Autumn Portraits

What a beautiful time of year! The days are cooler, nights are a little chilly and the colors of the trees are turning into vivid shades of autumn.

If you are thinking of family portraits for holiday gifts, Christmas cards, or just because everyone will be together for Thanksgiving--give me a call to schedule your family portrait.

This past Sunday I went to Emporia to photograph a large family group. Three generations with many different combinations: the whole family, grandparents, grandparents with grandchildren, siblings, parents with children and so on. It was a lot of fun-thank you Browning and Kraft families!

Note: for all of the Dads out there who only have family portraits taken to "keep the peace" ...the entire shoot lasted less than an hour...a small amount of time for you to put up with a photographer.

Photography Layaway Plans

With the wedding photography options available through Wright Focus, the payments have always been divided into several payments: one third at booking, one third 60 days before the wedding and one third 30 days before the wedding. For those wishing to make other arrangements, I would be happy to set up a "layaway" payment plan for wedding packages that would fit your budget preferences. (Also note that I am happy to custom design an entire wedding photography plan to work within your budget.)

For those parents bombarded with expenses for their teen's senior year...I understand. If you would like to set up payment arrangements for senior portraits, just give me a call or send an email. The same layaway option would be available for family portraits as well.

There is a family that I have been photographing for nearly twenty years. They have seen ups and downs in their household budget. However, throughout the years, the mom has picked "milestone moments" for each child to be professionally photographed- at one year of age, 5 , 12 and 18 years. Even if they didn't order portraits right at that time, she always made sure that the portraits were taken. As Cristinette would say, "My child is only this age for a little while!".

Delta Gamma Girls

This is a fun time of year...every day is different: one day I'm packaging horse show orders, the next I'm meeting with a bride to be and her mom about the May 2, 2009 wedding they are planning, and later visiting with a high school senior about ideas for her portrait session.

One night recently was something completely new--photographing the Delta Gamma sorority at WSU for their "Bid Day". What energy, optimism and enthusiasm the Delta Gammas have! I had the pleasure of photographing the whole sorority, then the individual classes, and finally one of the whole group by some fountains on campus (and we had just finished up as campus security came by!) Included is a photo of the "fun pose" of the senior class DG members, and another of the moment right after the fountain photo...with girls scrambling to keep from getting wet. Thank you DeeGees!

Kansas State Fair

It was a wild ride! I recently completed my ninth year as photographer of the eleven horse shows at the Kansas State Fair. It is always fun to see the exhibitors...especially the kids showing at the 4H Horse Show. It is wonderful to see the kids grow and become more confident with their horses from year to year. There are many that I have had the pleasure of photographing at the horse shows, then the fun of photographing them for their senior portrait, and several the honor of being selected to photograph their wedding. WOW!
Thought you would enjoy seeing a fun image from the 4H Costume class--(and yes, there is a horse under there). Congratulations to all of the exhibitors!

Horses and more horses

'Tis the season...for a lot of horse shows, that is. In the past few weeks I've had the fun of photographing the SCSHA show and futurity in Hutchinson, the Kansas Palomino Futurity in Kingman, and the Novice/Amateur AQHA show in Kingman. This Sunday is the Appaloosa and KSHA horse show affiliated with the Kansas State Fair ( 5 days early!). The State Fair runs Sept. 5-14--and yes, I will be there every day, photographing every horse show: Palomino, POA, AQHA, Pinto, Paint, Mule & Miniatures, Arabian and then the finale' with three days of the State 4-H Horse Show. I enjoy them all, but when it comes to combining kids and horses, there is nothing better... especially when the whole family gets involved, sharing together their love of horses.

Another great wedding!

Yes, I know you've heard it from me before...every wedding is great...it really is! Last Friday was another fun evening: we got started at the Hyatt with some unique photos along the Arkansas River and the
"water wall". From there we headed to the Petroleum Club, where both the ceremony and reception were held. (By the way, if you are looking for a wedding and/or reception location, just call Kathy at the Petroleum Club-she and her staff will take fantastic care of you!)

The bride had a six year old daughter who was very precocious and darling. She was included in each detail of the day, including having her own candle to light for the unity candle ceremony. Congratulations to Mike, Stacia and Madison!

Special wedding memories...

Congratulations to the 8/8/08 wedding couple, Kelley and Clint. They had a beautiful wedding at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Wichita. Their reception was at the church hall, and the whole day went wonderfully. Because Clint, Kelley and their attendants and families were so organized and easy to work with, we had the opportunity to get some really fun, unique images. The highlight of the day (for me) was when one of the bridesmaids commented that I was "easiest, fastest photographer she had worked with". I want what I do to flow seamlessly with the wedding day, so I considered that comment: Mission Accomplished!

On August 9 I photographed a wedding and reception at McConnell AFB, at the Emerald City Ballroom. Congratulations to Dawn and Tim! We even had extra time to do some unique photos around a pool table at the club there. Again, I was pleased when Dawn's dad said that "it was fun to watch me work because I certainly knew what I was doing, and he couldn't wait to see the images!"

On another note, I had a phone call from a June bride regarding a photo taken at her reception. She was ordering an 8x10 of some friends gathered around a table, with the bride and groom behind them...nothing posed, just a candid moment of friends enjoying being together. She explained that an older gentleman in the photo died later that night, and that the pictures from the reception were the last ones taken of him.

Every picture has a story...