A lovely family

We get a fair number of families in for portraits here at the studio, and sometimes one or more of the family members are in from out of town. Well, this family redefines "out of town". Mom flew in from the Philippines! How cool is that? It's hard to be from much farther away than that!

This was one of the easiest sessions we've ever had. It was one of those times when everything goes right, and I literally could have picked the images with my eyes closed because they were virtually all good ones. And they are all such nice people, it is a thrill to be able to create such images for them.

We are putting up a few here so that people back in the Philippines can enjoy them before Yvette returns. I won't ruin the whole surprise, but here's a glimpse:

Getting a jump on things

Well, the Class of 2010 may not yet be graduated, but by now the vast majority of the the senior portraits have long been done, given the early yearbook deadlines. We may get the occasional late bird or dissatisfied customer from somewhere else, but the senior market is very quiet this time of year. So I was a bit surprised to get a call from a mom inquiring into senior portraits for her daughter who is in the Class of '11.

Seems her daughter was getting braces put back on and wanted her yearbook picture to be braces-free. No problemo. Bring her down and have her bring clothes and things that are meaningful to her, and we'll have some fun and create some cool images. And we did.

Shoshana turned out to be a great subject- cute, brimming with personality, and just plain a delight to be around. We had a very successful session, and everyone has been pleased with the results, some of which I share here. This is the earliest of early-birds that we've ever had, and we are delighted to start off next year's senior season with such a great senior. Enjoy.

Announcing our Bonus Bucks Program

This is our ad which ran in the Hudson-Litchfield News.



Here's the skinny: any gift certificate you buy qualifies you for Studio Mark Emile Bonus Bucks at 25% of the value of your gift certificate. Bonus Bucks are studio credit which can be used up to March 31, 2010. So if you give someone a $100 gift certificate, you have $25 in studio credit you can use yourself (or give to someone else). There is no limit. So spend $1000, and get a $1000 gift certificate AND $250 of studio credit.

Portraiture is a great gift. Maybe you know a real estate agent or other professional that needs a new business card headshot. That's only $150, and you'd get $37.50 in bonus bucks for yourself.

This special offer is for a limited time only. Purchases must be made by Christmas Eve to qualify!

Fun with Santa

Having Santa in the studio has been a blast. Whether it was Girls Night Out or our daytime sessions, we've had plenty of frivolity- and not a few tears. Some of our younger clients apparently do not yet appreciate the generous nature of the jolly old elf. Honestly, some of those images are my favorites.

Here's a sampling of our pics with Santa.

One of the doggies who joined us:



A family:



Girls Night Out hijinx:



Nik and Mike



For this little one, the magic question was "do you like pizza?" :)



Honestly, I AM smiling. Really.

Winter Holiday Stroll

Saturday night was the annual Nashua Winter Holiday Stroll. This eagerly anticipated event happens every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and is always well attended. This year was no exception. Sadly, howling winds made the candle-lit procession to the tree-lighting all but impossible. I saw only a handful of candles in the throng. I was atop the Hunt building to get some images of this very procession, and the wind up there was brutal. Even with a tripod it was very difficult to prevent movement of the camera. I salvaged a few shots.

Here they come:






And the tree is lit.