I finally got my baby fix! It’s been too long since we’ve had a baby in our studio. I’d like to welcome Will! Only  nine days old!

We got to shoot the whole family too! Mom, Dad and big sister Charlotte.

We really tried to do some thing new and fun. What do you think?!?

We had such a nice time with this wonderful family. I can’t wait to shoot them again and to see how much they’ve grown.

#1 Audrey Baby – I know you must be surprised that an image of my own daughter took the top spot…. Well I can’t help it. She’s just so cute and I hardly ever can get a decent smile from her. It makes mommy proud too that she wants to follow in the family business.

#2 Carli Stone – I love her expression. We took so many wonderful photos but if you knew Carli you would say that this one is her. She’s always laughing and smiling.  Her nose is so cute too!

#3 Baby Gemma – This one was hard to shoot but the reward was worth the effort. Love the cute baby hat!

#4 Feet – My clients say I have a foot fetish… so what, it makes for amazing art! Look how cute this triptych turned out. I am considering this one photo because I knew when taking these images they were always meant to go together.

#5 Point Cabrillo Lighthouse – This is the first “professional” image I took. I’m not a huge landscape fan but I’m really happy with how this one turned out. Unfortunately my ISO was cranked through the roof  (3200) giving it an unusual texture. I love it all the same.

#6 Baby Violet – I love this family photo. It is so intimate and sweet. Love photo’s in B&W!

#7 Congratulations Paul & Ashley! This was the last shoot of the year for us. It turned out Amazing! The couple hasn’t even been in yet to see these images. I just knew I’d love this one as we were taking it! I bet the wedding photo’s will make next years top ten!

#8 Cowgirl – Once again I’m drawn to B&W. She was so much fun to shoot! Beautiful smile and such a sweet girl.  Loved everything about this day.

#9 School Time – He’s such a little stud! Rosy cheeks and everything. These were close friends of ours that moved east this past year. I’m so sad for that too…. I could photograph him everyday!

#10 Wedding Bells – I am such a fan of unique images. This is very typical of my style of shooting. Not just because it’s feet, but of the composition and color. It goes best as a cluster with three or four other images but I just had to add it. LOVE IT!!!!

I started 2011 with a short trip to Tahoe with my wife. We happened across these paddleboarders on the lake in mid-January. I caught them with the sun going down and captured this.

In February, I took a short trip to Napa with my photography friends Karen Schmautz and Steve Batz to shoot the mustard flowers. I captured the next three images there. The first won me 1st place and Best of Show in the Placer County Fair. The second was selected for the Schools Financial Credit Union 2012 calendar. The third image won me a 1st place in the Placer County Fair in the Black & White category. I manipulated the original image to look like an old image in a scrapbook.

Next are two images I took on a vacation to Ft. Bragg. The first image was an idea by Brittany to use her daugheter as a photographer. A variation on this is now on Brittany’s business card and maybe it will make it into her top ten. The second image was an experiment in light trails on the beach.

Next are a couple of portraits of my grandchildren. First is Shawn with a new background we made. Second is a concept shoot that I did with both the boy grandkids. We set them up as cool skater dudes and they carried it off well. CJ is the skater dude.

Next is an image from the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. Very interesting location to photograph (assuming you like grungy old buildings.)

Lastly is a image from a photo shoot up in Williams setup by my friend Mark Behrens. I really liked how this turned out in black and white.

That’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed them. Check back tomorrow for Brittany’s top ten!

We spent last Sunday afternoon in Nevada City at their Victorian Christmas. They had closed off the main street and all the shops were open and decorated, plenty of street vendors, and several people in period costumes (although not as many as we had expected.) My sister-in-law and her daughter were in town so they went in costume as did my wife. Several other people were in interesting costumes. It was a nice day walking through Nevada City.

How cute are these boys! We have so much fun photographing families, even more if you add little kids! These boys were polite, sweet, and so darn funny. We got the most genuine smiles. Maybe the fact that we were acting like we were being tickled to death had something to do with it. We designed a Christmas card for them and the image above was featured on the cover.

Someone told me recently that I might have a foot photography fetish….. well, I’m not sure how to respond to that. You tell me these aren’t the cutest family photos ever, and then you can talk to me about my feet fixation!

I’m so grateful that the Coye family opened up their home for us to photography them. The familiar atmosphere not only made the children more comfortable but it makes the photographs more meaningful as well. Where else can you find fun PJ style portraits in your bed! Even mom and dad look like they are having fun. I just LOVE this whole set. I’m just sad I didn’t do it first with my family! Well there is still time before Christmas!

I just wanted to say thanks again to the Coye family for letting us into their home, jump on their bed and tie them up with lights. Now I’m off to get me some matching PJ’s.

I’m thankful for my wife of 35 years. It’s amazing that she has put up with me for that long, or is it the other way around? No matter, the best thing is that we both look EXACTLY like we did back in 1976!

I’m thankful for my daughter Brittany who has joined our business this year and is turning out to be an exceptional photographer. I’m also thankful for my three boys who continue to amaze and delight me. They have all chosen top notch spouses also!

I’m also thankful for my four wild and rambunctious grandchildren.  Grandma and I have a lot of fun spoiling them.

Wishing you and yours a most joyous holiday season!

I’d like to welcome our newest client! Baby Davis! This little man is very active and such a good looking dude. You might remember his sisters from the “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” blog post. So keeping with the apple theme, we decided to reuse the apple boxes and apples for Davis.  I’m so please with how well the images turned out.

I’d also like to introduce a new product we are offering. This is a laser die-cut 3″x3″ accordion photo book. LOVE these new little cuties! These make great holiday gifts and remember that you can also order gift certificates for the holidays!

Brittany and I made it to the Folsom Renaissance Faire earlier this month and had a great time photographing the cast of characters they had there. Brittany got a little nervous when the crazy lady in the cage started smearing oatmeal on her head and yelling to her. You just have to expect that in 16th Century England! We had lots of interesting characters  to photograph–everything from pirates to Italian maidens to kitchen maids. I hope you enjoy our images.

I was so lucky this week to spend some time with a new baby girl. Gemma was only ten days old when we photographed her and she was amazing! She slept the whole time and would let me move her as much as I wanted.  Sweetest, nicest client ever!

Brittany
“Capturing Emotion in Stills”

I’m going to have to say that I have the best teacher/coach/mentor/photography-guru/father. I’m learning so much and just want to continue to create new themes and sets. As you can see, we are getting more and more elaborate with our sets and props. I love it! Not only do we get genuine smiles and more enchanted photographs, it’s just more fun to shoot! I had this idea for shooting these two girls in an apple orchard about two to three months ago. These girls were so natural, energetic, spontaneous, and fun. It was truly a delight to interact with them. Look at the magic we created this time!

As you can tell, we put a lot of time and effort in to scouting locations and looking for props for each shoot. These are one of a kind, personally designed sets for our clients. The apple crates were custom made and we spent a morning at the flea market looking for our old coke bottles. That’s what makes us different than other photographers. You don’t just get our years of photography experience; you get my personal design ideas. More than likely you’ll get Melissa’s (AKA mom) sewing and crafting work. Roger is amazing at location scouting and post production work. We spend hours of work on your custom photographs even before we take any pictures.

I have to give a special shout out to Machado Orchards in Bowman CA, for the use of their amazing apple orchards. Not only did they have exactly what we were looking for in terms of a photography location, they have fresh produce and jams as well. They are located just east of Auburn on Bowman Frontage Rd and Apple Lane. They were a quick 20 min drive from Loomis. We couldn’t leave them without picking up one of their delicious apple pies!

I really want to encourage all my friends to start thinking of your fall family photos. We will start filling up appointments quickly and I’d love to give your family an experience that you’ll cherish forever.

Brittany,
“Capturing Emotion in Stills”