Like many families we have hundreds of photos that are priceless connections to the past. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents forever frozen in time for all the future generations to enjoy.
Photos tell stories in ways that mere words fail. You can see and feel times gone by and share a part of history with those that came before you.
I have always loved taking pictures. My very first camera was a Kodak Instamatic 104 with the revolutionary Flash Cube giving you FOUR flash shots in a row before having to change the bulb!
Unlike most people who struggle with career choices and how to spend their adult life my goal has been on a straight and narrow path since high school.
By age 15 I had photographed my first wedding and by my Junior year in high school I was doing senior portraits in homes and on location. This was back in 1971, way before digital!
After a couple years of photography school in Santa Barbara at Brooks Institute I came back to Redding to work with Dick Black Studio as a lab tech and the main wedding photographer.
From there I moved on to work at Crown Camera for a couple years and then finally opened my first studio across for the Greyhound bus station where Graphic Emporium is now located.
One of my first clients was the old KRDG radio station that had a promotion with Santa Claus dolls. Just for fun my Mom came into the studio with her day care kids for a quick shot to surprise the children.
After just a year we moved to a much bigger location on East Cypress that was next to the Riverfront Playhouse. With the new larger space and high ceilings we were able to build a real commercial studio with a high tech darkroom.
For several years we shot for clients like Jhirmack, KMS, Pac Bell, Meyer Motels plus weddings every weekend. Word got out that we photographed people much more magazine style than was common in the area so high seniors started calling in droves.
In the winter of 1995 we started remodeling our current building which we discovered on Trinity Street. Almost immediately we were greeted with one of the rare big snowfalls that occasionally catches the locals off guard.
Now in our 30th year (2008) we continue to be Redding's favorite portrait studio. With the ONLY Hollywood style portrait park, white room and twin camera rooms we have more backgrounds, sets and props than any North State studio. We are also the only Master/Craftsman studio recognized by the Professional Photographers of America and the only Five Star studio on the west coast.
