Bunnies and Baby Ducks – Spring Must Be Here!

For all of you who have been around Carmel Valley since the “pioneer days” of the 80’s and 90’s, you may remember that Keane Studios used to be located next to Baskin Robbins, where the Chase bank is now.  Ever since then, we have photographed your little ones with bunnies, and more recently baby ducks as well.  It’s become a Carmel Valley tradition!

Some of you may be scratching your head now – doesn’t Keane Studios photograph the high school seniors at Torrey Pines and Canyon Crest?  That’s true, too.  We were setting up at a graduation last June when a mom called out “you photographed my senior with bunnies.”  Then the chorus began!  It’s such a pleasure to have this long relationship with families here.

We’re often asked where the bunnies are from.  Our bunnies are show bunnies!  We always get them from folks who raise them for shows – we’ve had a few champions along the way!  They are used to being handled, so the kids can be comfortable playing with them.  Last year, when we returned one little white one, our “bunny lady,” as they’ve become known, gave him a big hug and said “mommy missed you!”

You can count on the kids remembering their experience.  Those who are a little timid often brag about being with the bunnies later.  When a family comes in at the holidays for a portrait, the kids want to know where the bunnies are.  We always say the bunnies are taking a fifty week vacation!

Would you like your children to be part of this tradition?  You can see all the details here on our bunny page.

You won’t find us next to Von’s anymore, but we are near – in the Hacienda building on High Bluff.  We’re also on the road with the bunnies at PAC, Thinker Things in Del Mar, and a planned appearance at the Flower Hill opening in February.  Hop on over!
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Bill started photographing weddings from his dorm room at the Claremont colleges back when Nixon was president and film was the only way to record images.  A great deal has changed since 1968, but his fascination with photography, and ultimately the stories of the people he has photographed, has made every day of his 40+ years as a portrait photographer, as interesting as the first.  Bill considers himself very fortunate to be involved in what I love doing every day.

As I was growing up, my parents always made portrait photography part of our lives, as it had been when they were growing up.  As my own children grew, I developed a deeper appreciation of how important those photographs had become in my life.  There was the picture of my uncle and the horse drawn delivery wagon he drove for my grandfather’s business on the unpaved streets of Berkeley; the portrait of my other grandfather smoking a pipe as he fished on the bank near the family home in Morris, Illinois; there was my mom as a six year old child model in Chicago; and then there were my own baby pictures, and memories of family vacations.  Because my parents passed away when I was in my 20′s, these memories of my family have become my own link to the past, and a way my family now can connect with their history.  Of course, it’s also kind of fun to remember that my hair used to be dark!