Brothers

Michael and Christopher are the brothers of Kayla, who has been featured on the blog previously. I had the joy of shooting these boys recently, and I'm overjoyed at these images. These boys are just the sweetest kids, and even though they are 5 and 3 years old, they act so very mature for their age.



I like this image a lot, but to me it seems like he is 3 going on 30. He was quite the poser, and I've got tons of great shots of him. I even have a series where he just wanted to jump and down, and I figured I'd just let him do his thing. They turned out so cute and you can just see his little personality as he plays.



Michael was a bit timid in front of the camera, but after a while he warmed up. He just has an amazing gaze that is penetrating.

www.briandownerphotography.com/

Mea Culpa!

I knew it had been far too long since my last blog entry, but until I had opened the blog itself did I realize how long I have put this off. I greatly apologize.

January has been a interesting month indeed. We spent the first part of the month attending the large Wedding Expo, and the Professional Photographers Association convention here in Phoenix. Also, the studio has been offline for quite a while as our new wood floors required some repairs due to damage during installation. A glue down hardwood floor is not an easy thing to repair as it requires taking a chisel and hammer to each board and effectively "cutting" them out. What was supposed to be a couple days turned into weeks. Definitely, not a fun time.

On the other hand, we do have some great news to announce. Starting in February, we will be offering custom framing as well as portraits. This will allow our clients to see exactly how their images can look and provide our expertise in choosing the complimentary frame/mat for each image. It also allows us to provide options for our clients, as we can package a portrait and frame combination, run specials, and devise collections at very competitive prices. We hope all our clients are as excited about this as we are.

I'll be adding some images to the website and blog later this week, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of the friends and clients of Brian Downer Photography for making 2008 such a great year. As I reflect back on the year, I am amazed at how much changed during the past 12 months, and I still have plans for many more changes for 2009. Some of those changes include:

• Implementation of fine art portrait collections instead of packages. These collections will be based around the size of the wall print chosen, with various smaller print sizes included (these smaller prints are client selectable).
• Elimination of packages in favor of A' La' Carte pricing. This will allow for clients to purchase only those products they want, without having to bundle them with additional items they may have no use for.
• Adding digital media to the A' La' Carte menu. Great for digital photo frames and Facebook/Myspace accounts.
• Online proof galleries will now be available for 30 days if requested by our clients.
• Implementation of our Platinum club for our top clients.
• Complimentary sessions for repeat customers.

Happy New year. We are very excited to see what 2009 brings, and hope your 2009 is the best year yet, filled with family, friends, and joy.

Family Christmas

Just a quick teaser image from my family shoot this (cold) morning. This family was just great, and despite the below freezing temps at sunrise we came away with some wonderful shots.

The couple in in the image above have been married for 42 years. That is just wonderful, and thinking about two people with such a strong bond and commitment to each other makes me smile. For this Christmas, all their children and grandchildren came to town, and this presented a great opportunity for new family portraits.

I had such a great time with everyone. The little kids were just so cute, and everyone was so good natured despite the freezing temps and the early hour. I'm blessed, and honored, to put these images together for them. Time passes too fast, kids grow faster than we realize, and taking time for family cherishing the moments we have with each other is so important.

Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I'll be spending tonight trying to enjoy Christmas through my children. For adults, the holidays can be stressful, with all the shopping, baking, errands, family gatherings and such. I want to step back from all of that and just think of the Christmas that kids see. All they know is the joy of Christmas.

So, this year we are going all out. We are going to stay home, watch the Peanuts specials, and the claymation specials, play some games, and drink hot chocolate. I really want to make Christmas special for my kids this year. Pretty soon my son is going to be too old for Santa, and I don't want to think about how Christmas will be when it will become just about the presents for him. Right now, both my kids just light up when they talk about Santa, and for me their excitement and wonder is really what makes Christmas special.

2009 is going to have some more changes for the studio. Updates for the website, pricing, and other items are coming soon. Lots of updates in the making, so be sure to stop by the website: http://www.briandownerphotography.com/

Lastly, to all our friends, thanks for making 2008 such a great year. We have had such a blast, and I'm excited to see what 2009 brings.

Brian

Mill Avenue

I spent some time last night out on Mill Avenue with a few other photographers. We went out to try and challenge ourselves with things we don't normally do, and in this case we tried low light street photography. Challenging is an understatement. Shooting at f/1.8 at 1/80th of a second at ISO 1250 just to try and get an exposure is very tough. Lighting is a mixture of tungten from the Christmas tree lights, florescent shop lighting spilling into the street, and the headlights of passing cars. Makes white balancing a tough job for sure!







Mill avenue is kinda of a interesting place. It is right next to Arizona State University, and is in the heart of one of the more "progressive" cities. The people it attracts are extremely diverse. You have the college age crowds heading to the bars/clubs, upscale shoppers, general partiers, people visiting Tempe Town lake, and a fairly large homeless/street performers/panhandler contingent as well. It can be a great time, but one needs to be careful as it can get very dangerous. Mill Avenue is pretty well known for some of the violence that takes place there.

Black and White Christmas

What a way to end the Christmas season. For my last sitting, I was able to do a series of black and white fine art portraits. These kids are really gorgeous, and the images are going to be stunning.



Siblings are always fun to shoot. It can be quite challenging to try and show the bonds between brothers and sisters. Of course, at certain ages, it can be just challenging to get them to get next to each other for pictures. I'm glad these two could work together and get some really amazing shots.