Alex the Photo Blog

This is a continuation of the Venice, Italy post I did on Monday.  Italy has a ridiculous amount of picturesque scenes.  Any idiot could have gotten these shots.    And as always, click on the pix for bigger versions!

I can’t claim this one.  This is the one where Keri snatched the camera from me (she really never does this) and said, “no, shoot from behind the railing, don’t shoot over it!”   I gotta say, she’s got an eye when she’s not afraid to use it. 

As I have alluded to in the past, it always takes me a while to edit my personal photos.  When I go on vacation and take pictures, it always seems that when I get back, paid gigs seem to come my way and take precedent to whatever personal work I want to take care of.  As far as mine and Keri’s Italy trip goes, I had weddings, portrait sessions, and the fact that I took 2,600 photos working against me.

I’m trying to chip away at it city by city from the trip.  You can see Day 1 in Suttgart, Germany here.  I’ve finally gotten through days 2 & 3 in Venice and soon to come will be days 4 & 5 in Cinque Terre.  Feel free to give me honest feedback as I’m normally more of a portrait photographer than I am of landscapes.  If you have an interest in any prints in particular, email me!

The Rialto Bridge

We went to the island of Murano and watched this guy turn the glowing blob of glass below…

…to this in about 5 minutes.

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.

A few weeks ago I was asked to help my friend Erin at The Nature Conservancy’s yearly donor event, “The Hoochie” (formerly “Hoochie on the Coochie”).  They originally wanted to hire me, but I chose instead to volunteer my photography services for the event since it’s such a wonderful organization- even if they scrutinize photography agreements more than any bride I’ve met with.     You can read more here about what TNC does.

This year’s event was hosted at the Top Hat Soccer fields in Buckhead.  I’m not sure what I originally expected, but I definitely didn’t think anyone would put a soccer field in the heart of Buckhead’s elite neighborhoods including the famous Tuxedo Road.  It really was beautiful driving through these neighborhoods before the event. 

The “pre-party” was hosted at the home of Martin and Jennifer Flanagan overlooking the fields.  I can’t really describe how amazing this house was, so I’ll let the first pictures speak for themselves.  The rest are from the event.  Enjoy!

The Georgia director of the TNC, Shelly Lakly, with Wendy and Hank Paulson (left to right).

Inman Allen, son of Atlanta’s Ivan Allen Jr.

Fresh shucked oysters all night long.

Erin at the “Birds of Prey” show just before dinner.  I’m pretty sure she had no idea they’d have a python there…

The auction tent.

Keri has been working her butt off lately, so a couple of weeks ago we both decided to take a day off and do Atlanta-y things.  The weather was perfect, so we rode bikes around Decatur, took a stroll through Oakland Cemetery (much more interesting and educational than it sounds), and ate at Sun in my Belly, Six Feet Under, and Caroll Street Cafe.  We also figured we’d go somewhere that we haven’t been since elementary school- the Zoo.

All in all a fun filled day that included french toast, graves, and pandas… very few days incorporate all of these things.

Keri and I experienced a very Hitchcock moment at the bird exhibit.  If you’ve ever been, you know all the bright colorful birds in the first few photos below are in a big netted and gated area that you can walk through.  We were with a bunch of other people for the first few minutes watching the birds and hearing all the cacophonous chirping.  However, as soon as the other people left Keri and I alone in there, all of the chirping stopped for about 10 seconds…. we thought were were about to be attacked.  Luckily the chirping started again as the birds knew they wouldn’t get away with it. 

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Howdy!   Last month a few of us went to NYC.   Keri and Greta had never been before and it was my third time.   Over the five days we were able to see most everything we wanted to… in fact, Keri and I got to see David Letterman tell the world his extortion/blackmail story.   No joke!  We were in the 2nd row for that taping!  It was very interesting (kind of surreal)… and a bit awkward because no one saw it coming.   We were told by the CBS pages to laugh at everything, but toward the end we just couldn’t.

Aside from the TMZ moment we had, I was able to snap a few pictures.  Even though the weather was cloudy everyday (except the day we left, of course), I think I had a few good shots.

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The next day Curt and I went to Mt. Rainier and hiked and camped there.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The mountain was amazing (and intimidating), the flowers were blooming all over the place, and the views were incredible.  I can’t say we even made it halfway up, though we got close.   We had views of a glacier and waterfall and came up on the most amazing bathroom I’ve ever seen.  Aside from a delta flight, I can’t say I’ve been to a toilet at such a high altitude.   We camped at “Cougar Rock” campgrounds.  The name was incredibly misleading as Curt and I found no older single women looking to prey upon younger men.  Maybe it just wasn’t hunting season.

These first few pictures were from a “rustic garden” on the way to the park.  It was too ridiculous not to stop and take pictures.  I’ll stop and let the pictures do the rest of the talking…  fun trip.  Highly recommend it to anyone looking for some beautiful scenery and good camping.

Sneaky Maytag....

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