By random chance, this summer is quite slow for us. We have no weddings in July, and don’t start shooting again until mid August. Soooooo, we can sit around here in the heat and humidity, or we can do what we do best. Head out on an epic road trip summer adventure! We have no idea where we’re going, when we’ll get there, or what we’ll be doing there, but we do know this. We’re going to enjoy the heck out of this summer together as a family.

Here’s where you all come in. We’d LOVE to photograph families + couples along the way (we have some killer deals for our travel shoots!). Jenny teaches a mean Quickbooks class (she does have hidden talents in accounting, backed up by her MBA). We’re open to one-on-one mentoring as well, or any other fun idea you might have to collaborate with us! Really, we want to meet and hang with as many people as possible…that’s what life is all about, right?

I’ve attached a map that shows a tentative route (key word being tentative), so if you’re interested in hanging with the Solars, shoot us an e-mail to thesolars@solarphotographers.com and we’ll go from there!

Here’s to making this the best summer ever and we can’t wait to capture your LOVE in our own Solar way!

Thanks for following along on our journey! Now go enjoy your loved ones!

Here are the details for the mini-sessions:

Will be October 1st, 2011 in City Market (near our studio). You will get a 30 minute portrait session for your immediate family and a disc of the high resolution images (25-30 images). The cost is $525 (plus tax).

To reserve your spot, please send me an email to thesolars@solarphotographers.com and I will send you a paypal invoice. And I HIGHLY recommend getting on that ASAP.

THERE ARE ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE. Can’t wait to see you there!

Why do we do what we do? WHY do we choose to live our life the way we do? And it always comes back to our relationships with our loved ones. The ones we’re connected to the most, each other and our kids. We live our life pretty unconventionally. Both Jenny & I are pretty much stay at home parents. When we are spending time away from our kids, it’s doing something we love, photographing couples in love and families with strong connections.

Being with our kids and doing what we love has taught us many things, but the most important is that we should be LOVING the life we’re living, and we do our best to do just that. We like to have fun with our kids. We love traveling with them and visiting new places. We’re pretty spontaneous. Heck, I’m writing this post from the floor of a hotel room in Gatlinburg, TN while on the 4th day of our 2011 Spring Break road trip. And 2 weeks ago we were at Disney World. We’re trying our best to live a life full of joy, and to do the things we love with our amazing kiddos.

So, where does that leave us? With a new project, this project, which started just six short weeks ago, yet truly started six short years ago when our first child, Max, was born. It started with a tiny idea and happy music, but it also started with a much bigger idea, years ago, an idea that WE could raise a happy, loving family. An idea that WE could do things differently, that WE could have fun with our kids, that WE could live by our own rules.

So, here it is: our newest project, something we couldn’t possibly be more excited about or more proud of.

We’ve officially launched The Happy Family Movement website. And we’ve re-branded the Running in Circles blog (same url so no need to update) to fit in with it. You can also follow along with our Twitter account and our Facebook page will be live next week (hey, we are on vacation).

So, what is the Happy Family Movement? I’ll leave you with our manifesto and then encourage you to visit the website to find out more for yourself!

Raising a happy, loving family is one of the most important things we will do in this lifetime.
Because we know that happy kids raised in joy-filled environments will change the world.
That’s why we believe in …
jumping on the bed;
pancakes for dinner;
laughing ‘til you cry;
loving unconditionally.
We believe in creating memorable experiences for our family and sharing that love with the world.
We believe happiness is not something you find.  It’s something you make.
So go ahead… Cut loose. Live out loud. Love a lot!
The Happy Family Movement.

Back by popular demand, we’ll be having our January canvas sale again this year! Here are the details:

January 16th through January 31st
25% off all canvas orders placed during this time

If you need me to reactivate your gallery, just send me an email! This sale comes only once a year, so don’t miss out!

NOTE: This post is a sticky and will be at the top until January 19

Please e-mail jenny@solarphotographers for more info and to reserve your spot! See you soon!

Mini sessions will go on sale October 15th at 8 am. We are only offering 6 mini sessions, so if you want in on this deal, mark your calendars! (P.S. We fully expect these sessions to sell out quickly!)

Here’s the details:
30 minute session held in the City Market area surrounding our studio and a disc of the images (30-35), fully edited and high resolution, delivered before Thanksgiving!

Fine small print:
Cost: $450 (plus tax!)
How to sign up: Email me at jenny@solarphotographers.com or call me at (816) 522-8010 at 8 am sharp on 10/15!
How to pay: Send paypal payment to thesolars@solarphotographers.com. If you don’t have a paypal account, we can also accept credit cards.

It’s finally time for our 4th Shoot Day! We’ve been having a lot of requests lately for another one.  And this time we’ll be focusing on how we work with kids.  And, for those that don’t know, Shoot Days are a joint collaboration between us & Kelley Photo, it’s a time for some networking, learning a few tips & tricks, and most importantly, a time for fun!  So, what are you waiting for, e-mail jenny@solarphotographers.com if you have any questions or want to sign up.

So, what does that mean for dogs at Solar Photographers? Nothing much, except that all my future Wayside Waifs posts will be on Banana Abby.  And, also, in keeping with the Solar Photographers giving back model, Wayside Waifs gets 10% of all proceeds from any Banana Abby session (this includes all products purchased) any time, year round, until the end of time.  I really love that place.  The people are great, and the animals are well taken care of.

Jumping back on topic.  Please take a few moments (if you care to) and head over to Banana Abby and check out the new site.  You can also find Banana Abby here:

Banana Abby on Facebook

Banana Abby on Twitter

The only thing dog related you’ll be hearing from me anymore on here is an occasional link to some Wayside pictures, because, dang it, the more people see those cute faces, the more cute animals get adopted.  Thanks for taking the time to read everyone, and thanks for helping make my life so wonderful!  I really can’t imagine doing anything else with my life than capturing meaningful pictures for so many wonderful people.