Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

200 Peachtree – A Vision From the Past, A Peek Into the Future!

April 3, 2010

Picture 1I am a native Atlantan, so visiting 200 Peachtree this week on Tuesday was not just a job, it was like stepping into a time machine for me.

When Allison Schultz, the Social Sales Manager of the new 200 Peachtree, contacted me for a photo opportunity, she told me they would be giving tours to the local Atlanta FROG chapter (Facility Rental Operators Group) of the site, I was there in a heartbeat. What I didn’t know was where the construction was in the process!  I arrived on Tuesday with my gear, as always prepared to shoot whatever, and Allison had me don a hard hat for my personal tour.  OH!  It’s still under construction!

My first view of the soon to be Grand Atrium:200ptree033010_0002

Oh wow!  Still under construction and at a mind-boggling pace, the first event is to be held here on June 5th!  Allison showed me all around and explained the enhancements and preservation going on here simultaneously.  They are preserving the marble floor and filling in damaged areas and patching areas that used to have counters for products.  The plywood on the floor is to help preserve what is not damaged while construction continues.

To be able to see the progress of this space and soon-to-be-venue was an incredible opportunity.  Here I was standing in a very historical place – a building 83 years old this year, it used to be the old “Macy’s” department store of Atlanta and many “firsts” were noted in between it’s walls.  Macy’s finally closed their doors here in 2003 and it has been waiting since then for new life.  The “deconstruction” began just over a year ago, January of 2009, and now the reconstruction is at a blindly rapid pace as the crews work overtime to meet their deadlines.

As the focal points of the Grand Atrium, the 14 foot chandeliers will lend a regal sophistication to this space usually reserved for palaces!  The chandeliers originally hung in the Herald Square Macy’s in New York. They were removed and stored during WWII to conserve energy and then restored and hung in the Atlanta Macy’s store in 1985.  I cannot WAIT to see these beauties lit up!  I’m imagining all sorts of shots by the twinkle of their crystal light…vertgrand

Of course, I quickly became obsessed with the golden stained glass windows.  I am hoping that there will be SOME access to getting up close to them since I’ve already envisioned amazing silhouettes in front of them.

And then we ascended to the second level.  The escalators -which were the first ever escalators in a retail building – are not functioning while construction is going on so it was quite eerie (and VERY dusty) holding on to a still escalator covered in plastic (and dust). vertcolumns As we climbed levels, Allison tells about the restoration and duplication of the signature balcony railing.  They will keep the original railing and have it recreated to contain the other two sides of the balcony as well.  While shooting this section, I began to feel a deja vu…200ptree033010_0012

It’s not like I’ve actually been on the Titanic of course, but remembering the scene from the James Cameron movie where you see the railing of the ship in “life” and then the frame morphs into the shot of the railing under water, I felt sort of like that was what I was looking at – a land version of the Titanic being raised from the depths of history.   Here is one of the signature medallions up close.  Perhaps the last time I will see it before it undergoes restoration.200ptree033010_0014

This is the [restricted] view from the side balcony where the signature railing will be replicated and added.200ptree033010_0063

Now it was time for the tours to begin!  Put on your hard hats!200ptree033010_0028200ptree033010_0071

I toured several more times that day – so that I could even answer questions from the group!  vertbw200ptree033010_0072200ptree033010_0048200ptree033010_0057

It was also fun looking at all the interior design boards that mocked up the look and texture of the new spaces. This venue will have a bridal suite that is to die for!200ptree033010_0024

This will be THE premier venue of Atlanta and a shining star of sustainability, too.  They will be able to host a 1,000 person seated dinner!  It is HUGE – with three spaces and thousands of square feet to accommodate the largest of events, I’m sure I’ll be recommending 200 Peachtree to many of my clients and friends looking for an event space on a grand scale.  Definitely contact Allison Schultz for more information.  I can’t wait until my next visit to see what progress has been made!

You can click HERE to see my whole album from the tours that day!

Posted in Behind the Scenes, History, Networking, News, Special Events, Weddings | No Comments »

History: ‘96 Olympics in Atlanta

January 24, 2010

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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.

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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.96nationsbankunder

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. 96nationsbnkclose

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.)

Posted in Behind the Scenes, History, Personal, Photographers | 1 Comment »

Behind the Scenes: Going the Extra Mile

January 21, 2010

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!laurensbridal0550

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!!!!!milevert

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.

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Bridal Sessions, Weddings | 1 Comment »