About Image Angels

The name Image Angels came from a client, The Bosson Family of South Lake Tahoe.  I do their family portrait every year at Christmas for their Christmas cards.  Lake Tahoe is a small town and a trip to the grocery store is usually like old home week.  I love it when I am doing my shopping and have to stop every so often to greet friends and make new ones!  So, one day about 15 or so years ago, I’m shopping and I run into my friend Don Bosson, who is talking with someone I don’t know, and he introduces me as his “image angel.”  Back then I had the name Linsley Photography for my business, so I created a tag line using his phrase (with his permission).  The tag line was “We’re your Image Angels!”  Then about 11 years ago I bought the building my studio lives in now, and decided to change the name of the business while I was changing everything else, and so Image Angels became the new name.  I love the name, I think it fits!  I always get comments from clients about how caring and sensitive I am, just like an angel!

So, if you are curious about who this Image Angel is, here’s the scoop:

I’ve always taken photographs. I am the one in the family who always had the camera, I am in very few photos growing up because I was always on the other end! Now, my photography mentor says that I should have a professional portrait taken of me at least once a year, so I know what if feels like to be on the receiving end! So, here is the latest and greatest:

This photo was taken on New Year’s Eve by my friend Michael Imus, who owns Imus Photography in Reno. Michael and I try to get together periodically with other pros just to do some fun stuff, to spread our wings, exercise our creativity, try out new techniques. So, we used a model, Michael’s daughter, who graciously slipped on a wedding gown over her long johns and mountain boots, and off we went to this beautiful waterfall in Carson City to photograph a bride by a waterfall, complete with icicles and snow! See some of those images here. By the way, it’s not that long of a hike to get there, if you want some waterfall portraits made of you, I will gladly take you there! Anyway, Michael took this awesome shot of me! I’ve got a 20 inch wide canvas wrap of it hanging in my living room! I would have gone bigger, but I’ve got small walls in my house.

Back to the bio: I went to college at San Francisco State University, graduating in 1982 with a degree in journalism. Now, I was a bit confused back at that age and while photography was always a passion of mine, I never considered that I could be a professional until I went to journalism school. But it took me so long to decide on my major that by the time I finally figured things out it was too late to change! So, I spent my college career working on every publication the campus produced, writing, because that was my major, but making sure I created the opportunity to illustrate all my stories with photos. I took every photography class the journalism department offered as well. Then I graduated, and went freelance for a while, then got a job as a newspaper photographer in Amador County. My duties were hard news: I was the one with the police scanner in my car and home, bolting out the door at all hours of the night, chasing the ambulances and fire engines to cover accidents, fires and major crimes. I did this for about a year, then had a crisis of my own and left that job and didn’t do photography, not even snapshots, for about a year. When I was ready to pick up a camera again, I had a choice: leave Lake Tahoe to take a newspaper job somewhere else, or stay here and start my own business. I stayed here and started Linsley Photography in 1987. I changed the name to Image Angels in 1997. My business is now 21 years old! Over the years lots has changed: I’ve gone from doing only wedding chapel weddings, and hiring several other photographers to help me do that, and working out of my home, to doing it all solo and not doing any chapel weddings at all, just the big ones, to where we are today.

Today, I will still do an occasional chapel wedding, mostly for Chapel of the Pines, which just happens to be owned by my dad and stepmom. But mostly I do the high end weddings, the ones where I get to spend the entire day with my clients. And I do lots of portraits now. I no longer work out of my home, I have a studio now, and get to do babies, family portraits, pet portraits, body forms (an artsy kind of boudoir photography), maternity portraits, business portraits. And, I work with an assistant, who is currently Jonathan Levin.

Jonathan has been with me about a year. I advertised for a Photoshop guru, as it takes much more computer time to produce a great photograph now that it did in the days of film. I wanted someone who would be willing to work here in the studio with me and help me design all those wedding albums, and retouch all those portraits, because the faster I went the behinder I got! Jonathan has turned out to be much more than a Photoshop guru! He now assists me at all my weddings, and all my portrait sessions. I use off camera lighting and that’s part of his job, to hold the lighting equipment for me. He also carries my camera bags for me, and tests me on the way to a wedding or portrait session. The conversation goes like this: He will say, “Who is the mother of the bride?” And I will answer, usually correctly. And he will go on down the list to make sure I’ve remembered correctly all the family members. We do this with portrait sessions too. It’s all part of the Angel thing. Jonathan also built me a new computer when I needed it. And Jonathan will pick up one of the backup cameras at a wedding and create some images of his own, so I now have the added benefit of double coverage for part of every wedding! Jonathan has become an invaluable part of the Image Angels team and I am happy to have him.