Image load question

Hi I have created the following page http://kylehouston.com/new/choir_contact.html
I have added JQuery to smoothly fade in the screenshot on this page but on the first load the image gradually loads which misses out on the fade in effect. Is there a way I can load the image invisibly and then fade it in?

Thanks in advance for your advice

Kyle

You can set the opacity to 0 and once loaded you can animate it to 1.