Arenz Photography Blog
11/11 Monthly Update
As many of you know I have 2 kids, a 2 1/2 year old son and a 7 month old daughter. Well anyway after my wife gave birth to our daughter, she took a 6 month maternity leave from her job. About a month ago she went back to work and we had to put our kids in daycare. We asked what was available for part time daycare and they had Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays open so we took those dates. If you were to call or email me on Wednesdays or Fridays you would most likely be able to get a hold of me, but I am not taking any appointments during those days. On a special occasion I will take in late afternoon and evening appointments on Wednesdays and Fridays but if you want to stop by the studio on those days, you will most likely not find me there. So long story short my studio hours are 9-5 Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and by appointment Saturday and Sunday.
On another note, below are a few images that I have created since the last post. Those who are observant will notice that a couple of the seniors below have already had photos posted on a previous post and that is true, but those seniors had what I call a split session. What is a split session? This is when the session is drawn out into 2 different days because of weather or because you may want summer photos and fall photos or winter photos and summer photos or any combination of days and the best part for the senior is that doing a split session does not cost you anything extra, your time is simply split between days. Enjoy.
Oh and one more thing...if you are interested in having me photograph your 2008 wedding, get in touch soon as I am filling my schedule up fairly quickly and I book weddings on a first come first serve basis. No dates are held without a deposit.
9/28 PHOTOS GALORE! Part II (Massive Update)
Wow the last month and a half has blown by ridiculously fast. I have been really busy this summer, which is awesome. Also we (my wife and kids and I) just moved to a new house at the beginning of September, so that added work makes the down time non-existent.
Part of running a business is trying to separate yourself from the competition and I have been thinking of that lately. I could say a few things, but it would really just make me sound like I am talking bad about the other photographers around and I do not want to do that because it is not what I believe. I feel that most the photographers in Brainerd are good and most people would be happy with what almost all would give them in a photo session, there are one or two that I would not promote, but I would give my recommendation to most. Photography is an art and with art, what one person thinks is horrible another thinks is beautiful, it all depends on personal taste. To put that into perspective, think music...there are bands that I love and many people could not stand and vice versa. That is the same with photographers. You have to think of what style you want and pick somebody that does that style. You're not going to listen to rap music if you can't stand it are you? Not all photographers shoot the same way. Anyway below is a small sampling of what I have been up to lately, I want to let my work speak for itself and tell my potential customers why they should choose me as their photographer. These photos reflect my style since I did take them, if you like them call or email to set up an appointment, if you don't like them call anyway and I will refer you to somebody who can cater to what you like. Now that I am off the soapbox...enjoy.
8/16 PHOTOS GALORE!
Since I last posted, Barry Bonds has more than passed Hank Aaron to become the reigning homerun king (until Alex Rodriguez breaks that record some day). Anyway I had last stated that I would be updating this good old blog in a few days, at least I had the few part of that right and it just happens to be a few weeks. It has been crazy, in a great way, this past month and below I am posting a few of my favorite shots that I have taken in the past 2 weeks, sorry if you had a session in the past few weeks and I didn't display any of your pictures, that may happen in due time, but for now I only have room to post my absolute favorites...
I will do something with this post that I will most likely not do very often and that is put some random commentary with some of the sets to explain something behind the photos, such as the person which makes the photos all the better. Since there are so many photos below that is the only way to say what I need to...Enjoy!
Oh and one more thing, sign my buddy map if you haven't already, it is basically a guestbook to my website and I promise you that you will never get spammed or get popups because of it.
Ryan's (below) senior session covered two days because of weather. One day we did the studio stuff and then about 2 weeks later we did some outside ones. The reason I say that is because of a FAQ that I am asked...What if it rains the day of my session? Well we either reschedule the whole thing or my preference is that we shoot the studio and indoor stuff one day and go outside another.
Tiffany and Vieux (pronounced Veer) are truly a great couple, probably two of the most genuine and nice and laid back people I have met in a while. He is from Guinea and her, Minnesota. The story here was that Vieux had never actually been to a wedding before, the first wedding he attended was his own. How cool is that? Another cool thing was that at the end of the night when I was telling them goodbye, Tiffany asked for a photo with me. That doesn't happen very often and usually when something like that comes up I laugh it off and tell them that they don't want a picture with me and I did just that, but she insisted and thus there is a photo with me and the bride taken by me, not as tricky as it may sound.
Below is Sonya and she is one of my promo girls from this past spring. These are a couple from her summer session at The Arboretum...
Max...he cracks me up. I have taken his photos a couple times now and he just refuses to be in a good mood (or at least acts like he's not). Apparently he has something in common with my 2 year old son, he smiles and has a great time until a professional photographer (me) puts a camera in his face. The best part about that though is that you can get real emotions and not a fake smile, if they smile it is the real deal and if they cry it is still cute.
This is Lauren and I was told by her mom that she does not like the way she looks in photos... until she saw the photos I took of her! That is a true story.
I have know this guy for about 4-5 years. His name is Jacob and I used to coach him in baseball at Pequot Lakes High School. I no longer coach there or anywhere, but Jacob called me to do his senior portraits. I am always honored when kids choose me to do their senior portraits and when it is somebody that I have known for more than a few years and have seen them grow into an adult it is even more gratifying. You should see how many sports jerseys this kid has!
This is Katie and she is another client that is a gratifying type of client. She was referred to me by more than one person. I did her brother's senior pictures last year and I have also done at least one of her friend's that steered her my way and actually that friend, Kelsi, has a couple photos below too. Kelsi was another one of my promo girls from this past spring and we did some more photos for her a couple days ago and because of weather, we had to reschedule some more time to do a few more photos at a lake in a few days.
This is Chris and he was not exactly thrilled about getting his senior portraits done. He was laughing about his clothes when he and his mom showed up saying that he looked like a tourist and his mom then said that he was the one who picked the outfit out when they went shopping. Again he shook his head and laughed and described what he normally dresses to me, basically the complete opposite of what he was wearing for his pictures. Even though he took the photos only to please mom and he thought it was a joke he did great and I think his photos turned out awesome. He was even telling me about his musical endeavors. He is in two bands and sorry Chris, I do not remember both band's names, but the one I do remember was Bill Cosby Murder Project. Calm down people, he told me that they do not want to murder Bill Cosby, the name is meant to be somewhat of a joke. Click here to check out their myspace page.
Last but not least, this is Jesse Keller and a couple weeks ago I did an album shoot with him. These are a sneak peek because he is currently in the studio working on his album entitled, My Therapy. I thought about putting up a couple possible cover and packaging photos, but figured that I would let Jesse unveil those. Check out his myspace page here for more info. Jesse was the 2007 winner of the Brainerd Battle of the Bands which may not seem all that prestigious but it kind of is a big deal as bands from all over the state enter the contest and the awards for winning are pretty big.
