HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

I can't believe how time flies. Today we're celebrating our 3rd anniversary. Yes, we've only been married for 3 years, but we have been together since our senior year in high school. awwwwe...And a wonderful 3 years it has been. I'm looking forward to the rest of the years to come.

When we hired our photographer, Mr. DeDios, I explained to him that Chris is HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE at taking pictures. Anytime a camera is put up in front of him, his face just cringes and you can't get a decent photo out of him. So here is our little take on getting one traditional photo for the family, and yes, we only got one. :) click on the image if you would like to see it larger.

Confessions Showcase.

We are going to be holding this little meeting on the 29th of August. The Plan and objective:

We are bringing together local professional photographers to share our experiences and discuss marketing, pricing, shooting technique, the creative process and any other information photogs would like to share or know.

It will be an open forum discussion. Everyone in attendance will be asked to provide info about their studio/service so we may compile marketing info available to everyone in attendance.

First half - Only open to photographers and industry professionals.
- Marketing
- Pricing
- Vendors
- Photog resources

Second half - Open to everyone
- Camera basics - may drop depends on everyone's level of expertise.
- Basic Technique/shooting style
- Photoshop

Time frame
9-11:30 First half
lunch
12:00 - 4 Second half

We're open to suggestions for topics. We have a small group of about 6 people thus far who will be in attendance. We may limit to 20, depending on the response we get. If you'd like to attend Email me at:

chris@largophotography.com

We will be asking for a $10 donation from those in attendance to cover lunch/drinks. If we can figure how to effectively webcast this then that will aslo be an option for those out of state.

8 Levels of Narcissism (of Chris)

As entertaining as I am, Melissa Jill has decided to call me out and have me post a few things, interesting things about myself....myself. Interesting things? uhmmm Maybe here goes:

1. I have this inate tendency to spell almost every other word that I read, which makes me a slow reader but a great sPellor!

2. I boast a Comic book collection worth Thousands of Dollars....Really just because I have thousands of them, boxes Even!

3. Although My career is as a world famous photographer extrodinare, my formal education and life ambitions is in Real Estate and Community Development, with a degree and everything!

4. I've designed and built 2 homes with a 3rd on the way, trying to further the realm of affordable housing!

5. I have the attention span of a 2 year old...

6. I secretly try to outshoot my wife during our Photog sessions! Nothing like a little healthy competition!

7. I have this little area on the rear of my waist where I use to get shots as a kid; now as a grown up if anything comes into contact with it my body goes into uncontrollable spasms! yeah I'm a weirdo! Talk about scarred for life!

8. My all time favorite lunch is 2 pieces of White bread, Bar S Bologna(none of that all beef crap), Miracle Whip and a bag of Doritos Nacho Flavored with Bean Dip. And if I could eat this in the Mountains...Bliss.

Passing the Buck to:

1. Tammie Billey - Largo Photography
2. David De Dios - De Dios Photography
3. Angie Sloan - Sloan Photographers
4. Joshua Smith - Cinematic Bride
5. Kim Jarmon - Kim Jarmon Photography
6. Kate Federico - Boston Brides
7. Adrienne Schafer - RiCap
8. Katrina Wallace - Sedona Bride

Broken Coffee Table, trip to EQ3!

We we're cleanin out our office the other day and guess what happened!? Chris was moving the glass coffee table and he dropped the bottom shelf and shattered it! Ugh! In our expeirence its almost always impossible to replace furniture parts because its usually out of style or costs just as much as the original piece of furniture.

So we went back to the store where we bought it: EQ3 in Tempe. It just so happened the owner happened to be there and we had told him what happened and wanted to reorder that particular piece. He told us we were in luck and he had it in stock. So he rushes to the back looking for it comes out says he can't find it, and asks us if the floor model will work? Sure. We take it off the floor, ask how much and......He says its totally fine accidents happen and to take it with his blessings....What!?!?!?! Chris and I were pleasantly surprised. We offered to pay for it, he wouldn't here it! He asked us just to take it! Not only did he not question or badger us, he was also extremely friendly and "on top" of things! Rarely has this ever happened to us, but when it does it makes your whole day/week that much better!

EQ3 Fantastic Customer Service, High Quality Products, and Awesome Design! If you're looking for modern or stylish furniture EQ3 is your place! Its in the plaza right next to IKEA! Check out their website! http://www.eq3.com/

Summers in Phoenix!!

Not only is it 112 by noon in good ole PHX, but now its wet! The Monsoon is upon us much earlier this year than last year. Ugh now it feels like Florida! But it's also fairly slow with weddings and seniors, few people are brave enough to shoot in the heat, unless your Bryce! Anyway this gives us some much needed time to catch up and regroup. It also gives us time to collaborate with other photographers and build relationships in our market.

So Tammie and I want to host a brainstorming session in the next couple of weeks. It would be an open collaboration session where we go over shooting styles, marketing, and lessons learned. A very casual and informative session open to anyone willing to share their expeirences. So if your interested, let us know! Even if you aren't drop us some suggestions!.... We'll set a date when we know we have enough interested people!

I thought I would post Bryce slideshow since I never did...oops! Check it out here!

MYSPACE PURGE.

Myspace has been an instrumental part of our success with High School Seniors. Over the Past year we have experimented with different types of Marketing techniques. Not all have been successful, although some have yielded well. So with the beginning of the New school year we will be implenting some new marketing strageties focusing specifically on 2008 seniors. So over the next few weeks we will be purging our friends list; anyone not specifially our friend will be purged (no offense to anyone, we're just moving forward), i.e.: anyone not a 2008 Senior or anyone we know personally. If we delete you and you still want to be on our friends list just shoot us over an email. You'll recieve emails, bulletins, and probably ads from us implement our marketing stragety.

http://www.myspace.com/seniorsessions

We're starting our marketing to our new 2008 seniors. Now, how do you market to seniors you wonder, because of course we want to try something new and different, right? We want to be able to catch their attention and not just become another flyer, something they just recieved a couple of weeks ago. hmmmm? So why not look into what "Seniors" are looking at. What are they wearing, what are they doing, where are they going? yada yada... This is where it gets interesting. Chris and I were taken back when we came across this site by Abercrombie & Fitch. Check it out here ***click me!*** (Back to School 2007) How are they selling clothes with this?!

Need COMMENTS!

When you're with family you never seem to get a break from photographing. Chris's mom has been wanting us to photograph Chris's sister Gavelita f*o*r*e*v*er! She told us she had this great place to go and it would only take about 20-30 minutes to get there. So about an hour and a half later we were finally at our destination. I should have known it would take forever to get there when they suggested grabbing some munchies before we headed out. ;) I have to admit though it was gorgeous when we got there and a whole lot of wind!
We were taken back at how great and comfortable she was in front of the camera. There was no holding back from this chick. I can't believe she's 14!...eat your heart out Pocahontas. :o)




She dances in pow wows as a jingle dancer, so of course we had to document that part of her life.

We need a vacation from our vacation! :o) Here's a glimpse of what we were able to see on our vacation. Chris took this image of the Grand Canyon. Can you believe he's lived in Arizona for 5 years and has never been to the Grand Canyon! I think I've been about 4 or 5 times...don't ask me why either. I'm going to try to put a little video together of our little vacation. I really need to sit down and learn imovie, but I get so impatient and make up an excuse to move onto something else. Anywho, until tomorrow!...sorry the image is small.