Boise Idaho High School Senior Photographer/ Justin

Justin is just about to graduate this spring and is looking forward to serving in the military after High School.

Boise Idaho High School Senior Photographer/ Mike

We greatly enjoyed working with Mike on his Senior session. Mike will be graduating this year and will be attending Boise Bible College in the fall.

Boise Idaho Portrait Photographer/ CarolBeth

This is a publicity shot for a local musician who I have known personally for a very long time. CarolBeth is very accomplished classical pianist...but also is a pretty cool keyboard player and can mix it up playing in any band she chooses to. This is a photographic tribute to a very good friend...

Goodbye Boise Blue Art Supply

Boise Blue Art Supply will close it's doors in the next couple of weeks. After 71 years of serving the art community, the iconic art supply store succumbed to the pressure of economy, online retailers and "big box" stores.
When I began to study art back in the early 1980's, I learned about Boise Blue and began to make regular treks to Boise so I could see what art related item I was missing, and I always found something I needed. When in college, I spent a lot of time there finding things to complete my assignments. Even after college I get a job working in advertising design and publications ...guess what? I was there...a lot! Even today, as a Photographer, I would go a buy mat board and other framing related articles because they had a huge selection and a staff who really knew how to pick the right colors for your print, and they always had the right item to solve your problem. Nobody else in town had that. And now, nobody will.
It's almost like losing a Grandparent, so many memories attached to that place, it was always good to me, I always found exactly what I needed there and I wonder what life will like without it. It is part of an institution that is fading away in our country, the small business.
I walked through the store yesterday looking at the shelves that were beginning to empty out. There was no "Going out of Business Sale" happening, but the store was full of customers, buying their art supplies there for the last time and grieving with the staff over the loss of Boise Blue.

Boise Idaho Commercial Photographer/ Hairstyle model shoot

Once in a while a project comes along that promises to challenge me. About 2 weeks ago I got a Facebook message from Toronto Canada from Dawn Maglish, a student of cosmetology who was in Toronto at a conference to further her education. The message stated that she was entering a national hairstyle contest. Her mentors advised her to hire a professional photographer as her designs were really strong and she just needed someone to who could illustrate her designs to the panel of judges in the best possible fashion. She was going to be back in town in a couple of days and she would only have a few days to get the pictures taken and submitted for competition.
Although my entire career has been dedicated to portraiture, I've admired model photography for some time. Yes, I admit, I watch America's Top Model every time it's on. I read Vogue, Elle and In Style magazine in order to keep up with the current trends of the fashion world. I have found this to be a very important part of the photography business.
I'm finding that a fashion vibe is starting to infiltrate my work and I'm actively finding ways to incorporate it into my High School Seniors and Wedding work. Now there was no incorporation...it was going to be all about fashion.
We scheduled a couple of appointments to accommodate the model's schedules and went to work. Rule number one: everything else fell secondary to the hairdo. Secondly: the light had to illustrate the point of the hairdo. Either the coloring, the styling, or both. Nothing important could be allowed to fall into shadow. Thirdly: the picture is all about fashion, and using traditional portraiture or just snapshots were not going to get these hairdos noticed.
It was great to work with Dawn, she has the makings of a great hair stylist, and I look forward to working with her again in the future. It was also great to work with the models, Melissa, Julie and Bailey. They were great to work with and very patient as we fussed over the light and the hair.
In the end both Dawn and I were pleased with the results, it was a great session! Dawn got all three of her images for competition, and I think I have another competition print for PP of I this year. Yeah...it was that good!

Recurring training

At the end of June I attended a workshop put on by my good friend Master Photographer Dave Newman. Dave has operated Newman Photography in the Salt Lake City for 30 years and is how a certified instructor, writer and lecturer.
You can learn a lot from someone like this...and I did. Here are some photos I took during the class.

New logo...

After a great deal of thinking, we came up with yet another logo. This time, I think we are settled and have found the identity we have been looking for.

The original logo had a very fashion-like look to it, but also looked like it belonged to an architectural firm. The next generation was an exercise in getting a P and a W to look like they belong together, but something was lacking and they still were not playing nice.

We had to do a lot of soul searching to really find a symbol that indicates what we are about. Our style embraces both contemporary and classic portraiture with a strong emphasis on overall image design. Our logo now embraces both the creative element as well as pays homage to photography as a discipline and structure. We believe that photographic structure without creativity is boring, and that creativity without structure is just chaos. Knowing and practicing both are the key to the images we create.

I think our logo now reflects this balance.

We are not finished yet, be watching in the next few weeks as you will see changes come to both the blog and the main website. It's going to look really cool!