Alex the Photo Blog

For those of my three avid blog readers, you may have nocted a week went by without any fun pictures posted on the blog from Alex Boyce’s Wedding last week.  Well, to make a long story short, a full glass of red wine was spilled on my 2-month-old laptop.  Lucky I always follow the rule of not deleting photos until I have at least two copies of all of them.  Usually I run with 3 copies at all times- hard drive, external hard drive, and the cloud (probably a cumulus, but perhaps cirrus).  All of the info on my tempranillo-flavored laptop is safe and sound, but the work I had done to the photos will be slowed a bit as I revert to my old computer to handle the job.

If I can give advice to anyone depending on technology for their business, my advice is to spend the extra money on rugged items that last.  All but one of my Canon lenses are the professional models- not just because they help with better quality pictures, but because when I’m shooting a wedding and accidentally kick a lens behind me skittering it across concrete, dangerously close to an olympic-sized pool, I want to know it’s going to work for the reception afterward (this actually happened).  However, no matter how much you spend, these professional items do have their breaking point.  I bought my laptop from Lenovo (formerly IBM) because their ThinkPads are meant to be some of the most reliable out there.  You can see an example of their water-resistance here.  Unfortunately for me, it was a full glass of red wine dumped all at once into a speaker, rather than a few flowing ounces of crystal clean water on the keyboard.

The lessons learned here are: 1) that you should always backup, then backup again; 2) great hardware is nothing without a great accidental coverage warranty; and 3) make sure you and your friends drink Argentinian wine from sippy cups if around your fancy pants laptop.

Here’s another teaser from the Boyce wedding.  More to come.

… you’d want these guys on your team.

Actually they’re not an especially trained group of fighters, I just thought this picture turned out kinda badass.  This is a little teaser from the Boyce/McCollister wedding this weekend at the Woodstock Baptist Church.  More to come on this in the coming weeks, but in short it was a lot of fun and we captured a lot of great photos.

Over the years I’ve taken numerous family photos all over Georgia.  Big families, small families, families with dogs, cats, alpacas…  well not alpacas, but that would be pretty cool.  But out of all the families I’ve come across, I’ve never met a child happier than Isabella.  I’m not kidding.  If she wasn’t smiling, she was laughing- but really she was just laughing most of the time.  Maybe I had something hanging out of my nose to set her off.  :)  Isabella, I’m told, is also fluent in Mandarin, reading at years above her level, and already is learning to play a musical instrument.  Needless to say, her mother is quite proud.

And now the follow me routine.  :)

“Just a small town girl… livin’ in a lonely world,” she started off.  From those few epic lyrics, I knew Kate Tucker was destined to be rock’s one great hope.   She will [eventually] be what the world of rock music needs to save itself from the pop divas (yes Adam Levine, I’m talking about you) currently ruling the airwaves.  With rock radio stations dying at an alarming rate and rock record sales in sharp decline, Kate Tucker will save it all.  Though she barely has enough hair to tease and hairspray, she has some very healthy vocal cords and a desire to ROCK (note below, her hands are both making the Sign of the Horns).  It’s just too bad she’s still roughly 17.9 years away from being able to go on tour without her parents… just don’t stop believin’.

… and now for the rest of Kate Tucker’s Christmas/newborn family photos.  :)

A fine Saturday afternoon… for moustaches!  Seriously, Sarah, Patrick, Brian, and I had a great time walking around Decatur scoping out photo spots last weekend.  This type of shoot is exactly the reason why I bought the BULK pack of fake moustaches to keep in my camera bag at all times.   In most spots we were able to get 1 serious and 1 moustache shot.

I had a chance to hang with the Mitchell family in John’s Creek last month.  Megan, Madison, and Sean are three of the brightest, fun kids I know.  Megan just got her driver’s license and it already taking a number of AP classes.  Madison also dominates her classes while flying through the air as a competition cheerleader.  Sean is not only a rock star on drums, but you may also remember his skills from my football post last year.  We had such a fun time and I’ve gotta tell ya, trying to time 3 kids bouncing on a trampoline was the most difficult part of the day.  And with that said, when the toughest part of your day is bouncing on a trampoline, there’s really not much to complain about.  :)

Adding a trampoline to any photo session is always a good time.

Sean had an issue with his timing.

Last month I got to have fun with a couple of newly engagedes (is that a word?) in Kennesaw Mountain Park.  The weather was perfect and judging by the overflowing of traffic, everyone in the city was out for a stroll.  Alex and Ryan are one of those couples that knew from the start that they’d end up together.  They’ll be getting married in January- just a year from having met.  It’s pretty amazing to spend time with a couple as sweet and sure of their love as they are.  Plus they were a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with.  I’m really excited for their Roswell wedding!

“Hey- let’s see if he’s tickelish!”