Irresistible Portraits: Photographic Society of the Triangle

Karen was asked to share a marketing seminar with the Photographic Society of the Triangle last week. Monday evening, she shared some insight on what has kept Irresistible Portraits cranking through this hard times. The event was held at the recently renovated Sheraton Imperial in Durham, NC, where the PPNC convention and events are held.

Karen's marketing seminars normally come across as a motivational speech, because as you'll notice, we're not sitting around waiting on our next client. You have to constantly have something to offer and our marketing wheels are always turning.

We've gotten some great feedback from Monday's seminar already.

Great presentation Karen. I'm fired up to get to the studio in the morning! -Mark Jacoby

You were great Karen! I love your energy! I don't think I will sleep much tonight - my gears are working! -Leslie Privette

God has blessed you richly; Thank you for sharing with us at PST and for giving Him the glory!

-On behalf of PST membership, Elizabeth Burgess

Feel free to leave comments! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share what works for IP.

Irresistible Portraits: Louie & Millie

Laura brought her family's "other children" for a 30 minute session during our August pet sessions. They donated a bag of dry dog food in exchange for the session fee. Here are Laura's kind words...

Hello Karen, Buddy and wonderful IP Staff,

Just wanted to Thank you for all the time you gave to our Louie & Millie for there first pet portraits. We all had a ball! Many thanks for the time Renda gave to me helping us to select and choose print sizes. Its always a difficult decision when you love them ALL! We loved Millie's portrait on the Pet email. She is so sweet and it really shines through on how Karen captures her. And our lil prince Louie looks just like his regal self!

Look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Always a happy Mom,

Laura Fabrega

Irresistible Portraits: Missions Fundraisers for NKUMC

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, the fundraiser that Karen photographed last Sunday benefited missions for North Kannapolis United Methodist Church. After doing some research, Buddy found Juntos Servimos - Together We Serve, a non-profit 501(c)(3) in Matamoros, Mexico. Their mission: Serving people in need in Mexico by eliminating barriers to physical and spiritual wholeness, one community at a time!

Juntos Servimos has established a community of volunteers, Casa Bugambilia, dedicated to serving the residents of the colonias in the areas of medical care and education. Casa Bugambilia provides:

• Shelter and medical care for the ill and abandoned to allow those persons medical treatment with dignity and reunification with their family and home community when possible.
• Treatment for those presently untreated for diabetes, a disease that disproportionately impacts the colonias.
• Education support, both in the classroom and financially, to provide the children of the colonias the surest path to escape poverty.
• Construction and renovation of shelter to provide a healthy physical environment for living, healing and study.
• Shelter and care for children with special needs who have been abandoned by their families or whose families lack the physical, emotional or financial resources to care for them.

Here's a documentary video by Hampton Works about Case Bugambilia.

In other words, thank you to all who participated in the fundraiser on Sunday. We raised a total of $1,500 towards the trip to Matamoros!

Check out some of the fundraiser images on our facebook fan page.

Irresistible Portraits: Gilbert-Wells Wedding [08.14.10]

Last Saturday, Karen, Renda, and Tara photographed the wedding of Meredith Gilbert and Ben Wells. The ceremony was held at the Wait Chapel on the Wake Forest University campus, which is a GORGEOUS wedding venue!

Meredith and Ben are so in love. It was evident in the way they look at each other. This image is priceless!

They were all smiles... all day!

Be sure to look at the video we posted to our facebook fan page of our favorites from the Meredith and Ben's big day!

The newlyweds' wedding day images will be available online between September 11th, 2010, and October 9th, 2010. You can view the happy couple's images and post your favorites to your facebook page. To access their images, go to our website. Click wedding portraits, then client images. Enter wells (all lowercase) as your password. By entering the same name and email address to login each time, you can keep favorites and a shopping cart! Happy viewing!

Irresistible Portraits: Dog Food, School Supplies, & Missions

We had  a busy week at Irresistible Portraits last week. As you know, the entire month of August, we're celebrating "The Other Children" by photographing your 4 legged family members! Instead of session fees, we're accepting dog food donations which will be given to the Cabarrus Humane Society.

It's only the 16th of the month and we're accumulated a LOT of dog food already! Luke has been sniffing the bags, but, ironically, he hasn't torn into them yet. (He tends to have a few Marley traits in him every now and then.) Of course, he was more than willing for this image though!

Last Friday was Freebie Friday! We offered 15 minute sessions in exchange for school supplies. The United Methodist Women from Karen's church, North Kannapolis United Methodist Church, are collecting school supplies for the local schools. We're going to add to their donations for our local school system.

Millie was not really thrilled with the school supplies. She wanted to lay in the dog food with Luke... but she did say THANK YOU for all the donations!

Saturday, Karen, Renda, and Tara photographed the Gilbert-Wells wedding in Winston Salem, NC. A blog post is coming soon.....

Who needs a day of rest? Not Karen!

Sunday, she photographed a portrait fundraiser to raise money for a mission trip to Mexico that NKUMC is putting together in September. Church families and friends of the church families reserved 10 minute sessions throughout the afternoon. They raised almost $1,500 in one afternoon!

And before you know it, it's Monday again! We're busy bees around here. Good luck keeping up with us!

IP Wedding: Young-Gilmore [07.31.10]

Tara and Renda photographed Carly and Derek's big day recently in Salisbury, NC. According to Tara, "If ever there were classes for brides and grooms on how to approach their wedding day with relaxation and 'coolness,' Carly and Derek would be the ones to teach it." They were very open to spending a little extra time after the ceremony photographing in downtown Salisbury. Photography was a priority for Carly and she was excited about every idea! A little extra goes a long way!

Take the time to look at a video we put together of Tara and Renda's favorites. As you watch, take note that downtown Salisbury is an AWESOME location for creative photography (especially for brides-to-be)! 

Carly and Derek chose great vendors to work with! Virtual Sounds, Bonnie Holder of Bonfire Productions, Chelish Moore Flowers were all a part of their big day.

All the wedding day images from Mr. & Mrs. Gilmore's big day will be posted online for viewing and ordering from August 28th to September 25th, 2010. You can access those by going to http://www.irresistibleportraits.com/. Click on weddings, then client images. Enter gilmore (all lowercase) as your password.

Irresistible Portraits: Breast Cancer Survivors of Stanly Regional Medical Center

Earlier this year, we were approached by a long time client of ours and employee of Stanly Regional Medical Center. She was assisting with the planning and grand opening of the new Breast Center at Stanly Regional. She had seen our Focused on a Cure exhibit of breast cancer survivors and was interested in a similar display at their new facility, but featuring employees of Stanly Regional who had won the battle against breast cancer themselves. We were thrilled at the opportunity.

"We've only been open for a little over a week and we've had so many people stop by to see the survivor portraits," says Erin Martin, Director of Imaging for Stanly Regional's Breast Center. "They love our new space, but the portraits just evoke such inspiration in patients and visitors especially since so many know these survivors as employees and familiar faces of the hospital."

To see more of their new facility and our display of survivors, visit our facebook fan page.