How to get a Fat Lip at a Wedding

What you do is ask a bunch of groomsmen with a football to kick it. If you say "Don't hit me now guys" it will not work.
See photos below from tonight's wedding. I have had 6 weddings since the last post and have been very busy trying to nail down a new studio and showroom plus buy a house. If anyone needs to rent a 5 bedroom house on the South side of Atlanta( Stockbridge), call me.
If I did not post photos from your wedding, sorry, but I just can't do them all. It does not mean that I did not like your photos ( I like them all because I take them !)

A Bunch of B's

Bands, Baseball, Bride, Blue Angels and Burned. In that order.
Friday, I went to a concert with Janet. Saturday, Garen had a ball game, and he hit a home run in the 2nd inning. Then a wedding that night, and the Blue Angels on Sunday. Where I got sunburned. Bad. Next week is photographing a golf tournament in Peachtree City and a wedding on Saturday and then the Drag Races on Sunday.
All of the photos and video, if I figure out how to post it were and will be taken with my new Nikon S-6 camera. It is a tiny little point and shoot that has a 6 mega pixel sensor and is about the size of the stack of credit cards that your girlfriend takes from your wallet to go shopping with without telling you. I am about to nail down a new studio and showroom location and when all is finalized, I will post it here.

Hilton Head Island Wedding

What a fun bunch of people. Ashley and Britton finally go to have the big wedding they had hoped for. She was absolutely beautiful and he was sharp in his dress uniform. The weather was fantastic and the cops only came one time. The fantastic crew at the event facility Windows on the Water took care of the police. They must have slipped him a $ 50 or gave him some food because 10 min later he was gone and the music never got softer. The evening was closed by Ashley and Britton running threw about a half a mile worth of sparklers and then they left by boat from the marina. Check out how much in love this couple are by looking at the photos. To have a wedding at Hilton Head, contact Julie Miller at www.celebrationevents.net or call (843)-689-7526 They run all of the best places in town.

Hilton Head, South Carolina

I am in Hilton Head for the long awaited wedding of Ashley and Britton. They were married the night before he shipped out to Iraq a year ago. They had planed a large wedding , but had to scrap those plans due to the news of his deployment. A few days before he left, they decided to go ahead and get married quick. Their wedding was in a small chapel on the base in Texas and none of their friends and family could attend on such short notice. So, when he left he told Ashley to plan another big one. Britton served a full year in Iraq. While training Iraqi solders to take care of their own country, Britton was in constant combat with Al-Quedia backed insurgents Britton came home a few weeks ago and here we are.

The original photographer that they had reserved for the originally planned wedding, took a huge deposit and when Britton found out that he was to be deployed to Iraq before the wedding date they called and told the photographer 4 months in advance. They had only booked her a few weeks before. She refused to give back ANY portion of the deposit. She even went as far to say that she could give the deposit back, but because of her political views on the war and her hatred of the President that she would in no way give any refunds. Pretty much punishing this wonderful couple because he was about to go off and risk his life for his country and this womans own personal security in the future. Can you believe that? I do not normally get political on my web site or BLOG. But when I heard this today, it just really set me off.

Anyway, here are some photos from this evening. This place is beautiful. It is a shame that I am here alone, this sunset should be shared with someone.
And on another note, to Beth whom I met at the Pizza Place, I don't believe all that stuff about you being 41 on Sunday. I am thinking more like 31. Anyway, enjoy Atlantic City, and good luck.

Y'all Are All Just Chicken !

Every day I get e mails from people who read this BLOG. If you have a question or comment, please post it. I think y'all are just chicken. Afraid that someone will see what you wrote, and know who you are, and think to themselves......."What A Sick Freak That Poster Was !"
Well calm down, no one really cares what you write to me except me. And even then, only a little.

For some reason, someone named Susan e mailed me today and said she reads this BLOG and asked me if I was real. "What kind of question is that ?" I thought.
I am real. I have two kids, a house, two dogs and I do normal things. ( Normal to me anyway)So these photos are for you Susan, who ever you are. They are of my daughter Marah. My son Garen and a couple of his girlfriends. And what I bought at the convenience store when I filled up my pickup truck with gas. $ 63.00 to fill up, that sucks.
Tonight Garen had a baseball game. His team won 9-3

Just Wait Till Next Year

Next year, I plan on entering every category of the 16x20 competition with at least 5 entries each. Ryan Schembree took first place in the International Print competion in the Wedding category. I guess 2nd place is still pretty good and I am happy with that.

There were over 9000 photographers here over the weekend and this week. Ya'll should have seen the Vegas Strip after the awards ceremony let out. Within about ten minutes about 800 photographers were storming out of Ballys with cameras and tripods photographing all the lights and water shows. Everyone was in every one else's way. Flashes were popping everywhere, it looked like a whole cruise ship full of Japanese tourist had just come into port. Casey took this photo of Erin and I.

There were some new products and a lot of new album companies at the trade show. Nikon was showing off the new D200 and S6 cameras. I liked them so much that I bought one of each.

This Place Never Sleeps

As promised, I have a new photo. This is Erin Hicks. She worked for me at the Fayetteville store from around 1993 until 1995. She now has a very successful photography studio in Laurel, Mississippi. Around 10 or 12 years ago,Erin helped keep my Image Doctor shop running during a very difficult part in my life. She still looks today like she did 12 years ago. Back then she was young and beautiful and she still is today. Erin and Casey are here for the convention and have been a lot of fun. We had dinner with Atlanta photographer Scott Holloway and his wife Leigh tonight.

Las Vegas April 10, 2006

I made it here just fine. My hotel room is nice. It feels like Dean Martin will walk around the corner any minuet and give me a martini. I will post photos of people and things late tonight.

Rome, April 6th 2006

Tonight we caught the Rome Braves (A Atlanta) home opener. It was a vast change from the other night in Nashville. In Nashville for a AAA game there were about 80 people in the stands, and admission was free. Tonight in Rome, GA Cheap tickets were $ 17.00 and I think it was a sell out. The photo is of Garen with his Nashville Sounds hat on. We did not get any foul balls tonight, to much competition. Earlier today we toured a Civil War battlefield in Tennessee. We will be back home tomorrow night as I have a wedding on Saturday morning.
I will be off to Las Vegas on Monday morning to the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention. I am up for the "Wedding Photograph of the Year " Award. My photograph, "After the Storm" is the photo you see when you first come on to my web site. It won First Place in one of the 4 competitions that were held this year with photos coming in from all over the world. I am up against the winners from the other competitions. Wish me luck !

Oh, but the best news today is that John Paul made it home from Afghanistan safe and sound and is at this moment enjoying that Grandson of mine. Thank you to the 160th Special Operations Air Regiment "Night Stalkers" Air Assault

Nashville

Today, my son Garen and I took a little road trip. He and my daughter are on Spring break from school. Marah, had to stay home and work so this trip is just Garen and I. We do this from time to time. We just pull out of the driveway and flip a coin as to which way to turn and we wind up wherever. This time we went up I 75 North of Atlanta and stopped at the museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennasaw , GA . After that we both decided to head up to Kentucky and see the grand baby. On the way we checked on minor league baseball games that were to be played this evening. Turns out that the Nashville Sounds (AAA Milwaukee Brewers farm team )had a pre season game at Greer Stadium in Nashville. When we got there we found that admission was free. It is a decent little stadium. There were about 3 people there when we got there at 5 pm, one hour before game time and by the bottom of the 6th when we left the Sounds were winning 10 to nothing and the crowd had swelled to about 80 people. I wonder how many would have been there if they had to pay to get in ? Anyway Garen got 4 foul balls and got them signed by some of the players.
We made it to Christina's late tonight and will hang out here for a while tomorrow and then who knows where. John Paul, Christina's husband will be getting home from Afghanistan on Thursday so we need to scram so they can have some time together.

St Simons Wedding

It is 3:30 Am and I am changing the ice pack I have on my eye at the moment. I was debating on calling this post " Black Eye" or "Drunken Jerk". But since there was only one drunken jerk out of a crowd of about 150 I just decided to go with St Simons Wedding.
First off let me say that my bride and groom today were the dream couple that I wish I could photograph every weekend. They were so open to suggestions for photos and you could tell that they are really in total love. The photos in this post are from today "Duhh"
Anyway, when the evening was over tonight, my bride and groom were running out of The King and Prince resort on St Simons Island amidst a big blanket of bubbles that were being blown into the wind by all of there wedding guest. Another wedding couple had just left the King and Prince also and instead of bubbles, they for some stupid reason were throwing bags of beach sand. Some of these bags were littered all over the ground at the front door of the hotel. Here is where the drunken jerk comes in. While I was taking a photo of my bride and groom getting into the vintage 1940's car, some one with an arm like an Atlanta Braves closer threw one of those bags of sand and hit me in the left eye. The bag exploded and sand filled my eye, camera equipment and mouth. Sand also got in the eye of a young lady standing next to me.
I think it would have been a lot worse if I had not had my glasses on.
But Anyway, the King and Prince is a fantastic resort and I would recommend it to anyone wanting some peace and quiet. But bring a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly because the kitchen and bar close here at 10 pm. Enjoy the photos.

St Simons Island

This weekend I am on the coast of Georgia for a wedding on St Simons Island. I do love to do beach weddings and will post more tomorrow night from the beach. The photo shows the view from my hotel room. The place is called The King and Prince and this evening after supper I sat and watched the tide come in. I almost fell asleep it is so peaceful.
Earlier today, I had a meeting with a couple who's wedding I will photograph over 3 days in New Port, Rhode Island in October. They live here in St Simons, so it was convenient for us to get together here rather than them drive 5 hours
to Atlanta. I liked them so much that I just can't wait for October. "Plus just skipping summer in Atlanta would be a dream " So lets all just think real hard and wish June,July, August and September plus all that humidity away until next year. I will post again tomorrow.

Now You Have To Deal With Us!

Tonight my son and his cousin Dalton played their first gig as a band. Keep in mind that Dalton is a 6th grader and my Son Garen is in the 7th grade. Dalton called 3 weeks ago and asked Garen if he would play drums at the school talent show.

So the band was formed and since the singer and base player quit, they had to change what they were going to play and do an instrumental. It started off with The Who's "Can't Explain" with no vocals and then to a little guitar flat picking and then to a power chord riff that Dalton came up with. All of this from time to time run threw a Jimi Hendrix style Wah pedal. They sounded FANTASTIC ! and just blew everyone else off the stage. I knew it would be wild when Garen first walked on stage and grabbed the microphone away from the MC and said "Now You Have To Deal With US ! "
If I can figure out how to put video on this blog I will post some of the show. But for now you just have a few photos

New Photos of Grandchild

Several people have asked about my Step Daughter Christina's baby Jonathan.
This photo was taken on Feb, 21 at Fort Campbell, KY . Little Jonathan is 2 months old now and starting to make noises and reacting to all of the silly things that I do. My son Garen has taken quite a liking to Jonathan and calls him his "Little Short Stop" Marah, my daughter was all smiles as she held him. I think that she really enjoys her role as the "Oldest" and has her hands full taking care of all of the rest of us.

Would You Let This Guy Drive Your Cab ?

I just noticed that I got a BLOG comment from a MissaSpoon. Let me fill you all in on just who MissaSpoon is. Way back in 1966, that's right 40 years ago. I was in a special program in Georgia where they let kids at the age of three attend preschool. We were taught as if we were 5 year olds as a study to see if 3 year olds could catch on to "Higher Learning"
Let the photos in this post help you to decide if it worked.

Anyway that is where I met MissaSpoon. Now of course that is not his real name, he made up that name while He , myself and two other buddies and my father took an unplanned road trip to Canada while we were in the 8th grade just so we could say that we had been there. We stopped at every road side attraction and tourist trap along the way, we got in a lot of trouble at school because we skipped school to do the trip. They were going to expel us from school the day we got back but my father reminded the principal that all of the kitchen equipment at the school lunch room was on loan from one of my dad's restaurants and all talk of expulsion just kind of disappeared. It was one of the best trips of my life. My children and I now do the same thing once or twice a year, flipping a coin when we get to a fork in the road as to weather we will go right or left. We are leaving on one of those on Tuesday this week just for fun. The kids are out of school all next week so now is a good time to go. ( Since I do not own any restaurants)

But back to MissaSpoon. For 40 years we have been best friends. He was in my wedding I was best man in his. I was there at the hospital for the birth of his son, and he was at the hospital for the birth of my son. And so on. We have done all of that teenage stuff that they make movies about. ( But NOT Brokeback Mountain) We lived to tell about it.
Anyway, in his post he asked "Will there ever be a MudWog Post" or something like that. No there won't. MudWog is a made up character that only lived in the letters that MissaSpoon and I and my girlfriend Wanda would write to MissaSpoon while he was stationed in Korea when he was in the US Army in the early 1980's.
The two photos in this post were taken around 1980 when he and I both attended a small private school in Morrow, Ga. It was on 50's day and he came as a nerd. We all asked him why he did not dress up. Anyway, I found these photos this last December and added the titles to them and sent them to him for Christmas.

One More Thing

So many have been e mailing but not leaving any posts or comments. I could not figure out why with this blog getting so many visitors that no one was leaving any comments. Then someone told me about what a pain in the butt it was to leave a comment because they had to "Log In or Register or some other crap" that they would not go to the trouble. Well I think I fixed that. You should be able to post without the hassles now.

The DVD Set and Seminar Tour

I have had so many people calling and e mailing asking WHEN will the WOW FACTOR DVD be out. Well here's the deal. It needs the finishing touches and my "Finishing Touch" guy is in Moldova shooting video for a fund raising documentary . They are raising money for a new orphanage. See his web site at www.hftwmedia.org

I have two fantastic video editors, Kathy Delgado and Eric Hoover. Eric is the one out of the country. This DVD project has become a true monster and has evolved from just one "How To" DVD to a three DVD set and when Eric gets back we may expand it to a four DVD set. You will be able to purchase them one at a time or as a full set at a discount.

Now for the Seminar Tour. It has been pushed back to this Fall for several reasons. The first reason is that I have just booked to many weddings for this Spring and Summer with at least two if not three weddings each weekend. Some are three day weddings out of town.

During October I always hold it to just one wedding per weekend because we have the Atlanta Braves to deal with. For those that know baseball, we always have baseball in October in Atlanta. As I have traveled around I have found out that the Braves are despised in baseball cities all over the country. They all say the Braves win to much. Oh well , that is just to bad.
The Seminars will all be during the week. The end of September ,the end of October and the first of November. If you would like to be on the mailing list for the Seminars or the DVD release please just send me an e-mail and tell me. scott@scottevans.com

Sorry that there haven't been very many post lately, I have been traveling a bit and have some to do this week. The kids are out of school for a week starting today and I think a road trip is in order. Then next weekend I have a wedding in Florida and also the PMA photo marketing convention is the following week also in Florida.

Also, I would like to thank the many people that have e mailed me asking about my shoulder. It is so much better. I even threw about 20 pitches at baseball practice tonight with my sons team. It hurt to throw but I think it is just because all the strenght is not back yet.

I will try to post stuff from the road.

What The Super Bowl Means To Me

Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring training . Bring on the Baseball.

More from Yesterdays Photo Session

I have posted a few more shots from the photo session I did in Austin, Tx. I am still in Texas and will be for a few more days.
I really like Austin and the food is fantastic ! Today I had grits with jalapenos in them, broccoli and rice with jalapenos, a jalapeno casserole and some iced tea with what I think were jalapenos. I will post more tomorrow.

Austin, Texas

Everything is bigger in Texas, except my hotel room.
Today I flew in to Austin for the Professional Photographers of America's Imaging USA convention and trade show. I got here around 2 pm and had a photo shoot for one of my lovely brides at 4pm. She lives in Austin and I am doing her wedding in April at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I have posted one photo from the session and will post a few more over the next day or two. Right now I am just to hungry to sit here and look at this computer so I will head on off to supper.
This looks like a town I could find some trouble in.

Very Cool Person

I just found out that a very cool person reads this blog. Thank You. And throw that cell phone out on I-285.

My E Mail Has Been Hacked

If anyone sent me an e mail on Saturday or Sunday , I may not have received it. And even worse, if you got a reply from me that was in some way vulgar or just plain stupid, it was not really from me. Some JACKASS has figured out my e mail password and has been deleting and in some cases replying to e mail that was sent to me.
While I was in the hospital with and while recovering from minor shoulder surgery, I changed my password to something easy for all of my employees to remember so they could access my e mail and could reply for me. Like an idiot I made the password one of our office phone numbers. (It has of course been changed.)
I know it was not an employee, as I tracked the code inside the email with the help of my good long time friend "Skippy" who is the ultimate hacker. Now "Skippy" is not his real name, but if you know me you know that I never call anyone that I am close to by their real mama given name.
Everyone has a nickname that I come up with when I meet them. Skippy was and still is the ultimate computer geek. He does not look the part. He could be a stunt double for Nicholas Cage. His wife is an undercover police officer that is on a special task force in metro Atlanta that roots out internet porn child molesters and sickos. I just love her so much. She does not have a nickname because if I picked one that she did not like, she would most likely just kick my butt.

Anyway, Mr Hacker, I know who you are. At this time my philosophy says to "Turn the other cheek" but if you do it again, it will not be my cheek that you will be seeing.

Wedding Show

I will be at the Perfect Wedding Guide Wedding show on Jan 7th, at the Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Street in Atlanta . I loaded my show display in this afternoon with my son Garen doing all of the heavy work. My Shoulder is getting much better but I think I will say that it is not just so I can watch Garen work harder than normal.

Speaking of my shoulder, my physical therapist Lisa is from Ohio. If anyone out there knows of any "Ohio Jokes" please forward them to my e mail at scott@scottevans.com She is fantastic but every time I go spend an hour with her I feel like I have been hit by a lumber truck. ( Full of 2x4s)

I'm A Grandfather. Sort Of

My Step daughter Christina and her husband John Paul had a baby boy today at 1:55 this afternoon. Both mother and baby are just fine.

I got the phone call that labor pains had started at 4:30 on Christmas day and an hour later I was on the road to Ft Campbell , KY with my right arm in a sling and a bag of m&m s that I could not reach. Five and a half hours later I got there just in time for her water to break and head off to the hospital. Getting to the hospital at midnight I waited and sat on the floor in her room untill it came time to push. Then Chris (Christinas brother) and I went down the hall and waited. Janet and John Paul took over and acted like they did more work than Christina.

The two photos are from when we first got to the hospital and when I left this afternoon. Check out the big ol Santa at the check in desk.

Gone to the Hills

I am feeling better today and tomorrow on Christmas Eve I will be heading to the mountains where I can get some rest and really get better. That is until my Step Daughter goes into labor and then it will be off to Ft Campbell, KY to see my new grandchild.

I will post baby photos when I have them.

Getting Better

Feeling better today. Still can't use right arm. Typing with left hand is no fun, so why do it ?

Home from Hospital

I am home. I hurt. I will take the pain medication. My Son Garen stayed up with me all last night and is crashed on the sofa. I had to sneak into my office here at home to post this.

Thanks to the folks who sent goodies, My former sister in law Kathy who works at the hospital, Milissa and Cory, Keith and Gary from Georgian Gallery and Michelle Deraney from SCB-Television channel 15.

Eric from Higher Vision Broadcasting is coming over today to help with last min Christmas orders. Erin is running errands and Melanie is still with her ailing grandparents. She really needs more help than I do.

I should have some very big extended family news in the next week. Christina , who I helped raise since she was 14 and gave away at her wedding a few years ago, will along with her husband John Paul be having a baby. Baby is due Christmas day. John Paul is in the US Army Special Forces and will be leaving for his second tour in Afghanistan in middle January. Maybe he will find Bin-Laden this time as that is his mission.

Sorry if wording is wrong , I think the pain killers are starting to kick in. Just noticed this took an hour to write. I will not continue to type with my left hand.

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow on the 19th I will have surgery to repair my shoulder. The Doc says I should be up and about in about a week unless they have to do more than they expected. I think the kids are looking forward to taking care of me while I get better.

I wonder if I should act like a royal pain and get them to do EVERYTHING that I have been doing for them for the last 15 years. I know I wont get any rest as this place has been a zoo trying to get all of the Christmas orders out the door. We have been short handed in the office as Melanie is taking care of her 94 year old Grandfather . Her 92 year old Grandmother is in the last days of her life and Mel is doing all she can to keep her comfortable also.

Erin will be holding down the fort and sneaking of with the kids to Chick-Fil-A while I am whacked out on pain killers. I don't really like drugs but may have to do the pain killers for a day or two. I really don't know what to expect. I may not need them at all, or I might need a refill. I have never had any type of medical procedure before.

Last but not least in any way. My adopted Grandmother Jean Daniel passed away from cancer yesterday. Crazy Jean as we called her with the most love, was the Grandmother of two of my closest friends since we were only 14 years old. She loved the Atlanta Braves, her kids , grandchildren , great grandchildren , one great great grandchild and me. Oh, and shoplifting M & Ms
There are almost no photos of Jean from the last ten years because she was afraid that someone would put her face on some naked woman's body and then put it on the internet. Of course we were the ones that told her we would do it, so it is kind of our fault.

Goodbye Jean, and thanks for always remembering that I like the regular plain ones and not the ones with the peanuts.

New Web Site Is Up

For those of you who do not come to "What's ScottDoing" by way of my web site check it out at www.scottevans.com
It was redesigned by Chris Hays in Atlanta, Ga www.christopherhays.com As of today it still needs tweeking. Some of the photos are not linked right but it will all be fixed by the weekend.

Somebody Help Me !!!!

Somebody help me, I am teaching this kid to drive.

WPPI Print Competition.

I just received an e mail from Wedding and Portrait Photographers International . It was about the photographs that I entered in their 8x10 print competition. See them at www.wppionline.com I entered 14 photographs just to see how they might do. Keep in mind that I have NEVER entered photo competions in my 26 years as a photographer. I did shoot some weddings for another photographer about 19 years ago and he entered them in the Professional Photographers of America competitions and won awards for his studio, but I never got the credit. So I was a little turned off by the whole "Competition" process. But anyway, Scott Holloway , another photographer in Atlanta that I know well is a member of WPPI also and goes to their Convention in Las Vegas every year. Thousands of photographers from all over the world attend. This coming April it will take up all of Bally's and Paris casinos and Convention Centers. BIG convention.
The reason I am telling you all of this is so you will know just how big this e mail was that I got from WPPI. So here it is.

I won 1st place and 2nd place plus got 5 Accolades of Excellence awards.

I called WPPI in Santa Monica, Calafornia just to make sure I was reading this e mail right . The person in charge of the competition said the judges were stumped as to just how I made the 1st place photo. You can find out how when my first instructional DVD "The WOW Factor" comes out in January. Plus we will cover it in my Seminar Tour.

I have posted the 1st and 2nd place photos. 1st palce is "After the Storm" 2nd place is "Little Storms Brewing"