We decided to enter the Wedding & Portrait Photograpers International (WPPI) 16×20 print competition this year in Las Vegas. A number of prints scored high enough to hang in the gallery which is such an honor for us. One print in particular scored higher than the rest, higher that we have ever scored for that matter. And to boot, it was of our daughter Teagan at the Monterey aquarium. This really means a lot to us especially with the story behind the image.

I knew before we went to the aquarium I wanted to get a photograph of Teagan or Reilly looking into an aquarium window. Having never been there, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Teagan and I walked into a room and there were a number of these ‘portals’ for viewing. One problem…they were all full of other people.

As I scanned around the room to find an open window, I lost sight of Teagan…oops.

About the time panic was beginning to set in, I turned around and saw this…Teagan all alone at a window.

I had just enough time to raise my camera to my eye, take a few shots…and she was gone, off to the jellyfish. The final image was better than I had imagined…almost magical for me.

We have posted it before, but here is the final presentation the judges saw. The print title is “World of Wonder”. They also sent us a cool little press release we thought we would share. Thanks again to all of our clients who allow us to explore and create, we are forever grateful.

The Martinelli family is yet another one of the many extended families we’ve photographed recently. It’s so nice to see families take the time and effort to have these multi-generational, very meaningful portraits made. It’s fun to see the relationships in families and be reminded of the importance of what we do…capturing images that speak volumes about the people in them. We love what we do!

Another Easter has come and gone and what a fun one it was! Here a a few sneak peeks from the fun packed weekend. Saturday evening was an event filled get together at Grandpa Ed’s, decorations and games everywhere (thanks Kim!). The girls had great fun finding eggs, blowing bubbles and eating candy.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny had arrived and left all kinds of goodies for the girls. After most of the candy had been devoured, we saddled up for the annual brunch at the Hall’s ranch. They live on a beautifully landscaped 3 acres…how’s that for an Easter egg hunt! Anyway, there was more finding eggs, blowing bubbles and yes, more candy.

We finished it off that evening at home and watched the movie ‘Enchanted’. A lovely time.

Whew!!

AND MORE…

Easter morning.

One hot momma.

The amazing egg race. i was disqualified for cheating…

Don’t be fooled by baby S’s shock of hair…he was only 11 weeks old (or so) when he came in for his newborn session. Isn’t it just the best hair ever?? Big sis, Miss A, probably would have rather played than be photographed (what 2-year old wouldn’t?), but she did a great job and showed us lots of personality. We’re so happy that we’ll get to see these cuties over the next year, as Mr. S is on of our Bebe Collection members. Can’t wait to see what happens to that awesome hair of his!

I went to see one of my favorite bands the other night, Fair to Midland (reviewed in one of our newsletters). This is the second time I’ve seen them and still can’t believe the energy they have on the stage.

This show however would be a special treat for me. I had forgotten to take my camera out of the car earlier and couldn’t turn around as the show was starting soon. No way I was leaving it in my car parked on the street in front of the venue for the show.
So, I slung the bag on my back and headed to see the bouncer.
“You with a magazine or something?”
“Why yes…or something”
And in I went.
Show started and I thought well, if I’m carrying all this stuff I might as well photograph something.
Out came the camera and big lens, and all of the sudden I was everybody’s best friend.
“Are you with the band?, You with the newspaper?, What magazine do you work for?”
During the second song I walked out to the floor. Two very large fans saw me. “Hey buddy, you wanna get up here in the front?” And proceeded to move people out of the way to get me to the stage.
Moral of the story: If you act like you are SUPPOSED to be doing something, odds are, people will let you!

We had a fun time photographing the Weinreich/Marvin extended family, who were totally trusting in our ideas for their images, even though they had no clue what the final portraits would look like when we were dragging them down to the Amtrak station in old Roseville! It’s a little trickier to get artistic & creative with larger groups, but James got the idea that it would be so cool to spread them out on the front of the train station building. Apparently they did, too, because that was their favorite image. Thanks for being such good sports!

Last weekend we were fortunate to participate in an evening of fine arts and elegant desserts at Sunrise Community Church in Fair Oaks. Two of our friends and clients were kind enough to ask us to be their featured artist at this event meant to honor and appreciate the faithful members of Sunrise. The sanctuary was transformed into a beautiful room filled with candles, flowers and music. Pastor Rich Sherman and the Sunrise staff were gracious enough to allow us to fill their walls with a display of multiple wall portraits. Over 500 people attended this event showing their commitment to this close-knit church family. We were honored to be a part of it! Click anywhere on the third image to see a slideshow of the event. [link]http://homepage.mac.com/enchantedimages/finedessert//=Or click here.[/link]

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Reilly challenged me to a serious game of Uno the other day. Apparently my trickery doesn’t work anymore…she’s become quite good at the game.

Miss O’s mom, grandma & aunt accompanied her for her official 3-year portraits. We were so excited to try out the gorgeous new yellow silk dress I bought (at the Silver Spoon, fyi 🙂 and our awesome new background. Miss O was most excited about the prospect of wearing the burgandy poof skirt and the wreath on her head…and that was about it! It took some coaxing to get her to go along with our crazy requests :), but she eventually came around and gave us some great stuff. The best was mom and grandma’s reaction when they saw the slideshow of her images….tears all around! The love for this special little girl abounds…she’s their little angel!

Okay, we’ll end the supspense….that was Reilly’s hair on the previous post. She decided it was time to cut NINE inches off her hair to donate to someone less fortunate than her…we’re so proud of her! We’ve been growing her hair out for some time knowing that we would eventually donate it when she was ready, and one day last week out of the blue, Reilly said she was ready. We didn’t tell anyone, including daddy, who was very surprised and pleased. The haircut wasn’t the only big change last week…can you see anything sparkling on her ears in the last images?? Our little girl is growing up!