~ January 1st 2009 ~

~ Welcome to the online home of Bill Cawley Photography (now part of Mode Photography LLC) ~

There is a lot of content here, so please pour a glass of your favorite beverage and have a look around. :~)

Check out the new websites at www.ModePortraits.com and www.ModeWeddings.com ~ ;-)

Today’s Note:

Enjoy the new year - anything is possible! :)

(: Scroll down to see what’s new :)

Laura + Byron ♥ the wedding

Laura and Byron are fun and a little quirky  - they had a lego theme to their reception decorations - I loved it!  Who doesn’t love Legos?? :)

Since it was a Mormon wedding there were no pictures allowed during the ceremony, but we still got plenty of pictures on the grounds of the beautiful Mormon Temple in Bellevue and at the home of Byron’s parents - they live on the ridge overlooking the Auburn valley - a stunning place!

Here are a few pictures: :)

mother of the bride helping with jewelery

The beautiful bride - natural smile

portrait of the wedding couple at Seattle Mormon Temple in Bellevue

Cutting the cake in Auburn, WA

Father of the groom toasting

a cute baby portrait

cute bride - fancy shoes

tossing the bouquet off the deck

tossing rice at the bride and groom

heading into the sunset for the honeymoon

Thanks guys!  I’ll have the rest ready soon. :)

~Bill


Chinqually Super Mod - Spring 2008

The last of the Chiqually Super Mod portraits are posted! For a couple years now I’ve been the official photographer for this fun bunch of kids and coaches - they have 3 seasons a year and a turnout thats around 200 kids!

The gallery is here if you’re looking to order some prints.

:)

silly soccer group portrait - Thurston County Chinqually Super Mod

Looking forward to the summer season. :)

~Bill


We will ~ Brittany and Ryan

Brittany and Ryan are going to get married next month at one of the prettiest outdoor venues I know - The Mountain Home Lodge in Leavenworth. I can’t wait. :)

They drove down from Mukilteo to meet me in Tacoma for their engagement session - we hung out, had a nice dinner (although the restaurant was a little crazy, apparently it was $3 steak night!!).

The more I shoot in downtown Tacoma, the more I like it - it’s a beautiful area. :)

Here are a few of the pictures we captured - I can’t wait for the wedding!

sepia tone engagement portrait

engaged couple walking hand in hand

laughing together in tacoma

a quite moment together

night portrait - good looking couple

lean on me

kissing by the bridge of glass

train station - laughing at night

Right after that last shot the train station security came to kick us out - very politely, but none the less…

See you both in a few weeks :)

~Bill


We will ~ Jason and Wendi

My ‘little’ cousin Jason is getting married! (LOL - fun to call him little - he’s one of the few guys I know I have to tilt my head up to look him in the eye!) - His fiance Wendi is super nice and we’re very happy for them both! They’re even flying me down to California for their beach wedding in July - can’t wait!

head and shoulders engagement portrait

puget sound in the background

cuddled up on the grass by the water

We stopped for snacks and drinks… twice. :)

Having a beer and some nachos

As the sun went down we found a strangely deserted 5 lane city street in downtown Tacoma and took advantage of it….

kissing in the street - black and white

laughing and walking down the middle of the street - lifestyle portrait - couple

Headed home from a fun session

What a good looking couple huh? :) Love you guys! See you Saturday at Erin’s. :)

~Bill


We will ~ Joe and Angie

I met Joe and Angie in Tacoma last week for some fun portraits right at sunset.  We had good weather except for the crazy wind that kept blowing my light stand over!

Check out a few of the images and feel free to leave a comment at the bottom. :)

casual portrait - having fun by the fountain

having fun walking around town

engagement portrait in downtown Tacoma

portrait on the tracks - animated engaged expressions

After the sun went down we headed over to the bridge of glass and the waterfront - it was raining by then, hence the umbrella. :)

after dark on the bridge of glass

I had a great time hanging out with you guys - I’m bummed you’re moving all the way to Ohio after the wedding…

~Bill


We will ~ Bill and Mary

Bill and Mary (my parents names, how cool is that!) will be married in just a few weeks on May 31st.  We met at the Tumwater Falls park for their engagement session - the weather was beautiful!

They’re a relaxed and fun couple and I’m really looking forward to their wedding - :)

casual portrait - engaged couple

hanging from a tree and smiling for the camera

Kissing on the bridge in black and white

Watch out for that draft!

A couple of steamy kisses ~ :) smoking hot!

This one with a little sun flare - I love sun flare… ;)

full sun portrait with fill flash and flare

Walking away… together.

in love and heading down the trail

Thanks guys - I’ll see you soon! :)

~Bill


Site upgrade ~ A new gallery host

A change for the better

After 2 years with Exposuremanager as our gallery host and product sales solution, it’s time for an upgrade. :) All the existing galleries will remain active either until they expire or until they get transfered over to the new system.

The new system is hosted on a secure server under our control. This gives us much more flexibility in giving great customer service and offering new innovative products and services.

Please check it out and let me know what you think, it’s still in beta (we’re still setting it up).

New secure gallery system

This change also allows us to consolidate all of our print orders to one lab (the best one!). In the past if you ordered in person or on the phone your prints came from a different lab than if you ordered online.

A few new benefits:

Black and white and Sepia options: The new software will let you see these options and add them directly to your shopping cart. No more need to make a special request when you want to order a print in B/W or sepia ~ Cool!

Saved shopping cart and favorites: Now when you add products to your shopping cart it will remember them even if you log off and come back later or from another computer. This is huge when you’ve got a lot of images to look through and decide on. Using the new favorites feature to narrow down before adding your selection to the cart is a great tool too. :)

Eary Bird Discount and clear expiration dates: The new early bird discount feature will give a 10% discount on any order placed within 5 days of the gallery posting. I love this feature! It’s less work for us to process orders right after an event, so it makes sense to pass the saving along. And having a clearly posted expiration date on each gallery is an improvement too!

Enlarged view and compare: Now you can zoom in each image and see it better as well as look at images side by side with the compare feature to help make the decision process that much easier. :)

That isn’t even all of the improvements, but it’s all I can think of right now. lol. ;)

We’re always looking for ways to improve the service we provide ~ and I think this one is a big step forward!

Have a great weekend!

~Bill


NW Fight Challenge VI

Brian and Dani, owners of AOBJ, put on another great event at the Tumwater High School on Saturday night. I always enjoy watching and taking the pictures at these events. And I’m always glad it’s not me in the ring!

Check out the full set of images in our new gallery system here: NW Fight Challenge VI

Editorial shot of a fighter getting ready for the event

unique angle - the action is about to begin!

hard hitting action - low angle - ringside

For the camera geeks out there: it’s amazing to me that these are all taken at ISO 2500 with the Canon 1DmkIII and I’m actually adding grain to them in photoshop to get the gritty feeling I want in the final images. crazy (good crazy!)

kick to the head - gritty black and white

MMA action shot - hard kick

I was glad to see my friend Joel win his match, his was the grand finale title fight of the night - good job man!

Can you tell he’s happy about in? :)

basking in the glow - well deserved win

Be sure and check out the rest from all 15 matches.

~Bill