Raul ... Senior Portraits

It is hard to see the future.
Some times it 's even hard to see the past, or the present.
But with Raul, I can see all three.
     The man he will become,
     the young man he is now,
     and even a little bit of his innocence of his youth.
I could not ask more of him, or his family for seeing this.
A big "thanks"!

Miss Abbey & Miss Sofey

After photographing their cousin (Miss Addison ... the New Display at Dr. Fagan's), Abbey and Sofey's grandmother decided it was time to photograph all her grandchildren.
The saying "how do you eat an elephant? ... a bite at a time" can apply to photographing children. When working with 3 different sets of parents from three different towns, a more relaxed, let's spread this out over a few months can work to everyone's advantage.
And with the notes that I keep, as well as making them "compatible" (see a blog post from last week) and getting to know each child, this will be a display for grandmother that will be a joy forever.

Richard ... Business Portraits

When I travel out of town and check out the local newspaper and yellow pages, I am always surprised how few businesses have professional portraits of their staff and executives. Many businesses spend tens of thousands in advertising and their people look like vagrants or convicts. Like it or not, we are judged by how we look and if we are professional,  then we need to be seen as professionals.  Not every business or professional need to be dressed up though. That's where we can also help. With a no charge design consultation, we will help find the look that will be you as well as get clients!
Time flies!
20 years in the blink of an eye.
Thats how long ago we photographed Richard for the first time.
And now the new update.
Richard, thanks for making us "your" photographer!

Amina ... Compatible with her Brother

Miss Amina is the big sister of Rhys from the Dr. Fagan display posts.
We love the opportunity to create a companion portrait, but it does present some challenges.
For instance,
     what about poses,
     what about lighting,
     what about clothing,
     what about expression.
After all, it's a different day, a different person with different tastes.
We always advise our clients up front about these differences.
Then we suggest compatibility. Different but similar, tied together by background colors, matching frames and the size of faces. Hung together on the wall to tell "two stories" within "one story".
Our thanks to Amina in making this portrait easy ... "Good Job"!

George ... St. Mary's Employee of the Year

You cut the top of his head off ... but I can really see his face,
He's not smiling ... but I just know that expression is really him,
Why is this portrait not in color ... but it really pops off the wall,
The portrait is not centered ... but it seems like you really caught him not posed.

A lot of times, I hear some contradictory things about our portrait art, a negative statement followed by a "really" strong positive statement.
In my own life, sometimes it takes a while to "get" something, sometimes 30 seconds (the color of Jason White's first Monte Carlo),  other times 30 years (Shakespeare). I've seen this many times through the years, our staunchest critics became our strongest fans.
Thanks to George and his wife that they "got this" right off the bat.
I could not be more pleased with his portrait!

Zach ... Senior Portrait

Props.
Back in the days when we began the studio, I caught a lot of grief because we did not have a room full of "props" (vinyl wing back chairs, bookcases with fake books, plastic ferns, well you get the idea). To be honest, I felt bad about this, not because my taste was better, but because I just didn't have the money to spend on them.
So I decided that the props had to be real, and to be real, they had to be my clients "props".
A state championship ring, a letter jacket, a football from his high school.
Reality! Not the fashion fake stuff of the moment.
Thanks to Zach and his family for seeing this in my art, and getting it!

Mr. Dylan ... the New Display at Dr. Fagan's