Wedding Show

If you saw this booth at the Elite Events Wedding Show on Sunday, then you talked to me. I want to thank everyone for showing up. These shows are the best way to find all of the vendors you need for your wedding. You get to meet the people and see for your self if they are someone that you can spend your whole wedding day with. ( Because some people are just jerks and you know you will wind up slapping them if the two of you don't jive.)
It was also very nice to meet several new photographers to the show. Shannon Belletti was a fresh breath of air, her work was very good. Kike Morales was very enthusiastic and I hope to have him in my Wedding Photography workshop this fall. ( July is FULL WOW !) and sold out in two days ! Another new photographer was Liana, I only got to speak with her for a moment as she had display problems at the beginning of the show. But her photos looked good. David Christensen was a very nice guy and his work is solid. Mike Morrell had a booth for Video and Still Photography, it was his first show also. Bill Hampton, I would love to have you in class as well as the over the road driver that I met. If you can't come to class , buy the DVD .
It was also very good to see Jerome Spivey( And his BEAUTIFUL Daughter) and Matt Bowman. Lets do lunch !

Why I Love Being a Photographer in the South

Because every where you turn, there are places like this to shoot.

Please enjoy a few photos from tonight's wedding in LaGrange, Ga. It is 12:45 AM and I just got to my hotel. I have a Wedding Show to set up in 9 hours but I just had to take a look at what I shot today.

Thank you Girl Scouts, this hotel has no late room service so the Shortbread Cookies are a life saver.

New York City

It is Sunday and I just got in from my job in New York. Last night was a fantastic cruise around Manhattan on a beautiful yacht. I was shooting a surprise dinner party for a man's 50th birthday. I will be making a custom 8"x17" album with a brass cover, when opened the album will be 34" long, with panoramic views of New York City as background photos with party photos laid in on top. I have posted just a few photos of some of the scenery. When we cruised past the Statue of Liberty it was kind of emotional. It was a time and place where you needed to be with Someone Special.

Do you Do "City " Weddings ?

I advertise all over the US on a web site called WedAlert. I guess it is a cheesy play on words for "Red Alert" Most of my brides were not even born the last time the term "Red Alert" was ever used. It means that The Communist Russians were attacking.
Anyway, I get e mails every day from brides all over the country because I advertise in every state and county in the United States. It cost a FORTUNE and is really not worth the time and effort it takes to respond to so many e mails from folks that just might not have the photography budget to cover my services. But, I respond anyway. A few weeks ago, I got this e mail from a young lady in New York. I guess after viewing my profile and seeing some of my photos on Wed Alert she decided that she liked my style and had to inquire about my services. I will say that I was just dumbfounded for a few moments when I read her e mail. It Said "I see that you are in Georgia, do you do "City" weddings.
Well after laughing I got to thinking, the only news coverage us Southerners ever get is when a Tornado goes threw a trailer park, and other such stuff. Later that day while in the grocery store I was in the check out line and this photo caught my eye.

The real reason that I took a second look is that I thought that I knew the guy in the foreground.

Now for the truth about me. All of my family lives in the Appalachian mountains. Except me.

My parents spent there honeymoon in 1950 on Lake Burton in the North GA mountains. They bought property there in the 1960s. I spent a lot of time there. Maybe to much time.

I know how to make a Moonshine Still. (Got suspended from school and won the Clayton County science Fair in 1979 all at the same time !)

When my parents retired and moved to the lake in 1980 we had to start telling my mom to put her shoes on when she came to visit. See the photos below, the kids and I still have to remind her. Please do not misunderstand me, the people that live in the North GA hills are not all banjo totting inbred albinos. (Well MOST of them aren't)) The homes on the lake can not be bought for anywhere less than one million dollars, and 3 million is not uncommon. My parents live there as do my brother and his wife Marie. I will be there as soon as the kids leave for collage in a few years. Photo is of my much older brother Allen, he is 13 years older than I. I was a "miracle" or "Accident" child, depends on who you ask. Photo shows my parents and my brother standing in front of my Dad's wood work shop where he builds the coolest tables, beds and benches.

And of course I do City Weddings. I will post photos from the job I am shooting this weekend in Manhattan. The event is on a yacht and we will be cruising the Hudson river and New York Harbor with the New York skyline in the background.

Portraits

As I get a little older, sometimes I think about opening a Portrait Studio. Everyone who knows me knows just how much I HATE having to go to a specific place every day to go to work. That is why I quit my job at the custom pro lab 18 years ago in 1987. And that was just a Part-Time job.
The showroom space that I am considering has FANTASTIC LOFT STUDIO SPACE !!! It is actually larger than my old space in the loft in McDonough. Almost 4000 sq ft. See some photos below. Also see a few of the portraits that I shot of my assistant Erin yesterday. Tell me what you think.

Below are inside photos of Showroom and Studio space.

The Horses are Fine

Many of you have seen the story of my bride and groom from last weekend that were hit by a van while on a carriage ride. I got 38 e mails asking, how they were, was I there, did I see it, ect.... Twenty of those e mails asked about the horses. The horses are fine. The driver and his assistant are now out of the hospital and are very rough looking. Scroll down to see my posts from last week to see photos from the wedding.