Wow…I can’t believe it’s already been a year…it’s voting time again.
Thanks to all of you, we have been incredibly honored to be voted Best Photographers in Detroit in 2007 and 2008 and now it’s time to vote again as the 2009 contest has just begun.
This is all based on user votes…we couldn’t have done it without you before so if you love what we do…please vote again!!
The link is below and when you vote you will be sent a confirmation email which you need to click on otherwise your vote won’t count so please do click the email link!!

Thanks again!!!
Here’s the voting link:
http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/arising-images/biz/15839

Saturday was the big annual party at the Maskill house (Cheridy’s parents). One of the highlights is that her dad throws a huge fireworks show on the island in the lake behind their house. The whole neighborhood seems to throw parties on the same day now so they can all enjoy the show. It was definitely not a let down…one huge explosion after another!!

This afternoon we spent part of this beautiful day with Dan and Young doing their engagement photos. We had a great time and a lot of laughs as we walked around doing their pics.
Here’s a few favorites from today:

Today was a crazy day. We had high school senior photo shoots for two guys who are friends. It was ridiculously hot…around 93 degrees with a heat advisory but due to their crazy sports schedules, rescheduling was not an option.
We started out with Jordan who’s a serious guy. We always love serious faces because they show off people’s eyes so Jordan had no problem with those.

Don’t worry Patti…we got Jordan to smile for a few also!!

The second photo shoot of the day was for Steve. It seemed like it got even hotter outside for Steve’s photos but maybe that’s because there was less shade to hide behind. Either way, we were able to capture some really cool and unique high school senior pics for Steve.

This afternoon we spent an hour and half with Amber in the scorching heat to do her senior pics. We started at Woodside Bible Church where Amber goes and then ended in downtown Rochester. When we got in the car it said 95 degrees…yikes! However, Amber did an awesome job and everything turned out fantastic. This was one of those shoots where it was nearly impossible to choose just a few for the blog.

This afternoon we had a great time hanging out with Bryon and Caitlin. We’ve had a bit of a bad streak getting kicked out of places while doing photos…it happened again today, luckily we had some backup options! The good thing is that we had fun and got some cool pics along the way!!
Here’s a few:

This afternoon we spent a little time with Mike and Tori doing their engagement photos. We’re looking forward to their wedding in a couple of months!!

Today we had a fabulous wedding with Matt and Shannon at one of our favorite wedding venues in Michigan…the Royal Park Hotel in downtown Rochester. It was one of those days where everything just flowed smoothly which allowed them to stay relaxed and have fun. We did some photos in downtown Birmingham, MI in between the ceremony and reception. Emerald City did an amazing job with the flowers and room decor and we had the chance to work with Jamie Honce on video who put together a great video preview.
Here’s a few favorites from earlier today:

Here’s a preview video posted by

On Friday I had a mini art show as part of the Eyes on Design Show at the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills. It was an event that focuses on automotive design but this year they expanded it to include, a fashion show, live museum, and other types of art. I was able to have a number of fine art pieces on display in the VIP lounge along with a few others around the main part of the museum.
It was a really interesting dynamic for me since I used to work at Design Center at GM. Seeing all the car models and concept cars really brought me back. I even ran into a number of people I used to work with back in the day. Being there reminded me how much I’m glad to not be working in the automotive world any more.

If anyone is interested in purchasing any large framed or canvas wrapped art work, please see our fine art page at www.arisingimages.com/fineart.

I spent some time walking around the museum to check out some of the cool displays.

Cheridy brought Mayz up to hang out for a little while:

I’ve been wanting to do some photo shoots with kids in a big pit of mud…don’t ask me why…I just thought it would be fun and different. Problem is, I never had a mud pit! Today our friends the Schinzing’s came over and we made a mud pit in our yard and took some pics with their kids. We’re going to do a summer mud pit photo shoot promo coming this summer which will be announced in our next newsletter.
The boys were a bit tentative at first but once they realized that mom and dad were actually allowing them to jump in the mud and throw it around, they loosened up a bit. We had a blast and I remember hearing the quote “the boys will never forget this!!”
Here’s a few pics:

This is the “before” photo: