When mpixpro called and asked us if we would be willing to be in their print ad, I about pooped myself.  AHHHHHH!!!!!! OF COURSE WE WILLLLLL!!!!!! Many have asked how we fell upon this opportunity. Well… Remember the BLEND workshop I went to back in March, 2009? There, I met a ridiculously nice guy… who also happens to be a talented photographer, and his name was Dale Benfield. We were on the famous “Team Awesome.” He and I, in that short time, became great friends. It’s hard not to adore him! (Right, Meredith?!) Anyway, what I didn’t know was that he was the photographer liaison for an up and coming division of Miller’s Photo Lab… mpixpro. When the ooh la la big wigs asked Dale if he had any suggestions for a “fun photographer” who could be in their ad that ran during WPPI (the photog convention), he thought of us. Here’s what he had to say in a recent mpixpro blog entry: “Bobbi and I have been friends since we met in March at a great three day workshop where we were on the same team. Over those three days, I saw her laugh until she cried, and cry until she laughed. She is hilarious, she is smart, and she is genuine.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME DALE??!?! YOU are THEEEE best best BEST! I canNOT believe you thought of us for SUCH a huge honor… and we REALLY can’t thank you enough.

Another question that we’ve gotten quite a bit was, “who took the photo?!” Well, originally, we did. You know… self timer style! Mike would balance those books on his head while I’d click the shutter… RUN… jump on the couch… straighten my hair… fix my scarf… suck it in… pop the hip… CLICK… jump down… back to the camera… repeat as many times as I could until the books would fall off of Mike’s head… he’d RE-balance the books… and then right back to the beginning…

I sent in the photo. You see, I hadn’t yet seen their rough layout of the ad and shot it how I pictured the ad to look. Well… it wasn’t wide enough. Furthermore, I thought that version didn’t show enough products.

SOOO… they sent more products THIS time, however, I was NOT about to go through the chaos of the self timer I called one of my very best friends. One of the very few people I would trust with this (I was the type in college that in group projects I’d do all of the work because I wasn’t going to allow anyone to ruin my grade!).

Who is this awesome person I speak so highly of? Ryan Hunley! He’s the creative genius behind 2nd Street Creative (and has designed mannny photographers’ logos). In his past, he’s art directed many photo shoots.  So, having his creative, detailed eye was a HUUUUUGE help to us!

Here, he’s trying to see how easy it was to balance the books. Uhm… he found out it wasn’t! Ryan, don’t be mad that I snapped this.

This may make me sound totally lame… but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this ad was, up to now, the ABSOLUTE proudest moment of my life. ALLLLL that mattered to me was showing our parents. Seriously. I didn’t care if ANYONE else saw it… having my mom full of pride was what I was most excited about. And let me tell you, the parents didn’t disappoint. We waited to tell them until it was in print. I called my mom at work and told her about it. She about hung up on me and immediately left work and drove to Borders and OF COURSE showed it off to every person in Borders. I’m not kidding you. She’s just beside herself with pride. Karen and Dave, Mike’s parents, saw it before it was published. The awesome people over at mpixpro sent us 4 prints of the final ad. We accidentally left it on the conference table. Dave promptly asked for one… but first demanded that we sign it. SERIOUSLY?! SIIIIGN IT??!? HAHAHAHA! OH how I love our families.

Really and truly, thank you Mom Kim, Mom Karen, Dad, Aunt Karen and G-Mom.  We love you. Big time!

So, on THAT note… WHADDAYA THINK OF THE BRAND REFRESH?!?!?! I’ve been ABSOLUTELY DYYYYING to get rid of the black.  Our business has evolved. We have evolved. Time for our brand to evolve! With the feedback of my Twitter/Facebook friends and the help of Ryan… it’s finalized. With the fresh logo also came a blog update. I’m absolutely IN LOVE with it all. Man oh man, feels GOOD to be moving forward! NOW time for a website update… eeeeeeks!!!!

Thank you guys SO much for your patience while I revamped things here. If this is how 2010 is starting… I can’t wait to see what amazingness the year brings.

Love!

~bobbi+mike +

PS. if for some reason you want to see one of these in person, and you’re not a photographer who is already a subscriber… go to any major book store and look for Digital Photo Pro… flip over the cover and there we are YEAHHHHH!!!!!

SOOO… I mentioned it in our last blog entry… but, I'll remind you anyway. Mike and I did a little speaking thing at the photography conference we went to last week.  We spoke at the mpixpro booth in the middle of the tradeshow floor.

Wanna see some images? Okay, if you insist! But first, let me ramble…

I was RIDICULOUSLY nervous. As in, as I'm writing this remembering how I felt before each talk, my heart is racing. But you know what was the absolute best best best (calming) feeling in the world? Many photographers who I greatly admire, our amazing friends, and nearly every photographer we've photographed (who was in Vegas for the conference) was there on the first day to show support. When I noticed this… I started to well up. Oh yes, I'm a drama queen. I can't tell you how much that meant to us.  Once I realized we were amongst friends, the anxiety faded (but not completely… AHHHH!) Here are just a few that came out to show their support over the 3 day period…

Lauren Chapman
Robbie Gantt
Nate and Jaclyn Kaiser
Maya and Patrick Laurent
Jessica Limeberry
Jeff Newsom
Clary Pfieffer
Matt and Angie Sloan
Jasmine Star and JD
Amanda Wilcher
David and Cathy Bock

(If I left anyone out, I'm so sorry… it's been a long couple of weeks!)

We spoke all 3 days the tradeshow was happenin'.  It was awesome. I mean really awesome. I mean… REEEEEALLY really awesome. I got to meet so many of you blog readers… many of you who are active commenters I knew RIGHT away and gave BIG hugs to.  

I do have to say though, MAN OH MAN I have an ENTIRELY new respect for people who have to work/speak at the conference… it's EXHAUSTING!!!!! I had to be responsible! Usually I'd be partying it up wayyyyy late, but this year… NOPE!  I couldn't stay out too late, couldn't be too loud… afterall, I had to save my voice! (Though, that didn't work… I sounded like a 12 year old boy going through puberty at all of our talks), I had to make sure I was ready to have our names in lights! You know… Roxy Hart style! If we ever do this again, think we could arrange for that???? HA! The mental picture of that is hilarious to me. ANYWAYYYY… I'm being weird. 

I'll move on to the images. You know, the ones you've been DYING to see

We didn't take ANY photos while we were there… so I did a shout out on Twitter/Facebook to see if anyone would be willing to send in shots they took… THANK YOU for sending!!!! Now I can prove to my grandma that I wasn't making this up… and that people REALLY do think I'm hilarious, RIGHT?! So, thanks!

DAY 1

images by Dale Benfield

So, I haven't seen candid images of myself since our wedding day. I had forgotten how expressive I am. I mean, I'm the DEFINITION of animated!

 WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?! There are at least two people in this crowd who think that I'm as hilarious as I think I am. (PS. Don't judge my hair… I was missing a brush for the first 2 days, AHHHH!)

DAY 2

image by Vince Foo of Leslie Wong Photography

 My husband is cute. This was one of the few times that he was able to get a word in… I'm kind of a talker… GO FIGURE!!! (random Bobbi trivia: in the 6th grade I was voted "Most Likely to Talk to a Brick Wall")

 images by Bill Blakey

Please take special note of the microphones we had around our ears. When I was telling a friend about our talk he said, "OH! I can't wait to see you with the Britney mic!"

"WHAAAAAA??!? I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT!!!! A MIC?!?!? YOU JUST TOOK MY NERVES UP TEN MORE NOTCHES!!!!"

I couldn't get it out of my head!  The SECOND I put it on my ear and was live, I couldn't resist saying, "it's Britney, b____!" OH YES… I SAID THAT… Ever have things just fly out of your mouth and you WISH you could take it back RIGHT away?! THAT was one of those moments.  

 Oh yes, THERE IT IS… My FAMOUS green jacket!

Day 3

images by Eddie Bojorquez

These two are my favorite images… FINALLY an image where more than one person is laughing at me. SEE G-MA!!!! I AMMMM FUNNY!!!!

 If this doesn't represent what I was talking about I don't know what does?! Nice capture Eddie

 It was THIS moment on the last day that I got REALLY nervous. That's Jasmine Star and her hottie husband JD. She's spoken to rooms full of 1000+ people! WHEW! It was SO incredibly sweet of them to swing by and show us their support.  When I opened up for questions she raised her hand (my right leg started shaking).

"What has been your biggest mistake in business and what did you learn from it?" she asked.

Our response (after three seconds of silence… OH SHIZ… WHAT DO I SAY?!!? I'M GOING TO SOUND STUPID, GUARANTEEEEEEED!!!!!):

"Trying to fit into a professional mold that we thought clients wanted. BIG mistake! Most clients don't want 'stiff professionals.' Most want a friend to hang with. As soon as we started being more comfortable being ourselves… the faster our business grew. Oh, and the ones that DO want Stiffy McStifferon won't hire us… win win!"

A HUUUUGE thanks to all of you who came out to listen… and remained patient as I spoke in my usual ADD fashion I can't TELL YOU how amazing the whole experience was and all thanks to you guys. Thank you. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

I also want to give a BIG OL' shout out to the companies that featured our images at their booths. Renaissance, the ABSOLUTE BESSSSSST album company in the world, (more on this later) displayed lots of our albums. BluDomain launched 5 new website templates with our work being shown in a few of those. And, last… but not least… mpixpro had some AMAZING products that really and truly showed our work in its absolute best light. We stand behind that lab 1000000% THAAAANK YOUUUUU!!!!!! 

Oh, and like the good photographers that we are… we ALSO managed to not bring our point and shoot. I went on Facebook and grabbed a few of the tagged photos Oh, and note to self… and others iPhone photos taken in fluorescent lighting aren't flattering to the bags under my eyes. When did I start to look like a real grown up with wrinkles?!

::EDITED TO ADD::

HOW COULD I HAVE EVERRRRR FORGOTTEN THIS PHOTO THAT NATE TOOK?!

After lunch, the four of us girls randomly noticed that we were a cornucopia of hair colors. Oh yes… this is what grown up women talk about. Well, that and making babies (I'm the only non-Mom in the group!). When he went to grab the shot, we got perfectly in order… you know… like you'd arrange a fresh box of Crayola's…  blue to purple to maroon to red to orange to yellow to lime to green to turquoise, etc. 

Now, for some reason… you can't really tell but I assure you, the three of us on the right don't all have the same hair color! That crazy film! SO, it's yellow to light orange to orange to brown. SEEEEE like a box of Crayola's! Anyway… I'd like to formally title this photo ROYGBIV  

From left to right: Jaclyn, Amelia, me and Candice.

Next year, I PROMISE to bring my point and shoot…. PROMISE! 

Thanks again!

Much love friends…

~bobbi+mike +

I know you guys have heard me say this before… but, it's getting harder and harder for me to write these blog entries.  It's not that I don't love the weddings/sessions we photograph… it's that I'm running out of words to explain their awesomeness without sounding like a broken record. (I already do).  Afterall, that's precisely why I'm a photographer and not a writer… I'm better at showing you their story rather than telling it.

I hear from our blog readers way too commonly… "I just read the captions with the photos but skip all that text at the end."  So, I keep asking myself… why do I spend so much time writing it if most people aren't even reading it?! 

It's also INCREDIBLY time consuming for me… I'm embarrassed to admit how long each one takes.  In that time, I could be doing other things which would allow us to shoot more. WIN/WIN!   Truth be told, I've been considering making these changes for quite a while but always feared that I would hurt the feelings of the people who we photographed… but they know I've got nothin' but love!!!!!

I'd like to set a precedent for 2010. From now on, I'll still write the captions that go along with the photos… and if something ESPECIALLY hilarious or thought provoking happens, I'll add it at the end, but otherwise… it's going to have fresh content.  Two things I'd like to include in all wedding blog entries: 1) the list of vendors (I hate that word) that we work with at every wedding so future bride/grooms know where to find all of the amazingness. 2) A little something from the bride or groom… I'm not really sure what this will be quite yet… but, I think it has the potential to be very cool. K? k. 

I'm not 100% sure if any of this will stick… as it might evolve to something completely different… time will tell I can, however, tell you… I'm really excited about all of this   Oh… and if you guys have any ideas/suggestions… lemme have 'em! I'm alllll ears

I plan on blogging our first wedding from this year tomorrow (YAY!).  So, be on the look out for the changes.

You guys are THE best blog readers… just are

Love love love!

~bobbi

I've been SO excited to show you these

 Meet Kaila and Jon of Corner Cafe Photography

Kaila is stunning… 

 Mike busted out our rarely used 16-35.

 Every married couple needs photos like these… More on this later…

 Jon = RIDICULOUSLY HANDSOME!  PS. for you Heroes fans out there… doesn't he look look Zachary Quinto? (AKA Sylar)  For those who are new to this blog… I LOVE playing the "what famous person do you look like?" game I'm kind of amazing at it…

 HOW'D HE DO THAT?! Yeah, this is awesome. Mike, you're awesome. His favorite

 Then we went to a little unmowed area in a Target parking lot  

 per.fec.tion.

 KAILA!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDDDDDDDING ME?! You have THE MOST beautiful eyes in the history of eyes!! w.o.w.

 favorite. Perfectly peaceful. So in love. Canvas time!

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. I met Kaila at a little photography speaking thing I did earlier this year… (Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal! ) When she approached me about photos… I COULD NOT WAIT to photograph those blue eyes! Oh, and let me tell you… they did NOT let me down!

Kaila and Jon are such beautiful people… both inside and out.  They love each other so incredibly much… being around them made me want to snuggle it up with my husband. 

Truth be told… these two were disappointed with their own wedding photos (not to worry, we didn't take them!)… and with thoughts of having children of their own in the future… they wanted to someday show their kids "how much we were in love." Isn't that the neatest thing ever?  I would have LOVED to have photos like this of my parents as young adults before I was around… wouldn't you?! 

So… why do we only get photos taken when we're engaged, or married, or have kids? For me personally, after 6+ years of marriage, our love has grown stronger… we're completely different people now…. It's a better time than ever for a photo session. And yeah yeah yeah, we're guilty of it too… but, we're working on that

Kaila and Jon… I cannot thank you enough for asking us to do this… it was an amazing evening…

Love

~bobbi+mike +

 Now you know… You can imagine the kind of looks passing cars were giving us!

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Meet the RIDICULOUSLY talented photographers of Nickel City Studios, Alyssa and Rich… and their RIDICULOUSLY adorable son Murphy

 I love this family

 This is SOOOOO Murphy… he's famous for this little expression

 …but I wasn't having it  

 WACKY BOBBI STRIKES AGAIN!!!

 GAH!!!!! Crazy about this one

 F.A.V.O.R.I.T.E! AYKM??!?!!!?

 Mikey's favorite

 Alyssa and Rich… you two have the perfect kid Just do…

ORRRRR… Maybe THIS is my favorite….

BUFFALO, NY. For those of who follow me on Twitter you may remember an update a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNG time ago about a husband and wife who each emailed me separately (within 12 hours of each other) about surprising the other with a session… Well… that couple is Alyssa and Rich.  I don't remember how the surprise was figured out… but, in the end… it wasn't a surprise at all… and regardless of the lack of surprise… it was perfecto!  I asked if they had talked about it the night before they both had emailed me… the answer… no… they had discussed it a year prior.  Isn't it neat (yet crazy) how in a marriage we become so incredibly connected?

Enough about them… let's talk about the perfection that is Murphy! ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH ALL OF THAT CUTENESS?! He was one of the most well behaved, full-of-personality, hilarious kids we've ever photographed

Rich, if we ever get to photograph your family again, PLEEEEEEEASE wear the "AYKM?!" shirt  

Much love to you all.

~bobbi+mike +

 GAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

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This one's my favorite…

 Adam, you are seriously SO good looking! And to think… there are TWO people in this world who look like that… OHHH YESSSS! (Adam's a twin, duh ) And yes yes yes… agreed to one of the commenters who said that he looks like Rob Thomas… absolutely Louie!

 G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!

Scroll to the bottom to see the inspiration for this photo

 OHHHH How we love these two!!!!!!

 How can you be 7.5 months pregnant and still look this amazing?!  AYFKM?!

 AHHHHH!!! LOVE THIS!!!!!! Mikey's favorite

 SERIOUSLY?! Who can do the splits in the air and be THAT pregnant?! 

 I'm speechless… she's beautiful.

CINCINNATI, Ohio. Melanie and Adam are two of our favorite people to photograph. But… you guys already knew that, right? When we photo these two… it hardly feels like "work"… it's refreshing and inspiring… these two are always pushing the bar with the awesome outfits, their amazing modeling, etc… pushing us to really think outside of the box.

For those of you who are new to reading this blog… this is the third time we've photographed this duo… and their quite famous around here.  I love photographing photographers Check out their amazing work here.

A few of their engagement photos… Yeah, ridiculously good looking.

 See…

 She comments on our blog as "Hot Pink Fishnets." Now you see why… She was one of the most beautiful brides in the history of all brides….

 GAH I LOVE YOU TWO!!!!!!!

As I'm sure you guessed it… this is FAR from the last time you'll see them on this blog… 

SO great spending the evening with ALLLLL!!!

~bobbi+mike +

MEEEEEE!!!! SO REDDDDDD!!!!!

THEEEEEE NICOOOOOOOLE GREEEEEEEN & DANNNNNN SCHIIIIIIIIIMPF ARE ON OUR BLOGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! YEAHYEAHYEAH!

Love this Can you say CANVAS?! I can… "CANVAS!"

 Nicole was in need of a bio photo for her alllllmost newly launched website SOOOO CLOOOOSE!!! This one was my pick HOT TAMALE TOWN, USA!!!!!! My favorite Dan, you look SOOOO handsome in this photo!!!!

 Bring it in tiiiiight!

 The light was magic that day… I tell you… MAGIC! So maybe this one is my favorite… hmmmm….

Or… THIS ONE!!!!

AYKM NICOLE?! Flipping GORGEOUS!!!!!

 I adore these two… just do

I couldn't pick which of these two I liked better…

So, I blogged them both And, it's my blog…. so I can do that

 Cool blue chair, huh? Yeah… I guess Dan knows a guy who knows a guy who owns an antique store… done and done

MOMMA CHARLOTTE!!!!!!!!!! (Nicole's mom came along to keep an eye on the doggies… and she's the perfect mom ) I HAD to get a photo of these two… I didn't give an option.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. When Nicole asked us for a photoshoot of her and Dan for her SOOOOON TO BE LAUNCHED new website… I couldn't have been more excited! You seeeeeeeeee…. Nicole is an amazingly talented photographer here in goooood ol' Indianapolis.

We've been photographing a lot of photographers lately… which is the ULTIMATE compliment… and I canNOT feel more honored when someone asks… BUT when someone from OUR market asks… for some reason… it means the damn WORLD to me! I can't really explain it… it's just awesome. I really think photographing photographers is our new favorite thing Yeah yeah yeah… it's a bit nerve racking (as you've seen me mention here a few times)… BUT… it's also a rush in the creative world… bouncing ideas… subjucts up for anything… a true collaboration… etc… etc… etc….  WE LOVE IT!

Nicole and Dan… WE FLIPPING ADOOOOOOORE THESE TWOOOOOO!!!!!! Nicole is beautiful inside AND out…. and that Dan of hers loves her so so so much. He's hilarious and would genuinely do ANYTHING for her. They're both so incredibly lucky to have found each other.  Someday they'll get married… and that someday… I hope to be there. Okay, shushing.

Thank you thank you thank YOU for asking us to do this… I cannot WAIT to see which one you pick for your site.  

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~bobbi+mike +

 Hi, I'm Bobbi… and I like to photograph people who are in love

  this is my husband Mike… and he's perfect in every way…

PEEK-A-BOO!

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Starting things off with my favorite

 GAHHHH HOW CUUUUUTE IS ZAAAAANE??!?!

Mikey's favorite

 I'm so in love with this family

 Zane is FULL of personality!

 THENNNNNN… we went to an open field and painted GENIUS!!!!!! They should totally get a canvas of this… a canvas of a canvas! Okay, shushing now…

Zane had LOTS of fun!!!!! By the way, yes, it's washable paint.

 Have I mentioned that I'm in love with this family?!!!??

 AAAAAAAARE YOUUUUUUU KIDDDDDDDDDDING MEEEEEEEEEE????!????! Maya, you're GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! btw, favorite number 2

 They brought along this drop cloth to use if we decided to do the painting in an urban area… well… we didn't… so I thought it'd be fun to use it for something else Notice the paint on their fingers?

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. OHHHH YES… WHAT YOU'VE ALLLLL BEEN WAAAAAITING FORRRRR IS HEEEEEEERE!!!!

Maya and Patrick are local photographers here in Indy… and not only are they full of talent… but they're the nicest of the nice   Every photographer I talk to in Indianapolis adores them… and it's obvious why… they're two of the most genuine people I've met (my favorite trait! ) Oh, and super attractive… BONUS!

Okay… enough about them…. I'm flipping CRAZY about Zane!!!! He's sweet, curious, hilarious, adventerous… and… RIDICULOUSLY CUUUUUUTE!!!!  When I went off to photograph Maya and Patrick for the last ten minutes of the session… he and Mike had some fun…. what kind of fun do you ask? Sword fighting with weeds Yeah, sign me up! GAHHH Zane, you're awesome

Maya and Patrick, Thank you thank you THANK YOU for asking us to photograph your family… you guys are the best.

Love love LOVE!

~bobbi+mike +

 I canNOT believe I'm posting horribly unflattering photo… but whatever… it's me Here I am showing Zane my big muscles. Clearly, I'm intimidating. 

As mentioned… here are Mike and Zane sword fighting

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 Oh yes… one of the CUTEST families to ever grace this blog is back!

…and they made chocolate chip cookies Genius!

 HA!

I SO would have LOVED to have had a photo like this with my dad… Mikey's favorite

Coming from a chocolate chip cookie aficionado such as myself I can GUARANTEE you that these were THE BEST chocolate chip cookies I've EVER eaten!!!! HANNNNNDS DOWWWWWN!!!!! If I weren't on the healthy train… I'd be BEGGING for the recipe. Oh well

Clary, you're so stinkin' cute!  I love that you wore a white tanktop for these Perfection.

 I adore this family.

 Clary and Travis own 5 acres a bit down the street… and it was the perfect place to finish up the session

 Check out those little rolling hills… I've never seen anything like it. BTW, this photo brings on the smiles

AYKM WITH THE YELLOW TRUCK?!

Love this.

 Time for a new "bio photo" for the site…   Clary, you're gorgeous… G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!

 My favorite Canvas? Yes.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. When Clary emailed me about setting up another session… she had a very specific idea… but this required us to come out to St. Louis. You see, she and Travis wanted their family photos from now to later remind them exactly what their family was like at this stage… where they lived, what they liked to do, etc.  And let me tell you… genius with a capital G = Genius!

As many of you already know… Clary is a ridiculously talented photographer in St. Louis.  Last year, I think she was the first photographers family we'd ever photographed… now it's one of our favorite things to do.   Because we've since done it a few times… this time I wasn't about to vomit before the session started because of nerves… BONUS!

I know we're not supposed to play favorites… but this family is definitely up there We genuinely cannot thank you two enough for EVERYTHING. You guys always make us feel like a zilllllion buckaroobies

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

~bobbi+mike +

 Mike made a friend…

…a friend for life…

 …a best friend

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