Class of 2011

Hello everyone...!

As many of you know, we have been busy with the new studio and training Sarah in our "Beth Merritt Photography" style. I had to share with you two of her most recent Senior Portrait Sessions that we just got done editing... I always knew she was a phenomenal photographer, but now you guys can see for yourselves! Here are some samples from two of her latest sessions....

I should mention that we are now beginning to take applications for BMP Ambassadors for the Class of 2011. Ambassadors get great benefits, extra photo shoot opportunities, and special treatment from our staff. For more information about becoming an Ambassador - or for information about getting your Senior Portraits at Beth Merritt Photography, please contact the studio at 248.250.6085 or shoot us an email at info@bethmerritt.com.

I hope you are having a great evening!

Beth

Update from Fall, New Studio!

Hello everyone!

I have recently received a bunch of e-mails asking how I am doing following my fall. I realized I should have provided a blog update a while ago. However, most of you follow me via Facebook now, so I have kind of neglected the blog.

Fall Update

Well, I fell on a Friday, and by the next Wednesday I was unable to walk without assistance, unable to look at bright lights or listen to anything loud, and - worst of all - I couldn't really understand simple things. It was hard to read and hard to process thoughts. I could read words, but their meaning was lost. I wound up getting help from a new physician who helped me understand what was happening and why. I think in the end, her ability to calm me was more valuable than anything. I was really scared.

After a couple of weeks on the couch (literally), I dragged Tristan to the studio with me and we did a mock session with a moving teddy bear to see if I would be able to take pictures. In the end, I kept falling down, and none of the pictures were in focus. Hence the reason we ended up cancelling almost everything for the rest of the year.

New Studio…

It is now February, and I'm good. I'm now confident on my feet. I have done some shoots and am pleased with the results. Lee and I had some serious discussions as to whether this photography business would continue... and we arrived at an answer we would have never guessed. In late December, I was e-mailed by a very talented photographer who expressed an interest in working for me. We talked at length, did about 50 hours of number crunching, and in the end we ended up hiring her and leasing a commercial space.

I know, I know... I contemplate the idea of taking things down a notch and wind up with a team of four and a studio space. (I must have hit my head harder than I thought!)

So, we have lots of changes... We have a new Office Manager, Shelli and a new photographer, Sarah. Tristan is still here (...and I'm hoping he never leaves!) We have products and promotions that we will be rolling out over the next few months, and I am more excited about what’s going to be happening this year than I have been in a long, long time…

Here is a picture of the studio taken with a camera phone... not too great, but at least you guys can see what it looks like... It is located at 16 and Woodward, near downtown Birmingham.

For those of you that like to follow our work, I strongly suggest you tag us in Facebook. We tend to post in there quite a bit as a result of client requests.

Thank you very much for all your concern. I know many of you kept me in your prayers, and I am so very grateful…

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Beth

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong....

Hello everyone,

This is Laura, Beth's office assistant. I do not want to be the bearer of bad news but this week has been pretty tough here at BMP, and all of this could not come at a worse time.

Over the weekend Beth was unloading her equipment at the end of her afternoon and fell on the sidewalk. She fell very hard hitting her head on the concrete. After a trip to the hospital she learned that she had suffered a severe concussion and her brain was bruised in two places. Results from an MRI will tell us if any fractures resulted from the fall. Beth is home resting but a full recovery could take many weeks.

Unfortunately, I will most likely be cancelling all shoots scheduled for the next two weeks. Beth is simply not well enough to stand for long periods of time because of the risk of further injury. When we are more certain of Beth's recovery time I will do my best to reschedule everyone. I will also most likely be cancelling all in studio ordering sessions since it is very painful for Beth to read or use a computer. Because of this I am asking that those who need orders placed to please submit orders online if possible. I know that custom items such as walls or Christmas cards are not available on the web. If you are interested in those items please call or email so that designs can be discussed and so that we can do as much progress with the order over phone/email as possible.

I will be updating the blog again with hopefully much better news! We will all do our best to get everyone rescheduled and to keep orders moving. We are all very sorry for any inconvenience. Thank you all so much for you patience during this time.


Laura
Office Manager

2nd Annual Halloween Charity Event

I think most of you guys read about our 2nd Annual Halloween Charity Event in our newsletter, (Laura has filled many of the spots)... but I just wanted to send a reminder. My goal is to fill every last spot and raise even more money this year!

I hope your evening is going well...!

Beth

Cancellation 'excuses'... the best one ever

I know I don't share many personal stories on the blog... not as many as I would like to anyway. But I had to share this story - it just happened.

My clients are wonderful... really. Everyone is very respectful of our time, and I probably get onyl one or two last minute cancellations per year. Really, I am very lucky. But this morning I got one... and it is the best excuse ever. I started grinning when I got the message.

My client this morning had a family portrait session with us. I have never had the pleasure of meeting her or her family. However, they are very active in the community and she sounds like a really cool person.

So this morning I get this message... "Beth, it is 9:01 and we have a 9:30 appointment... um... we are going to need to cancel. I feel terrible... my husband just got this really unique opportunity he could not pass up. He got paged because he is a professional car driver*, and Tom Cruise and his family requested he be there. They want to meet up with all the teens from his movie Red Dawn and go drive go carts*."

(*I tweaked the story slightly to hide what they are actually doing, to protect their privacy... but you get the gist of it.)

Hilarious.

Anyway, if anyone ever needs to cancel on account of meeting up with a Hollywood celebrity, I totally understand!

:)

Have a good day!

Beth

Blog Update (....a big one!)

Okay, I admit it. I have been slacking when it comes to the blog! But I am finally going to get cross that one item off my to do list: “Blog update”. The problem: it’s going to be huge...!

For all of you out there on Facebook, please go ahead and tag me! I will happily send you some pictures for your Facebook pages. I usually try to post images for my clients’ Facebook pages when I can.

So…. What have I been up to, you ask? Well, here are some of my favorites… and definitely some more to come soon!

Enjoy!


A baby shoot waring special duds. Isn't this guy adorable???

This is a pose made popular by a photographer in Colorado... with dad being a huge Tiger's fan, I thought I would try it. I was really happy with the results...

The last half day wedding I did... at the beautiful Meadowbrook Mansion. Isn't she gorgeous?

One of my closest friends had an idea to go and shoot on the railroad. I was really happy with the outcome...

I think this one is hilarious...

A shot at sunset with three cousins... I love this shot.

Three brothers. I have been photographing these guys for a while now. The oldest boy is such a gentleman... not to mention a great brother!

This was part of a family shoot -- and they decided to bring the old car. Love it!

Ahhh... my college roommate and one of my best friends in the world... .....Isn't her little baby cute?

An Engagement session just before sunset. I love this moment...

A walk through the woods....

A blondie with a bunch of flowers. Mom brought the flowers, and I love the sunflower up against her blue dress. She was such a wonderful little lady to photograph.

I love this image!

A photo from a session earlier this summer. He brought his golf gear and started jumping when he teed off. Hilarious. ...it's kind of like how I golf....!

A super fun family session earlier this year...

A tender moment with mother and daughter...

A senior shoot... Isn't she beautiful?

A SUPER fun family shoot... These guys were a blast!

Another senior shoot. She has amazing eyes...

And last... but not least... my friends Courtney & Jason. This is an excerpt from their album. I have to admit that I didn't blog about it because I was afraid about getting more wedding inquiries. However, I'm now completely done with weddings, and I am happy to say that this will be my last full wedding for a long long time. (Yes, I shot a ceremony for two other couples, but I didn't do the entire wedding...)

So, this is it -- and what a great way to leave the whole wedding scene. These two are wonderful. I can't wait until I get to shoot their kids! ;)

Doesn't she have killer eyes?? Love 'em!

______

Well, that's it! Sorry my updates are sooo late!

I still owe you a couple more... I'm working on them, I promise!

Have a wonderful evening!!!

Beth

Slower Responses for next 48 hours (E-mail/Voicemail)

Hi guys!

I am in the process of transitioning e-mail and voicemail to a new system over the next 48 hours. We expect the transition to be complete tonight, but I just wanted to warn everyone in the interim. Right now, e-mail and voicemails are going to four different places (all of which we can - and will - check!) Normally, I am able to handle urgent issues on my Blackberry, however even that is down for the next 48 hours. If we take a little bit to get back to you, please bear with us. We are moving to a system that will allow us to move faster and respond to e-mails and voicemials much quicker in the future.

Thank you for your patience!

Beth

WDIV Channel 4 - Vote for the Best {Portrait Photographer}

Today I had this e-mail come through... "Your business has been nominated for 4 The Best". I was very interested...!

I then realized that someone had signed us up for this contest through television station Channel 4 - WDIV. I have known about the 'best wedding photographer' category for some time, but I don't really do weddings... (yada, yada)... and so I never signed up. But, I guess one of you guys has signed us up for the "Best Portrait Photographer". (This person even added some verbiage from our website, some images and our website...!) I didn't even know the category existed -but I guess it does and now we are officially part of the contest!

Now, I suppose I don't really believe in bribing folks for votes with free stuff, and I'm not really into the whole 'begging for votes' thing either. So, here is what I will do.

If we win, I will do a free all day Saturday (donations only) charity event next spring. Here's the kicker: it will be the charity of choice for whoever signed me up (and I have zero idea who that is.) Charity events are always a great idea -- for everyone. We will ask the person who nominated us to come out of the woodwork at that time... until then, I promise not to ask! (kinda fun, huh?!)

Sooo, here goes... if you would like to vote for "Beth Merritt Photography" as the best portrait photographer in Detroit, you click this link.

Thank you to whoever signed us up. It's truly flattering. It's one thing for someone to say 'I like your work, but quite another to have someone say 'wow, you're the best'!!!!

(Thank you!!!!)

My last wedding...

I haven't been completely honest with you guys... I said I don't do weddings. Well, that was partially true. I was winding down, but wasn't completely done, per se. That is until today. Today I shot my last wedding for a while. I won't say that it will be my last wedding ever, but with our business being incredibly busy with children, families, and seniors, I wanted to create a definite place for us to focus. Weddings won't be a focus for us, but if we find the right circumstances, we might shoot another one. (We are suckers for touching stories...!)

Anyway, about the wedding today... I have been excited to tell you guys about this wedding from the moment I heard about it.

A couple months ago, my friend Jill approached me and was talking about her friend that was getting married. Her friend Karen was looking for a wedding photographer. Karen's husband has passed unexpectedly a couple of years before. She was left with three young children, the youngest of which was barely a year old. His passing was heart breaking.

This afternoon I asked Jill how they met and my jaw dropped when I heard the response... They had been introduced by Maryann Gilliam who in 2006 had assistance from the Armada Community and the ABC television show Extreme Home Makeover. Maryann Gilliam’s husband, David, was a firefighter and paramedic who died unexpectedly on Christmas Eve 2005. Maryann, 32, was left with six children (ages eight months to 12 years old) in a small farmhouse David was renovating. The family’s story reached the ABC TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and the rest is history.

It was at this new house, that the children would meet their new dad. I love the irony... A house built for the purpose of helping a family cope with their own tragedy helped another family move forward with their life.

I will let the pictures do the talking as I like to do most of the time. I will have you pay special attention to the top left photograph though. Tears were streaming down my face as I took this photo. When this photo was taken there was a very moving slideshow that everyone was watching with photos of their family... and this new dad took time out to comfort this little boy during the duration of the slideshow. From the moment where these three young men walked their mom out to get married, it was incredibly moving, and I was truly honored to be a part of it...

Here are a few of my favorites from today... Enjoy!

Beth

Ballerina Needed!

Hello!

I am in need of a ballerina. Should be someone in High School with a Tutu and point shoes. Must be willing to go in crazy (safe) places and get pictures. I will compensate them for their time.

Interested parties should e-mail me please! (beth@bethmerritt.com)

Thank you!

Beth