Christmas Eve

I know that there have not been many post showing photography stuff lately, That does not mean that I have not been busy. I had a big wedding last weekend and the Photo Restoration shop has been wall to wall with customers over the last month.
It was all fun , but the most fun I had all month was playing monopoly with my two teenagers at the lake house on Christmas Eve. We have decided that playing monopoly the night before Christmas will be a new family tradition for us to go along with the other tradition of singing Beach Boys songs in the car on the way to my family's big Christmas dinner at my niece Erica's house.

Everything is Cool, Everything is OK

I want to start this off by saying that the staff and overall organization of Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Emory in Atlanta Georgia are so AWESOME ! I was impressed the moment my son and I pulled into the parking lot at the hospital. They have Valet Parking. Does that seem snooty and excessive, not at all. What if you are a single mom with no one to help you with a sick child. Do you want to have to haul a sick or injured child threw 3 flights of parking deck stairs ? Well no.
The sidewalks have short fenced sides to keep small children from running into traffic. There were clowns in the surgery waiting room. Real clowns that were not creepy and on staff full time.
In the lobby, the local animal shelter brought in very clean puppies and small dogs for the children that are staying there to play with, and in the afternoon, they even shipped in "Stand In Grandparents" from the old folks home. This place was like a resort for children.

My son is almost to old to be a patient there as he is 17 but since he is under 18 his doctor insisted that he have his exploratory procedure done at Children Health Care of Atlanta.
The photo is of my son Garen , he was very nervous about surgery and his blood pressure was very high. This photo was taken just as the drugs to "Chill him out" were kicking in. He was hilarious. One of the nurses said the word "Respect" in conversation with the anesthesiologist and Garen started singing the Aretha Franklin song R-E-S-P-E-C-T- as they wheeled him down the hall to the OR.
The results of the procedure were great and with treatment the Doc says he will be hitting home runs and stealing bases by February.
I know that most of the time only pro photographers look at this blog. As pros, I feel that we could learn a lesson from Children Health Care and really custom tailor our services and products to the exact needs of our target customers. Remember, no one cares about what you want. They only care about what they want. Indulge them.

I Thought This Was A Photography Studio

This weekend, the lights have been moved, the backgrounds are rolled up and my son and his band mates have taken over the studio. Seems that my studio is a perfect practice location. They have their first show Thursday and are all pretty nervous.

What Have I Not Been Doing !

You name it and I'll bet I have had to do it in the last 2 months. Lets see, I have two art shows hanging at the moment. It is Christmas season at my Image Doctor photo restoration shop on the McDonough ,Ga town square. High school seniors have been ringing the phone off the hook for portrait sessions and I have weddings running out my ears. (Due to my contracts with 4 different event facilities) and relationships with two different private schools. The photos are from a few of the senior sessions.

Can You See Me Now ?

Next week my latest photography show will go on display at a restaurant in my town. Every time I do one of these, the phone starts ringing at the shop. In the past my shows have always

had something to do with a service that we offered at my shop and studio/showroom.
The shows have been:
"The Faces of Town" about local characters.
"McDonough History", that one was about Photo Restoration.
"The Last of Youth" was all photos of high school seniors.
"Kiss" A collection of hot steamy photos of couples kissing from weddings that I have shot all over the country.
The new show is different. It is a collection of photos only taken with cell phones.
The photos are all printed at 30x40 inches and were shot with my IPhone and a Motorola Razor Phone.
I was supposed to hang them today but I am running a day behind. I spent most of last night at the hospital with my son who was hurt pretty bad at his hockey game last night. His shoulder has a crack in it but we do not know how big because the swelling was so bad that a good x-ray was not possible. He had a rough night and is in a restant to keep his shoulder and rotate cuff from moving. The pain meds made him nauseous and he vomited all night and day. We go for a new x-ray and MRI on Monday. But enough about our drama, check out half of the images from may latest show, "Can You See Me Now ?" A collection of cell phone photos.

Titles are:

Go To the Light

Lake Dow Morning

Twang

The Sands of Time

Tybee Lighthouse

Untitled

I Think I See a Wisker

One Second Left in the Penalty Box

Got Crabs ?

My son and I do. Wow I never thought I would say that. This weekend my son and I were at Jekyll Island to drop off my prints for the Georgia Professional Photographers photo competition. The photo is of him and the crab burgers we had at a juke joint down by the marina. We rented bicycles and rode all over the island in the drizzling rain on Friday and then while I was watching the competition judging on Saturday morning he went fishing and crabing at the fishing pier.

I entered 6 prints and the judging was so slow. It seemed that almost every other print score was challenged and that would unleash tons of personal thoughts, comments and feelings about every little nuisance of the photo being judged from each of the 6 judges. It took forever. I split at noon after 3 hours of watching. I saw 3 of my prints be judged and the one I felt was the strongest image got the lowest score. Go figure.

There was a husband / wife team on the judging panel out of Tennessee that in my opinion we really in tune with the what was going on. Their scoring and insight as to the real world goings on of real working photographers was very insightful and I hope inspiring to the many "New" photographers in the room.

Around the Town

These few photos are from this last weekends wedding. When we have time and the bride and groom are willing, we will go on a quick run around whatever town we are in. These photos and several others that I did not post were taken during a 5 min run down some back alleys while the wedding guests were getting situated in the reception hall and having a few (a lot) of drinks.

I Said This Last Year

Outdoor weddings in Georgia in July and August are just not a good idea. It has been in the 90s here for weeks and the humidity is just unbearable if you are outdoors in a suit and tie hauling all of your equipment. And this weekend I had 3 weddings and got rained on each time. Just venting a little. Will post some links to some cool stuff soon.

Wedding School Pushed Back to Sept

Wedding School has been pushed back to September as 7 people canceled due to financial reasons. All of them said that their business was not doing so well and Wedding School was not in the budget. I have 3 weddings this weekend, hmmmmm maybe come to Wedding School and find out how I am booking all of these weddings.

The photo is from last nights event. The Ritz Carlton at Lake Oconee went all out and had a Mid Summer Nights Dream theme for this outside wedding gathering. The wait staff were all in costume and there was a bonfire with marsh mellows and smores being roasted. I am heading out there right now again as I have another wedding event this evening. Tomorrow morning I am off to the airport early as I have a wedding in Strasbourg, PA at 4pm. I will post photos from the iphone if I can.

Big News will post on Friday

Wedding School dates will be posted on friday.

South Ga Girls

This weekend I shot a wedding in Jekyll Island, Ga. It was at the Beach View Club, a place I remember as Jekyll Estates from somewhere around 1981. Anyway, the wedding was beautiful, right at the edge of the sand dunes overlooking the beach. I will post photos from this wedding this week. I would do it now but I have not downloaded them to this computer yet. Look for them around Wed. The photo was taken from my iphone at 6:45this morning.
To see the wedding album, go to www.scottevans.com Click on the GALLERY section at the bottom of the page and then go to page two.
I stayed at the beach from Friday to this morning when the sun burn and the gobs of alo vera that was all over my body kept me from sleeping. So at 5am I just got up and got ready to check out and head home.
Now, about South Ga girls. They are my dream girls. Gracious, Charming, and always dress in clothing from boutiques because there are no department stores out in the boonies. And I get to hear some of the saying that I remember from my childhood. Things like "That shrimp has just done flung a cravin' on me" or "Either the heat or the peanuts are givin' me the vapors" or the best one all weekend was "Damn it's hot, and the material this dress is made of has got me sweatin' like a whore in church"
I love my job.
Till next time,
Scott

Senior Twins

This week I had the true pleasure of photographing a couple of high school seniors that just happen to be twins. What a cool set of kids. Both honor students with over 4.0 grade point averages and wide open to all of the crazy suggestions that I came up with. Their mom was in tune with what I was thinking also. I explained to her that I like for my photos to have room to breathe, kind of like a Pink Floyd song. Just a few notes and then time to let them take on a sound of their own. That is just the way I explain it. Take the first photo in the field, to me, it has room to let your imagination go. What was in this field? Cows, hay, a baseball field 50 years ago. All of the above. Enough rambling, The field photo will be in one of my new videos, "My Favorite Photos and How They Were Made Volume 2"

The Hero

Just some photos from Saturdays wedding. The one on the stairs I call "The Hero" "My Hero" "Her Hero" just pick whatever name suits you the best.

It was really fun and fast paced when we went to make these photos after the wedding We got to my in town location right at dark so all of these outside photos are at an exposure of 1 second or more.

Monday Wedding

Well today, it quit raining just long enough for me to get this shot at the Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee. What a cool couple. We had never met until today but I knew from talking with the bride on the phone that this would be a smooth evening. It was planed well and her vibe was cool. I like shooting here and am at the top of their vendor list.

I did this job at a discount because it was a Monday, the day I normaly take off.

3 Days 4 Weddings

And the weather sucked for all of them.
Friday was outside in the rain. Saturday was 2 inside with thunderstorms and today it was outside and cold and windy. But I got some really cool images. I will post some on Monday night. I will be busy with post production for a few days. My Godsend of an assistant Tracy will be out all week so there will be no free time at all.
In the last 10 days I have photographed 6 weddings, a dance at a school and a corporate shoot. Also edited and did the artwork for 2 other weddings that Chip shot for me.
Next Friday is a prom and a wedding at the beach on Sunday. If the weather is good, I might stay at the beach for a few days, I think it will be well deserved .

One Couple Two Weddings

This weekend was a monster. Lets start with Friday. I had a Hindu wedding in downtown Atlanta at the top of a skyscraper at 2pm in the afternoon. My assistant Tracy shot the reception dinner at 7pm at a restaurant. At 6pm I loaded in and set up for the Father Daughter dance at the school where I have the photography contract. 175 fathers and daughters. All photographed and photo packages sold. Home at 11pm
Saturday morning I start round two of the Hindu wedding from the day before, only now it is a full blown Catholic wedding at the big Christ The King Cathedral in Atlanta. Same bride and groom.
At the same time, Chip McGrath is covering two smaller weddings for me at a local event facility where we also have the photo contract to supply photographers and produce finished wedding albums. The reception for the Catholic wedding is at The Biltmore in Atlanta. Home at 10pm.
Today I downloaded and started to edit my jobs and we will do Chips jobs on Tuesday. Tomorrow at 7am I am back downtown in Atlanta shooting a senator with the CEO of Equifax another one of my contracts. With all of that said, we must have all of the back end work done on all of these jobs by Thursday, as I have 4 yes 4 weddings this weekend. Photos are from Friday and Saturday.

Cell Phone Photos

Cell phone cameras have become rather good for taking snap shots. They have a high enough resolution to make good 5x7 prints and better. They do have limitations like very poor quality in low light, slow shutter speeds and fixed focus tiny little lenses but so what.
I was fooling around with my I Phone the other day and decided to see if I could make anything useful from the built in camera.
My first photo is called "Go to the Light" The 2nd one is called "One Second Left in the Penalty Box" When I told my daughter what I was trying to do she showed me the one she took with her Motorola Razor of Garen shaving. So we added that one to the collection. It's called "Think I See a Wisker"
When I get about 20 or so they will hang in a local restaurant for a while as 11x17 size prints. If you have something you shot with a cell phone and would like to have it in the show, send me the file for consideration.

If You Dont Like Ga Weather Just Wait a Day

So yesterday we got about 3 inches of rain where I live. The lake that I live on rose about 3-4 feet, washed out the road on the other side of the lake and almost flooded my fire pit.(See Photo) It rained all morning yesterday and then in the afternoon, the temp went up to 65, the sky cleared just in time for yesterdays wedding and the bride and groom had a wonderful evening. As soon as they left the reception, the wind picked up, the temp drooped and now we have 3 inches of snow with the forecast of "Thunder Snow" at 3pm I have never heard of thunder snow but I guess we will be finding out just what that is in about 1/2 hour. The photo is of last nights bride.

New Show and New DVD

I have been working on a new show for the photo conventions and seminars this coming Summer. A new DVD also. This new show is called Alternative Income Streams for ESTABLISHED Portrait and Wedding Photographers. Notice that Established is in capitol letters. This show is not for the $500.00 shoot and burn a CD crowd. There will be a 1 hour and 2 hour version of this show. If any of you have attended any of my shows, you know I can make a 2 hr show into a 4 hr show without even thinking. So if you are a seminar or convention talent finder, just know that I can fit or fill your time slots.
The New DVD is an introduction to the thought process and techniques for HDR photography. (High Dynamic Range) Feel free to call with any questions 770-355-9644

If you need to send me a file, do so at this link. http://dropbox.yousendit.com/ScottEvans764186

KISS and Hockey

This past weekend, I pulled off a big publicity stunt. I had my show called KISS displayed in the lobby/registration area of a large bridal show at the Marriott Marque in Atlanta. This was the area where all of the brides had to wait until the show opened. I had 16 - 30x40 inch prints of some of my favorite hot steamy kisses from weddings I have shot all over the country.

I had this show of photos on the walls of a restaurant for the last few months, but took it down the first of Jan to clean them up and get them ready to hang in another restaurant in downtown Atlanta. So , since it was not due to go in the other restaurant until the week before Valentines day, I offered it to the bridal show promoters. They bit and my work was looked at by every bride that came to the show before they saw any of the other photographers that were there. And it did not cost me a thing. And , when the brides got to my booth, they all said "We LOVE the photos in the Lobby, are you open for my wedding date?"
The photo is a little blurry, it was taken by a friend with a point and shoot camera.

The other photo is from tonight. My son and his girlfriend after his hockey game. It was their 2nd loss in the playoffs, but they sure did mop up the rink with the other team until they lost it in the last 30 seconds of the game. Oh, he was also voted unanimously by his team mates for he Players Choice Award. He plays full blown hard core. Has 54 minuets in the penalty box. More than all of the other 4 teams in the 16 and under age division have combined!

How's Your Weather ?

Here I sit in my Image Doctor shop on the town square of beautiful downtown McDonough, Ga. The power is out and has been since noon. The wind is blowing about 40-50 mph outside and has knocked down one of the huge old oak trees down the street. The power is out all over town. The wind is blowing so hard that the guys from the power company can not get in their bucket lifts to repair the lines. My hanging sign over the sidewalk is getting ripped to shreds by flying pine cones and wind. Maybe I will replace it with the one the city would no approve when I moved in. I wonder how long it will take them to notice?

I know that this blog gets looked at by people all over. So hey, leave a comment and tell me what the weather is like where you are.

Lets Get back To Work

OK people. The holidays are over. Lets all start working on our taxes.