit of OCD (I like things to match … and it helps when they are cute too). Be sure to check out the pros and cons after the photos. 

You’re welcome Apple. We love you.

This card reader is about the size of an iPhone, so it’s very convenient to pop into your camera bag.

The card slots are compatible with all existing memory card types.

The back of the card reader slides out revealing the little USB cord. Once you pull the cord out, you snap it back out of the way which lets you close the card reader back up. 

Also included is a USB extension. 

PROS:

• Small/lightweight
• Affordable ($40.00)
• Fast (Downloaded a 4 gig card in about 1 minute)
• Reads several different cards
• Works as a dual USB hub (huge plus considering our laptops only have two USB ports)
• Easy to install (literally plug in and go)
• Works for both Mac & PC

CONS:

• Feels a bit cheap (I mean, there’s just not much to a card reader in general, I just thought it would be heavier)
• Only allows you to download 1 CF card at a time (after a wedding, we have at least 8 cards to download)

So that’s it! Our first gear review. We’ve been adding equipment to our ‘arsenal’ quite a bit lately, and if these posts are helpful, we’d love to keep sharing!

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN WITH OUR TAMRON AF 28-75MM F/2.8 (IF) LENS

Okay … so, it’s absolutely killing us that we can’t share every single photo from Ray + Chelsea’s wedding that we shot yesterday. Also, that we can’t share exactly how we feel about the day just yet. What we can tell you was that it was such an amazing day! R + C are SO wonderful, and we could not have imagined a more perfect day for them. 

Happy Friday everyone! Is it just me, or did this week FLY by? Whew! We are currently in the car on our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan for Ray + Chelsea’s wedding. We thought we’d queue up this post for today to be sure we could leave you with our Friday Five for this week. Are you totally digging this?? We’d love to hear how your week went, too. Slow? Fast? Anything exciting happen?

1. Michigan: Michigan is our favorite glove-shaped state. It’s our favorite state that’s surrounded by the great lakes … Ok, in all seriousness, Michigan has been the spot for two of our amazing weddings this summer: Mike + Sarah were married in St. Joe in June and we’re headed up to Ann Arbor as we speak for Ray + Chelsea’s wedding tomorrow! We just love it there. Plus, any excuse for a road trip is good enough for us.
2. Bolthouse Farms: Normally when people are handing out samples at the grocery store, I avoid eye contact and act like I don’t see them there with their bacon-wrapped cocktail weenies. Internet, I tell you: The grocery store sample lady is not vegetarian friendly. Always trying to get me to eat meat! Ok … Back to the point. When we went to the store about a month ago, I made eye contact with the sample lady, and good thing I did. She was giving out samples of Bolthouse Farms smoothy drinks. I tried the C-Boost, and I was hooked. I bought a bottle, and then another, and then another. This is SO good. It reminds me of the best baby food (I’m weird, I think baby food is awesome: I was 13 when my sister was born, give me a break), and some sort of fruit that I can’t quite put my finger on. Basically, it’s great, and I try to drink a glass every morning as it is full of nutriment. 
3. The Big C: J and I have been having the battle lately about getting rid of cable. I feel like I waste too much time watching TV, but he argues that we bought a very nice HD TV, so we might as well use it. Every time I feel like calling the cable company and axing our service, I remember my favorite shows that I can’t watch without cable: All shows on Showtime and HBO are amazing. Our favorites are: TrueBlood, Weeds, Dexter, Entourage, Nurse Jackie. Last week, we caught the first episode of The Big C, staring Laura Linney, and now we’re hooked. We love it. Damn you Showtime! You sucked us in again! 
4. Captain Crunch: My husband is amazing, and bought me Captain Crunch the other morning on his trip to the grocery store. I haven’t had it since I was like 13. My oh my!! I’ve missed that cereal. Sure, I was hungry by 11:00 AM, and it might have scraped up the top of my mouth, but it was totally worth it!
5. Fall: Maybe Autumn would have been more appropriate, but that’s ok. The other day, I opened our garage door and there were orange, dry leaves dancing across our driveway. The garage was cool, and for a split second I got the feeling that it was October instead of August. I cannot wait until the leaves start changing and that cool Indiana weather rolls in. It will be received with open arms this year, as we’ve had such a hot, dry summer.

In honor of our road trip today, I thought I’d leave you with this image from our trip to Alabama. Something about this photo spoke to me. I dig it. 

Getting older is fun. Let me be more specific: getting older is fun, especially when you get to become friends with your family. Karen is my aunt, but she’s also my friend! Do you remember when J ran his half marathon? Well, his partner in crime was Karen. Basically, she’s pretty awesome, and we always love when we can get together and hang out!  While J and I were in Peoria a few weeks ago, we went out with Karen to do an anytime session. Karen is in amazing shape from training for the marathon. She’s at a great point in her life and wanted to do an anytime session with us to document it. 

We started the session at Bradley Park in Peoria. I’d never been there before, but it was really beautiful.

Look at that ‘serious face’. Let’s be honest, most of these photos were immediately by laughter, but major kudos to you Karen for holding the serious face long enough to get 2 sassy shots. After the park, we headed downtown. This location was a-ma-zing. It was old and full of color and texture. Love it! Love this shot so much! I thought I would leave off with these two. Both are my favorites from the session. Karen, you’re gorgeous! Love you!

I think entering the 6th grade officially makes her my little sister, not my baby sister anymore. Haley started middle school earlier this month and we thought it was definitely worth documenting with a photo session. Sometimes, it really takes looking at photos to realize how much someone has grown! Even over the past year, H has changed so much, and it was only while editing that I noticed how tall she’s gotten (almost as tall as me), and how much her personality has blossomed, and what a beautiful young lady she’s becoming. Okay, before I start getting all choked up, we’ll get to the good stuff. Enjoy.

As we mentioned last week, we want to try to wrap up each week with a peek into our life.  Some weeks you might be impressed, other weeks you might say, “These are the weirdest people I’ve ever met.”  Either way, we’d love you to keep on reading and letting us know what you think about our work, our blog, our life.  And now… *drumroll please*

1. Size 34 Jeans:  As you might’ve seen earlier in the blog, I recently completed a half marathon.  The goal this summer was for us to lose a few L B’s and do something that not everyone else has done.  Now that that’s over and summer is rolling to an end, we did a little back-to-school shopping.  I have spent the greater part of this summer with 1) my pants literally falling off or 2) wearing a belt that made the top of my jeans overlap.  Classy, I know.  So, for the first time since high school, I got some size 34 jeans.  That might not sound like a big deal, but the shorts I was wearing the other day, cinched up waste and all, were 38’s.  Not the biggest news ever, but maybe worth 2 seconds on the blog.
2. New Lensbaby…baby:  Now this?  This will get WAY more than 2 seconds.  We recently expanded our lens cache.  We will post more on them later, but I just wanted to give a quick blurb about one of the fav’s.  We have been talking about getting a Lensbaby for quite some time.  Well, when R told me she ordered a few new things, that was one of them.  We’ve only had it a few days, but have already fallen in love.  Not a typical lens, this will definitely bring a new look to some of our shots, literally.  But!… you have to wait and see.
3. Mumford & Sons:  If you’ve been following us on the blog, Twitter, Facebook, or any other multi-media networking thingamajig, you’ll know of our love for music.  We recently were tuned into a great band from fellow photog, Gail Werner.  The band?  Mumford & Sons.  The music?  Utterly amazing.  Both old and contemporary feel at the same time.  Great harmonies.  Better lyrics.  Give em’ a listen.
4. IKEA:  It might seem we have an uncomfortable obsession with IKEA.  Well, you might be right.  However, if you’ve never been there, go there and tell me YOU don’t want to buy every… single… thing.  Our obsession really stems from some of our best friends; you can blame a Mr. & Mrs. Alan for that one.  The main reason we love the store so much is Portland.  As you may or may not know, we are moving there sometime next fall-ish.  Why IKEA?  We are leaving as much here as possible and are then using the money we’ve made to update our style a little and fill a house (or apartment) with the awesomeness that is IKEA.  Go to the store.  Understand our obsession. :)
5. “School’s Out for Summer” …but summer’s over so school’s back in:  This has been a CRAZY summer.  To sum it up; busy, busy, and crazy busy.  It seems we have been all over the place.  Don’t get me wrong, we love to travel and see family and make friends, but my booty hasn’t touched a kayak, my feet haven’t gripped a rock wall, our backs haven’t slept in a tent all summer.  The price you pay for having a business and lots of friends and family.  We are blessed complainers.  Hah!  So summer, I bid thee farewell.  You came and went too quickly, but I welcome your good buddy Fall and his non-sweltering weather.  Hey, maybe we can get a Fall camping/climbing/kayaking trip planned around school and work.  Who’s in?

And what’s a post without a picture?  That said, I thought I’d try to include all Friday :: Five into this picture.  New jeans, IKEA, music, and climbing shoes all captured by greatness that is our new Lensbaby.  Shazam!

I’m surprised we’re even able to type this blog tonight. You see, we went to see Inception today. Oh.My.Goodness … That movie was amazing on every level possible. It was a visual masterpiece. The special effects were awesome, the actors were perfect, the sound was the best I’ve ever heard in a film. The storyline is completely mind blowing. I feel like I need to join a group for people who are still a little confused by the ending. J and I have different theories, but I think that’s the point. Have you seen it? If not, it’s totally worth the money. Do it! Okay, so now on to the point of this post! 

Remember that one time by husband wore a bright blue polo shirt with yellow lettering to IKEA? We realized this pickle we were in when a woman approached us asking how in the world IKEA expected her to make it all the way to the registers without her new glass bowls breaking. This would only happen to my husband. Next mission: Red shirt and khakis at Target. Anyway, if you’ve been following us on Twitter this week, you’d know that we woke up on Tuesday morning and headed to IKEA. Yes, it’s an hour and a half drive, and yes, we only went there to buy three things … but it was totally worth it. 

While creating our design board for our living room re-do, we knew that we wanted to incorporate the photos that Amanda Pair made for us back in June. We also knew that we wanted to ‘go big or go home’ with these said photos. I firmly believe that people should have their photos made at least once every few years, and that if you’re going to spend the money for a photographer to create these images … you better make an investment in prints to display. 

These were our three favorite shots from our session. All three of them give us a sense of peace (the theme/feeling we’re going for with our room re-do), and we think they perfectly reflect the love we feel for each other. You can’t even imagine how happy we were to see the UPS man pull into the driveway today. Sure, we might be a bit vain for hanging three 12x12 photos in 20x20 frames up in our living room, but we love our love … and we thought this was a perfect way to show it off! Thanks to Amanda for these photos! We truly LOVE them!

 Lastly … We also ordered this big ol’ print to hang up on our fireplace. We’re waiting for the frame to arrive before it can officially grace our walls. J made this photo during our trip to Peoria. This is the Jobst Bethard Company building in downtown Peoria. It’s doors (not shown) are the most photographed doors in the whole city. J loved the doors, but he loved the part of the building above that which was so often forgotten. I’m so excited to hang this baby on our fireplace … and I think it’s pretty hot that my hubs has such an amazing eye for photography. 

- Ravyn - 

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are still in the middle of our living room remodel (making great progress), and editing the 5 sessions we’ve shot in the last week. We definitely didn’t want to keep Ben + Kat waiting to see a sneak peek of their session! We had so much fun … I mean, I could probably write a two page essay on why Ben + Kat are the awesomest of awesome. Seriously. We’ll have their full post up soon, but for now … Enjoy!