Art & Soul Photography Blog

The walls have been painted, the furniture is in it’s place, and on the walls hang pieces of portrait art. The delicious sounds of Nina Simone and Alicia Keys play in the background while friends and family and customers and strangers mingle. The smell of delectable appetizers waft downstairs and onto the sidewalk while blueberries dance on lemonade filled glasses and wine soothes the senses. What a grand evening it was!

The long journey towards a studio space began in late November 2007 when my husband persuaded me to start looking around at available spaces throughout Columbia. What an amazing experience it has been, complete with it’s heartaches, lessons in patience, and finally…the right space. Situated on a busy corner in downtown Columbia the studio sits perched on the second floor of a historic building on 10th and Broadway. Having this new studio space better allows me to sit down with clients in a private, relaxing environment. I like to really get to know them and come up with ways to capture who they are. We end up with portraits that are great for sharing with family and friends but that also have a fine art quality, something your family will want to frame and cherish as heirlooms.

My downstairs neighbors are my good friends at Poppy and I’m rejuvenated daily by the sound of cars whizzing past, people window shopping below, and the still sweet memories of my Grand Opening.

I want to thank Kevin for pushing me closer and closer to my dream of a studio space, the greatest small group ever (Jack & Dana for their generous and totally amazing gift of wine, Goldie for spearheading the catering division and for all of her hard work, Natalie for writing a top notch press release and for creating such yummy masterpieces, Carissa for blowing everyone away with her amazing appetizers, my sister-in-law Jamie and Chris and Matt for being my photographers for the evening, and Nick for being the king of bruschetta), my brother Lance for running all over God’s green earth for ice and bags of blueberries, my mom for showing up early to help with the last minute cleaning and prep, and for all of my friends and family who came from Kansas City, Springfield, and beyond to help me celebrate. You are all reasons that I feel so loved. Thanks.

I’d like to also announce the winner of the FREE PORTRAIT SESSION!! Chelcie and Kody Kimzey have won the free studio portrait session. At the end of the night on Saturday the names were drawn. Congratulations to Chelcie and Kody! You can redeem your free studio portrait session anytime within the next 6 months. Thanks to all who participated.

These are some before and after images of the space along with some fun images from the Grand Opening. Enjoy!

Before and After in my Client Viewing Room.

Before and After in my Studio Shooting Room.

Before and After in the shared Lobby.

And here’s some fun images from the Grand Opening! Enjoy!

And just in case you weren’t able to join us for the Grand Opening…here’s some more images of the studio space. Come see it in person sometime!

This is the plant that my good friend Dawnyale sent me. Thanks D!

Come check out the studio sometime soon! I love coming to work!

-Lana