The Best Studio Salesman on Four Feet!

Posted by: admin on January 28, 2009

I just had to share the latest advertisement featuring our own corporate mascot, Gizmo B. Kat. We coached him into selling this lovely antique baby buggy.

He enjoyed the job, and the adcopy will specify “kitty-cat not included!”  And I would add, “He’s priceless!”

He would be the first to tell you that he has been perfecting his acting technique for over ten years. This is one of his “on demand” expressions. It means “Lots of Love,” but it also can be translated as “I’ll do anything for a tuna treat.”  And sometimes, it means ” Take the shot, please!” 

ANGELS IN 2009

Posted by: admin on January 25, 2009

Ever since 2007, I have been collecting angels. I usually find them in a very unusual places, like uh–okay, graveyards. Yup, on very old crypts and tombs. I first noticed them in New Orleans. Some of my angels “drowned” in the great flooding of Katrina, and so they are underwater.

But they live on in my photographs. In fact, the point of my photographs is to give them new life as art! With some digital enhancement, as shown below,  I give these stone cold beauties  my personal touch of enchantment.  I imagine them as my muses, bringing me ideas for art, for posing and draping the “real” angels, the people, that I meet as a photographer.

So, whenever I feel a little blue or nervous, I go to my angel files and work on a transformation. It elevates my mood, when I elevate one of them from their bleak prison of granite and marble and into a world of light, texture and color.   My creations are always named and they always have “jobs” or identities. This one is called the Angel of Inspiration, but I am working a commission who will be the Aroma Angel. She’s will be the patron angel of coffee drinkers!  I can’ t wait to see how she will turn out!

A New Beginning!

Posted by: admin on January 13, 2009

This morning, I began a new semester at University of Arkansas, where I teach speech-communication classes. I have a passion for it, and I enjoy using examples from my business life in the studio, to teach practical lessons of good communication. Naturally, I have been known to bring the camera to class, too!  I am very blessed to have such a richly rewarding life, to share two things I love so much.  “With the morning’s classroom excitement over, I am back in the studio now, and the sunlight is streaming across my studio floor, my newly refinished 100 year old mahogany floor! I am so glad it is finished, and now that I see it, all the inconvenience was ultimately worth it.   Squinting a little in that same splash of sunlight, Gizmo, the posing Studio Cat, rates an introduction.  He even has his own business card!

He wants his OWN blog, but for now, he has to share. Other big news around here includes Susan Kleck and her fiance, John Mackey.  We had a lovely engagement picnic with them and a wonderful studio session. What a great couple!                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                 

Welcome To Fashion, Fun And Fantasy 2009

Posted by: admin on January 10, 2009

Last year our campaign to bring fashion, fun and fantasy to your photography was such a smash hit that we are repeating the theme! Here at AKS we have been remodling, refurbishing and restoring to continue to bring glamour  and art to your photography!  And our New Year’s Resolution is to keep this blog updated with some of our first class commentary and some of our finest, edgy images! When I reflect on the highlights of the past year,I am almost overwhelmed by all the changes and excitement we have had as we enter our tenth year of business. For example, 2008 was greatly influenced by a photo-teacher of mine, Matthew Jordan Smith, who said,”Do what you love and the business will come.”  On that premise, this became the year to build our creative and glamour skills.  Reaching into my theatre and modeling background, I rediscovered my old love for make-up and style! I also delved deep into the creative beauty of photoshop, to add an artistic dimension to my images. Like serendipity, the phone began to ring, and among those calls was Mellie’s Beauty School.

We took lights, sets, props and costumes to the school and gave the students a real Top Model experience!   It took three days to photograph them and we all had a ball!  Girls like Hope Griffen (shown above) made all the work worthwhile. We brought a little bit of Hollywood to Fort Smith, Arkansas! It was wonderful to meet the owners of the school, Trish and Allan Anderson, who give so much to thier students and to our community.  After the big modeling shoot, it was a great honor to be asked to participate in another Beauty School event, the annual Charity, Breast Cancer Awareness. We agreed to participate and this was another first for Angel Kissed Studio. We had never before enjoyed the feeling of  “giving back to the community,” the way some of the big studios in town had done! The style of photography for this charity event was “family relationships.”      The image below shows this inspiring man and wife team “a la hug. ” We are looking forward to being a “Camera For the Cure” again in 2009!

The Modeling School Event and the Charity event crossed paths insuch photos as the Anderson’s image.Since we advertised at the University of Arkansas where I teach, some of the people who came to the charity event got to see me as a working photographer!   Night speech student David Bise brought his wife and adorable little girl. What a beautiful family!   Thus 2008 will be remembered forever as a year of glamour and of giving back.   I hope that other community groups will learn to lean on us for their photography as AKS continues to grow in 2009.