Two days and WAY too many Halloween celebrations - but SuperGirl (a.k.a. Edie Grace Grice) survived and is now dreaming about wonderful things fueled by lots of SUGAR in her system.  I am glad I am not a school teacher on the day after Halloween!  We completed our second $29 day at Regency Photo today and like I said last Wednesday - you LOVE a DEAL!  I shot more sessions from 2PM to 6PM today than I normally shoot in an entire month.  Thanks for making this a great success!  Tomorrow’s blog will have pictures from today’s sessions at Regency.

Last night Edie Grace and her favorite neighbor Cadance attended the GSU Fraternity and Sorority Halloween “Trick or Treat on Greek Street” event on Fraternity and Sorority row.  This is always a really fun event.  The students really roll out the carpet to the community, and more importantly, the children.  They really went all out again this year.  Sigma Chi had as their special guest Steve Hein the director of the Wildlife Center on hand with a BIG scary snake.

Tonight we caught up with Edie Grace’s friend from summer camp Shaye.  Edie Grace invited five friends to attend our church’s Halloween event tonight.  Shay came and made Edie Grace’s night.  They had a blast on the hay ride, getting their face painted, hair painted and dancing up a storm.  After this we had to make a quick run to the local grandparents houses for some real trick or treating.

WOW what a busy two days.  We end the week joining Edie Grace and her first grade class at Pinewood on a field trip to a real pumpkin patch.  She is so excited.!

Can you say OVER STIMULATION?  Somehow fellow moms - we will make it to Saturday where we will hopefully rest a little while our precious angels climb the walls getting all the final amounts of sugar out of their systems!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Today we received this beautiful family’s oil portrait from my oil artist and I wanted to share it with all of you.  We have photographed this family for years.  This portrait is special for lots of reasons.  One reason it is special is that this was one of the very last portraits taken at the old beach club at Sea Island.  Last year the Sea Island company opened the new, fabulous Cloister Hotel.  This summer they opened the new beach club.  Progress is wonderful - but many of you have years and years of wonderful memories created at the beach club.  They served my favorite grilled fish sandwich there.  I always enjoyed sitting on the veranda enjoying a great sandwich watching the kids have a blast in the pool.

The day we photographed this family there was a huge storm moving in.  The wind was crazy and the sky become almost black towards the end of the session.  Thanks to the magic of oil painting we made it look as perfect as we imagined it.  We also swapped a few heads so everyone would have the best expression possible.  Check out one of the “before’s” below so you can see how incredible the possibilities are for fine art portraits.  Surely this family will cherish this portrait for generations.

So tell me now mom - how many more pictures is Miss Lori going to take?  Well until we get what we came for - so keep smiling!  Betsy has been a wonderful client of ours for years.  You may recognize here as the former anchor of Savannah’s  ABC/FOX television.  Betsy took a little break to be a mommy and is now back in journalism - but not on the air.  She is working behind the scenes at one of Savannah’s largest radio groups.    Below is the mother love portraits taken of her first daughter two years ago and now daughter number two.  They are always very special to work with and brighten my day in so many ways.  Betsy has become one of my largest cheerleaders not only for my photography but also for my advocacy for cervical cancer.  She feels very strongly that one day I will receive  an invitation to sit with Oprah on her show.  If that unbelievable dream ever becomes a reality - you can thank Betsy for planting that seed and working tirelessly to make it happen!

Since she was a little girl I have photographed her and her brother.  Now she has gone away to college and allowed a handsome prince to steal her heart.  (from the looks of the ring - I was hoping he had a much younger brother that Edie Grace might get to know)  Needless to say, he knows what a great catch she is.  They are planning a beautiful island wedding.  Isn’t love grand?

My grandmother Edith’s church “Old Fellowship” in Stilson held its’ Homecoming a last week.  Old Fellowship was founded in 1844.    

We have a tradition every Homecoming of going out to the cemetery and visiting the family plot.  Buried there is my Grandfather (my Dad’s dad), my Granny (my great grandmother), my Great Grandfather and my Great Uncle Gilbert.  (different from my Regency photo Uncle Gil)  While we are there, we each drop a rock from the plot into the metal pipe you see above.  Seems weird???  Read on…

My great uncle, John Gilbert Woodward, was killed  in May of 1944 during WWII on a training flight in the Gulf of Mexico.  My grandmother told me that he was two weeks away from getting his “wings”.  He was only 22.  The accident involved Gilbert and his flight instructor.  His flight instructor survived.  Surprisingly, Gilbert’s funeral was open casket.  The only visible injury was a bruise on his temple.  My grandmother was his only sibling.  She was pregnant with my Aunt Carol at the time.  (Dad and Aunt Carol are my grandmother’s only children.  Aunt Carol is the oldest.)  My grandfather was from Pennsylvania and New York.  He had met my grandmother while he was in the military stationed in Savannah.  After Gilbert’s death, Granddaddy decided to stay in the south and not take my grandmother back north where his family was.  He said that he couldn’t leave his parent-in-laws all alone. 

Gilbert attended the University of Georgia.  He was one quarter shy of graduating.  He decided to join up when his friends did.  My grandmother said he made that decision while he was home on Christmas break.  She was pretty sure that it was the Christmas of 1942.

After Gilbert’s death, my Great Grandfather put in a well at the grave site so my Granny could water the flowers that she put there.  There used to be an old-timey hand pump on the well.  (2nd photo)  That is the well we drop the rocks into each year.  I wish I had a photo of Granny pumping water for her flowers.  What a loving act honoring the child she had lost.

Gilbert’s story continues…in the eighties (we can’t remember the exact year)  a scuba diver was diving the crash site and found Gilbert’s class ring.  (shown above)  The diver was able to track down my Granny through the University of Georgia using his fraternity letters, graduation year and his initials that were etched inside the ring.  My Granny was given back a treasure from her only son.  A treasure that was in the ocean for around 40 years!!! We were all amazed! 

Granny  later gave the ring to my Dad.  It fit him perfectly.  He wore it daily until one day when we were doing some yard work he took it off and put it into his pocket for ”safe keeping”.  (I was in high school)  Later, when he went to put it back on, it was GONE!  After a full-out search I remembered that one of my uncles had a metal detector.  We borrowed it and actually FOUND the ring!!!  Our theory is that it was pulled out of his pocket with his keys and he ran over it with his truck.  When we found it, it was totally buried in the dirt.  Dad was so relieved that he didn’t have to tell Granny that he had re-lost the ring!

This is one of my favorite family stories!  Every year, on Memorial Day weekend in May, you can see a cross with Gilbert’s name on the court house square here in Statesboro.  I truly believe that WWII vets are heroes and a part of “The Greatest Generation”.  We can not thank them enough for helping us maintain our freedom.  If there is one in your family please tell them thank you from me!

  OK, so you apparently like $29 portrait sessions that include a 12 - 4×6 image album!  But you seem stunned that I was actually photographing these sessions?  So is $29 a great deal without having Georgia’s 2007 Photographer of the Year actually taking the pictures???

Well, I am doing it AGAIN on Halloween from 2 to 6 PM.  If today is any indication of how much you like this - then I would urge you to come early and be patient.  It is a PHENOMINAL deal - but the lines may be long and the wait can be a little challenging - but the end results are really ….really inexpensive pictures that are Really …Really GOOD!

To learn more about these sessions check out the previous blog.

Here is a little preview of the fun we had today! See you next Wednesday, Halloween from 2 pm to 6 pm.

  Weekly someone asks or emails and wants to know when I am going to be speaking again - sharing my testimony of survivorship.  Janet Moore of Believers Church along with Tammy Heidler and other powerful women leaders have put together an overnight retreat in Statesboro on Friday, November 9th and Saturday, November 10 at the W.W. Mann Center entitled RefresHer ladies retreat.  At 9AM on Saturday morning I will be sharing my story.  They have lined up an impressive weekend of amazingly powerful women speakers and inspiring music.

No matter where you are spiritually or what denomination you are a member - you will certainly gain great strength, motivation, encouragement and REFRESHMENT from this weekend.

I pray that each of you reading this blog will attend.  We will both be blessed by your presence!

I am attaching the entire brochure here.  To register contact Believers Church at 912-681-1440 or call me at 912-764-7274.  We have copies of the registration form and will be happy to mail it out to you.

There is a nominal cost of $25 to attend. 

The First FIVE women that respond to this blog will be my SPECIAL GUEST at the retreat.  I will personally PAY your registration fee! Email me at info@lorigrice.com and tell me YOU WANT TO BE MY SPECIAL GUEST!

So now you have NO EXCUSE not to attend and get the all the refreshment that you need!  See you at the retreat!

I LOVE the fair.  The child in me is awakened with the mystery and mystique.  Each week you are in a different city seeing happiness and joy in the eyes of young and old - if only for a moment.   If you make a mistake and disappoint someone or fail in some small way - you just leave them and the failure in that city and move on to a brand new city where the slate is clean and you start all over again - week after week. 

This is my 20th year in business.  Most of these years one of the highlights of the fair for most of you has been my fair display.  It is a great opportunity for you to review my work and hopefully see your portrait or one of your friends or family members featured here.  Lots has changed in the past 20 years.  One of the best changes of the digital age is the Internet, web sites and now the BLOG.  With these advancements you can see daily my work featured and experience my difference from the stories and comments directly from you, my clients.  This year I used the display to re-introduce my casual line and celebrate the classic line which has become my signature.  I also did a 20 year reflection of my work - featuring many of you. 

My other passion, outside of photography and my family, is working to help educate women about the importance of cervical cancer vaccines.  Tomorrow night I am launching the first meeting of “big C sisters” - a cancer support group for women. (Tues. the 23rd @ 6;30pm here at the studio)  I dedicated some of the display to share the work I am doing to help educate women.

Many of you registered to win a complimentary express session. 

Congratulations to the winners:

Stephanie Tames, Debra Chester, Hollie Eckles, Jennifer McCoy, and Venus White.

If you did not win - don’t worry, we still have a few of the express packages available.

For $180 you get a 30 minute express portrait session photographed by me and one of these three package choices:

A) Session & Two 8×10’s

B) Session & 25 Holiday or birth announcement cards (selected styles)

C) Session & 8×8 portrait and 8×8 frame (selected frames)

Call us today at 912-764-7274 to book these sessions today.  Offer ends November 16th.

We have had a great few days enjoying the beach and photographing clients.  We even had clients drive up from Florida to be photographed at Tybee - isn’t that wonderful?  The weather has been amazing.  The bugs late afternoon have been a little troublesome - but perfect sunsets and beautiful light have made it worth the agitation of the pesky bugs.

Today we were joined at the beach by twenty photographers all members of the Georgia Professional Photographers Association for an afternoon seminar on beach photography.  The seminar was taught by two highly sought after beach photographers - David Miller of Miller Photography located in St. Simons Island, and Steve Jeffords.  The meeting was put together by Sally Jackson of Carpe Diem studio in Savannah along with Vance Garnto our area director from Dublin. 

We had a great afternoon filled with food, fellowship and learning from two very talented photographers.  Edie Grace volunteered to help out as the child model for session on the beach.  She did so well!  DeWayne and I were very proud of her! 

It was a great day for photography on the beach apparently.  While we were shooting we encountered 10 other photographers shooting clients.  So that made 30 photographers on Tybee in one afternoon all in one spot.  There seems to be no shortage of photographers these days that is for sure!

Santa is always a great hit and sells out fast.  Several of you have called and been placed on a waiting list.  We spoke to Santa today and he as agreed to extend his visit to another day.  Strasburg Children has agreed to help sponsor the second day.  To make this work we need ten more of you to sign up.  The second day will be Tuesday, November 6th.  The fee is only $180 and includes a 30 minute interactive session with Santa and Mrs. Claus and 25 Christmas Cards.  Email us at info@lorigrice.com or call 912-764-7274 to get on the list for the second day.  We feel from the calls and interest that this day will sell out fast also.

How rare is it to have “private” time with someone as special as Santa and Mrs. Claus?  We hope you will get on the list. Here is one of my favorite sessions with Santa last year.  What a wonderful interaction!  Can you imagine the day that this beautiful little boy sits down and shares these with his son.  How special is that going to be?