Photographer Eyes DeSoto's People

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - The lens of photographer Lauren Gross's camera is trained on a 4-year-old boy.

To put the child at ease, Gross playfully lets him touch the camera, which is Gross's window to the world.

The Southaven native, also known as Chelle to friends and family, learned how to make people feel comfortable in front of the camera from her mentor, the late James Stroud.

"He took pictures of me since the time I was 8 or 9 years old," Gross, 35, said. "He taught me to create an immediate bond with the child. I was also a teacher before, so I know how to put kids at ease."

Gross said Stroud taught her to view photography as art. Gross, who has a fine arts degree from Delta State University, often traveled with Stroud and his family.

After college, Gross went into education rather than photography.

She taught gifted art at Coldwater, moved to Houston, then came back to teach art at Shadow Oaks Elementary in Horn Lake. The idea of owning her own photography business never really entered her mind. Yet she began to photograph her own children more often, and other children in the neighborhood.

Photographing children has come naturally to Gross, who has four children of her own, ranging in ages from 11 to 4 years old.

"I just started doing ball teams and photos for friends," Gross said from her Southaven studio. "I called Mr. Stroud to ask his advice. I told him I was about to jump into photography with two feet."

Gross was shocked when Stroud asked her if she wanted to buy his photography business.

"He pursued it, and I really wasn't ready for it to go that fast. I hanged around with him for a while, and then I decided that the Lord had opened a door."

Gross said initially, Stroud was even more confident in her abilities than she was.

"He was very adamant and wanted the business to go to someone who loved it 100 percent," Gross said. "What was amazing is that I bought the company in May. He agreed to stay on for a year."

Then tragedy struck, Gross said.

"Mr. Stroud kept having headaches and went straight to the emergency room," she said.

As it turned out, Stroud, a beloved photographer in Southaven for nearly 30 years, had brain cancer.

Stroud died shortly thereafter, leaving his young apprentice to manage the photography business all on her own.

Gross said she took a deep breath and with a little prayer and patience, the photography business has blossomed.

"To me, photography is a work of art," Gross said. "There is so much art in photography now. It requires that artistic eye. You are able to see the picture before it appears."

Gross said the old studio had much more room than her present studio.

The smaller studio affords an intimate, cozy setting, according to Gross.

"We went from 3,600 square-feet to 1,000 square-feet," Gross said.

Gross has taken photographs of young and old, debutantes, ballplayers, musicians and exotic backdrops including the night life of Beale Street. Gross is among a group of photographers who belong to "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep," an organization which provides parents of recently deceased infants loving, poignant portraits of their children.

"I'm on call for that," Gross said. "I'm not sure how I'll feel when that time comes."

Gross said her business and chosen profession would not have been so successful without her husband of 13 years, Stephen Gross.

Stephen was her childhood sweetheart.

Her mother, Susie May, who also takes photographs, has been a great source of encouragement, Gross said, along with her father, Tommy.

Gross said she wants to give back to the community, and plans to donate a $2,000 senior portrait package to a deserving senior that otherwise might not be able to afford it.

"It could be the son or daughter of a dad who just lost his job," Gross said. "I just know there is a kid out there I would like to help."