Santa coming to Bark Station for Picture Day {Woodstock Pet Photographer}

It's that time of year again: holiday pictures for pets at Bark Station in Woodstock! This year's event benefits Mostly Mutts, a fantastic rescue organization based in Kennesaw who strive to reduce the number of pets euthanized in local shelters. The event is December 4 from 2:00-4:00. Our fantastic Santa Steve is back this year and shared the following message:

"Santa is thrilled to visit Bark Station again this year. Santa's Elves have reported that all the wonderful pets and their people friends are on the NICE list.
Santa will see you all very soon! May the Joy of Christmas be with you, year 'round"

Christmas Eve service at Buckhead Church {Atlanta Photographer}

On Christmas Eve afternoon staff and volunteers arrived at the Buckhead Church building to prepare for services, and what a fantastic experience it was!  The mood was very light as families came in, often with visiting relatives, to worship and celebrate the true meaning of the season.  I'm not sure anyone anticipated how busy that first service would be:  there were almost 4,100 guests at the 4 o'clock service!  Every seat and overflow area was full:  it was busy and amazing and joyful.  Between the two services we had about 6,600 people hear the Christmas Eve service.  In the lobby several volunteers agreed to don costumes and hand out candy canes to kids, and some adults!  Even in the midst of challenging times, it's a wonderful reminder to see the enthusiasm and innocent wonder on the face of children.  I loved being able to see Christmas through their eyes and capture images of the services. 

The H family - Operation Love Reunited {Atlanta Family Photographer}

This special family contacted me through Operation Love Reunited, an organization that arranges for a photo session to be donated to families serving our country in the military. These photos were taken just before Dad was deployed to Afghanistan on November 27.

The boys clearly adore their dad, and the addition of a 6 week old baby sister is going to make life interesting at their house. It's obvious there is a lot of love in this family. It seemed particularly appropriate to share these images today, on the 69th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Benefit for The Center for Children and Young Adults

On Saturday, September 25 the local chapter of the Ladies of Harley will be hosting a poker run, bike show, and silent auction to benefit The Center for Children and Young Adults.   Thanks to my friend Jamie Lilly, I have the opportunity to participate and support those who help children and youth in our community escape abuse, neglect, and hopelessness.

It's going to be a great event, with the ride beginning and ending at Earl Small's Harley Davidson on South Cobb Drive at 10:00am.  Make plans to come by, participate in the ride or the poker event, listen to live music and enjoy some food from the grill, or take part in the silent auction. You could win a fantastic item as well as supporting this fantastic local organization.

Gardens at Sandy Springs (Atlanta Dog Photographer)

Recently I accompanied my friend Cara and her dog Quincy on a visit to the Seniors at a local retirement community. The residents seemed to have a good time and enjoy petting Quincy and watching him perform his tricks. Well, some of his tricks--he got a little overwhelmed by the crowd and didn't put on his best performance. But judging by the comments and smiles on faces we considered it a success!

Thrice as Nice

Not one, not two, but THREE boys! Mom has her hands full. I happen to think these three guys are worth it.....but then again, I am a bit biased, being their aunt. They're getting so handsome--I was blown away by some of these expressions. Here's more from our session in downtown Acworth:

This is my FAVORITE image from the entire day, I think.

Buckhead Photography Project

I am so thankful that there are people in this world with VISION! It may take many people to bring vision to life, but it usually begins with one person.

In this case, the vision came to a few key people at Buckhead Church. They had an epiphany of sorts after walking into the building each Sunday, greeted by throngs of people and blank walls. Being big supporters of the arts , they dreamed up a plan to turn those blank walls into a photography gallery. Not for the purpose of simply displaying art, but to create conversation and flesh out the big idea behind a sermon series.

The first opportunity was to submit photos for a series about “relationships”. Healthy or unhealthy relationships. Great ones, broken ones. Whatever. Relationships can be simple or complex.

Over 50 photographers were included, and nearly 300 photos were submitted. Out of those a series have been selected, and are about to go to print. A photo I submitted has been selected: it is an image of my friends Tania and Scott, taken when they became engaged. I am thrilled, not only to be a part of this awesome project, but to be able to use this thing I'm passionate about to support the mission of my place of worship.

A gallery night will be on Thursday, May 28th at Buckhead Church starting at 7:30 p.m. Artists, friends and family are invited to view photos from the participants of this 1st assignment. Visit www.buckheadchurch.org for directions. Please park underneath our building in the parking deck. We look forward to seeing you there!

And of course, here is the photo:

Fusion Movie night

Fusion Movie night
Originally uploaded by Nina Parker Photography

Sunday evening our church singles department put on an outdoor movie night. Everyone had a great time eating barbeque, sipping lemonade, and talking. Just before the sun set and the movie began, the clouds took on that wonderful, warm pink color, and it was amazing.

Bowman Homes

Recently a group of singles from my church planned a service project at Bowman Homes, a housing development in Atlanta. Our focus was the children: there are over 1000 children under the age of 18 in the community, most of them living below the poverty level. Like many developments of it's kind, there are a lot of problems, including substance abuse, crime, and gang activity.

This wasn't an official assignment, obviously, but I grabbed my back up camera body and lightest lens (50mm f1.8) to take with me. Once we arrived, we were briefed by the representative from Essentials2Life, whom we partnered with. Then we got busy, picking up trash and chatting with the kids while walking around. The children gradually trickled out, trailing us around as we walked back to the Rec Center.

Then it was on! Jump rope, kickball, and just sitting and talking with them. They had so much energy and were so affectionate. They were fascinated by the camera and kept wanting to see the LCD screen and handle it. So I left many of them hold the camera and take pictures of one another. Some of them got some good shots!