Profile Pictures

Can you believe it's already the end of July?! I stopped by the store last night to pick up a few things and there was a frantic family buying back-to-school supplies. Man, seems like when I was in school we didn't even think of that until the end of August, but apparently some schools are starting up in just a week or two (mid-August). What a bummer! This summer has basically been half rain, so it must feel like the shortest summer ever for the kids this year.

Okay, back to photography... With the explosion of internet profiles like Facebook, MySpace, and even online dating, we've had a lot of requests for cool profile pictures. If you have a profile and all it's missing is some really great photography of you, let us know and we'll do something about that!

Here are a handful from a session we did recently for a professor who wanted some cooler pictures for his university profile, etc.







Not your standard "Professor" pictures, but that's what's fun about them, and that's exactly what he wanted. Let us know if you're interested in some cool, unique pictures for your online profile! We'd be delighted to help.

We're Back!

After a grand finale at Whitewater yesterday, we're finally back from our vacation visiting my family up in Pennsylvania. We had a great time, but it's always nice to be back home.

I had a sampling from two recent sessions that I wanted to post while I was out, but our internet access was pitiful (along with our cell phone coverage) so I wasn't able to. So, after some delay, here are a few pictures from sessions we did right before we left.






These pictures were from a session we did for a bride and groom who weren't really happy with the wedding pictures they got with another photographer. A lot happens on a wedding day and it's easy to overlook otherwise obvious details with so much going on and the other photographer somehow didn't get any pictures of the happy couple by themselves on the wedding day. So, they contacted us to see if we could help them out with some pictures like that; and, of course, we were happy to. =)




Thanks for stopping by to check out our blog... Happy Monday! Hope it's a great week for you.

Sketchy Celly Coverage

Hey, all, I'm in and out of cell phone coverage for a couple of days, so if you get a strange message on my phone, don't worry. If you call back, chances are you'll be able to reach my voice mail to leave a message and we'll get back with you soon if you can leave a message. Or better yet, drop an email... We'll be sure to get it and respond then. If you left a message in the last day or three and haven't heard back from us, please drop us a line and let us know so we can respond.

Thanks so much! We'll be back soon...
~Christian & Holly

Sheridan's Senior Pictures

It's that time already... School is about to begin and high school seniors need to be thinking about their senior pictures! If you know any seniors, remind them to get their pictures done early so they can miss the Spring rush. We had a handful of seniors last year who called us too late after we had already booked our calendar solid. Typically, the months of March, April and May are just crazy! If you book now, we can schedule pictures while you still have a great tan and while there's still plenty of time to hand out your cool wallet pictures. =)

Here are some samples from one of our first Seniors from the class of '08. I love all the warm, bright colors we get during this summer season and the flowers are in full bloom! Not sure what kind of flower this this first picture has in it, but it was pretty impressive! I don't think it smelled at all, but it made for a really pretty picture. =)


You're probably wondering what that blue-and-yellow blob in the background is. Unless your a member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) you'd probably not recognize it, but it's unmistakable to anyone who's ever been involved in FFA. =) It was a fun way to get the jacket in the picture without actually having to wear it.







Thanks for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit and will bookmark us to stop by again soon!

The Dobbs Family

Here are a few initial pictures from our session last night with the Dobbs family. I absolutely love this first picture of the two kids hugging, flowers in hand!


This picture really cracked me up, because the kids all appear to be shocked at Mom and Dad's public display of affection. It's hard to see in this thumbnail, but it's so cute! Click on it to see a larger version. Braxton looks like his jaw has dropped. =)




What a cute Mom and daughter picture!


Do we have the next Gap Kids model here?


And this little guy looks like he needs a "Tonka" label built right into him. What a toughie! I hope Johnnie is treating him well while he's young, because he looks like he's going to be a bruiser!


Despite the warm weather, we had a great time and got a lot of other really great pictures. We'll have those retouched for you soon, guys!

Thanks for stopping by!

Google's New Voice Local Search

I haven't had a chance yet to use this, but I just can't wait... Okay, now I have tried it and it's as cool as expected. I looked up our own company and it found us first time without any delay!


Here's a link to Google's page on it. Did I mention that it's free? They'll even connect you for free and/or send you a text message on your cell phone with the company's information. Unbelievable!

The Pope's Family Portraits

We always feel really honored when our customers drive so very far to come have their pictures taken. I guess we've known the Pope's for going on two years now, since we did Meredith's senior portraits and they're a really great family. I think if we ever decide we have to move somewhere, we're going to have to consider Altus... there are just so many really nice people down there. Maybe it's due to Zane and Kandy Newton, the youth ministry leaders down there who have been at it for over 20 years and making a huge impact on the kids' lives. It's funny, we've only met Zane and Kandy a few times, but we feel like they've impacted our lives, too.

Here are a few favorites from last night's session with the Pope family! Feel free to copy any of these that you'd like for your Facebook or MySpace accounts. (No printing, of course. =)


Mom and Dad... So sweet! I told them this looks like a picture that you'd see on the back of a book... "About the authors..." =)

The girls!

The guys!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a very Happy Wednesday!

The Sun is Back!

Well, after weeks of rain the sun is back! I was overjoyed to see the forecast for the next couple of days...


Yep, those are little "sun" icons, and we're in the 90's finally! It's been such a wet and cool Spring that we're already about 50% over our average annual rainfall and we're almost 30 days behind our number of 90-plus degree days.

Time to work on that tan, folks! And then give us a call to schedule pictures! =)

Hill Family Pictures

We had the pleasure of photographing some adorable twin girls recently and here are some of our favorites from the session. Hope you enjoy!












More to come... I got a little behind on the blog so I'm having to catch up. =)

Thanks for stopping by... Hope y'all have a great week!

Another Incognito Engagement Session

This weekend I had the good fortune to shoot another incognito engagement session. We had just watched the movie "Shooter" the night before, so I considered bringing my camouflage ghille suit but then decided against it since it was a public park and I didn't want to have to explain to police. =)

Jonathan had the whole thing planned out perfectly. Even the weather! The rain stopped just in time and the sun even peeked out for a few minutes. From the rose petal covered walkway to the limo to the roses, candles and even iPod with romantic music playing (Jonathan, did I hear some country in the mix? =) it was just perfect. Well done, Jonathan!

Here are just a few quick favorites to hold everyone over until I can retouch them all!

Jonathan working his magic and setting the stage for the proposal.


Moments after she said "Yes!" they're checking out the ring.


Unrestrainable joy!


Congratulations to you both! It was awesome to be a small part of such a great event. And it was really a great place to propose.

This may be a great time to mention that we're including a free engagement session for all of our brides who book weddings with us! It's a great way for us to get to know each other before the big event and helps us to better understand the kind of photography and style that you'll most enjoy and appreciate from your wedding day. We're booking for 2008 now, but still have some availability in 2007 if you know of any brides in need of wedding photography!

We have some of the best customers in the world who are enthusiastic about our work and tell their family and friends about us. Thanks so much for spreading the word! It's a huge blessing to us and we're really grateful.

Happy Independence Day! I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday!

Halfway Through 2007

Can you believe we're halfway through the year already? This has already been one of my favorite summers and years ever. All the rain we've had has put a damper on business, but it's sure helped us to unwind and enjoy the change of pace. I don't know that I'd change a thing about this year so far. The real highlight has been the opportunity to work from home more and spend so much time with my precious family every day. I really expected there to be more down-sides to working from home, but it's been surprisingly easy and a great fit for us.

Here are highlights from a couple of recent sessions. First the Woiwode family, return customers who have us photograph their family reunions. It's amazing to see four generations of their family gather in one place for pictures! I think that's pretty uncommon to see these days.

Isn't that huge tree a great backdrop for photos?


The whole gang! It was the great-grandmother's birthday. If I remember correctly, she turned 92!


Four generations together for a picture.





Then we have Julie and her fiancee Raymond, who I insisted on calling Harris and Wilson the entire shoot. We've had an interesting string of customers named combinations of those three names, so I was a hopeless mess. Sorry, Wilson! (okay, just kidding that time! =)





We're excited that we will be photographing Julie and Raymond's wedding this fall. They were a great couple to work with and their wedding day is going to be a lot of fun, I can tell already. Working with such nice people really makes a huge difference in my own personal enjoyment of what I do, and I think the pictures from the day turn out better with those kinds of couples as well.

Although it did rain a little bit today (is this the 24th consecutive day of rain? I think I lost count.) the sun made a rare personal appearance for a couple of hours. It was glorious! You should have heard the lawn mowers going, though! Everyone was out trying to hack back their grass before the next rain comes in. Looks like the rainy season is over, though. The forecast looking pretty clear for the next 10 days. Time to get some more photos sessions on the schedule!