Orchard Studios was conceived as an avenue to market the creative imagery of Geren and Donna Mortensen. Fine art photographs and note cards were our initial products. Since then, our services have expanded greatly, and now include wedding and event photography, environmental portraiture and musicians’ services in addition to our fine-art photography pursuits. We invite you to peruse our web site to explore all that Orchard Studios has to offer.

Geren W. Mortensen, Jr. — photographer

Geren’s interest in photography, sparked by his father, spans over thirty-five years. Some of his first images were made as a six-year-old child on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a Baby Rolleiflex borrowed from his father.

His professional career began while he was still in high school. After winning top honors in the Maryland Film Festival two years in a row, he took on assignments as a campaign photographer for a local politician, and did freelance work for The Rouse Company and the Columbia Flier, and Geren has photographed numerous weddings, portraits, musicians, special events, concerts and more.

For some time, Geren specialized in black-and-white photography, shooting only film. Over the past few years, however, he has switched to digital imaging for the vast majority of his photographs. Although the switch to digital has afforded Geren complete creative freedom in his work, he generally prefers not to make computer manipulations that he could not have created in a traditional photo lab.

Geren’s publishing credits include The Columbia Flier, Firehouse Magazine, and The Light Iron Digest. Additionally, his photographs of model trains appear in a coffee table book on the subject, released in late 2006, as well as in a three-part series in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine.

In 2003, Geren, along with several other area photographers, found the Central Maryland Photographers’ Guild, a not-for-profit organization dedecated to furthering the art and craft of photography, with a concentration on educating its members in the areas of photographic technique, use of equipment and in concepts of composition and aesthetics.

While Geren has photographed many different subjects and places throughout the years, Maryland’s Eastern Shore still rates highly among his favorites. Currently residing in Columbia, Maryland, he visits the Eastern Shore frequently, and always carries at least one camera.

Donna J. Mortensen — photographer

Having photographed favorite people and places on film for years, Donna recently entered the realm of digital photography. She believes that a camera – any camera – provides a buffer between oneself and the world, thus allowing one a way to approach virtually any subject, and becoming a means for simultaneous observation and interpretation, or simply for the sheer joy of capturing the moment.

Donna enjoys discovering elements of the ordinary by focusing on the details of commonplace objects and scenes both stateside and across the pond. Favorite subjects are buildings, flora, and just about anything that explodes with rich color. She is happiest when marrying architectural details with the rich colors she favors.

Equipment

Orchard Studios’ photographers use state-of-the-art digital SLR cameras almost exclusively, with high-quality optics. We feel this allows the most flexibility in the final image. From our digital images, we can produce lovely prints in most standard sizes, books or albums. Of course, we can also produce digital files suitable for printing in books or magazines, or for conversion for use in television or video production. Finally, it is possible to have high-quality chromes created from our digital files.

We rely heavily on sophisticated electronic flash systems to ensure proper lighting with a minimum of fuss. Our flash system allows us to control several individual flashes without the traditional rats-nest of cables required to synchronize multiple flash units.

For those assignments where only film will do, we can also accomodate your needs, with access to both 35mm and medium format film cameras.