Santa is coming to town! The bearded man was here, Nov. 8-11, and now, via magical Photoshop and talented elves in our studio, he can re-appear in any session that continues to take place in our holiday sets!  Which means, we get an early start at the holidays and getting our Christmas wishes known up in the North Pole!  Here are some tips on making the experience great when meeting with our Santa's live, if you'd like to set that up, we are still able to with minimum orders from $400.

1) Let us know in advance how your kid has been doing this year. Santa can get a heads up from you, and help you out with some friendly advice on "staying nice", whether it's praise or a jolly warning.

2) Let us know what they have been dreaming of and asking for, and Santa can let them know he's been listening.  No promises, of course, just that he has been paying attention.

3) Santa's appearance needs to be a bit anticipated and not a shock. Explain that Santa will be there to have fun and play, and that it is always a good time when you visit the jolly man in red.  Show them pictures of how Santa typically looks, red suit, fur, big beard, and talk well in advance about what to expect when they see him in person. Often it is solely the size and magnitude of all that red that can be overwhelming to young eyes.  If your child is sensitive, he can always take off the coat and go with a holiday shirt and suspenders instead.

4) Practice with your kids "telling Santa what you want for Christmas".  A little practice can go a long way, but if they are shy, a list can be the life-saver.  Many a little one has been tongue-tied once seeing the big jolly guy, so if they are prepared with a list in hand, written out for Santa to go over, they won't have any regrets of what they "forgot" to tell Santa.

5) Let kids know it is ok to touch Santa, including his beard!  We will have natural beard Santas on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and they all expect to have their beards examined, just to make sure Santa is real.  

6) Let kids know that the elves and Santa will be giving them directions and to listen carefully.  We are setting up 'scenes' of Christmas to capture on camera, and these scenes will become your very own storybook of Christmas that you can order and keep for generations to come.

Activities that we will do this year are:

Cookie and Gingerbread house making.

Drawing or creation of a gift.

Communicating with the North Pole and sharing the globe/geography lesson.

Decorating the tree.

Sharing a candy cane, cookie, milk, or cocoa.

Sharing a Christmastime story.

Sewing a stocking.

Wrapping a present.

Taking a ride on a toy (fire truck, motorcycle, sled, or other toy brought in).

Going over the naughty/nice list.

Playing a board game.

Writing a note to the North Pole and mailing it.

Each activity takes a couple minutes to complete for a photo, so even 10 min. sessions can sometimes get 2 or 3 activities completed if they are older kids. We recommend more time for younger kids, and more activities if you would like a storybook created.  This year sessions are anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 hour, depending on your prepaid package.  Call us for more details and to create your best timeslot.  Phone: 952-890-7640. 

Holiday cheer, make it amazing!

==The Imagery elves.

I was asked recently to provide our vision and mission statement.  It had been awhile since Rod and I had sat down and thought about writing it out, so it got me to thinking..."What ARE we here for?" If someone walked up to you on the street and asked, "Why do you exist?" would you have a ready answer for them?  As a business, that's what is expected of us, and every day, if we are not living up to that promise in everything we do, are message can get lost in a sea of noise.

So, I set out to answer the question...and this is our current, yet ever so slightly altering over time, vision, mission, and even "brand statement", which upon further research I found is some what of the answer to, "What is your particular secret sauce and flavor?"

Vision:

We are there for our entire community, both individuals and businesses, to pause time, celebrate milestones, and create a legacy.  Self esteem is raised, heirlooms are created, and businesses and ideas are elevated and shared with the world through images.  

Mission Statement:

We only use the best materials that will last and can be past from generation to generation, while remaining accessible, flexible, and open to a wide audience and a variety of needs.

We remain open to what our clients want and ask for in how they want their images displayed.

We continue to learn and educate ourselves to new techniques and products that can express what the client is wanting to preserve, in their unique style, from the classic and traditional, to the unique and contemporary.

We celebrate and help causes of the community around us.

Brand Statement:

We are a home-based, husband and wife studio, that surprises and delights with our wide variety of indoor and outdoor options located conveniently all in one place, including sets from rustic to romantic, waterfalls, old truck, stone arches, and surprises like indoor and outdoor pianos.  We serve our clients both at our studio, and on location, because we remain true to our mission of flexibility in product and service.  We open our talents to both the business community and to the individual (two-legged and four-legged) to help them showcase what they are most proud of through portraiture and high quality professional photographs, whether it be pride in their product, or pride in their accomplishment and milestone, or simply pride in what and who they are in the moment.  We are award-winning, always striving to be better through education and competition. We listen before the shutter clicks.  We have the talent to make any vision come true in collaboration.  Because we believe that good preparation, means good photographs, we authored a book called “Prepare for the Perfect Portrait.”

Tag Line:

Our Portraits, Like our Clients, Last a Lifetime

Our Santa sessions are a storytelling experience with Santa. The pictures with Santa will not only be sitting on the lap photos, but photos of interaction with Santa.  We want to share with you some of the photos from the past, so you see the possibilities.  To book your session, simply call the studio for the dates, Nov. 8-11, 2018, or, call us at 952-890-7640.  We have a natural beard Santa on  Nov. 9, 10 and 11, and our costumed beard Santa on Thursday, Nov. 8th.  Please consider Thursday if your child requires Santa crawling on the ground at all... as this Santa is able to be very active and mobile, while the other Santas are a bit older and prefer to stand or sit.  Also on Thursday, for pets, the costumed beard Santa is ok with pets sitting on their lap.  See photos of each of the Santas below in the slide "Meet the Santas".

A list of Animal Rescues that are local to the Minneapolis area

Finding a rescue to donate to near you, and serving Minnesota's animals in need

Local Animal Rescue groups are saving Minnesota's animals. They are the unsung heros of the rescue world. They organize foster families and save animals from certain death in shelters that are out of room.  When there is a natural disaster they are the first to respond in getting animals out of the area. When there is a report of abuse, they come in and get the innocent animals out. When an animal is in need of medical care, they find ways to raise the money to do it.  These volunteers are amazing. 

At The Imagery, we can't take in animals at our facility, but we can do something to help the rescues and foster families financially by running our annual fundraiser.  Here is a list of rescues that we've supported in the past, and that we hope to support in the future with your help. Our fundraiser is mid-October through early November annually.

What these rescues are in need of most besides funds, are people willing to foster pets in need and people willing to help the support of them finding forever homes.

We have found that the last quarter of the year is a time when many people are thinking about charitable giving, and end-of-year giving.  Please consider giving funds this season to these volunteers to help them with their important work.  If you don't have funds, consider giving your time to help support their rescue efforts. Together we can do a part in making sure that no animals are out in the cold this winter, and no animal is hungry and abused, ever.  Minnesota has an excellent track record, let's keep it going.

In no particular order (they are all wonderful), just copied from a Google Search, here are some that came up. Isn't it wonderful that there are so many? We hope to see you at this year's annual Pose 4 Paws portrait sessions.  We'd love to meet your pet. At our photography studio pets are always welcome. They are a part of the family.  To support a worthy cause from this list, simply schedule a portrait session, and write out your check directly to the rescue. We will mail it to them before the end of the year.

We are in search of volunteers from these organizations to help us raise funds for their animal causes. Please let us know if you have a rescue dear to your heart that you would like to support, but calling us at 952-890-7640 to learn more about how we can help.  The Imagery can set up special dates that are "themed" just for your rescue's awareness. Many clients come to us not knowing who to write their check out to, and this could be a way to educate them about your group. If you champion a rescue and do not see them on the list, please let us know and we will add them.

Home for Life Animal Sanctuary 

https://www.homeforlife.org/

Not a place for adoption. Animals that are terminally ill, or have injuries that prevent them from being adopted, find their "Home for Life" here so they can live out their lives in dignity and the best medical care possible. 

Wags and Whiskers

http://www.wagsmn.org

Feline Rescue

https://felinerescue.org

Ruff Start Rescue

Get great photos for your yearly "school pics" by coming in for a private appointment instead of depending on "picture day" at your child's school.

Have you ever been stressed out about picture day? Does your child get stressed out? I remember my own picture day, and sometimes I felt great, and there were times when I happened to have a really 'bad hair day' and it was a nightmare of feeling awful about myself when the photos came back.  As a parent ordering school photos, what can you do?  

We have a solution to save you headache and heartache when it comes to doing school school picture day.  Make a private appointment with the Imagery, on the weekend or after work hours, so you can be with your child. Be there with them, not in a long line between classes, but at our private studio. You can check their hair and expressions for yourself, and choose right away your favorite smile.  You and your child, or your entire set of brothers and sisters (bring the whole family for their school pictures) will feel confident about how they looked and excited about getting their photos done. 

The best part is we are going to match whatever school photo package you have been offered.  That's right, we will MATCH the package prices that you are offered at the school.  Bring in your order form. If you don't have an order form, or are home schooled, we have a low price sheet that mirrors most pricing for volume photography that is offered in the industry.  

We hope of course that you will see how great our studio is and want to come back for family photos soon, maybe even this fall. Don't wait, call for your child's spot for amazing "school days" pics today, where we promise to match your "picture day" price. Because ever child deserves to feel great on picture day.

Make an appointment by phone: 952-890-7640, or directly online through September 30, 2018.