Congratulations to Renee and Damon!

What a beautiful wedding in Lafayette Indiana. The Duncan Community House was just stunning and every last detail of the day was just gorgeous. I hope they bride and groom were able to enjoy the single venue wedding as much as I was. I never realized how much more difficult it is to have to load up all of my stuff and get it to the reception hall after the formals. Just being able to load in once and out once made my day so much more enjoyable, I hope it had the same effect for everyone else. From what I saw on the dance floor I think we all had a good time. The kids especially were having a blast, I wish I still had that kind of energy. Congratulations Renee and Damon!

Family Portrait Month

To make sure everyone gets their Christmas portraits taken with plenty of time to spare before the holidays, Buck Portrait Studio is pleased to be offering a special holiday portrait package. It includes the sitting for either your entire family or just children (or pets!) and you'll receive an 8x10, 4 5x7's, 16 wallets, and 25 photo cards with envelopes. This offer is good for the entire month of November. If you're interested in this promotion please call now, we're probably going to be very busy next month.

2007 LAA Photography Show Winners

Here are the winners of the 2007 Photography Show held by the Logansport Art Association. For more information about this event please visit the LAA's website. Make sure you take time to head down to the gallery and see this amazing collection of photography, it will be up through the end of the month.

Best of Show, #50, "Curves and Shadows", Ann Weigand
Virgina Anne Lewis Award, #93, "Jenna", Alex Bohs
Judge's Award, #79, "Birds of a Feather", Arlene Puralewski
High Honorable Mention, #92, "Ravage of Time", Arlene Puralewski
Theme Award, #66, "Wheel in Motion", John Troxler
High Honorable Mention, #34, "Mr. Frog", Vickie Mechling

Youth Best of Show, #78, "Manitou Mountain", Alex Bohs
Youth Judge's Award, #81, Sunset Pond", Arielle Zawadsky-Weist
High Honorable Mention, #93, "Jenna", Alex Bohs

Professional:

1st, #4, "Painter’s Point", Tom Morris
2nd, #5, "Reflection", Tom Morris

Non-Professional Color:

Animals
1st, #79, "Birds of a Feather", Arlene Puralewski
2nd, #16, "Sentinel of the Wabash", David Bowles
3rd, #43, "Mom & Baby", Diane Welsh
HM, #64, "Cardinal", John Troxler

People
1st, #28, "Rain Rain Go Away", Sharon Nelson
2nd, #20, "Carrie", Ryan Buck
3rd, #11, "Handyman", Jerry St. Clair
HM, #12, "Farmer’s Market", Jerry St. Clair

Nature
1st, #49, "Fall Colors", Jack Burger
2nd, #26, "Lily of the Valley", Ruth Reese
3rd, #27, "Iced!", Ruth Reese
HM, #89, "Tranquility on Lake Bruce", Arlene Puralewski

B/W Arch-Land
1st, #50, "Curves and Shadows", Ann Weigand
2nd, #59, "The Sentinel", Ann Weigand
3rd, #66, "Wheel in Motion", John Troxler
HM, #56, "Morning at the Mill", Ann Weigand

Architecture
1st, #45, "Foggy Morning", Jack Burger
2nd, #10, "Reflection", Jerry St. Clair
3rd, #14, "Port of Seattle", David Bowles

Landscape
1st, #92, "Ravage of Time", Arlene Puralewski
2nd, #53, "Fall Palette", Rosanne J. Garver
3rd, #34, "The Barn", Vickie Mechling
HM, #63, "Arizona Sunset", Karen Nacke

Creative Digital
1st, #7, "Foggy Foster Sunrise", Donald W. Weikle, Jr
2nd, #30, "The Boy Becomes a Fireman", Lyla Larimore

Open
1st, #57, "Afternoon at Antoines", Ann Weigand
2nd, #67, "Georgetown Windmill", John Troxler
3rd, #23, "Three Peppers", Ryan Buck
HM, #100, "Broken Wheel", Hayley Bickle

Youth B/W
1st, #86, "Eruption of Light", Sean Henderson
2nd, #85, "Sands of Time", Sean Henderson
3rd, #94, "The Unlucky Shadow", Alyssa Huff
HM, #95, "Sleeping Beauty", Heather Bisher

Youth Color
1st, #81, "Sunset Pond", Arielle Zawadsky-Weist
2nd, #13, "Asian Lilies", John Schafer
3rd, #68, "Duck Duck", Shannon Burns
HM, #72, "Apple Puncture", Jacob Son

Youth Creative
1st, #78, "Manitou Mountain", Alex Bohs
2nd, #93, "Jenna", Alex Bohs
3rd, #71, "The Amusement Park", Alex Bohs
HM, #99, "250 Main Street", Chris Stewart

2007 LAA Photo Contest

The submissions are all in at the 2007 Logansport Art Association Photography Contest. The gallery opens Friday, October 12th. You can view the art Wednesday throught Saturday for the rest of October. Be sure to check it out, it looked like there was a lot of amazing art this year, and make sure to vote for your favorite for the People's Choice award! For more info check out the LAA's website at http://personal.myvine.com/~loganart/

Creative Lighting!

We had a blast with Carrie's senior portraits this weekend. We had a chance to get some great shots of her "on stage." We used our smoke machine, put lights in the image, and just had a great time getting creative. We got some awesome unique shots that really capture her personality and her love of singing. There's a great selection of the different shots we did in our gallery, check them out.

Fall Portrait Scene

We put together a cute little fall scene in the studio for our daughter's 2 and a half year portrait. It turned out so nice we left it up and if anyone would like to use it it's available any time. It's a small bridge so it probably only works for children 5 and under. We're still featuring no sitting fees for the rest of 2007 so if you're needing a children's portrait now is the best time there is. Give us a call today to schedule your appointment.

2008 Wedding Season

We are almost fully booked for May, June, July, and August for the 2008 wedding season. If you are getting married during these months next year and you're interested in hiring us you probably should talk to us before the end of the year. We've never been so fully booked so far in advance before, I hate to say it but next year we're probably going to have to turn down a lot of weddings. I hate the thought of not being able to be apart of everyone's wedding that would like to hire us, but we just can't do every wedding. Please call today before every weekend is booked! We've got 2 brand new albums from the 2007 season to show as samples so give us a call and we'll set up a meeting at our studio.

New studio portraits!

The new studio is working out great. The extra room is making all sorts of shots possible that we were never able to do before. The depth between the subject and background means we can use all sorts of props and furniture that we just never had room for. This in addition to the ability to use 10 foot wide backdrops really gives us a lot of great options for portraits. If you're interested in seeing our studio and seeing how we can use it for your next portrait need please give us a call or email us.

Congratulations Samara and Matthew!

I had such a fun time photographing Samara and Matthew's wedding! From the gorgeous 200 year old church to the monument in the center of the city all the way back to the Chrildren's Museum it was just an absolute blast. We had so many places to get great shots the day flew by trying to cram them all in. I think by the end of the day they were both getting sick of smiling, I hope they've got some smiles left for their honeymoon pictures or it's going to look like they're not having any fun. Congratulations you guys, hope your life is everything you dream it will be.

Senior Season Is Over

We had a lot of fun with the last senior of the season. Matt wanted lots of outdoor shots and we were able to find some really neat places to go including a great spot down the Wabash River. The tree roots and river were great. We went out a bit too early so a lot of the shots had way too much sun, but down by the river it was perfectly shaded.

If you still haven't gotten your senior portraits taken give us a call. Just because the senior season is over doesn't mean you can't get them done, it just means I won't be doing 3 or more every week. If you're holding out for fall portraits give us a call now to set up an appointment, the fall colors always make for great portraits.

New Proofing Site

We recently began making the transition over to a new online proofing host. The new site is much easier to navigate, much easier to see the pictures, and overall nicer to use. There is a small cost per image for the new service so we will probably be culling images down a lot more in the future, instead of getting most of your 200 images from a session you will most likely only be able to see half or so online. If you want to see your entire shoot a viewing appointment can be set up at our studio. Fur customers that have already seen their proofs on the old system we've transitioned everyone over, you should have no trouble finding your proofs. All passwords are the same in both systems. If your proofs have already expired from the old system they were not moved to the new one, if you would like additional time please send an email to info @ buckportraitstudio.com to request more time.

Cass County Chamber Pancake Breakfast

Don't forget to come out to the Pancake Breakfast at the fairgrounds Saturday from 7-11am. We'll have a small booth there displaying some of our newest portraits and wedding albums. We'll also be selling gift certificates which paired with our no sitting fees for 2007 makes a great gift.

Studio Sale!

To welcome everyone to Buck Portrait Studio we are offering studio portrait sessions for the rest of the year for absolutely free! Our studio sitting fee will be $15 starting January 1st, but if you schedule your appointment now you can waive that fee and buy just the units you want. We have no minimum orders, and no huge packages forcing you to buy more than you need. We are also slashing our current unit price of $12 per unit to the very low price of only $10 each! Act now to save big!

Now Open!

Buck Portrait Studio is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of our new studio in downtown Logansport. We've got 1600 square feet of studio space perfect for backdrop and prop storage and of course moving around and getting comfortable during photo shoots. We had a nice big shoot with a trio of cousins on Monday. We got several hundred great shots and I think everyone had a really great time. If you'd like to schedule a portrait session please give us a call and leave a message on our machine. We'll call you back as quickly as we can. The Senior Portrait season is finally starting to wind down so it's a prime time to get into the studio for a brand new family portrait.

First Session at the New Studio

We had our first portrait session at the new studio. It went great, the extra room made everything so much more comfortable. We were able to really stretch out and we ended up spending a lot more time in the studio than we planned and didn't have near as much sunlight for outdoor portraits as we had hoped. We were only using the studio temporarily, we're still not 100% done so we haven't moved the majority of our gear down there yet. The major stuff is done, we're mostly just finishing up a few odds and ends and waxing the floors. We are shooting for September 4th as our first official day, so if you want to get a portrait and help us break in our wonderful new space give us a call now.

Portraits the Hard Way!

I've seen portraits taken in what appears to be the local high school locker room several times and they've always looked really great. I recently got my first opportunity to photograph a high school senior in his locker room and it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. The metal of the lockers were quite reflective and the open portions where equipment hangs had terrible shadows inside, not to mention every little thing sitting around the room cast shadows a mile long. I got plenty of great shots, but the whole shoot was much more challenging than I ever would have imagined. I got home and did some research and realized a lot of the shots I've seen were done with lockers that looked nothing like the ones in the locker room! I'm so naive, but these shots were faked! The lockers were never used, they're just props for portraits. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, when you're in your studio, you get to control the light and everything that goes in front of the camera. You can spray anti-reflective coating on the lockers if you want, but I think doing it in an actual locker room is great, the shots have that ring of truth, that every senior wants for their portraits.

Availability Update

I don't think we'll be able to schedule any more senior portrait sessions this month. The response for the coupon has been great and we're pretty much booked up for the rest of August. If you call now and schedule your session in August we can honor the 25% off. Even if you have your session in December, just make sure to schedule this month. September is pretty late for senior portraits, but if you haven't had yours take yet, it's as good a month as any, and so far it's wide open. Give us a call to schedule your session.

New Senior Portrait Location

I found a really neat area to take some great outdoor portraits. Along South River Road, the State Hospital has a back entrance. The entrance is flanked with two large curved walls and two tower kind of things with arched openings. There are almost limitless posing opportunities here, and on either side of these large walls are amazing low rock heap walls. We planned on stopping here for a senior portrait recently, but the area was so great we almost used up all of the sun posing on and around the walls.

Congratulations Jack and Jackie

I didn't even know the Madam Carrol did weddings! Shows what I know, it was a really amazing day. Hot of course, but the lower deck was air conditioned and both sides are top to bottom windows so the view was just wonderful. I can't remember the last time I had such an enjoyable time at a wedding. It was a blast and I'm so happy I was able to be a part of it.

Studio Opening

I believe we are going to be open for business at our new studio on September 3rd. We have made a lot of progress the last few weeks and the construction crew is done with all of the heavy lifting. They just need to install some floor tiles and bathroom fixtures and I just need to paint one more wall and do some serious cleaning. Now that moving day is so close I'm starting to realize the hard part wasn't renovating a 1500 square foot building, it's going to be very painful to move all of the photo props and backdrops I have across town. You can only load so many bar stools into a pickup truck in one trip.

Availability Update: We've booked about 6 senior portrait sessions this month due to our advertisement in the Pharos Tribune. We can probably handle about 6 more, so if you're still shopping for senior portraits give us a call at our studio or email us at info @ buckportraitstudio.com and we'll see how we can help you.