Arkansas Photographer of the Year

June 10th through 13th, I attended the annual APPA convention in Hot springs. This year I took with me Barbara Raney, who manages our Little Rock studio. This was her first convention and print competition. She did great! She had two prints merit, and won first place digital imaging in the general division with her print "Torn". Last year, I came in second in the print competition, but this year I was able to break through and win Photographer of the Year. My prints "Colors of the Mediterranean" and "Sisters, Secrets & the Sea", scored 97 & 95 respectively. Taking first place in the Portrait, Illustrative & Electronic Imaging categories, earning two Kodak Gallery Awards, and two judges ribbons were just some of the highlights. Print competition is a great way to hone a photographers skills. I am always inspired to go back to work and create beautiful images for my clients after a competition. To see all my print entries from this year, click here

Rosemary Beach

Every Year we take a working vacation to our favorite town in Florida, Rosemary Beach {near Destin}. We are about to go again July 12 through 19 with our good friends the Andersens and the Mathises. This is always a great time with the family as well as a great opportunity to photograph our favorite clients at the beach. This is an annual trip so keep an eye out for when we will be there next year!

California Here We Come

We just returned from an incredible trip to California. On June 16th we photographed a wedding in Sequoia National Park. We had never been there before, and I must say it was impressive. My family, along with my mom went along, and we had a blast! After three days at the park and a wedding, we drove to Palo Alto to visit the Reed family, friends from home. They were kind enough to set up several portrait sessions for me. We enjoyed Palo Alto and ate way to well! Next, we moved on to Carmel, where one of my best friends Kristian got married a few years ago. I missed the wedding because we were expecting our second daughter. It was really great to see what I had missed back then. We loved Carmel. All around it was a great working vacation.
"Carmel by the Sea"

Welcome Home Brooke

My very first employee Brooke Bailey, who worked for Melissa and me at our first studio over ten years ago, has accepted our offer to move home from Colorado. She will be our studio manager for the Conway studio as well as photographing weddings. Brooke is a talented photographer and a great girl. Brooke graduated from Colorado Mountain College with an Associate of Applied Science in Professional Photography. Since she started her career, Brooke has experienced several fields in photography: portraiture, weddings, digital lab tech, and fashion photography in New York City.

Brooke's credits in fine art include, being featured in exhibits and galleries in the following cities in her home state of Arkansas: Little Rock, Hot Springs, Conway, and Fayetteville. Her work has also shown in Memphis, Tennessee, Glenwood Springs and Breckenridge, Colorado as well as New York City.

Along with displaying her fine art, she has worked the last four years in the management of photography studios, specializing in portraiture and weddings in Breckenridge, Colorado. Her fine art hangs in homes and businesses from the East Coast to the West Coast. Brooke has used her talents in fine art photography to assist and raise money to benefit charities and non-profit organizations. Melissa and I are looking forward to working with Brooke, she will be a great asset to our studios.