Fun with Emma

We certainly have our share of beautiful babies here at the Studio. And we seriously love them all. Quite frequently we are visited by babies on the occasion of their first birthday, as was the case with the lovely Emma. For a baby's first birthday, we like to end the session with a cake or cupcake. You never really know what they are going to do with it, whether they will like it, or not. Just for fun, We put together this little animation with a few shots from the end of Emma's session. We hope you enjoy it!

Summer Portraits at the Seacoast

Last year we started a new tradition, where we would rent a house on the Seacoast for a week and spend the week photographing families and seniors. By locating ourselves close to our location for outdoor sessions, we are able to save time and money carting our equipment to the location, and are thus able to offer special pricing for the sessions held during this week. So mark your calendars: the week of August 18-24, we will be creating beautiful portraits on location at the New Hampshire seacoast. If you've been waiting for the right time to book a beach session, now's the time.

We have a very limited number of sessions available, so you are going to want to act fast. Here's the deal: we are generally only going to want to have sessions first thing in the morning (think E-A-R-L-Y) or at the end of the day. The middle of the day, due to the brightness and angle of the sun, are not ideal for photography. So we are only going to be scheduling one session in the morning, and two to three sessions in the late afternoon/evening (when the light is nice.)

Now it is a near certainty that we will have some issues with the weather. This is the nature of outdoor photography on the New Hampshire seacoast. This means that everyone will need to be flexible- we may have to move locations to contend with the weather, we may have to reschedule. We will make every effort to be able to hold your session at the date and time booked, and if we have to reschedule to a time that is not within the week, you will still get the special pricing for your session. The good news is that just because it is raining in the afternoon, that doesn't mean we can't have a great evening session.

Seniors, this is your chance to get AMAZING photos. The colors in the above photo are real. After sunset, we have a short window to get those incredible skies. Don't miss your chance. Secure your session while you still can.

Senior Representatives for SME

It's that time of year again. Studio Mark Emile is looking for students from the class of 2014 to serve as Senior Spokesmodels. This is an opportunity to get the best senior portraits, and earn studio credit, cash, and prizes just for showing off your pictures to your friends.

 The Spokesmodel program at Studio Mark Emile is limited to a select number of students at each school in the area. Interested students must fill out an application and submit it to be considered.

There are many benefits to being a senior spokesmodel of Studio Mark Emile. Firstly, you pay no session fees. While there is a financial commitment needed to become a spokesmodel,  ALL of the money goes directly to the purchase of your package and products. You get extensive sessions both in the studio and on location, so you get the widest variety of images to choose from of anyone. And you get your images first.

The program is about students representing the studio to their peers and offering a discount to their friends and acquaintances on the best senior portraits in the area. In turn, the spokesmodels get discounts, earn studio credit, cash and prizes for their referrals. It's a win-win situation. The top prize is an iPad III, so we reward our senior representatives.

 If this sounds interesting, you can learn more and fill out an application or contact the studio.

Our Hearts have been Touched

Honoring the special place that family has in our lives is part of what drives us at Studio Mark Emile, and a big part of what makes what we do important to our clients. This has been brought to the fore by recent events, from the recent passing of a relative to the sudden turn for the worse in the health of a friend and colleague.And yesterday was a year to the day that we photographed the family of a guy whom I hadn't seen since high school, on his mother's 90th birthday.

Still, today's mail underlined the point. We got a Thank You card from a client whose family portraits we did last summer during our week at the beach. It brought tears to our eyes, so we thought we would share it with you.

We love what we do, and we love whom we do it for. Treasure your families while you have them, because you never know when your loved ones will be taken away from you. We feel honored to have been chosen to create these family heirlooms, knowing that our work will provide comfort to our clients for years to come. It is at moments like this that we are reminded of the value of what we do for our clients.

See the Difference

Professional Photographers of America (PPA) presents "See the Difference", a short video on why to use professional photographers for your most cherished memories. Proud to be a PPA member, and Master Craftsman.

Introduction to Digital Photography Course

We are pleased with the level of interest we've seen in our recently announced digital photography course. We've been spending some time fleshing out the details, and we want to get that information out to you.

This class is designed for the the neophyte camera owner that wants to learn how to take good photos. If you have a DSLR that seems to be harder to get good pictures out of than your old point and shoot, this class is for you. If you know someone who struggles to use their camera, this class is for them. If you don't know why your pictures are blurry, this class is for you. If you just want to learn how to make photographs that you can proudly print and display on your wall, this class is for you.

Each class will be 90 minutes of instruction on a given set of topics. You will learn new skills and have assignments to practice what you have learned to help you develop and retain these skills. There will be Q&A time during class to ensure that everyone is keeping up. Class size will be limited to 10 students to ensure there is sufficient personal attention for all.

Here's the syllabus:

Class 1: The Camera
Class 2: Understanding Exposure
Class 3: Elements of Good Photographs
Class 4: Post-Processing 1
Class 5: Post-Processing 2
Class 6: Photo Critique and Miscellaneous Topics

The class instructor will be international award winning photographer, Mark Levesque. Mark holds both the Master Photographer and Photographic Craftsman degrees from the Professional Photographers of America, is a Certified Professional Photographer, and has written many articles for Professional Photographer Magazine.

Tentative start date for the class is Tuesday, January 15th at 6pm.

You Asked, We Listened

With DLSRs being nearly ubiquitous, the digital age has brought photography into more hands than ever before. As new camera owners are quick to discover, having a shiny new camera does not mean producing better photographs is automatic. This is where a little training comes in. Studio Mark Emile is here to help. In response to a steady stream of requests, we are happy to announce our "Digital Photography for Beginners" class.

We will be offering classes for new photographers in the New Year. Our course of study will be 6 weeks of training for the modest price of $250. Classes will be held from mid-January to the end of February on either a Monday or Tuesday evening. This is a perfect Christmas gift for that special person on your shopping list that has (or will be getting) a DSLR and wants to learn how to use it.

We will be covering a wide range of topics from image capture to final output. This hands on course will teach you about how to operate your camera for the best results, how to make the best image captures for various conditions, what to do with the images once you've captured them, and how to prepare them for final output.

To take this course, you should have your own DSLR and at least one lens. A laptop with a version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements is a plus as we will be going over image manipulations in class.

We are taking reservations now at the studio for this class NOW. Gift certificates are also available. Class size will be limited, so sufficient attention can be given to each student's needs.

The syllabus is being developed, and will be available soon. Call or email for details.

As Fall Approaches

Summer is over, for all intents and purposes, with Labor Day behind us and school a daily thing for many of us. Fall is nearly here, and that means it's time to start planning for family portraits. Why is fall such a popular time for family portraits? The weather is generally still pretty good, there is an opportunity to get some autumn colors in the outdoor sessions, and people are starting to think about the holidays and the possibilities of giving portraits as gifts and using family portraits on Christmas cards and such.

With all of the busy times associated with back to school, it is easy for September and even October to get away from you. Before you know it, November is on your doorstep and you haven't even thought about your holiday cards and gifts. We can help.

Studio Mark Emile is putting together our first annual Fall Portrait Event. It is tailor made for people who don't need a lengthy session, want outdoor portraits, and don't mind saving a little money in the process. We will be on location in Hollis for a full day of sessions. Half hour mini-sessions will be only $75, and will be held on Saturday, October 13th (rain/wind date, Oct 14th). These sessions will book quickly, so don't delay. Don't worry. If you don't manage to secure your mini-session during our event, you can still get a full, private family session at the regular price. But this is such a great deal, if you can get on the schedule it really makes sense to do so.

Visit us at Hollis Old Home Days this weekend, September 14th and 15th. We will have a drawing for a family session and 24x30 canvas, as well as a number of other prizes. Be sure to visit our booth. We expect to fill up our available Fall Portrait Event sessions this weekend, so if you can't make it, feel free to call the studio during the week (603 886-0957) to secure your session.

A Call to Seniors

Every summer we see the same thing. June comes and the new seniors are so glad to be out of school, the thought of senior portraits is the last thing on their minds. We try and try to get the seniors into the studio in June and July, but they are for the most part uninterested until August, and then comes the grand rush. Well, seniors, the time to procrastinate is well past. School is less than a month away, and if you don't have your sessions secured already, you are apt to find that your times of choice are no longer available. The rush is on, and the scramble to find appointments is in full swing.

Fret not. There is still time to secure your own appointment. You might have to get up early to get a location session, or you might have to push your appointment into September, but you can still "git 'er done." But not to put too fine a point on things, you really need to call NOW. Seriously. We booked 3 sessions today in the space of an hour and half. Don't get left out.

When the blog gets quiet

There are a number of reasons why a blog might go quiet. Perhaps there is nothing new to say. Perhaps something bad has happened to the blogger. Or maybe the blogger is so busy that the blog has just taken a back seat to doing client work. I am pleased to say that our apparent hiatus has been caused by just such circumstances, and not anything bad.

Since our last blog post, we have been positively slammed. We've done weddings, 50th anniversaries, family portraits, senior portraits, baby portraits, business portraits and commercial work. It's been great. We are, however, eager to share what we've been up to. We are really going to try to stay current, so look forward to a flurry of posts, because we have no shortage of things to share.

For those of you who missed our week at the beach, we will be sharing some of those images in the next couple of weeks, and since it was so successful we are looking forward to doing it all again next year. A word to the wise: secure you spot early. We only have so many slots and they will fill quickly! Given the vagaries of the weather, we need to leave ourselves a little wiggle room, so when we announce the dates you will want to jump.

We are now in the thick of seniors season. If you have been procrastinating, now is the time to secure your sessions. Here are some of the images we've created of seniors in the last few weeks.

Ride to Read and Walk

Studio Mark Emile is happy to support the Adult Learning Center's 6th Annual Ride to Read and Walk. A worthy cause and a great organization. Photographs of the event are available for purchase, and support the Ride to Read and Walk. Ride to Read and Walk Gallery

Mogi'z Masquerade Hair Fashion Show

Mogi'z Salon put on a hair fashion show and masquerade ball at the Radisson recently, and Studio Mark Emile was happy to provide photography services for the event. Mogi'z outrageous hair styles were sported by an animated crew of models from Cinderella Modeling Agency. The concept was a real big city style event, and Mogi'z partner Julio certainly delivered that, augmenting the models with an opera singer, flamenco dancers, and a country/rock singer to provide an entertaining event.

Here are some of the models and their costumes.

Additional images of the models and their costumes are available on our Facebook page. Mogi'z Masquerade on the SME FB page

When we get our gallery set up for people who wish to purchase prints or files, we will post the information here.