Cat Island, Bahamas Wedding

The blog will be pretty scarce this weekend as I'm in the Bahamas shooting a wedding.  I know, I know- I work too much.  Don't worry, I'll try to get to the beach this weekend to get a little sun.  :)

No wedding photos just yet, but maybe a teaser to come Sunday.  I just wanted to put something up to let all of my avid readers know I haven't forgotten about you!  When I get back, there will be plenty of photos to update you on.  Coming up, I have two beautiful summer weddings that somehow slipped away from the blog (so sorry!), more fall family portraits (call me soon if you want to book one!  The weather will turn cold soon!) and more real estate related work.  Have a great weekend!  Here are a couple of shots from day 1:

Moustaches are always fun

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.

Adam Radford Photo Shoot

Last November I was on a business trip to New York City.  I was lucky enough to stretch it out into a long weekend vacation and Keri even joined me for the last few days.  Our good friends Dan and Sydne were gracious enough to let us crash at their place and with Manhattan apartment space so scarce, we were delighted to have them as hosts.

As far as photography goes, I decided to only take my 5d and my 50mm lens.  No flash, no wide angle, no telephoto.  I like to do this from time to time on vacation because it forces me to be a bit more creative with what I have.  It makes me "zoom with my feet" which often leads to different angles and different ideas.  If you've got a bunch of lenses, try leaving all of them at home but one prime lens on your next weekend vacation.  It's a very freeing experience.

A day before Keri arrived, I enjoyed spending a full day with my friend Adam Radford.  Adam and I go back to freshman year of college in Nashville where we lived in the same dorm 3 out of the 4 years.  Along with a close friendship, he and I also played music throughout our time in college.  At one point we started the terribly named duo "Acoustic Gluestick."  Though we really only played two shows under that name, we still snicker at the cheesy-ness when saying it out loud.  Adam has since moved on and graduated with a Master in Fine Arts in Acting from Columbia University.  However, while still pursuing an acting career he's keeping his music alive.   On stage he has a sincerely warm and welcoming voice with a talent for the acoustic guitar.  Off stage, he leads a quiet life as an artist in Manhattan- though if you coax it out of him, his personality can be quite animated.

We had a full day involving recording sessions, a bass lesson (he just bought a sweet Fender Jazz Bass and wanted a few pointers on playing it), burgers and shakes, and a photo shoot.   Seeing as this is a photo blog I figure I'd share some photos with you, rather than blather on.  Adam and I were very pleased with the below photos mostly taken in the upper west side of manhattan, dispite many were shot in a cold drizzle on the Hudson river.  It's amazing what you can do with a single 50mm lens in the dark.  If only I were able to take pictures of my band while actually being in the photos as well...

Side note:  This one was taken at Lincoln Center.  Shortly after this was shot, Adam and I saw Jennifer Connelly hail a cab next to us.

I also put together a few potential web headers for him.  I have no idea how to do web design, but I thought these could do something for him.

New Alex The Photo Guy site is LIVE!

I've owned the domain since college.  Three years ago I re-upped it's registration and I contracted my good friend Greg Vilines at Webnormous to begin work on the site.   Then a combination of producing an album, playing in a band, get married, and having his house burn down slowed Greg's progress on the site a bit.  A combination of helping with the album, buying a house, running a photo business, general laziness, and getting engaged slowed me down too.  I know my excuses aren't as valid as a house fire, but regardless of the timing, it is finally LIVE! Greg built the whole thing from scratch and he did a damn good job on it.  I know I was a difficult client at times but in the end we got it all worked out.  There will be a few tweaks made in the coming months, but since it's 99% done, we figured why not launch it?  This will be a soft opening for my six blog readers and facebook friends until I get it 100% finished.

Keep in mind the new site isn't going to be a replacement for the blog- just think of it as a "best of Alex the Photo Guy."  I'll still keep you up to date with my crazy photo antics here on the blog, so don't stop reading!

Let me know what you think!  Many thanks again to Greg who did all the hard work.  All I did was take a few photos.  If you need a website, let me know and I'll get you in contact with Webnormous.

Studio Shoot with Lou

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of shooting a good friend in a makeshift studio in his living room.  Though Lou and I work together at Wells Real Estate Funds, we both have outside endeavors and passions that just happen to involve blogs.  My blog of course is all about photography and his is an inspirational site based on self betterment.  As he puts it, the Lou Davis blog is about "becoming the best version of himself" through various life challenges and goals. Lou was looking for some new photos for his blog and I was recently inspired by Zack Arais' blog about white seamless backgrounds, so I figured I should give it a try to push myself beyod my usual "available light" photography bounds.   Lou and I met for brunch at Ria's Bluebird Cafe and from there went to PPR to pick up the background.  I usually do my local Atlanta shopping at Showcase, but for some reason PPR was $25 cheaper for the exact same background.  From there we went to Lowe's to pick up a sheet of tileboard and (very poorly) secured it to the roof of my car.  Luckily we were only headed half a mile.

Lou was a good sport as I spent so much time screwing around with settings that I neglected to give him good direction.  Luckily he was a natural model, even if he needed a little direction from the peanut gallery (a few friends drinking and playing poker in the kitchen).

Here's a shot of the setup in Lou's living room.  White seamless on my background stand with one softbox on the right loaded with my Canon 580EX.  Also had a Vivitar 285 flash on a chair aimed at the background (though it's hidden by blue cardboard as to not spill light onto Lou).  Ideally I would have had 2 flashes aimed at the background, but the Canon 420 EX I borrowed from a friend unfortunately didn't have any manual settings, so it was of no use firing only at full power.

Here are some of the final photos, starting with my favorite:

Hi- I'm a Mac:

...And I'm a PC:

Evelyn

These were taken months ago and I just got around to finishing them up.  Evelyn is a co-worker of Keri and I.  She was approached by a friend of hers asking if she'd like to get into modeling.  Evi, being as modest as she is beautiful, was very reluctant to do it but after some convincing from friends and her husband she decided to look into head shots. This is where I came in.  I had never done true headshots before- just kid portraits (this shoot happened before the "Glow Atl" photos you can see a few entries down), so this was a freebie for a good friend.

In fact, I think I was paid in taco bell and asthma attacks.  An odd combination I know, but we did the shoot at Evi and Nathan's house in Buford.  I can usually control my allergies to her cats by taking Claratin and staying away, but when I get into "photographer mode" I move quick.  Moving quick leads to sweating, hightened heart rate, and increased breathing... which leads to increased allergies apparently.  Had to take a few breaks throughout the day- one of which for taco bell.

Without further ado, here is Evelyn.   Remember to click on the individual photos to get the full effect.  And don't worry, she's fully clothed in all of the photos-  just some creative angles.  :)

A Fashion Shoot... quite a success, but not because of me.

The models definitely made this shoot a success. So, I got a call 2 weeks ago on a Thursday night asking if I could get off work the next day and take pictures of girls in bikinis and not get paid.  It was quite the no brainer.   :)

But really, this shoot is for Glow ATL- a mobile spray tan company owned by Alex Goldstein.  It just so happens that the hair salon she does a lot of work from (Salon Modello) happened to have two people that knew my work.  Alex is hosting a Ladies night at Opera nightclub in Midtown tomorrow night and needed some "before and after" photos to be displayed on the HDTVs all over the club.  I didn't get paid, but I will also have my company logo displayed too, so it's essentially working for trade.  I can't make the party, but I'm sure sure it's going to be an awesome time.  My girlfriend Keri has volunteered to be a "Glow Girl."   I think she's just excited to be tan even though she's been working her butt off inside an office the past month.

Here are a couple of "before" photos.  The pink-haired model is Ashley Baker- a childhood friend of Keri's and the blonde is Andrea Post.  Both very beautiful girls who claim they'd never modeled before.... I don't believe them.

Alex Goldstein at work.  I asked her if she made airbrush dolphin t-shirts too, but she said no...

And of course, the after photos...