Dove season is almost upon us.  Yes, this was an engagement shoot.  Yes, it was celebrating Julene and Andrew's upcoming winter wedding.  But the late summer landscape and this dog's ready eyes and posture scream of everything a Lab loves to do.  Even with owners distracted by each other, this one is patient and ready.

Back to Julene and Andrew and their fabulous shoot.  They are such a wonderful couple and we are enjoying the pre-wedding journey with them.  This shoot was done at 7:00 am at 5 mile in Chico to capture the late summer beauty without the heat.  We'll schedule a fall shoot as well when the leaves start changing and then shoot their wedding in January.  Here are a couple of our favorites from the first shoot.

 And one last image with the four legged friend.

"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Mother Teresa

Class of 2015

Class of 2015 Portraits are off to a great start!  A senior at Pleasant Valley High School, Shawna enjoyed an evening with Mark and Nikki.  She started off with a hair and make up session with Nikki - photo ready make up is the BOMB.  There is no other word for it.  These images are STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA and Shawna looks gorgeous!  After the hair and make up were done, they headed out and about to Mark's favorite Chico spots.  There wasn't enough time in the day, so I'm hoping they hit a few more sometime soon!  Here's what we have so far.  Congratulations Shawna, we hope you have the best year!

From the creek and buildings around downtown, they headed out to 5 mile for this last outfit and some soft evening light.

"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest

 later."

Og Mandino

Best of Chico - August

August is here, bring on the days of heat with slightly cooler evenings to enjoy.  Mark took this fantastic couple for an evening hike up to the ever popular Monkey Face and captured some images that he'd been planning in his head for awhile.  Opportunity presented itself with a willing couple looking for a few quality landscape images and a sky of fabulous clouds.  Traditionally, Mark will try to offer couples a mix of well lit portraits with crisp and clean skin tones and the more artistic candid shots as well.  This time however, it was all about the surroundings, and capturing the couple as part of the landscape.  It was nice to be able to compartmentalize the time allowed for 1 goal rather than the multiple styles he usually focuses on.

Sound strategy starts with having the right goal.

Michael Porter

Deep Summer

"Deep summer is when laziness finds 

respectability."

Sam Keen

Ah July.  We've hit that magical time of year.  A few big events and family shoots keep us just focused enough to remember how to work, but we have the time to take a breath and look around.  Mark will work in the yard throughout mornings, and I'll plow through a series of books.  We'll both have a few extra hours a week for ourselves.  Hard to even imagine once September hits!

However, we'll be shooting a State Level softball tournament this weekend and dipping our toes into the "instant" sales business model.  Trying it on for size and seeing how we like it.  Any other time of year the crazy hours required would scare us away, so this is perfect timing for us to try something new.  

Congratulations Chico Softball All Stars!

Congratulations to the Juniors team that won the District 47 tournament and is headed to the Nor Cal State Division Championship.   CSLL will be hosting the tournament and games will be played at Chico Westside Little League park.  We will be out there shooting and selling images from all of the games out there.  

Also Congratulations to this group, Chico Majors Black for winning the District 47,  Section 2 and the Divisional tournaments.  They are headed to San Bernadino for the Regional Finals this weekend, which is the last tournament before the Little League Softball World Series.  Good job girls!

Have a competitive team that would love pictures?  These attitude panoramas are printed on metallic paper in 10x30 and 5x15 sizes and are a great keepsake for all players and families.  The kids have so much fun setting them up and are always eager to get them back!  And it all starts with a high quality photograph - so much you can do digitally now once you have the high resolution image taken under the correct lighting!

"You're playing a game, whether it's Little League or Game 7 of the Word Series. It's impossible to do well unless you're having a good time. People talk about pressure. Yeah, there's pressure. But I just look at it as fun."

Derek Jeter

  

Take Shape for Life, Coach Amy Lacey

We're a small photography business in a smallish town - we share people's life events.  It's a given.  We are a part of weddings, new babies, childhood, young adulthood, graduations, new business adventures, and all of the life that is packed in during the days and years between.  In the past months, we've witnessed one of our closest family friends take an amazing new lease on life.  Utilizing "Take Shape for Life" with coach Amy Lacey, Diane is down 118.25 lbs.  A few months ago, she was down 84 lbs and she fit back into her wedding dress, so we scheduled a photo shoot.  We thought we had amazing images.  Little did we know. Last week, we retook the pictures since she was down so much more weight.  Now the dress had to be pinned too many times to count and it practically fell off of her.  This "after" picture will grace the walls of Amy's office and website to motivate and encourage those that want to follow her footsteps on their own weight loss journey.  Diane - you rock!

"Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay."

Simone de Beauvoir

Swim Teams

Buddy shot with year imprinted on a 3x5 Photo Magnet

Nothing says summer to us more than photographing our favorite local swim teams!  Swimming is such a great activity for kids, an individual sport with a team feel that works perfectly for busy summer schedules.  You practice when you are in town, pick the meets you can go to, and race against your own personal bests.  I love it.  Active kids are happy kids!

Swim teams are no different than our other youth sports leagues - leading products are our 8x10 memory mates ($14.00) and our ever popular 3x5 magnets (2 for $13.00).  These prove time and again to be the perfect keepsakes for every activity.  Since many siblings participate on swim teams, parents love our buddy shots as a great family memory.

Custom Memory Mate for the Orland Otters

"I enjoy racing so much. Ever since I was 8 or 9, I trained every stroke, because it was the only way I could race a lot."

Ryan Lochte