The Houston Chapter of the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) honored David Jones last week during it's annual awards presentation at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Medical Center. The award was presented by last year's winner, Jason Bailey with The Downtown Club at the Met.
This award recognizes the chapter member whose commitment to the Houston community personifies the ideals of humanitarianism. Candidates should also be a member of NACE in good standing.
This was my third trip to Haskell, Texas and the first over the holidays. Growing up in Central Texas and the Houston area I have seen snow VERY FEW times. It turned out that the day before arriving the area had been blanketed by seven inches of the wonderful white stuff just in time for our Christmas Day arrival. I spent as much time as I could enjoying the crisp cool air and wonderfully beautiful blue skies of West Texas. As you will notice regardless of where I am I love to explore and discover the beauty in the details from textures, colors and compositions that are often overlooked.
As with many small towns much of the local businesses have been devoured by the big chains like Walmart that have been built in neighboring towns. In fact the town square is only 25% occupied now and leaves me sad to see how many family run businesses that had existed here for fifty plus years have simply disappeared. One thing that remains strong in this county is cotton. I got a glimpse of the local Cotton Co-Op Gin in full swing.
As promised this is the entry dedicated to images from the Portland Japanese Garden taken over Halloween weekend in 2009. As you will notice, it appeared to be the perfect time for the fall foliage in the Pacific Northwest.
Many clients often ask me what I do for fun. Well to be honest, I really do love what I do for a living and have so much fun regardless as to what we are working on. That being said I always enjoy exploring new locations and documenting architectural details, landscapes and abstractions. I recently had the opportunity to visit Portland, Oregon and thoroughly enjoyed how charming and progressive it is. Growing up in Texas and mostly the Houston area we really do not get true seasons, so often our fall is brief and just really not that exciting. So arriving in Portland and taking in all of the senses was a true pleasure. The smells, the colors and the chill in the air was a pleasant distraction. I previously posted these images on Facebook and many asked to see them larger, so here we go. Below are some favorites from the town itself. In an entry to follow this I will post images of just the Japanese Gardens. Enjoy!
If you missed our recent open house, don't fret. We photographed our studio sales room to highlight some of our most recent display prints in all their splendor as well as a few of our newest sample albums.
The five large vertical portraits are 34"x54" Gallery Wraps from our trusted lab of 17 years, Millers Professional Imaging, and we think that they fill the space rather well. Now we understand that many of our clients will never need such a large image, but for our studio with its high vaulted ceilings and the few select bridal shows we participate in each year they should make quite an impression. Protected by a smooth gel coating they are a more modern approach to displaying portraits and fine art images. Each is printed directly on a canvas stretcher frame where the image is actually wrapped around the edges. Another feature is that there is no need to frame them.
Our long term relationship with David Willis and Leather Craftsmen never ceases to amaze us. Their stellar customer support, service and quality is unsurpassed in the custom album realm. This is why we have used them as our exclusive album manufacturer for nearly six years now. Enjoy!
We have recently had several requests to see some of our albums. As you will notice, we use one of the finest album manufacturers around. Leather Craftsmen has been our exclusive album provider since 2004 and we could not be more pleased with their service and quality. While the solid black and brown top grade leather treatments are our standard, the more colorful ones are our newest studio samples of the Japanese Book Cloth that the company recently began offering. In fact a few of those featured here have been chosen for use by the company for samples to be shown all across the country at photography trade shows and conventions. Thanks again David Willis for your support and friendship.
Continue reading "Leather Craftsmen albums... on the rocks" »
Recently Laura was able to go backstage at the Wortham Theater to take photos of the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company and their spring student recital. Laura's daughter, Sadie, takes tap classes there, so she was able to get access to the backstage area to get some behind the scenes shots. Hopefully she will get to do this agin in the fall because it really was a lot of fun!
Yesterday Laura got to have a pretty awesome day :) Her daughter is attending a School of Rock type of camp, called DayJams, this week and got to take photos of the kids and their bands. Each kid is assigned to a band according to age group and music interest and from there they rehearse and practice with their band. They also have to write their own songs and make T-shirts and their own logos and CD art. It is pretty cool and her daughter told her it is the "funnest camp EVAR!"
This past weekend Laura and her family went up to Krause Springs, outside of Austin to camp, meet up with some old and new friends and take a bunch of cool photos. Laura had been swimming at Krause Springs a few years back and had always wanted to do a more formal portrait session here because it is just full of natural beauty. She also had a crazy idea that she wanted a bride swinging on a rope swing there. So she called up her old room mate, Seasha McKay, and they agreed on a time and Seasha pulled out a dress or two from her arsenal. Seasha is also a part time wedding planner in Austin. She also does triathlons and is pretty darn fit (something needed for hanging out on a rope swing in a wet wedding dress that probably added an extra 30 or so pounds of weight!) So these are some of the photos they got through rain and water and lots of fun. Will have to post some more informal photos from the trip later as there are some really great ones of the kiddos too.
