We are so excited to announce our relationship with the new owner of SWAK clothing boutique at the Fountains in Roseville!  Jodi, the new owner, is wonderful and so on fire to bring beautiful and unique fashion & accessories to women of all ages.  If you haven’t been to SWAK or it’s been a while, it’s definitely worth a visit.  Soon you will also be able to see some of our images on display there (featuring SWAK clothing, of course!).  When you shop at SWAK, you can also earn portrait session credit with us (see below; these cards are available in the store).  The most exciting part of our new relationship–we are now sending SWAK gift certificates to you wonderful people that refer new clients to us!!

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, June 28.  SWAK will be hosting a re-grand opening party, featuring appetizers from various restaurants in the Fountains, beverages, giveaways, AND….Enchanted Images will be there offering fun, fashionable new profile photos for all of your social networking needs!  Many of you have been asking when we would be doing another Ladies’ Night Out, and this is it!  There will also be makeup artists on hand for touch-ups to get you camera-ready.  The cost, you ask?  It’s absolutely free!  The party will start at 7pm, but SWAK VIP’s only will have exclusive entrance from 7:00-8:30pm.  After that, it’s open to the public.  All you have to do to become a SWAK VIP is go visit the store before the 28th and join their VIP list (no cost, no catch–I promise).  If you have previously been a SWAK VIP, be sure to go in and make sure you’re on the new list, since ownership has changed.  Can’t wait to see you there!

Meet Casey.  The weather couldn’t have been better to compliment the lovely looks Casey brought.  And again, mom was just as excited about the session as Casey.  A team effort for sure.

And then there was the floppy hat…

I think that was her mom’s idea but Casey may argue…   Either way it made a beautiful addition to her session and she modeled it well.

Some faves.

Meet Haley, Granite Bay High 2010.  I’ll never forget Haley’s senior portrait consultation.  As I recall, she and her mom showed up well, empty handed.   We always ask for a variety of clothes for this consultation and we have seen everything from duffle bags, to clothing racks, even grocery bags full of clothing…but nothing?  So we spent the time chatting about different looks, and what Haley had in mind for her senior portraits…and laughed a lot.

p.s.  Haley is a hoot.

So is her mom.

Put them in a room together and the place cracks up.

We got the details nailed down and off they went.  About an hour later Haley’s mom called just to say she was all over it and was totally going shopping for some new duds. “We’re excited and we will definitely be ready!”

The day of the session, Haley arrived with all kinds of cool stuff as promised, and those red shoes…  We had a great time out and about and Haley looked wonderful.  Here are some of my faves.

You might have seen our earlier post with the fun images James shot while having fun with the Good Day Sacramento folks, and now we finally have the video clips to share.  Good Day invited James down last month to talk about the many awards he brought home from the SPA (Senior Portrait Artists) event in San Diego, as well as do a mock senior photo session with their weekends anchors on air.  I guess they must have liked it, because they invited him back the following weekend to share the images he took of them on air.  The clips below are in order and include his appearances on both weekends.  James had a blast and absolutely loved everything about the fun group at Good Day Sacramento.  Thanks to their entire team for making it such a great experience!  We’ve also included his winning high school senior folio that garnered the most awards at the SPA event.  Click on the clips below to see his TV debut…

Good Day Sacramento pt. 1 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 2 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 3 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 4 from james on Vimeo.

Meet Riley, class of 2010 Union Mine High.  Riley decided to keep her senior portrait session close to home so we went exploring downtown Placerville.  It was a little chilly that day and her clothing choices were well…not.  Riley was a trooper however, even going barefoot for quite a while in some deep ivy.  After some time shooting I asked how her feet were doing, and she said “Not sure, I can’t feel them”.  That was my cue to move on.

Next was a trip to a nearby vineyard Riley had scouted out.  It was perfect and had everything we could have asked for.  Great light, beautiful old structures, and a cool old truck (actually a COLD old truck).  Toward the end of the session Riley was shivering between takes and even then  wanted to keep going but at last, the sun went away and it was time to go home.  Thanks again to Riley and her mom for all the efforts, and of course the location scouting, it was a great help!

Meet Christine, Roseville High class of 2010.  Another fun session here at the studio & around town.  I almost didn’t recognize her when she arrived with her fab hairdo (it was down at her consultation).  She had it done up that morning and it just looked fantastic.  We started in the studio and then went out for a bit before the sun went down.  As you can see in the first few, it was just a perfect glowy day and Christine had the look to match.  Toward the end of the session I asked if she might want to do a few photographs with her hair down.  15 minutes and 35(!) hairpins later, she let it fly for some great shots.  Thanks for all the effort Christine!

Meet Mallory.  From the moment she arrived at her consultation, I knew we were in for something special for her senior portraits.  Great clothing choices, gorgeous hand made accessories & scarves, and very specific looks in mind.  Among Mallory’s many talents was dance choreography, and she was kind enough to perform for me to capture.   At the end we ran outside to capture the last bit of dusk…and some more dancing.  This was very much a collaborative effort and Mallory’s input was wonderful.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Meet the lovely Lauren, Woodcreek High 2010.  Can’t believe I hadn’t photographed any seniors in Old Sacramento before, so I was all over it when Lauren suggested it.  Seemed like every 10 feet there was some new texture, or light pattern that had me yelling “Stop! Don’t move!” every 20 seconds.  Lauren got used to it.  She also got used to the curious onlookers (including the Sac Police) and still was game for everything.  Our last bit caught some attention from railroad employess, but in the end they were good sports about everything.  Really a great time.  Thank you Lauren!

Meet Cat, Bella Vista class of 2010.  Cat arrived to her consultation just about every cool outfit available.  Boots, scarves, necklaces, dresses and oh yeah…a black guitar.  So again, off to the woods we went to chase some light.  It was a perfect day and as you can see, Cat did great.  About halfway through the session, she suggested climbing a tree for a few shots.  I wasn’t overly eager for this as my last tree experience ended with me falling out of it and a nasty scrape on my knee. (I was trying to show a senior how to get up in it)  Cat seemed pretty confident in her climbing skills so we went for it.  Glad we did as they were some of my favorite images of the day.  Thanks Cat for all your efforts!

Last week James and I were in San Diego for the SPA event 2010 (SPA is short for Senior Portrait Artists).  This organization attracts some of the most talented high school senior photographers in the country and hosts one of the premier educational (and social!) events of the year for photographers.  After James attended last year’s SPA event in Las Vegas without me and came home completely fired up, there was no way I was missing this one (especially because it was at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado).  Aside from meeting up with hundreds of others talented photogs and hearing loads of great speakers, a main attraction and highlight of the event is the competition, which many of the attendees enter each year.  This was the first time James entered the SPA competition, which included categories for senior girl and senior boy folio (a composite of multiple images from the same subject) as well as a single-image kids competition this year.  Now, James has entered and done well in competitions before, but never anything quite like this.  After all of the folios and prints have been judged, they are displayed all over tables so everyone can look at all of the entries.  James felt quite intimidated when he saw the caliber of artists entering the competition.  You can imagine the thrill we both felt when his name was called not only once, but SEVEN times at the awards ceremony!  I thought he might pass out from the excitement (or the weight of all of those beautiful statues!)!  I’ve included a photo of James with six of his gorgeous (and heavy) glass statues (the biggest one shattered in shipping and is being replaced), as well as a few of the winners.  The awards he won are as follows:  Top scoring folio; First Place girl folio; Judge’s Choice senior folio; People’s Choice folio; People’s choice single image; 2nd & 3rd place single image kids.  James is so humble and if you know him, you know that he would never go out of his way to tell you about this amazing honor, but I can’t help myself, mainly because he works so hard and I think it’s so well deserved.  Way to go babe!