• PETS
  • FAMILIES
  • STORIES
  • ABOUT

Who's Chad? Some little known fun facts . . .

ADVENTURES
  • many dives with sharks and shipwrecks (taught scuba for 15 years)
  • spent over 3 years of my life in a tent (longest stretch 6 months straight on a Beach) yes… before I met my wife.
  • invited to dive and took underwater photos on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor with Gene Hackman whom I certified for the movie "The Firm" and they quoted me in one part
  • Lived on Lanai and on Utila (Bay Islands of Honduras) always searching out the small out of the way places
  • was one of the first PSIA certified snowboard instructors in the country (back when snowboarding was a new invention)
LOVES
  • My family - been married for 17 years: 2 kids (12 yr old daughter and 8 yr old son) and 2 basenjis
  • we are thankful daily for the ability and freedom to be a homeschooling family (www.happyfishschool.com)
  • love camping and sleeping in hammocks BBQ and anything with rice and teryaki
  • diving - I really miss the ocean . . . !!
  • really love animals…. !! 
    Have had many dogs, a russian dwarf hamster, ferrets, house-trained dwarf bunnies (raised a duck from an egg… who would later come back to visit me with her own ducklings)
  • going against the grain in life - if everyone's doing it.... I'll go another route
  • endless gratitude for God's grace and thankful for all that he provides
WISHES
  • I didn't need to sleep
  • that we could get our Christmas lights and all our decorations up before Dec 1 
  • I were a pirate ... but a nice swashbuckling pirate on the seven seas - none of the bad stuff.
  • I could read Japanese so I'd understand our snowpeak instruction manuals and read the recipes too
  • sashimi was as good here as it is in Hawaii - never will be.
  • no animals would be abandon or need rescuing.
PHOTOGRAPHY
  • been a photographer since my teens and had my own darkroom in the 80’s
  • I love the art of processing and retouching digitally today
  • hired by professional photographers from all over the world to do their processing, retouching and consulting (www.happyfish.com)
  • have never followed a crowd… 
  • taking the time to get to know my clients 

TESTIMONIALS

  • ,

    Dear Chad,

    I wanted to send a short note thanking you for photographing our yearly school photos for our home school group.
    Not only are you a delight to work with, the way you work with kids is fun and you put them at ease.  You have an artist's eye and it shows not only in the school photos but in our large group picture at the end of the night. We look forward to having you back next year.  

    On another note, I spoke to you and your delightful wife at the AFHE conference. You were both very personable and answered all my crazy questions about photography.  I loved looking at your sample book. What fantastic photos! Your work is different than most. You capture feelings rather than just expressions. 

    Thank you,
    Kimberlee Herman
    President of Eastside Explorers
    ( View blog post )

    President, Eastside Explorers

  • ,

    We can’t thank you enough for the great job you did on Noemi’s newborn photos.  I don’t think people understand the importance of a great photographer; needless to say Chad Dahlquist has a gift.  He was so patient with all of us including our 2 week old that cried eighty-five percent of the time.  Through all of that he was still able to get outstanding pictures.  The time and attention he gave to detail superseded our expectations.  The variety of beautiful and well-composed photos that captured the emotions and feelings of our growing family are now held amongst our most valued possessions. ( View blog post )

    Grozav Family

  • ,

    Chad did a fantastic job... he was so great with the kids and patient with all my requests! 🙂  ( View blog post )

    Butcher Family

  • ,

    Oh! Chad and Karen ... the photos of Rutger are AMAZING!!!!  We can't tell you how thrilled we are with them!!  Once we decide on which photos we want to use for his graduation announcements, we will post some on FaceBook and give Chad the deserved credit!!  There are so many wonderful photo selections to chose from ... it will be difficult to narrow it down to what we want to use on the announcements.  There are several we would love to have blown up POSTER size, they are so gorgeous!!  Can't thank you enough ... we will definitely be spreading the word about what a fantastic photographer Chad is and will share your website as well. ( View blog post )

    Anderson Family

  • ,

    Chad took our family photo last year, which we were pleased with and have received many compliments on. We knew we wanted our family portrait outside but were unsure on the rest.  Thankfully Chad helped us through the entire process - picking the location and taking professional pictures of our family next to a beautiful tree. Chad was easy to work with and great with our young children. We enjoyed the experience and would definitely hire Chad to take another family portrait in the future!

    Carlson Family

Recent Posts
  • Baby Pygmy Goats
  • Elijah
  • Jax aka “Love Bug”
  • Apache Helicopter Family Session
  • C Family Session at McDowell Sonoran Preserve
RECEIVE UPDATES & SPECIALS
HappyFish Design
Cleantalk Pixel