I have ordered MY NEW MINI COOPER! WOO HOO! I am so excited! Happy Anniversary to me! All I got my husband was a card :) Just teasing. It has been about 3 years now that I have wanted this car. It is so me :) We have the car on order and it should arrive at the end of October. Until then I will admire the image my husband has placed on my computer desktop and the images on my blog! Now off to watch the Italian Job so I can dream of my mini.

Note...This is the actual mini I ordered....same color and everything. I will also be putting BLISS on the license plate (or something close to).

Today is our 4th Anniversary! I thought I would post a few of my favorite wedding images from our wedding. Thanks to Glen from Aperture Photographics for these wonderful images! Its hard to believe it has been 4 years? Time flies by. I want to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband who I know is one of my biggest blog fans...so I hope he reads this! I love you honey! Today is our special day and I am very grateful to have you in my life. Together we are a perfect match and I am so excited to spend my life with you!

We are taking the weekend off to celebrate....If you need anything I will be back on Monday!

Thanks,

Whitney

The official sneak peak! Thanks Mikayla for your patience! Dan and I shot her session in Washington at her Grandparents house. It was out in the country and a great place to shoot. It meant something to Mikayla to shoot there as she has many summer memories there. To start the session off we took her grandparents gator down to the river for a few shots. That was an adventure and a lot of fun. The light this day was gorgeous and when that happens I cant stop shooting! I love the funky red dress shots! I am also including a couple more shots of Courtney and Mikayla. You may have seen the mini cooper shot in a previous post. Since we shot both girls senior photos we had them do a few shots together. Thanks to Mikayla for coming to us for your senior photos! We had a great time and I hope you enjoy....

I am working on getting a sneak peak up for Mikayla...hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow (hang in there Mikayla). But in the meantime I thought I would share the cover of another sample album I am working on. Mikayla's senior session had a warmth to it with the beautiful light and natural country setting. I am really excited about her album. I will post a few more layouts after I get her official sneak peak up...Enjoy until then...

Was a success! Dan and I had a great time speaking and sharing a little bit of our knowledge on album design. We got some wonderful feedback and are looking forward to the kick off of our Bliss Workshops. For those of you who might have missed our presentation or couldnt take notes fast enough we have put a PDF of the entire presentation on our Bliss Workshops Website. If you have any questions please let me know. The PDF can be found under the Events Tab.

This is also a reminder of our Studio Open House. I am going to build an evite so we have at least a guess of how many people are going to stop by (I dont want to run out of goodies). If you are interested in attending please send me an email and I will make sure you are on the evite list that goes out.

OPEN HOUSE
Oct. 4, 2008
4pm-7pm

Come Celebrate!
Clients, family, friends and fellow photographers are all welcome!


UPDATE: The official EVITE has went out. If you did not get one and would like one please email me info@blissstudio.net.

I posted a few back about having Kevin Jairaj in town for our PPO conference...Which was awesome. I also had the pleasure of assisting on a wedding he had at The Roadhouse. It is officially the last wedding of the season for me and it was great to be able to just sit back enjoy and watch a master at work :) Yes Kevin...that is you! It gave me time to observe and just "see". No stress and a gorgeous couple to work with. I missed the best part of the day when Kevin drove around p-town at the crack of dawn (those of you who know me KNOW I dont function before 10am....I know...that is late for some but I am very much a night owl...) He got some incredible shots of the couple and I missed the fun. But its my fault I value my sleep and knew that Sunday was going to be a really long day at the conference. Back to the wedding....Curtis and Chelsea were great and had a beautiful wedding. The mother of the bride is also a local photographer (Candy Newbie) so the wedding had a few of us crazy camera people there. We also had the pleasure of seeing Candy and a couple others at the seminar the next day! Thanks to Curtis and Chelsea for letting me crash the party and a super HUGE THANKS to Kevin for giving me the opportunity to shoot with you! I had a great time and can't wait to hang out again. Kevin should have some of his shots posted soon so be sure to check his blog too...www.kjimages.com. This is just a few images that I grabbed that I shot. Kevin should have a ton more!

I have been having so much fun with my senior this year! It has given me the freedom for creativity and I can get away with more craziness! Sophie was an awesome little model for me. She is taking some photography classes so she is well schooled in being on the other side of the camera. I of course wanted to make sure we got some killer shots of her to show off. We shot her session in downtown portland...and also on the SE side of the river. I absolutely love the golden hour shots we got right at the end of her session. We stopped at some railroad tracks and I could not stop shooting. That time of day is the best! Thanks to Sophie for coming to me for your senior session! I had a really great time. Enjoy your sneak peak!

The Hall family is my final post from Reno...We are getting caught up...Just a few more fun posts and I will be back on track. I took the Hall family photos at Caughlin Ranch which is one my favorite spots (that and the University). The family even brought their two dogs along for the fun. One popular collection that we sell is a block of four gallery wraps like you see here. The black and white headshots have been a big hit. Despite the fact that they look like they were shot in a studio setting I actually shot these outdoors. I had a black background and natural light. This would be four separate photos but would hang on the wall as a collection. Be sure to ask about our awesome collections if you wish to display some art on your walls. Thanks to the Hall family for spending some time with me! Enjoy your sneak peak...

So much in LOVE! Mike and Erika were adorable. They made my job easy as they pretty much posed themselves and did everything I could have asked for. We shot their engagements at the University of Reno which I of course love to shoot at. The University provides a variety of settings. I loved the brick wall we found in an area that I dont usually venture to. I tried to find new spots to take their photos and came across a bunch! Thanks to Mike and Erika for being so wonderful! We are looking forward to your wedding next summer! Enjoy your sneak peak...

Did you guys know I also create custom collages? Here is a sample of one that I did out of Haley's senior photos. It is a great fun and funky collage for seniors. The size of this is 16x20 and comes framed. If you are interested in one of these custom collages let me know.....

I am still working on getting some posts up from my Reno trip a couple weeks ago. Thanks to all my Reno clients for your patience! I am almost caught up! I know Haley has been dying for her sneak peak...So I am posting another cheat. I grabbed a couple to put up and will post a couple more tomorrow. I still need to do some more editing so I couldnt post a real post yet. Hang in there with my guys...but I hope you enjoy these until I post again....

UPDATE:
Here we go...a few more images of Haley! I am plowing through all my editing and finally feel like I am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel! Just a few more to go.....

Back to Haley....I had a great time with Haley for her Senior Session. I have been working with her and her family for the last few years. Its always a pleasure. We drove around downtown Reno and also shot at University of Reno for her session. I love that funky urban look. I am also really loving the fun dresses my senior girls have been bringing to their sessions. Haley was no exception! She helped bring a more fashion look to her photos with her awesome yellow dress and her black dress with the pearls. I hope you enjoy your photos! Here are a few more of my favorites...

I know Ciara has been dying to see her sneak peak. I must apologize to everyone who is patiently waiting for me to catch up. I promise I am doing my best to get everyone's images edited as quickly as possible. I should be caught up by the end of this week so hang in there with me. I am still working on Josh & Ciara's engagements so I will add a few more images to this post hopefully tomorrow (or wed). But to get Ciara and Josh excited here are two really quick ones that are ready to post! You guys are too cute! There are way too many good ones! I will get some more up soon......Enjoy for now!


UPDATE:

Here are a few more images....These were all shot in Downtown Truckee California. What a great little town! It is where Josh is from so it was a great place for us to shoot. I love the funky downtown feel and the old town was perfect for that. We had a great time working with Josh and Ciara and are really looking forward to their wedding in MEXICO in feb! It is going to be awesome! Thanks to both of you for spending the day with us. The wedding day is going to be even better!

At the Beach! I LOVE beach weddings. I didnt realize just how much until I was counting my sample albums in the studio and 3 of them are weddings at the beach. It was a gorgeous day at the Beach and we could not have asked for better weather. There was just a little wind at times....but we went with it and made it work. It seems like every time I go to the beach the weather is cold and windy but there was not a chill in the air this day. Loren and Jenny was adorable and very much in love. It was awesome to capture them together. I had a blast with the Bridal Party shots at this wedding. What a great group of people! And boys...thanks for the "shirts off" shot! Great idea Loren...Well worth it! I want to say Thanks the two of them for letting us share in their special day. Dan and I really enjoyed it. I also have to thank them for getting married at/on the beach so I could work the whole day barefoot (seriously does it get any better than that!) See you guys very soon!

My good friend and fellow photographer, Kevin Jairaj is in town for a wedding today. I have the honor of "assisting". Its been a long time since I was just a helper on a wedding. I am really excited to be able to go with no stress and just capture what I see. I am also excited to see how another successful photographer struts his stuff. You know what I mean :) We spent most of yesterday with Kevin showing him our studio, home and then taking him to Pastini (yum!). We even had a little time for some Rock Band (not bad on the drums Kevin!). Sunday Kevin and I are both speaking at PPO (Professional Photographers of Oregon). Kevin will be speaking on weddings and Dan and I on album design. I want to say a big THANKS to Kevin for not only letting me tag along today but for coming to speak as well! Everyone is very excited to meet you. Here is a pic from Dinner last night (stole from Kevin's blog www.kjimages.com) More after the wedding...

I know that I keep saying I will post photos of our new studio but I was still in the process of decorating it. I guess it will always be a work in progress but now we are getting closer. Dan and I just wrapped up the front room decor a couple days ago which is really want I wanted to finish. It also helps that we are speaking at PPO this weekend and I needed some photos of our studio to share. And for those of you who I havent told yet...Our studio open house is Oct. 4, 2008 from 4 pm-7pm. Mark your calendars and come celebrate with us. Open House is for both my clients and fellow photographers (and yes my family and friends). I hope to see a bunch of you stop by for a hug and some wine!

The first two images are of our front room. The third of course is our shooting space which is just as big as our last studio. The big roll up door to the left of the photo faces north and provides some beautiful natural light for me to use. The last photo is our new sales room. We are also blessed with a little storage room and A BATHROOM! I was excited about that as our last space we had a public bathroom. I know many of you have had a chance to see the space over the summer. But for those of you who havent...enjoy the photos and hopefully I will see you at our open house!

Still dreaming of my mini :) Its only been 3 years! But we are getting closer....I am hoping by the end of this year I will be driving a new mini cooper with BLISS on the license plate. We will see though. We just need some free time to go visit the dealership (not open evenings and we are still busy on the weekends). Keep your fingers crossed for me! Dan and I shot Mikayla's senior photos in Washington yesterday. Mikayla is the best friend of Courtney who we shot a few weeks ago. Since the girls were best friends we decided to shoot a few of them together. Courtney drove her mom's mini to meet us so I made sure to snag one of the girls together in my favorite car! I will post a real sneak peak for Mikayla soon! Thanks to both girls for making this shoot so fun! I "heart" the mini!

Another Reno session! I have taken photos of the Garrigan's a few times now. It was a pleasure as always! The kids have grown so much since the last session and I must say I was in love with Aiden's personality and in LOVE with Aileen's cheeks! So cute! The kids were awesome and I had fun chasing them around. We shot these images at Galena Creek Park which had sentimental meaning to the family. I always like it when the location is special...It makes the shoot even more memorable. Thanks to the Garrigan's for spending the afternoon with me! Enjoy my favorites for now....

It was a beautiful holiday weekend in Tahoe. A little windy but the sun was shining bright. We started off the day with some photos of Rich and Sarah on the beach. It took us a bit to find a beach we were allowed on but we found a great spot with very little people. Come to find out it was officially a dog park. Random I know but the rocks were awesome and there really was hardly anyone around. We had a great time working with Rich and Sarah. I had shot Sarah's sisters senior photos in the past and then of course shot their engagement photos so I had some bonding with them and their family. Made the day awesome! Thanks to Rich and Sarah for letting us share in your day. Enjoy your sneak peak and I will be in touch soon!

Most of you may know I spent the weekend before last in Reno shooting. We had a wedding at Tahoe and about 7 other sessions. I had quite the work load when we returned so it is take me a bit to get everyone edited. I will be posting sneak peaks as soon as I am able. Thanks to all of you for your patience as I know you are all anxious to see your sneak peaks. I have a wedding this weekend and Dan and I are speaking at a photography seminar on Sunday....So it is a little hectic. Hang in there with me!

The Dickerman girls were one of the first shoots upon my arrival to Reno. We took the girls downtown as the last session we shot at a park so I wanted a little different look for this session. The girls did great! Here are a couple of my favorites...

As promised....This is some of my Bliss Family from the wedding this last Saturday. I think this is a record for us! We have shot all four couples weddings in this photo! They really are our family as each wedding we shoot and get to see them at is wonderful. We are more part of the day then just the "hired help". I am disappointed that this is the last wedding of the year with all these wonderful couples...But I hear they have one or two more "friends" that hopefully will get hitched and hire us :) I am also hoping for kids (one couple has a daughter already....working on the rest of them). Pictured From left to right Keith & Stacey Clark, Greg & Haley Lyons (congrats you two!), ME (yes I wanted in the photo!), Katherine & Andy Rice, Katie & Brian Vernon. I enjoyed working with each and everyone of you and hope you guys continue to be a part of the Bliss Family!

Fun...Funky...Fabulous Senior Albums! Here is a sneak peak of a new senior album that we just designed. It is going to be our new studio sample so be sure to ask to see it next time you are in the studio. Senior albums are a lot of fun as there are no rules. They can be crazy and fun! I am really excited about the new possibilities with these albums. We have two styles to choose from. A hard coffee table book or a magazine style. Let me know if you are interested in an album....

As promised here is a sneak peak from Debbie and Austin's wedding. We could not have asked for a better day. It was a little warm but it felt good in the shade. It was a very laid back wedding with under 100 guests. This gave us lots of time to spoil our bride and groom with tons of photos. We wondered around the beautiful grounds taking our time shooting. We got so many great shots...It was tough to pull just a few favorites. I loved all the little details of this wedding. But most of all I really enjoyed working with Austin and Debbie! Dan and I really enjoyed the wedding and had a great time taking photos. This year has been filled with awesome couples that really make me love what I do! A huge thank you to our wonderful bride and groom for letting us be a part of your special day. Enjoy your sneak peak and I will see you very soon for your premiere!

GRAND PRIZE OUR FAVORITE PHOTO!









Congrats to the McKemy Family who had the MOST creative Pancake Patty shots! They had more than one awesome shot in the running for the Grand Prize. I am posting a series of this entry as they were all loved and the Judges want me to post all of them.

Please note that there is only one win per family even though some of you entered more than one category.

Here is what they had to say about Patty's cooking skills:

Pancake Patty is a well-rounded, aspiring young girl. She can dress up with the best of them, rough it outside with the big boys, and be comfortable in the kitchen making a batch of pancakes for breakfast. To top it off, you’ll actually see her in a professional kitchen, sporting a chef hat, coat, and all. Cheers to you!!

Farthest Location Away from Home:



I know many of you took Pete/Patty on vacation with you but Germany was by far the farthest location. Thanks to the Pfeifer family for letting Patty see the sites!

Here is what they had to say:

Pancake Patty was very enthusiastic about being in Germany. That's why she chose clothing painted in the colors of the German flag, as you can see: black, red, gold. She loved that 1213 year old village Rimbach, that was first mentioned in historic records of 795 AD. So she couldn't resist climbing onto that village sign very close to my parents house after hiking in the woods. That's when Yara took this picture.

Largest Group of Friends with Pete/Patty:



Congrats to the Plummer Family!

Here is what they had to say:

Cheerleaders- Hannah and Patty are invited to join the squad!


Most Original Location:






Congrats to the Waddle Family! Love this location!

Here is what they had to say:

We decided to take Patty to Savannah, GA for Memorial Day weekend. She learned quite a bit of history while we were there. We took some pictures of her with Emma in front of the famous fountain in Forsythe Park(Midnight in the garden of good and Evil...ya know, the movie). Also took some pics in the historic district with the cobblestone backgrounds and a couple shots in front of the Irish settlers monument in the historic district as well. Hope you enjoy...we loved taking them and hanging out with Patty.

Most Creative Home Location:

Series of 4 images with story....






Congrats to the Reynolds Family!

Here is their awesome story:

I found a friend
Who came to play
When the postman brought
The mail today

She needed some love
And color and care
So mom got the markers
And yarn for hair

Her name is patty
And she came to play
When the postman brought
The mail today

My best friend mia
Just had to see
The new little friend
Who came to me

So to mia's house
We went to play
On her swingset is where
We played all day . . .

Then patty saw it
And ran right toward
The gross family's halfpipe
And coleman's skateboard.

"It was fun," patty said,
"You should come try it out."
So I grabbed my helmet
And headed down with a shout!!!

Then patty said, "I have had so much fun, you guys are awesome, but my time here is done."
So she hi-jacked mia's car
And waived goodbye.
She was gone in a flash
Mia started to cry.
Patty was wild but
We had a fun day.
The day that the postman
Brought patty to play.

Winners are almost all decided on! We have our grand prize winner chose but still picking the 4 other winners. Here are a few entries I thought I would share....Keep checking back...Winners will be announced very soon....
Thanks to everyone who played! Pancake Pete & Patty were world travelers and experienced all kinds of FUN! Stay tuned....

Congrats to Austin & Debbie! I had to post this image for my "bragging rights" he he. Dan and I shot Ashlee & Steve's wedding a few weeks back and Debbie was a bridesmaid in their wedding. This year has been a blast. We have had other Bliss Couples at almost every wedding we have shot this year. I have one more in September where I believe there will be four couples weddings we have shot. I will be sure to snag a photo of everyone at that wedding. Austin and Debbie's sneak peak will be up soon.....

Winners will be announced this week. I had a couple clients have problems sending their images on Sunday. I am not sure if my email was acting up but I know they were bouncing back. IF you were one of those people please let me know and I will still accept your entry. Be honest please :) I just got back from Reno so I may need until thursday to announce the winners...Hang in there with me there are a lot of good ones!

Check back soon....