We celebrated Lillie’s 3rd birthday Wednesday at my parent’s house and I had to share some of the pics.  Getting presents for her is fun for me because I’m just a big kid, I’ve always been a kid at heart.  I love games, but just turned to grown up games like craps as I’ve gotten older.  It’s funny though because I always think what would I like if I was her and sometimes I hit the nail right on the head.  Other times I’m way off because she’s a girl and we never had a girl around growing up (my dad has one brother, mother has 2 brothers, and I had one brother).  Alisha and I were in Toys R Us and she thought Lil would love the small kitchenette set she could play with, and I was like no way we can totally find something better!  Of course Lil sees the kitchenette set and thinks it’s better than gold.  See that was never cool to me when I was a kid, I always thought what’s the point?  I’ll do enough dishes when I’m older, I don’t need to fake it now.  Of course they had all these cleaning supplies and vacuums and such, which again makes absolutely no sense to me as a toy, and I said (tongue in cheek of course) "what are they doing, trying to get them started young or something?" in the store.   Alisha of course got my joke, the other lady in the aisle…. well not so much.  I did finally score though when Ali and I bought Lillie a brand new bike!  Yeay!  Here is Lillie’s face when I walked in with the new bike

Check out speed racer

Mama showing off the Elmo cake

Blowing out the candles

Mama, I just want my cake!

Check out my new slippers

And finally, the head horns that my parents wear around Lille to make her laugh

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The La-Vie albums have been pouring in the studio over the last week, so I had to photograph the small build up over the last 2 days before they got sent out.  I just received another UPS notification as well so here comes another :) 

I just want to say for those that aren’t familiar with the La-Vie albums, they are an absolute masterpiece of an album made entirely from hand.  What really separates them from everything else, at least to me, is the textures and fabrics combined with the attention to detail.  They are a great mix of that more traditional matted style album with a contemporary twist that brings that album up to date.  Both Alisha and I are extremely happy with these albums and cannot wait to start shipping these out.  I’d say the flushmounts are still more popular (and obviously awesome as well, just people are much more familiar with them now so they don’t really need explaining), but I’m stoked we finally have found a company that can offer an alternative that is what we want and more.

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I’m not one for commercials normally, even during the Super Bowl, but this one they played all Thanksgiving was hilarious…

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It’s finally time to make a formal announcement about our latest project…. Lillie Studios.  Alisha and I have been hard at work getting this off the ground, and we’re extremely excited to finally spill the beans. 

An excerpt from the website tells the story the best -

"Lillie Studios was born as the brainchild of photographers Alisha Clark and Luke Walker.  While both Luke and Alisha run their own separate businesses, they saw a need for a joint venture that addressed the amount of work they were having to send away due to demand and availability.  Lillie Studios was created as the solution that delivers their style, personality, and customer service to brides through their associate photographers. 

Lillie Studios, named after their beautiful 3 year old daughter, provided an outlet for Luke and Alisha to share their talented associates, experience, and level of photography to a greater number of brides and at a more modest price tag.  Luke and Alisha run the day-to-day operations to ensure every event receives the TLC they have become known for."

Even without the formal announcement and without a website (it just went live 2 hours ago) we’ve been able to book a handful of jobs, but even so please visit the new website and tell anyone you know who might be interested.  Thanks so much!!

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Once you’ve been in business a number of years, as I have been fortunate enough to experience, you start to see trends and certain ideas or options gain popularity.  One trend that I’ve seen happening with my own business in 06 and 07 is a large increase in rehearsal dinner packages.  All of my packages except one include an engagement shoot (which I always strongly recommend) but I actually had a good number of people this year substitute the engagement shoot for rehearsal coverage.  I had a handful that did both as well, but the bottom line is rehearsal dinner coverage seems to be gaining a lot more popularity.  I think it’s a great idea and I’m glad to see it becoming so popular.  I think people spend so much time making it a weekend event for friends and family that it makes sense to get more than just the wedding coverage.  In addition, shots of friends and family in something other than wedding attire is always a nice touch.  Last but not least it provides a reduced number of people that make the setting more intimate and easier to grab candid as well as quick portraits.  At the wedding there are so many things going on all day that it can be very easy to forget things that you wanted or for a shot with some friends to never happen.  I find the rehearsal is a good mix of a shortened engagement shoot (we always pull people out for portraits when the weather cooperates) and a relaxed party with all who are extremely important in the bride and groom’s life.  Ali and I were glad to be a part of Tanja and Matt’s rehearsal, as well as Jenny and Jeff’s, and I look forward to hopefully a bunch more in 08!

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Once Tanja and Matt got back from their honeymoon in Jamaica we were able to meet up in the city for a day after shoot (hey sometimes the name fits, other times not).  I always love doing these shoots and this is yet another example of why.  Tanja and Matt were married in a beautiful Upstate NY setting along a lake and country club with group shots on the dock and fall colored portraits.  Here we have a totally different style along the side streets of China town and Manhattan as our backdrop.  Enjoy!

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About a week ago I had the pleasure of photographing an awesome e-session with Laura and Jamie.  Alisha and I showed up just as the sun was dipping below the horizon to catch the best light of the day.  Of course it helps when you have a hot couple, and meet at a beautiful lake house which you can use as your backdrop.  Because the sun sets so fast this time of year we don’t get that great light nearly as long, but that actually worked to our favor as I was able to convince Laura and Jamie that sneaking downtown around twilight would be a great closer to the shoot.  Thanks so much for a great evening you two!

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Alisha and I shot an awesome boudoir session recently with 2 of Ali’s brides, not much clothing, and a pool.  Sometimes our job isn’t so tough.  Here is a quick teaser of the beautiful girls we worked with… more once I’m able to catch up a little on all that we’ve shot. 

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Attention photographers – Alisha and I are looking to add another personality to the mix with our businesses.  I don’t want to make any announcements, but we do have another photography venture in the works and we are going to need another great personality to get this off the ground.  We are looking for someone with talent and experience in the wedding photography field, a positive personality, and someone who wants to hopefully work with us long term.  The main duties of this job to start would be meeting with potential couples and and shooting weddings in 2008, while also possibly helping us in getting this new venture launched and marketed.  We are looking for people in the Upstate NY area.  This will not be a full time job to start.  Any interested parties can contact me and/or Alisha at luke@lukewalkerphotography.com or alisha@alishaclarkphotographer.com. 

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It’s that time again, time for the 3rd annual end of the year photo contest.  I’m doing it a little early this year to give the winner time to perhaps get their gift before the holidays.  This years winner will receive their choice of either a $100 print credit or free album box (which we used to sell for $800, this is the final copy).  I think it’s a nice end of the year recap, and a chance to give a little gift to one of my favorite brides.  I sincerely appreciate the fact that I get to follow my passion for a living, and have so much support, so hopefully this gives back even a little and makes an extra holiday gift.

This year’s theme is best portrait.  Every year we have a different theme to the contest… the first year was best cake shot and the second year was best boudoir shot (I’m tempted to make that it’s own seperate contest every year!).  This year I am inspired to do a best portrait theme to make it more about the actual couples.  They are the ones who hire me, the ones I spend a good deal of time getting to know, and the people behind my business, so I want to focus on just them this year.  I’ve selected a handful of my favorite portraits and encourage you to vote on your favorite.  There are no rules governing your vote, you select the image you like the best for whatever reason you like.  The contest will end once this entry falls off the 1st page, or at the 100th comment (if we reach that number).  Thank you for the vote, and for another absolutely kick ass year!! 

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