The Kids of Easter Seals Portrait Gallery

As many of you know, we have a 15 year old son Eric who has Down Syndrome. He has just completed Middle School and is off to high school, but in his early days as an infant, he had a list of medical ailments that made his first couple of years pretty tough. Heart problems, lung issues, failure to thrive, were among some of his challenges. After his heart surgery was complete, one ailment after the next disappeared, and by the time he started daycare at 2 years old, he was on the road to becoming the unusually healthy kid he is today. Kim and I have always wanted to give back to the community that helped Eric get back on his feet and that provided the therapies and support that made such a difference after all of his medical challenges. We recently were inducted on the Board of Directors at Easter Seals of Tampa Bay, after being introduced to the board by Joanne Sullivan of Academy at the Lakes, and whose wedding we did last year. Our first project was to create a gallery of portraits of the Kids of Easter Seals, so people would have an understanding of who these kids are. They're typically underprivilidged special needs kids from rough family backgrounds who typically can't afford the services and support that special needs kids almost always need in their early years. Easter Seals helps prepare these kids both mentally and pbysically to be able to successfully enter the school system and become productive and healthy kids. Here is a number of the portraits we shot of the kids. What an amazing shoot!! These kids are amazing, and you can almost see their past and their future in their eyes. The gallery of prints will be on permanent display at the Murray Center, Easter Seals' brand new facility on East Henry Ave that has its grand opening almost as this blog entry is being posted. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!

Thunderbird Resort Photo Facelift

So, on a side note, we've decided that
this blog will f rom now on be a Thompson Studios blog, highlighting some of the cooler things that we are up to as a studio, and not limit this to strictly weddings. We realized that there's so much we do that is worthy of sharing with everyone. We also realized that trying to keep up 4 separate blogs would be an impossibility, so, on we go!

Here's a shoot that had some fun built into it -- we got a call from David King, the owner of the historic Thunderbird Resort on Indian Rocks Beach. He and his family have had the resort for close to 40 years. The resort had undergone a facelift of sorts, and now it was time to give their website a photo-facelift. The shots he'd been using were aged and out of style, so basically we laid out a plan to shoot the entire place. We shot everything from rooms, the courtyard, the restaurant, lobby, EVERYTHING!! This ties in beautifully with our Custom Stock Photography concept, where we come into a company and shoot everything that there would be a need to shoot, then provide the client with a catalogued library of images that they can use for anything that can come up. In David's case, the website was the most immediate need, and you can see the new photography at his website: www.thunderbirdflorida.com. Since this was a multi-day shoot, of course we had to stay and get a taste of what the Thunderbird had to offer during our stay. What a great place to hang at the beach!! The Tiki Bar was a great place to be at sunset and after a huge day of shooting. We really enjoyed the resort and encourage you to check it out! Give us a call if you'd like more info on Custom Stock Commercial Photography...