Gordon Photography & Gallery

1325 8th Avenue Marion, Iowa 52302 (319) 377-8982 by appointment only

Love Your Portraits

Do you think you are hard to photograph? Are you uncomfortable in front of the camera? Then you are the subject for me! But don't put off those opportunities, life is unpredictable and the kids grow so fast.
Aug
27

Her name is Rio

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

If you are a Duran Duran fan from the 80′s you know the rest of the song. Ever since a friend of mine sung that, it has been stuck in my head. Anyway…Rio is the barn name for my new seven year old, sorrel, quarter horse. Her name is Thuroly Modern Millie but I could not do Millie. She is pretty special and I hope she and Gypsy (the 18 year old quarter horse I have had a year now) get along well.

PS-I did not do a typo on Thuroly. That is her registered spelling!

Fun Photo Friday is available at www.GordonPhotography.Biz, sign up today for your copy!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)

I was a presenter Tuesday, August 24, 2010 for the “Especially for You” After Breast Cancer Support Group’s monthly meeting at the Women’s Center at Mercy Hospital. I was asked to share about the inspirational cancer survivor photo essay project I do called Portraits & Stories.

www.PortraitsAndStories.com was created to inspire, encourage, and support cancer survivors, their families, and their friends through portraits that I create to tell a story about a survivor. The participants also are encouraged to write blog posts to share their experiences with others.

It went rather well for a shy person who does not relish the lime light and public speaking. I didn’t faint or anything! KCRG (a local television station) was also there working on a segment to air in September.

Click here to get more information about this support group at Mercy Hospital.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday
Boys Rock!

High school senior portrait time is here in full swing. Starting off featuring the boys this week is Jacob. We had a great time and he had awesome images. Narrowing it down to five final images was a challenge. The outdoor session landed during our intense heat wave, but we got it done a few days later.

Sign up for Fun Photo Friday at www.GordonPhotography.Biz, you will be glad you did!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)

When you place your portrait orders, I do suggest to parents to invest in an extra image of their family session or of their child’s individual portrait now. Save this image for them to have when the time comes that they can fully appreciate it.

I know it may sound like a sales pitch but think about this for a moment. Wouldn’t it be cool to give your future son or daughter in-law some portraits of your child at different ages? At the very least save them a high school senior portrait!

I know I would love to have my husband’s high school senior portrait. There are none available. I would also like to have something better than the poorly exposed, blurry family snapshots of him at various ages as a kid too. But there are none.

I am glad to have my dad’s black and white high school senior portrait. And I have an 11×14 sepia print of my mom’s portrait that has been hand tinted. I did not get mom’s portrait until she passed away. I would have enjoyed one much sooner.

A thirty year old reminisces

I remember once when I was thirty and I was home at my mom and dad’s house for a visit I was looking at photos. Hanging in my old bedroom are images of my folks, my brother and I, and a family picture that we had professionally taken when my parents were about thirty years old.

It was neat to stop and think about and compare my life at thirty to what their life at thirty was like. I could see my mom’s hair starting to pepper, while I was coloring mine already. They had two cute kids ages 6 and 9, while I, at that time, was not even married yet. They went to a studio for portraits, I am now a photographer. Stuff like that.

It was also at that point I wished I could have copies of those images for my house too. As it is, I will have to wait until my dad is gone, or steal it off the wall. If my mom had ordered extra images and tucked them away in a safe place (an acid free place of course) for us as grown up kids, how cool that would have been. 

Advice from your photographer

So order them now or you will forget, they are available now, and technology changes faster than your kid’s looks.

So when I suggest you invest in another image for your child’s future spouse or scrapbook, I am not kidding or just trying to increase your bill.

Leave a comment

Did this article inspire you in any way? Leave a comment to tell me how. What have you done to record your legacy?

Life is unpredictable, be photographed often!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Aug
06

Tiny Ballet Dancer

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

She was done dancing and became interested in the traffic outside. I just love the story told here. I added an artistic technique to give it a bit of a painterly feel to the image.

Sign up for your copy of Fun Photo Friday at www.GordonPhotography.Biz.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)
Jul
30

Precious Sights

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

“One of life’s most precious sights is that of a newborn baby, expecially when that newborn baby is your own. Despite our exhaustion, my husband and I made it a priority to come in and photograph all four of our children. Photographing our little bundles of joy was the best decision we ever made. No matter how quickly they may grow up, we will always have these pictures to cherish!” Jill

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)
Jul
23

Protective Parent

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

Parents are parents no matter what species. At four weeks old the nine teenage birds decided to join the adults on the roost five feet off the ground. This one little babe still wanted to hang with mom. Momma hen was still quite protective, giving me the evil eye.

I love being a 4-H kid!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)
Jul
16

My Favorite Age

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

Three and four year olds are my favorite ages, as you may already know. I love their cartoon voices, their questions, the funny things they say. This four year old shared the complete range of expressions with me. I have had the privilage of photographing him since he was a baby and today he brought his three month old sister, who also did great.

I absolutely love his lonely, quite face,to his full out, uninhibited joyfulness.

I am so lucky to get to be a part of so many families!

Share Fun Photo Friday with a friend. www.GordonPhotography.Biz

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Comments (0)

The images I entered at this year’s state competition went on to nationals and they did wonderfully! I got Silver Level Photographer of the Year for 2010.

I will be honored at PPA’s annual convention, Imaging USA, in January 2011 in San Antonio, Texas.

A PPA member earns a Photographer of the Year Award by earning a merit for each of the four images entered for judging. All merited images enter PPA’s renowned General Collection.

This year’s merited images were “Garden Nymph”, “Clay O Patra”, “Queen of the Summer Night”, and “Crystalize”.

The level of award, the Silver Level, means that one of my four merited images, received the highest possible honor: acceptance into the PPA Loan Collection.  Only about 500 images from the approximately 5,000 images entered are selected for the Loan Collection. The Loan Collection travels the world for one year and is displayed at photographic exhibitions, conventions, and other photography events.

“Garden Nymph” was the image that went into the Loan Collection. It will also be published in PPA’s Loan Collection book that will come out in 2011.

“Recipients of the Photographer of the Year Awards have achieved a prestigious achievement,” states Dennis Craft, PPA Print Exhibition Committee Chairman. “These coveted awards honor the consistent quality of the photographer’s images in one of the world’s most celebrated image competition, PPA’s International Photographic Competition.”

I am so excited to be one of only 71 Silver Level Photographers of the Year with the same images I entered at state competition.

If you want to see the images I entered you can go to the post from the state awards. http://gordonphotography.biz/blog/awards/masterphotographeryear

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
Categories : Awards
Comments (0)
Jul
02

Equine Art

By Barb Gordon · Comments (0)

Fun Photo Friday

A friend’s quarter horse with the most gorgeous mane will make a future art print.

Sign up for your copy of Fun Photo Friday at www.GordonPhotography.Biz

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Bookmarks
All images, videos, and articles are copyrighted by Gordon Photography & Gallery, Inc. All rights reserved.