MARYSVILLE — A decades-long fixture of the local business community is set to trade hands, but the new owner promises it’ll remain a part of the community.

Joseph and Heidi Gogal have owned Clear Image Photo and Portrait Studio in Marysville for the past 21 years. With the rise of digital photography, Joe has seen the processing side of the business diminish, and he recently agreed to sell the business to its current manager, Daniel Jolly, who joined Clear Image in 2000.

“It was time for me to start a second career,” Gogal said. “I needed a change, but I’ll miss the people, both my employees and my customers. I’ve had customers from my first day who are still coming in, and I got to know them well.”

Gogal expressed gratitude at being able to share in the “exciting and successful times” in so many people’s lives, by “preserving the memories of those moments to last forever.” He literally had too many people to thank to list all of them, but he will always cherish both their support and his involvement in the community.

In the meantime, Gogal assured his customers that he has every faith in Jolly to serve as a “competent, ethical, morally upright” successor to him as owner of Clear Image.

“We are very happy to leave the business in such capable hands,” Gogal said. “Dan will do a great job taking care of our long-time customers, and will continue to attract new business.”

Jolly has already worked closely with businesses and other organizations in the community, to meet their photography needs. Jolly explained that, under his ownership, Clear Image will remain focused on family portraits, high school senior pictures, corporate and sports photography, and passport photos.

“I love photography,” Jolly said. “I love the artistry of it. I’ve been doing it since cameras actually used film,” he laughed.

Jolly has nonetheless enthusiastically embraced new technology in photography and photo-editing, and sees opportunities in the fact that, while more people have access to this technology, not nearly as many have the training or techniques to use it with skill.

While Jolly hopes to grow Clear Image’s commercial photography business, he expressed his commitment to maintain a personal touch in his dealings with the local community. At the same time, he looks forward to continuing to expand into youth markets, through YouTube videos and MySpace CDs.

Clear Image’s ownership is changing hands through a 90-day transition period that will be completed by the end of this year.