October 2008 is Family Portrait Month for Merrick Photography and, for this year, I am very proud to announce that I’ve partnered with the local charity “Fayette Cares“.  You may recall that Fayette Cares was the organization responsible for the recent and very successful Cotton Pickin’ 5K Run in Somerville. Their ongoing mission is to empower those in need with hope, independence and lasting solutions, and I am honored to be able to donate $25 from every portrait session in October to them, together with a portion of the final wall portrait sales.

The essence of family is something we all understand very well – the love we have for our family members and the wonderful relationships we all share. Unfortunately, the pressures of everyday life can be so intense that time simply flies by and, before we know it, loved ones are gone, children are grown and those precious moments of our lives are only memories. This, for me, is the true power of photography – to be able to capture and preserve forever the essence of our families and the history of our lives. Portraits taken today will be worth more than any amount of money in years to come.

So, take advantage of the wonderful Fall season to pause for a moment to create a treasured family portrait. I have a limited number of sessions available (one per day to maintain my high standard of quality), and some days are already booked up.

Your portrait session can include any number of family members from a single child to the whole family. I work with you to choose a location that’s special and meaningful to you to produce a portrait that you will cherish forever.

In addition to a wonderful wall portrait and helping a deserving local cause, you will also receive a special bonus of 25 beautiful holiday photo cards, printed on high-quality art linen paper – a $75 value.

Booking your portrait session is simple – just call me today at (901) 606-9105 for a friendly chat and we can set up a time to meet up and design your portrait in more detail.

This image, from a recent senior portrait session (which also included two sisters and a horse), is one of my personal favorites from the session.

The tenderness and bond between the girl and Rocky (the horse) is almost tangible in this image and I was amazed at how easy Rocky was to work with, despite being constantly bothered by flies in the summer heat.

I really enjoyed the portrait photography session and was quite saddened to learn that Rocky is no longer with us.

How lucky that we photographed Rocky when we did, so that we have something to remember him with for many years to come.

The same principle applies to family portrait photography, too, of course. I will be shortly announcing a new portraits promotion for the month of November, so be sure to take advantage of it to capture those moments that can never quite come again…

The 1st annual Cotton Pickin’ 5K Run/Walk to benefit Fayette Cares was held on the morning of Saturday 13th September 2008.

The response to the race was simply astounding! No one expected more than 200 participants, but over 300 people took part!! Must have been the amazing weather that brought people out at the last minute.

I had a great time photographing this wonderful event and I was so happy to be able to donate my time to such a very worthy and local organization.

My 16 year old stepson, Tim Reaves, took part in the race too, and here’s a photograph of him crossing the finishing line. We’re all very proud of him for participating and finishing so well.

Indeed, everyone that turned out on Saturday deserves a well-earned pat on the back!

The photographs from the event can be viewed at Collages.Net where the username is “cotton pickin run” and the password is 21925.

A portion of the photograph sales will also be donated to Fayette Cares.

 

I was very saddened to hear the news today that Richard Wright, the keyboard player from the band Pink Floyd, died today at age 65 after a short battle with cancer.

The music of Pink Floyd and Richard Wright’s solo work has been an inspiration to me over the years, as it has to many of my generation. He will be sadly missed.

I think it’s somewhat ironic that he wrote “The Great Gig In The Sky” for the Dark Side Of The Moon album, a piece that symbolized the process of death. About 3m 33s into the piece can be heard the whispered words “I never said I wasn’t frightened of dying” – quite poignant at this point in time.

Today, I was actually painting – what turned out to be a dark abstract of reddened storm clouds behind the silhouette of a city. I was trying to think of an appropriate title for the piece, but I’ve decided to name it “The Great Gig In The Sky” in honour of Richard, may he rest in peace. As soon as I have a photograph of the artwork I will post it here.

On Friday 5th September at 11am, Fayette Cares held a ribbon cutting ceremony at Hope’s Cottage in Somerville, TN.

I was honoured to be asked to be the official photographer for this event, which was attended by many of the gracious sponsors and several local dignitaries, including state representative candidate, Dolores Gresham.

 

I am proud to be a sponsor of this worthwhile organization and to support them in whatever way I can through my photography. For more information on Fayette Cares, the ceremony and Hope’s Cottage, visit their web site at Fayette Cares.

By popular demand, I am now able to offer a selection of photographs for sale through Boundless Gallery.

I will be frequently updating the pieces for sale through the web site, which will probably also include some original acrylic paintings in the coming months.

Right now, until 30th September 2008, you can get 15% off any of the pieces listed with coupon code “MP01″.

To view the items currently for sale, please visit:

Boundless Gallery

This amazing painting of a sunset on a planet orbiting a binary star system was produced by my assistant, Edwin Faughn.

Edwin has been assisting me on various photography assignments for the last 3 years, but not many people are aware that he’s an accomplished and talented artist in his own right.

His visionary space paintings have appeared in various magazines including “Scientific American” and “Astronomy”.

 

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Edwin is also a great public speaker with a very entertaining program that explores galaxies, planets, black holes and the universe in a unique way that combines the scientific and the spiritual facets of the cosmos.

If you ever get a chance to attend one of his lectures, I highly recommend it. For more information on Edwin’s artwork and speaking calendar, please visit his web site at:

Edwin Faughn