Griesbacher Family, St. George Island Lifestyle Beach Photography

Paula Griesbacher contacted my about a lifestyle beach photography session with her extended family of 16 on the advice of my dear friend Elise who works for Resort Vacation Properties of St. George Island. Paula and her family were renting the incredible home "Amazing Grace" located in The Plantation through RVP, and were excited to have everyone together this year for the Fourth of July holiday.

With Paula & Bill's 50th Anniversary coming up this September, Paula wanted me to come out to the beach and document this special week in the history of their family. We had a great time taking photos on the beach in the soft light just before sunset and the kids really played it up for the camera by playing games and just being themselves. Everyone in the Griesbacher family was so kind and photogenic that they really made my job easy for me!! I hope you enjoy just a few of my favorites from the beach session in July. If you would like to check out the entire gallery of photos just: CLICK HERE. God Bless, Mandi

Where I've Been!!!

In case you haven't noticed, my last blog post was on August 24, 2010, which equals almost an entire year without a new post. Some of you may be wondering, "Is Mandi still alive, and does she even take photos anymore?" I am happy to report that first, yes I'm still alive and second I am still taking photos in a new and exciting environment that has been quite inspiring to me!! Marc & I moved from Covington, Georgia to Apalachicola, Florida in late September of 2010.

Marc got a job as a paralegal with a local attorney, so we decicided to take the plunge and move to another state to begin life in a whole new world. Believe me when I say that "Apalach" as the locals call it, is a whole new world from my former life in suburban Atlanta. The closest Walmart is over an hour away and chain establisments of any kind are few and far between in these parts. We absolutly love it here!! The people and the beautiful nature of this area are unlike any other place in the world. We live at the edge of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. Encompassing over 246,000 acres in Apalachicola Bay, it is the 2nd largest Estuarine Research Reserve system in the nation, and the nature here is stunning.

I bought a Standup Paddleboard from Journey's of St. George Island in May, and I must admit I am begininng to feel like a real Florida girl. We get out on the water as much as possible and with St. George Island being only 15 minutes away, lets just say that I've had some serious beach time this year.

To live in paradise, you have to work A LOT to make a living. Since I have been here in Florida I have had more jobs than the last 15 years of my previous working career.  I have tried my hand at everything from retail, to waitressing to supplement my photography as I build my business in this area. Let's just say that I have a whole new respect for anyone who works in the service industry because that line of work is NOT EASY!! I've made some great friends through my many job experiences and not working as a photographer full-time has made me appreciate my passion for photography even more than ever before. I currently work as a bartender at the Roseate Spoonbill Lounge and a sales associate at the Oystercatcher Boutique in downtown Apalachicola.

I am proud to announce that I began a relationship working as a freelance photographer for a local tourism magazine called "Must See Magazine" early this year. MY PHOTO MADE THIS ISSUES COVER and I was totally stoked to see how great my images turned out in the magazine!! Click here to visit the Must See Magazine if you would like to check out my work in the last 2 issues!!

In addition to my other work, I have also been doing lifestyle photo sessions on the beach and in historic Apalchicola. Just click on the galleries link at the top of the blog to check out some of my recent work. Did I mention that I have been accomplishing all this with NO INTERNET ACCESS in my apartment! Yes, that's right folks, I've been borrowing internet at WiFi hotspots for my internet access, so this is one of the main reasons for my neglect to the blog. Hopefully this catches you up with what I've been doing for the last year. I have really just been working and enjoying life to the fullest, which sometimes dosen't allow time for an online presence. And one thing I have learned this year is that a real life and the experiences that it brings are SO much more important and valuable than an online life. With that being said, I do love sharing my gift of photography with all of you out there, so I promise to not neglect this blog like I have in the past year. Thanks for following my work and look out for some lifestyle session posts soon!  God Bless, Mandi

<----- And here is my new branding in case you have missed it!!!

Mills Cleveland Newborn Session: Covington, Georgia Newborn Photography

One of the great friends that I made during Newton Leadership, David Cleveland and his beautiful wife Stephanie welcomed David Mills Cleveland to their family at the end of July this year. I had the honor of photographing baby Mills when he was only 9 days old and I am so happy with the images that we got from this newborn on-location photography session at the Cleveland home in Covington, GA on August 8th. I just love working with newborns because they are so precious, delicate and I what I feel as closer to God being so new to this earth. Thanks to David and Stephanie for welcoming me into your home for such a fun newborn & family lifestyle session. I look forward to capturing your growing family in the years to come!!

This image below is by far my favorite newborn image that I have created in my entire career. I just love this shot!!

Chris & Sadie are Married!! Griffin, Georgia Wedding Photography

First of all let me start out by telling you how blessed I was to photograph Sadie & Chris Huff's Wedding in Griffin, Georgia at The Castle of Paradise Wedding Venue on Saturday, July 24, 2010. The couple really know how to have fun and they were a blast to be around the entire wedding day. I know Sadie Holland Huff from Flaunt Salon where she works and I was so excited when she told me that her and Chris were going to get married this summer. Chris is a tattoo artist at Ink Wizard Tattoo in Conyers, GA so let's just say that there were some pretty awesome tattoos being sported at the wedding by the wedding party & guests alike. Such a great crowd of people were there to bless Sadie and Chris as they officially started their lives together on a hot, but beautiful Georgia evening. Once the sun went down everyone danced the night away around the pool patio area as fireworks shot off in the night sky. It was a wonderful event and weddings like these are just one of the things that make me love wedding photography so much. Thanks to Sadie & Chris for being such beautiful subjects and letting me capture your special day through my lens. I am happy to share a few of my favorite images that I got from the day and I am proud to announce the addition of my boyfriend Marc Anderson to the family of photographers here at Mandi Singer Photography. This was the first wedding that he has shot, and I really didn't have much time to give him a lot of direction, but he came through with some really great images and captured moments that I would have missed. Thank you Marc for all your hard work!!

This awesome shot below was captured by Marc Anderson from a totally different angle than I saw. Way to go Marc!! You really have a great eye and I look forward to watching you grow as a photographer.

And finally here is a slideshow of my favorite photos from the night!!

Sadie & Christopher Huff Wedding July 24, 2010 from Mandi Singer on Vimeo.

Bachelors & Bras!!

On May 8th of this year I had the pleasure and honor of using my photography skills to benefit a good cause,  the Kimberly Chance Atkins Foundation. This years event was a Bachelors & Bras fundraiser at the Georgia International Horse Park Carriage Room where they auctioned off Bachelors & custom made artistic bras to raise money for a mobile mammography unit that will serve women around the state of Georgia. You can read a little more about the event here in a recent article published in the Rockdale Citizen if you would like to know more about this wonderful organization.

Let me just say that it was a incredibly fun event to cover and i was laughing hysterically all night at the antics of everyone involved in such a positive and did I say FUN fundraiser. Several local businesses graciously donated items, services and their valuable time to make such an incredible event come together.  You can see many of them featured in photos throughout the slide show. Here are a few photos that I captured from the evening and I have also included the video slide show from the event at the end of the post.

And here is the Awesomesauce Video Slide show! Enjoy - Mandi ;-)