Miscellaneous, Exciting stuff!

Hey everybody!

----Congratulations to Jessica and Brent, who booked June 5th, 2010, with us! We've already had such a great time with them photographing their engagement, and we're really looking forward to their warm wedding!

----Thanks to my 1000th facebook friend: Candice KausHagen. She's a photographer in Florida who shoots a lot at the beach! Must be fun! I remember meeting her and her friend, Jess, at the [b] school party on my birthday.

----About 2009 bookings: as you know, I am now booked for 2009 weddings. However, I do a few portrait sessions a month, so if you are needing portraits give me a call!

----Congrats to Jenny and Bennett who booked Lauren and Jessica for their September 12th, 2009, wedding! Lauren and Jessica only have a few open dates left, so let us know if you want to book them!

Stay safe and warm!
Dale

Local [b] school get together...

Hey everybody! I'm mobile blogging... We're out on Dickson after a crazy day of photographing tons of kids, so I can't be long.

Yesterday, we had a blasty-blast meeting with some of our local photographer buddies from the [b] school. One thing I love about this area lately is the attitude some of the photogs in our area have. Gone are the days where photogs have to be territorial and über-competitive. Ever since Mere and I started a [b] school group for photogs in NWA, the doors of communication and sharing have swung wide open.

For our first official gtg we met at common grounds and just chatted and chatted. A good time was had by all, and we (of course) had to take a group pic ;)


Then Adam (from Dodson Studio in Rogers) and I shared a really special moment.


If you're a photog in the area and are interested in our fun little group, join the [b] school and our new fun club!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Steven and Heather's engagement session!

Hey everybody!

If you're a razorback basketball fan, you know who Steven Hill is. My little nickname (which he doesn't know I have for him) is "The Gentle Giant" because he is genuinely the nicest 7 foot tall guys I've ever met. Maybe he's just permanently in a good mood because of his gorgeous, super cool fiance, Heather!

This shoot has been in the works for awhile. Actually, Heather called us over the night after Steven proposed (and Meredith cried!) to see her stunning ring. The former Razorback star plays for the Tulsa 66ers, the NBA Developement league team, and is on a pretty tight schedule. I was so glad that he was able to steal some time away and shoot the engagement shots here in Fayetteville.

Lauren and I had such a great day to photograph Sunday. It was sunny and warm (I'm sick of the cold already!) so we were able to hit some of our favorite places. Because the U of A campus is special to Steven and Heather, they wanted to start there. Then, Lauren and I took them to the park because they have their adorable pup, Mia, and wanted some images with her. After leaving the park with lots of "pretty" pictures, we decided to go grunging a little bit and shot at a couple urban settings.
Once we got home, Meredith rocked out some mad photoshop and finished the pics in record time. Go team! :)

I hope you enjoy!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Us. But Goofy.

Hey everybody! A couple weeks ago we had Lauren photograph us (Mere had to show off her new haircut) Though we did lots of great portraits, I wanted to put up a collage of our silly side: a side that comes out all too often.

You like?

Sweet words from a sweet couple...

Hey everybody!
Meredith and I love to hear happy stories from our couples... so we were stoked when we got this email on Valentine's Day just after we posted Aaron and Amanda's engagement video on our blog (they must have an email notification set up for our daily updates... ha ha ha!)

--------------------------------

Dale,

Hey!...I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know how much I appreciate what you and Meredith did for us on the video. So thank you guys so much. We both absolutely loved the video. I can tell you that seeing Amanda happy is one of the greatest things I can imagine. So I want to tell you thank you twice from me. Once for the awesome job yall did on the video and twice for the joy that I saw in Amanda last night. You guys are amazing. Thanks again.

Aaron

--------------------------------

We had such a fun time photographing their engagement session! And now, we appreciate it all the more because the trees that we photographed in for the first and only time were hit by the ice storm. :( We're now on the search for another equally cool place.

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Jessie's Secret Session (2 of 2)

Hey Everybody!

And now for my favorites (and from the amazing lot yesterday, you know these have to be phenom!)...







Again, if you're interested in Meredith making you look crazy-hott, call or email her! 479-871-2479; meredithmcclary@gmail.com

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Jessie's Secret Session (1 of 2)

Hey Everybody!

One of the things we're excited to share from our Vegas trip is Jessie's Secret Session. Mere has really honed her craft at capturing the beauty of women in such an intimate setting. She loves doing Secret Sessions and girls always go on and on about how fun she is in the bedroom (HA HA HA!!!! She'll kill me when she reads this!);

She's been really looking forward to all the secret sessions we have scheduled with our current brides (grooms, have your ladies call Meredith!). Shoot her an e-mail if you wanna look as amazing as Jessie does in the portraits below...







Great, GREAT stuff! Call Mere to set up yours! 479-871-2479

Talk to you soon,
Dale

City's lookin' like a ghost town...

Hey everybody!

While in Vegas, we were also doing some shooting. Our first shoot was with some other photographers in an old run-down town an hour outside of the city. Two of the photographers are Amy and Molly (from our earlier post), so check out their blogs and see what kinda stuff they got from the same shoot.

Cool location, huh? The cacti did not enjoy me. As a matter of fact, they jumped onto my shoes and stung my feet. Jerks.


And another shot of our pretty location...


Some of fellow photographers, Miranda and Adam of Reminisce Photography...




And some of our unique models...





And to end, a random, electrifying pic... :)


Stay tuned tomorrow for a VERY cool shoot! Meredith and I had a secret session while we were there, and it turned out Uhhhh-Mayyyy-ZING!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

The reason I couldn't wait to get home...

Hey Everybody!

Let me just say, I DID have a blast in Vegas. Something that surprised me a great deal is how many photographers came up to me and already knew my name. It's never been a goal of mine to be known by many, or any, but to be the best photographer I could be for my clients, and the best teacher I could be for my students and fellow photographers. I will say that I'm flattered by the photographers I met, and inspired by the photographers I watched.

One person that Meredith and I had not planned on meeting, because we didn't know she existed, was Keats Elliot. She is the brains behind one of our favorite products, Shootsac, one of our new favorite products, Hipslip, and is also hilariously outgoing and a ball full of fun! Meredith and Keats both had corporate marketing backgrounds, so they had a lot in common. If we lived in SoCal, I'm sure we'd be BFFs!

Okay, so I've been blabbing all about what I loved about Vegas, but the point of this was to talk about why I wanted so badly to come home. That's easy: Ellie. Meredith and I have been without our sweet little redhead for WAYYYY too long! Plus, we had to celebrate my birthday!

Here's a few things we did today: ate a cake that looked like a Cubs hat (made by my momma), had a photo shoot (a picture of that is below), and wrote a new story that we'll film tomorrow. It's about a teddy bear, named Ted, who can talk. You're in for a treat.

So, it's nice to be back where we belong!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Highlights from Vegas, part 2

Hey everybody!

Meredith and I are traveling back home today from Vegas. We have TONS to blog about, and couldn't be more excited to get you all up to date on some of the things we did while we were there!

As you likely know, Mpix asked me to speak at their booth, and I was so happy and honored to help them out. They were great and treated Meredith and me so well while we were there, treating us to multiple meals and great conversations. We're even helping them with the design of some new products. We'll be super excited to incorporate them into our current packages.

So, that's what the images below are all about...
This is right before I started talking the first day...

Here's a shot of Mere and me from Prime inside the Belaggio, the super fancy steakhouse where 1 oz. of steak can cost as much as 32 dollars - yikes!

And here's the entire Mpix and Miller's clan with us photographers mixed in.

Some Highlights from Las Vegas, part 1

Hey everybody!
I hope you all have had a great week - we definitely have! Believe it or not, we haven't gambled the entire time we've been here because we've been completely busy every day and night. So, I thought I'd post some images from what we've been up to.
As you likely know, my birthday was Monday, and we had a super fab party to go to. B School founder, Becker, had a rockin' fun party at the Palms in the Real World suite, and was definitely the highlight of the parties we attended.

Here's a shot of us from the party...


And here are Rob and Kathleen, our wedding photographer friends from Connecticut we met in Phoenix last month...


And us with our friends Amy from Ardent Photography and Molly from MThree Photography... (you better click on her link - it's to her blog that has a funny little picture of my and a piece of cactus)


My cutie-baby...


I thought I looked skinny, so I HAD to put this on here ;)


So, that's it for now. Stay tuned for the 2nd part tomorrow when I show some more highlights.

Talk to you soon,
Dale

2009: Sold Out!!!

Hey everybody!

I booked my final 2009 wedding today! If you're planning an '09 wedding, our associate photographers still might have your date available, but there aren't many of those dates left either. We only take a certain number of weddings each year so that I can continue our great customer service and our RADICAL 1-week-turnarounds on your wedding images.

It's now time for me to start working making 2010 as amazing as 2009!

Congrats to our recent 2010 bookings:

Jenna and Andrew - June 12
Mollie and Steven - June 26

Meredith and I wanna thank you for all your support! We love our job and we owe our continued success to our friends and our family!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Hey everybody!

It's my birthday! I'm going to spend it working all day, but I'm 100 percent fine with that! We've been having so much fun in Las Vegas, it feels like my birthday has been everyday.

Here's my schedule for today:
8am - catch the first hour of a platform class
9am - Have breakfast with John from Mpix
10:30 - Tradeshow madness
12:30 - lunch with Mere
1:30 - Speaking at the Mpix booth!
2pm - Run around the trade show
3:30 - Second platform class
5:30 - Dinner
6;15 - Third platform class
8:45 - Meet Kathleen and Rob and head to the:
9pm - [b] Party at the Palms Real World Suite - aka my BIRTHDAY PARTY from Becker
1am - Head back to MGM

I told you my schedule because if you try to call me today to wish me a happy birthday and I don't answer, it's because I'm so busy. I really appreciate you!

Here's a picture of Meredith and me at the Finabulous Finao party last night. We met a couple photographers from around the US that picked our brain and entertained us with funky photo stories. Fun stuff! How 'bout the balcony view!


I hope you have as great of a day as I am having!
Talk to you soon!
Dale

P.S. Wanna see updates throughout the day, and throughout my trip?! Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/dalebenfield

Silly Self-Portraits

Hey everybody!
Meredith and I are having such a great time here! Even though the classes don't really start until tomorrow, we've been super busy networking with some of our favorite fellow photographers. Anyway, even though we've been working a lot, we've spent a little bit of time being silly -- which I think is very important. :)
See!
A few of Mere and me in messin' around the hotel.



During dinner with Becker, he decided to put Meredith in a headlock.

After kung-fu fighting, and me winning, we all made up.


Talk to you soon,
Dale

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey everybody!

Happy Valentine's Day! And if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday! :)

I thought Valentine's Day would be the very best day to upload and show a video Meredith and I shot of one of our adorably sweet engaged couples, Aaron and Amanda. In the middle of the video, you'll see me in action ;) Hope you enjoy!


Aaron and Amanda's engagement video from Dale Benfield on Vimeo.

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Hello from Vegas!

Hey everybody!
Meredith and I are safe and sound here in Las Vegas, and are pumped for what the next week holds for us! We're going to have so much fun doing so much work!

Above is the view from the hotel room - I like it!

It's been a bad week for airplanes, I guess, and even though we had a landing gear malfunction we are safe! We did see a plane shooting out fire yesterday when we got here, but the crew turned the plane right around and landed, and they were all safe too! Yikes!! And of course, there was a plane crash in NY, which is terrible news. So, that reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: I felt sorry for myself for not having any shoes, until a saw a man with no feet. Or something like that. I'm very fortunate in life, and I try to remember that!

Okay, talk to you soon!
Dale

P.S. How cool is this that I pulled off the mpix blog?!!!

Katie's Baby Shower

Hey everybody!

(read aloud in your best infomercial tone) She can do weddings, she can do fancy dinners, she can do appreciation parties, next up... Jenessa Bailey wows us all with a fabulous baby shower!

ha ha ha...

Seriously, she is good at everything she does! Meredith and I are always blown away by her fantastic taste, creative ideas, and meticulous eye for detail. When I photographed Katie's baby shower Saturday, it was a culmination of all these. Now, she'll say that she had help from her friends and co-hosts. That is true. The team did an amazing job.

The bird and nest theme was super cute and really well developed! I tried to photograph as many of the details as possible, so this blog might have more pictures than the normal post. But that's good, right?!

Cute cupcakes, right?

Our friend Aubree preparing to write on the back of the diaper - such a fun idea (as someone who has changed a diaper late at night personally)...

Hostess with the Mostest...

My new friend Rachel checking out some of the party details...




Katie and the Hostesses...

Tiffany, Katie, and two really cute bellies!

Katie with the mommas...


Such a fun group!!


Talk to you soon!
Dale