Rebecca & Lucky: Part 2 [Athens Wedding Photography]

A bit behind on blogging in case my avid readers can't tell.  Here is part two of Rebecca & Lucky's Athens wedding.  I will say out of most of the weddings I shoot- these guys threw a pretty wild reception!  I start this series with the following shot of the father of the groom- just to give you an idea of the festivities to come.

Yep- the fire department showed up.  I'm not entirely sure if we had anything to do with it or not...but I assume so.  We waited until the firemen went inside the hotel before we lit the sparklers for the exit.  ;)

'Lil Mac 6 Months

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to take 6 month photos of Mac Brown.  Aside from his pretty awesome name (I always think of Mike Tyson's Punch Out when I hear "'lil Mac"), he also happens to be a pretty darn cute baby.  I'd say he did a great job being a model while on a cold floor in front of a big flashing light.  Maybe next time I'll bring an electric blanket to put underneath the white seamless paper.  Photographing babies is always a learning process for me.  :)

And for those interested in the white backdrop setup, here it is- though you can't see the big studio light & softbox off the camera left.  Sorry Kacie for including you- I just had to show that "about to freak out" face of Mac's.  :)

Double-Header + 2 Portrait Session Weekend Teaser!

My friends generally know that I often have busy weekends.  However, this weekend was my first wedding double-header in a while- one Friday and one Saturday.  On top of that I had a maternity/family session on Sunday and a 3-month baby session on Monday.  Needless to say I was a bit nervous about it all week.  My main fear, oddly enough, was that I throw my back out at the Friday wedding and was unable to shoot the Saturday wedding.  That obviously didn't happen, but I did find out for sure that I have begun getting tennis elbow from lifting about 15 pounds of camera, batteries, battery grip, flash, and wireless flash trigger over 1,000 times each day with poor form by my right arm.  Both nights I actually had to ice my elbow!  I'm getting old!

Both weddings went great.  If you were outside at all this weekend you know the weather was some of the best Atlanta has to offer.  Blue skies, warm days, cool evenings- just about everything you could ask for in a wedding- both of which were outdoors!  I'll give more dedicated posts on both weddings once I get through editing the photos, but I will say I had a ton of fun all weekend.  Rachel and Andy had such a fun group of guests and bridal party at Park Tavern that I ended up spending most of my time on the dance floor!

Here are a few photos from Rachel and Andy's wedding:

Lindsey and Mario had a beautiful wedding at Donaldson Bannister Farm in Dunwoody- actually the very first one that the venue has seen!  I initially thought they "just" planned the wedding (note: the word "just" is in quotations), but after the ceremony Mario told me the ceremony site- a beautiful grassy garden area on the property- was a swimming pool just about a month ago!  He laid all of the sod and did the landscaping himself!  Here are a few from their wedding:

Now here are a couple from the Sullivan family shoot followed by two from my sister's 3-month old- Hudson.  I know I know- I'm an incredibly efficient blogger!  I say that jokingly- more on these 4 events to come!

Jessica and Jeff | Atlanta Wedding Photography

Jessica and Jeff's wedding was one of the most fun weddings I've been to, including many that I attend as a guest.  The two of them did a superb job of a true DIY wedding.  Take a look at the photos and see at how they turned a grassy field into a beautiful ceremony and an open part-time photography studio  into a warm party palace.  The incredible food was provided by the tastiest food truck I've ever met met- Ibiza Bites (see marshmallow fluff covered sweet potato fires below!).  There was beauty at every turn, be it the weather, the preparations, or simply the bride and groom.  I couldn't have asked for a better wedding to shoot.  Even after the bridal getaway, the DJ  (Andrew Wroblewski, featured below) spun tunes while the bridesmaids packed up the decorations and leftover beer.  I can't say I didn't end up with decorations and beer in my hatchback at the end of the night.  ;)

 

Lou and Erin Not Posing

If you are an avid reader of Alex the Photo Blog (and I know you are!), then you know Lou!  Well, back in 2010, Lou let me test out my latest lighting setup for a studio shoot for his newly launched website.  We came away with a bunch of fun photos, one of which ended up making it's rounds at the office and on his Match.com profile.  Little known to the two of us how much one little photo can impact the rest of your life.  His lovely fiance, Erin, was searching around on the site in late 2010 and clicked on it simply because she thought it was so unique, sending him a little message that would change his life.  Now they are engaged to be married in September (and you-know-who is the photographer!).  I am so excited for the both of them, and also so glad I could be a part of how they met.  :)  Since then, I've actually been hired for a few online dating photo sessions and have fun doing them.  Who knows what a new photo could do for you...  here's the one of Lou that made all the difference:

For their engagements they hired me to come hang out with them for a day.  They said they would not pose for any photos (unless they were funny).  Of course everyone needs a little guidance on how and where to do what, but these two were just naturally comfortable in front of the camera making my job much easier.  I'll start off with the one that got such great buzz on Facebook with almost 100 "likes."

Then our loose-take on Annie Lebovitz' John and Yoko Rolling Stone photo (no, Lou didn't want to get naked).

Headshots and Happy Hour!

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.

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.  :)