Our Nikki

Nikki

You know, one of the most fun things that has happened to us in the last little while was working with our Senior Intern from Venice High School. Nikki Schmidt is adorable and sooooooo much fun. She taught us a lot while she was here…and she claims she learned a lot from us too. Here are some of the images we did for her.





Then, as the finality of her Internship approached, she sweetly asked us to come to school while she did her ‘dissertation’ on what it was like to work at Island Photographics and to be a professional photographer. According to Nikki, she found that working photographers really work a lot harder than she ever expected and do a lot more than she ever thought possible. She decided that there is a whole lot more to professional photography than just ‘pushing the camera button’! Also, she learned that you never ever want to annoy your photographer or your retoucher!!! (Of course we were not EVER angry with her…this was just a funny example of what can be done…!)

Tom said...

Tom Whittaker said, that sometimes it’s all about the photographs! No matter what!

He had been at charity silent auction event and had won the bid on a gift certificate…only problem was that he thought we were the donors, but he quickly discovered that we were not! But he had already paid for the certificate. Naturally we would honor the other certificate and were ready to do the session for him. But in true ‘great guy’ fashion, he would have none of it. We give away sooooo many (literally hundreds over the years) donations, that he did not feel we should do that again. What a super person and what a super family!

As if he were being rewarded, he happened to have a beautiful evening to do his family photography. Tom with his gorgeous daughters and handsome son made great subjects for us to work with…then, his Mom-in-Law came with her daughter and friend…so, of course, we added them into the mix too. We think that sometimes the more family and friends we have the more fun the session…We changed things up a bit and added pictures with the Grandchildren and their Grandmother, and of course the whole family. We ended with a charming and close sunset image of Tom and with his kids…Such a meaningful and memorable image for us all.

Senior amongst the family groups – Cierra McCoy

This time of year, when kids are out of school, also brings along senior pictures. And among the fun ones we did was Cierra….and what a sweetie is she! Gorgeous and fun…nice combination, for sure. She is a vision in green…both the dress and the outdoor location that was full of greenery…Beautiful, for sure! Here are a couple that we created and Melisa played with on the computer…we use LOTS of computer programs to create our unique images!

Farr Family

In case you do not know the Farr Family, it will be great if you do…Lat is a fellow Rotarian and about to become President of the Venice Nokomis Rotary. He is also the main man at the local Farr Insurance Group here in Venice. We have photographed Lat’s family a lot…both separately and together. This month I had the privilege of photographing the whole family in Lat and Cindy’s backyard …Mom, Dad, Sister and kiddos…and of course, the faithful family Lab. Do you notice how often pets are included in family portraits? We happily do that all the time! What a great setting for a fun family portrait!

A Better Place…

One of the super fun sessions we have done during the holiday frenzy was with a young lady from the Dance Studio in North Port called A Better Place Dance and Fitness Studio. There’s is an awesome studio with a great philosophy! Check them out at http://www.abetterplacedanceandfitness.com/

Anyway, our little lady was magnificent and certainly enjoyed being the center of attention…of course!

The Zeliffs and “Gallia est omnis divisa partes tres*…”

Ooops, sorry, High School Latin Flashback…*”All Gaul is divided into three parts” and so are the Zeliffs! Just one of many families that are able to have all their “parts” spend the holidays with them. We had the best time with this group. Mike and Barb and their family had the first appointment with us.



Then two days later we had another brother Jim and his family and finally that same day, we had the whole Zeliff family including an appropriately attired Cocker Spanielwe had the whole Zeliff family including an appropriately attired Cocker Spaniel…don’t know what we would have done if the puppy was the wrong color!! Anyway, this family group is an awesome example of what can happen when everybody does the needful in terms of attire and showing up at the ideal time of day. We have the whole family group, the three separate families, and the grandparents together. Then we added the grandparents and the grandchildren, some of the grandchildren siblings, and finally the “My Three Sons” group! You know, whatever combinations anybody wants to do, we are happy to oblige…as long as we can see, we can photograph! I think I can safely say that we have never EVER had anyone say they wished there were more images to view!!! Even back in film days, I have always had a ‘heavy trigger finger’. Believe me, nothing has changed!