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.