Monday, January 25, 2010

Alvirne HS Semi

No better time for a dance than a Saturday Night. And of course, if your going to a semi formal dance, ya gotta have pictures. This group dropped by the studio on their way out. Lots of fun & lots of noise! These guys were definitely ready for a great time.




Ryan comes to play!

Ok, so he can't really play yet, but we can certainly enjoy his company! Saturday morning bright & early Ryan and his MomKaitlyn, along with Grandma and Auntie, showed up to have Ryan's first pictures taken. At 13 days old, he was a very agreeable little fellow with nary a peep out of him. Of course, we kept him warm & comfy, and we all took turns holding him. There is just nothing like a new baby to snuggle with. Keep watching, Ryan will be back with us for his 3month photo before you know it!



Wednesday, January 20, 2010

We Love Babies!

Little Alita had her first visit to the studio yesterday, and she was a delight! Such a good-natured little one! Mom and dad were as impressed by her behavior as we were. Maybe next time we will meet Alita's older brother.

Here are a few shots from our session.









Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What those letters mean

If you follow photographers for any length of time, you will notice that some of them start to accumulate letters after their name, and you may wonder what that is all about. Basically, it is a way for photographers to distinguish themselves among other photographers.

The Professional Photographers of America (PPA) have a set of degrees that a photographer can earn. In Nashville, I was awarded my Craftsman Photographer degree, entitling me to add Cr. Photog. after my name. The craftsman degree is awarded to photographers who share their knowledge with other photographers to pass on what they have learned from those who came before us as well as what we figured out on our own. Whether it is posing techniques or command of a particular software or whatever, if you pass it onto others you earn speaking merits which you can accumulate to earn a craftsman degree. This is kind of a big deal- you are called up on stage with your sponsor, who puts the ribbon and medallion around your neck, and receive the degree itself from the President of PPA, all the while your image is projected onto a huge screen for the audience to see. It's a big achievement and a big honor, and I am pleased to announce this accomplishment. I chose my wife Betsy for my sponsor, because she more than any other person is responsible for pushing me in this direction, to purse this passion and make it a career.

Mark Levesque, CPP, Cr. Photog., A.C. Ph

CPP: Certified Professional Photographer (written test & image submission)
Cr. Photog.: Craftsman Photographer, bestowed by PPA, explained above
A.C. Ph: Associate Colleague of Photography, bestowed by NHPPA





Images courtesy of Jeff Dachowski

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Ready to Rock

Betsy and I just returned from Imaging USA, the largest gathering of photographic professionals in the world, which was held at the Opryland Convention Center in Nashville. Wow! How inspiring!

Aside from the pleasure of reconnecting with friends (and making new friends, of course), we attended seminars to further our ability to create personalized art pieces for our clients, and sought out new products to provide our clients with the best and most interesting tangible manifestations of their portrait experience at Studio Mark Emile.

We are excited by the new products that we will be offering this year and the ways we've learned to make the portrait experience at Studio Mark Emile even better. The techniques we've learned to improve the quality of our image-making is simply the icing on the cake.

The international print exhibit is worth the trip all on its own. Photographers from around the world enter prints in this annual competition of the best of the best, and it is an honor to hang a print in this show. Let me just say that the images are inspirational to say the least.

We have a number of exciting announcements to make here on the blog. Stay tuned!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Studio Graffiti

Prior to last year's senior season, we got in touch with a graffiti artist who agreed to paint one of our interior walls. He is henceforward referred to as Mr No-Show. We got busy with senior season and really couldn't get around to finding anyone else for months. Then, last fall, our youngest told us about some friends of hers that "did graffiti".

They came into chat and show us their ideas, and we settled on some paints and such. We decided to give them a shot to play on a large canvas- our entire studio wall. They were practically giddy at the prospect. We finally got together yesterday for their day to play. Their "couple of hours" turned out to be a full day.

They had a blast. I have had enough Ironlak vapors to last me awhile. ;)

A blank canvas:


Making progress





The artists


The finished work


Thank you Shawn and Justin! We think it looks great.