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The Newest Gift Shop in Nac

House of Photography {Gifts + Photos + Classes}
House of Photography {Gifts + Photos + Classes}

A Year of Change
We get a lot of questions these days about the changes we’ve made at the studio. One is, “Why would you want to change the name of your business from G Patterson Photography Studio to House of Photography?” and “What is this I hear about you selling gifts?” or “You can teach me photography?”

This year certainly has been a year of change with our small town business. For the past 25 years, we have been photographers. Pretty simple! Photography has changed dramatically the past 10 years. The idea of who and what a photographer has changed as well. But to answer the questions in very broad terms, the reason for this change is that we see Nacogdoches undergoing many positive changes and we wanted to be part of that effort, making this town we call home the best it can be.  Utilizing our talents as photographers, experience in graphic design plus the love and ability to create unique products has allowed us to “think outside the box!”

25 Years of Professional Photography
There’s many things we do right at House of Photography like capturing professional photographs, providing beautiful surroundings and backdrops for those photos, great customer service, and the ability to finish the art with professionally printed portraits worthy to hang on your wall. This is our passion and will continue to be our focus! We LOVE creating photos that make you love the way you look.

Learning Photography from a Pro
We’ve even put our expert knowledge of photography to work by teaching people of all ages the basics of photography in both our kids photography camps and adult photography classes. Just this year we have taught almost 100 people through our photography classes. Adult classes run throughout the year with new classes pretty much every month. If you want to know how to use your camera or how to see like a photographer, these classes were designed to get you started. They are FUN, FUN, FUN! You can see our current class offerings by visiting https://houseofphotography.as.me/learnphotography.

We ❤️  Nacogdoches and SFA! Introducing the Newest Gift Store in Nacogdoches
With our love for this town we proudly call home along with our favorite university-SFA, we embarked on a venture, an idea really to help promote what makes this place so unique. We want to highlight the history of Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas! We also want to shine a light on some of our local talent, artists, and makers. All of this wrapped up together led us to rename, rebrand, and build something totally unique.

With twenty-five years of experience in photography, you wouldn’t be surprised to find an overarching theme to just that.  Some of the photography related gifts include camera stickers, camera patches, camera straps, camera bags, etc. We have scenic Nacogdoches photographs for purchase by local photographer Wendy Floyd; also, some great photography including Big Bend and our local Goodman Bridge prior to being moved to Pecan Park.

House of Photography {Gifts + Photos + Classes}
House of Photography {Gifts + Photos + Classes} Greg & Cindy Patterson with Haley Compton

Nacogdoches Gifts, SFA Gifts, Gifts for Men, Photography Gifts, etc…
Because our town boasts such diverse talent, we also have bath products, wood carvings, coffee mugs, drink coasters and jewelry made right here, all of which make great gifts! You’ll find whimsical products like camera purses, camera bubble blowers, t-shirts, hats and unique and award winning greeting cards, Nacogdoches post cards, SFA post cards, as well as other products devoted to SFA. All these together with a handful of supplies for the amateur photographer combine to create a collection of unique and fun gifts. 

When you leave House of Photography, we hope you’ll tell others of the unique experience you had here; but, also, a sense of deja vu as we’ve chosen black and white prints from the past 100 years to decorate our walls and help bring a little recognition and prestige to SFA and the beautiful town it which it calls home.

The quaintness and attention to personal detail you receive in shops like the ones in downtown Nacogdoches is a real appeal. So, we hope you’ll drop in and experience all the changes we’ve made. You can even leave with a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee while the weather’s cold.

New Hours
One last note, from now until Christmas, we will be open Monday 11 am to 4 pm, Tuesday-Friday 10 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday 11 am to 4 pm.

 

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Babies Blog Children Family Graduating Seniors Pets Portrait Sessions Rambling Self-exploration Weddings

Bah, humbug!

It’s not that I don’t like the Christmas season, I’d rather focus on the Christmas reason, you know, the why we do all of this. I’ve had the Christmases that were perfect, with everyone unwrapping all that they asked for, the cooked-to-perfection meal for twenty, and the decorations that could make the spread in “Home and Gardens.” All of that takes lots of shopping and planning for what to buy, and it’s so stressful! And to be honest, I’m just not a big shopper. I know I stand in stark contrast to the many people who live for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I don’t pore through on-line ads or those in the newspaper. My nickname could be “make do”, because I’m fine with last year’s styles (and in some cases, last decade’s styles), and I love repurposing things. My husband would tell you it takes me longer scraping the last of the contents from this bottle or that than it would to go out and buy a new one.

I’m probably an offense to every red-blooded Amansfield_2893merican girl who shops for the sake of shopping.  Forget window shopping; I’m more like a guy when I shop. As soon as I see what I need, I bag and tag it and move to the next store! I abhor clutter, whether it’s in my home, car or even on my computer. I’ve never collected knickknacks, though I think they’re really pretty in other people’s homes.

One thing I don’t mind having a lot of or spending time shopping for are pictures. Pictures on the wall, in albums, on blankets and pillows, and even on my coffee mugs! Pictures for myself and those I buy for others. I like pictures of all kinds, my kids in school, my family on vacation or enjoying the holidays or ones depicting our everyday lives. Pictures that show us happy, sad or melancholy. They help me remember what we were doing this time last year, five years ago, twenty years ago, or in the case of my parents’ pictures, a lifetime ago. When I look at pictures of me and my loved ones, it helps me to remember who I am and what’s important to me. They preserve our memories and remind us how grateful we are for one another.

I’ll make no excuses for not having the most brightly lit house on the street this year, because I’ll be reminiscing over pictures from Christmases past and remembering what’s really important to me. That brings me back to the real reason why we put so much focus on this day of the year. The day Jesus entered this world, nothing would be the same. It set into motion a plan that from the beginning made a way for us to be saved. Christ alone is the one who saves; this is nothing we can do for ourselves. John 3:16 says, “For God so loves the world, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting lmansfield_2893ife.”

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Blog Family Portrait Sessions Weddings

A Glorious Wedding

Nacogdoches wedding photographer Greg Patterson at Union Springs venue in Garrison.
Your wedding is much like standing on a precipice.

 

One of the biggest privileges we have at our studio is photographing weddings. Over the last thirty years, we’ve photographed countless of them and each one different from the others. Some weddings stick out more than others, for instance when we photograph the wedding of people close to us. A couple of months ago, we did just that. Haley has been working at the studio for two years; in fact, you might have read her wonderfully-worded blog about her engagement. Two years in a small business among just a few employees can seem like a long time of relationship-building, because you share each other’s ups and downs and, in this case, life-changing events. We consider those close relationships a perk to running a small business.

Getting Married…

Getting married for most people must seem as if you’re standing on a precipice, at least if it’s your first. Culling through Haley and Kyle’s wedding pictures and seeing the looks of unabashed joy on their faces is enough to bring tears to my eyes. The more you admit to knowing very little about being married, I think the better. Thinking back to my own wedding thirty years ago, Greg and I, both of us twenty, didn’t know much about life except that we loved each other. Had we known more about the hardships that would come or the dreams we’d give up for one another, we might have called the whole thing off! Knowing so little, for us, proved to be a real asset. We learned as we went along, together! At times, the more experienced of the two of us patiently led the other through a trial. Other times, we both went blind with only each other to cling. There’s been more good times than bad. And, looking back, we consider each one a blessing if only for the fact we came away better for it. This wide-eyed optimism has gotten us through thirty wonderful years together. We pray the same for these two.

Thanks, Kyle and Haley, for letting us come along on the beginning of a great adventure!

Nacogdoches wedding photographer Greg Patterson at Union Springs venue in Garrison.
Two very blessed people.
Nacogdoches wedding photographer Greg Patterson at Union Springs venue in Garrison.
The moment after you hear “May I now pronounce you man and wife.”
Categories
Blog Children Events Family Portrait Sessions Rambling Travel Weddings

One great afternoon in Nacogdoches

HALPIN FAMILY-This weekend we met with two families we hadn’t seen for a few years. They’d each been a part of Nacogdoches for different reasons. The Halpins came, as many do, to SFA to further their studies. In fact, both Michael and April were students of Greg’s in the Communications Dept. They asked Greg to photograph their wedding here in Nacogdoches fifteen years ago.Halpin_191 PT

Halpin_131 PT

Conditt Family-A portrait session in the Ruby Mize Azalea Garden brought Becky’s family together this weekend. Though Becky and her daughter have  lived away from Nacogdoches for awhile, Clint calls it home, for now. We reminisced about how Sabina, during her portrait session when just 4 years old, was happier to pull the flowers than pose for the camera. When Greg finally got her attention, she looked up angelically still with fists full of flowers.

Later, as I reflect on all of this, I’m happy to have shared some important moments with them, and for the opportunity to reconnect. I think about other people and families who we’ve built relationships along the way, and how this small town brings us together at different times and for all kinds of reasons. It seems that we’ve changed so much more than has the town.  Sure, many businesses and restaurants have come and gone, and many of the people who were once here have moved on. But, much of it is still the same, and that’s comforting especially to those who’ve been away for awhile.

Many, many years ago, a college town became our home away from home when we came from Dallas to attend SFA. Although we didn’t intend it, Nacogdoches became home when we started our family. Now, as our kids are turning into adults and moving away, I can’t imagine living elsewhere. Sure, we talk about all the fun and exciting locations where we might move upon retirement, but this will always be the spot to which we come back. After all, what better place to spend an afternoon with friends and family.

Conditt_145 PT003200003254_033 (4.7.03)

Conditt_68 (4.19.04)

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Blog Family Portrait Sessions Rambling Weddings

Photographer Needed

When people find out that our oldest, Jessica, is getting married, invariably one of the questions they ask is, “Who’s going to be the photographer?” Her father will be walking her down the aisle, after all. But, before we ever get to that point, Greg’s been able to do for her what he’s done for so many other brides over the past twenty five years. Because, what many brides want nowadays is the whole experience caught on camera, not just the wedding.

Jessica is fortunate to have a wonderful fiancee who recognizes the importance of capturing life’s moments on camera, big and little. So, they have pictures of the moment he proposed atop a mountain in Utah. Since then, we’ve taken many more of their story together. Some for the “Save the Date” cards, some more of their engagement, and a few in between. There will undoubtedly be many taken on the actual wedding day. Most of these Greg will take, but we’re not sure who’ll be taking pictures during the actual ceremony. The album we layout for a newly married couple is very appropriately called a “Storybook.” Here’s a small montage of Jessica and Grant’s story so far. patterson_9822_nocrop 700_9740 700_8927a photo1 photo5photo1

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Blog Weddings

How will you tell your love story?

Wedding storybook album spread of bride and groom by G. Patterson Studio.
Wedding storybook album spread of bride and groom by G. Patterson Studio.

Summertime is wedding season!  We’ve had so many walk-ins and phone calls from brides and mother’s of the bride during the past few months, it seems like everyone is in love and getting married.

There are love stories to unfold… and then be told… and retold.

The photographer’s story is not so much a love story as… well… a story of anxiety, excitement, fatigue, joy, nostalgia, hope, and stress.  As a photographer, a wedding brings with it a mixture of emotions for sure.  We’re genuinely thrilled for the happy couple, but we simultaneously realize the gravity of the situation.  When photographing a wedding, emotions and stress levels are already red-lining.  Add to that the daunting task of getting the shot right the first time…. because the first time is often the only chance you will have.  The day of the wedding, we put our game faces on, and pray that a thousand different people running around doing a thousand different things miraculously comes together at just the right moment in just the right way… and we are there to capture it all.

But enough about the photographer.  It’s the bride and groom’s love story that is the one worth telling.

A few weeks ago, Greg Patterson and his wife Cindy photographed my baby brother’s wedding.  The day included the usual happy tears, nervous hand wringing, goofy characters, loving reunions, and friendly fair wells.  The bride was beautiful and my brother was beaming with joy.  Rings and vows were exchanged without incident.  It was a beautiful day.  And then, somehow, the day that took months to plan was over in the blink of an eye.

“I thought you were going to tell me a love story,” you say.  Well, this love story will be told the same way we tell all our other love stories…  Photographs delicately arranged in a stunning “Storybook Album” that tells of nervous anticipation, hopeful expectations, overflowing hearts, divine union, thoughtful commitment and the details that connect one moment with the next.  The compilation of my brother’s wedding love story is not yet complete, but is well on its way.  I’ve included a glimpse of some of his story’s pages.

Wedding storybook album spread of bride and groom exchanging notes before seeing each other.
Wedding storybook album spread of bride and groom exchanging notes before seeing each other.
Wedding storybook album spread of groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle.
Wedding storybook album spread of groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle.

To take a look at some of the other love stories we have had the honor of telling, visit http://gregpatterson.com/weddings.html.

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Babies Blog Children Family Graduating Seniors Pets Rambling Weddings

Making the Memories Count

montage of children, families, seniors, and weddings photos
montage of children, families, seniors, and weddings photos

As we continue to reflect upon and celebrate all that has happened in the past 10 years, we take a look at the numbers of unique moments we’ve captured.

Over 1000 Just4Fun Kid’s sessions with all the goofy grins, silly smiles and unexpected moments one can imagine…
Hundreds of furry friends and their owners, those that behaved and those that made attempts to chase the neighborhood cat…
Over 800 nervous, yet excited graduating seniors, each with their own brand of style and personality…
Nearly 1500 fun-filled, action packed family sessions with crazy kiddos running around being chased by each other while the parents stand back and laugh at the mayhem…
Several dozen voice quivering “I do” moments, decorated Just Married getaway vehicles, and teary dads that are reluctant to give away their baby girls…
You, our clients, have invited us to be a part of creating tens of thousands of special moments.  It continues to be a blessing and honor.

-G. Patterson Studio