we start them out young around here...

our youngest assistant is two years old... he has been after my camera since he could crawl. he has now graduated from sitting in my lap to push the buttons on my camera to handling his very own. grandchildren are so much fun...

first monday bluebird

Harry and I have been attending open mic at the Bluebird Cafe on the first Monday of each month for the past few months. We have heard some great songwriters and met some wonderful new friends. It all started the weekend of our Open House when we took my brother and sister-in-law, Michael Bowers and Siobhan Quinn to the Monday Open Mic to perform. We had such a great time taking photographs of the performing artists we decided to go back in September. We offered each performing songwriter two (2) free digital images for their personal and professional web sites. It was so well received by the artists that we went again in October with the same offer. We actually had people remember us from the previous two months, so we have included First Monday Bluebird in our business model!
We will continue to attend Open Mic on the first Monday of every month and offer each performing artist two (2) free digital images. We are so fortunate to live in such a richly talented area and have reaped so much enjoyment from the work of many independent artists. An evening of music in return for a few images seems like a great trade! Of course, Open Mic at the Bluebird usually sees between 35 to 45 performing artists, so there are a few images to process, but within each image lives a memory for us, for the artist and for the audience. It is a worthwhile effort for us.
If you are out and about on the first Monday of any given month, check out Open Mic at the Bluebird! We'll be there!

Peace and music,
Karan
P.S. More event galleries can be found here!

awards!

Harry and I are honored to have been chosen for two awards in the Capture Music City book published by the Tennessean last week!

Harry's image (below) won Editor's Choice. It was taken this year during our participation in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march.


The image below of Brian Ashley Jones and Tisha Simeral, taken at the Lyrix cafe during songwriter's night in the summer of 2007, was awarded the People's Choice Award. The image is used as the full page chapter heading page for the Music chapter of the book, which is pretty sweet in itself since this is Music City!

We were fortunate to have seven additional images published as well.

Harry was able to attend the VIP party, participate in the book signing and accept both of our awards as I was out of town and unable to attend. I can't believe I missed my first book signing... Hopefully that will not be my first and last chance...

Many thanks to all who voted!

-Karan

special!

babies

anyone that knows me knows how much i love babies... i love their promise and innocence, their smell... i will not have a bad day if a baby is involved... and yes, i still call my adult sons 'baby', so there you go... of course, i'm not as in love with their smell as i used to be, but i digress...
today's opportunity to photograph three sisters, ages four, two and newborn, still has me on a baby high. while the two year old did not want to sit for a group photograph and was faster than lightning, we managed to get some great individual shots. the most fun ones came after the session was finished and the two year old proceeded to undress and run around the backyard clothless. and i say most fun because those were the belly laughs for all of us and while those shots will be included in the family album, i won't post them here... i'm so glad they live in my memory, though.



so, thanks to haley, addie and ali grace for the great day... i'm still smiling...
-karan

thankful

to all of you that attended our Open House, in body and in thought. Michael and Siobhan performed two amazing sets and garnered a room full of new fans. Product was displayed, of which I took exactly 0 pictures. Thank you, Tamelyn, for the awesome image for this post! Luckily, Harry took a few shots, too... I'm sure he'll be posting a couple of those here pretty soon.

Now we get down to the business of marketing... not my favorite part of the job, but one that must be done in order for us to do the thing we love. Any Nashville PR type people out there willing to work on commission?!? I'm only half kidding...

More news to follow soon detailing our session packages and products. We still have some Open House coupons remaining, so don't forget to mention that when we talk!

- Karan

grateful

Harry and I are very grateful for the opportunity to open our new studio. We are grateful to have met wonderful new friends during the first month of this venture and look forward to meeting more in the near future.

Our Open House is Saturday, August 2, 2008. Please stop by between the hours of 4 pm until 9 pm, introduce yourself (if we've not yet met) and enjoy a refreshing drink and hors d'oeuvres while you tour the studio. A special guest performance by Michael Bowers & Siobhan Quinn will begin at 7:30 pm.

The studio is located at 521 8th Avenue South, Studio 307, Nashville, TN 37203. Send us an email if you have any questions!

We look forward to seeing you there!

-Karan & Harry