OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!! The time has arrived……….we have a new studio space for Purple Nickel!!! I know right?! It still hasn’t set in and we are constantly muttering ‘I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS SPACE IS OURS!‘. And in unison. Ok maybe not at exactly the same time but it does get brought up at least 10 times while were in the space. We officially got the keys last Tuesday. HOLY CRAP! We have always kept our eyes peeled for a RAD space that would support our creative juices and when we stumbled across this one it was way too good to pass up. We almost didn’t even know of its existence. As we were leaving from checking out 3 other spaces in the same building, it was brought up that a certain tenant had 2 SPACES up at the end of the month. So we immediatly said ‘where’s the other one?‘. The landlord casually replied ‘oh on the second floor…yeah it has exposed red brick walls, natural window light and hard wood floors!‘. ‘WHAAAAAAT?!‘. Unfortunately that day we couldn’t see inside the space and could only get a glipse through some casement windows that lead up the stairs. For the next two weeks we went CRAZY!!! Yes we had to wait that long to view it after the current tentant moved out. Our stomachs were tied in knots. I think mine more than Eric’s. Every second we debated ‘should we do it…should we not do it?‘ But the one thing we’ve realized over the years is WE MUST TAKE RISKS! And this is a big one…


And a BIG shout out to Erin & Don Durband for the awesome sweet ass hook up!!! We could have never done this without you guys and we LOVE YOU BUNCHES!

We can’t wait to show you our journey…

So you wanna strengthen your brand, develop a style that showcases your personality and take your biz to the next level?

AWESOME…let us help! (You heard it right, you get both of us)

There’s nothing more we enjoy then sharing our knowledge with fellow creatives. I mean come on, what could be better then sitting around shootin’ the breeze, eating some good food and taken some photos? Sounds like fun to us! That’s why we offer in person half day mentor sessions designed to meet your specific needs. In other words…you ask, we answer : )



If none of these dates suit your fancy…head on over to the sign up form to let us know when you’re thinkin’

In and around downtown Tucson, Arizona



What we’ll provide:

• A welcome lunch, mmm yummy!

• 4 hours of brainstorming, learning and laughing

• A mini shoot @ the end just for the hell of it





Channon of Urban Chic Portraits – “If you are a photographer ever looking to take your business to the next level you should hire Purple Nickel for a mentoring session. I just had one this week and WOW!!! So informative, fun and worth the time and money. Great people and great photographers. So much to learn from them about business and life. Thanks Casia and Eric!”

Check out their mentor session HERE!

Yay…another installment of ‘finders keepers’ here on the Purple Nickel Blog!!! It’s been awhile and I do miss sharing all the goodies we like, love and lust over.   Or should I say ‘drool’ over. Well this little find comes all the way from Scottsdale, Arizona! Ok so that’s only like 2 hours away from us here in Tucson but who’s counting. We picked up this cutie on Sunday after hearing about Design Within Reach’s floor model sale!!! Woo Hoo! And all thanks to Gabe, the store manager. SWEET. He promised to hold this Eames Plastic Molded Chair for us until the next time we were up in Phoenix. WE LOVE IT! Yes we only have 1…so far. But can’t wait to start a collection. We need at least 2 right?. And it’s a perfect shade of buttery yellow lime. YUMMY!  And totally perfect for our production office or a studio space.

Speaking of studio spaces, we have been exploring that concept for quite sometime now.  Probably for the last 3 years… but again who’s counting?.  Oh me, that’s right.  Yes… it’s always fun to look and we keep our eye’s peeled wide open for something that would suit our funky creative juices.  But what we’ve seen is that they’re either too dark (meaning NO flippin’ windows), boring drop down popcorn ceilings, musty smelling like a basement, corporate stuffy office-like, no parking that’s near by or for clients, not located near downtown Tucson or is just plain out of our price range.  I’m sure other photographers and biz owners share similar experiences?.  It’s crazy how many ‘duds’ you view.  Honestly I would say it’s just as tough as finding your ‘dream home’.  You know it exists, you just have to be patient.  Or build it! Ha. Well until that time comes (building) we are enjoying our options or at least laughing about them!

Eric just completed another one of our KILLER mod book designs and we totally want you all to check it out!  SUPER FUN!!!  This book was designed for the Puddy’s family portrait session we did at the Tempe Center for the Arts.  We LOVE that place and you’ll see why after viewing the images.  It’s totally our style because it contains sleek modern lines and textures.  Plus we kinda have a soft spot for large concrete walls.  Ok so below are a few spreads we selected to showcase that represent our style when designing our custom books.  The book is being constructed by one of our favorite album vendors COUTURE | BOOK.  We LOVE their products and can’t get enough of em’.

This book contains 43 spreads, 88 pages total.  WHOA…that must sound like a lot but actually it’s very simple to achieve especially if you were doing weddings.  It just takes creative thinking + simplicity.  Also back in March while attending WPPI we stumbled across the Harrison’s booth (another awesome husband + wife photography duo) to check out their latest album template creations!   H2O | CREATIVE is a branch of their company, launched to help enhance the creative work flow of other like-minded photographers.  They offer RAD customizable INDESIGN album templates for the MODERN artist.  We used their templates as inspiration for this one.  You gotta check them out!!!  Eric used to layout all our albums in PS, but not anymore. INDESIGN is the way to go…trust us.  Once you have it all set up and get the gist of things it’s PERFECTION! Plus, since we incorporate graphic elements in our MOD books it makes sense to use a program that’s vector based…insert happy face here!











To check out the whole book design…click HERE!!!