We also had a great opportunity to work with ACT Today again in January. They held a benefit concert and dinner at Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas and we donated our time to photograph the event. Act Today helps families that have been effected by Autism, especially underprivileged families. We feel great about helping them bring awareness to their organization and the cause.  To see a brief video of the photographs Bree took, click on this link.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzfJi-8GIBA

Last weekend we photographed a Bar Mitzvah at CEJE and Blue Ultra Lounge in Agoura Hills.  It was a great day, and we got sunshine!  The next day, we were at V.B.S. for their yearly Mitzvah and Bridal show.  It was a great event and we met a lot of nice families.  At the show we had a mailing list sign-up.  Everyone that entered will receive a $100 gift card towards Pixel Planet services, and the winner will receive a $300 gift card. We love the gift cards, because our clients like to hold onto them, more than a gift certificate.  This way they are more likely to use the gift card and not forget about it!  We use a company called 4 color print.  You can get to them by visiting www.4colorprint.com  They have been a pleasure to work with.  If you are not on our mailing list, email me your full name, email address and mailing address, and we’ll send you a $100 gift card!

Please let us know your feedback.  We always want to know what our clients are thinking!

We volunteered our services for a great event called Denim and Diamonds. The event was put on by Act Today, which is dedicated to helping families that have been affected by Autism. It was held in Hidden Hills at Lisa Gutmans house and arranged by a handful of Act Today volunteers. We had a great time and helped to raise money for a good cause.

We started the holiday card rush, which is always fun, yet challenging. This year we have many new styles to choose from, including an accordion style card that shows 8 different images… Which just happens to be my new favorite!

Today, I’m off to Beverly Hills to photograph a house and photographing a new jewelry line.  Bree is guest lecturing at her high school about being a Professional Photographer. Today is a cool day for her. I hope to see you all soon for some family portraits.

September started off perfect!  I took a mini vacation for my birthday, which was much needed.  5 days without seeing the studio was a great way to recharge the batteries.  Not that I don’t love the studio or my work, but too much of anything just isn’t good.  As always the time off went by way too fast, however it did give me a chance to reflect and get some new ideas.

I got back in the studio and we picked up where we left off.  Busy!!!  Today is the 21st and we’ve already shot 5 more jobs this month than we did all of last September.  Not bad for the worst economic year of my lifetime.  We’ve photographed many homes and luxury estates this month, including a massive 12,000 sq. ft. $12 million home in The Estates of The Oaks in Calabasas.  Of course there have been many other homes we photographed this month, most of which you can see on our YouTube channel at PixelPlanetPhoto or on our facebook fan page at http://tinyurl.com/qjvxxh

One of my favorite project this month was a house in El Encanto, Calabasas.  The house was very nice and well taken care of, but the special part was the agent, Renée Lamkay.  Renée was my Elementary School principal at Willow Elementary School in Agoura Hills.  How great is that… 21 years ago I was 10 years old and Renée was my school Principal… Now I’m 31 and we get to work together!  Funny how times change and even though we fight it, we all have to grow up eventually!

We have a great event this month at the Leonis Adobe Museum in Calabasas on September 27th from 12 noon to 6pm.  This is a family portrait event for families that would like a family portrait on location at the Leonis Adobe Museum. Cost is $125 and allows for a 25 minute portrait session, (1) 8×10, (1) 5×7 and (2) 4×6 prints.  Our families can also use their images from the day for their holiday cards, which we can custom design. As of today, we have 4 sessions still available.  If you’d like to reserve your appointment, please call us right away at (818) 222-3898.

This weekend is wedding weekend for us.  Adrienne and Dave will be married on Saturday in Woodland Hills, while Anne Marie and Larry will be married in Los Angeles on the same date.  Bree, Samantha and Eric will be with Anne Marie and Larry, while Margie, Monica and myself will be with Adrienne and Dave.  We’re going to capture some amazing images from both weddings, as usual!

That’s all I got for now.  Please let us know you are listening by writing us back on our blog.  Thank you!

Aaron and The Pixel Planet Team

Bree photographed a Mitzvah the same day as Wendy and Jim’s wedding.  She had a blast and of course, she got some great images for the Bat Mitzvah girl and her family!  Go Bree!  Bree also had an amazing Senior portrait shoot in August along with many great studio portrait sessions and a few location portraits as well.  It’s so much fun to watch Bree continue to evolve as a photographer!

We also photographed a few luxury condminium buildings that were recently completed in the Southern California area. They’ll use our images for marketing purposes (brochures, website, etc.) and hopefully be able to fill up the communities quickly.  As usual, we photographed numerous homes for sale this month.  It’s hard to choose a favorite since they are all so nice!

My favorite session this month was a family portrait session in Malibu with the Balter family.  The session started off a bit rocky because our clients weren’t all in the best of moods, but once we got them in the water a littel bit, everything changed!  They had a blast and so did we!  On top of it all, we got some of the most amazing family portraits we’ve ever taken.  My favorite is on our splash page representing our “People” website.

Lastly, we are very proud to have our new website up and running on Monday, August 31st!  We’ve been working on this website for over a month and are very proud to show it off to all our friends, family, clients and fans! Please check out both sides (“People” and “Places & Things”) of our new website and let us know what you think.