Alex the Photo Blog

I was approached a couple of months ago to participate in a new Vanderbilt alumni networking event called Headshots and Happy Hour.  The premise is simple.   Send out notice to the alumni association about a networking event where you can come hang out, have a few beers, and mingle.  The neat part is that for a small fee, people can have a professional photographer (me!) snap a couple of pix of them before they get too many beers deep.  That way they can update their Linkedin or Facebook profiles without the crappiness of mall photo studios or paying a few hundred bucks for a full session fee.  All in all I really enjoyed.  I got to meet a lot of new people, give out business cards and tell them about Alex the Photo Guy and take a few pix along the way!  Here are some of the shots we got with a simple white background and 3 lights.

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.

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:

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. 

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