November is National Diabetes Month which helps bring awareness to diabetes and the searches for better treatments and cures.  Diabetes is such a universal cause because there are few people who do not know someone with diabetes.  Shaun Larson and Image One would like to extend a special offer to clients for the month of November that is a win-win for everyone. 

• Choice A, B, C wedding contracts signed in the month of November will receive 10% off list price PLUS another 10% will be donated to diabetes research. 

• Portrait sessions booked in the month of November will receive 25% off list price PLUS another 25% will be donated to diabetes research.

What a great opportunity for everyone wanting to book us for their wedding or schedule a portrait session - including sessions for the up-coming holidays.  Not only do you receive a discounted rate on our services, but a portion of the contracted fee will be donated to a cause that will help serve so many people.

Oh, by the way, do you know what diabetes actually is?  Most people think diabetes is just something having to do with candy, Cokes, or their favorite sweet dessert.  Well, here’s the scoop.  When you eat food - especially carbohydrates - your body makes a substance called glucose (blood sugar) which flows within your blood.  Glucose is fuel for your body.  In order to fuel your body, the glucose needs to move out of your blood and into your body’s cells…. but it cannot do that alone because it cannot penetrate your cells.  It’s like you trying to enter your locked house without your key.  That’s where insulin comes into play.  Insulin is produced by islet cells in your pancreas.  Once insulin hooks to the glucose, it acts like a key and the glucose can now enter your body’s cells and fuel your body.  OK, that’s normally how it works.  Now here’s what happens for someone with diabetes.  There are two types (I & II) of dibetes:

• Type I - In this type (usually found very early in life), a person’s body does not make insulin.  Why not?  Their own immune system is mistakenly killing the islet cells in their pancreas and therefore they are not producing insulin.  Without insulin, the glucose does not fuel their body but rather builds up in their blood stream.  Insulin is a requirement, so Type I people must take insulin through shots or by use of a pump.  You may have even seen someone’s pump and simply thought it was a pager or cell phone on their belt.

• Type II - Most common - about 90% of people with diabetes.  In this case, the pancreas still makes insulin, but for some reason the body is not using it properly or efficiently.  There are a wide variety of individual treatments for type II including altering a diet to reduce how much glucose is made (therefore reducing the amount of insuline needed) as well as medications to help the body use its insulin.

There is no cure for either type, but there are always advancements for treatments and possible cures.  One such advancement for type I is the great work of Denise Faustman at http://www.faustmanlab.org/  and you can always read more about diabetes at http://www.diabetes.org/ .  November is a great time for planning weddings for next year and for portrait sessions for the holidays.  We hope that clients will take advantage of this offer and help support National Diabetes Month.

-shaun

We were fortunate to have some family come in this weekend for a visit, and around here… that means a camera is not far behind.  Just within a 30-hour visit, there were plenty of activities during what was an awesome weekend in Tennessee.

 -shaun larson

Below: Among all the on-the-fly candid images from the weekend, we actually did squeeze in a few spontaneous portaits of this pair.  Sometimes these moments just “appear” and you’ve got to be ready.

Below:  This may be appear to be just a regular photo on the surface, but the story behind it is that during our Christmas holiday of 2005, Rebekah’s (my wife) mom unexpectedly passed away on Christmas Eve just before she was to see all the family returning for the holidays.  Needless to say, that was a very tough holiday season with a long road of memories since.  The photo below is Rebekah and her brother sorting a few special items that her mom left behind.  On-looking of the activity is Rebekah’s brother’s daughter who only got to know her grandmother for a few years.  I think this up-coming holiday season will also be a difficult one.

Below:  On to happier times, it was time to celebrate our nephew’s third birthday and it was tough holding back the crowd from the iced cup-cakes.

Below:  Oh, and if anyone wants to know where 1/2 of Franklin was on Saturday…. they were at the pumpkin patch!  That place was crazy busy, but of course we were contributing to that.  Whether we were adding to the busy or the crazy depends on who you ask!   Of course a quick shot of our visitors was in order.

As some of you know, our new Franklin location is something that has been planned and designed for years and the result is exactly as we had hoped.  One of the awesome things we love about it is the peaceful atmosphere that is all around us and that includes frequent wildlife visitors of all sorts.  Things that walk, run, crawl, and fly are regular sights.  One that we see very often is a family of deer.  Earlier this year, a fawn was found in our neighbors field and we have been fortunate to watch it grow.  Mom and one other deer were already regular visitors, but now there are three.  This morning, we awoke to see mom warming herself in the sun.  She stood in the same spot in the sun just looking around for quite some time - possibly warming up from the night and checking the scene before the fawn emerged.  As they moved about, it was kind of funny watching mom walk ahead while the fawn stopped to eat and then played catch-up with it’s youthful gallop… almost something you would see in a cartoon or Disney movie.  It also looks like the mom is getting ready for cooler temperatures and may be putting on a winter coat.  What a great scenery to begin the day.

-shaun larson