ostoya photography

Safari Night Auction

2011-09-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Go wild!! Ostoya Photography is donating a Family Portrait Session and a 20x24 Gallery Portrait to be auctioned off to support Fresno Chaffee Zoo during Safari Night, this Friday, September 23rd. Come on out, have a great time, and bid on this portrait...support the zoo, the community and the kids! Aaaand, snag a great Family Portrait for yourself at the very same time!! Who's the lucky bidder going to be??

Tornado & Flood Relief

2011-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

The mid-West and Eastern USA have been, and are being, devastated by natural disasters. Between the prolonged damage and displacement by the flooding and the sudden and terrifying destruction of life and property by tornadoes, these people need help now. If we all do a little, it can add up to a lot. With that thought in mind, Ostoya Photography will donate a portion of each July 2011 session toward helping the victims of the tornado and flood damage that has been in the headlines recently.

Watching the news coverage of tornado victims sifting through debris, that was their home just a few days ago, we were, again, struck by how simply finding a photograph or two of a loved one could bring tears of relief and joy to their eyes. In some cases, besides the clothes on their backs, it is all the material possessions they have left in the world. These are their treasures. But, what great treasures to uncover!

Their big-screen TV, their cars, even their house, can be replaced. But these photographs are one-of-a-kind family treasures, many of them irreplaceable.

This is just one of the reasons we think it is only fitting to help them out by creating family treasures for our clients. Do something wonderful for them, and your family too. Call us today to arrange the creation of your own family portrait in June.

Earthquake Relief.

2011-03-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

The recent earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan has been tragic. So many people lost. Many more lost everything except the clothes on their backs. We have seen the photographs of people surrounded by rubble with little or no water, food, shelter or clean, warm clothes.We cannot imagine what they must be going through or how we would feel in their place.

Some, who can still find their homes, are shown sifting through muddy debris hoping to salvage what they can. Often they pull out a photograph...their family, a child, a parent, a spouse, even themselves in better times...and you can tell it means so much to them.

This left us wondering what our little studio in Fresno can do to help earthquake survivors in Japan. We have decided to donate a portion of each portrait session from now until at least the end of June 2011, to the Red Cross. We feel that through their efforts, worldwide, they may be in one of the best positions to help put resources where they are needed the most right now.

Why did we selected June as a target date? We wanted to make it soon enough to do some immediate good. Yet, we wanted to make it far enough down the road to allow time for people to make arrangements and be able to get on the studio schedule. We also felt that with so many of our Class of 2011 Seniors graduating and anticipating leaving for college, the service, etc., that families would be especially interested in doing portraits before their graduates start preparing to leave home.

So, if you have been thinking of scheduling any kind of portrait session, now is a great time to call the studio. You can get portraits that are important to you, and the studio can join you in doing something good for the survivors in Japan. Together, maybe we can lift just a bit of weight off their shoulders. To schedule your session just as soon as possible, call the studio today at 559-221-1303. Together, we look forward to creating some "memory insurance" for you, and helping the survivors in Japan as well. Help now. Call today.

2010-05-02T12:22:00.001-07:00

Truman had been thinking that is had been quite awhile since he last saw all his other humans together in one place. Truman recently rounded them all up, from all across the country, to spend a little time with them. It wasn't easy, but he pulled it off. Enjoy...

Jacob and Co.

2010-04-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

Jacob is one of the happiest little guys you could ever hope to meet. You can see why Mom and Dad can't stop smiling. Enjoy...

The Tori and Nick Show

2010-04-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have photographed Tori and Nick several times in the past. They are always a blast to work with...as you can probably tell!! It is really a privilege to be able to watch them grow and develop and see their sister/brother relationship evolve! Enjoy...

A Few Highlights from Natalie and David's Session

2010-04-13T15:08:00.001-07:00

Natalie and David's engagement session sandwiched between a few rainy days was great fun. It was a great chance to get to know them a little bit more. (Up to this point we had not met David.) Now we have some insight into his personality and sense of humor. It was his idea to trip (almost) into the swimming pool with Natalie going along for the ride! We are looking forward to having a lot of fun with them on their wedding day! Enjoy...

Some Highlights from Emily's Session

2010-04-09T12:13:00.001-07:00

Emily had a great session!! She was fun, subdued, playful, introspective and, did we forget to mention...FUN!! We hope you enjoy her show...

Sydney & Isaiah's Family

2010-03-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to work/play with Sydney and Isaiah and their family recently. It was great to see them again and see how much they have changed in such a short time. We had photographed Sydney with Mom and Dad back when she was Isaiah's age. This time it was Isaiah's turn to star. He was more than up to the task! It was warm and touching to see them together, all cozy and playing...and story time with just the two of them was hilarious!! We hope you enjoy the show...

Jennifer & Christopher on a Warm Afternoon

2010-03-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

It was a warm, sunny day at Fig Garden Swim and Racquet Club that turned into a beautiful evening. Jennifer and Christopher were great fun to work with and their family and friends were having a blast. The couple actually had to run a gauntlet of fireworks to get to their limo. As they were driven away at the end of the party, the dark classic Jaguar (from Royal Coach Limo) was a great canvas for the reflections of dozens of giant sparklers...the perfect complement to Jennifer and Christopher's happy, beaming faces. What a great wedding to be a part of! All the Best!!!

Highlights from the Kristi Show

2010-03-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

When Kristi told us she races quads (and wins!!) we were excited to do some of her senior portraits near, with and on her ride. This is a big part of her life and she takes a quiet, but justified, pride in her skill and accomplishments. We hope you enjoy a few highlights from her session...

Highlights from The Cristal Show

2010-03-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Cristal had a great session. We had met her when we did her older sister, Erica's senior portraits earlier as well as working with her when we did family portraits with her parents and siblings. So we thought she could bring it...and she did!!! We hope you enjoy a few highlights from her session...

Spring Boy goes to Yosemite

2010-02-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

The continuing story of "Travels With Spring Boy"...
Most recently he took us to Yosemite to photograph the valley blanketed by snow. We arrived hungry and did something we had always wanted to try...breakfast at the Ahwahnee Hotel! What a great place and time of year to have your eggs and coffee. It was a brisk, crisp, morning. The sun was out and the classic national park lodge-style dining room had a massive, hushed feeling and the view was classic Yosemite from every window. Spring Boy did not eat much, but he sure had a great idea! We were ready for an afternoon of photographing throughout the valley.

Sarah & Kevin

2010-01-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

Belated Happy New Year!! We are looking back at the past year and thinking...Wow! Where did the time go?!? We have certainly been busy. We have done a variety of weddings, family portraits, children and baby portraits, high school seniors and even some business portraits over the last several months. There are some really fun images. There are some quiet images. Some are silly, and others are very poignant. Some especially so because we know the story behind them.

We thought we might try to post a few images, from the last 12 months or so, that we would like to share. The plan is to post them in no particular order. Just some random reflection about the year. This is one of them. It is from Sarah and Kevin's wedding this past Summer. While married at St. Anthony's in Fresno, the reception was at Wolf Lakes out toward Sanger. We managed to sneak Sarah & Kevin away from the reception during dinner when no one was looking. The sun was beginning to set and it was the start of one of those great Wolf Lakes evenings. They must keep them in a warehouse out there because they sure seem to get a lot of them! We had 10 or 15 minutes with the bride and groom before the toasting to kick-off the night's activities. The rest of the evening was full of dancing and laughter, friends and family. But these few minutes were spent together, alone...if you don't count us!!

Allison & Matthew

2010-01-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

StarEvents Open House

2009-01-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

Chris and I (Steve here) were privileged to be invited to the open house last Friday of StarEvents at their new digs in a great old brick building on Pollasky in Old Town Clovis. We have admired this building and photographed many of our clients in and around it over the years.

StarEvents is an event planning company (weddings, etc.) that we have had the pleasure of working with over the years. Nadia greeted us with a welcoming smile and graciously took a break from entertaining a packed house to give us a quick tour of the place. We even got the chance to meet her new baby, Indira (we are just guessing at the spelling...hope we got close:). She seemed to be enjoying herself amidst all the commotion.

It was also gratifying to meet some photographers who are relatively new to photographing weddings. A couple of them mentioned that they had admired our photography for quite a while. That might have made us feel old if we had not started out so young. LOL.

It is kinda wierd to think that, in some small way, we may have influenced other photographers. We never set out to. We only set out to bring our clients the best, most fun and contemporary yet timeless photographs of their lives that we were capable of making while, at the same time, keeping it exciting, interesting and new for us. It is rewarding that we are able to do both.

We had a wonderful, though short, visit. (Duty called...we had to get ready for Saturday's activities.) It is a great space and we wish Nadia, Sheri and their staff all the best of luck in their new location.

Bella & Angie

2009-01-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

We recently photographed Angie with her daughter, Bella, as a surprise for her husband, Rex. Since we photographed Angie and Rex's wedding some years ago, we have had the pleasure of photographing them, their children and other family members over the years. They are always so warm and friendly that it is a treat when we get a chance to get together and catch up.

Bella is such a bundle of energy (we wish we had a fraction of it...come to think of it, we do!). Kids often get very excited in the unusual environment of the studio surrounded by all the different "stuff". We knew we wanted to try some very quiet, tender Mother/Daughter moments of the two of them together. We also wanted to get some portraits of Bella alone just doing her thing.

So...we started with Bella alone and let her run around outside for awhile. While she played, ran and spun and burned-off a little of that energy, we managed to capture some wonderful photographs of a child full of life. I think we might have even had more fun than she did! Then, it was in to the studio for the touching portraits we wanted to try of the two of them. This is Angie's favorite. We love the quiet power of this portrait.

Angie came by yesterday to pick-up the portraits as a surprise for Rex. Angie was very happy with the portraits and has a spot already picked-out to display them. Even Bella was thrilled to see them.

After the excitement of the session they were hoping that neither of them would spill the beans and spoil the surprise. Bella was sworn to secrecy. They think they were successful. We'll find out soon!

Alexandria's Debut

2008-06-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Alexandria's mom, Brenda, came by yesterday to pick-up her "Toddler's" panel and the most recent portraits.

As you can see, we are going to have to rename the plan. Alexandria is doing more than toddling...she is getting some serious air! (And she couldn't be happier about it!) We have been photographing Alexandria since she was 3 months old. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and develop over the last few years.

In fact, Brenda reminded us that she first came to us because she liked photographs of her brother and sister-in-law's baby. When she asked who did them, Julio and Cindy told her that their wedding photographer, Ostoya Photography, had done them...small world.

But Alexandria's world gets bigger by the day. We look forward to sharing it with her from time-to-time.

Welcome

2007-04-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new Ostoya Photography Blog. If you found this, you probably got here through our new website. The new site should allow us to make changes much more easily than in the old site. The Blog should let us keep you updated on recent events at the studio. Please take a look around the site and the blog. We hope you enjoy your visit and will return from time to time to see what's new. We would like to thank everyone who has let us into their lives for a while to create images of special times in their lives. Some of these images can be found on the new site and will appear here on the blog. Thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit. Take care, Chris & Steve