bricks

We love brick. The 152-year old brick wall was one of the main reasons we went for our Jacoby’s Storehouse space for the studio. It makes a great patterned backdrop and seems to complement skin tones like few other substrate surfaces. Even on outdoor, environmental shoots we find ourselves gravitating toward the aging walls… particularly in Old Town Eureka where the late 19^th Century building boom remains chronicled in back alleys and side walls. Victorian spires and Greek revival spires are fine and all. But give us a century of weathered red-copper colored brickwork dotted with mossed cement and rusting bolts. That’s the stuff.

We took Arcatan Ramie Trent to some of our favorite haunts in Old Town for her senior portraits recently, joined by Assistant Kirbie Hoyt, (natural with the reflector).

Radio, Radio Radio

So it’s time to up the ante on Arcata Photo Studios’ profile. Time to let more people know about our Perfect 10 High School Senior Portrait and Operation Smile Family Portrait promotions. The nice folk over at Lost Coast Communications (KHUM, KSLG and the Point) were quite helpful lining up some radio ads (thanks, Mike Dronkers!) and their Tara Stetz lent a hand. Not only is Stetz reorganizing the Northcoast Environmental Center and she’s a dance caller at local Humboldt Folklife Society events, she also knows her marketing stuff. As usual, however, hubris gets us good. We can crank out dual 200 word commercial spots that are witty and spot on. Right? Not only that, we can record compelling narratives. Right? As we were practicing our scripts in the Jacoby’s Storehouse parking lot for the first time, 10 minutes before recording, it suddenly dawned on us: we have absolutely no experience doing this kind of stuff. We’ve got an eye for pictures, not a voice for radio. Needless to say, Stetz was quite patient through the multiple takes as we stammered, flummoxed and choked on the word “portraiture.” By the end, it worked out well. You can hear them on KHUM 104.3 FM and KSLG 94.1 FM. Still, as we preach to clients in matters photography, we were reminded that it’s better to leave it to the professionals.

Dance Fever

Arcata’s premiere dance troupe Samba Na Chuva needed some quality photos that did justice to how simultaneously cool and stunning the women of SNC are. They give new meaning to the word “hip.” Dance studio shots are fine and all, but the ladies needed something that said a little more about their sense “terroir.” So it was off to the Arcata Scrap Yard (how can you go wrong with beauty and scrunched metal), then a short hike over to the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

They practice just down the street at the local capoeira club, so it all made geographical sense. If you missed their two show-stopping performances at the North Country Fair: here is Samba Na Chuva.

To the Point

We’d known Tabitha Flemming back when she was slinging joe at Arcata’s Sacred Grounds. That seems like a long time ago and she’s all grown up: both a biologist and an organic certification authority for food makers throughout the state. And longtime beau Ryan Emmelhainz knew not to let this one go. The couple had a small, intimate wedding in a Patrick’s Point vacation home, joined by both families and the closest of friends.

Thoughtfully decorated, the venue was made even better by an extremely nice day. The ceremony (conducted by Teri Bradley of Weddings by Design) overlooked a blue, frothing sea on a cloudless day). Ryan’s nine-year old son Seth took being the only kid at the wedding in stride and stole the show. He even helped us with lighting and directing portraits. According to Ryan, he’s since taken a keen interest in photography, so he’s obviously a cool kid.
The harried run-up to the wedding afforded Tabitha and Ryan no time for engagement portraits, so we took them out to a favorite haunt at Houda Point for some relaxed, post-marital photos. Another nice day, you’d almost forget that it will soon be raining for months!

High Flight

Didn’t have to ask us twice. When we were approached by the Ocean Conservancy to document the North Coastline by plane, we were all about it. Thanks to the impressive pilotage of Grant in his Cessna Skywagon 185, we were skyhigh midday to photograph from Point Arena, Mendocino (California’s furthest western locale) on up to the Oregon bordertown of Brookings.

It was a beautiful, windless afternoon that was impacted by a marine layer only at Shelter Cove through the 200 miles of coastline. Grant is the kind of guy that you wanted to be when you were a kid... or still: a flight instructor with 20 years experience, surfer, builder and soon-to-be law student who frequently spends his weekends flying to Montana and Santa Barbara (once to Costa Rica). Heck of a nice guy, too - making time to drop in over two breaching gray whales about two miles off Petrolia. Coast well photographed, Grant throttled the nimble single-prop about 25 feet over the waves near Fern Canyon. It was finally appropriate to utter the overused “Awesome!” The OC will be using the 333 images in its efforts to publicize the need for keep the North Coast seas pristine. With an aerial view, who could argue?

Beer me

We've been doing some fun photos for our pals over at Six Rivers Brewery. They'll have a new rockin' website up soon, sporting some of our photography. There are worse jobs to have than sitting around on a Friday evening studying the photographic properties of their beer!

Keep in mind, if the shot isn't turning out, you just drink that one and open another...maybe it'll have been quality to the light right?!?!

Cheers!

Recent Seniors @ Arcata Photo Studios

Wow.... Arcata Photo is humming...

Our sincerest apologies. It's been a madhouse around little ol' Arcata Photo Studios. We're in the heat of wedding season, the beginnings of High School Seniors, leading into Fall Family Portraits with a heavy dose of sporting events. That's all mixed together with some really fun commercial shoots for some great local companies. To top it all off, we had a SUPERB Arts! Arcata featuring photography from around the world by Dr. Marion Nachshon, ton's of good people and great conversation around on the 2nd Friday.

Stay tuned for some images...we're trudging through an amount of images that would fill the average person's hard-drive up...

Cool stuff coming soon.

Until then...back to work.

meet arcata photo intern kaylyn sims

Kaylyn's a senior @ McKinleyville high this coming year and she was part of their advanced photo class that came to visit us at the end of last year (read all about it here). We love to pass on anything we can to folks that are interested in photography and art. We're not grumpies around here. We don't hoard information. We're not scared to be a part of a community of photographers. So when you give a call or stop in and Kaylyn introduces herself as the lackey or the minion or the slave....it's all in good fun. No really. Okay, mostly in good fun. So far she's a blast to have in the studio and she's workin' hard.

Final week to get outdoors

It's the final week of our summer outdoor family portraiture. The weather is finally good again, perfect for some quality outdoor portraiture. The kids are out of school. Or maybe your teen is heading off to college in two months… this could be the last time in years that the entire family is together. Then maybe you just have a favorite beach or forest spot… even your backyard… where the fam has fun. Ending July 31, APS is running an Outdoor Portrait Promotion, with a half off-discount to our sitting fee (normally $150, dropped to $75). Sure we are partially motivated by the desire to see the sun after a long winter, ditch the studio. But our motives can be your family’s gain. We’ll travel anywhere in the county and our recent acquisition of some high tech gadgets means we can do professional studio lighting… anywhere. Up Fern Canyon. Down on Agate Beach. Your home's backyard, if that's your favorite place. We’re that mobile. studio@arcataphoto.com or (707) 825-1061.

6.7.8.9.

We’re up for most things, so Becky Browning’s request that we shoot her wedding on a Wednesday… well, we didn’t bat an eye. Wednesday wedding even has some decent alliteration, but weekday matrimony is still a bit of a rarity. Then we ran into Maria Vanderhorst of Ms. M’s Catering (another great Arcata business) and she’d just completed… a Wednesday wedding, too. We finally figured out what Becky had engineered – her nuptials at 6 p.m. on the seventh month on the eighth day in the ninth year: 6-7/8/9. Becky and finance Tyler Bruinekool were already lucky with the day: a cool breeze and sunshine at Patrick’s Point State Park’s Wedding Rock. And the wedding did rock. Good friends and beaming parents high above the Pacific… then off for a reception dinner at Six Rivers Brew in McKinleyville. Arcata Photo Studios was also lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Yeah, we rip artists off...

But, Botticelli’s copyright is, like, way expired. We’re not expecting any calls from Italian attorneys. So we were free to use and abuse his “Birth of Venus” (or “Venus on the Half-Shell” for you Kilgore Trout fans out there) for the latest Humboldt Roller Derby poster. Just like when we stole from da Vinci for the last one. Call it another homage, or something. Thing is, those Renaissance guys spent all that time doting over form and expressiveness. Why remake the wheel? That’s how we roll.

Pictured are, left to right, derbiests Elysian Wheels, Avi N. Flew, LoLa Corolla and ThunderMuffin, all shot in our Jacoby’s Storehouse studio.

Not everybody knows that Arcata Photo Studios also does graphics work under the name APS Images. In the case of Derby, they’re still relatively new and needed the assistance. Plus, we know a couple of the bruisers on the team and were too afraid to say no. And they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. official league photographers. That said, we’re always happy to hear about and help with design projects for similarly fun events. You don’t even have to be a Medici. 

Arts (exclamation point) Arcata

Man, oh man – it sure was cool getting the studio going one year ago. A prominent location, at center of the monthly Arts!Arcata route, we were genuinely enthused about providing a space to photographers (those second-tier artists!). It was vital – with a cadre of really talented photogs that weren’t typically gaining access to downtown real estate show. We spent the first couple months showing off our own work – then other local people whose work we really admired. Newly returned from interning with Rolling Stone, Chris Tuite had an excellent RAWK! Show. Kim Miller wowed people before heading off to Thailand. Dan and Dana Smith knocked everyone’s socks off. Charles McNally (no relation) was great. And others. For us, the events were not only fun mixers, but helped fulfill our goal of building a collaborative photography community. However, for our favored photogs – new and emerging – shouldering the expense of displaying a show can be burdensome. They’re generally young artists. It’s now less of a surprise why the same painters frequently fill local arts walks venues month after month – their stuff is already framed and ready to go.
However, we’re on the hunt and looking for new and interesting work to display. And APS is finally making headway on our plan to host an annual juried exhibition of local photography.
In truth, this remains a small town, despite hosting a university. But we may be overlooking real talent. We have walls and we pour wine. You have photography that you’re ready to show. Let’s connect… studio@arcataphoto.com.

Arcata Photo Studios Session Videos: Chynna Johnson-McKinleyville High Class of 2009!

Get out

Seriously. The weather is finally good again, lending impetus to some quality outdoor portraiture. The kids are out of school. Or maybe your teen is heading off to college in two months… this could be the last time in years that the entire family is together. Then maybe you just have a favorite beach or forest spot… even your backyard… where the fam has fun.
Through July 31, APS is running an Outdoor Portrait Promotion (OPP for the acronym needy), with a heavy discount to our sitting fee (heavy as in half off. Yeah – heavy like half. That heavy).
Sure we are partially motivated by the desire to see the sun after a long winter, ditch the studio. But our motives can be your family’s gain. We’ll travel anywhere in the county and our recent acquisition of some high tech gadgets means we can do professional studio lighting… anywhere. Up Fern Canyon. Down on Agate Beach. Heck, we’ll shoot on the Arcata-Eureka Airport tarmac. We’re that mobile. studio@arcataphoto.com or (707) 825-1061.

A little fun at the beach...

Most people probably figure that wedding photographers save it all up for the big day, but the engagement shoot might be even more important. Taking the couple out sets the tone for how we’ll all interact and gets them used to having a camera in their face. Also, the conditions… a favorite location for the bride and groom, are assured to be more relaxed than when 150 guests are watching their every move. It can be a little more loose and fun. So we got to know Jennifer and Bryn better during their engagement shoot in Trinidad recently. Suffice to say, being photographed is probably not in Bryn’s top 10 favored activities. But he was a good sport and knew that the gig was important to Jen (she was leaving within hours to finish up graduate school work in England). We think Bryn even had good time. Better yet, we got some great photos that will last them a lifetime and made for a stellar sign in guest book, if we say so ourselves.

Arcata Photo hosts McK High Advance Photo Class

A couple weeks ago Justine Smith and her Advanced Photo class from McKinleyville high dropped into the studio for a little bit of education and a whole lot of fun! We looked at some of our work and we talked about the daily operation of a portrait studio. Then Kaylyn volunteered to be photographed. We lit her, photographed her and then we ran her through our regular workflow of retouching and artistry. They had a blast watching how we create our artistic portraits. Then we let them loose with all of our lights and cameras. The fisheye lens was a big hit! Thanks again to Justine and the students for such a fun visit!

One.

Hey… we’re one! Maybe this sounds timeworn – but it really is hard to believe that it’s been an entire year. This week, APS hits its anniversary. We’ve learned a lot about running a storefront portrait studio... keeping the door open and dealing with the business end of things. Maybe a surprise to only us, but the grunt work of marketing, bookkeeping and networking fills a majority of the time. Some of the work we assumed we’d be concentrating on has become of less import… and other work greater. But over the course of the year, we’ve met and photographed some truly excellent people. We’ve been a witness to a slew of couples starting their lives together in marriage, held shows for photographers we love, watched little kids grow up, photographed rock bands on tour and poured the town lots of wine during monthly Arts!Arcata gigs! It really has been a smashing year with the future looking equally upbeat (even our bookkeeper says we’re one of the few businesses she hears from who are smiling this year). Recently, we’ve become slightly… as Sheldon is fond of saying, “lean and mean.” Taffy Stockton of S&S Events shared our Jacoby’s Storehouse studio space. She and husband Aiden are purchasing a house out of which she’ll will run S&S. We’ll miss her as she really helped set the tone for APS and classed up the joint. Additionally, Martin Swett is moving to the big leagues of mortgage finance at Wells Fargo and won’t be running his brokerage down the hall. That’s a good biz move for Marty, but one that will take the majority of his energy. The result – he’s taking a year sabbatical from APS, but will still be available for some weekend shoots. So it’s just Terrence and Sheldon. And we’re enthused. We’ve got a solid plan for the year and looking forward to seeing more of you in front of the camera. Thanks to all of our clients who gave us a shot and helped us make memories for them that matter. A little birthday gift to ourselves, we’re taking Friday’s Arts!Arcata off. After 12 A!As, we want to check out Arcata’s other venues and see how we can do better. Cheers!

Ya, we like to have fun over here @ Arcata Photo

Soon to be 3-year old Kellan was having so much fun...laughing so hard, we couldn't keep the snot in his nose!!! Sometimes you have to laugh at yourself. If anyone thinks it's easy to get a kid to smile for the camera and not have it look like they're "smiling"....come on by during a kids session and see how much work goes into making these kids feel comfortable enough to "let go" and show us their true smiles.

Think about it...we're always telling kids "Don't talk to strangers!" Well...to them, we're strangers. We act like complete idiots, jumping around, making weird noises, raiding The Rocking Horse for toys and other props...and when we're all done...we need a nap. It's hard work but fun work.

Arts! Arcata @ APS: Greg Smith, May's Visiting Artist!

Come on down tonight, Friday, May 8th from 6-9PM for Arts! Arcata. Join us for some mediocre wine and great photography by our visiting artist Greg Smith! Greg's images have a wonderful painterly feel and he truly loves the photographic process!

A little snippet from Greg: "...I have no idea whatsoever why my 7^th grade teacher chose me to be the yearbook photographer, unless it was the Universe planting a seed. Later, in the US Army I was a battalion photographer. A very un-inspiring job. Nonetheless, it put a camera in my hand to stay. Fast-forward 35 years and the digital revolution in photography meant that color image processing and printing became affordable to any with a modest budget and the willingness to wrestle 900-pound-Gorilla software. My time had come..."

Rylee in Old Town! Sneak-Peek!

Rylee was a trooper. The wind was a whippin' and the pigeons weren't as cooperative as Rylee would have liked but she still cracked a few smiles here and there. We bundled her all around Old Town Eureka and had a blast with her, Mom Jody and Dad Rick!

Thanks again!

John and the girls!

John, Vanessa and Kayla stopped in for some really fun family portraits. This is a little out take from the session but I just thought it showed how much fun we were all having. Vanessa is used to the process since we photographed her senior pics. Kayla was a little shy at first but being goofy got her to relax.

Actors...in Humboldt!?! In ARCATA?!?!?!?!

Here in Arcata, it's hard to specialize too much. In much larger cities, some photographers make their entire living off of shooting headshots just like these of local actor Jassen Lloyd. Jassen most recently played Captain of the Guard down in CR's Drama Dept.'s Spring Show "The Misanthrope." Jassen has big plans to head on down to the City of Angels to continue his career in acting and he chose us to take some stellar portfolio images. He'll be armed with a killer resume and some great shots to head out and start working asap.

We've been a little surprised at the amount of actors, both working and aspiring, whom understand the importance of professional images in their portfolios when going to casting calls and sending resumes. Considering the amount of car commercials and the sporadic movie that is filmed up here, I'm surprised there isn't a larger creative community working together to enhance the opportunities for locals.

Baby and Child Portrait Contest 2009!!!

Our awesome lab, Miller's is hosting a nationwide baby and child portrait contest now through June 21st. Open to all kids and babies 12 and under.

Cash prizes for the families of the winning kids from $500 to $5000!

Here's how it works: Schedule a shoot for your kids or your family, write us a check for the sitting fee, have a blast during the photography, you come back to view your awesome images, pick one photo of each child for us to enter into the contest and get $150 CREDIT TOWARDS YOUR PRINT ORDER!

Voting is done on a monthly basis and we have limited sessions available per month. Call today to set up a no-obligation chat with us here in the studio! 825-1061

Family Re-Deux!

The Mosgofian family has been super great! We've photographed them and their kiddies several times and it's always a blast. Becky's parents were in town so they came down for a little photo of the extended fam.

The Body, Rampant

Some promo shots for Fortuna musicmakers The Body, Rampant. JM and Sean were a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll get back out with them again when they add to the band! We roamed around the Arcata Bottoms and chilled in the studio for a little bit. We even did a little skating around on the shredsticks.

Derby Poster fun

Terrence had a little fun with Miller Time and Guts and Gloria in the APS studio to do a quick shoot to get some images for their posters to promote their upcoming bout in April. The ladies are members of the Humboldt Roller Derby and they're always a blast to shoot with. Terrence got the idea from this image of St. Michael the Archangel.

Arts! Arcata-THIS FRIDAY 6-9PM @ Arcata Photo Studios

Join us in the studio for fun, wine and good conversation. Featured artist for March is Charles McNally. No, he's not related to Terrence.

Haunting and emotional urban landscapes, mostly of Eureka, Ca. Crafted from multiple exposures, these brooding black & white images attempt to capture the lonely, empty feeling that Eureka often exudes.

Charles McNally is a 27 year old photographer who lives in Eureka with his cat and attends C.R.