Blog

One of the biggest joys of building a business is assembling a team that inspires and humbles you. I believe a company's true core competency is its people. This Fall, my brilliant brother, Jonathan LaCour, joined the ShootQ team as Development Manager a.k.a. "Mr. Q!" He was always smarter than his big sister :)

Here's Jon and me in 1980 wearing our Easter Sunday outfits. Thanks Mom for those matching, shiny white shoes! And here's us in 2007 at the LaCour Workshop.

Nothing makes me more excited than working with my family and my friends. I can't wait to see what our team creates together in 2008!

Portland Head Lighthouse


A Mainer at Dunkin' Donuts

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope you had a restful day and continue to have a wonderful weekend. We're all back in Georgia and spent time with our families after all of this traveling lately. Just wanted to share a few more photos from our trip to Maine and if you really want to read all about our daily adventures up there, check out Eric Laurits' daily blog posts:

• :E: Treat Post 1
• :E: Treat Post 2
• :E: Treat Post 3
• :E: Treat Post 4

Thanks again, Eric!


P.S. Here's a real treat featuring Andrew! Mad props to the first person who knows what song he's playing!



This is what happens when Andrew finds some rare down time! After 62 flights in the last year, we are finally home for awhile. I have missed the warmth of our home and am so thankful for a restful holiday season with family and friends...and our cat Lola!

It's crazy, but the LaCour crew managed to find a spot in our calendars where we could all be in the same town at the same time and not have to work non-stop. So we converged on Wells, Maine. Eric Laurits invited us up to his cottage - along with Chris & Katie Torres - where we've had a blast playing marathon games (4+ hours) of Monopoly, visiting lighthouses, singing a capella and vocal percussion, eating homemade tortellini, antiquing, playing basketball, solving puzzles, drinking beer, wine, coffee, hot apple cider with delightful mulling spices, hot cocoa and Bailey's.

Garrett, Joy and Graycen Nudd were supposed to come, too, but alas, Graycen came down with a cold at the last minute. Miss y'all!

On Monday we ate, according to Reader's Digest for the past 20 years, the best hot dogs on U.S. Highway 1 from Florida to Maine. Flo's Hot Dogs. Simply amazing. I bought a crate full and am taking them home to Georgia with me. Oh, and how about Congdon's Doughnuts. Mmmm... tasty!



On Tuesday, David and Linda Murray invited all of us to their studio in Kennebunkport and then to their amazing home right on beach in Goose Rocks Beach. David cooked everyone mussels and we walked out the side door onto the beach for a leisurely afternoon stroll. We insisted that J Sandifer and Emilie Sommer play hookey from work and come down and visit, too! And we also got to meet and hang out with John Santerre, who shoots weddings with David Murray and also produces multimedia work with the VII agency. Such a beautiful, relaxing day, surrounded by such fun people!



We'll post more soon! We have a ShootQ party today in Portland. Can't wait to see everyone!

**CLICK HERE to check out Eric's much more thorough blog with more great photos and fun stories, including photos of Andrew and Seventeen Magazine!

With several clients and some of our favorite photographer friends living in Southern California, we decided to make a trip out there this week to check in on everyone.

Mark and I spent three days driving around Orange County and Santa Barbara. The first day, we were fortunate to have a lunch date with the ever-busy Dane Sanders.


That evening, we joined our wedding clients Lizzie and Charlie McNairy for dinner. You may remember Lizzie and Charlie from their small wedding earlier this year in Laguna Beach. They had called us on a Wednesday, and got married two days later, that Friday. It was an exciting, whirlwind wedding we'll never forget. Anyway, their wedding album had recently arrived from Queensberry, so we brought it out to them and looked at it with them after dinner.


The next day, we got to visit with the wonderful Becker and Jessica Claire at Becker's studio. Becker has one of the sexiest studios I've ever seen. Lots of browns and animal prints, and candles everywhere. We had a great dinner afterward with Becker, Jess and Becker's studio manager Kathleen. We couldn't resist a classic Becker tongue-out shot!


And Wednesday was DJ Day! After lunch in Santa Barbara, David Jay invited us over to his now-famous Freedom House. And I must say, it is everything we had heard it was. I couldn't stop looking out the big windows at his breath-taking view. DJ was a fabulous host and even made us some espresso before we settled in to geek out over various new programs and photo gadgets.



The trip was rounded out Wednesday night by dinner in Hollywood with one of my best friends from high school, John Crawford, an artist and pro photo retoucher. If you've been to any movies recently, then you've probably seen some of his work on numerous movie posters and such. Check out some of his work and give him a call if you have a picky client that wants some pro retouching. Here's John and me with one of his hairless cats.


Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and good times!