Wow…this post is way overdue! These last few weeks have been a whirl-wind from WPPI in Vegas, to portrait shoots and to designing new MOD studio books. Many more exciting blog posts to come…we promise. Oh and we did a mentor session!

At the beginning of the year we were contacted by the charming Maranda Peterson from Urban Chic Portraits about if we offered mentoring sessions….and we were like ‘hellzzz yeah!’. She resides + runs the business from Yuma, Arizona which is about 4 hours from us here in Tucson. As we got to know each other more through email she was quick to share that she co-owns the photography business with her best friend! Their friendship started in the 7th grade!!! How cool is that?. Maranda is the west gal and Channon is currently the east coast. They were both sooooo eager to learn from us and we were delighted to share how we do things around here in purple nickel land. Since they specialize in portraits as we do it was a match made in heaven.  These two asked some great questions and wanted to focus on re-branding development, how to strive in creating friendly and superb customer service within a company, designing a portrait session around their client’s needs as well as their own (so they can rock out their visions) and last but not least developing a really fun custom ordering and viewing process that WOW’s them everytime. We strive in making our mentoring sessions about what YOU (the photographer/biz owner) want to gain and how to work on your strengths.  We also do throw in a few ‘MUST KNOW’S’ that we feel have helped us to succeed…especially when you share co-ownership. It’s a perfect pairing. Eric & I are strong believers in following our life’s passion. Work is a huge part of anyone’s life…so you better LOVE what you do.

FYI…this is sort of a long photographic blog post. Way too many cool shots that we just couldn’t leave em’ out. Plus finally some ‘behind the scenes’ images too.

Thanks again Maranda + Channon for such a fantastic afternoon. We can’t wait to see your business blossom and shine***  We wish you the best in your journey as photographers!

And muchos gracias to my sister Julie for modeling again for like the one millionth trillionth time…she secretly likes it! Shhhhhh……

Channon + Maranda





























You know we had to get some of these!














The next few images are courtsey of Urban Chic Portraits & their perspective…

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This is our second edition to our new segment called ‘finders keepers’! See our 1st post…HERE!  So we’ve been slacking a bit in the blog world and we do apologize but this one makes up for our time away.  Eric & I were first introduced to the lovely overwhelming but delightful world of Etsy a few months back by our good friend Erin Durband.  One might ask ‘where the heck have you been living if you haven’t know about Etsy???!!!‘. Yes this is true.  We probably have heard in numerous conversations through passing about the site that buys and sells all things homemade but really never explore it.  And that’s a bummer.  Cause we sure as hell are exploring it NOW!!!  And honestly we’re addicted…BOTH OF US!!! Ha. It’s consuming and if you don’t have a few hours to grace the pages please wait until you do. The artists that are showcased are AH-mazing. The talent that is on this site is beyond extraordinary.  We can’t believe what some people come up with and envision.  Their creativity makes us so jealous that we wanna pull out a thread n’ needle like now.  Though we can only do a slight hem to a pant leg…LOL.  That’s about it. Oh and maybe a button here & there.  Please check out the site if you haven’t already….you won’t be disappointed.

So a few weeks ago we  finally made an account with Etsy as buyers (maybe sellers one day).  And all because we found these two bad boys. And they’re too cool it’s bad!  Oh you can be envious…it’s ok.  A while back we sketched out an art wall for our newly painted production office with the means to create a 3×3 grid wall of vintage cameras encased in plexieglass sq boxes from CB2 (that’s a hint to our next finders keepers segment).  We also knew that we wanted to collect vintage cameras that we’re completely different from each other in style, look and film formats. And in working condition to boot!!!  Not only would they be pretty*** but they would be put to work.  We already have about half our collection started and just had to grab these two gems up.


. Argus C3

. This was the first mass produced 35mm rangefinder from 1939-1966

.  It’s nicknamed ‘the brick’ because of its size and weight

. General camera model has black leather veneer but this was professionally replaced with Mahogany wood (GORGEOUS) and in excellent condition!!!

. Seller: ROTE








. Polaroid Land Camera Model 80A

. Production years 1957-1959

. Original retail value $72.75

. It’s nicknamed the ‘highlander’

. Measures 7 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ deep & when open the depth is 6″ and in excellent condition

. The Polariod 80A was the camera used by Mary Moorman when she captured the famous photograph of JFK’s assasination seconds after the fatal shot.

. Seller: The Cottage Cheese








. Images courtsey of Esty sellers Rote & The Cottage Cheese

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