Mariano Friginal Photography Blog

LAUNCH PARTY!

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:14:34 -0500

The new website was officially dropped today at 12:00 noon Pacific Time. It's been nice knowing ya, old blog, but we gots to move on. Amigos, friends, countrymen, paisanos, lend me your ears, and rev up your RSS readers. This blog won't be updated anymore, go to the new one please, it's much better for the eyes and your mouse. Don't forget about the contest, tell your friends about the new site and win some free stuff.

GO THE NEW WEBSITE NOW!

**..**

WEBSITE LAUNCH CONTEST

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:11:33 -0500

If you have checked in recently, you know about the new website launch tomorrow. To kick things off, I'm having a contest where you actually win some cool stuff that's not from the Dollar Tree. There will be 3 winners. The goal is to basically have as many of your friends to go to the website and contact me using the form in the Video Gallery. I have a brand new gallery that shows off all of my video work. To get there, you just go to the gallery section and choose "video" -- it's that easy. There will be a contact form at the bottom of the gallery. Your friends will need to enter their name and e-mail address, and in the message section, they need to type in your name, that way I can tally up who gets the most friends to go to the site. Make sure they contact me through the video contact form. If they use any other contact form in the website, their entry won't count towards your name. Sounds easy enough right? Prizes go to the top 3 people mentioned by their friends (only one entry towards your name will be counted per freind/family member):

1ST PLACE: Gift Certificate for a Basic Session and a print credit of $250 (total value of $600).
2ND PLACE: $100 gift certificate towards a portrait session/prints.
3RD PLACE: $50 gift certificate towards a portrait session/prints.

The contest starts tomorrow as soon as the new website is live and ends on Friday, August 7th @ 11:59 pm. The winners will be announced on the new website on Monday, August 10th. That means you have 3 days to get your friends to contact me and get it counted on your behalf. So, rev up your contacts list and start accepting all those Facebook friend requests you've been ignoring, you're gonna need it!

Disclaimer: Only one entry per person. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. Contact me for more details.

**..**

THE BIG OL' ANNOUNCEMENT

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:20:18 -0500

Here it is, folks. I've been waiting a long time to make this announcement. Actually there are a few of them. Here goes:

BRAND NEW WEBSITE - marianofriginal.com has been going through a major facelift behind the scenes. I have a brand new website that will be go live this Wednesday, August 5th. Same ol' address, just a different way to experience my artwork. I'm also introducing a new video section for all you film-lovers. All the short films that I've been working on will be featured in that new section. To kick off the brand new site, I'm holding a contest. Check back tomorrow for all the contest details. There are some cool prizes worth more than a frappucino, so make sure you check it out.
BRAND NEW PORTRAIT EVENT DATES - I'm announcing two new dates for the Fall season, one in September, and one in October. Check out the new site on Wednesday to get the exact dates and register.
WINTER CAMP SHOOTY IS BACK - Grab your camera and get ready to learn some stuff. I'll be holding another episode of Camp Shooty in January. Space is extremely limited, so make sure to come back and sign up on Wednesday when registration officially opens up.

**..**

T-MINUS 3 DAYS

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Mark your calendars, friends. Monday is the day. For what? Well, it's a big announcement, that's all I can say for now. It'll be good, trust me. So, have a great weekend, and check back in on Monday, cool?

**..**

PREVIEW: JESSICA and BILLY

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:02:02 -0500

Here's a frame from Jessica and Billy's engagement session last weekend. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but there's something new coming... like soon, like this week. So I'll post more from this session after we get that out of the way ;) Stay tuned!

**..**

CHANGE IS A COMIN'

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:33:33 -0500

Keep your eyes peeled. Big changes are coming next week!

**..**

SUMMER PORTRAIT EVENT

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Okay, I know a lot of you have been asking when the next Portrait Event will be. And although we didn't officially plan the next one until the Fall, I had a Saturday open up this month, so I'm opening it up for the first 3 people that sign up. If you miss this one, keep your eyes peeled for the Fall Events. The event will take place on Saturday, July 25, 2009. I will start sessions at 9 AM and we'll be meeting up at a Downtown Fresno location, lots of shade, so we won't melt! The event is open for families, children, and seniors. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.

*** UPDATE: ALL SOLD OUT, BUT CONTACT ME TO GET IN THE WAITING LIST FOR THE NEXT EVENT ***

**..**

WELCOME HOME, NATE

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:23:11 -0500

It was exciting to finally meet Nate, Matt and Heather's newborn baby boy. Matt doesn't seem to like white walls in his house, which was totally fine with me, cuz I found this awesome blue wall, perfect for Nate's first portraits. Welcome to the world, Nate!

**..**

INDIRA IS 1 YEAR OLD!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:15:47 -0500

Time flies, and I notice it even with other people's kids. It seems like it was just yesterday that I took Indira's newborn photos, but here it is, her first birthday. Well, Indira, you might not be my own, but you sure are a cutie... just look at that smile, makes me wanna print a 30x40 for my own wall, somewhere along the staircase LOL.

**..**

FROM THE VAULT: OUTTAKE

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:07:21 -0500

Here's a funny moment from Ashley and Justin's wedding in Sacramento last month... This frame just cracked me up when I saw it again, because I remembered this moment like it was yesterday. What happens when you tell a crazy bunch to be really serious? They all start acting like clowns that's what... Reminds me of the group of kids that always sat at the back of class in junior high :)

**..**

ASHLEY and MARTY: PART 2

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:08:02 -0500

Here's part two of Ashley and Marty's engagement session. This is a teaser of the video that we shot during their session. There's a longer version of it that I'm still working on. We shot some of this at Ashley's family ranch and I think using their vineyards will tie it in nicely to their Napa wedding.

**..**

ASHLEY and MARTY: PART 1

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:33:46 -0500

Just wanted to warn ya, this is going to be the first post of a three part series. I'm photographing Ashley and Marty's Napa wedding later this year, so we hung out for a few hours for their engagement session until we all got really hungry and we ran out of light... I just have to get this out of the way -- I'm so excited that I found another dude that loves food just about as much as I do. Marty and I are definitely brothers-in-stomach. I can't say enough good things about these guys, we just had a really, really, really fun time during their shoot, really. So, let's get on with it, here are just a few photos, I can't spend too much time here, cuz I'm working really hard on part two and three of this series, I can't wait to share the rest.

The first photo here is the literal translation of a dog pile -- Bo, Willow and Kylie giving love to their daddy :)

Here's a pretty standard engagement session photo, the red-towel-on-a-clothesline shot, you've seen that one before, right?

**..**

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:27:12 -0500

I hope everyone had a safe and awesome Fourth of July. Here's Annie getting a double-dose of sparkler fun. She was scared at first, but she warmed up pretty quick.

**..**

ANNIE TURNS 5

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:12:17 -0500

Happy birthday, sweetheart.

**..**

KRISTI and BRANDON'S WEDDING

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:14:13 -0500

I don't know about you, but with all this 100-plus degree weather we've been having in Fres-yes, I'm so glad that Kristi and Brandon booked me for their Carmel wedding last weekend. We had a good ol' time at the Clint Eastwood-owned Mission Ranch in Carmel. The bride and groom even got to meet The Man With No Name himself outside the reception while taking a break from all the dancing, but I am ashamed to admit that I was busy too busy on the dance floor taking photos of fellow YMCA-ers. I know, I know, I'm still kicking myself for that. By the time I noticed all the commotion ouside the banquet room, old Joe had gotten into his car and rode into the sunset (sigh). So, I'm sorry I won't have a photo of that in the slideshow, but do you guys want to see one of me kicking myself? No, didn't think so, on with the slideshow...

Music: "Orange Sky" by Alexi Murdoch

**..**

ON THE WAY TO CARMEL

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:43:59 -0500

The view from the 156 on my way to Kristi and Brandon's wedding in Carmel.

**..**