As we were in the throes of wrapping up the plethora of holiday orders for 2009, Tamara had the wonderful opportunity to talk with MorePhotos Radio and preview her upcoming speaking engagements at Imaging USA and WPPI for 2010. We're so excited about all of our workshops, speaking engagements, charitable projects, and of course the work with our magnificent clients in 2010, and hope you'll enjoy a little preview of Tamara's take on her upcoming projects

Wow, hard to believe, but it's that time of year again! What better way to send holiday greetings to friends and family than to share images of your most gorgeous family in a beautifully designed card? We've taken a selection of the card styles and designs that have been most popular in past years, and designed a wide variety of card templates from which you may select. These templates may be easily customized with your choice of images from your session and text. Cards from our templates are available for purchase in conjunction with your full portrait order.

Completely custom designed cards are also available! Please contact our studio for additional information about card options.

Now that the Opening Ceremony has been officially on the news, I’m thrilled to share our experience working on a most exciting project over the past few months. Our wonderful client, Suzanne Herman, whose daughter’s wedding Tamara photographed last winter, contacted me last May to talk about a photography project, “The New Face of Cancer Care”, designed to showcase the opening of the new cancer hospital under construction at UNC. During our initial meeting to discuss the project, I was so moved by the story of how this enormous construction effort was conceived, developed and brought to fruition, and knew immediately that our studio was the perfect fit to tell the stories of so many of the individuals who were a part of making this amazing facility a reality.

Over the past four months, my interactions with these incredible people have been tremendously rewarding and fulfilling. Entering the main lobby area of the hospital feels more as if you are entering a gorgeous spa hotel as opposed to a hospital, as it is filled with lovely, soft natural light, lots of glass, stonework and soft earth toned colors. A poolside conversation at a swim team event one evening with Dr. David Ollila gave me so much insight into how and why that came to be, and the passion in his voice as he told the story of carefully selecting architects, reviewing numerous iterations to the plans, consulting with patients, doctors, lab technicians, nurses, volunteers and many more to create the end product made me realize how much this hospital truly is “for the people”.

Entering the hospital today, and seeing “The New Face of Cancer Care” exhibit was truly a vision of faces filled with courage, hope and progress. We photographed over 50 subjects over the past several weeks, and it was an incredible treat to see those amazing faces boldly and colorfully displayed on canvas, set throughout the lobby on easels, and lining the wall leading right up to the main lobby, in perfect harmony with the feeling of softness and peace embodied by the architecture. Many thanks to our fabulous sponsor, Simply Canvas, for impeccable attention to detail and incredible customer service on this project!

As Rachel and I began to walk through the exhibit, we were so delighted to see many of the faces reflected back as the very people we had photographed stood with their families, colleagues and friends, reliving and enjoying each of their own very powerful stories. One more than one occasion, tears came to the eyes of our subjects and their companions as we chatted about their experiences.

We moved outside, to hear the “notaries”, including Erskine Bowles, Governor Perdue, Dr. Goldberg and several hospital staff speaking about the evolution and importance of this project, and were greeted by a sea of faces, all similarly filled with pride, courage and hope. Numerous white coats and nurses’ scrubs dotted the audience, mixed with a wide variety of individuals whose stories we may never know, but whose expressions clearly indicated the importance of this facility in their own lives. The coolest moment of the day was watching some of our “new friends” cut the ribbon to welcome so many others who will be emboldened in their journeys by these beautiful faces of courage, hope and progress…..

My beautiful Grayson has throughly enjoyed being a part of the great Girls on the Run organization for the past two sessions and capped it off with running in the WonderGirl 5K this past Saturday. Lots of families had lots to be proud of, and it was so exhilarating to see so much pride, love and fun amongst the more than 1,100 participants! At her last 5K in December, we learned that we don't make the best running buddies, so I sat this one out and really enjoyed seeing it from the sidelines this time!

Part of the fun for Grayson was participating with her *very* best friend, Madeleine, and the support from so many organizations to make personalized cards, provide hair paint, goody bags, snacks and other swag made the pre-race festivities even better!

I was trying in vain to spot Grayson and Madeleine in the crowd at the starting line, when I heard a familiar voice calling and saw these two very beautiful faces - Tamara and Sophie, who was making her debut in this 5K!

Grayson's brother, Ian and Madeleine's brother, Christopher were biking champions as we had to leap back on our bikes to get to the first cheering station in time to see the girls make the turn. Our home is right on the race course, and Grayson's brother Ian and I got creative with the paint on Friday evening so we could offer her some visual support as she was making the halfway turn. She is coming down the hill on the far right and has just spotted her brother! I was so moved by his display of sibling love that I cried just watching her run by and high five him for it....

Then, we had to jump back on bikes and rush to the finish line so we could greet her at the end - Ian was fully prepared again with his greeting!

The girls were feeling the pride as they came across the finish....

And then the FLOP set in!

Grayson formed a really strong bond with her "running buddy" Jessie - I think we'll go this route every time! Thanks, Jessie, and all the other wonderful volunteers who helped the girls along the course!

I knew that my dear friends Tamara and Sophie were on the way, and I was running to the finish line just as they were, but couldn't quite get into position before they did the scoop-up hugs! Check out Tamara's post for her side of the story and these loving images 5K, 200M, 3 Mice, and 1 Cow

We had a great day of family accomplishment, support and pride - Grayson is even ready for a repeat performance this coming Saturday at the Franklin 5000!