Last Saturday Oni Studio was a part of The Ultimate Ladies Night at Element Nightclub. Oh, what fun we had! There were Appetizers and Desserts, Drink Specials, Door Prizes and FREE Gifts! A lot of our passed clients stopped by the table to say hello and talk about the ideas for the new shoots. I’ve also met a lot of girls that confessed thinking about doing a photo shoot, but for one reason or the other talked themselves out of it. I was able to answer many questions and hopefully made the decision easier. Ladies, you all know who you are and I better see you in the studio soon!

This event was sponsored by local, women-owned small businesses and I was honored to be a part of it.

Crista Holt was there to show off Mary Kay’s new make up and fragrances. Zaneita Williams displayed the most popular styles of handbags from Thirty-One Gifts. Melissa Fritch filled the air with romantic scents from PartyLite Candles.  Charity Schwegman had so much sparkle from Lia Sophia that I could not walk away from her table! Yvette Dwonch-Esparza represented her 24-hour North End Fitness and Jennifer Christianson-Blansfield showed off Body by Brazil fitness wear.

But the person who made it all possible and got all these local vendors together is

Jen Roberts with Sugar Studio!

I met with Jen at her studio few days after the event to talk about her business and this amazing hair removal technique, sugaring.

Jen had a crazy idea five years ago and decided to open Oak Harbors first studio dedicated to Hair Removal. A licensed cosmetologist, she was trained in the art of Sugaring by Lara at the Sweet Spot in Seattle. Jen opened Sugar Studio in October of 2006. It’s her goal to make every woman comfortable in an otherwise awkward situation, to provide an efficient and quick sugaring, and to empower and awaken confidence in women.

To make your appointment call Jen directly at 360-540-3687 or visit her website.

Another project that I have been working on for the last few days is building a new “Vintage Bedroom” set. It took five weeks to get the “Candy Sticks” wallpaper in from Backdrop Outlet and I thought the project would go smoothly after that, but the hard work had just begun! Thanks to my wonderful friends that came in on their day off and helped me finish the set in time. The very next day I had a model in to try it out. I am proud to say that the set-up looks so much better than I envisioned and photographs look magnificent!

There are few minor things that I would like to add, but that’s the beauty of it… the set will change from time to time. Some things will be added and taken away, just to keep you all on your toes! =)

Keep up with our new projects, ideas and fun photo shoots by becoming a fan on our Facebook page.

 We are also on Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus!

In the past year Oni Studio has grown so much! We learned a lot and accomplished many of our goals. But it’s because of you, our clients, that the year has been so successful for us!

As we move into 2012 we like to reflect on some of the highlights of the previous year. A large portion of our success comes from our fans on facebook page and we would love to send a special shout out to them! We hope that our photos have made your days better, inspired you, and if you have shot with us, we hope it was an experience to remember.

This year we accomplished a number of things that we are quite proud of. Launching of our website and blog is one of them. Before we got the website and blog most of our client interaction had been done through sites like MySpace and later Facebook. The website and blog, designed by J.R. Customization, and hosted on Smugmug, allowed us a new and uncensored platform to interact with our clients. We have enjoyed it and according to Google analytics you all have too!

It was very difficult to pick out our favorite photos of 2011, but one thing we wanted to do was post photographs we hadn’t have on our blog before, or at least not for awhile. Hope you enjoy!

Winning third place in the “Best of Whidbey” competition was a HUGE honor for us in 2011! Especially since we are a relatively new studio. We definitely want to thank everyone who voted for us and this year we wanna take home the gold!!

My husband, often an under credited and unnoticed part of Oni Studio, sometimes gets from behind the editing desk and assist in the shoots. Thank you honey! I could not do it without you.

Charity, owner of WatchDawgs Grooming and Boarding was instrumental in getting us more new fans than any campaign we ran. She did an amazing amount of work to help gain noteriety for Oni Studio and we wish her the best in 2012!

This is one of the greatest things about living here in Whidbey Island! My husband and I drove here across country from Virginia and first saw Deception Pass early in the morning covered in fog. We were driving separate vehicles and communicated via walkie talkie. When we saw Deception Pass we started yelling to each other, “do you see this?! what the hell?!” Needless to say it made an impression!

One of the advantages of working for the government is the travel. This was taken by my husband at the hotel in Crete, Greece.  You can see more photos he took in Crete here.

One of the greatest things about working as a photographer is getting to bring to life all the crazy ideas that pop into my head. I would like to thank all the wonderful models that agree to be used and abused by me in the name of art! Special thanks go out to Briellen K., Sharon O., Meggie, Sandra O., Lola, Crystal B., Heidi M., Jenn B., Veronica F., and Kortney S.

In 2012 I plan on doing many special projects. If you have a great idea and a complete, detailed write up on it, get in touch with me!

We love this lake, in fact its hard not to run off the road as we drive by. We never knew the name of it and always called it Mirror Lake. When we finally got our tripod we raced out and got these shots. We are far from being nature photographers, but it was a fun shoot! For those that live in Whidbey Island, is this called Cranberry Lake?

That’s all for now dear constant reader! For the first three weeks of January I will be unable to do any shoots due to an operation. For 2012 we will have a slight price increase but to offset this I want to implement a referral program that will save you money and I plan on doing a few projects in hopes of being published in Bella Morte magazine. To keep abreast of all updates make sure you become a fan on our Facebook page, we are also on Twitter and Google Plus! We hope you and yours have a great New Year and wish you the best in 2012!

Follow @oni_studio

Yana is one of the girls I’ve bonded the most with. Others from the original group have moved away with their military husbands and Yana and I are the ones that are still here. She makes killer crepes with fruit and cream… and I better get some for writing this blog! =)

This is not the first time Yana came to me for a special gift for her husband, but this shoot turned out even better than the first!

Here is a sneak peak of Yana’s shoot, I hope you get as much pleasure out of viewing it as I did shooting it!

After feather dusting and polishing the floor in the sexy French maid outfit, Yana turns up the heat and gets in the Halloween mood with her sexy devil costume!

For something more sultry and romantic we made use of the fire place!

Current Status

Many of you know what a pain it has been to schedule an appointment with us. I have a regular day job where I am work full time, and many of you do as well. However I am transitioning to a more part time schedule (which is great news for you all trying to get appointments!) as my availability is now almost wide open. So, if you have been thinking about coming in for a shoot this would be a great time!

I also have been heavily researching ways to increase the traffic to this blog, my website, and my facebook page. Mostly this entails googling something like, “how to promote your website/blog” and reading the millions of articles it generates. One of the techniques I thought was interesting involved teaming up with other businesses that are complimentary to the product offered to combine marketing and promotional efforts. This made me pause for a second, what business’s or companies are compatible with sexy/boudoir shoots? While pondering this I was skimming the post on the facebook group “Oak Harbor Local Small Business’s” and saw a couple of ladies who did the passion parties and it hit me, “they would be great to team up with!” I have since talked to a few of them, and while we are still ironing out the details, don’t be surprised if you hear about Oni Studio at some of the local Passion Parties.

Another idea I’ve been musing on is teaming up with another local photographer, not to compare skill or equipment, or to “steal” secrets, but just to see how someone else approaches their craft. If you’re a local and established photographer in the Whidbey Island area with your own website or blog please get in touch!

Also, if you own or manage a business, or offer a service that you feel I might be interested in feel free to contact me; I’d love to hear from makeup artist, FX artist, costume designers, personal trainers, salon and spa owners, or something along those lines. Just shoot me an email or fill out the contact form and let me know your ideas!

One Last thing before you go!

We recently had a great surprise when one of our clients had a video interview.  The video featured a few of our pictures. It was the first time we had seen our pictures on video and it made me scream with delight! Many of the pictures came from one of our recent blog post, We’d like to thank the creator of the video and give a big CONGRATS to our client Jenn, who by the way just found out she is expecting!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUpeic08NL4&feature=share[/youtube]

Thats all for this week dear constant reader, don’t forget to tune in next Monday for another exciting edition!

And now a few words from Jenn herself! She’s pretty fond of her wardrobe, provided by Body By Brazil and we can definitely see why!

The owner of North End also wrote us an email so nice we had to share it, we love getting feedback like this, it makes all the hard work worth it!

“I was really excited when Jennifer and I started talking about North End being a site where the passion of fitness can be represented through photography. Photography can tell a powerful story. What a way to promote not only fitness but the passion and drive someone carries in their heart to reach a specific goal in life. Jennifer’s passion in fitness is accurately exemplified through your recent pictures from your shoot at our facility. The shoot demonstrates passion, determination, a love for fitness as well as a level of attitude that one requires to reach goals in life. Life is full of challenges and when we go after our dreams, there’s no limit to what we can achieve. North End Fitness Center was built on my endless passion and drive for healthy living, community involvement and a friendly/family environment. We feel fortunate to be a part of your beautiful artistic work as well as a great promotion to all out there that it is possible to attain your goals… Thank you very much for including us in your work… I look forward to working with you again!”

Yvette Esparza
Owner, North End Fitness Center

Well folks that’s all for now, were ramping up for the busy holiday season, if your stuck as to what to get that special someone in your life, and you don’t want to get them the same old thing, or if your hubbies deployed and want to send him a hefty reminder as to why he married you then definitely get in touch with me for a boudior appointment!