There are several things we can do when challenged with the unexpected. We can turn out the lights, pull up the covers, and ask someone to wake us up when it’s over. Or, we can accept the challenge and create new ways of doing things.

None of us asked for this nasty virus sweeping our nation and the world. And, as with any disaster, COVID19 didn’t check with us first, to see if the timing was convenient. Newsflash….it’s NOT. First and foremost, I send wishes of good health out to each and every one of you and your loved ones. Secondly, who could have ever imagined the biggest of wrenches, the sourest of lemons, the fastest of curveballs being thrown at you mid-way through senior year?

It’s not fair. It stinks. But you know what they say about lemons… So here’s my answer to some sweet, refreshing lemonade. Senior Signs.

We will take the image from your senior portrait session that was selected for your yearbook. We use this to create a heavy-duty vinyl banner or lawn sign for you to display on your door or lawn for friends and family to be able to see and celebrate from a safe distance. 

Here’s the best part:

 For each sign purchased, we will donate a handmade mask to Yale New Haven Hospital.

 By celebrating your senior year, you are helping our frontline medical personnel! 

When Covid 19 hit our community I think we all wanted to do something to help. Ann Farrell, Chris Grochowski and their daughters Michaela, Erin and Mae decided that they could use their sewing skills to make masks for their friends and family. Ann and Chris are local attorneys who specialize in elder law. They realize how vulnerable the elderly are to this disease and when the CDC recommended wearing masks they knew they wouldn’t be easy to find.

Ann’s daughter Michaela is finishing up her master’s degree in elementary education at Fairfield and was doing her student teaching in Meriden when the schools closed due to Covid 19. Disappointed not to be with her students, Michaela looked for other ways to give back to the community. Mae and Erin were uprooted from their classes and at home, studying online. Missing their friends and also looking for something positive to do, they were happy to get involved.

To date collectively, Ann, Chris and their daughters have made masks for over 500 people and shipped them all over the country. When Chris saw on social media that local photographer, Cindy Parker Cassella of Impressions Studio, was looking to see who was making masks, she reached out to Cindy and offered her a mask. But Cindy wasn’t looking for a mask for herself.  She explained her wonderful idea to help medical staff at Yale New Haven and Gaylord Hospitals. She now has available lawn signs to support essential workers. 

For each purchase of a sign, a mask will be donated to Yale New Haven and Gaylord Hospitals. When Chris shared this with Ann, Michaela, Erin and Mae they definitely wanted to help out. Chris’ husband Kurt had a stroke last year and spent a month at Gaylord for rehab and thankfully made a remarkable recovery. Gaylord holds a special place in the families’ heart. They also have friends who work at Yale. In addition, Tom Fedora is the previous owner of Impressions Studio and a dear friend of Cindy Parker Cassella. Cindy actually purchased the studio from Tom when he followed his calling to go back to school and become a nurse. When Cindy called Tom, who now works at Yale, to say she wanted to help out, he told her they were in dire need of masks. For Wallingford resident Tom, who himself took hundreds of family and senior portraits over the years, and would do anything for anyone, he was thrilled to learn of the idea taking shape. The Farrell and Grochowski families are now donating the masks, and Impressions Studio, will use proceeds from the sale of the lawn signs to purchase PPE for Yale and Gaylord Hospitals.

To help out your local community, head to Impressions Studio’s website today to order your lawn sign supporting essential workers. Signs must be picked up at Impressions Studio or Law offices of Farrell & Grochowski. Contactless delivery arrangements will be made.

Another Summer Sale at Impressions Studio

As we explained in our last post, it's already been a very busy summer! To start off we did a drawing for a $500 portrait credit and our winner Julia came in last week. She brought in two beautiful outfits that really showed her personality and the images we made with her were timeless and it was hard for her to choose her favorites. The good news is we have another opportunity for someone else to win a portrait credit, this time one for $200! The details are listed below!

SENIOR PORTRAIT SALE

DONT FORGET sessions are 30% off in July | 20% off in August

Call by July 20TH and be entered to win a $200 PORTRAIT CREDIT

*the winner will be selected on Facebook Live on July 21st at noon* 

We also wanted to share these images from Elya's session, a 2017 NHHS grad! Last summer she brought her pup along and he was a picture purrfect model and we also did a sibling add-on! These are two simple additions to a session that can really add to your variety of choices in the end. As you head off to college and life changes for your family, it's harder to get images like this, so it's important to do it while you can!

Where has the time gone? Somehow it's halfway through June, we're in the middle of Senior Season and never bored!

For the first time, we started this Senior Season by selling out of sessions for the month of June before photographing our first senior of the year! We ran a special where anyone who called and booked their senior session before May 31st would be entered to win a $500 portrait credit! We also were offering 50% off session fees in the month of June (we are still offering 30% off in July and 20% off in August) and a lot of people wanted to get their portraits taken care of before their summer schedules got too chaotic. The phones were ringing nonstop and before we knew it we were booking appointments in July!

On May 31st we went live on Facebook to announce our contest winner, Julia, a North Haven High senior! We will be posting some BTS from her session on Snapchat (ImpresstionsSt)/Instagram (@impressionsstudio) stories so make sure you're following us!

We are still accepting appointment bookings through the summer! Keep in mind that most schools, including SHA and NHHS, have yearbook deadlines of August 31st so make sure you get your appointment in ASAP!

The beginning of the summer was spent at Sacred Heart Academy covering a variety of events and milestones for the class of 2017. Often with some of our schools, we only see students for picture day and a few other days throughout the year. It really was a pleasure watching SHA accomplish so much over these last 10 months. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors and hope to see them at events in the coming years!

Before the summer really picked up momentum, we updated the layout of our website and have heard some great feedback! We wanted a cleaner and more user-friendly look to help all of our clients find what they are looking for. Throughout the school year, we posted candid event and sports images from North Haven High School and Sacred Heart and now people interested in purchasing those photos can now access them much easier. Also, we photograph more than high school seniors, which many people don't realize. Professional headshots, families, newborns and furry friends is a large part of what we document here at Impressions and we love it! We are so happy to have our entire body of work in one place for all to see now. Click the image below to view the new layout yourself!

The summer is just beginning and lots of fun lies ahead! We can't wait to photograph your session, Class of 2018! See you soon!

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's already 2017. Time has been flying here at Impressions Studio with our jam-packed (and awesome) schedule.

With our busy season running from May-November it's always fun to look at the year as a whole from January to December. It's astonishing how much can change and happen over that course of time!

Last winter was sort of quiet in the camera room - as it often is during the cold New England months - but behind the scenes, a lot was going on. By the summer we had gained the Sacred Heart Academy contract as well as a shared contract with North Haven High School. From the months of June-November, we photographed over 300 seniors between our new contracts and other local schools. We also photographed countless sporting games and school run events and always love seeing students friendly faces. We are looking forward to the many other events that will be taking place in the coming months and meeting the class of 2018 this Spring and Summer!

We photographed quite a few families this year as well. In November we held a weekend event for Holiday Mini Sessions and a separate event called "Home for the Holidays" geared toward families with children in high school and college. Most of the clients we photographed for these were returning customers and it's always so great to see the kids "all grown up". We didn't realize just how many families we had photographed until we sat down to make a Holiday thank you post and could only include a small portion of images! 

Our calendar is already filling up for the year ahead with school events and studio promotions and we can't wait to share them with you! If you're in need of an updated LinkedIn portrait, keepsake photos of the family pet or captured memories or milestones - keep your eyes peeled! We will have a little something for everyone in the months to come!