Kiddies

Isabella McKinney

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A few Saturdays ago, I had the pleasure of taking photos of one of the more serious babies I know.  The truth is that she's a very happy and fun child, but when a camera comes around she's all business.  My take on it is that when you photograph young ones, you take them out of their element- whether that be changing clothes, mom and dad yelling from a distance to get your attention, or it could be travelling to a place they've never been.  What I found with Isabella was that as soon as we stepped onto Agnes Scott's campus in Decatur, she was just too curious about her surroundings to think about smiling.  She wanted to play with the grass or put things in her mouth to take it all in.  Once she got comfortable we got some smiles and a good bit of laughter as well.  You'll see a mix of both here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perry Family in Centennial Olympic Park!

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On the first day of the year with perfect weather, Keri and I decided to have a picnic prior to the Perry photo shoot at Piedmont Park.  I figured she and I could get there and just hang out for a bit basking the warm pre-spring sunlight.  We had a great relaxing time... then Molly called and informed me that she had chosen Centennial Park for the shoot, not Piedmont.  Entirely my fault, because I realized she did tell me correctly.  It's just when she was talking about the playground and great skyline views, I envisioned the same thing... at a different spot.  Oops! But the weather was amazing, so we had plenty of time to get all of these fun shots in.  By far my favs were at the fountain below. 

The Sullivan Family

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Last Sunday I had the pleasure of taking pictures of Amanda and Brad Sullivan's family.  Well, I guess when you get married and have a kid, your parents and sister turn into "extended family?"  Funny how that works.  These photos were taken on a Sunday afternoon at their home in Brookhaven.  Elana is Amanda's 19 month old daughter.  She was quite the funny photo subject in that whenever she was having her picture taken she would squirm and fidget and walk away.  Apparently however, I wasn't the problem because she'd immediately walk up to me and smile.  No idea why she only did that when out of the frame, but it was the case.  Nora, Amanda's neice (9 month old), really had no idea what was going on, but she was a happy baby that enjoyed the taste of leaves in the front yard (see second to last photo).  Fiber is good for digestion, I guess?

 

And I just had to put this one in the mix...

Holiday and Greeting Cards

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Just a fun little reminder that when you have a portrait session with Alex the Photo Guy, you get a nifty online gallery of your photos to share with family and friends.  Along with that gallery you get access to all kinds of exciting gifts, prints, canvas prints, and cards.  The cards are super easy to make online with hundreds of customizable templates.  Here are a few from recent portrait sessions. 

Click on the cards for a larger view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays from Alex the Photo Guy!

 

Braxton Romeyn | atlanta portrait photographer

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A few days before Thanksgiving this year I had the pleasure of photographing baby Braxton.  He was born last month to a couple of good friends from my day job.   This shoot was a lot of fun, but also helped me remember the top two rules of easy baby photography:

#1:  Make sure the baby is asleep. #2:  Babies hate being nekkid. 

I really think the saying should be changed to "let sleeping babies lie."  Sleeping babies are just as cute as awake babies, but don't fuss or cry.  As far as rule #2 goes, I think it's pretty easy to understand.  If you were nekkid and had someone taking pictures, I'm sure you'd cry too.  If you must have nekkid baby photos, save them for the end of the shoot so the babies can get at least some time to be happy and comfy.

The fall leaves outside were an awesome spot for a backdrop (though they sometimes made the photo look like "hey, someone left a baby over there in those leaves!").   Believe it or not, daddy claims he raked the entire yard last weekend and filled 15 yard bags.  I guess it's the price you pay for nice foliage.

 

 

 

See rule #2 above.

And the unintentional last photo that ended up being mommy's favorite.

New Alex The Photo Guy site is LIVE!

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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.

The Giles Family | Atlanta Portrait Photographer

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I can say the Giles family is one of my favorite repeat customers thus far.  Granted, most of my shoots are weddings and it would be terrible to say I have favorite repeat customers there... though I really toyed with the idea of a company motto that read, "If you aren't happy with your photos, you're next wedding is free!"  Most people probably wouldn't get the humor as a lot can be lost in translation on the interwebs. These photos were taken at Thrasher Park in downtown Norcross.  It was a great spot... actually a little too great as the place was PACKED with familes and kids running around everywhere.  In fact, I think there were 3 other professional photographers there doing the same thing I was. 

And finally, the "why is this guy following me around???" look.

An Auburn Wedding

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Apparently going out of the country means you forget about all the work you wanted to do before you left.  My sister, who attended Auburn for undergrad, sent me a text last night that read "hey- you still haven't blogged about that Auburn wedding! I want to see the pix!" Sorry for the delay!  I had a great time in Auburn for Regan and Jeff's wedding weekend.  Everything was beautiful and was at a cute little chapel right across from Samford Hall on campus.  There were hints of rain, but never caused anyone any problems.  Regan looked beautiful in her dress and Jeff looked distinguished with his silver vest and tie.  The reception was definitely a party!  I have so many pictures of people dancing you'd think they were at a downtown NYC club and not an antebellum home in Auburn.  Afterward I went out with all the bridesmaids (and their husbands) and ended up eating pizza with a few friends from the wedding in a hotel room until 4am.   Most photographers don't get such a royal treatment...  :)

 

 

War Eagle!

The Merrell Family at Berkeley Lake!

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Spencer and I were buddies in college at Vanderbilt.  As luck would have it, he married a beautiful Columbian woman, moved to Atlanta, and had two adorable little boys.  We've kept in touch over the years and Catalina also works with me at the Wells, so it all just fell in place that I'd be photographing their kids.   We had a great Sunday afternoon taking photos at Berkeley Lake park and later topped it off at the Merrell household sharing lawn maintenance tips over a beer in their backyard.  All in all a really fun shoot.

Baby Lucas was so excited to play with his big brother.  :)

Natalie Perry and Keri Mercer (the younger one)

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The weather last weekend was amazing here in Atlanta.  Though fall is my official favorite season, Spring is a close second...

And starting off this spring was Natalie Perry's baptism on Sunday.  You may remember this beautiful baby from this post last fall.  These photos were taken from the second row at the Clairmont Presbyterian Church as we were considered "VIPs" for the occasion.  Though we didn't get backstage passes, Natalie was definitely a rock star (if you can say that about someone in church). 

 

 

Apparently Natalie loves bath time and was intruigued by the holy water. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day Keri and I went to her niece's birthday party.   I think it would be an awesome goal in life to have someone name their baby after me- and my girlfriend already has that.  Keri's niece is Keri ("baby Keri" as she is referred to, though I can't imagine she'll like that nickname in her teenage years).  She turned 6 on Sunday and had a massive cake that looked like it was straight out of Fern Gully:

 

mmmmm cupcakes....

 

 

 

Sidewalk chalk is always a messy, dirty, pant ruining  fun bday present.

 

 

The birthday girl:

 

Bianca:

Help-Portrait Today!

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Today is Help-Portrait! I'm blogging on-site to give all 3 readers of my blog an update. Things here are going great! I'm at the post-processing table for a while working in Lightroom. It's been so much fun getting to meet and talk with photogs from all over Atlanta.

Most of the families we're taking pix of are associated with Families First Midtown. Families First is an organization that helps families with everything including foster child adoption, family counseling, helping homeless new mothers, and a number of other issues. It's a really awesome organization that helps all over Atlanta.

We've had a bunch of families through here getting their pix done. Overall the Atlanta Help-Portrait is expecting.400+ families at the 5 locations. There are definitely some cute kiddies around here.

That's all for now. Hope to have some behind the scenes shots up next week!

Picnic in the Park

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These photos were also taken before my camera busted.  As an update, a repair shop called Camera Repair Japan is currently replacing the shutter and mirror mechanisms in my camera and should have it ready in a week or two (and SquareTrade will reimburse me).  Until then, still using my lenses on others' cameras. Here are Keri's nieces and nephew Hali, Maya, and Sean in Piedmont Park a few Sundays ago.    Just shooting around for fun because Sundays in the park in the fall are just so amazing...  fall is by far my favorite season.

Be sure to click "Continue Reading" below for more photos!

The whole gang:

With beautiful subjects, you really only need a few minutes.

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Of course my typical portrait session is 1 to 2 hours and I enjoy every moment of photo taking.   However, this one was cut to just 15 minutes due to technical difficulties... as in my camera died 15 minutes into the shoot.  "ERROR99" is never a message you want to see on your pride and joy (I have no kids, so my camera holds the title of "pride and joy."  However if any of my kids ever get a tattoo that says "ERROR99" I'll have bigger problems). This is why I endorse (but get no endorsement commissions) SquareTrade.  They offer warranties for all types of electronics, including many used ones at 25% of the price other retailers offer.  I never thought I'd have to use a warranty, but now I'm really glad I got it.  SquareTrade says they'll have it for me in 5 business day.

But like I said, with beautiful subjects, you really only need a few minutes.  Here is the Giles Family.  Stephen, Kathy, Norah, and Caroline.  Enjoy!

Addy Bassett

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These photos are from Labor Day weekend at the lake house up in Blairsville.   My sister brought her new brother and sister-in-law, who brought the latest addition to the Bassett family.  Or maybe I should say Addy-tion.  Or maybe that's too cheesy.  Let's not say that.  :) Addy was a treat to play with and photograph.  She was so laid back and only cried once the whole day.  We took these photos with my trusty 50mm f/1.8 by natural window light, on the back porch, and in the hammock with daddy.  All in all cute pics of a cute baby.

Pete & Chloe (and a little of Charlene)

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Not surprisingly this is way overdue.   I had such grand plans of updating my blog with all of my 2009-thus-far photos in one week, but with my laziness I've treated each entry as if I just shot them.  After this post, I think I just have one more "post-post" blog entry, then I can move on to shooting more and trying to keep up. Here are Pete and Chloe.   Beautiful children of my friend Charlene.   We did this shoot just outside of downtown Norcross, GA in the midday sun.  My biggest rookie mistake- don't shoot in direct harsh sunlight unless you have to!  I did my best to counterbalance the shots in the sun with fill flash, but all in all I should have taken a lot more pix in the shade as they were the ones that came out best.  This was one of those shoots that when I left, I thought "holy crap, I made a bunch of rookie mistakes and may have a very unhappy client."   But as it turned out, she's ordered more prints than any of my wedding clients.  :)

 

Pete, Charlene, Chloe:

 

 

 

 

 

As tough as it is having your picture taken anytime in your teen years, Charlene told me Pete even thought he looked like Tom Brady in this pic.  I have to agree with him!

 

Chloe was quite the ham...

Richmond Boys

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Here are a few shots of the Richmond boys when Keri and I had the pleasure of spending time with them up in Commerce, GA.   Jackson is the oldest, follwed by Tate and then Garrett. 

This was just a "hey- do you mind if I take a few pictures?" type of shoot.  Nothing formal or fancy- I just happened to have my camera with me.  It also reminded me of how much fun shooting in available light with a $90 lens- the 50mm f./1.8.   If you are a new photographer- buy this lens.  Nikon and Canon both have them and they're dirt cheap.  It's a great backup lens, lightweight, takes awesome shots, and can open up a whole new world of available light photography.  In most situations there will basically be no need to use your flash.  Just open up the f stop to 1.8 and blast away getting that cool "background out of focus" look. 

One day I'll have booked enough gigs to afford the f/1.2 version.  Apparently, if you own that lens, the pictures basically take themselves.   Soon enough....