A Real Treat for Milledgeville, GA and Kelly Prior Photography

One day not too long ago, I was having lunch with a couple of friends in my assistant Tara's tea room (Tara's Tea Thyme). As we were eating, I heard two ladies talking about a new magazine coming to town. A couple of days before, I had received a phone call from a lady named Patti asking me if I would be interested in working with the magazine. As luck would have it, the two ladies sitting at the table across from us were Patti and another woman that worked with the magazine, Dottie. I approached them and told them who I was, and we had the best conversation. They were so nice and so excited about the upcoming magazine. Patti and her husband, Jay, are the publishers of Milledgeville Living. At Tara's that day, they asked me if I would be interested in working with them to photograph the businesses that advertised in the magazine. I did not have to think twice and told them I would love to. I also mentioned that my husband was an English Instructor and a writer as well. Patti was excited to learn of this as well. So we got to start right away. A couple of other local photographers and I went out into the community and worked with the businesses that had purchased ads. It was great exposure and great getting to know more of the people that own local businesses.

Little did I know what an awesome opportunity working with the Martin's would become. After I had submitted some of my work, Patti called me and asked if I would submit some recent images I had taken to be possible candidates for the cover of the magazine. My work, along with the other local photographers' work, would be looked over, and they would decide which image they thought would work best. I submitted several images not knowing what the outcome would be. The publishers and editors were very secretive about which image would be used; they wanted it to be a surprise for the community as well as the photographer. So, as I waited for the magazine to be released, I only hoped I would see my work on the cover. Jay was kind enough to drop me off some copies the first day of the magazine's release. You can imagine the excitement I felt when I saw that my work had been selected for the cover of the first edition of Milledgeville Living Magazine.

The magazine has been getting rave reviews and is being displayed in businesses and stores throughout the area. The plan is to also have a copy sent to every Milledgeville resident. I cannot even begin to tell how many people have come up to me and commented on how awesome the magazine is. People that declined to advertise with them because they were unsure how it would turn out are kicking themselves for not jumping on the opportunity. I already have a long list of new businesses that are dying to advertise with Jay and Patti for the next issue.

I am so thankful to have been a part of this first issue and to have established such a great relationship with the whole team that worked so hard to publish the Milledgeville Living Magazine. I feel like I have known Patti forever; she is such a kind and thoughtful lady and one I am honored to know and work with. I am already excited about working with them on the upcoming issue.

Above are a couple of images from the Spring issue. As you can also see, my husband Michael had his writings published in the magazine as well. I hope all of you that have seen or bought a copy have enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed helping to create a wonderful piece of work for our community. It really shows Milledgeville at its finest.