Renewing of one’s Wedding Vows is a special way to reaffirm your love to your spouse.  Stacey and Tyler decided to reaffirm their vows to one another while on their 5th Wedding Anniversary get-away to California.  Reverend Lucinda Martin officiated the ceremony lakeside at beautiful Howarth Park, Spring Lake, Santa Rosa.  There were plenty of ducks and geese to witness the intimate ceremony on this quiet Thursday morning.

Reverend Lucinda had wonderful words to share with the couple.  We were honored to be able to capture this special time in their lives.

Dear Nancy, Ron, Melissa -

I cannot tell you how much we appreciate the services that the Crain family provided during our recommitment ceremony in April.  Being able to spend the day with you all, and to have such amazing shots of our day will remind us of just how special you helped our day to be.  We had heard such amazing things about the creativity and non-interference way that you all operate, and were not let down at all.  Some photographers tout “personal touches” and end up with the same stock shots that anyone with a camera captures.  Needless to say, this is NOT the case with Arken.

Cheers,

Tyler and Stacey

We enjoyed spending the day with Tyler & Stacey as well as Lucinda.  After the Reaffirmation Ceremony we had a short drive to Kenwood and had a wonderful meal at Cafe Citti.  A nice intimate Italian cafe.  After our meal we visited Chateau St. Jean where we strolled around their beautiful grounds and then tasted their Reserve offerings poured by the knowlegable Bob Beck.

We really enjoyed our time with Stacey and Tyler and wish them the best back home in Colorado.  We hope to keep in touch and visit again next time they come to Sonoma County!

Join us in welcoming Bella to the world.  Bella as you know is Italian for “Beautiful” and isn’t the name fitting?  Such a little sweetheart, we barely heard a cry out of her during the photography session.  Her Mother Stefanie is obviously proud of her little creation as she should be. 

Stefanie & Bella - Arken Studios - Sonoma County Baby Photographer

Stefanie & Bella - Arken Studios - Sonoma County Baby Photographer

Bella - Arken Studios - Sonoma County Baby Photographer

Congratulations to Sean and Erica Elderton!  What a fantastic wedding in a fantastic setting.  Erica was a beautiful bride and the gown was just fabulous.  There are just too many great shots.

Sean & Erica’s Ceremony was held March 27th at the Pioneer United Methodist Church which is the oldest church in Placer County.  After the Ceremony we had the entire Bridal party walk across the street to create images at the beautiful Court House. We had a great time shooting the after ceremony shots as you can tell.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect as I sit here in our Sebastopol office of Arken Studios this weekend with the rain coming down non-stop.

I wanted to thank all the brides with whom we had the opportunity to speak with at the Walnut Creek Bridal Fair.  The Marriott Hotel provided a wonderful venue for the event as always.  We also had a great time talking with all the other great wedding vendors.  There’s nothing quite like the excitement of a new bride experiencing for the first time what will become her wedding.  Visiting the Event Staff, Caterers, Cake decorators, and of course their photographer.  Many times the brides have yet to decide on the style of her wedding.  Will it be elegant, festive, classic or contemporary?  Seeing the possibilities at an all inclusive event such as a Bridal Fair is a real eye opener for her.  It’s the same with their photographer.  What style of photography will she want for preserving the memories of her most special day?  There’s Traditional, Formal, Candid, Photojournalistic.  Will she want B&W images, full color or an edgy cross processed look to her album?  Many times she hasn’t even thought about these possibilities.  That’s where Arken Studios comes in.  We can help make the decision by showing the options.  We can also photograph the wedding in any style desired with our experience and training.  One thing is sure, the Bride and Groom can be rest assured that making the decision to use Arken Studios to photograph their wedding will be the most comfortable decision for their day.  We LOVE photographing weddings.  Call us and schedule a FREE consultation so we capture your love and your wedding with our unique artistry!  707-824-0497

Although Weddings and Portraits are our current passion, what we don’t advertise much is that I was first trained in product photography.  Recently I had the opportunity to do some photography for a good friend who has a specialty car boutique accessory business on the internet.  I didn’t know this but apparently there is a huge interest in mini tools for your keyring.  Tom Clawges has started to develop a series of tools and accessories for your keyring and his latest products are the Inchworm (a ruler in the round, as Tom calls it) and the hightech “P-7 Suspension Clip” which prevents your key fob from sitting at the bottom of your pocket or purse.  These are progressions from his PicoPen which I keep on my own keyring.  Check out his products at http://www.tecaccessories.com

TEC Accessories Inchworm

TEC Accessories Key Clip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Connie Sultana of Rohnert Park who won our drawing for a free photo session and credit towards a wall portrait.  We will be calling you soon to schedule your session.

Also congratulations to Christine Soden for winning the Gift Certificate from the Raffle.  I’m sure you’re going to love your photography session.  Nancy will also be contacting you soon to schedule your session in our studio.  I know your family will enjoy the family portrait.

It was our pleasure to offer these sessions to support your cause.

Saturday, October 24, 2009.  Sausalito, Ca.  5:30pm

Part of a world wide synchronized event and an attempt at a world record for a Flash Mob.

Two galleries are posted:  Proceeds from print purchases go to Artsboretum.org since they were the organizers of this location event.

 The People who attended and particpated:

Zombies

Images from the actual event:

Thriller

Monday morning I saw the beginning of another spectacular sunrise here in Sebastopol.  The back of our home faces East so we are frequently treated to impressive sunrises but this one turned out to be very impressive.  Who could complain about getting up early after being treated to something like this?

Sunrise in Sebastopol

Shooting Ashley!

Ever wonder why we call it “Shooting”?  It’s not like there’s a cross hair in the viewfinder or that the subject is running away from us photographers - maybe it’s the “deer in headlights” looks that some photographers get.  I dunno…  Anyway, a couple weekends ago I shot Ashley, or more precisely I had a photoshoot with Ashley and it went quite well if I do say so myself.   Ashley was a lot of fun to photograph and even had a few ideas of her own for the session.  Some who have looked at these say she reminds them of Zooey Deschanel which is surprising since one of the examples she wanted to duplicate was a photo of Zooey.  I think it’s Ashley’s big round eyes.  What do you think?

If you or a High School Senior you know would like some great images like Ashley’s, please use our contact page to get in touch with us.  Fall colors are coming fast and always make for great backgrounds in outdoor photos.

Ron…

A couple weeks ago Sebastopol had their Gravenstien Apple Festival at Ragle Ranch Park.  As we approached we noticed that a lot of people were parking on the streets and walking, I thought that they were too cheap to pay for parking.  Then when we entered the park I noticed that there was no fee for parking!  How cool is that!

The Festival was a nice size, great activities and things for the little ones to do too.  When we entered there was an Apple Sauce eating contest that was just starting.  I wondered how they were going to pull this off since they said “no hands”.  Luckily they realized what they were saying and allowed the contestants to use one hand to hold the Apple Sauce jar.  

A little later in the day they had the Pie eating contest -  this was a traditional pie eating contest with NO HANDS!  Most contestants were children but they recruited a couple adults to compete also.     Everyone was really enjoying eating their pies. 

Right after the pie eating contest they started setting up for a Caramel apple eating contest.  Finally, something you could really sink your teeth into.  One little fellow couldn’t even wait for the start and was nibbling the caramel and apple ahead of time.  Click here to see more photos from the festival.