Our last wedding of ‘09 was an incredible holiday celebration. The wedding of Claire & Steve was especially special (LOL) to me because I had met Claire while teaching photography at the Atlanta Scrapbook Connection.  While I haven’t had time to scrapbook in a million years (it seems), I enjoyed teaching there so much because I got to share my love of taking photos with people who were our next generation of historians!  Claire called me when she & Steve were engaged and I was so honored to be their photographer!

Here are some of the “little” details of Claire’s accessories I love so much.  My friend, Marlene Hawthrone-Thomas did such a nice simple shot of her adorable ballet flats!  This rhinestone tie was on the back of Claire’s custom made “belt” of her dress.  Just a little bit ‘o sparkle to wink at you from behind.

I love this one of Claire as they were helping her dress.  This room in her parents’ house had some beautiful light!  We also were able to shoot all the pre-ceremony photos on their property which is pretty amazing.

Their grand formal room for some formal portraits of Claire and the garden path (love the gate!) made for some excellent backdrops!  We also had just the right amount of light that day and the temperature was perfect!

And Steve let me capture a few of him, too.   My favorites though are with the guys bellied up to the bar in the “man cave”!

Then, we got really emotional.  I love it when couples do a first look because I get to capture their expressions in a more intimate way than during a ceremony.  I always allow them to chose whether to see each other or not but if we are going to have full darkness after their ceremony (which is often the case in the winter time), then a first look is a good idea also if you want day-light images together.  I usually allow the groom to give his bride his bouquet, which is actually the original tradition!

After pre-ceremony formals, we headed over to their venue, 103 West!  This is another favorite location and wonderfully appointed for a red-black-white color scheme!  Claire and Steve spent just a few more minutes with me capturing some romantic images so they could enjoy as much of their cocktail hour after the ceremony with their guests.  Despite the beautiful red couch, I still like these in sepia as something about the curtains gives this a retro feel (20’s?).

Then, we were off to marry this fun couple.  This was my first wedding ceremony at 103 West so it was so nice seeing the ballroom in perspective for ceremony seating.  It’s perfect for an indoor, winter wedding!With my good friend, Reverend Rick Prigmore, at the helm, I knew we were in for a special treat.  (He is actually going to be marrying me & Steven this fall, too!). There was emotion, tears, and laughter – my kind of ceremony!

After the ceremony, the guests were invited downstairs to the ballroom for the reception portion of our event.  The Rupert’s Orchestra was really incredible at providing the entertainment. 

When it came time for cake cutting, I learned that Steve’s groom’s cake was a surprise. It was a surprise to me, TOO!  I’ve never seen a “sushi” cake!  Apparently Steve is a huge sushi fan (so am I!) and Claire had a cake made for him that had bits of “sushi” to eat on top of it!  Complete with chopsticks -adorable!

Of course, we love our new Photobooth we bring for every wedding now!  I think our clients really love this and we think it’s da bomb!

Tons of fun and a wonderful atmosphere.  Being at Claire & Steve’s wedding was so emotional for me.  It was my first wedding to shoot after being newly engaged. I’ve always gotten emotional at weddings but this one was so special.  I could really feel the love of all the guests and family and it just made me anticipate what is was going to be like for me and Steven in the next year at our wedding.  For a wonderful ending to the night, Claire and Steve had a last dance -  with bubbles and love coming from their friends!  Another great shot by Marlene, catching the colors with available light.Thank you guys so much and congratulations!!!!!

See the entire beautiful day in the slideshow below!

My part of history:  the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta marks my first ever professional photography assignment.  I found these images back in October when I was building the new web site.  I have to thank Steven for even being able to retrieve the files!  The software used to scan this chromes from my shoot is completely outdated and obsolete now (wow, another marker of feeling your age!  LOL!).  I was simply working my photo lab job and opened my big mouth – and got this job:

I always went out shooting.  I was compelled to shoot anything that caught my fancy and try to make great images.  I’ve always loved architecture at night and would even take photos with a high-end point and shoot camera I had, just practicing and learning.  Of course, this was the film days so it took a bit more practice than digital does now.  One of my favorite buildings that’s beautifully lit in Atlanta is Resurgens Plaza in Buckhead.  I had taken a series of night shots of that building and they were on display in my photo lab – to demonstrate enlargement sizes to the customers.

So when lighting designer, Robert Shakespear, came into my lab and was disappointed with his late night shots of his lighting design of the NationsBank building for the ‘96 Olympics, I tried to tell him how to get his shots.  I explained he needed to be shooting at twilight, when there was still color in the sky but the building lights were on and pointed to my Resurgens shots.  He was also not getting more than a single strobe firing off in the cage-like spire of the building, so I began asking him questions about the sequence.  He suddenly looked at me and said, “If you can make my building look good like that, I’ll hire you right now.” He went on to say that he needed to fly back to home but also needed to get images to Japan for a publication by the following Tuesday. This was Thursday and he was panicked.  I accepted the challenge (like I frequently do) without hesitation — or any idea what I was getting myself into.

I went out right away, that night, as soon as I got off work.  It was summer so luckily I had a little bit of time before twilight.  However, it was also difficult to get to Olympic park very quickly due to what they called the “Ring” – a perimeter around the park and venues that you were not permitted to drive into and could only use public transportation.  Nonetheless, my mom joined me after she got off work and we headed to the park to see what we could get that night with just 35 mm cameras.  This was going to be shot on medium format for a higher resolution but this was my scouting trip.

Saturday, I went out for the actual shoot.  I had a Yashica-D (twin lens, medium format) and a Bronica I borrowed from my boss. Well, I thought I was well prepared.  I had two pro cameras, right?  Wrong. The Yashica was ancient and some oil had frozen up the shutter blades.  It was clicking “open” but not shutting. Essentially, I got some pretty freaky shutter drag images on that one. The Bronica? Oh boy, I learned the hard way that it’s shutter wouldn’t even work without a battery!  It’s battery was long dead.  We gave up for the night, packed it in and walked back to Sci-Trek where our car was parked.  As soon as I got home, the phone rang and my panicked friend was so happy to hear my voice.  He told me a bomb had just gone off in the park and he was terrified I was still there shooting.  I couldn’t believe him and turned on the TV.  We all know what happened that night and that three people died as a result.  We left because of camera malfunction and I had been so mad.

The park was then closed for several more days to investigate the bombing.  I still had an assignment to complete though!  We went all over town the next three days looking for locations to get the Atlanta skyline images Robert needed.  Our best find was the parking deck next to the Marriott Marquis.  Beautiful spot for the isolated building shot.  But the final close up shot was the doozy, the end all, be all shot that he wanted.  And how I got that is also amaaaaaazing.  My mom worked for Bellsouth for 40 years before she retired in ‘02.  At this point, security is at an all-time high but she took me to the Bellsouth building right next door to the NationsBank building (now the Wachovia building) and asked if we could go to the top floors as she was an employee.  The security manager explained what we wanted to one of the top execs – and he escorted us right up to his very office!!!!!! The resulting shot is below.

I was finally able to get back into the park the Tuesday it re-opened. This was also deadline day.  I had to shoot, process, scan and ship all in one night. It was crazy!

Now, I no longer own the originals of these chromes. They are probably in some archive somewhere?  These are old, old scans from that late night at the lab where we rushed the processing and then I raced to Delta Dash to get them to Japan on time.  And all that work?  The scouting, the broken cameras, and finally, the trip to the top of an Atlanta skyscraper?  I only got $700.  A whole lotta money to a college student!

(Side note:  When the GBI and FBI asked if anyone had images from the night of the bombing, I brought them my damaged, shutter dragged film in hopes they would see something in the double exposures that would help them.  I have no idea if it ever did.)

Another first for the new year!  A new blog category called “My Favorite Things” (amongst which is actually that song from the movie “The Sound of Music” – great song, great movie!).  At the top of that list and keeps me laughing and gets my chin up when I’m down:  What the Duck.  An online only cartoon that started just a few years ago and took off with our industry.  There are so many strips that have themes that hit home with us photographers – wedding photographers especially – that when I got the book “Rule of Nerds” for Christmas two years ago, it kept me laughing for a week straight (I paced myself and read just a few a day;o).  Even if you’re not a photographer, you will laugh because sometimes, there’s just some fun stuff there about interactions with people, period.

This strip is actually framed, sitting above my desk in my office. A daily reminder that sometimes, folks just don’t get what it is that I do.  My friends get it, my family gets it, but sometimes I still get this “compliment”, too!  Really?  It’s my camera’s fault that the photo was good?  LOL, the camera can make a difference, don’t get me wrong.  However, the camera didn’t know when to shoot or which way the light was best or even if there was anything TO shoot!

Which reminds me of a great quote I saw recently posted by a friend on Facebook:

“A typewriter never wrote a great novel any more than a camera took a great picture.”

Would someone say to Hemingway that he must have had a great typewriter?  Or did Shakespear have a rockin’ feather quill with all the fancy options?  Hee hee….

Check out What the Duck and have a good laugh!

I thought I’d start something new this year! Sharing with you the stories behind the images.  Not necessarily boring technique descriptions or technical aspects (unless it makes for really fun exciting reading as part of the adventure;o) Nope!  Just the why, how, and what the heck behind some of the photos I’ve taken.  The images I’m talking about are cool in and of themselves – but what you don’t see is what led up to the creation.  I thought this just might give folks some insight to “the day in the life of a wedding photographer”and what I do to get that shot!

I have taken this journey.  I went down this road before today and saw something cool that I want to share.  I am in the driver’s seat and I open the passenger door.  I invite her in and say, “Come with me!  This is gonna be great and you’re gonna love it!”.  I’m excited.  She gets excited, too and jumps in the car with me.  I take off and she goes along for the ride.

This is sometimes how I view the creative process with my clients.  I use the metaphor of “taking a ride with me to a cool place” because in a sense, I am the driver and they are the passenger and they are not really sure where we are going.  They have to trust and have a sense of adventure!

With this image from Lauren’s bridal session – ok, one of my all-time favorites here – I wanna chat about “Going the Extra Mile”. And guess what?  I’m not just talking about ME going the extra mile.  While that does have a LOT to do with this image, you will hopefully see that Lauren went the extra mile, too. By going along with my vision, trusting me, and letting go just a teeny, tiny bit, she got an amazing image to treasure forever.

When Lauren first met with me, I had no idea that this image would happen.  I found out that her wedding would take place at Stone Mountain and still didn’t think about this.  It wasn’t until they booked me for the wedding and added the bridal session that  I started brainstorming on what I could do that would be exciting and dramatic.  I grew up going to Stone Mountain all the time. Been to numerous Easter Sunrise Services up on top of the mountain so I had “seen” some great possibilities there before, just doing casual images for myself.  At some point, I became obsessed with the idea of shooting Lauren up on top of Stone Mountain during her bridal session.

Guess what?  I was told it had been done before. Uh, really?  I’ve never seen the images I have in my head taken up there!  I didn’t let it stop me.  Sometimes, people can tell you, “It’s been done” and you can get discouraged and quit. Well, I was determined to do something different since in all my years of shooting bridal sessions, I hadn’t seen “my image”.

So, I began to do what we call location scouting.  Her bridal session was scheduled for March 18th – weather permitting.  March can be volitale here in Georgia so it’s touch and go with how nice it might be.  Alicia and I went to the park one day in February to check out locations around the mountain park and to also go up top on the SkyRide.  Well, we found some cool areas around the bottom of the mountain, (practically got frostbite walking aroud shooting each other!) but the SkyRide was closed for another month for maintenance!  *sigh*  Ok, we’ll try again later…

A few shots Alicia took of me on rock formations around the parking lot.  Yes, that’s ice I’m navigating there!!!!!

So, suddenly a few weeks later, I’m coming up on the bridal session day so I head over to the park on the Saturday before her session and the line to get on the SkyRide was over an hour long!!!!  I was unable to wait that long so again…. I decide to come back.  The next day I have available is the DAY BEFORE her session!  When I get to Stone Mountain, that March 17th ( I remember I was concentrating so hard on getting there, I completely forgot to wear green which I always do on St. Patty’s), it was pretty chilly. The good news was, the line was short and I was on the Sky Ride and up on top of the mountain in no time at all.  However, it was FREEZING up on top of the mountain!  Windy, extreme cold and I got really worried that I would be really pushing my luck with Lauren the next day.  I even planned to bring a faux fur coat and blankets – just in case.

The next day, it was magic.  Or was it?  Depends on your beliefs!  The moment Lauren had her dress zipped up, the sun came out and it was WARM!  We had amazing light and when we wrapped up our “lower” session, I told her my idea of going up on top of the mountian.  I told her it was time to head over and take the SkyRide up to the top.  We got in line – me, my mom, Lauren and her two best friends – when the operator told us that the last car would be coming down in 20 minutes.  20 MINUTES?!?!?!  Luckily, I had been up there the day before and scouted out four areas to pose her and shoot. We headed to each location in a circle with my mom keeping me on track for time – 5 minutes in each location!  “TIME!”  Otherwise, it’s a pretty long walk down that mountain!

The shot of Lauren above was taken in the last five minutes.  It was the last location chosen.  Yes, the clouds were like that – the only “effects” is a slight glow to the overall image and a tiny bit of digital fill flash on her.   She is barefoot – no coat or blanket needed!  It’s a little windy up there so I just had her hold her dress out to the side and then release it.  She is beautiful, a godess.  It was THE SHOT.  Lauren took my offer and went along for the ride with me. I’m so glad she did.

I am so blessed and honored to still be a part of the Burton-Kallis family!  After photographing Stephanie and Nicolas’s wedding in 2004, I never would have dreamed that 5 years later, I would be documenting the first year of their adorable twins, Anna & Eva.  I truly love all of them and so happy to be a part of their growing family!

November and December were a busy celebration time for the family! The girls were baptized at the Greek Orthodox church on November 14th.  This is one of my favorite churches in Atlanta -not only because it offers beautiful natural light in a round sanctuary, but because I am also given quite a bit of freedom to shoot.  Usually the church rules about photography are something like, “Don’t get in the priests’ way.”  I can handle that!  I don’t want to get in anybody’s way or block the view of the guests either!

I also enjoy all the traditions of the Greek Church. ( I once traveled to Greece for a month and felt like I’d been there before -a  total deja vu!)  Now, as I captured the girls’ baptism, I was learning and seeing new traditions I had not known of before.  They start the ceremony before they even enter the sanctuary.

After the girls are welcomed into the church, they proceeded to the altar with their proud parents bringing up the rear.  I’m not sure if they’ve ever had a double baptism here before but it was eventful – double your fun!

The babies are adorned with olive oil on certain parts of their little bodies – to make them too slippery for evil spirits to grab hold of them.

After drying off, a quick snip of their hair is an offering to God as a gift for receiving His blessings.

After circling the baptismal font, the girls are given their first Eucharist.

When the girls had been blessed and accepted as members of the church, it was time to go celebrate – GREEK STYLE! – at Kyma, one of my favorite restuarants!

Anna & Eva had several guests at their reception that were also twins!  There were three sets of twins in the house!  I love these twin boys peering into the girls’ strollers to say hi.

Stephanie’s dad, the girls’ grandfather, gave a touching toast to the families.

It was such a fun event and you can see more photos of the day in this cool slideshow below!

One Year Birthday Party!

I was invited back to join the family to celebrate Anna & Eva’s one year birthday party.  I cannot believe how time has flown by!  I KNOW it’s cliche, but seriously, one year?  I remember sitting at my desk and getting the email that they had been born – Christmas Eve Eve last year.  I was so happy for Stephanie and Nicolas!  TWO beautiful girls and each one looked like mom and dad. ;o)  Here you go – two of everything from now on! I took a few portraits of the girls with their adorable birthday outfits in front of the Christamas tree.  Custom purple and pink tutus that Stephanie ordered and how about those plushy crowns!  So freakin’ cute!!!!When the guests started arriving, the girls scrambled to see who had shown up ;o): Then it was time for cake and gifts!  Each girl had their own one-year cupcake and candle to blow out. But surprisingly, they didn’t make too much of a mess! I don’t know who had more fun with this great gift – the girls or Stephanie! ;o) Thanks so much for letting me capture the girls’ special moments this year!  I’m so proud and honored to be a part of your lives!  Check out more fun from the birthday celebration in the slideshow below!

Last month I was asked to cover the Ferrari Atlanta Holiday Event this year!  Even for a gal like me (I only know enough about cars to get me in trouble ;o), it was an exciting opportunity.  The PR host I was working for was Mogul PR and other sponsors included Luciano’s, Roche Bobois, Brown & C0., & Grey Goose Vodka – who offered an open bar all evening and served up [what looked like] luscious holiday spirits. Here are some of the shots from last Wednesday night.

Yes, the Enzo was the “star” of the evening – with only 72 in North America, it was definitely making the guests put it on their mental Christmas list for Santa!

Christmas list in the making…

Roche Bobois supplied several seating vignettes for the guests. I wanted to take home the swirl occasional table…ok, the red and white chairs, too.

Bright bling and exquisite time pieces were on display from Brown & Co.  One of the watches was $97,000.  I think they came with their own police officer to the event!

OK, I get that they didn’t hand out Ferrari’s for party favors but why couldn’t they give me one of the cute Ferrari bears?

Sean Clinkscales of Seven Creative Media Group, Shafiqul Hai of Scottish Tobacco Fine Cigars were selling and handing out some cigars. So, I got at least one party favor!

Stephanie Fleitas, Ralph Herrera of Lanza Group, Karina Gilpin, and Ines Bonell

Nima Bagheri, Ken Wingerter, Mike Johnson, Mac Maritir Ossian

What a great evening with some cool cars, amazing people and contacts in the PR industry!  You can see more images from this event and other Mogul PR events by clicking HERE.

Ah….”At Last” – one of my favorite songs by Etta James and particularly appropriate for this lovely couple. I say that because Connie & Mike met with me soooooo long ago – almost a year and a half before their wedding!  So, this has been a fun and wonderful journey leading up to their elegant wedding day.

And a really classy way to start off the day, hhmmm mmmm, Jimmy Choo’s!  I fell in love with Connie’s shoes the moment I laid eyes on them.  *sigh* She’s safe, her feet are much, much tinier than mine! ;o)  Connie & Mike chose to have their reception at the Ritz Carlton downtown so this is where I met her to take the getting ready shots.  I’ve been to the Ritz many times before but believe it or not, after 10+ years, this would be my first reception there!  Here’s Connie looking spectacular and being so calm on this blustery day.  We had some record low temperatures this October and she braved the chilly air for some beautiful portraits in front of their church, Peachtree Christian.

Mike is dashing here in the door way of the church.  But just before we got to snap these portraits, I spent a few minutes with the boys.

I chose to post these two based on their similar expressions! The ring bearer is so cute I could just squeeeeeze him!  This is Mike opening his wedding present from Connie – a Tag Hauer watch. NICE!

Peachtree Christian is  one of my favorite churches in Atlanta for weddings with some of the most beautiful stained glass seen in the United States.  It really reminds me of European cathedrals. Obviously the movie makers like it, too since it has been the location of at least two movies I know of.

Connie & Mike told me that they knew the moment they had found the right church to be married in:  Mike had proposed to Connie in Italy (gosh, I wish I could remember the cathedral) and one of their favorite places was the cathedral with the sky blue ceiling with stars.  The ceiling of Peachtree Christian reminded them of their trip and that sealed the deal!

At Peachtree Christian, you can put your lens right up to the tiny space between the sanctuary doors and get this “crevice shot” below.  The only way you can shoot on the floor there!

We got lucky that there was just a blush of light left to get some photos of the two of them in front of the church.  I like that twilight since the lights and the stained glass show up brilliantly!

To whisk them away back to the Ritz, Mike had arranged for a vintage Bentley!  The red carpet treatment awaits couples with this sophisticated transport.  I love a bride looking out at her new husband. ;o)

Back at the Ritz, we had planned a whirlwind tour of the common areas of the hotel.  Newly redecorated, the Ritz offered us some glitzy settings and I was dying to try out my new video lights to enhance the ambiance.  No flash used in these shots!

The Ballroom that was set for their reception was glowing with tall candle tapers and luscious red roses in silver.  So glamorous and warm, this was perfect to nestle their rings right in her bouquet.

I was told that a very special token would be at the reception on display. In fact, we even made arrangements for my mom, Bea, to shoot some images of this letter from President & Mrs. Obama!

You might say, this is Connie & Mike’s Inaugural Dance!  First dance as husband and wife, they waltzed around the dance floor like seasoned pros.  I just love the expression on Connie’s face as she glides with Mike.

And there were some funny expressions, too!  During the toasts, I think every single person had something to say to crack them up!  LOL, for sure!  Can’t you almost hear them here? ;o)

Their cake was a coconut masterpiece!  The little flower girl admired it, too.

This was the ring bearer’s tribute to Michael Jackson!  That little guy can dance, I tell ya!  RIP Michael.

As they exited the Ritz amongst flower petals thrown by their friends, the Bentley awaited them again – for another adventure!

We had made arrangements to go out for about an hour around the city after their reception to take shots in the night lights all around Atlanta. What we did not arrange for was warmer weather!  What happened to our mild October weather Atlanta?  BRRRRRRRRR.  Again!  You can’t tell from this photo, but we are ALL freezing to death!  Each shot was taken in a matter of seconds before moving on and getting warm again!  This is behind the Ritz – the back of the Wachovia building lobby.

Connie and Mike, thank you so much for letting me capture your day – and night!  Here is a slideshow to see more of their amazing wedding day!

Right away I knew Dorianne & Sakarin were going to be an interesting couple to work with for their wedding.  So many non-traditional elements were planned and ethnic traditions from Sakarin’s Thai heritage that I was so excited to be chosen to photograph their wedding weekend!  As we began planning from our very first meeting, it was one surprise after another!

The day began with getting ready at the Georgian Terrace where they had chosen a two-story apartment for their hotel room and their reception.  This was a unique space I wasn’t even aware of and found out when she first met with me.  Here she is getting gorgeous hair & make up by The Moore Agency.  Dorianne had also gone against the grain with a baby blue wedding dress!  My first NON-white wedding dress ever.

The one thing that no one counted on was that their wedding day would set a record in Atlanta for freezing rain and waaaay below normal temperatures.  Freezing just doesn’t happen in Atlanta in October so usually you are safe planning an outdoor wedding as it’s also a pretty dry month for us, too.  However, Mother Nature has a pretty bad sense of humor and we ended up walking the grounds of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with an umbrella! 

We had moments where the rain held off enough for some quick portraits.  It was still too cold to have the ceremony outside though, and we just didn’t want to chance the rain again (which did come) on all of their family and friends.  So, we ushered everyone into the common area of the green house for the ceremony with my good friend, Reverend Rick Prigmore.

Dorianne’s daughter, Fiona, participated in a sand ceremony joining the three of them as a new, tightly woven family.  After pronouncing them husband and wife and a few family photos, we headed back to the Georgian for a family-style Thai meal!  The rain eventually stopped and left us some amazing clouds over the city.  But notice that flag – the wind was incredible that day!

A lot of my friends know that I love ethnic wedding traditions and I’m fascinated with the different ceremonies and rituals for getting married in other cultures.  I have photographed wedding ceremonies for over 12 different nationalities!  Now, I get to experience a new one with Sakarin’s Thai family.  Here I watched and captured the family as they tied strings around the wrists of both Dorianne & Sakarin and each person was to give them some advice while tying the strings.

They still had some of the usual traditions we see – toasts and cake cutting!

After cutting the cake, we headed to the roof top of the Georgian to take some shots against the city lights – and NEARLY FROZE TO DEATH – all of us!  BRRRRRR!!!!!!  I mean that was some mean wind I tell ya!  Both Dorianne & Sakarin had to hold her veil to keep it from blowing off!

Back inside (thank you!) for some shots around the Georgian. 

And you can see more of their whole wedding day in this cool slideshow!

Dorianne & Sakarin’s Day After Session – Barnsley Gardens

The day after their wedding, we headed up to north Georgia to the beautiful grounds of Barnsley Gardens.  When Dorianne first saw my wedding of Anna & John at Barnsley, she knew that was where she wanted their Day After Session. It was SUCH a good thing they scheduled this with me as the next day was absolutely the opposite and more typical of Georgia in October. While still a little chilly in the shade, the sun was shining and the sky was a gorgeous blue bringing to life all the beautiful colors of the mountains! For me, the grounds of Barnsley Gardens is a photographer’s dream – a playground of different scenery. From rustic and natural to gothic and ethereal – it’s just one amazing location after another! These two know how to have fun!  And they were just at this for so long, two days in a row and loved every minute of it. Thanks guys for a fabulous, fun weekend! Now YOU have fun watching their second slide show from Barnsley here:

Wow!  I don’t know what is harder – editing a session where the couple is as gorgeous as Abbey & Zach or narrowing down to the best when almost every frame is FANTASTIC!  I think I must have been on candid camera – I just can’t believe how easy it was to shoot these two.  It’s as if they’ve had an engagement session before – either that or both of them are professional models and didn’t tell me when we met.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather that day. Even though Abbey and I were both sniffling a bit (isn’t everyone nowadays?), she still was just glowing.  What makes my day is when a couple is having as much fun as they did.  I hardly realized how much time we spent it was so much fun!

Can you believe this is NOT posed?!  I just had them wander a good bit away and snapped them interacting.  It’s like a freakin’ engagement ring ad!

The thing is, we photographers WISH we could be there when the sparks between you first happened – with you unaware we are shooting, of course.  It was a magical moment we can only hope to recreate with your engagement session.  With Abbey & Zach, there was no pretending for them – they got right into that moment and at times acted as if  I wasn’t there at all.  Other times, they would ham it up – obviously, that’s their personality (which I happen to LOVE) but you can be just yourself.  I want to capture what is special about each couple!

Oh, and of course we have to show off the ring! ;o)

Thank you so much guys for making my job easy and FUN!  Check out their amazing slideshow of the session below!

I needed to title this Part 1 because I know I’m going to have a lot more to say in the coming posts (how many? who knows!?) about the amazing experience I had attending and being a featured speaker at Pictage’s PartnerCon(ference) this year. So many of us photographers that attended have used a plethora of adjectives which include: amazing, inspiring, community, sharing, and on and on…

I haven’t been too public about my presentation and my honored position of speaking at the conference because honestly, I was a little afraid. Yep. I have no problem speaking in public but I wasn’t too sure how this was going to go. It went fine – what was I worried about? More on that subject later!

Most of us (all 500 photographers) wandered the beautiful, magical city of New Orleans taking photos of the many textures and sites that surrounded us. What a perfect location for photography. I am so happy that we will be going back there next year for PartnerCon ‘10! That made leaving Saturday a little easier….

What was sorta funny for me was the cemetery walks (ie. photo shoots). Growing up in photography, I abhorred cemetery walks and photos! I don’t have anything against cemeteries themselves, or death (while I want to actually be cremated, not laying in the ground), or all the usual stigmas. It was that EVERYONE was shooting cemeteries when I was a student and I certainly didn’t want to be everyone else and shooting the same thing. So when we wandered the famous New Orleans cemeteries throughout the week, I wasn’t sure how I would really like shooting there.

I’ll point out the obvious about these images:  all the ones I’m posting today are taken in infrared.  I have a love affair with infrared generally speaking, however, that passion was completely ignited when I started shooting the cemeteries with it.  The images I got with my trusty infrared camera (a Nikon 990 Coolpix I had converted several years ago) were some of my all time favorites of the entire trip!

The first thing I realized on All Saint’s Day (with Chris Williams, Will Jacks, Sarah Hodzic, Alex Abercrombie, David & Nancy Wittig, and Matt Grazier – what a group!) was how each cemetery had it’s own personality. I’m not used to that where I’m from in Georgia. Or maybe I just hadn’t noticed? Chris first took us to Greenwood where there were literally “streets” and all was uniform, stoic, clean. There were some occasional differences from tomb to tomb (these were all above ground graves) but I found a beauty in their uniformity.

Next Chris took us to Holt cemetery. A definite JOLT in your perspective going from Greenwood to Holt! Holt was originally a slave cemetery with all IN GROUND graves. And since there is occasional flooding, graves stones are damaged and repaired by hand and eh, things come to the surface…Holt is definitely quite striking in it’s own way as it’s so handmade, primitive, and frankly spookier. It feels like a definite possibility to be greeted by one of it’s residents since the whole place is so loosey-goosey. What’s to hold those spirits back?

On Friday, one of our last days in NOLA, a group of us went to another two cemeteries.  I got to “meet” St. Louis cemetery (just outside of the French Quarter) and LaFayette cemetery in the Garden District.  Once again, two more distinct personalities that I felt were speaking to me.  St. Louis was a little newer cemetery in some ways and maybe due to it’s proximity to the Quarter, a little more forthcoming with historical information in the form of plaques and tours given there.  I have just a few infrareds from there that I love but what fascinated me was the voodoo markings on some of the graves with offerings and gifts. Those are better in color so I’ll post those later.  Here is my favorite from St. Louis.

Finally, LaFayette – probably my favorite of all because of the magnolias & oaks dripping down with their branches and busting up the walkways with their roots.  Their presence felt like a hug, protecting the tombs and guarding them almost. 

More to come from New Orleans…this is just the beginning.  I’m pushing myself to post more personal work here as a few of us forget to do that now and then. (you know who you are ;o).