Last week we headed up to Bucks County to meet the Granoffs and shoot for their family (as well as the two of them). These guys live in the mountains, beside a state park, cliffs and a whole bunch of awesome scenery. They quickly skyrocketed up our favorite clients list by giving us some homegrown, organic eggs. People like them are so cool… we just hope to make them look that way!

Last week we finally got back out there and this week our blog with be chock full of new stuff. Our first shoot back was for the Lenzo family. We’ve known their daughter Rachel for a long time now (she was part of our Portrait Project last year). Her brother Tim is a marine and they wanted to get some shots of them together as a family just before Tim was deployed for Afghanistan. We got to go to the wonderful town of Ellicott City, MD to shoot for them, got to wander around the property of some kind strangers and Amy got to know what it’s like to get hit on by a giant yellow lab (‘hit on’ is putting it very mildly). Enjoy…

Amy and I owe you guys a huge debt of gratitude and thanks. This year, we hit the 5-year mark with our business. Back when I started the business, my father-in-law shared a book with me that had two stats I’ve always remembered since: 80% of businesses fail within the first year. 80% of those that survive fail before the 5th year. For those scoring at home, that means that we’re officially part of the other 4% now… and it feels great. But it really has very little to do with us.

From the beginning of the business until now, there are a few things that have stayed the same. While we’ve grown, expanded and improved, we still have never had to pay a dime to advertise anywhere. And we owe all of that to YOU. If we’re being honest, we owe this whole business to YOU. From the get go, we learned just how amazing our clients are. The fact that you guys take your time to look at our work, share it with other people and recommend us to friends still blows our minds. We have some people (other than our parents) who have been looking at our blog for almost 5 years now… and that was an UGLY iWeb site back then. We honestly cannot thank you enough times for what you mean to our lives. YOU have given us a career that we love, and made us so happy to do it for you. From the bottom of our hearts, we say thank you.

2011 really was a remarkable year for us. We had 148 shoots (that’s one more than last year if you’re scoring at home), delivered around 50,000 finished images and met hundreds (maybe thousands?) of new people. We shot everywhere from our own living room to Munich, Germany, for newborns and in hospice facilities. made our way across the country a few times and even out of it… and next year promises to take us even further away!

So without further ado, here’s some of our favorite shots from the year. We’re sorry in advance if we didn’t include some people/favorites. We had to at least attempt to keep this to a reasonable length… I recommend you watch on full screen in HD mode :)

If you’re curious, the music was (in order): Mat Kearny, Count on Me • Breanne Duren, Gold Mine • Brooke Fraser, Something in the Water • Josh Garrels, A Far-Off Hope

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank each one of you for the very important role you play in our lives. God has blessed us tremendously by having you support our work and we can’t thank you enough for that. We hope everyone had a great 2011, and we can’t wait to see you all in 2012!

Oh, and before I forget, if you’re interested in this year’s Shoot Me for FREE contest (which will be the biggest and best yet), you should probably make sure to check our blog next week between Christmas and New Years.

But before we get on to today’s photos, please allow me to make a brief holiday-themed statement…

I think that anyone who has a job realizes that there are other people out there that help to put a roof over their heads. Whether that’s donors, taxpayers, advertisers or any number of other things. Of the many things God has blessed us with, one of the best is the ability to directly communicate and work for the people that help put food on our table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads. Among the many things we don’t do enough, saying thank you is perhaps the biggest. And without a doubt, one of the things we’re the most thankful for is those of you who check out our work, recommend us to friends and hire us. From the bottom of our hearts we’re extremely thankful for YOU. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!