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For some reason August seemed particularly long and extra hot this year so when I was out running some errands the other day I saw the light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a school zone’s flashing light.

As much as I hate school zones it does signify to me that my favorite time of year has finally returned.  Being a native Texan there is one event that you always look forward to each autumn, the first northern cold front.

A small chill tingles up your arm; over your shoulder and down your spine as the winds of change slowly build with intensity forcing their way through the trees pushed by the ominous clouds of the north filling the air with the refreshing smells of fall.

There are so many things I love about this time of the year, football begins, the A/C goes off while the windows are opened, the holidays simply rock and people in general seem to relax and be happier.

The leaves begin to change color and make for some amazing photographs. With the shift in seasons the skies respond in turn by casting wonderful textures of light on everything. This allows me to photograph my favorite way in beautiful natural light.

So as I gather my gear together and prepare to head out and capture all the wonders of this season I wish you all the best and hope each of you take some time to reflect on the year and enjoy the holidays.

Last week I finally had a chance to make it down to Houston to visit an old friend from high school and photograph her and her wonderful son.

As for Houston, it was typical Houston, insane highways and drivers, horribly hot, humidity that penetrates pores you never knew you had and mosquitoes that can take down a small elephant in under a minute. I’m kidding, well kind of.  Ha-Ha!

The scenery around Houston was wonderful with amazing sunrises and sunsets, cool buildings and loads of cultural diversity throughout the surrounding suburbs. I wish I had had more time there but in the end I did come home with some nice shots and I plan on making a return trip soon.

As for my friend Patricia and her 6 year old son Nicholas, they were wonderful. We started out at her parents beautiful home where Kole got to shoot some hoops and his dog Weenie got to run around being cute. Tricia and Kole are two “peas-in-a-pod” and just love to goof around with each other making for some adorable pictures.

Next we headed to a park close to the house where he had been playing since he was a toddler. It was mid day around 1 pm, partially cloudy and flat out hot. There were some nice trees for shade but once you stepped in the shadows the mosquitoes attacked! It was crazy and we shot fast and furiously. I was a bit concerned about the shots due to the severe lighting conditions but they turned out great.

Being hot and tired I suggested we find an ice-cream shop. Kole agreed and off we went.  The ice-cream shop was a wonderful choice and turned out being a great place to shoot. While Tricia and Kole ate their ice ream I continued to shoot away. Once Kole cooled off he turned on his true charm. He has a ton of faces he likes to make and they are insanely cute and funny. I used the natural lighting coming from the main windows to capture them. It was just one of those times where everything comes together and it becomes almost magical.

Running out of time we headed back to Tricia’s parents house and did a few more shots. Kole continued to be a goof and I finally got some of the personal mom and son shots I was after, as well as ones with Kole and his best friend, his dog Weenie. These pictures along with the others captured throughout the day made the whole trip worth while.

Special thanks to Kole, Weenie, Tricia, Tricia’s Parents and Kole’s Dad.

Wow the first half of the year flew by… I think you can gauge how old you are by how fast time flies bye. Anyway, I have not made a post since the beginning of the year and figured it was about time I did.

Most of the work I have done this year was on the commercial/corporate side of things, new websites, some video depositions and photography of course. It seems like there are two seasons for me, first half of the year is more corporate projects while the second half is more personal non-commercial work. I like the change myself it keeps me on my toes.

So it is now time to put on that holiday hat and get people setup for their holiday pictures, cards and other wonderful fun things. Because before you know it summer will be over the kids will be back in school and Saint Nick will be knocking on our door.

Hope everyone has a Safe and Happy 4th; I will be out getting some new fireworks shots myself!

To start off the New Year I added new options for print packages to the in store products. Now you can choose a preset print package which will not only save you money but also time. Unlike other companies that limit the amount of poses when buying print packages you can mix or match as many of your photographs as you want.

In addition to the print packages all 5×7 and larger prints will now receive my Professional Photograph Retouching Service for FREE! This means I will spend extra time on your large size prints cleaning up any minor artifacts, blemishes and making general corrections so each print will look its very best.

You might also notice I made a few cosmetic adjustments to the store and website. Nothing major just a few tweaks to help improve the user friendliness of things and simplify things down the road.

Please feel free to post up any comments or suggestions.

As we close this decade and year many thoughts come to mind. It has been quite a journey for all of us in many different ways. Our sense of security has been tested in more ways than one.

For me the 2000′s were a decade of turmoil, change and growth. I started off feeling I had things under control but ended up fighting the same battles I had always fought and getting the same results. It was not until the past few years that I finally started taking seriously many of the lessons life was trying to teach me. Some of which required strength and courage to over-come while others simply required me to open my eyes and stop doing them.

With a renewed focus and determination towards my future I am excited about the journey that lies ahead. I made a promise to myself to accomplish more meaningful things than I ever have by not allowing anyone or anything to detour me.

I wish each and every one of you the very best over the holidays. May not only the next year, but the next decade be a blast with more of your dreams realized then ever before.

At the end of November I had the pleasure of shooting Danni and Michael’s beautiful wedding held at a historical chapel in Rowlett, TX called Sacred Heart.

It was a great day and I took a lot of shots that are now up in the store. I will try to put into words some of what I saw.

The heritage of a church set the stage for an amazing day while a comfortable breeze lifted the spirits of all allowing the warm glistening rays of light to illuminate the magical scene.

As the groom stood stoic awaiting his new adventure to begin his father offered him one final shake of his hand filled with pride only a father can know while his mother’s eyes filled with tears of joy.

Mean while, his soon to be bride, shimmering with beauty, made her way across the courtyard and up the stairs to the wooden doors that had long been the gate way to a new life for generations. Prior to crossing the threshold of the doorway, she took one last breathe reflecting on the journey that had been and was yet too come.

Within a moment she raised her head and acknowledged it was time. As she did a sense of serenity sparkled in her eyes, for the day she had long awaited was finally here and with it, a dream was realized…

Those are just a few of the moments I bared witness to through the lens of my camera.

My thanks to both Danni and Michael and may you both live happily ever after…

Wow… time flies once Halloween passes.

In the past couple of weeks I had the pleasure of shooting the McDanal and Aponte families for their holiday cards and fall family pictures. It was a two family shoot at a park in Richardson on a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

It was fun and action packed with two families, multiple kids and a dog what else would you expect? I was very pleased with the results and both families were great to work with. They both ended up with a lot of wonderful pictures making the holiday card selection difficult, which is a good thing from my point of view.

Currently I am in the process of developing all of my gift card, photo book and other product options in the store so keep your eyes open for them. In the mean time if you need any of those items let me know and I will get you a quote.

For those of you who use Facebook you can now become a fan of Royce Bishop Photograph. Just visit the link at the bottom of the website page.

This past week I had the pleasure of shooting the McDaniel family at a beautiful park in Grand Prairie.

With all of the rain the past month it has made things quite wet and kind of messy which does not bode well for family portraits. I ended up making a number of trips to various parks over the past week or so trying to find a good location. I finally located one and made the appointment which was appropriately backed up to the following day due to more rain.

It was kind of nice because the day we chose turned out beautiful. We traveled throughout the park shooting at various spots that were not too hammered by rain or flooding. I have to give it to the McDaniel’s; they came with great spirits and were up for anything I asked of them. The shoot took a little longer than expected and I pushed it will past the sun going down which turned out some amazing shots. Then the mosquitoes took over and we ran as fast as we could to the safety of our cars.

I need to pass along a special thank you to Chris Sanford for assisting and hanging in there even with the mosquitoes, which took a special liking to him and, tried to eat him alive. You ARMY guys are tuff no matter what they say.
Also this week I had a few corporate headshots which turned out quite nice. Thanks to those involved for being so photogenic.

I will get some samples of everything posted up shortly.

Until next time,
Royce

I would like to thank all of the wonderful people at my wife’s law firm for being super patient with me as I got  the website up and running and also for being being excellent models.

They were the first to place orders and by all accounts it worked perfectly.   They got some special edition edits of their photographs as a thank you for all their help and feed back.

I am still in the process of playing catch-up on some of the dog park photographs but the majority of them are up. Contact me for a password if you are interested in seeing them.

I need to send out a special Thank You to the Sanford Family for allowing me to do their family portraits with my studio setup. It was a lot of fun and the pictures turned out excellent.

I will be back soon with more news and updates.

Royce

Well it has taken months to get to this point but I finally made it. My website, store, and blog are open. I will be updating a few more things but the majority of it is up and running.

I will be back soon with more info and updates in the mean time explore the new stuff I hope you like it.

Royce