Friendship

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and when Mother Nature gave Hattiesburg Mississippi a Hurricane, Leon Franklin turned it into something sweet.  That's just the way Leon Franklin works, not much anyone or anything could get this gentle man's pulse to raise one point.  I remember my first conversation with Leon back in 2006 like it was yesterday.  He called just before I left to eat lunch with my father, and said he had found us when searching the internet for " Photo Labs."  I must admit I did not think much would come from it, I mean how many other Labs are closer to Franklin’s Photography that could print school pictures for him in the 709 miles that separate us?  Why would he choose Mastercolor?  I am not sure how the stars lined up to pair this business relationship, but it was a match made in heaven.

I have always said that the best part about working at a small photography business is the chance to work closely with friends, and to create images of their families and from their memories.  It seems like just yesterday that my friend Karen Kelly came in to Mastercolor wanting us to create a stretched canvas for her of a really fantastic shot she had captured while visiting Maine on a family vacation.  At the time we were already printing on canvas, but to be honest, we really did not want to get into all the materials and space needed for creating Canvas Gallery Wraps.  Well Karen is one of those special types of people that can tell you what you should be doing without coming across as pushy. Long story short Karen knew our business better than we did, and now Canvas Gallery Wraps are some of our most requested items.

After Karen convinced me how easy they were to make, told me where I could go to buy the stretcher bars, and how popular these would become, Mastercolor produced our first Giclee Gallery wrap with her image of the "Good Ole Buoys". Karen’s Gallery Wrap has been hanging in our lobby ever since                     .

The advice given to me by a close friend has really helped shape the future of our business.  We even designed a separate website just to handle the volume of Giclees and Canvas Wraps we received, www.mastercolorcanvas.com.