professional photography

The secret is out. This is it for us in the the Jutila Ctr for Global Design & Business (aka: the old hospital.) After careful planning & deliberation (sorta) we’ve decided to move the operation in the name of expansion, simplification, and spring fever. We looked at a number of sites in the area, and in downtowns of Houghton & Hancock – everything from storefronts to bank board rooms, and we’re pleased to announce that we’ll occupy the 3rd floor of the E.L. Wright school building in Hancock, right on US-41. The deal was too sweet to pass up. New windows, re-finished 100 year old hardwood floor, new ceiling, period appropiate lights, tons of parking, etc. We’ll be neighbors again with our artist friends Joyce Koskenmaki & Andrea Puzakulich of Joyce Koskenmaki Drawings & Paintings, and Distant Drum Designs both of whom we’ve had an artistic partnership with for a number of years, so naturally we’re all excited. The new space will almost triple our shooting space, and be complimented by a large dressing room & gallery – all designed to cater to our clients and provide a comfortable lounge & working area for our visitors, clients, friends, models, crew, and family. Fun stuff! We’ll be in our space sometime in May, with a Brockit-style party to follow, so stay tuned for an invite. Oh – and watch your email or facebook feed for a request to help us move all of our gear! (Those who help are guarenteed a party invite.)

Oh – if you want to see the photos of the renovation on the space, ‘like’ us on Facebook!

(And as always, thanks to our awesome graphic girl, Jenny Hamel in Ann Arbor)

— UPDATED —

All, thanks so much for the emails, phone calls, txts, tweets, and facebook hits with praise for the 2009 Houghton Spring Art & Music Festival. The response has been overwhelming to say the least. Thanks to all the musicians, vendors, downtown businesses, the Scott MacInnes & the City of Houghton, Carlton Crothers & the SmartZone, Todd & Jessie from Brassard Media, Bonnie & Cynthia & the Arts Ctr, PJ Olsson, Good Times Music… I could go on and on. Thanks to Todd & Meghan for cameraphone shots in the middle of the action below. Again – my personal and sincere thanks to everyone! We’ll do this again next year!!!

Daily Mining Gazette story

PJ’s Rock Camp blog

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Check it out, everyone. This year’s downtown festival is a little bit different from the previous 7. We’ll be setup in the middle of downtown, right in the middle of the road actually – taking up two full blocks of road. Check out the musical lineup as well. Everyone has been working especially hard on this one. Please distribute the link, the word, and the poster around.

Take a peek at the commercial that is going live today. (nice job Brassard Media! and way to get my little girl in it!

The Copper Country Community Arts Center and the City of Houghton present the 8th annual Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival on Saturday, June 13 -Shelden Avenue from noon-8pm.

The festival’s outstanding features include ~30 artist booths & demos, free family art activities, CCCAC Extreme Bake Sale, prizes from downtown businesses, and an awesome music line up. Food will be on site with T’s Taste of Chicago.

Music Line Up

Noon The Outlaws
1:20 Uncle Pete’s All-Star BBQ Blues Band
2:50 Orphans Torch
4:10 Joshua Davis and Joe Wilson from Steppin’ In It
5:30 Squeaky Clean Cretins
7:00 P.J. Olsson & Rock Camp

This year also features a “Frog Hop” activity.  We’ve received generous prizes and support from The Library, Down Wind Sports, Wicker & Willow, The Edge, The Lunch Bag, Good Times Music, The Blue Iris, and Silver Rae Bead Studio.  Stop by the Arts Center booth during the festival to pick up a Frog Hop card to take to our supporting businesses and receive a frog stamp.  Fill up your card with all eight stamps and return it to the Arts Center booth to be placed in a drawing for prizes.  Participants must be 18+ and present to win and will be announced before the final performance…

Speaking of the final performance, this year our headlining act will be P.J. Olsson who will be performing with over twelve young musicians ages fifteen and under as well as a hip-hop dance team.  Participants are in P.J.’s “Rock Camp 2009″.  Check out their website at www.pjsrockcamp.com.

Thank you to our sponsors Brockit Inc., Brassard Media, and MTEC Smart Zone!

Questions?  Call the Copper Country Community Arts Center at 906-482-2333
or e-mail ccarts@chartermi.net.

Bonnie, Adam & Todd in the studio - talking about the Festival

Bonnie, Adam & Todd in the studio - again - talking about the Festival

We’re gearing up to shoot at this year’s annual Great Bear Chase up at in Calumet. I personally have been shooting this race for about a decade, so its always a pleasure to come up and work. Its a ton of fun too; 500+ skiers, unpredictable weather, and the die-hard attitude of the skiers make it a blast. This year like previous years we’ll be shooting in an official capacity with multiple photographers from a variety of locations, processing, and posting images to the storefront area of the website. Note that las year we were shooting as part of a media project and not as official race photographer – thus no 2007 images online. This year please thank Arnie and the race organization for hiring Brockit Inc. because with our agreement, all racers will be able to download low-res images straight off the website for no cost which are perfect for facebook, tacking on your office wall, refrigerator, or emailing to your friends who have no idea of what a 500 racer event in the middle of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula looks like! Physical prints up to 30″ and high resolution downloads will be available for purchase.

So if you are racing on March 8th, look for our crew (Emily, Rebecca, or me) on the trails, wipe the frozen snot from your face and look like you are having fun!