Altanta 2-Day Walk For Breast Cancer

Monday night we gave away $1 Million!!!!

Well, we who have helped to raise the money through the Atlanta 2-Day Walk For Breast Cancer each had our own part in the 2-Day being able to make grants to 22 North Georgia organizations totaling just over $1 million.

It's my pleasure to serve as the official photographer for the 2-Day and to be a corporate sponsor. In it's 6 years of life the 2-Day has grown greatly. One wonderful thing about the 2-Day is the fact that ll the money raised here stays here. Add to that a lean operation that really works to return big bucks with low administrative costs...and you have a great organization. I really enjoy being a part all the good accomplished here.

Magianno's in Buckhead hosted the dinner Monday where representatives from most of the local organizations received nice checks to benefit their work. Walk founder Randi Passof presented the $$$. Here's a couple of pix from the evening - the large group is all ther representatives and Randi and the smaller group is the Board of Directors.

Watch this blog or our web site for our next portrait special to benefit the 2-Day

World Of Coke

Janell was home this weekend and we had a great time together. Saturday afternoon we decided to act like tourist and head to downtown Atlanta. We'd not yet checked out the new Work of Coke so that was our destination. We and about 1/2 bazillion other folks had decided that a pretty Saturday afternoon would be a great time to visit Coke and/or the Georgia Aquarium! Once we got past all the traffice and lines we really enoyed the new World of Coke. They have a 4-D theater that requires the proverbial magic glasses to see all the wonderful effects - here we are waiting to enter. Despite all the encouragement from the staff to take a swig, we passed on sampling the Coke product from Italy called Beverly........Janell tried in in Italy and advised against it! We will return to the World of Coke - probably next time we have guests from out of town that want to do someting uniquely Atlanta. Combine that with the CNN tour and it would do any great tourist proud!
Be sure to check out the Sr video below.

Martin Seniors - Plans for the Class of '10

We're hard at work planning for fabulous portraits for the Senior Class of 2010. This year we will have several entirely new looks as well as completely new session designs and packages. Soon we will be introducing our new Image Book Previews for seniors - a complete bound book of previews from each session.
All these changes will benefit our studio seniors as well as our GACS seniors.
Here's a video of some of our seniors in the studio and GACS.

More 5x10 Portraits

Earlier I made a post about some new sizes for portraits - particularly 5x10. I've added this neat size to our Sports Package options because I think it makes such a striking presentation. We're offering these framed and ready to display. Here are a few examples from GACS. The format works well for all types of portraits as you see here. It's not perfect for all portraits due the the extreme crop, but it is great for many. Give us a shout if you're in our online order system looking at portraits and want to know if a particular pose would make a great 5x10!

Central Gwinnett High - Principal

Indulge me please..... Last night the Gwinnett County Board Of Education appointed my wife to be principal at Central Gwinnett High School effective June 1. She's excited and I'm proud for her. Out daughter, Janell, is a graduate of CGHS and she thinks it's great that her mother will be there at her Alma Mater. We live in the Central district and have many students in our neighborhood - wonder how soon it will be before they figure out they live down the street from the principal?
Nancy's been principal at Five Forks Middle and most recently at Pinckneyville Middle. This morning she shared the news with a staff she loves at Pinckneyville and this afternoon she's being introduced to the folks at Central.
29 years ago today we climbed Stone Mountain together. It was cold & cloudy that day but we made the trek and it was there on top of the mountain that I proposed. I'm most thankful that she said yes. We've celebrated Valentine's Day on Feb. 13 ever since.
Here's my most recent picture of her. We did this recently and you may have seen my comment on Facebook that I was doing the most dangerous thing a photographer can ever do - retoucing my wife's portrait. If you didn't see the comment then you probably need to friend me!
Hope you are having a good day - we are!

GACS Long Forum

What a grand day for all the folks at GACS! The dedication of the LONG FORUM was a wonderful celebration for everyone. I made lots of pictures which are all posted on our Online Order Station at www.martinphotography.com

Looking Back - Moto Trip 2007

Playing with Animoto and used some images from the motorcycle trip to Nova Scotia back in '07. My two brothers and I loaded up our touring bikes and rode up the Blue Ridge Parkway. We took in the H-D Factory tour in York, PA before heading across New York with a stop in Woodstock. We took the ferry from Portland up to Nova Scotia. After a great loop through NS we ferried back to Bar Harbor where we met our families. A journey we'll never forget! Next summer we're fly fising in British Colombia for an adventure - Salmon anyone?

Fun Size Portraits

What happened to 8x10????
Well, it still exists but we're doing a greater variety of sizes now than was the tradition for many years. These days we are printing portraits in 8x12, 20x30, 10x20, 15x30, 4x10, 5x10 and more. Utilizing some of the more fun ratios gives us a great contemporary look. Here are a couple of examples from a session yesterday for 1:2 ratio portrait. We've prepared these as 5x10 for displays in some of the new desk size frames we have here in the studio. Stay tuned for more. Thanks to Sarah for being such a great model.

Family Portraits

Around Thanksgiving and Christmas we always have a Family Portrait Special. We have clients that plan around it and come back year after year to update the images in their family histories. We also get to meet some new families that are looking for a wonderful way to treasure special times together. This fall was no different from any other - I had a great time photographing family groups in the studio. Here's a couple of our new families from this year. Extended family groups are always special and the coordinator - usually Mom - always gets a gold star in my book. While everyone is all clean an dressed for portraits we do all the small groups as well - the smaller famillies, the grandchildren together and with the grandparents....the list goes on! Could be a great resolution for the year ahead to commit to following through on that age-old promise to get a new family portrait. Give us a call - we'll help.

Holiday BBQ & HD

We've enjoyed some down time during the holidays. We closed the studio Tuesday before Christmas and will reopen on Friday 1/2/9. Our daughter has been home and we have treasured some wonderful time together as a family. We did create a new picture for our Christmas card after Janell got home from North Carolina - that's on the front page of the web site.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was as gorgeous a day as you will ever find in Atlanta in December - Sunny & 65 degrees. My friend John and I just had to take advantage of that weather to get the motorcycles out for a spin. No long trips - just a run out to Winder for a BBQ lunch and some riding along some of the back roads of Barrow and Walton County. I'm grateful to Nancy and Janell for their willingness to take some time together to go shopping at Phipps so that I could go out and play.

Since our friend Mark was on the road driving his family through Tennessee we had to occasionally send him a text or a pic to be certain he knew he was missing a great day for riding. Here's a pic John made of me just before we went in to enjoy that sandwich and cup of stew.

Hope you all have had a wonderful celebration of Christmas and that your New Year's Eve will be safe and enjoyable. We've got some great special offerings coming in 2009 that I know you will enjoy. Some will be posted right here on the BLOG and offered by e-mail. If you'd like to be certain you get these offers be sure to send me your e-mail address and request being added to our list. Mail to: glenn@martinphotography.com

Lawrenceville Kiwanis Christmas Kids

For over 10 years now I've had the joy of serving as the official photographer for the Lawrenceville Kiwanis Club's Christmas Kids Party. This local service club has made a difference in the joy of Christmas for local children for many years. With the help of folks like you the club has been able to provide presents as well as a party for over 300 local children. With the challenging economic times we're in we had no clue how the public might respond this year as the children's wish lists were distributed (these are children involved with Gwinnett DCFS). Folks amazed us - I think this year we had more gifts - including bicycles - than ever before. I guess that hard times make us appreciate what we have and encourage us to be more aware and giving with those around us with real needs. Thanks to everyone who contributed - we gave each child a sack full of Christmas presents, a party and a picture from a visit with Santa. Here I am with Santa during a break in the photography. Among the Kiwanians present were 5 Judges from various courts in Gwinnett County. We took advantage of a great opportunity to make this pic of Santa with Judges Greene, Washburn, Mock, Hutchinson and Clarke.
Hope you all have a great Christmas - I know a lot of kids that are thanks to you!

Sibling Smiles

The other evening we had a brother and sister in for a session . It's always interesting when we get teenagers together in portraits - posing close takes just a little encouragement. However, these two fell right into the portrait mood and we created some wonderful images. These are fun portraits that their parents and grandparents are going to enjoy for many years.

Here's a good opportunity for me to remind all of you about the difference it makes when you plan your clothing for portraits. Notice the dark solid clothing. Then notice how the white accent on each coordinates and dresses up the portrait with just a bit of formality without being stuffy. The pearls and the tie keep a fun teen look but give the portraits just a touch of dressiness. Probably you didn't notice this at all - that's because it works! When properly selected the clothing really shouldn't be a focal point in a portrait at all. The clothing is just a palette for showcasing faces!
I'll climb off of my soapbox now and let you go back to enjoying the portraits.

Christmas At Biltmore (actually birthday!)

Last weekend we made yet another pilgrimage to The Biltmore House in Asheville. We've been fans for years and have always made our visits in the spring & summer. Each time we'd visit there would be conversation about wanting to see the house decorated for Christmas. A couple of years ago our daughter made that visit and then came home talking about how wonderful it was. Well, we made plans to make a Christmas visit ourselves. Several months ago I "informed" Nancy that she needed to schedule a Friday off for a long weekend trip to celebrate her birthday - a surprise, destination unknown type of trip. Usually she will trust me so she indulged me on this one. Though she did keep wanting to know how to pack.
Since her birthday was actually a few days prior to the trip I did let her in on the destination on her big day. What I didn't mention was the fact that we would be joined by some friends for the trip. Not until we were leaving town and ran by a friend's house and they came out with suitcases did Nancy know that Mark & Carolyn would be traveling with us. Our trip us was pleasant and we caught up on all the news in both families. We checked in at the Inn On Biltmore on a cold afternoon that promised an even colder evening for touring the house. Here's a view of the house from our room at the Inn - look carefully, it's there! We had dinner reservations at the Bistro there on the grounds and yet another surprise when we were joined by another couple from home for dinner and celebration of the birthday girl - thanks Steve & Joy!
After a great dinner we took the van over to the house - outdoor temp was in the 20s so we never took our coats off in the house. The decor was as wonderful as we'd heard and imagined. We fully enjoyed our 2 1/2 hour stroll through a Christmas wonderland. Though we had to agree with a quote from an actual guest that stayed at Biltmore one winter - "it's bloody cold".
Saturday morning we awoke to a brisk 22 degrees and a beautiful sunrise out our window. After that heavenly breakfast buffet at the Inn (the main reason we keep returning to the Inn at Biltmore) we headed back over to the house for a Behind The Scenes Tour. If ever you visit Biltmore take this extra tour - we've done it before and it is constantly changing. Likewise, in warm weather we highly recommend the "Legacy and the Land" tour. Thanks to a couple of nice young ladies who took the "blog cam" and made a picture of the 4 of us. It was a great weekend with good friends. We're grateful for all of it.

Christmas Portraits - Aurora Theatre Ad

We've had a great November and December for creating family portraits for Christmas. Last week 3 of my favorite subjects came in for a family portrait for their Christmas card. Nothing like three fun ladies to work with - you just can't miss on creating a really fun portrait. We knew we wanted something really fun so we went for a little attitude...... Of course, whenever we have folks in the studio all dressed and ready for a family portrait we want to make a few individuals as well. these girls were most willing to share a smile with me. I had a difficult time picking just these few to share with you.

Nancy and I are great fans and supporters of the Aurora Theatre here in Lawrenceville. If you aren't checking out the great productions at the Aurora you need to call today and get your tickets for the Christmas Canteen (678) 226-6222. Anyway, we have an ad in the Aurora Playbill for each production. This week I was creating the ad for the winter production of "Corpse!" and wanted to feature our Business Portraits and Head Shots. Strolling back through the files of recent portraits to pick ad models I kept thinking of the pose of younger sister from the above session....so I used that and a couple of adults that came to mind as well. I'm constantly astounded at some of the pictures folks use in their ads and publicity. Your portrait represents you as an introduction long before you get to talk to anyone. Actors know this and place appropriate importance on their Head Shot. Like the ad says....You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Christmas Portraits - there's still time!

What a busy week we've had working on portraits for Christmas. We had a wonderful weekend with a number of families in the studio for our Christmas Special and that has not stopped. Add in some location portraits and a lot of fun sports pictures and we've had a wonderful week! Saturday morning I had a visit from my associate photographer, Dennis and his family. We talked about the big loss for the Spartans football team the night before at Callaway. Dennis covers a lot of sports action for me and had followed Coach Ken and the Spartans again this season. Somehow, through all the fog Dennis came out with some great pictures of Spartan Football. Friday evening I'd been photographing some Spartan Swimmers. Anyway, we did take time photograph Dennis and his family for their Christmas Card- here they are for you to enjoy.

OK decoration procrastinators - I had a session early this week in a home completely decorated for Christmas - yep, trees, lights, wreaths, garland and more. How neat to be able to make the Christmas Card picture prior to Thanksgiving in front of your own decorations. You'd never know these three had made it through a whole day of school prior to this session - thanks guys, I had a great time working with you and everyone is going to love the pose your mother picked for the card.

Sometimes we need an excuse or just a "gentle shove" to get us into action on those family portraits. We all want them but they can be a challenge to coordinate on the scheduling end of the deal. I recently read an article about how a family's pictures are the most prized possessions in the house. How many times have you heard, or considered yourself, that if you had a fire the one thing you'd try to save would be pictures. They are indeed priceless. I think one reason that I encourage family portraits so much is the fact that in my growing up years my family did not have portraits made. I think that weddings were the only time we were all in a picture together - before I started insisting on portraits a Christmas. But by then I was grown and a photographer and everyone expected that. I'd give almost anything to have a picture of all six of us in my childhood family - but it doesn't exist! Sure it can be a challenge to get it scheduled and get everyone in the correct outfit - but you are not only recording the moment to enjoy today - you are creating a treasure for generations beyond today. Really, let's schedule your family for a portrait treasure - there's still time before Christmas!

Baby Portraits

While I'm updating I could not resist adding in these two sweet faces from last week. Both of these two are special because I've photographed their older siblings as well. Hope you enjoy the smiles!

The Church Staff Came To The Studio

Last week I had the joy of photographing the entire staff of Brookwood Baptist Church. The folks at that church are working on their web site and updating materials so they wanted current pictures of all the staff. We blocked an entire morning in the studio and they each came in for a session. The ministerial staff brought several outfits and we created a varied set of images for them. Pastor Dean Oliver was a super guy to work with and put up with all my abuse in wonderful style. Sometimes it's a casual portrait that best describes a person - so we took that approach with Pastor Dean. Here's some of what we created for Dean.

John Ross - Painter

Catch up time......I'm determined to become a better blogger!!!

One of my great joys in this profession is working with all the folks at Greater Atlanta Christian School. I've made lot's of friends through the association there and I'm always meeting new ones. I've been their official photographer since 2001. Last week I had a chance to photograph at a student chapel session when a great guy from Las Vegas shared his witness through his painting. Jon Ross is a Harding Univ graduate whose life story is inspiring - he's overcome some major medical issues and in that process discovered an artistic talent. While the students sat quietly listening to inspirational music, Jon transformed a blank canvas into a glowing image of Christ. His technique is to use his hand as a brush in rather bold strokes. He started with painting just words on the canvas setting a tone for what was to come. As he painted he changed the message of the words until in the end the face of Jesus had consumed the entire canvas. I saw him do this tiwce - once for the Jr High students and then for the High School. Both groups sat almost transfixed as they watched Jon create. I hope you enjoy seeing these pix of our worship last Thursday morning.

Boston - what a great place to visit

BOSTON - the lobsters were GREAT!!!

We made a quick trip to Boston recently - purely pleasure! As many of you know, our daughter works in Admissions for Elon University and travels representing the university. She's been in Connecticut and we thought we'd see her and Boston at the same time. What a deal.



Nancy and I headed out on a Thursday afternoon on Delta. It was a wonderful flight up and we came up the coast at dark as we descended into Boston. What a fun time spotting lighthouses from the air. We checked out the city on Friday before Janell came in that afternoon. It's a compact city and walking is the best way to see it - so we did. Here's some of the pix from my pocket camera. With no eyes checking to see what the professional is using my handy pocket cam works great for vacation pics.

Nancy and I thought that we might be able to force ourselves to live in Boston if we could have one of these condos on the waterfront. Then we took a look at some of the real estate brochures on those very condos.......WOW!!!!....but they come with the boat slip ......but since the boat wasn't included we decided to pass.



Here I am at CHEERS - could not find Sam at all.

We loved every minute of the visit. It's one of those places we'd visit again!

Now that I'm back to blogging I promise to do better!

SMART

July 2 of last year - yes 2007 - I ordered a SMART FOURTWO CABRIOLET. We picked her up at SmartCenter Buckhead on Saturday morning, Sept. 6, 2008 (our 28th wedding anniversary). We'd already named her Blue Belle. Yes, naming cars is very serious business in our family.

For those unfamiliar, the SMART is a product of Mercedes Benz that is manufacatured in Hambach, France. If you've been to Europe or Canada in the past few years you've probably seen them. I became intrigued by them last summer on the 3 Braothers Motorcyle Trip to Canada. These fun little buggers have a 3 cylinder 1 liter engine and are a blast to drive! You order them online and wait - currently about 15 months is the projection.

Our fist stop after picking up Belle was my brother's house to give them a look. Tod instantlly asked for the keys and headed off. I later took my nephew for trip around the neighborhood. We made it back to Lawrenceville for lunch and a chance to park her on the square. When parking in a standard space it's best to leave about 5 feet between the front and the curb so that the rear end of the little pup shows at the end of the space and she desn't get smushed.

All weekend we found reasons to go places. Just as much fun as driving is watching the reactions of other drivers people on the street.

More on the Smart as we dive it more.

www.smartusa.com