Charity Project Update

Last Friday, we attended the Valley Christian School Auction and it looks like they did very well. We had donated to the live auction event this year and are pleased to report that our donation of 13 portrait sessions with an 8x10 raised $5200! WTG Valley Christian!

We also attended the Bollinger Canyon School Charity Event about 3 weeks ago. We did not get an actual total that was raised, but it looked like somewhere around $3500 for our contributions. Results from the Carden West Auction have not come in yet, either, so we will report these as they the info trickles in to us.

We are on a mission this year, our 30th year to raise $100,000 for various schools and charities! So far, we have raised about $20,000 with the results of our first "Simply M" project not reporting in yet.

We hope to raise as much money for the schools. As you know, it looks like California is going to cut a lot of money out of the schools, and we hope to help in any way we can!

Our new Website

Gosh, with all the hub bub of our move, I forgot to tell you that our website is completely redesigned (although, if you came to this blog via the website, you probably already know this by now! :) So here's the link: www.meritageonmain.com. Write us and tell us what you think! We are still working on the boutique and I hope to get that started in May. Also, keep an eye out for the Simply M site which I also hope to get the drafts ready in May.

We're Moved In!

Our goal after 30 years of business was to move into a home studio. That became a reality on the first of April. So, it is a bit crazy in our home right now with an entire studio moved in, but we are actually up and running pretty well. Some things that we need are buried in some of the boxes, but they seem to miraculously appear eventually.

So now we have our nice garden to take some "Plein air Portraits" as well as studio portraits. We are also a lot closer to our famous "Italian Wall" and "Vineyard" location (just a short 1.5 miles away).

Charity Season!

Wow, it's amazing how many different charities are having their fund raising. We, at Meritage are proud to be a major participant in many of these. As our commitment for 30 years of service in this Tri-Valley area, we are helping as many charities as never before.

We hope that you can attend a charity event of your choice, and please, give generously. We will be, or will have a presence at the following upcoming events: Carden West School, Valley Christian School, Bollenger Canyon School, Tri-Valley YMCA Golf Tournament, and Concert for a Cure.

So far we are proud to have participated in these events and helped raise the following amounts with our in-kind donations: Pleasanton Arts Council -$9,500.00, Amador Valley H.S. Athletic Boosters - $5,700.00. We are certainly happy that we can help your causes!

If your charity needs help please call us at 925-462-9364. We'd be happy to help!

Spring Has Sprung!

You might not know this, especially if you're not a native of California, but Spring starts early around here. The First Mustards are in bloom and get to around four feet tall by the end of March. All of the other spring blossoms start coming on strong around Mid-March and start to fall off by mid-May. Call us today at 925-462-9364. We have a special going on. Make your consultation appointment before March 5th!

It's Official!

Simply M has officially launched. Some call it Meritage Lite, that is, you get the same experience of Meritage House of Photography at a fraction of the cost. Call us for the new details. For our previous customers, a free session offer was e-mailed to you. We have some session slots available for Valentines day, so call us right away to reserve your space! 925-462-9364. Keep an eye out for the Simply M website, which will be announced very soo along with the new Meritage House of Photography Website!

Well! We're finally back from Florida. We first went to Tampa to the Professional Photographers of America Imaging USA. We got to see eight of our images displayed at the International exhibit. On the final night, Leslie received her Master of Photography degree and her Photographic Craftsman degree! Most photographers take at least 7-10 years to get these degrees and Leslie did this in 3 1/2 years. It is more rare to get both degrees in one year.

The degrees (which both of us now have) are this: Masters degree is for photographic excellence and education. There are only some 200 Master Photographers in California. Michael and Leslie are the second and third to earn this degree in the Tri-Valley's history. The Craftsman degree is for teaching within our professional community. The both of us have been touring throughout the state of California giving lectures and workshops of what we do.

Here's some pictures of us with our displayed images

Then, we went to Disney World! As creatives we have a natural tendency to get in touch with our child-like nature. So this was a perfect fit. Here's a real big hint about Disney world: If you can possible do this, go there in early January. Weather is quite good (it ranged from the mid 60's to the 80's) and the beautiful part about this time of year is that there are no lines! "Soaring" had one of the longest wait times at 40 minutes with fast pass at less than 5 minutes. All of the other attractions such as Mission Space, all of the 3-D shows (Don't miss A Bugs Life 3D), Everest Expitdition and Tower of Terror wer all less than 10 minutes wait at all hours. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and we have to say that it was surprisingly nice (we wanted the Grand Floridian, but couldn't get it in time). It is a nice retreat and very comfortable. Look how sparse the crowds were at the Magic Kingdom, just before the fireworks at 8:00pm!