Photography Classes: a Great Gift Idea

As DSLRs are the hot Christmas gift idea, photography is into more hands than ever before. Soon after the joy of opening the box fades, the realization that having a shiny new camera does not automatically mean producing better photographs sinks in. This is where a little training makes all of the difference in the world. Studio Mark Emile is here to help. To help maximize the joy of these gifts, we are happy to announce our "Digital Photography for Beginners" class, starting up shortly after Christmas. What timing!

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.

Topics include: The Camera, and what all the buttons and settings are for Exposure, and how it is achieved Elements of Successful Photographs You've Made Your Capture: Now What? Photoshop: What the tools are for and how to use them Preparing Your Photos to Display

Photos with Santa!

It's that time of year, time for a visit from the North Pole! That's right, Santa is coming to Studio Mark Emile! Santa will be here at the studio on Saturday, November 30th from 5:00-7:30pm. As this will be during Nashua's annual Winter Holiday Stroll, we will be taking walk-ins only. Santa will return to the studio on Saturday, December 14th, from 1-3pm, and for this appearance we WILL be accepting reservations (as well as walk-ins.) So if you want to avoid the lines, you can take your chances on November 30th or make a reservation for December 14th. Photos with Santa start at only $20. For those that are going to ask, we photograph children, and/or pets, and/or adults. So if you want pictures with Santa, "Yes, we do that." See you at the Studio!

Time for Christmas Cards

One of the great uses of family portraits is on Holiday cards. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Solstice, or whatever, the holidays is a wonderful opportunity to share portraits of your family with your friends and family. It is also extremely cost-effective.

When you share a custom designed card from Studio Mark Emile, you get to set the message yourself. The images come from your session, and are exquisitely presented in a design that is unique to you. These are the sorts of cards that people keep. It is not unusual for us to come across them hanging on someone's refrigerator years later.

If you've already had a session this year, we can use those images for your card, even if they aren't images you've already purchased as prints. If not, no problem, we can schedule in for a studio session. Don't forget that we have sessions available on nights and weekends, because, let's face it, most of our clients work during the week and it's difficult to schedule a family portrait during the normal workday.

As you can see in the examples below, we offer a variety of designs and color schemes. What you can't tell, though, is the many different types of card stock we offer. Whether you like the rich colors and shiny surface of a UV Coated card, prefer the subtlety and feel of watercolor paper, enjoy the texture of linen or any of our other surfaces, we offer a wide variety to complement your card design and really make your cards stand out from the pack.

Set your holiday cards apart from the crowd, and share images of your family from Studio Mark Emile. Our designs are fresh and unique, and our value is off the charts. Call to set up a design appointment today!

Never been a better time

Than right now! For seniors. We are deep in the middle of senior season right now. The phone is ringing. Sessions are booking up. The days to "wait until later in the summer" have come and gone. It's time to get your session booked. We're having a blast, with sessions nearly every day. When is yours? Here are a few from recent sessions:

Masterchef, Pro4um Style

Fox has a show called Masterchef, which is a bit of a riff on Iron Chef, which is to say a "reality" show which purports to find the best chef in a challenge/game format. Well, a professional photographers forum to which I belong recently implemented its own version of the game, only it's photographers vying to be the top photog. Fun, right?

So Pro4um is an expensive and exclusive forum, for professionals only, and the level of talent there is remarkable. It's a great place for pros to learn from other pros. that's why I'm there.

The second round was a tough assignment: photograph a shoe, as if for a commercial/advertisement. Just one shoe, not a pair. Aside from that, it just had to look like a commercial shot. We had 24 hours to complete the assignment.

I grabbed several shoes from my wife and daughters and brought them into the studio, photographing each and making them into an "ad".

When the judges were done, mine was picked to be 2nd place (out of 25!) So I'm the captain of the blue team.

These are the shots I made.

 

This is my final entry:

5 Years on Main St- Help Us Celebrate!

We are rapidly approaching the 5th anniversary of our opening of our studio on Main St. We've seen other businesses come and go during this time. Some who'd been here for a long time, some who came and went in an instant. In the midst of the worst economy in a generation, we've made it. This is worth celebrating!

The Deal: $5 Sessions

 In honor of this momentous occasion, we are offering $5 studio sessions for the entire month of June. That's right, a full studio session for a sawbuck, a fiver, a Lincoln. You can't beat that!

How It Works:

When you book your session, you will pay the regular session fee, but you will get a $95 print credit towards your order. This makes a studio session only $5!

How much for a baby session? $5

How much for a senior session? $5

How much for a family session? $5

How much for a pet session? $5

That's right, only $5 gets you a full session for the entire month of June. Sessions must be held by July 15th. Call the studio TODAY!

Like the Studio Mark Emile Facebook page for access to additional specials during our month of celebration! http://www.facebook.com/StudioMarkEmile

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.