We love Facebook here at Merrick Photography, and I see a LOT of profile photos in the course of a day! I also get a lot of requests from people for a headshot they can use on Facebook, especially from those wanting to present a professional appearance rather than using a photo of themselves at the beach or with their cat.

So, I’ve decided to dedicate one Friday per month as “Facebook Friday” where anyone can come down to the studio for a quick headshot they can use on their Facebook profile (or LinkedIn, Twitter etc.)

Normally, I would charge $50 for an executive headshot, but on “Facebook Fridays” it’s not even $25, not $20, but ONLY $16.50 per person (one pose), including sales tax.

You get a great headshot you can use on your profile, emailed straight to a computer near you the same day.

Our first “Facebook Friday” is Friday August 20^th (yes, I know it’s a little short notice, but better late than never!), from 11am to 4pm inclusive. Just drop on by, we’d be thrilled to see you!

I love to photograph families – creating these beautiful, intimate portraits that celebrate the love people have for their family members is one of my favorite forms of photography.

This particular family portrait was no exception. Shelby Farms provided the perfect backdrop of late summer colors with the early morning sun giving us exquisite lighting to create a timeless photograph.

As the summer starts to draw to a close, and the kids head back to school, it’s a sure sign that the leaves will soon be changing and autumn will be upon us. This is the perfect time of year to create portraits of your priceless family, just in time to make greeting cards for the holidays.

Better still, October will soon be here and, with it, comes Family Portrait Month – a month-long celebration of family and relationships where we get to help other local families in the community through our partnership with Fayette Cares.

For more information visit the Family Portrait Month web site. But hurry, we only have 20 openings available, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Do people stop you and tell you your child should be a model, but don’t know where to begin?

Whether you’re looking to get started in modeling as a career or looking to add a new fresh updated photo to your current modeling portfolio, no experience is necessary for me to photograph your child. Leave that to me and my experience behind the camera.

Take a look at this short video of some of our recent models and see for yourself what we can do for you, and what fun they can have here in the studio!

We use models to constantly update our studio portfolio. Our regular (paying) clients expect industry-leading portraits, so we’re always trying out new photographic styles and lighting techniques to create the most flattering photographs imaginable. We NEVER let our work get “stale”.  So it’s a win-win deal. We get fun, fresh images for our studio, and our models get a free top-of-the-industry photo session. And not just a mini-session either – this is the kind of portrait session you can create a knock-out portfolio from if you want to. And if you don’t want a portfolio, you’ll have a ton of great portraits to choose from for the free digital file we give you for your comp card. We love getting calls from all the super-excited moms when our models get new jobs.

For more information, visit our Angel Hill Models web site where you can learn more about the program, fill out an application and schedule a session for your child.

Like many people in this helter-skelter world we live in these days, I spend more than a little of my time in my car. When I don’t feel like listening to CDs or the endless repetition of commercial radio, I like to catch up on some of my favorite podcasts, especially those from RadioLab, produced by wNYC. (Check them out – they’re a great source of information and entertainment).

This morning’s chosen podcast was all about deception, and included references to the work of Dr. Paul Ekman (the real-life inspiration behind the popular TV show “Lie To Me”). His studies of the human face revealed that we have approximately 50 muscles that can combine to produce approximately 3000 different emotional expressions.

I got to thinking that,  a photographer, I’m mostly looking for a very specific one of those 3000 expressions – a simple, gentle, natural smile. Thankfully not as rare as the odds might imply, I consider a smile as one of the great rewards of my profession:

• A look shared between a loving couple in an engagement session…
• Contentment on a bride’s face…
• Sheer delight from a happy child…
• Joy at viewing a finished portrait for the first time…
• The love of a proud father for his daughter on her wedding day…

A true sense of achievement in a high-school senior…

The list goes on and on, but it is that 1 in 3000 of expressions, a simple smile, that makes my job the best in the world.

Why not think about capturing some smiles of your own with a professional portrait? Check out the main sections of the Merrick Photography web site and see what we can do for you today.

Are you ready for something fun to do and help out a worthy local cause at the same time? If so, grab your girlfriends and get ready for a good night out!

Join us for a fun evening out, hosted at Merrick Photography’s Angel Hill Studio, with our first Ladies Night Out event to benefit Fayette Cares (http://www.fayettecares.org/).

Don’t miss this great opportunity to bring your old, broken or unwanted gold and jewelry with you and convert it into cash that you can take home, or use to treat yourself to something special from the event.

Mingle with the crowd, shop, learn more about health and wellness, and make new friends in the relaxed atmosphere of our elegant studio setting. You can view and buy art, gifts and other fun items from our specially selected group of vendors. Refreshments will also be provided to make this a perfect evening out.

Entry is free and the first 50 attendees will each receive a special “goody bag” full of treats and special offers, so be sure to arrive early!

Help us make a difference to people’s lives by making this a special evening to remember – it will be even more fun if you bring along a friend or two!

You can also RSVP to the event at the Merrick Photography Facebook Page.

Click the following links for more information about Merrick Photography, or our portrait and wedding photography services.

Time to put on your creative thinking caps again folks, because here’s another chance to win a FREE engagement portrait session with Merrick Photography. Our motto is “Images Inspired By You…“, and I thought it would be great to celebrate that fact by allowing our engaged readers the opportunity to really inspire us into doing something a little different…

All you have to do to win is suggest a location and/or theme for what you think would be the coolest, quirkiest or most romantic engagement portrait session ever. The best one submitted by midnight on 5^th May 2010 wins their dream session, which can be anywhere within 150 miles of Memphis.

To submit your entry, simply join the Merrick Photography fan page on Facebook and leave your suggestion as a comment or post before midnight on 5^th May 2010.

If you’re the lucky winners of the free engagement portrait session, there’s absolutely no obligation to hire Merrick Photography as your wedding photographer (although we’d love to do that, of course).

Thanks and good luck!

Over the weekend I was watching Peter Jackson’s wonderful movie, “The Lovely Bones”, and it made me stop and think for a moment about how fragile life can be and the importance of love, family and relationships.

When we go through those difficult patches in our lives, the bumps and rough spots, we discover that the most important things to us, the things that really matter are our families and those we love and treasure more than anything else in life.

For many of us, it’s not just the family we have around us that we turn to, but those who are no longer with us for one reason or another. In addition to my wonderful family here, I’m fortunate to have my parents and brother, even though they’re many miles away in the UK, but we do get to talk on the phone as often as we can.

But what about those of us who are not so fortunate? When I thought about that question for a moment, I realized that one of the amazing things about my work as a professional photographer is the ability to give people a “hug on paper”, a permanent connection to the past and their family, which they can enjoy and draw comfort from for the rest of their lives.

The moments that pass us by every day might not seem significant at the time, perhaps even mundane, but we need to stop and take stock once in a while to understand what we truly have, and how precious those things are to us.

A hug caught today in a child’s photograph or a family portrait really can last a lifetime and may become one of our most prized treasures further down the road. Don’t let another moment pass by without capturing the love and spirit of your family, something you can celebrate for many years to come…

I believe if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing it right the first time. This valuable lesson was taught to me at an early age when my mother asked me if I had the time to do a job over again if I felt I didn’t have the time to do it right the first time.

When it comes to photography, this means making sure that every detail is as perfect as I can possibly make it. After all, the final result is nothing more than a combination of all the little details assembled together into one. If some of those details are a little less than perfect or not as bright and shiny as they could be, then the whole will ultimately suffer.

My family of valued clients also understand the significance of this simple principle, especially when it comes to photographing the most important day of their life: Their Wedding.

So how can I put this principle into practice in the work I do? Surprisingly easily! By becoming personally involved in the wedding, by opening myself up and feeling the emotions that are the lifeblood of that special day, by empathizing with the sense of anticipation, love, excitement and romance that make weddings one of the most amazing events to be involved in as a photographer. I honestly believe that making that emotional connection to my work is the key to my success as a photographer.

My photography is therefore a direct reflection of the inspiration I feel when my own emotions react with those going on around me on the day. Every wedding is unique, with its own wonderful set of dynamics, and only by immersing myself completely in the event can my photographic eye capture those things that our normal everyday eyes might otherwise miss.

When I say that I will be with you for the whole wedding day, it isn’t simply a case of providing unlimited coverage hours. It’s also about connecting and becoming an integral part of your wedding, an inseparable component that can feel the energy and life of the day and somehow translate that into photographs you will treasure for a lifetime. Only then can we hope to get it right the first time in every detail…

PS: If you know someone planning a wedding, perhaps you could forward this to them in the hope of helping them truly consider the vital role their wedding photographer can take in ensuring that everything is done right the first time.

Jared, known as “Elmo” to his friends, was a wonderful senior to work with and photogenic with it as well! He’s an avid and dedicated runner, spending many hours training on the trails of Shelby Farms Park in his pursuit of cross-country racing (he’s a member of the cross-country team for St. Benedict high school). So, after meeting with him to talk about his interests and learn more about his personality, it became obvious very quickly that Shelby Farms would be the ideal location in which to photograph him for his senior portraits.

The weather on the afternoon we chose for the session couldn’t have been better, the location was perfect, and Jared was very relaxed and comfortable as we made our way around the lake trail, finding interesting locations to create these portraits on the way.

Thank you to Jared and his family for allowing me the wonderful opportunity to work with them to create this set of portraits that I know will be treasured for a lifetime.

Our lives are a series of important milestones (childhood, graduation, marriage, raising a family) and we value our photographs so much because they capture memories of such happy times. But, it goes much deeper than that – we’re not only holding on to memories, but also what it felt like at the time, the emotions and love that go with those memories.

I believe being a photographer isn’t only about creating photographs – it requires empathy to truly capture those “images inspired by you”. Later, as you admire your portraits, you’ll recall the feelings of love and joy from those precious moments.

It’s tempting to put off having portraits created “until the time is right”, but our daily lives conspire to keep us distracted from the most important things. Our children will only be this age RIGHT NOW; there’s only going to be ONE wedding day; senior year is GONE before you know it; our families are ALWAYS worth celebrating…

Take time to connect with the things that inspire you – call NOW for a friendly chat about how professional portraits can enhance your life and the lives of those you love.