Professional Services in Danville

The father-son duo behind Tinsley's Dry Cleaners presents a full menu of dry-cleaning and alterations services. A decade in the stain-solving business has lent their skills a professional touch, which they use to handle fabrics ranging from dress clothes and wedding gowns to Persian rugs and curtains. The drive-thru window at each of the two locations ensures a quick and easy drop-off without forcing clients to leave the car or install a washing machine in their back seat.

When it comes to taking pictures, nothing is routine for Mandi and Tyler Atkins. From baby shoots to nuptial blowouts, the camera-toting couple is constantly experimenting—which is appropriate, because it was through experimentation, not formal training, that the pair got their start.

After college, the not-yet photographers took a transcontinental journey to Amsterdam, Germany, Iceland, and the Dominican Republic. While exploring the new regions, Tyler fell in love with photography through a point-and-shoot lens. Mandi's desire to preserve memories also took hold after the birth of her son, so the couple grabbed their new Nikon D5000s and began to teach themselves the ins and outs of photography.

Driving around their small town and the surrounding countryside for hours, they learned to find beauty in even the most common sights, such as old tobacco houses and babies sleeping in flowers. Their adventurous spirits continue to come through in each of their photo shoots, where they play with different lighting techniques and encourage subjects to let loose with poses and props. They’re also receptive to clients' new ideas—one of their most memorable bridal shoots was of a police officer who accessorized her ivory gown with her badge and gun.

To ensure that subjects look like themselves in finished photos, Mandi and Tyler like to keep a light hand during post processing, just removing a pimple here or a nest of beard birds there. The couple often works together, especially during on-location sessions, which enables them to capture two angles at once.

In Kim Crenshaw Photography’s onsite garden, a swing hangs from a jasmine-wreathed arbor, frog-inhabited lily pads carpet a pond, and a 1946 Chevrolet Stylemaster waits for models to lean against its fenders. The garden abuts the old farmhouse that houses Crenshaw’s equally scenic studio, with a wall of antique stained-glass panels and a design that captures streams of sunlight throughout the day. Crenshaw devoted her first decade behind the camera to natural-light photography, and custom renovated her current studio-garden complex to ensure she could still practice her specialty.

Now a 25-year veteran of the photography scene, Crenshaw continues to draw on the fundamentals she learned when earning her BFA in graphic design and photography. This fine-arts background deters her from trendy shots of subjects spelling out the day's headlines in semaphore signals; instead, she strives to capture timeless beauty in her portraits of families, kids, and bridal parties. Subjects can discuss options and expectations with Crenshaw during free preshoot consultations, and select their favorite shots during postshoot slideshow viewings. The studio’s frame shop can border prints—or painted portraits modeled after prints—in a diverse array of frames.

Self-taught photographer Kelly Martin of Kelly Martin Photography uses black-and-white, full-color, or partially colorized images to capture the emotional core of the weddings, ceremonies, or corporate events she photographs. Online galleries outfit clients with downloadable images for printing or online use, and print images provide keepsakes for families and friends.

The Abundance Foundation was born from the collaboration of two co-ops—Chatham Marketplace and Piedmont Biofuels. They started the organization to carry out specific sustainability projects, all while teaching residents about local food, renewable energy, and community. The foundation's first project brought warm water to students in an elementary school through the use of solar power. Aiming to make all of its activities fun and engaging, it now conducts children's sustainability and energy tours that teach youth where their food and energy come from. Its do-it-yourself sustainability workshops teach adults about eco-projects, including how to make cheese, soap, and bread from scratch, and how to practice organic gardening or beekeeping.

As one of 194 affiliates in the nation's largest dropout-prevention network, Communities In Schools of Durham (CIS) works to reduce the dropout rate by using evidence-based programs and connecting students with resources to help them achieve success, such as local corporations, civic agencies, and human-services agencies.

CIS places full-time staff members in schools, where they implement programs and form individual relationships with students who have a greater risk for dropping out. As part of its programming, CIS sponsors tours to local colleges so students can learn more about potential opportunities, gain inspiration for earning a high-school diploma, and begin to identify their ideal career path.