Posts Tagged ‘Photography’
Divided by Friday
Back in May I got a message from Jason (the awesome/lucky dude who recently married Britt) asking if I was able to photograph a band he manages. Thing is, they needed the pictures by the weekend in order to get them to their web designer. This happened to be during one of the busiest weeks of the year for me, and I honestly didn’t have time, but 1) Jason is a great guy, 2) I have a special place in my heart for bands generally, and especially those made up of high-schoolers, and 3) they play music with Christian themes that is actually really good.
They’re called Divided by Friday and they’re based in North Carolina, but this summer they’ll be playing in Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana as well as at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. Shooting them was pretty cool because my first real ‘photo shoot’ was for Luke Marr’s Unemployed Potential, the band of one of my former students. It was exciting to once again come up against the problem of how to shoot ‘a bunch of dudes’ and not fall into one of a half-dozen cliches employed over and over in band press photos but this time to have a lot more tools in my mental arsenal.
In any case, we squeezed the shoot in between school and another event that I had that evening so the band’s big photoshoot was with a guy wearing khakis and a tie. I’m sure that’s the way they pictured it–very rawk. In any case, they’re good guys and they play good music so check them out if they come to your town.
I absolutely love the lens flare in this image.
One of the questions I hear pretty frequently when taking group shots of guys is, “Are we smiling?”
Yup.
You’ve done it! You’ve made it half way through TEN (business) DAYS OF BLOGGING or, if you haven’t read the other four posts, just scroll down or click on the banner up top…and then scroll down…or click on the tag below that says “TEN (business) DAYS OF BLOGGING”. I’m all about options. Come back next week; there are two more weddings, two more moms-to-be, and a girl swimming in a pink ball gown.
I promise I am not making this up.
Melissa: Bridal
Welcome to the newly redesigned blog! Now with 46% more picture-y goodness! (Seriously, I did the math.) If you haven’t dropped by our homepage lately, that’s also gotten a facelift, so you might want to check it out.
It’s pretty exciting to have two brides to share with you in two weeks. Melissa also got married last Saturday, but since Wendy and I were in Greenwood photographing Leah and Greg’s wedding and Melissa was down in Florida, getting hitched to Jon, we didn’t get to spend the day with her. Fortunately, she asked us to photograph her for her bridal portrait, so we got a sneak peek at just how beautiful she was going to be on her wedding day.
Melissa told me that she and Jon were getting married in a swamp in Florida. I’m still not sure how literally to take that, but nonetheless we figured it would be a good idea to reflect the outdoors in Melissa’s bridal shoot, so we headed down to Sesquicentennial State Park, where there was still some beautiful fall foliage on the trees.
Of course, we didn’t just stick this bride out in the woodsand make her stand around –we also gave her a chance to sit down…
…and generally be gorgeous while the sun set behind her.
Yup. She’s barefoot. We seem to attract that kind of bride. Thank goodness!
Finally, as the sun went down, we decided to have a little more fun with a bunch of balloons we brought along just for the occasion. They didn’t carry Melissa away cartoon-fashion which was, on the one hand, a bit of a disappointment, but on the other, kept me from having to explain to Jon why his finacée was floating over the city of Columbia in her wedding dress.
Jon and Melissa, we hope marriage is as magnificent for you as it has been for us. You’ve both found someone very special!
To everybody else, check back later in the week for adorable children and next week for Leah and Greg’s teasers!
Leah: Bridal
One of the hardest things about wedding photography is taking bridal photos, being really delighted with them, and then not being able to share them until the wedding. Well, we can finally share with you Leah’s bridal portraits. She and Greg were married Saturday in Greenwood and Wendy and I (and everybody else, as far as I can tell) had a fantastic time.
Way back in September, though, Leah came down to Columbia and we got to capture these lovely images of her in her wedding gown.
Since she was a little girl, Leah had wanted to have her bridal photo taken at the South Carolina State House. We certainly weren’t going to argue with a little girl’s dreams.
Wendy got this picture of Leah that really shows off her amazing blue eyes. Greg’s eyes are almost as bright as you can see from their engagement photos. Their kids’ eyes are going to be gorgeous! (Not that we’re rushing you, guys.)
We had so much fun with Leah that we wound up shooting until the sun went down. Even though there wasn’t much light to work with, we decided to get in a few more shots featuring the lights of Columbia. This was one of our favorites.
We have a lot of pictures to go through, but we’ll be sharing a few quick teasers from Leah and Greg’s wedding next week. Be sure to come back and check them out!
Merry Christmas!
‘Twas the night before Christmas
And strange as it seems
J.P. and Wendy were relaxing
Their apartment was clean!
They’d watched Lost off of Netflix,
Ten episodes or more,
Odd since they’d just started
Watching two days before.
They’d sung ‘long with Sufjan,
Read some Lord of the Rings,
Watched Peanuts and Garfield
From Bittorrent streams.
And soon they’d be dreaming
Of lenses and lights,
Softboxes and snoots
To make portraits look right.
But first to their blog
They posted scenes of cheer
To thank friends and clients
For a wonderful year!
Wendy and I are celebrating our third Christmas together as husband and wife and, if you’ll pardon a little bit of bragging, I’m reminded that I am the luckiest man on earth. Seriously, how many guys have a wife who can decorate cookies like this?
I’m guessing very, very few.
I’d also expect that there aren’t too many wives who would indulge their husbands in decorating their gingerbread men to resemble web comic characters.
Meet Faye and Marten…
…and Winslow and Pintsize.
Now say goodbye to Pintsize.
Besides decorating cookies, we got ready for Christmas by going to “The Lights Before Christmas” at Riverbanks Zoo.
(I think Wendy looks good in red, don’t you?)
I don’t know if the fish were in the Christmas spirit or not. Some of them were kind of sparkly, though.
Meanwhile the Lizards were decked out in their best Christmas green.
Wendy and I wish you a very merry Christmas and suggest that you put a star on your tree…
(Not this one)
…snuggle up with someone you love…
…or in my case…
…and have a happy New Year!
Dog Portrait: Sir Chubbs II
Amie and Chris are an absolutely awesome couple whose wedding we’ll be photographing next May. When Wendy and I sat down with them to talk about their photos, we asked if there were any specific photos they felt they absolutely had to have. It turns out there was only one: a photo of their pug, Sir Chubbs II, wearing a tuxedo.
(Is there really any need for more introduction than that?)
Because Chris and Amie’s wedding is outdoors, Chubbs won’t be able to be in attendance. We learned from them that due to pugs’ shortened breathing passages, they can’t really stand to be out in the heat for extended periods. So, since Chubbs couldn’t be a member of the wedding party, Amie and Chris dressed this precious pooch up in tails and a bow tie for his own pre-wedding portrait just before their engagement session.
Meet Sir Chubbs:
After a few casual poses on the pillow, Chubbs changed into his formal attire.
(Wendy’s mother said she thinks he looks like Winston Churchill in this picture.)
(Yup, his tail is sticking out from between his tails.)
(If they ever make an all-dog version of Oceans 11, Chubbs is a shoo-in.)
I have never seriously tried to photograph dogs before, figuring that it would be too hard to pose them and that the noise of the camera and the light from the flashes would spook them. Chubbs, though, was a real trooper, and Chris and Amie were terrific at keeping him where he should be and looking in the right direction. Still, after hundreds of shots and two different outfits, Chubbs had pretty much had it…
(Don’t feel too bad for him. That expression could be exhaustion or the look a dog gets when he has been stuffed to the brim with doggie treats.)
We actually did photograph Chris and Amie, but we figured Chubbs deserved his own post. Nonetheless, here’s Chubbs with his mom and dad, of whom you’ll be seeing more soon.
Remember, sharing is caring, so if you’d like to share Sir Chubbs II with your friends, you can do so easily by clicking on the links below for Facebook, Twitter, or the social whosamawhatsie of your choice. I’m not saying the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future are going to visit you if you don’t share, but why take the risk?
More to come!
Snuggie: The Blanket With Sleeves (That Solves All Life’s Problems)
This post comes with a story, so please bear with me.
Among other things I do, I (J.P.) teach Rhetoric. Rhetoric, simply, is the art of persuasive speech. In my class, the students primarily study Aristotle’s aptly-named Rhetoric, but sometimes I want to share with them something a little more contemporary, something that truly speaks to their generation. I think that infomercials are one of the best modern examples of persuasive communication and it’s for this reason I introduced them to the Snuggie™: the blanket with sleeves.
The students seemed to appreciate the simple structure of the commercial:
1) Present a problem: “You want to stay warm without raising your heating bill and you are incapable of performing mundane tasks like answering the phone while entombed in the shroud-like confines of a blanket. Also, for some reason, everything is in black and white.”
2) Offer a solution while footage switches to color and peppy music begins: “Now, you can own a Snuggie! You’ll be able to stay warm while enjoying a wide range of activities!”
3) Show how the benefits of the solution makes life amazing!
Little did I know how much they had appreciated it…
Two days after my birthday, just as I was getting ready to begin Rhetoric, our headmaster called me down to his office to help him with a computer problem. I asked a student to tell the rest of the class what the day’s assignment was and to have them begin on it, and followed the headmaster. After talking with me for a few minutes, the headmaster walked with me back to my classroom so I could retrieve a USB drive that contained some diagnostic utilities. When I got back to the room, the lights were off, the kids had their heads down on their desks and I was led by the headmaster to the far side of the room.
What followed was nothing less than amazing. My students has remixed and personalized the Snuggie commercial for me: “Mr. Stephens, do you find it miserable teaching in a freezing cold classroom? Do you find it difficult to write on the board when your hands have frostbite on them?” After presenting the problem, the lights came on, the music started (“Wannabe” by the Spice Girls), and the dancing and singing began. Oh yeah, and one student burst from the closet skating on a scooter while wearing a leopard-print Snuggie.
They didn’t skimp on the benefits of the solution, either. “Mr. Stephens, with your new Snuggie, you’ll be healthier, taller, stronger, more athletic, smarter…your hands will be nice and warm and you’ll be able to give us all A’s!” “You could even make it the official costume of Lunch Money!” At this point the students all dropped to their knees (approximating Lunch Money fan height) and waved their hands in the air while screaming “I love Lunch Money!”
In the end, I was presented with an awesome card, my new Snuggie…
…a DVD copy of The Iron Giant (they may have felt sorry for me after I showed them my copy on VHS)…
…a handmade Snuggie user’s guide…
(Note the chart.)
…and a cookie as big as my head!
At this point, it’s probably gratuitous to say that I have the greatest Rhetoric class ever. That’s one thing about Rhetoric, if the suck up this well, then they’re obviously getting the idea! As a small thank you to them, I will now conclude with a photo that I hope captures the magnificence of my birthday celebration, my students, and of course, my Snuggie.
P.S.- If any potential clients are reading this and you’re interested in a Snuggie-themed engagement shoot please contact us–we are definitely the photographers for you!
P.P.S.- After lecturing my students about copyright, I should probably mention that the first, second, and fourth pictures were taken by students and they retain all rights to them.
