The Cox Kids

I spent the evening with The Cox Kids recently in Star, ID. It was such a beautiful evening - the sunset, the view, the family - it was perfect. I had such a good time meeting the family and seeing them together. Here's a sneak peak of some of my favorites:

Fourth of July!!

I spent the 4th of July this year in Idaho Falls, ID visiting family. They have a wonderful fireworks display on the river - here are a few of my favorite shots to share.

Why Pay For a Professional??

This is a question I get a lot from family and friends: Why should I pay for professional portraits when I can get perfectly good photos from my own camera and the One-Hour Photo down the street for a fraction of the cost?

This is a question I asked myself when I opened my own studio - would it really be worth it to me and my clients to use professional equipment and a professional lab rather than the point and shoot camera one-hour photo down the street? After all, millions of people use that stuff all the time, and their pictures come out perfectly fine, right?

So - being the type-A, ex-engineer that I am, I decided to do a little research and run experiments of my own. I asked the various labs why I should use their lab vs. their competitor. At several of them, I got the answer I expected - because we're way cheaper. At the more expensive labs, I got answers like "trained technicians", "color-managed and density corrected output", "validated quality control standards", etc.... I wasn't sure this really answered my questions, because after all, that would be what they say, right? I mean, that's their job.

Ultimately I decided to do a little experiment. I sent the same set of seven prints to about a dozen different labs. When I got them back, I marked on the back which lab they came from, then mixed them all up and laid them out on my table. I then looked at them from a purely subjective perspective - which looked the best to me? Remember - these are exactly the same photo, from several different labs. I arranged them in order of my preference. After that was done, I turned them over and compared them based on price per print. The results were exactly what the more expensive labs said they'd be - theirs looked so much better it was almost unbelievable. So - I went down the list eliminating the "poor" prints, and set to further analyze the "best" ones. In the end, I chose a higher-end, but not top of the line lab.

The rest of the expense of the "professional" comes in paying for my time to process the final portraits. I personally process each and every one of the photographs that come out of my studio. This includes everything from croppping to make a more interesting composition to adjusting the very yellow color that comes from shooting under indoor light, to removing wrinkles, blemishes, telephone poles, power lines, and pretty much anything else that you don't want in your professional portraits. I've had a lot of training and experience that helps me translate what I see through the camera onto the paper that you see on your walls.

In the end - I guess my "short answer" to the question is - if you want "perfectly fine" photos - your sister-in-law could probably do that for you. If you want contemporary, professional, creative portraits, that's when you find a professional.

Senior Pictures

I was finally able to catch up with the other senior on my books this year to finish his portraits. He's busily finishing this "check-mark" on his itinerary and looking forward to the next steps....

Here's a sample:

90th Birthday Party

A wonderful woman who is a beacon to her family and everyone who knows her turned 90 years old last weekend. The entire town turned out, as well as family from at least four states attended a party to celebrate her life and acknowlege the impact she's had on all those who know her.

Snow in Boise

Those of you familiar with Boise know we rarely get a lot of snow. Normally, it's enough to color the grass, and is gone by noon. This week, though, we've actually gotten snow - and it's been here for several days. It was so beautiful sitting on these berries.

New Personal Project - Gestures 365

With the new year I'm starting a new personal photographic project. Along with colleagues around the country, I'm shooting and posting a picture a day for a year. I've started a new blog for these pictures - http://gestures365.blogspot.com/. Feel free to take a look as the year goes on - literally to see what's in my world.

Here's one of the first photos:

Vicki & Nathan's Wedding

I had the great honor recently to help a very dear friend of mine remember her wedding day with photography. Vicki is one of the most amazing people I know, and her wedding to Nathan was nothing short of perfectly representative of this wonderful couple and their life together. The day started off a little cold, since it was October in Montana, but they were prepared with heaters and a great bonfire by the lake, and it turned into a magical evening under the stars. Here are some of my favorite visual memories of the day.

Scenery in Montana and Northern Idaho

I've been in Montana and Northern Idaho for the last couple weeks, and am always awed by te scenery there. The fall colors make it just that much more spectacular.

Angie

This is Angie - she's a senior this year, and is enjoying (almost) every minute of it. What a beautiful combination - her obvious love of life, and the beautiful colors of the fall.

What About ?! Promotions - Golfing for Jackie

The What About ?! Promotions Bikini Classic Golf Tournament was last weekend. If you remember the weather on Sunday, you know it was a very interesting afternoon. Needless to say, the W.A.P. Bikini Girls didn't spend much time in their bikinis... it was way too cold!

They did, however, assist the golfers during registration and throughout the tournament, and everyone had so much fun. Following the tournament, prizes were drawn for those participating in the tournament, as well as one for which raffle tickets were sold throughout the day.

All the proceeds went to benefit a local family whose beautiful daughter was released from the hospital just in time to visit the tournament to thank everyone for their participation and join in the prize drawings.

MACI Salon Stylists

The stylists at MACI Salon & Spa needed some new photos for their marketing material. We met for a few minutes one evening this week, and came out with some beautiful contemporary business portaits.

I love that I can help fellow business owners in the area make sure their clients see "the vision" of their business. Every business has an image they hope to project to their clients - artistic, contemporary photography is a great way to help make sure that happens.

W.A.P. Bikini Girls at Dirty Little Roddy's

Yes - they're out again! The What About?! Promotions Bikini Girls were at Dirty Little Roddy's in Boise promoting the Bikini Golf Classic. With all the people there, it was not hard finding interesting things to point the lens at!

W.A.P. Bikini Girls at Centennial Golf Course

The What About?! Promotions Bikini Girls were at Centennial Golf Course getting ready for the Bikini Golf Classic the end of this month. It was late in the evening, so the light was very limited, but the pictures turned out to very interesting because of it.

Brian & Sydney

Last week I went with Brian & Sydney to the park to do some casual, fun pictures of daddy and daughter together. It was such a fun time - playing in the water, finding the flowers, trying not to sit on Daddy's lap... "-)