Arkansas State Convention

Today I spoke with Mike Colon, one of the premiere wedding photographers in the country. He resides in Newport Beach, California. He has agreed to speak at our Arkansas Professional Photographers Convention in Little Rock. The convention will be this coming July at The Doubletree Hotel and Convention Center. I am on the board of our association and this year I am in charge of arranging all of the talent. I have also talked with one of my favorite photographers John Bamber from Chattanooga ,TN, as well as one of my best friends Kristian Andersen , who owns KA+A, a branding and design firm in Indianapolis. This convention is shaping up to be one of our best. If you are a photographer in our state or region check out the info at arkansasppa.com . You won't want to miss it!

Off to the BIG D!

My wife Melissa and I are heading to Dallas again in a couple of weeks to photograph families and children in the area. This trip began with a couple of clients who would have portraits done everytime they came home to Arkansas. We then decided last year to go see them, and now it has grown into a portrait weekend. We are excited to already have seven families lined up on this trip. If you have friends in the Dallas area, tell them we will be there from October 19th-21st. We are already booking fast, but we do have some time still open on Saturday afternoon. We have started doing a lot of these destination portrait sessions, and would love to continue doing more of them.
Here are some shots of one of our clients we photographed last fall in Dallas.

Brooke's Hawaii Adventure

Check out these images from the wedding Brooke Bailey, our newest addition to our staff, just photographed in Hawaii. They are incredible. I always love a destination wedding. Some of my favorite weddings I've photographed have been the ones that have allowed me to bring together my love of travel and photography. I've been blessed to photograph weddings in California, New Hampshire, Florida , and all over the south. These destination weddings have given me some of my best memories as a photographer, and remind me that I am part of an incredible profession.



I am so excited to have Brooke and Barbara on my staff, and I can't wait to see all the beautiful wedding images we will create together in the future.

Meet Kristin

Let me introduce you to our newest full time employee, Kristin Luyet. Kristin is our first full time digital artist. She is responsible for making everyone look so good! Kristin started working part time last Christmas and her artwork skills impressed us so much that when she graduated we offered her a full time position. She will be primarily working in Conway, but will also help out at the Little Rock studio as well. Kristin has her Associate of Applied Science Degree in Graphic Design. She is a great addition to our staff.

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.

Twice as Nice

It has been a busy year already. This Christmas we were driving through The Heights in Little Rock and talked about how great it would be to have a location in that area, because we have so many great clients there. The next thing we knew we were signing a lease and starting construction on our new studio. We will keep our studio in Conway and I will split time between the two. We recently had a grand opening to celebrate. 5024 Club Rd. is our new second home. We are located accross from Cheers restaraunt just off Kavenaugh. We are enjoying our new location. Our hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 till 5:30. Barbara Raney who has been with us for almost two years is our studio manager for the Little Rock Studio and has also come on as our first staff photographer. Photographing weddings and other events,
Barbara will allow us to keep up with the increasing demand for quality wedding photography.

Remember the Alamo

In January, Melissa and I, along with our girls Mary Dean & Anne Ryan traveled to San Antonio for the PPA national convention.
I look forward to spending time with other photographers. It is always inspiring. This year I earned my Masters and Craftsman degrees from Professional Photographers of America. That was a great honor. I also had a print accepted into the Traveling Loan Collection for 2006. This was our first trip to San Antonio and we absolutely loved the River Walk.


"Unfinished Masterpiece" 2006 Loan Collection