Today we did a photo shoot with the Smith family. Steve is a friend of mine from a former Bible Study group that I led. He and is wife Laurel adopted these two beautiful kids from Russia a few years ago. In the afternoons, Gabby likes to be a princess and she dresses up in flower girl dresses as part of that fantasy. It’s really neat to be able to have captured that fun, quirky phase in her life.

This afternoon we did some head shots for our friend Chris Ygay at Revitalize Day Spa. He’s the owner of the spa which is located in Birmingham. If you’re looking for massages and other spa treatments, definitely check them out!

This weekend we had a fun weekend up north with some friends of ours. We went up there with Gracie and Tony who are friends of ours that we haven’t spent any time with in a few years. Jeff and Tricia and Bobbie and Keesha are friends that we met because we photographed their wedding’s earlier this year and we really hit it off.
It was definitely memorable!
We had some plumbing issues in the house we had rented that caused a bit of a flooding problem. However, despite that, we still had a great time and all enjoyed each others company!! We played some games, had some snowball fights, and made a ridiculously good breakfast on Sunday morning!!!

Today we had the chance to get together with our friends Brett and Anna one more time. They are really getting their business ramped up and needed some headshots so we did a photo shoot with them today. We planned on doing it outside but it was just ridiculously cold today so we stayed inside and did a bunch of pics.

Last night we got to hang out with our friends the Phams. Don treated me to the Pistons game and we watched them blow out the Pacers. I’ve never sat so close at a Pistons game before. I didn’t know that at the closeup seats you get a waitress to bring food and drinks…that was pretty cool.
Cheridy and Joanne hung out at their house.
Don and Joanne are from Take 1 Productions (www.capturingthemoments.com) and they were recently named in the top 25 videographers in the world…not too shabby!! Their work is amazing!!!

This evening we had a wonderful meal (Cheridy’s fav-Olive Garden) with our new friends Brett and Anna from MyExceptionalEvents.com. Anna is a fantastic wedding coordinator and Brett is a business guru. They recently moved their business up to Michigan and I would put money on it that they will do really well with their drive and dedication. They’re two smart cookies!! After they left, I told Cheridy that I would buy stock in their company if it was available.
If you haven’t heard of them, check them out!
I’ve been trying to do better with taking more personal photos to post on the blog, but I forgot once again, so I stole this one from their website.

This photo was taken by Zuma photography who is an awesome photographer out in Utah.

We have really been blessed with some great friends in the photographic community. Last night we had the chance to get together with about 20 local photogs to have dinner and chit chat. Our friends Jes and Nate from Mod4 Photographic brought us balloons and a sweet handcrafted trophy for winning the WDIV Best Photographer in Detroit contest. It was made from pieces they got from the dollar store across the street from their house including a wedding cake topper, a vase wrapped in duct tape with gold sticky letters along with gold glitter that was ever so carefully patterned around the “trophy”! Mod4 rocks….or as their slogan says “rockin’ their socks off since 2003!!!”

It says “Best of 2007 Arising Images”

We WON the contest!!
Just wanted to thank you all for voting. Out of 80 photographers, we received the most votes for “Best Photographer” in Detroit. So thank you everyone for taking the time to vote for us and for leaving so many great comments!!

To see some of the other winning business, check out this page: http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/Winners/PopWinner.aspx?contest=23

Today I was able to attend a workshop taught by an amazing fashion photographer named Steve Ragland. Steve taught about the importance of proper lighting and makeup among other things. These are just a couple of photos that I took of todays models.

We have been nominated for a “best of Detroit businesses” contest and need your help. Some of you may have seen the commercials on WDIV Detroit for their “Vote 4 the Best” campaign. We have been nominated!! We have no idea by whom but we are on there!

We NEED your help to win!! So please vote, it only takes a few seconds and you don’t have to live in Detroit to vote!

Here is a link to our profile:
http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/details.aspx?business=15839

We would love to not only have your vote, but if you have time, leave a comment too!

You will only be allowed to vote once per email address, but I guess it’s ok if you have multiple email addresses you can vote multiple times. When you vote, it will send you an email with a confirmation and you just have to click on the confirmation link. The vote won’t be recorded until you click the link on the confirmation email, so please make sure to do that!!

Also, spread the word if you could. Since it’s a one vote per email address we want all of Detroit and beyond to vote for us. How fun would this be???

We really appreciate your time!!
Prem and Cheridy

The winner of our 2007 summer contest is Ann Wilson and family. We had 23 entries and it was definitely hard to choose. Congrats Wilsons!! We’re looking forward to doing your photo shoot.
I will not be releasing the details of the photo shoot that they will be doing…that’s going to stay a secret, but I will be sure to post lots of pics once the shoot happens!

Starting June 1st, we instituted some new office hours for our business. With our old hours, we ended up having meetings every night, sometimes until as late as 11:00 at night. It was very difficult for us because we never had a night to ourselves. We realized that we had to run our business like every other business and have set working hours. We knew this was something that we had to do especially with the baby coming. Last night, after we closed, we took a drive out to Metro beach and had some time together (with the camera at home) just sitting outside and reading a book and enjoying the fresh air. That’s one of the first times in a LONG time, that we were able to just take time for ourselves to get outside and just enjoy the cool evening air. It felt like we had a life again and was just a huge relief!! We saw a lot of people outside playing with their kids and it made me realize how important it’s going to be to get away from the work-a-holic ideals that I’ve been living by for the past few years. It’s really fun to look forward to being a Dad!

Sunday 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm (last appointment at 6:00)
Monday CLOSED (exceptions made for NEW client appointments only)
Tuesday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm (last appointment starts at 6:00 pm)
Wednesday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (last appointment starts at 4:00 pm)
Thursday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (last appointment starts at 4:00 pm)
Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (last appointment starts at 4:00 pm)
Saturday Reserved For Weddings