Alex the Photo Blog

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.  :)

A few of weekends ago, we had a couple in town with their two daughters, Lila and June.   Aside from the fact that “Lila and June” would be the best name for a Nashville country duo (don’t worry, Daddy is helping push them in the musical direction), they also just happen to be two of the sweetest little girls I know.  Sunday afternoon before they went back to Nashville we were able to spend a couple of hours at a nearby park and walk the trails of the old Decatur Water Works.  Though it was a cloudy day, I think we were able to still get a few casual fun shots of the girls.  Apparently while on the way to Atlanta on Friday, June said to Mommy and Daddy, “I don’t wanna go to Georgia!”  By the end of Sunday in the park she said “I want to STAY in Georgia!”  :)

In case you missed the photos from Friday of Mario and Lindsey’s wedding, click here!  Now, check out Part two of their beautiful wedding at Donaldson-Bannister Farm in Dunwoody, GA!

Homemade cake by a family friend and Dad rehearsing his toast:

One of Mario’s brothers’ notes for his toast….

…and he was a huge hit.

There are two distinct ways to get a man on the dance floor, as shown here:

I shot Lindsey and Mario’s wedding in October last year on the same weekend as Rachel & Andy’s wedding.  I also recently met with the woman who helped with the venue to put it on, Linda Shulin.  When I initially met Lindsey & Mario and heard they picked a beautiful location that generally doesn’t host many events, I didn’t think much of it other than “cool!  I new venue to check out!”  During and after the wedding, I came to find out how much work went into just getting the wedding approved there, let alone the WORK they all put into it!

When Keri and I had our wedding, we did it semi-DIY by choosing venues where we could bring all our own stuff versus paying the venue to do it all or contract it out.  We thought that was a challenge at times.  Lindsey and Mario chose a historical home owned by the city of Dunwoody that had never seen a wedding in recent years and was being modestly maintained by volunteers.  Lindsey, Mario, their families, Linda and I’m sure a number of others made it happen through much paperwork, permitting, and heavy duty landscaping!  It helps that Lindsey is a lawyer and Mario is a landscape architect.  :)

I was told a number of hours were put in for many days making the venue as beautiful as it was that fall day.  The most notable of which is that the location where the actual ceremony took place (the grassy area with the hand-made-by-Mario white arbor) was an old swimming pool just 2 days before the wedding!  Mario, friends, and family filled it in and sodded it so they could hold the ceremony there!  I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of so much hard work going into a wedding on top of all that jazz about finding a dress, caterer, DJ, and god-awful photographer.  ;)  Check out the photos below from one of the most beautiful DIY weddings I’ve ever heard of.

This was a POOL a few days prior!

And finally, a groomsmen idea.  :)

Here is Day 3 of Imaging USA, including portfolio review, an aerial photo booth, the 8×12′ Sharpie mural by Jai, and the Lifetime Achievement Award given to Greg Gorman.

The aerial photobooth.  Pretty cool idea from Leah and Mark

Jai’s PPA masterpiece

Greg Gorman was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Award and Degree Ceremony Tuesday night.  Check out his website (specifically the celebrities) to see the incredible work he’s done.  You’ve likely seen it before.

Imaging USA Day 1 was a ton of fun, and Day two continued on with the same emotions.  Day two was where I realized what a historic organization PPA is.  To give perspective, I asked an employee “so, how many of these events have there been?”  The answer I got was “I dunno- maybe 120 or so?”  I knew PPA has been around, but I had no idea they celebrated their 50th anniversary as an organization in 1930!  You can read more about PPA’s history here, including some amazing stories that range from World War I Signal Corps photographers becoming honorary PPA members to George Eastman introducing the first Kodak camera and film system to convention goers in 1888.  Once again, I was so happy to be a part of this historic organization and convention.

In addition to classes and the expo, PPA students were taking certification exams.

Dane Sanders giving away prizes after his class.

The Muñoz Brothers taught a very exciting and humorous live shooting class

Including posing tips…

The official PPA mascot for the event- Flash- heading downstairs to the Expo.

David Bergman showing the Nikon booth area how to snap great event and sport photos.

Photographing the volunteers proves to be quite humorous.  They were barking questions as me from below.  ”What’s your f-stop!?  What camera setting are you using?!”  When I would tell them my answer, they would always reply “NO! That’s wrong!!!”  :)

Lindsey Adler teaching a small group of PPA students.

Michael Barton came away with a few awards at the Grand Imaging Awards ceremony, including photographer of the year.

This character also won an award for best image with his shot of the final shuttle launch.  I was amazed at how he took this photo.  Because NASA won’t let anyone around for miles, he set up his tripod a few miles inside the “danger zone” the day before the launch.  He set the camera up on a sound trigger and hoped for the best.  The next day, he went to find his camera had captured a number of images, including this winning shot!

Last August I was approached by the marketing director for the Professional Photographers of America (PPA).  She had seen some of the work I did at Social Media Day at Terminal West last summer.  She said she really like my event work and that they were unimpressed by last year’s event photographer at their yearly Imaging USA event.   I was extremely flattered to be chosen as the photographer to photograph photographers.  :)  It was last Sunday through Tuesday at the Georgia World Congress Center.  It was a ton of fun, albeit a little crazy with over 10,500 photographers in attendance!

Though they had pre-classes Thursday through Saturday, Sunday was opening day of the Expo.  I had my lovely assistant, Curt, with me for part of the day.  He was a great mule on the Expo floor carrying my gear and also gave me the idea to borrow a monopod from Manfrotto to get some of the “aerial” shots of the floor.  People did look at my pretty crazy hoisting my rig 7 feet in the air, but it captured a few neat shots.  First up, I have a few shots from one of the most popular speakers, Jerry Ghionis:

My favorite shot of the weekend.  Can you tell who the excited audience volunteer is in this photo?

As people gathered on the 3rd floor for the Expo opening and ribbon cutting ceremony, my event contact, Sarah Ackerman, snapped this photo from above and posted it to Twitter.  With all the hustle and bustle of the #IUSA13 tag, the photo was at one point trending on Twitter.  :)

After the ribbon cutting:

My mule assistant heading down to the Expo with me.