…to the 3rd floor!

Before I get to the good news,  I have to go back to the beginning.  A year and a half ago, we moved into downtown Norfolk as an early adopter of a  co-working space called the 757 Creative Space.  It was serendipitous at the time, as I was sick of meeting clients in coffee shops, but we lacked the funds and manpower for a full time retail storefront.  Someone on Facebook (of course) mentioned the Creative Space and lo and behold, the very day I researched it, they happened to have an open house going on.

Not more than 30 minutes into the tour, we were sold.   I was honestly sold before we even got there, but Lester and Mendell luckily loved it as much as I did.   Before we left, we picked out our office:

And planted our flag:

Then returned the following day to sign papers!

Word!

We were the 2nd company to sign up for an office and it’s been amazing to see the space fill up with so many different businesses, people and ever changing local artwork on the walls.    I love working here at the Creative Space and in Norfolk in general, but our office was getting tight (if you’ve ever had a meeting with us, you know the pain of having to move our chairs around haha) and with the unstable Hampton Roads weather, I found myself longing for something a little bigger that we could use as a small indoor studio space.  I told Sarah we were thinking about moving after our term was over and, God bless her, she sprang into action right away.  She and Clint started looking for spaces to expand the Creative Space into, with extra attention paid to spaces big enough to accomodate our studio wishes.  They were looking to expand anyway, but their sheer effort to accommodate us, plus their awesomeness/helpfulness in general is something we will forever be grateful for.   Sarah and Clint (and Harper) rule!

They had a false start with a potential space elsewhere in downtown but it fell through due to overpricing and a next door tenant optioning the two rooms that were the basis of all of us even liking that space.   LUCKILY, it turned out that our upstairs neighbor at 259 Granby was going virtual and vacating the 3rd floor.   So super long story short, I am stoked to say that we’re movin’ on up to the 3rd floor and taking over the large front office that overlooks Granby.  It’s almost 3 times the size of our tiny office, it has huge windows, tall ceilings and exposed brick, and best of all, we are still part of the 757 Creative Space.  Sarah and Clint have great plans for the rest of the 3rd floor and I can’t wait to see how it all develops.

Please excuse my crappy cell phone photos, we’ll post better ones once we’re all moved in and decorated:

But wait, there’s more!!

It’s magazine season and you’ll find DCPG in not one, but TWO local bridal mags:  Premier Bride and Vow.   For Premier Bride, we were contacted by the publisher to shoot an editorial spread for a cotton-candy wedding styled session.  The concept was based on an inspiration board created by Apryl Roberts of Memorable Events by Apryl.    Lester, Mendell and I teamed up and tackled parts of the shoot both separately and together – one of the great advantages to hiring us is the fact that we’re not just a team, but a team of 3 principal shooters, no assistant or second string shooters.  Anyway, right when everything was set up, it started raining.   The large magnolia tree we were shooting under acted as a huge umbrella and we actually stayed dry and the photos came together beautifully!  Here are the tearsheets from our spread, titled “Love is Sweet”:

Credits again with links!

• Publisher: Christy Tolliver of  Premier Bride | Hampton Roads (click the link to read this issue in full)
• Concept:  Memorable Events by Apryl
• Decor and Floral:  Vivid Expressions
• Linens:  Waterford Event Rentals
• Cake:  Cake Delights
• Stationery:  Michelle Lewis Design
• Hair & Makeup:  Kristal Lane
• Attire:  Maya Couture
• Location:  Hermitage Museum & Gardens
• Models:  Kaitlyn Estey for Wright Model & Talent | Taylor Tolliver

Everyone was so great to work with; we all threw this together in a week and it turned out amazing!

We also had a half page advertisement (we loved the strategic area our ad was placed, thanks Christy!).   She gave us a bag full of magazines, so please stop by the 757 Creative Space sometime and pick one up!

Our photography made some cameo appearances in the latest issue of Vow as well!  The Sheraton Virginia Beach used Kam + Ren‘s hilarious jumping shot in not one but two advertising areas.  They also used one of our detail shots in their main ad as well:

We’ve got some other good things on the horizon as well, but I’ll save those for later.  Thank you for bearing with this long winded post and we’ll get back to posting wedding and baby photos soon

- Cies