By: Randy and Linda Powell-Jones - Statesboro

Linda and I would like to thank you Lori for one of the most memorable experiences we have ever shared together; visiting your studio and working with you, DeWayne and your staff.  What a wonderful time we had!  Discussing your art, developing our idea of what we wanted in our portraits and then watching the synthesis of our dreams and your talent generate a wonderful collaboration of creative energy in your organization was both marvelous and fascinating!  What fun and joy!

Lori, your designation as “Master Photographer” not only sets you apart far and above other photographers, I believe it is recognition of the quality of work that you and your studio are producing; it is recognition that you have not only honed the technical complexities of your profession but have also mastered the ability to create a “Work of Art.”

Your ability to take an ordinary Joe like me and see how best to photographically define and accentuate the characteristics that are my best is well - I am grateful! (I never looked better!)  You are indeed a “Master Photographer!”  And Linda, in my opinion is the most beautiful woman.  You have captured her beauty and made it timeless.  Thanks again.  The portrait of our granddaughter Jenna is perfect also.  Now she brings a lot to a photographic session, (including a 2 year old’s boundless energy).  Your patience and remarkable abilities again “came to the fore,” her portrait is treasured; thank you three times more!

Lori Grice and Company, you have all given Linda, our family and me a very special gift, talent and a special kindness.  We appreciate all that you have done for us.  The business portion of our experience together was efficient and satisfying.  To anyone wanting to work with you I would commend them to your professionalism and courtesy and ability to immediately make a customer feel at ease.  These are all qualities that are not physically seen but do positively affect the “bottom line.”  In a way each of the Lori Grice employees are also “Masters.”

As I finish this letter I once again look at our portrait.  We never looked better!  We are in love and it shows!  Our hobby is ballroom dancing and that passion too is captured in our pose.  Although I was not called for duty in Iraq, at the time we were in your studio, I was awaiting orders and was expected to be “out of the country” very soon.  That “tension” between a soldier and his wife and the volumes it speaks within our portrait is also evidence of your skill as a “Master photographer.”

Linda and I hope to continue our relationship with you and DeWayne.  We enjoyed our brief time together and look forward to the time when we all get to meet again.  I hope I haven’t worn these words out - Thank You!

Randy and Linda Powell-Jones

By: Lisa Oliver - Claxton

In the last 4 1/2 years I have learned how special portraits can be, and thanks to Lori the portraits themselves are special.  On December 10, 2002 my 10 year old son Clay was killed in an auto accident.  Lori remembered creating portraits of Clay when he was a baby and got in touch with me.  She went through all her old portraits and found every image that Clay was in and gave these to me.  Lori and DeWayne then asked me to pick out my favorite image and they had a portrait made and framed for me as a gift.  I can not express how special the portrait is.  It hangs over my mantle, and is my most prized possession.    On April 21, 2006 my husband Paul was killed in an auto accident, and I immediately looked for the portraits that Lori had made of our family.  When you loose a loved one, every photo is like a treasure.  Portraits bring back all the happy memories of time spent together.  Thanks Lori, when I miss Paul and Clay, I can just look at your portraits and I feel the connection with them again.

Forever grateful,

Lisa

By: Avis Coleman - Savannah

This portrait of my child and me has a special place in my heart. It?s the only one I ever had done of me with one of my children. At about 20 ?22 months, I took each of them to Lori Grice Studios for their portrait in their matching green linen outfits. It was always stressful trying to get my little darlings to cooperate but the results were always incredible and well worth the effort.

When Lori asked me if I wanted to take one with Grace while I was there for her turn in front of the camera, I don?t know why I did, but I said ?yes? and I?m thrilled that I did.

I said yes another time in my life, and that time it was to God. That is why this wonderful, beautiful child is in my life and I will be forever grateful.

I was 42 years old, in the throes of my third painful, difficult pregnancy and was facing the struggles of raising four children (the first set are twins) under the age of three with a husband whose job kept him away from home more than either of us would like. In my eighth month, I signed the papers to have my tubes tied, justifying my decision based on many factors ? my advancing age, the dangers associated with so many C-Sections, and of course, the four young children who needed so much attention and care.

I had converted to Catholicism after visiting with husband for several years, but still didn?t quite understand the birth control issue. Surely God would understand with all these children and all the risks I faced at my age, that I might chose to prevent any more.

I was wrong and I thank God every day that some voice tugging at my heart convinced me to talk to someone about my decision. Father Tim McKeown was a fairly new parish priest and had only been at our church a few months but he was available and willing to talk to anyone about Catholic beliefs and the will and purpose of our Heavenly Father. Again, I expected full dispensation for what I was about to do, but it wasn?t coming from this staunchly faithful, dedicated young priest.

He explained to me that our bodies are pallets that God uses to create his masterpieces. Father Tim asked me how I would feel if I learned that I could have created the person who could bring about world peace or cure Aids. What if I prevented from coming into this world the child that was supposed to take care of my husband and me in our advancing years? He was so spiritual and so faithful to the Word of God, I understood for the first time why our faith is so strongly against chemical or surgical birth control techniques.

Rubbing my huge, kicking tummy, I wanted to follow that faith, but still thought it might be nice to stop with this one if that was God?s plan for my life. Father Tim sent me home with literature and a cassette to learn about the church?s only approved form of control which is Natural Family Planning. This system calls for counting the days, watching temperature changes, and a few other measures.

Brendan, Coleman baby number 4, was born three weeks later and my astonished obstetrician left my reproductive system intact, though shaking his head at my change of heart.

My husband and I had no trouble following the Natural Family Planning protocol and were very successful!

For five months.

In October 2002, we learned that our fifth child was on the way. We wondered how this could happen! We were so careful from days 11 through 19 like we were supposed to be. But the very precise ultrasound we had during those first few weeks clearly showed that the baby was conceived on an unheard-of day 23!

While we didn?t look forward to all the shots, the back pain, and the epidural, we were overjoyed at the thought of yet another baby. How could we have ever thought we didn?t need any more?

Our joy multiplied exponentially when our 20 week ultrasound revealed that this miracle baby was another girl. I was finally giving my older daughter, Addie, the one gift in life that I never had ? a sister! We couldn?t believe our luck and thanked God every day for our fifth blessing and prayed that she would be healthy and strong like her four older siblings.

We named her Mary Grace Coleman ? Mary after her wonderful grandmother who had died four years before, and Grace because we truly felt the ?Grace? of God was responsible for this incredible miracle.

John and I say at least once a week how very, very blessed we are to have these five incredible, beautiful children. And we laugh hysterically at all their antics, but especially Grace?s. She has a hilarious personality and a charm that amazes everyone who meets her. I know God sent me to see Father Tim and I know that she is here for a reason. We don?t know what she will do with her life when she grows up, but all of us know that she is special. She is a precious addition to our life and she is here because of God?s glorious and amazing Grace.

By: Jennifer Morriss - Statesboro

When a friend of mine called to let me know about this contest, I thought I?d never have time to get it done. She phoned me at noon, and the submission is due at 5pm.! I went home for lunch still thinking about the essay contest but, not really considering it. While heating up my leftovers in the microwave, I looked around my kitchen at all the Lori Grice photos. I walked into the dining room to peek at some more.

?Wow, that one of us together walking in the garden is so beautiful. It is truly a piece of art.? I say to myself.

Then I pass the black and white picture of my little baby, bare bottomed. She is swatting at bubbles, and I remember blowing them for her during that photo shoot.

I say out loud;

?How could I even pick just one!??

I hear the ding of the microwave and walk back into the kitchen. As I stir last night?s lima beans, I wonder which picture has the most ?sentimental? feeling for me.

I sit at the kitchen table and look up.

I have a three panel frame of my daughter, Bella, wearing a pale green dress. The dress was gift from my mother for Easter. We saved it to have her picture taken by Lori because we loved it so much! I remember that day well. I recall having to give my 18 month old little girl ?Smarties? candies to keep her still enough to take her picture. (Lori always thinks of the small things that really help!)Even as a baby she has had such an excitement for life, and it was so hard to keep her in one place in that beautiful garden.

As I scan the three photos, I stop at the last one and I feel that tightness in my throat.

I feel the mist in my eyes.

This is the picture.

It is the one I always go back to.

150 words couldn?t cover the happiness I feel when I see that photo. EVERY time I see it, the image brings a smile to my face. It is a picture of Bella smiling with her hands beside her cheeks. It wouldn?t be the most technically perfect picture. It wasn?t the one we bought the wallets for family members; it wasn?t the one you would have chosen to have done in oil and hang over your mantle?.

It is a candid shot. Most people would probably wonder why her hands are by her face.

But , I remember why and I always will.

Bella?s favorite things are animals. She has been obsessed with them since she was a baby. At an early age we taught her animal sounds. Her favorite one was the tiger.

She would curl her little fingers up beside her face, like claws?and let out her best growl. It sounded more like a squeak than any growl. But she would giggle and laugh so hard every time. Lori snapped the photo at the perfect moment for me. It captured the smile Bella gave right after she so proudly showed off her tiger impression. This photo shows her precious fingers by her glowing face and her famously contagious smile. Everyone that sees the framed photos agrees that that isn?t necessarily the best photograph in the trio, but it is so Bella. I will have that moment in my heart forever. Because that photo, shows my daughters true personality. Everytime I look at it I can remember my little girl making a tiger noise and then hear her sweet laugh.

Our family will never forget how Bella used to make silly animal sounds, and now I have a picture to remind me, every time I step into my kitchen. Somehow it makes eating leftover lima beans for lunch seem a little more fun.

By: Carolyn Lynch - Vienna, Virginia

We visit our cousins in Savannah every Labor Day weekend and in 2005 we decided that we wanted some special pictures of our 9 month old son Shane. We live in Northern Virginia and this would be our son?s first professional photo shoot.

We got your name from our cousins who live in Savannah and they recommended you because you photographed some other family members of theirs on Tybee beach and they loved your work.

Our relationship with Lori began on the phone in July of 2005. One of the unique things that I found with Lori is that she wanted to set up a phone session to find out about us and what we were looking for in our photographs. We have used professional photographers before and we were never asked ahead of time what we were looking for.

Lori took the time to get to know us and find out what we were looking for. One of the things I said to Lori was that I wanted to get some great shots of my son on the beach. He was not yet walking and I knew this would be the last time I could get away with taking photographs of Shane without having to chase him everywhere?.and take the sand out of his mouth.

Lori suggested that the morning time was better, but warned me that she had no control over the weather and we might have to have a backup plan.

We flew into Savannah on Thursday and our pictures were scheduled for the Saturday of Labor day weekend at around 6:00am. That would mean that we would have to be up at 4:00am to get ready for the pictures?.yes 4am with a 9 month old. I turned my cell phone on at 3:30 am to find a message from Lori telling me that a big storm had blown into Tybee and it was way to windy to take pictures on the beach. I was so upset because we were only in town for one more day and I knew that my beach pictures would not happen.

Lori assured me we could do the photo shoot somewhere else, but she knew I had my heart set on the beach.

Later on that day we met Lori at Forsyth Park and decided we would take the majority of the pictures there. We thought we were finished with the session until Lori suggested that we take a ride to the beach and see how the weather was doing at the point. It was around 5:00 pm now.

We drove to the beach and it was still really windy but we managed to set up a beach chair at the top of the stairs and my son sat in it for three photos until the wind picked up again. Lori didn?t think she got any great shots but it was time to go home.

We had a unique situation in that we lived out of state and we were going home the next day so we couldn?t view our photos in the studio. DeWayne was so wonderful. He helped us go online and walk through every photo together. He helped us select photos and really made our experience special. We now have one collage in our entrance way and there are three pictures in a row?all of Shane at the beach. The only three pictures Lori took came out great after all.

I would have to say the most wonderful memory I have of my photo experience with Lori Grice back in 2005 was that I was 7 weeks pregnant at the time of our photo shoot in Savannah and I had just started getting a little belly. Little did I know that my photo shoot was not only with my son and my husband but my daughter was in the picture too? We are getting ready for photo shoot number two this coming Labor Day. My son is now 2

By: Stephanie Slaton Owens - Statesboro

Each year in the spring, we take a group picture with all of our employees.  During our 28 years in business, Dingus MaGee’s has seen many people come and go while most have touched our lives in some way.  Within these walls, many lasting friendships have formed.  Several of our employees have married each other and to think it all started here is just amazing.  It’s great to see past employees stop by and find their picture on our wall to show their children.  Football games and alumni weekends bring old friends back to our wall of pictures to share memories and laughs.  I love to reminisce about the past and our wall of pictures is a great place to start.  I hope to make many more pictures in the years to come with each year bringing new memories.  Thank you Lori for photographing our employee history.

By: Cheri Alderman - Ellabell

THE ROCK

T- here were many things going on that day?

H- e wasn?t feeling well and we all knew it?

E- ven Lori experienced the blunt force of his harsh words?

R- arely in his last days did we see the man we all loved so dearly?

O- nly in our memories would that amazingly strong man live on- until?

C- aptured in an everlasting, treasured portrait?

K- ing of our family! Smiling ever so slightly, that sweet, gentle soul peeks through?

My grandfather, Hubert Lee, was THE ROCK of our family. Our generational portrait was taken three months before he went home to Jesus. Unbelievably, the man we knew and loved stands out in this portrait despite the great pains he suffered. I am truly blessed to have this portrait treasure displayed in my home and even more blessed to have the fond memories it brings to mind.

Words by Cheri Alderman

Memories captured by Lori Grice

By: Kelley Chester - Statesboro

Lori did a portrait of my son, Taylor Chester, around Easter of this year.
It was our first exposure (no pun intended) to a professional portrait studio.  It was a wonderful experience for Taylor.  When we drive by the studio, most times Taylor will say while pointing, “Ms. Lori took my picture there.”  He also reminds me that Ms. Lori has bunny rabbits in the studio and why can’t we stop to play for awhile.  The portrait we chose to display in our home shows my little man standing with one hand resting on a bench and the other in his pocket, such a cool little dude.  Taylor celebrated his 4th birthday this year, a birthday we weren’t completely sure we would see.

At the very young age of 6 months Taylor contracted RSV and landed himself in pediatric intensive care on a ventilator because his body was too sick and worn out to breath on it’s own.  Since then he has been in the hospital 3 more times.  His first airplane ride was on a life-flight jet from a hospital in Carrollton, GA to the children’s hospital in Birmingham, AL. One thing I will always remember about that day is that the nurse on the jet took his picture with her camera phone so that we would be able to look back and know that our little boy was safe.  That fuzzy photo is one of the pictures of Taylor that I truly cherish. 

Since his first day home from the hospital and even before he was sick, we have been “picture-taking fools”.  We must have more than a thousand digital pictures of Taylor and our family.  So, we have always had a great appreciation and love of pictures of our little one.  Lori’s portraits of Taylor mean so much to Heath and I because she captured something that we don’t usually capture when we take photos.  I can’t explain it, but he glows… It sounds strange I know, but he has this healthy and happy look about him that makes me forget that he was ever sick.  So, thank you Lori for capturing my beautiful boy at his best.  I will cherish your work always.

Kelley Chester

By: Dr. Michael Guido - Metter

We are so excited, Lori, over the portraits you took of Audrey and I in our garden. Never did I dream any one could do what you have done. I was astounded, but I shouldn’t have been because you are so brilliantly skillful.  Thank you for taking such a wonderful picture that made Audrey and me look good.  Every one who comes into the studio loves it.  Each person asks who took it.  We rejoice in telling them about you - the best photographer in the south!  God bless you, Lori.

Praying,

Dr. Michael Guido

By Amanda Kicklighter - Statesboro

Nothing can tear at a mother?s heartstrings more than watching her child suffer and being able to do nothing for her child except pray. All seemed well when we left the hospital with our second daughter, Isabella. However, at 7 days old she was back in the hospital with RSV. Never have I been so numb to what was going on. All I could do for the 2 weeks in the hospital was hold her, and trust that God would heal her, and He did. A couple of months later, Lori took one of my favorite portraits of Isabella. It is a hand-colored b&w and she is lying on her tummy with a flower wreath and a tutu on. I love this picture because her eyes seem to dance with life and it reminds me that each day with her is a gift. I call it, ?I Hope You Dance?.