Cherished Memories

Mission: Everyone Deserves A Outstanding Portrait Precious To Cherish Memories.


I believe precious moments should be cherished with a outstanding portraits worthy of print. That they should be hung in your home, on your walls & shared with friends and family.


In 2010, I took a management job as studio manager of a Picture Me! studio. I took a pay cut so I could combine my business management career with art. Yet, the other reason I took the job was because this was a belief I could get behind. To me having portraits done & taking family photo's is important.


For one, I grew up in a household that demonstrated this belief.


My mother, while not a professional photographer grasp the importance of documenting our lives. I think personally for me anyway, an several of my extended family it's importance rang home when my grandfather passed when I was four. He was not big on having his picture taken I don't think. But my aunt, had managed to get a hold of one of the only ones of him an had it cast in glass paper weight of sorts. They where given out at Christmas. An for me, being four years old not understanding death or his passing of a heart attack it was something I used to comfort myself with. I use to carry it around with me when I was missing him.


It helped with grief & sorrow.
Not just me, but all of us.


No, the portrait didn't replace him being with us: but I'm 50 years old an still can go to it an remember him. The babble (not sure what else to call it), even became a struggle between me & my dad. We would argue over who's it was. Of course it was a precious memory for both of us. So, I inherited it when he passed. I've owned a little & a lot over my life time: but it is my most prized possession.


It reminds me of him of course but of happier times in my childhood.


It reminds me of how much I was loved an he was. It reminds me to enjoy & live my life to it's fullest. My grandfather passed at age, 46 of a heart attack. They had been out square dancing the night before he passed. To me he looks a lot like James Dean: with the same tragic ending of dying too young. His portrait reminds me of him of course: but the lesson of not taking life for granted. We can go at anytime. That we should pack as much life into our lives as possible.


Enjoy the dance.
Or Seize the Day!


As my aunt likes to say: For we don't know how much time we have. An this is why I believe so much in the power of a photo. It not only captures a image of a person but can come to represent much more meaning then you ever thought it would when snapped. Its why I believe portraits are important. I was young when he passed. My image of him in my memory is not as clear as his portrait. An his life had value an meaning to me: That I want to remember crystal clear. Not only did it help with my grief, an others but it has given me strength to carry on in a way not many things could.


It can give you hope.


That things will get better, things have been better an will be again.


I have a portrait of me, my grandmother & my daughter. Three generations together. Proof of hope. That life does go on, an we will smile again. That while he may not be with us, he does live on through me an mine. His life mattered. Mine does an so do you an your loved ones. It's just not a belief to me. It's a fact. I cherish memories of those I love.


An portraits help us do so even more.


If you ever lost someone you loved, it's easy to understand. Not that any of us want to, but its a fact of life. At some point we pass an documenting our lives for those we leave behind is important. It's why it's so easy a belief for me to get behind an want to be a part of of. I enjoy, deep down to my soul helping families capture moments in their lives. Helping them document them in the best looking way as possible is deeply satisfying. Even if they don't even remember my name: I know that I helped them do something that will give them great rewards: Now & later.


Art is about deeply touching others.


Photography has been there for me: An I enjoy being there for others in the same way it has been for me. Sometimes we just don't have a clue just how beautiful we are or life is. As professional photographer I consider it my job—no mission: to remind you, your family & others. Just how very precious you are & life is. So you cherish it.


A good photographer will remind you.
Life is short, embrace it & enjoy it.


An while I think personal home snap shots are important. Documenting life: Having crystal clear, details oriented portraits done by a professional are as well. My father was the most anti camera person I think I've ever meet. An it bothers me, most of what photos we could get of him where usually grumpy get away from me facial expressions. The man actually had a great smile when you could get him to do it. I only have one professional portrait of him. Its clear, an it's his normal facial expression. I wish I had more then one. We should have hog-tied him and make him go more often to a professional. There are a few snap shots of him smiling: but they are blurry. I wish I had more of him that where sharp, clean and crystal clear vision of his life. Instead of one small 5x7 hanging on my wall.


He was important person in my life.
He deserves more space on that wall of life.


But when I look at it, I'm reminded of him in the most successful part of his life. That I too can be a successful, happy and confident. It reminds me of so many life lessons, an hardships over came to get where he was. It speaks volumes to me, even though he isn't here any longer to lecture me. One of the hardships our family faced was our family home burning down when I was around six. It caught fire, an they thought it was out. A few things where grabbed, then it burned down over night. We lost just about everything but the family photos. They where out of everything the most important things in the house, that could not be replaced.


Besides us & family memories.


Everything else, even my favorite stuffed donkey I had had since birth could be. Even today, I make back ups of my back ups of family photos: So if anything where to happen I still have the most important things that can't be replaced. I've even lost back ups of my artwork, but not the family photos. An when you ask most people what they would want out of their houses the most. Outside of making sure each family member got out alive: The family photos and portraits is going to be your answer. They just aren't something you can go back in time & redo.


They are valuable. Priceless.


They hold memories of times you can not get back. They show where we are now, an how far we have come. Time goes by in a blink of a eye: but they show our progress. Our determination. Our will. What our lives are about. What we valued. What we hold dear.


They say, what you photograph the most: Is what means the most to you.


Having thought I almost lost a uncle in a fire, I can't tell you how scarey that is. Or that it could have been any one of us, if the fire had not been caught in time to get us all out. It makes you cut out what you can live with & without really quick, an see what is most important.


I learned at a very early age. Life mattered. Family did.


So, getting behind the belief that portraits of those are important was easy. They've been important to my life. My families. I believe they are the most important things in life to be captured: Life itself. It's why I have continued to do children & family portraits so families have their memories captured in the best possible light. So they can cherish one another an remember with each how precious they are: An life is. It's something I know I can do that will be with you and yours in the best an worst of moments. It's an art that will always touch the deepest part of others.


An that's what the best art does.


So while I will always do other types of art, this is the one I do that I know benefits others the most. I consider it a privilege to be the one allowed to share those moments. I try to do my best to make it one of the most enjoyable interactive art moments of people's lives. Something one can participate in, remember fondly an enjoy for decades to come. I don't mind being part clown for others to have what I hold most dear. If I didn't cherish mine so much. I wouldn't expect others to. Yet, I do.


Portraits being important has just always been apart of my belief system.
So, it was easy to get behind them being important to others lives as well.
I just grew up where extreme situations happened that taught me just how important they can be. So I take them seriously. No matter how much I clown around to get that smile out of someone: I never forget the impact they have had in my own life. Or the one they will have in yours. It is a honor.

It's a life.

There is a art to life: It's a creation. Cherished Moments.
I don't know anything more important than life to do art of:

Life is the highest creativity there is.