To all of the mommas out there just wanted to say Happy Mothers day. Being a mom is one of the most important jobs in the world, you are helping to shape the future by being a good influence and teacher to your children. The love and support you provide to a family are so important. I hope you all have a wonderful day today and get to spend it with you family.

To my wife (who by the way never, ever, ever, ever lets me take her photo), thank you so much for dedicating your life to raise our two little ones. I know its the hardest job in the world, but you are doing a great job! Watching you with the kids brings a smile to my face, you are so loving and sensitive. It really has shown a new side to you that I never really saw before and you have become an amazing mom! Thank you for all that you do with the kids, the house, and all of the millions of tasks that get thrown your way.

To my mom, thank you for always being there for me. You have always been right by my side always there to help out and lately such a tremendous help with the babies. Faith looks so forward to seeing her Gramina every week and it’s such a huge help to have you and dad there to help out. We love you and appreciate everything you do for us.

Here is one of the rare moments I was able to capture my wife on film:

And to go old school, a quick photo of me and my mom. Don’t you love that 70′s gold

I am stoked to have a 2nd iPad app live in the app store. I started writing a few mini books awhile back to help educate photographers wanting to start shooting weddings or portraits. There are so many questions I get from people that normally are the same questions people have when getting into photography. I also see so many people starting out that lack a certain creative element in their photography. Normally some of the more advanced things like Lighting are missed by most people starting out. So over the past year I have been working on putting down on paper some of the many things in my head that I think people can really learn from.

I wanted to create some guides that were really easy to learn, easy to understand and covered the technical parts of photography but in a not so technical way. As a photographer I am visual, after college I would still keep up with my photo education and read books, attended seminars and workshops and usually was pretty uninspired by the way the information was presented. Normally it was so technical that it lost my attention after a few minutes and I put the book on the shelf never to be picked up again. So I set out to create some tools for people to learn and be inspired and also wanted to create them at a very good price, really a no brainer. When the iPad was released I was excited, it really is a perfect medium to learn on . You have a nice large screen as well as something that feels great in your hand like a book but can be so interactive. So far I have created a Portrait 101 and a Wedding Photography 101 guide that right now are only $1.99!

Here is some more info about the latest app, you can view both apps in iTunes here. These are also available for the iPhone or iPod touch!

Wedding Photography 101 for iPad

Wedding Photography 101: A Guide to Taking Better Wedding Photos Our 2nd iPad app is now live in the app store! It’s another great photography guide to help you take more artistic wedding photos. Wedding Photography 101 will show you how to get creative wedding photos along with real world examples and stories. This really is an amazing price and is the best value you will see out there! Learn from a real professional with over 10 years of experience photographing hundreds of weddings. With Wedding Photography 101 for the iPad you will learn from fine art wedding photographer Mark Stagi how to get more creative with your wedding photos. Wedding Photography 101: A Guide to Taking Better Wedding Photos walks you through some key lessons to improve your wedding photos. Everything is explained in real life terms with beautiful large sample images. No drawn out techie terms just straight forward answers from award winning wedding and portrait photographer Mark Stagi. If you are thinking about getting into the wedding photography industry or looking for some creative photo ideas this is the perfect app for you. Read through some real life scenarios along with high resolution images to learn how to take your wedding photos to the next level. Camera settings and stories about each shoot are included. Get it in the iTunes store now: Wedding Photography 101 Portraits 101: Creating Better Portraits Portrait Photography 101 is also available for the iPhone! Portrait Photography 101: A Guide to Taking Better Portraits walks you through some key concepts to improve your photos. Everything is explained in real life terms with beautiful large sample images. No drawn out techie terms just straight forward answers from award winning wedding and portrait photographer Mark Stagi. If you love taking photos of your kids, are a amateur photographer or a professional looking for some portrait ideas this is the perfect app for you. For more information about Portrait Photography 101 visit the iTunes store here Portrait Photography 101 iPad app We thank you for your continued support! Remember to leave any great reviews you have for our apps in the app store! Portrait Photography 101 and Wedding Photography 101 were created by AppEzzy. To view more of our iPhone and iPad apps visit our website at www.appezzy.com Follow AppEzzy on twitter to keep up to date with thier latest iPhone and iPad app releases! http://www.twitter.com/appezzy

Ok, I know Easter was already 2 weeks ago and this post is awhile over due but better late than never right?
I have to admit that personal photos can sometimes sit on my computer for months before I look at them yet alone do the retouching on them. Easter this year was pretty amazing because it was the first year Faith could really try and join the easter egg hunt. We tried to put her in the hunt last year but since she wasn’t walking yet that didn’t really work out too well. This year was a little better but she still didn’t quite get what to do. With a little help from me she did grab up a few eggs before the bigger kids were let outside and had a lot of fun. I think she actually had more fun just swinging in the swing at my wife’s aunts house, she loves speed and flying around!

Here is a quick pic of her swinging in her easter outfit:

I can’t believe it’s already been one month since our son was born. I know it seems time goes by faster the older you get but this last month really, really, really flew by quick. With 2 babies in the house things are just going by at the speed of light! I know I have been slacking on my daddy photographer duties, hopefully now that we are getting used to having 2 I will pick up the camera more and get some good footage of him to post. In the meantime here is a shot from a few weeks ago of him peacefully sleeping

With valentines day just passing, love is still in the air. When we first started Stagi Imagery 11 years ago and were trying to figure out what to do for a logo my wife and I decided to have a heart as the logo. It doesn’t have much to do with photography but at the same time has everything to do with OUR photography. When we started this business it was all about the heart, being passionate about what we were creating and putting everything we had into creating the best images in the world for our clients. We still have the same basic beliefs today, we want to create the most amazing images for you and capture a slice of your life. Years down the road when you are looking through your wedding album we want tears of joy to come back to you or if you are looking at photos of your newborn to feel that excitement you felt when holding them in your arms. Photography is such a powerful art form and we are so happy to be able to be a part of all our clients lives.

So this year for Valentines day we are going to do something crazy, we are going to share the love with all of you. Any portrait session from now until 3-15 we are discounting to just $50. This is a huge savings compared to our normal sesison fee’s and a great way to get an awesome portrait session. To see more of our portrait work visit our Bay Area Lifestyle Portrait site. If you don’t need a portrait session for yourself no problem, give one away to a friend. You can give away as many of these discounted sessions as you would like. The only restriction is the shoot must be scheduled before March 15th.