InsightInsights

The Healing Power of Portraits

On the fourth floor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, they're doing cutting-edge research on bladder cancer, the mechanics of cancer stem-cell replication, and the healing power of portraits. That's right, portraits. The aim of the project is for an artist to study the interaction between patients and caregivers and to develop a set of paintings based on observation. The work is being done by Scottish-born artist Mark Gilbert. A few years ago Gilbert did a whole series of portraits on some hospital patients in London. And it was during these sittings that Mark says he first noticed the medicinal effect of having one's portrait done. (Video)

Kappa Sigma's Man of the Year is from Lawrence

Kappa Sigma held its National Man of the Year Award Ceremony in Lawrence again this year, to honor its third winner of the award from the Lawrence chapter. This year's winner is President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, and Lawrence native, Alan R. Mulally. Previous winners from Lawrence are Robert J. Eaton, former chairman and CEO of Chrysler Motor Company, and the Hon. Bob Dole.
Mulally's mother, Lauraine Mulally, Lawrence, was honored with an award as well, and she fondly recalled that in 2007, Alan Mulally presented a Ford van to Douglas County Senior Services Inc. in her honor.

To see the rest of the images from the Man of the Year event, click here:Kappa Sigma Man of the Year 2008

Hot Air!

Can you feel the Arizona heat? This is one of the photographs I created at the Senior Portrait Artists (SPA) Event in January in Tucson, Arizona. Yes this is a high school senior! The setting is the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Pima Air Museum Website
This fun little sprite from the east coast and a dozen or so other seniors were flown in to model for the shoots and fashion shows at the event, which draws top photographers from across the country every year. What's really exciting is that one of my high school seniors from the Lawrence/KC area who loves to model could be chosen by SPA to win a trip to next winter's SPA event at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas!
If you're a 2009 high school senior and want to participate in the SPA model campaign, just come in for a consultation or session and tell me this interests you. We will do a fun shoot and I will place your portfolio in the competition.
You could win an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas for SPA Event 2009, the opportunity to model in the Lights.Camera. Fashion.™ 5th annual spa Fashion show, and a modeling portfolio from the shoots at SPA Event 2009!!
Stay tuned for more shots from this year's event!
Tracy

Kids Calendar Cover!

This month's edition of the Lawrence Kids' Calendar features a portrait of one of our little clients on the cover! Kyan just turned one early this year and is now a published print model!
Kids' Calendar of Lawrence

This free monthly magazine can be found at the Merc and in lots of places families like to shop. It lists so many fun things to do with your kids in Lawrence there's never a reason to be bored!
Now if they would just come up with a list like this for parents of teenagers....

Everyday is as fun as Halloween at Insight!

Howdy! My name is Jessica Kennedy Griffith and I am the Executive Assistant and D.P.E. (Dog Petter Extraordinaire) of Insight Photography. I wear many hats here, and sometimes even tiaras! I absolutely love my job.
Today after some Photoshop and a proofing were finished we decided to get the skeletons out of the closet-- the Halloween skeleton lights of course! Due to the fact that I am vertically challenged, Tracy was kind enough to pull out a fancy ladder. She also did all of the hard work of hammering nails. She was so carried away with all of the Halloween spirit she even hammered a finger nail too!
Noir Monique, Insight Photography Mascot Extraordinaire was on the scene of the ghoulish decorating as well. Her asthetic input is always helpful. She also looks pretty cute in a tiara too! With Noir’s help, Tracy and I had the lights, faux spiders, and faux cobwebs up in no time!
We can’t seem to put the camera down here, especially when we’re in our Halloween get-ups. Here’ll you see Tracy, Noir, and I hard at work. Today Tracy’s alter-ego is a fabulous New York socialite circa 1956, decked out in a vintage fur and tiara. I am my father for Halloween. I’m wearing his army jacket and his frilly tiara! Well OK the tiara might have been Noir’s idea. Noir is a Monegasque Princess (aka Grace Kelly).
We also promise that if you come to Insight on an unHalloween, we won’t be dressed like this. Although on the right day you still might catch me prancing in a tiara.

New Awards!

It's nice to get recognition for all our hard work, isn't it? I won first place (non-master) in the competition of the Kansas Professional Photographers' Association convention in February in the Children's category for this image:

and first place (non-master) for the High School Seniors category for this one:

The Journal World wrote a little bit about the awards too:
Photographer Wins in State Contest

Thank you, all who wrote and called in their congratulations! I love my clients. And of course thank you to the parents and the subjects in the photographs for choosing me to make their images.

Tracy Meets Photo Icon Annie Liebovitz

Annie has photographed three decades of pop culture and celebrities and become a pop star in her own right. So I went to hear the talk she gave in KC in January.  She has published a new book, A  Photographer’s Life 1990-2005, cronicling her life and emphasizing the years she spent with writer Susan Sontag.  The book weighs 9 pounds!  You can see it at the studio, it is breathtaking in scope.   But what especially stands out for me is how comfortably and intimately Annie interacted with the audience from the stage during her talk.  There was no artifice, no barrier, no "famous person" air.   She showed the photographs she has made through the decades of the people she loves, showed herself illustrating her strong connections to people through her photographs.     She sat on the floor of the carpeted stage and narrated a slideshow.  She wore comfortable sweatpants and hiking boots with her suit jacket.  She talked about how she grew up seeing the world framed through a car window as her family traveled cross-country when her father was transferred base to base in the Air Force.   I could relate to this and so many other stories she told about growing up and becoming a photographer.
After the talk I stood in line for three hours to have her sign the new book (and my dog-eared copy of her 1983 book!)  My friend, Hallmark photographer extraordinare Steve Wilson, was kind enough to photograph us together with my trusty little point and shoot camera.  ((The output "quality" of the image files this "6 megapixel" camera makes it worth a whole 'nother blog entry, but that will come later!  Take a look...it's not about the megapixels!))   But it was really fun meeting Annie. She never lost her gracious air, even after greeting more than a thousand people and signing autographs.   What a gal.

Operation Smile Special A Success!

We welcomed the an enthusiastic response from our wonderful clients for our October Operation Smile Special! Together we raised enough money to bring at least one child's smile into healthy focus with surgery to correct a cleft palate. We donated $280. from seven sessions to Operation Smile through Professional Photographers of America. Thank you!! Maybe one of these kids will come to the United States someday and help people. One way or another, we're all connected so let's keep the good karma going. The photographer who raised the most money for Operation Smile traveled to the Honduras to photograph people involved in and being blessed by this organization. See her slideshow here: Operation Smile Slideshow

It's Called Intuition, Noir!

I had a "tail" to tell Noir when I got home from the Free State Football game Friday night. As you can see, Noir pays full attention to everything people tell her and takes it very seriously. So I told her that if ever she is photographing a football game and she has a strong sense that she'd better step back about fifteen feet, then go ahead and step back fifteen feet, not halfway!
I was at the sideline Friday night, and near the end of the game as the play was getting ready to begin, something told me to step WAY back. I often get that feeling to move if the play is close because these guys are powerful! But this was especially strong and clear. I stepped back about seven feet, wanting to stay close. Seconds later, the players rumbled across the sideline like a herd of buffalo. I started to run when I saw them coming but they tackled my monopod before I could make five yards' gain. The monopod as you can see put up very little resistance.
When fellow photographer Ray Bergman came over to ask if I was alright, he said "You were running, but you were laughing!." I told him it was because it was "hitting" me just how accurate that feeling had been that I should step WAY back! That I really should have listened to it all the way even though it didn't seem logical. And how what happened was incredibly appropriate because not even ten minutes before, he & I for some reason had gotten to talking about amazing oo-wee-aa experiences we've had. Did we need more reasons to accept "intuitions" wholeheartedly? If we did, we got physical proof! And Noir enjoyed the story.

Me and Hanson Fong

The Kansas Professional Photographers' Association held our annual Fall Seminar Series in October and I had the pleasure of spending a day as a student of the renowned Hanson Fong, photographer from San Francisco. Hanson is a great communicator, and I was thrilled to learn new things from him. Thanks Hanson! http://www.hansonfong.com/

iPod Winner!

Congratulations to Kristen, winner of the iPod Shuffle drawing we held for all of our 2007 seniors who came in for consultations and/or sessions!  The drawing was held at the beautiful Lada Salon & Spa on September 6th.  Kristen was thrilled to finally not be "the only student at her school without an iPod". We're happy for you too, Kristen!