Happy Birthday Kaya!

Kaya's mom started the planning for her portraits in November & the time has come, with mom & dad & two of her grandparents visiting from Arizona. Being two, Kaya has her own ideas about everything, but she had time for some beautiful portraits. More will appear on the blog in the next few days. Kaya is a beautiful, happy two-year-old who has a lot of fun exploring the world.

Heading into Portrait Season!

Hello! Richardson-Daniel Photography has been working on a part-time schedule for the last ten years. Parenting and other commitments have been keeping me busy, but Fall 2012 is the time when the focus is on expansion! I am now geared up to create great portraits for the whole family; babies, children, teens, high school grads & family portraits (whether there is one & a dog or a family of 12!). This is a great time to arrange for school portraits, family sessions and Halloween dress-up photos! Holiday cards are available for 2012 that will show off your family and keep those connections with long-distance friends and family. I have some surprising new products which are available now that you will love. Call for an appointment to discuss your needs. Part of the process as we go towards the portrait, will be a free consultation regarding clothing and location that will work best for you. Don't hesitate to start the conversation - you'll be glad you did. I'll be posting some of the new products soon.

Family Portrait Time is here!

The month of October is a good time for updating your family portraits! Besides creating good gifts for the family, the Christmas Cards will be amazing! This year I have a new set of templates for Christmas Cards that will show off all of the personalities in your family! Consider taking a group image and then small groups and individual portraits. It is time to give your loved ones some really great images of the family! These portraits will be there in the years to come, reminding you of how beautiful your family is!

Call me soon at 323/683-3770 to schedule your family's portrait session.

March already? What's up with the speed of time these days . . . ?

Just back last night from my uncle Bob's 80th birthday in Sacramento - a real treat, seeing my parent's friends and cousins that I could still recognize 40 years later! Uncle Bob was in good form, and a very nice fellow, as always (he's my mom's youngest brother).

A short photo session for Ireland today, who is just between getting over a fever and welcoming two teeth, so she didn't have a lot of tolerance for bright lights and pretty dresses today. With mom & dad's help, however, we did manage to have a few moments when she relaxed a bit. Enjoy this little video of the images we captured today.

National & State Conventions & a National Merit Award!

February is here already!
Every year, just as soon as we get past the holiday season, Photographers of America hold their national convention - this year in Nashville Tennessee. I've been able to go for the past several years and have enjoyed the benefits of seeing the art of the most talented photographers in America and Australia along with how they work and run their businesses! As my eyes are trained to see what can be done, my work has improved! I have entered a print into the Western States Print Competition this year (held during the California Pro Photo Expo - California's convention), and have gotten my first Merit Print! Achieving this at the WSPC, means that the National group will verify the merit and this gives me my first National Merit. This is no small thing, as the prints in the competition are amazing, and have come from all around this side of the coast!

A few details about this image (the one at the top is my merit image)...
Last year we went to the Renaissance Faire near San Dimas. I took my Canon 5D with me, as people are traditionally well-dressed and interesting to watch! This handsome fellow just seemed surreal with the stark contrasts of his white beard and the dark environment he was in. Just shows that you have to be ready - you never know when something amazing will come into your line of sight! You can capture it now or it will be just a fading memory. Most of us have some sort of a camera with us at all times. I've even gotten some amazing images from my iphone. The one below is of my daughter on a trip to Lake Tahoe.



Something that we all need to be aware of...
If you have a hard drive crash will you lose the only photographic record of your last few years? Print your pictures! Even a shoe box full of pictures is always fun to go through, Computers don't make great storage devices for your life's memories!

Holidays & Joy!

Life at this time of year scurries along like a squirrel running for his life! I mention squirrels because I've seen a couple of them lately that were going so fast, I couldn't see their legs move! With their tiny legs and so much ground to cover, how do they do it? Can I learn to do that too? Maybe it is the motivation that moves them, or maybe they're just in a hurry, but if I can learn to fly like them, it could create a veritable time machine . . . (I'll be looking into that)!

I thought I'd show you a video that I created this week from a photo shoot last month. A very cute little boy who is only a couple of months old. He was a little tired, which makes for very peaceful portraits when a baby can relax into a little sleep! Mom & Dad and Grandpa also joined in the fun.

It is the second week of December, & having been busy with photo shoots, I haven't begun to decorate the house yet! This weekend we'll get some lights, start a fire in the fireplace (can't believe how cold it can be in Los Angeles - I know, you folks in Alaska get real weather, but this feels cold for us fair-weather friends!) Time to crank up the holiday spirit!

Holidays are all about families, love and respect. May this be a great Holiday Season for All! I'm looking into starting a few new family traditions as this will only be the second Christmas where we stay home! We'll miss the larger Sacramento family just for the season, but look forward to catching up soon! Joy to All for the Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!

September!

I must confess that summer has been all consuming! What would be so bad about year around school? Well I suppose it is nice to have free time and no responsibilities to speak of when you're a kid. Now as September has come, Lily has gone back to school weeks ago. We're very proud of her! She's moving on towards getting her Child Development certificate and doing better and better. This semester she'll be working in a pre-school one day a week - getting some real experience.

Gage started his first week at Citrus College last Monday and likes it so far, though the culture shock of losing endless days of freedom are a little wearing for him. Getting into homework mode is also a little tuff, but he's adapting as he needs to. Lauren starts next Tuesday, then the photography business will be back in full swing as the weather cools a bit!

Cooper!
This last week I captured some images of a very handsome little boy in the studio. He was anxious to get a haircut, but I thought it better to get some portraits of him first, as he has the most amazing soft curls I've ever seen. I think you'll agree.

another Santa Rosa Weekend with Jenifer and Jeffrey

We're still working at getting the internet solid and trying to get email steadily and securely coming in. It hasn't happened yet. I just returned from a weekend visiting my lovely Lily in Santa Rosa. She was a bit under the weather, but looking gorgeous with her new darker hair and pale skin (should we be considering anemia?). We had a photo session with Juliette and her family that you might enjoy!



On the studio front, this week I'll begin moving the studio to a larger room. The move will also involve a lot of sorting and tossing, which will take a little time, but will be worth it in less stuff to deal with. It will all be good.

Can you imagine having no internet for 5 weeks?

At 2 a.m. on December 27th, my son quietly gives up on his game and goes to bed. The internet was down. Over the next several weeks, through phone calls to our DSL provider and many visits from different levels of tech support, the mystery goes on. Finally, it was decided to go up to the next level of service, FIOS. That created a whole new group of delays and procedures. The exact number of computers that we use isn't clearly defined, but we all use at least one, and some of us use 3 or 4 computers to accomplish different tasks. Life was different around here. Besides the small signs of depression among the 5 members of the family, being a photographer in 2009 was very difficult. Photographs need to be sent to the lab (which is no longer in the same city). The labs I use are conveniently located in Minnesota, Santa Cruz where I have developed a relationship with labs that always deliver the quality I need. That was accomplished through late night visits to Starbucks (at times, in the parking lot). If you were trying to email me, it was bounced back. The website was down, as we host our own email and web server. Sorry for the inconvenience!

During January I went to the Professional Photographers of America convention, Imaging USA. Anne Getty was the Keynote speaker - Amazing. The deals at the convention were amazing, but only available for the month of January (online). Not too easy to figure it all out, but the business has moved a bit forward with packaging and business software purchased. Ideas for future images were noted, and this will be a great year!


This month I had a session with a sweet baby girl named Gabriela. Beautiful baby girl only 5 months old, but she's ready to take her place in the world! Sorry to be so slow at getting technology going again! But I'm back!

What a weekend!

Saturday was a big day in Eagle Rock. The Women's Twentieth Century Club, of which I am a member, had their Holiday Boutique and I participated as one of the vendors (sure, wrong century, but that's when it was started & we're sticking with it!) I wasn't actually selling there, although if you asked (and people did), I did offer some special pricing on Holiday sittings. It was a good day, although there was a smaller turnout than usual (nasty rumors about the economy or something).
Sunday started with a family portrait in Encino (David - you'll be very happy with the images of your amazing daughters, and the family portrait will be a lifetime keeper).


Sunday afternoon our 20 year-old son came by to 'allow me' to take some picures with him and his dog. He made his very nice girlfriend of one year very happy by telling her he'd take pictures with her. It was fun & I'm so happy to finally have gotten some portraits of them.

November Already!

It is birthday week for my favorite triplets -- maybe I'll post an action shot here from the big party soon. A good time was had by all the children. It was noticeable that after the cake, the screaming and running intensified . . . and studies show that sugar doesn't affect behavior. HA! Who did the study, C&H?

I had some resident requests for portraits this week & I wanted to share them here. Our daughter Lauren in an angelic pose. I've ordered this one on aluminum, which should be amazing -- if you're going to the Women's Twentieth Century Club Holiday Boutique in Eagle Rock next Saturday, come and see it for yourself.


and our son, Gage, a graduating senior this year. He'll be getting some wallet-sized prints.

Fall comes to Southern California (today)!

As I write this, clouds cover the sky and golden leaves drift like giant snowflakes on two sides of my office! I'm hopeful that summer might be over (90 degrees at the beginning of the week)!
Halloween is tomorrow - very exciting stuff -- be sure to take lots of pictures of the excited children before they're too busy eating candy. The big new is that my website is redesigned and up at www.richardson-daniel.com. You'll now be able to see the galleries as they update with new photos. Here's one of the newest family shots of the best hairdresser in Pasadena, Carrie Sorensen of Faccia Bella (on Walnut) and her amazing family.
Last week we took some beautiful photos of a budding young actress -- I'll hold off on letting you know her name, but watch for her.

Time flies, eh?

Since we were last together, I've been to a photography seminar, done three photo shoots and have begun a design on a new website. Should be ready to 'go live' in a week or two! The goal is to get more of the current images up - it has been a little too difficult to update my old custom design. I'll put up a few of this weeks images in a day or two!

Just back from a little birthday safari! Happy Birthday Zoran and Lily!

We've just celebrated birthdays from Redondo Beach to Santa Rosa where I got a few portraits in. My niece's (most photographed family award) has a 6 month old - now sitting up -- a world of new possibilities. I got a few images of her with a lensbaby (interesting spring looking thing, you focus by pushing it up, down or around)! Here is a sample of what it does. The focus area is very small, which really brings all attention to her eyes - which was where I focused.




I also got some images of my lovely daughter Lily, who celebrated her 23rd and is helping J&J with the three kids this fall. Here is one of my favorites of her.