Alex the Photo Blog

This is to build on the teaser I put up a couple of weeks ago found here from the Barnhart/Lord wedding in Athens, GA.  The ceremony was great and the reception was jam-packed full of  fun, food, and dancing.  As much as I love DJs and recorded dance music, it’s hard to beat a good wedding band.  The the Bride and groom were happy as can be and were not fearful of bustin’ a move on the dance floor!  As usual, I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.  Brides don’t typically hire me fore my literary skills.  :)

The bride’s daughter was able to watch the “first look” from a window nearby.

One of my favorite things about this church was that the kids were able to ring the bell after the ceremony.  How cool is that!?

This happened to be a photo taken by accident when my on-camera flash was switched off… and I liked it.  :)

With the late night show Friday night keeping me out until roughly 5am, I was much less ambitious with photos on my second day at JazzFest.  Not to mention there were easily 30% more people on Saturday vs. Friday meaning that if I wanted to push my way up to the front of some of the more popular stages (CeeLo, Tom Petty), it would mean telling Keri and my friends goodbye for the next few hours.  I decided to spend most of my time sticking around my friends and snapping photos of some of the people of JazzFest.  It’s funny that one of the common themes I found throughout the day was lots of love in the air.  Coupled with the engagement I saw on Friday, there were lots of lovey-dovey people all over!  It was all really sweet to me.  While I came for the music and the food, others came for love- maybe just bringing couples closer together.  I decided to feature some of of here in addition to the shows I caught.

Though these next two in these photos aren’t together, Alex and Allie just got married in October and are a very awesome couple… especially since they bought matching RayBans at the ‘fest.  :)

Now for other photos.  Here is Feist on the Gentilly Stage:

Carolina Chocolate Drops:

New Orleans Bingo Show on The Gentilly Stage:

Though I still have plenty of photos from London to share, I decided my blog time would be better spent live blogging.  Wednesday, Keri and I traveled for 17 hours on planes, trains, and automobiles to get from London to Atlanta.  We did laundry, slept, re-packed, and left the next morning for JazzFest in New Orleans!  I love vacations like these, but I will say the lack of sleep is finally catching up with me.  I noticed it at about 2am last night at the Anders Osborne late night show at the Republic.

I’ve posted about JazzFest before, here and here.  This year was no different.  Keri and I joined some awesome friends down here at hit the stages yesterday with plans to hit them again today in about an hour.  I have figured out a pretty good system in order to get good pics while also spending time with the group.  I’ll pick the shows I want to see and when the band hits their first few notes I’ll walk straight up to the stage with my Canon 5d and 70-200mm lens, stay for 2 songs, then get out of there before security gets annoyed with all of the photographers crowding the stage.  The trick is to walk with the lens in the air looking like I belong there making no eye contact with anyone- just focus on the spot at the stage you’re aiming for.  The lens in the air serves two purposes- one is to show the bouncers that you have the right equipment and the other is to somewhat block their view of my face and the fact that I have no credentials.  The best one yesterday was going to see Bon Iver- the closing show for the day at one of the main stages.  It was pretty slammed,  but I was able to sneak past security using these tactics so easily that I almost blew my cover by stopping short before the stage.  Instead, I had to go full throttle and get right up to the stage in one quick move, otherwise my cover would be blown.  I snapped enough photos for 2 songs or so and go out of there before I was kicked out.  I knew I didn’t want to make myself known in case I wanted to get up there today.   It all worked like a charm!

Bon Iver:

Slavic Soul Party:

Eric Lindell:

Chuck Leavell:

… and randomly saw a girl get engaged and run to tell her friends, so I naturally snapped a few shots and congratulated her.  It was really sweet and I hope she emails me so I can send these to her!

There is plenty more to come from the Barnhart/Lord wedding I shot 2 weeks ago in Athens, GA.  I just thought I’d post a couple of them from this great Athens wedding!  So fun in fact that they had an 8-year-old break dancing.  No joke!

We have had a great response from the people guessing about who caught the bouquet at last weekend’s wedding.  Some of you may be surprised at the results.  Here’s a reminder of the scene:

And here are the results, shot by shot!

There was a bit of a twist in that I think the bouquet clipped a chandelier.  No matter, because you can still see the girls diving for it!  The victor was the Sister of the Bride (Girl #5)!  Congrats to Sarah Barnhart for catching the ever elusive bouquet and congrats to Molly Perry for being the winner of the drawing out of all the correct guesses!  Thanks to everyone for playing.  I hope to have more fun contests on the blog!  If you haven’t done so already, please stop by the Facebook page to like Alex the Photo Guy so you can keep up to date on contests in your news feed!

I’ve never had a contest on the blog before and I’ve always thought this would be a fun one to do.  Of all the photos I take at weddings, one my of my favorites is always the half second before the bridal bouquet is caught.  Seeing the facial expressions of all the girls on the dance floor ready to dive at those tossed flowers always makes me smile.  I would say the same about the garter toss, but we all know most of those end up with a guy saying “um, here- you take it!”   The following photo is from the Barnhart/Lord wedding I shot last weekend in Athens.  You have to guess which girl caught the bouquet based on the following choices:

#1:  Girl in orange looking suspiciously calm
#2:  Bridesmaid with tasty beverage in hand looking for the left hand snag
#3:  Lavender dress girl potentially screaming in flower girl’s ear
#4:  Flower girl (always a sleeper in these contests)
#5:  Sister of the bride readying herself to dive based on the left hand skirt pull
#6:  Little girl in blue with two hand grab possibility
#7:  Other little girl that looks like she may have a good vertical
#8:  Blue dress girl with the two handed long reach

The rules are simple.  Everyone make a guess in the comments below or on the Alex the Photo Guy Facebook page (I’ll count both locations, but only one vote).  For those that get it right, I will draw a name and email you a $5 Starbucks Giftcard!  Yes- a real prize that will at least buy you a cup of coffee!  Contest ends Friday.  Good luck!

Something that may not be a surprise to you is that I love music.  I’ve been playing in a band for a few years with good friends and I love seeing live shows whenever I can.  When I attend shows around town, I always try [when I remember ahead of time] to work a trade deal with one of the bands playing:  put me on the list, and I’ll shoot and I’ll give you photos for your website.  Though it’s a bit more work for me than it is for them, I love taking photos and seeing shows for free.  :)  Most of all, I know that I’m supporting musicans at a time where it is increasingly hard to live on the income.  I can speak to it first hand that trying to make money on your music is nearly impossible- between producing an album and EP, instrument repair and replacement, and gas money our band is well in the hole… but we love it and we still do it.  Knowing that I can mix my photography passion with my music passion gives me all kinds of warm and fuzzies on the inside.  Here are photos from a recent shoot with Company of Thieves and Girl in a Coma at Vinyl Atlanta.  The lighting was pretty tough in here, so I ended up mostly with singer photos.  The next show I shoot at Vinyl, I plan to try and work out some lighting… or invest in a camera with better ISO performance.