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!