Today, I am writing from Portland Oregon! The weather is great here, but it's going to become hot. My wife Karen is attending a convention and I'm just tagging along for the ride. I plan on gettng some long overdue work done, not the everyday tasks but the stuff you set aside to do "when you get some time". I'm refining this year's Senior portrait specials and will be working on next year's Wedding promotions. Keep watching, there will be early booking specials for next year's brides and grooms.

We are going to take in Safeway's Waterfront Blues Festival on Thursday and Friday, so I won't be staying in my hotel room the entire time. I'm also taking Karen out for a special dinner tonight to celebrate our 26th Anniversary, (which was last week).

More later...
Mike

Wow, what a busy Winter and Spring. It's hard to believe activities in the off season can take up so much time. Our family went to Bozeman, MT for the annual ski trip and we had a blast, (I even got to go fly-fishing one day). Then the world famous Fargo Flood happened and that was a big distraction for everyone. We're all are finally getting back on track.

We still have a few open wedding dates left this summer and we're booking fall dates too. If you are interested, please give me a call soon.

The Seniors should also be calling soon after this year's graduation. We're working on some incentives for those that book their sessions early. More to come on that later...

We are anticipating some road construction sometime this summer which will make getting to my home studio somewhat difficult. Make sure to call to make your appointment and we'll make accommodations for you to get here or I can come visit you too.

Well, so much for now. I'll write later.

Mike

New Year, New 2009 Wedding Price List

What a week this has been! With the new year here, and a little free time, I started out cleaning out the studio and refreshing. I'll never understand why I keep some items. I still have a whole bunch of film on hand. (Remember that stuff?).

The new 2009 Wedding Price list is now available on the website. Just go to the Weddings page and there is a pdf link there for downloading. I know, they say you're not supposed to publish price lists on your web site but I thought I would make it a little easier for my clients, (and potential clients), to to have access to this information. I also fixed s couple of problems that I found.

We also had a slight family disaster this week. On Monday, my son and his friends were driving back from their Montana ski trip, (oops, I forgot, these guys snowboard), and my Suburban broke down. Major breakdown that is, engine threw a rod. For those of you that don't speak auto mechanic, this means it needs a whole new engine! We opted for replacement and bought a 2003 GMC Yukon. Yes, it's another SUV but we do use the space. And it's white so it will fit right in at this year's weddings.

With Christmas soon upon us, I've been quite busy trying to keep up with everything. Two weeks ago, I attended my last meeting of The Forum's Readers Board. Our meeting focused on choosing our 6 replacements. We only get to serve for one year, I wish it were for longer than that.

It was quite an enjoyable experience. We learned about the inner workings of print journalism and we offered the editors the public view point on quite a variety of matters. I especially enjoyed visiting with Michael Vosburg, the photo editor, (big surprise there, eh?). Matt von Pinnion, (the editor), told us outgoing members to keep in touch though and that we are still considered a part of The Forum's family.

Jenna just came and picked up her senior portraits. She especially loved the 10x20 Locker print I made for her. I used 6 different images on the print. If weather and schedules merge, we're also going to do one of those winter sessions soon. I'd like to include those images on her DVD slide show.

Before I close, I'd like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas. I hope your holiday season brings you great joy, it usually does for me.

Mike

I just met with Cindy and her mother to discuss Cindy's wedding plans. We spent an hour just talking about the wedding. She's getting married in October of 2010. The date, (which I won't mention here), has special meaning for her and she wants make sure she has everything in place. It may seem like a long way off in the future but it is never too early to get started. For some reason, certain dates are very popular.

Anyway, her wedding sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun and I really hope I get to be a part of it. I think I have a lot of good ideas for her wedding album already. I'm sure I'll have plenty others once she has some more details ironed out.

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are hosting so I get to roast the turkey, make potatoes and corn, etc. And oh yeah, we already have the lefse...

Well, the Senior season is starting to wind down. I still have a few sessions left on the schedule and a few seniors that are planning a "fresh winter snow" session for a second sitting. That should be a lot of fun!

We have published the new 2009 Wedding Plan price list. There are new plans as well as several options for each plan. Some other new products that we will be offering are DVD slide show of most of the wedding session images. Our engagement package will include a photo guest book of the couple as well as a wall portrait and display easel for the wedding. I am excited to meet with the new brides-to-be this year.

I'm also working on launching my Aerial Photography service. We've done a test flight and have made some adjustments. I will be meeting with my pilot soon to iron out some more details.

Look for our new website to be published in the very near future.

Mike