We try to sponsor a couple of shows per year at the Averitt Center to support their great work.  We are honored to co sponsor with Moe’s the Crystal Beer parlor Ramblers of Savannah this Saturday night at the Averitt Center.  This event is a fund raising event for the arts center.  General admission is $10.  So bring the kids or make it a MUCH NEEDED date night and join Edie Grace, DeWayne and I at this wonderful event for the Averitt Center.

 I photographed mom and dad’s wedding a few years ago.  I have photographed these handsome young men since they were born.  Both of them graduated from my baby’s first year program.  It is so much fun to watch them grow!  They live in Hilton Head and have made many trips to Statesboro.  It is always special when clients are willing to drive two hours to allow me the opportunity to photograph their family and children.  Especially when they live in a photographic rich area like Hilton Head.  This time we made the trip to their home and photographed them in their environment.  The image here with the fishing rod is the one mom chose for her centerpiece portrait.  The others were smaller portrait groupings.  I can certainly think of no better way to decorate a beautiful home than with Lori Grice portraits of your family and children!

It is with great regret that downtown Statesboro lost legendary Chef Jason Scarborough this past week.  Jason, in a few short years, transformed a small downtown sandwich shop into one of the southeast’s most popular fine dining experiences.  Trained at Johnson and Wales, Jason worked for some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country including the Cloister on the super exclusive Sea Island before making Statesboro home.  While we are sad to loose Jason from downtown we are excited that he has opened Emma’s on the bypass inside the new Holiday Inn hotel and conference center.  Tomorrow night (Thursday) from 5 to 7 PM the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce and the Statesboro Convention and Visitors bureau is hosting a business after hours at Emma’s.  Chef Jason wanted us to extend a personal invitation to all of our clients and blog readers to come by tomorrow evening and check out his latest creation.  The restaurant will blow you away.  This, coupled with Jason and his staff’s incredible menu and service – creates an experience you will not soon forget.  The best part is Emma’s is a few miles closer for all of you Savannah, Richmond Hill and Pooler clients to enjoy.  We wish Jason and his staff the best of luck and hope to see all of you at Emma’s Thursday night. 

DeWayne and I traveled to Boston to conduct a one day seminar as a favor for our great friend Mark Till.  Mark is one of the countries’ leading photography consultants and the author of the best selling book, “The Lucrative Photographer“   Few people inspire us more or have impacted our business and personal life than our friendship and mentorship with Mark.  We met Mark over ten years ago when he was one of the top speakers on the circuit.  We became instant friends and have stayed close all of these years. The last few years have been tremendously challenging for Mark –  being diagnosed with prostrate cancer and having his home burn all within a few months.  Even with all of his business and personal challenges – he remains one of the most positive and inspiring people I know.  When people call me or email me and tell me that they are thinking about getting into the photography business he is the first name I give them.  His book has become the “other bible” in our studio and hundreds other successful studios around the world.

We have had the opportunity to work with and get to know lots of tremendous authors including Mark.  I will never forget a lunch meeting with had with best selling author and motivational speaker Dr. John Maxwell.  John shared with us his story regarding a rare opportunity he shared with Billy Graham.  Billy had invited him to one of his crusades as his personal guest.  He tells about going to this huge football stadium and seeing thousands of people there to hear Billy Graham.  When John arrived, he was told to go to a special area in the arena.  He describes entering a small room where Billy and a few folks were.  He tells about how powerful it was to be one on one with a person that has inspired so many.  Later DeWayne and I were guests in Dr. Maxwell and his wife Margaret’s home in Atlanta.  I remember seeing the picture of Dr. Maxwell with Billy Graham walking down a corridor that opened up to the stadium with thousands of people waiting.  It was then that I had a real appreciation of how powerful this experience was for John.

Shortly after that John, created the same powerful opportunity for us.  He was speaking at a huge conference in Atlanta and invited us as his guest.  We arrived and registered and went into the arena to hear him speak.  Shortly before lunch his executive assistant, Linda Eggers, sought us out and led us to a small room where a catered lunch had been prepared.  In this room was John’s wife Margaret, his parents, Dr. Johnny Hunt of Atlanta and his wife and kids and DeWayne and I.  Outside that room were a huge number of people any of whom would have paid huge sums of money to be in that room.  It was a humbling and powerful experience for DeWayne and I.

The next comparable experience was earlier this year when we were invited guests of Senator Hillary Clinton at an event in Atlanta.  Again there were thousands of people at the world congress center that had paid lots of money to “have dinner” with her.  While they were waiting she summoned us to a small room to visit with her.  The room had a glass wall that looked down all all those people waiting to hear her speak.  She created an incredible experience for us.

The third was this weekend with Mark Till.  Mark writes in his book about a unique furniture store called Jordan’s Furniture.  He uses this as an example of a store where the founders had stepped out of the norm and created an incredible shopping experience.  Their stores include Disney style shows, store fronts and themes.  The one he took us to has a New Orleans theme complete with an IMAX theater.  It is easy to forget you are actually in a furniture store.  Mark and his beautiful wife Laura took us to this store and walked through it with us pointing out marketing points that he had discussed in his book. 

How often do you get to meet an author of a best selling book?  Compound that by actually walking through the book with him like we did this weekend. 

It is an experience that we will not soon forget!  Thanks Mark and Laura!

  I would like to thank all of you who attended my seminar today in Natick.  What a beautiful city and great state organization you have.  Nearly 100 of you came from all over to learn from DeWayne and I.  I hope you left with a better understanding of where our industry is now, a little more inspired to focus on your career and determine what your next step should be.

Every time I speak, I am inspired and motivated by many of you.  Many of you took the time to share with me how my story and our studio has impacted you in amazing ways.  I really appreciate that.  Some of you shared with me your awesome work.

Most of all, I look forward to going back to our studio energized and sharing with my staff how blessed we are.  I am humbled by the commitment and confidence each of my clients entrust in me.  It is because of them that we have become one of the leading photography studios in the country – if not the world.  What is remarkable is that we have done this in a rural market thanks to their support.  Our story is really our clients story.   We are simply the messengers.

We feel that our story is wonderfully powerful and inspiring and we are blessed that so many of you took time out of your busy schedule to allow us to share  our journey with you.

We look forward to staying in touch with as many of you as possible and hope to see you again along the life’s roads.

And remember, if you do not walk away with but one thing from our seminar I challenge you to remember to “Live Like You Were Dying” and every day will be so much sweeter than the day before!

I hope that all of you dad’s had a wonderful Father’s Day!  This year, we began a new Father’s Day tradition for DeWayne.  We spent our day today in Boston visiting the JFK Presidential Library.  Yes, I am married to a political junkie if you do not already know that.  On his list of things to do before he dies is to visit all of the presidential libraries.  He has done a few but this one was very special.  We have visited JFK’s grave site at Arlington cemetery in Washington, D.C. and the Book Depository in Dallas where he was killed. It was a powerful experience, I must admit – that I enjoyed very much also.  Tomorrow, I will be conducting an all day seminar in Boston for the Massachusetts Professional Photographers Association.  It is an honor to be in Boston as their guest.  I do not speak often because you keep me SO busy creating beautiful portraits for you.  When I do speak, it is normally as a favor for a friend.  This is no exception.  Our great friend, Mark Till, is very active in the leadership of PPAM and extended the invitation to us.  Mark is a best selling author and one of the industries leading business consultants.(and fellow cancer survivor!)  I will share more about him with you later.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

 What a GREAT city!  We arrived today and there are so many fun things going on.  The Celtics are in the playoffs so the buzz is in the air.  There is a street festival and tons of people downtown today.  There are three old warehouses that have been turned into a cool shopping area downtown.   I wish I had a couple of days to explore these cool shops, the waterfront and all the historic sites here. Going under water in the tunnels was pretty cool too!

I   do not shoot many weddings now.  Yes I know….many of you want me to give up my Wedding Photography sabbatical.  Every week…sometimes every day, one of you call me to try to persuade me to photograph your wedding.  With wedding options more challenging than ever, I understand your desperation.  I have published my top TEN tips for hiring a wedding photographer because of the HORROR stories I have heard from you about your wedding photographers.  A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to get a small taste of Wedding Photography again.  The cute couple, Nikki and Bradley – who you have seen on here and some candid’s from their wedding on previous blogs -  invited me to their wedding.  It was so hot their wedding photographer allowed me to help her with some of the posing.  It was fun to shoot a wedding again as a second photographer – without the stress of being the primary photographer.  The venue was so beautiful and the couple – well as you have already seen – could be models.  So let me know what you think? 

          If you can’t commission me as your wedding photographer – you still can commission me to create your Engagement images, Save the Date cards, and Bridal portraits!

As you can tell, we had a fun day in the Gardens with this super cute little boy.   Our “A Day in your life” sessions have been taking clients new and old by storm.  It is so much fun to spend a few hours artistically documenting what your children or family do best…LIVE!  We have been to locations as close as your back yard to as far away as your favorite watering hole.  These collections begin at $850 and include an artistic album design and a beautiful leather bound album.  Below is a great example of the entire album.  These are PERFECT for those of you that have NO more wall space because of all your Lori Grice portraits covering every square inch of your walls.  We have a few collection sessions available this summer.  Session fees begin at $175 and vary based on location and concept.  Travel is optional, but we will entertain any location that is special to you and your family. This would make a GREAT birthday gift for EVERY hard to buy for MOM, DAD or Grands.  Can you say Fathers Day?  PERFECT!   

???????? ????? ???????? Yeah, I know…IT’S HOT!  But I wanted to remind you of some of the good parts of living in the coastal empire!  Forsyth Park, Magnolias and the BEACH!  Speaking of Beach…isn’t time for you to schedule your families’ beach portrait session???

          I think so!  But of course I would, right?  We are so blessed to have a beautiful beach so close by.  We are also blessed to have a WORLD FAMOUS park with one of the most iconic fountains in the world.

We will be posting some more “summer fun” portrait events soon, but in the meantime call us and schedule something for your family.

Isn’t something as special as your family worth preserving forever???

And don’t worry…                                                                                                                                          

We have a studio we keep very COOL if you don’t want to brave the elements and the “warm” outdoor weather.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!