First Communicants Give Back in April

This April bring your First Communicant to our studio for a portrait session and 100% of your sitting fee goes directly back to your church! We have had a huge response from local city and suburban parishes and we are expecting a busy April, so call and schedule your April appointment now!
This program applies to participating parishes only. Call for details, 708-386-6222.

Tot With Toy 2008 is in May!

Mark your calendars...this May we will hold our 26th annual Tot With Toy program! Throughout the month of May if you bring in a new toy, we will waive your sitting fee. Also, any portrait order of 11x14 and larger will receive $150 off of your total order. The toys are taken to Chicago's De La Salle Institute where many of the less fortunate children in the community can share in the joy of your toy! The toys are distributed annually during the holiday season. We book very fast as this program has been the hottest thing to come into the studio, so call for your May appointment! A word to the wise... we have limited the sittings to children age 10 years and under with a maximum of two kids together. Other restrictions apply, please call for details 708-386-6222.

Ebert's Kids With Cameras

We got to thinking (again) about our close connections with the special needs world and had lengthy discussions about how cool it would be to see how some special needs kids view the world, or, at least, through a digital camera. Furthermore we discussed how perfect it would be for these kids to be able to give back and relieve some of the stigma that comes with societies labels of special needs people and to show their community that they have just as much to offer as anyone else.
We have invited a group of students in the Special Education Department at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park, IL to express themselves creatively and photograph aspects of life as they see it. An Art Show and Fundraiser will be held at Ebert Studio Saturday, March 15 from 1-4pm. All images will be available for purchase and 100% of all proceeds will be donated to Brooks Middle School. We would like to thank Frame Warehouse of Oak Park for their generous donation of frames for this project. We look forward to seeing you there!
The attached photograph was taken by Geno.

Ebert Studio opening in Hinsdale!

I am so excited to announce the opening of our second studio. April 1 our doors open at 110 South Washington St in the village of Hinsdale. We found this great location near the middle of town and the plan is to create a gallery look for locals to visit, browse the galleries and book appointments. The area is perfectly suitable for portrait sessions too, especially photographing out of people's beautiful homes!

Jeff's Art Show in March presents Africa

A couple of years ago, when we were young and childless, Steph and I went to South Africa for a couple of weeks. We flew into Capetown and drove around the southern coast through the infamous yummy wine country toward the East coast and then up to Kruger National Park for a safari. It was one of the most incredible experiences we have ever had-up there with New Zealand, where we went for our honeymoon the year before. The nature throughout South Africa and, of course, into the wild was breathtaking! The safari was just like we had imagined...full of education, energy and beauty (with a touch of danger!)...just like National Geographic!
On our latest trip to Africa we were on a mission to bring home our soon-to-be-adopted-son, Zelalem. We decided to leave a week early to go on a safari on the Masai Mara in Kenya. For a more journalistic version of this trip, see the Inside Scoop while we were in Kenya and Ethiopia throughout our mission to bring home our son. The experience was again, incredible! Both countries blew us away with impressive displays of beauty, hospitality, and smiles! When we arrived home with our newest addition to the family all I could think of was what a wonderful place this child came from-so rich in culture, history and love. I found that I became teary-eyed whenever I tried to explain this amazing place to people. I really wanted them to see what I saw and to feel how I felt. I really wanted to share my experiences with those that may never get the opportunity to go and see for themselves.
I decided to have an Art Show. I spent endless hours going through all of the thousands of images taken throughout Africa and selected the ones that best described the many emotions and sites and textures that exist. I enlarged them to a scale that would offer more impact when viewed from various distances. I used the best quality photographic papers and processing to bring out the richness in color and dimension of the landscapes and the people. I am very excited to present "The Essence of Africa", the latest in my Lifestyle Photography. The exhibit will feature photographs from the Masai Mara in Kenya, images taken in South Africa and, of course, Ethiopia. The exhibit will be in the Gallery of the Oak Park Public Library from March 1 to March 30. The Oak Park Public Library in located at 834 Lake St. and is open to the public.
A reception will be held Sunday, March 16 from 3-5pm and a special audio/visual display will be presented at 4:15. I look forward to seeing you there!