A Visit From Malcolm Mitchell

December was a busy month, getting Christmas portraits ready, photographing children, families and seniors and still trying to find time to shop!  One of the highlights of the month, or maybe the year, was being asked to photograph Malcolm Mitchell’s visit to Holsenbeck Elementary.  You might have been wondering why we photographed all of the children on the field in the shape of a “G”, now you know.  We had to keep it a secret till now.

If you don’t know Malcolm Mitchell, wide receiver for the University of Georgia, wrote a children’s book The Magician’s Hat last year and has made a huge impression on a lot of children and adults all over.  Holsenbeck wanted to get him to visit the school and made a video to try to get him to come. Parts of the video can be found here.  After seeing the video Malcolm couldn’t say no and he was so excited to pay the school a visit.  When Holsenbeck got the news that he would be coming they decided to set up a Go Fund Me page so that each child could get Malcom Mitchell’s book. The GoFundMe page is here.  For many of the children this is the only book they have of thier very own.  Enough money was raised to get every family a book.

When I arrived that afternoon there was so much excitement in the air at the school.  I went to the gym where he would be coming to read to the children and watching the faces of the kids as they came into the gym proudly holding there books was truly magical.  When the gym was completely full and the introduction was made, Malcolm walked in and the place erupted.  He spoke to the kids for a few minutes and then let a magician do a little magic show for the kids, which was pretty awesome.  After doing some balloon and card tricks he moved up to cutting someone from the audience in half and then making her levitate!  After his show Malcolm returned to the stage to talk to the children about books and reading and then had them all pull out there books and turn to page one and he read to them.  You could have heard a pin drop as he read, you could hear the pages turn all across the gym as he read to them.  A video with some of the highlights can be seen here, I think you will get a feel of what it was like if you watch it.

After the program was over he walked around the school to pay some special visits to the people that were in the video, take some photos with fans and to sign a few autographs.  To say this was a memorable experience would be an understatement.  Malcolm Mitchell was one of the most genuine and sincere people I have ever met.  With all of the bad things you hear about in the world these days this was such an uplifting experience that these kids, and this photographer, will never forget.

 

Bentley Photography

Winder, Georgia