Mark Mabry Photography

Mystery caller revealed.

On Tuesday, a strange woman called to schedule a Summer Session at 10:00 AM on Thurs. Heather, my retoucher, made the appointment. Turns out it was Tara, my wife. I can see her now, long tan trenchcoat, huddled in a phonebooth in downtown Phoenix hiding behind a newspaper, both hands on the receiver which she had covered in a handkercheif to muffle her voice. Did I mention dark glasses and a fedora? I guess that's what it takes to get me to shoot my own kids! It's like the prosthetics doctor's kid walking around without a leg, or the pilots kid taking a train, or the McDonald's franchise owners kid having a healthy heart.
She likes to complain that I charge her too much, but with the Summer Special, Bowan and Ava were finally able to be photographed. Fun shoot. There's nothing quite like trying to shoot with someone right over shoulder telling me what to do... A guys never a prophet in his own land.
Seriously, Ava Liv Mabry is the cutest child in the world. Bo is right up there too. Marky opted out of the shoot, to go instead to earn money for the new bike he just put on layaway at Paragon Cycling in Mesa. Marky just has 67.50 to go (or about 6.5 more payments) until it is all his. Thanks Ray for helping us teach him about terms.
Here are my kids. Please exuse a proud dad's exuberance.

Mark vs. Venus... 8 minute wonder with Dr. John Gray

A little while ago Dr. John Gray, bestselling author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. He was on a speaking tour and needed to get this done. We didn't receive a whole lot of direction from his folks, so it was up to us to dream something up. I had a eureka in the shower. The Kitchen! That's the gist of his work; it's kitcheny, understandable and warm. So we hijacked my neighbor’s newly remodeled kitchen and set up in the morning. They were running a little behind schedule. We had 10 minutes to get the shot. He came in; we banged out 46 frames in 8 minutes. He was out in 9. He is coming out with a new book soon... from what I understand it will deal with contemporary issues between husbands and wives in a world of shifting rolls. Thanks to Sherrie from Vertical Awareness, that's his internet radio show. If you’re as dysfunctional as the rest of us... give him a listen! Thanks Dr. Gray.

My First Entry that I never posted.

So here is my first official. "Making the shot" blog entry. It was a gig for a a Bridgetone Productions artist's marketing packet. Click that link to hear her stuff. Maria. Funny story, the first time she came in, a day before the shoot, she had her kids with her. They were going nuts, in spite of the Elmo we had jamming for them on the 110" Hi Def screen. Needless to say the vibe was squelched and we didn't even manage to get off one usable frame. We were going for hip, but it just didn't work with ice-creamless cone being fired at us. Her kids are beautiful. Really they are. We rescheduled for the next day and had a killer shoot. She was a little tight, so we cranked up the Christina Aguillara and I had her sing to me. She started a little timidly, but by the second song, she was warmed up, and to put it bluntly, she did amazing. Her voice is killer. Here is what we got. Generally we shoot a few hundred shots and narrow them down.