History
It all started back in the 70's. Dennis had a love of photography and not only that, he had an eye for it. Dennis and Dottie opened up a part-time studio in their home. As the business grew, so did the family. Now with three small children, Angie, Heather and Corey, they needed to get it out of their home. Unfortunately, in the early 80's interest rates skyrocketed to 21%. It was a tough decision, but they felt it was just too much of a gamble to take with the young family. So they decided to close the studio.
After a few years of being bitter and not wanting to pick up a camera, Dennis slowly got his interest back in photography. Taking pictures of nature is Dennis's real passion. When digital came about, it opened up a whole new avenue for him to be creative.
Dennis was looking for something unique to put his nature pictures in. He was working at a stone quarry at the time and came up with the idea of making picture frames out of the thinner pieces of stone. It took him eight hours to cut an 8x10 hole for a picture. Realizing this would not be very productive, he contacted a local company that was able to cut the openings for him.
Now with the family all grown and out of the house, Dennis and Dottie started taking Dennis's Nature Pictures and their Natural Stone Picture Frames to art shows. Nobody had ever seen stone picture frames before. Everybody asked if they had a store. So the next step was to purchase a building and open a studio.
Dennis had his eye on a building in their home town for years. He felt the layout of the building would work perfect for what they needed. The building came up for sale in 2005 and in January of 2006 they purchased it. It needed a little fixing and cleaning up, so with the help of their son Corey they got right to work. The back room was going to be used for taking portraits. In April the room had received a nice fresh coat of paint and Dennis and Corey had just finished putting up the track system for the backdrops. That night a storm came through. Dennis and Dottie got a phone call in the middle of the night alerting them that their neighbor's 60 foot pine tree fell on their building. The damage to the back room/studio was to the point where it had to be rebuilt. It was very disappointing and hard to take at the time. It set them back a few months, but now that it's over and all redone it was a blessing in disguise. Before the incident the studio had a low ceiling, requiring all portraits to be taken sitting down. Since the back of the building had to be rebuilt, they decided to put in a cathedral ceiling. The reconstruction gave them plenty of room for taking portraits. This is what they had planned on doing in the future, it just came a little earlier!
In July 2006 they opened up the front gallery portion of the building. At the time, the studio in the back was still under construction. In September they had their Grand Opening & Open House.
Dennis and Dottie decided on the name Images-N-Stone because they felt it best describes their one-of-a-kind stone picture frames and Dennis's nature photography. The name Images-N-Stone can also be taken two ways; images or pictures in a stone frame, or images or nature photography and stone frames.
They also do photo restoration, bringing your old and faded pictures back to life.
Dennis is a member of International Freelance Photographers Organization(IFPO) and North American Nature Photographic Association(NANPA). In Sept. 2004, Dennis received his diploma from IFPO for Master Photographer Regnant(MPR). He's also had photographs published by IFPO. In January 2008, Dennis was inducted into the IFPO Freelance Photographers Hall of Fame, and awarded an Honorary Degree of Distinction for his endeavors and achievements. Only 3,319 members of the 78,656 member organization got this award. He is also a Field Contributor for "Nature Photographer" magazine.
- Dennis and Dottie Ninmer
- A view of our gallery of Natural Stone Picture Frames.
- The gallery is filled with images of Dennis' Wildlife, Nature and Abstract Photography.
- With all of the one of a kind Stone Frames, along with breathtaking imagery, visiting the gallery is worth the drive.
- Our checkout area includes information about the local area, upcoming events, and services. It is also a great place to start a discussion about craftsmanship, Photography, or anything else that comes to mind. When you visit, tell us you found us on the web and receive a 10% DISCOUNT.