Restoration Services

Looking to have an old precious memory restored? Hope Haven Photography (located in Summerville, SC) provides you with plenty of photographic restoration options, such as: black & white portraits, school portraits, family portraits, wedding portraits, pet portraits, etc. — all done in a professional timely manner with the best quality you could ask for! Get your first photo restoration at $24/hr. — Normally a $50/hr. value! For more information on our services, please feel free to take look at our website www.hope-haven.net and let us know if you have any other further questions.

Are you a garbage truck?

This has to be one of the best emails I have received in a long time because when you sit and think about the meaning, it is so true. Law of the Garbage Truck This concerns the reaction of a taxi driver, who, one day experienced a black car which jumped out of a parking space right in front of him. The taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at the taxi driver. He just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. You might wonder why he react that way; that guy had almost ruined the taxi and sent the driver to the hospital!' This is when this taxi driver explained what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck:'Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.. Don't take it personally!!! Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!Have a garbage-free day! "Faith is not believing God can, it is knowing that God will."

Letter from a Client

Dear Denise,

At the time I called to inquire about the possibility of a Christmas photograph that would include my new service dog, little did I know that I was about to connect with an extraordinary woman. The moment your gentle voice told me that you had several rescued dogs, horses, and goodness knows what else at your home, I knew that this inquiry had led me to something - and someone - very special.

But now, I must talk about the photographs you and Sam took. Over the years, I have had a professional photograph taken of our family. Going in for one of these things was generally an awkward, even unpleasant, experience ("smile!", "turn to your right," "turn to your left...") and the results of these uncomfortable and false poses were always apparent in the results. But with you and Sam, it was fun, and the smiles that came through in the end were genuine.

The real test of your exceptional skills, however, came through in the photographs you took of my dog, Morgan. Taking photographs of animals is, I believe, a test of the highest skills any photographer can achieve. Due to the eye reflectors of animals, their constant motion, inability to follow those basic photography instructions ("look this way..."), it is no wonder that we stare in awe at the photos sometimes come to us over the internet or appear in National Geographic showing the beautiful creatures that share our earth in a stilled moment. That is the beauty you captured in my dog.

I had mentioned that this particular animal had big paws to fill since my last service dog had been with me ten years, knew almost without my asking what I needed and was a source of comfort to me as I struggled through illness and chemotherapy. Getting a new service dog meant starting all over again and my heart simply wasn't ready to let go of the past and my feelings for the last one. Yet, within the photos you took of all of us, then him alone, I saw what everyone else was trying to tell me: that he was an exceptional animal, just as loving and beautiful as my last dog and that we were going to be a fine team.

I will treasure forever the photos you took and will always be in your debt for the kindness you showed to me, my husband and, of course, Morgan.

Kindest regards,

P.B.

Hope Haven offering 16 Senior Portrait Scholarships this year.

Last year we offered senior portrait scholarships and we were very pleased with reception of the idea at the high school. This year we are very happy to announce we will be offering 16 such scholarships at 8 different area high schools. We have also increased the scholarship amount from $500 to $1500 each.

2009-2010 Hope Haven Mentor Series Scholarship

High Schools Invited

Stanwood High School
Arlington High School
Marysville High School
Mount Vernon High
La Conner High School
Bellingham High School

Each school will receive 2 senior portrait scholarships, valued at almost $1500.00

Hope Haven Photography will provide, completely without any fee, the following:
Session Fee – 3 Hour Session in Studio or location off-site - Value $500
Print Package (all prints are unframed unless otherwise specified)
Proof Portfolio – Value $150
1 – 11x14 – Touched up Image and Framed – Value $400
4 – 8x10’s – Value $100
8 – 5x7’s – Value $145
DVD Slideshow of Images - $100
DVD of low res images for web and email (with permissions for facebook and myspace) – Value $50


Deadline for application – March 15, 2009
Announcement of Recipients – March 31, 2009
Deadline for Portrait Session Completion – May 17, 2009

Family Christmas Card Shoot

We had an absolutely fantastic kickoff for our Christmas Card Portrait Season. How do you ever choose which one for the card????

Special Request

I was asked this week what my all time favorite photograph was...and answering honestly, I said the name of the photographer. The person asking the question was surprised that I didn't name one of my photographs. So in answer to the question, all time favorite photographs is by John McColgan.

http://www.bucktrack.com/Smokejumper/Smoke_Jump/Elk_Bath.jpg

My all time favorite photograph of my own is: a shot of my daughter and her horse. This was taken with a Kodak DX6490; so please those of you aspiring photographers, it's not the camera that makes the shot. However this shot is important to me in that it began my career. It was this shot that other parents saw at this horse show and asked me to shoot photos of their children as well. That led into my full time career and allowed me to follow my love of photography. Today I am working so that someday my daughter will be able to live her dream of international competition. P.S. She was only 9 when this photo was taken.