We spent a beautiful afternoon with Courtney over at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills.  My favorite thing about Courtney is her smirk.  She has a beautiful smirk and those photos tended to be my favorites.
Here are just a few from today:

Back in August, the Tabert family won our family fun contest.  This afternoon we got to do their photo shoot and their family definitely didn’t disappoint!  We had a beautiful afternoon to play outside.  These type of photo shoots are always a blast because the whole point is to let loose and have fun.  The kids got to run around and play on their trampoline and wrestle with mom and dad.  With four boys in the house, Brian and Kristen will surely be looking forward to the massages that are part of their prize package!!

Here’s a few favorites from the shoot today:

Our latest newsletter can be found here:

http://www.arisingimages.com/miscellaneous/newsletters/newsletter_013

Earlier today, Noah and Dena were married. We spent a great day with them. Poor Noah wasn’t feeling too great which caused him to have a rough morning, but right when he saw Dena early in the day he started to feel better.
The one thing that really stuck out today was joy. Noah and Dena had a crazy amount of fun and laughter which made the day fantastic.
The Atrium at the Westin in Southfield, MI is a very unique place to shoot. It’s very open and provides a lot of unique opportunities to shoot. I will add a venue review to our blog in another post.

Here are some of my favorite pics from today:

I just completed a painted piece from Sam’s photo shoot last week.  I love doing these because they are a super cool and unique way to present a high school senior photo.  Our goal is to stand out from the rest and this is one of our most fun and artistic products.

We have just updated our website with all of our educational opportunites.  This website is a work in progress and will have lots more additional information added as time permits.
The main site can be found at www.ArisingImages.com/learn

There is information posted for our basic photography class, advanced photography and business class, instructional videos and Photoshop actions, private lessons, and shoot tag alongs.

Registration is currently open for the next basic class starting in October.

Today was an amazing day.  It was actually probably our busiest day of the year so far.  We started off the day with a sales session from a high school senior shoot.  Right after that, we took off for Bloomfield Hills to do a family shoot.  Since the family is from out of town and on a limited schedule, we came home and I edited all the photos and created a presentation.  Right when that was finished, they came over for their ordering session.  That ended and we then headed out to Stoney Creek Metro Park for the Kensington Church baptisms which we photograph every year.
The baptisms were a great way to end the day.  The evening started out with some great music and the perfect weather for an outdoor event!  Around 300 people were baptized with thousands in attendance.  Lots of our family came out to support our nephew Matthew who was one of the people baptized today!   Congrats Matt - we love you!!
I didn’t get to spend any time with family because I was there to help photograph the event and there were lots of other friends who got baptized today that I was able to get photographs of.  Is was a truly great day!!

Here’s Matt laughing shortly before going under:

Last year we had the opportunity to do a family shoot for the Fauble family and their daughter Chumani.  They live in Arizona so we don’t see them much, but they called us up to let us know they were in town and wanted to do photos for their daughter Chamayli.  We went out to their house in Bloomfield Hills and did a great shoot in their house and yard.
Here’s a few of my favorites from today:

We just moved into first place in the voting for Best Photographer in Detroit in the WDIV Vote 4 the best contest.   There’s only a few days left, so we hope people continue to vote and keep us on top.   Thanks everyone, we would love to win two years in a row!!

http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/standings/2008-4-the-best/1830/weddings/photographer 

Last year it seemed like all of our inquiries and calls were for Senior Pictures were from Troy High School and this year we’re getting tons of business from Troy Athens High School which is where Stephanie goes. Stephanie was super easy to photograph and did an awesome job!
Here’s some of my favorites:

Stephanie had the most colorful shoes we’ve ever seen…they were awesome!!!

Mark and Christina had an amazing wedding yesterday.  We spent some time at the Troy Historical Museum for their first moment together.  Their wedding was at the always stunning St. George Church of Troy followed by a wild reception at Penna’s in Sterling Heights.
The music and dancing were just non-stop.  Mark and Christina both just had a smile from ear to ear all night. The sweet table was probably the biggest we’ve ever seen and their cake was enormous and ornate and we heard that it was similar to the cake Trump had at his wedding.

The next basic photography class is scheduled for October 2008.

We will cover the basic of photography including the main four subjects - Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, and White Balance.  We will explain the fundamentals of how these four things impact your images along with how, when, and why you want to be able to control them and not leave your camera on automatic.  As part of the class, we will take a field trip where we can get out in a real life situation both indoors and outdoors where you will be challenged to apply these new concepts.  After the field trip, we will do a critique where we will talk about your images, look at the settings used and I will give suggestions of what worked, what didn’t work, and what can be done in Photoshop to take the pics from ordinary to extraordinary.

This class is available to anyone over 16 years old and you can have pretty much any camera that allows for manual adjustments.  The people that typically benefit the most are those with SLR cameras such as a Canon Rebel, Nikon D70, or similar.  By the end of the class, most people that attend with point and shoot cameras realize how limiting their camera actually is and end up upgrading.

The class will be Thursdays from 7-9 pm from Oct 9 - Oct 30 at the Kensington Community Church building room 115 (1825 E. Square Lake Road, Troy, Michigan 48085). There will be a field trip on Sunday Oct 26th at the Detroit Zoo from 1-3 where we will have an opportunity to shoot photos together and practice the new techniques and skills shooting both indoors and outdoors.
The cost is $125 and you will receive a 60 page printed class manual. The field trip to the Detroit Zoo (parking and entry) is not included in the cost.
Please contact us if you are interested in signing up.

In the past, this class has been run through the Kensington Art School which has unfortunately closed down so I will be doing all of the administrative work and marketing for this class.  Please help us spread the word and let anyone interested know about this class.

By the end of the class, hopefully you will not only know how to use your camera more effectively, but also to start seeing ordinary things in a different way.