Friday Foto: Eclectic Edition

So I've decided to take my photography to the next level. I'm going to start submitting work to any publication I can find. From Parenting Magazine to National Geographic. That's the only way I get my dream job... being a Freelance photographer. Getting paid (and very nicely too) to travel and shoot things. That's my goal. They say you can do anything you put your mind too... well, I'm going to test that theory. I'll keep you posted.

Today I have a smorgasbord of different pictures. The first one is from the Mayan ruins in Belize. Yes it is an HDR shot. I'm not a big fan of HDR shots used for landscapes like this one, it gives the photo a crazy effect, one that anybody with the knowledge of multiple exposures can accomplish... but, alas I did it. I took it mainly for demonstration purposes.

The next photo is of a church in Key West. I loved this church. It was en route to Hemmingway's house on Duval Street. Just a neat little old wood church with chipping paint.

The third and fourth pictures were from a recent shoot I just finished. A local business wanted some massage photography for marketing purposes. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. These are two photos from a collection of about a dozen.

So I'm excited about this weekend. My best friend from college and his wife are coming into town tonight. I haven't seen him since his wedding (over a year). They are staying with us until Monday. We are going out in the boat tomorrow, with beer and brats. I hope the weather holds out for a nice weekend. I'm pretty excited.

Next week I've got a great shoot. I'm shooting a two-day conference for Sports Business Journal, a national publication distributed widely. CEOs from Reebok, Nike, major sports teams, etc will be there. It's a big break for me. I'm pretty pumped. Anyway, that's all I got. Hope you guys have a great weekend, I know I will.

Friday Foto: Welcome Back...

I'm back! Did you miss me? Man, did we have a great time. The nicest thing was definitely being away awhile. Away from all the stress, the day-to-day work, etc. It's so hard to relax when you have things flying at you in all different directions. One weekend- two days- isn't enough time to declog. I vote for 3-4 day weekends. Who's in?

So, the cruise was great. I left my pics at home, but don't worry, you'll see them eventually. My favorite stop on the whole vacation was definitely Belize, where we got the inside tour from my cousin who's down there in the PeaceCorps. We saw Mayan ruins and ate real Belizan food, which was awesome. I drank a good bit of Belikan, the only beer from Belize (which was great!). On Friday, our full day at sea, we picked up a raft of Cuban refugees somewhere between Cuba and the states. It was about 11:30 p.m. There were 16 of them in a roughly 8 foot square raft. It was raining with 3-5 foot seas. Their boat was half-filled with water and they would have probably died. It's a really sad experience but one I'm glad I went through... thankfully on the last day though. Here we all are, eating lobster and drinking champagne while people are daily risking their lives to come to our country. While I don't necessarily believe in letting just anyone into our country who swims (our walks) over, it's still a very sad story, considering if they do get sent back to Cuba, they will be jailed and possible shot. We met up with the US Coast Guard around 4 a.m. and traded them over. I don't know what happened to the 16 men, women and children.

Anyway, to the picture. Last night I had a family beach portrait to shoot. While I was waiting for the family, I watched a kite surfer. I cursed myself for not having my bigger lens with me (you would have seen the grin on his face as he caught 10-12 feet of air at each jump!). These were taken with at 70mm and the crop-zoomed in on the computer. Not bad detail for the amount of crop I did.

I hope you guys have a great weekend. Kelly started painting our Master Bedroom yesterday and it looks amazing! She'll finish today and we are remodeling the room a little. Giving it a fresh and clean feel. I love the smell of new paint. I'm hanging some original photos above the bed in sepia tone fashion, with custom frames that I'm making this weekend. Should be nice, I can't wait to complete it. Other than that, nothing's planned. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: 2 week addition.

Today marks the last day of a busy week. I've worked to midnight almost every night, some from my home office and some from my real office. I've shot more this week than usual and have had many opportunities and doors open for me.

Not long ago I was asked to shoot a 6-page spread for Elegant Island Living magazine, a local publication that features island living, etc. It's a very nice magazine with a large readership well past Atlanta. Anyway, the spread is on fashion and indoor night life (i.e. bars). I was honored and for two nights this week worked with an art director and two models shooting. I'm very pleased with how my shots turned out. You're going to have to wait until the July issue is released to see all the photos, but attached is one that we are not using. I took this shot knowing it wouldn't get in (it's not featuring a bar) but I couldn't resist the lighting. I will post the photos that make it once the magazine is distributed, don't worry. The other one is one of my favorites from the shoot as well. Let me know what you think!

So, with this gruelling week about to come to a close, I am beginning to get excited about my vacation that starts IMMEDIATELY when I step across the threshold of these office walls. Tomorrow we are leaving for Cocoa Beach, Florida for two nights and then further to Ft. Lauderdale to get on our cruise boat! We are "sailing" (as they call it, although we all know it's not really) to Key West, Cozumel and Belize. I am beyond excited. I've never been to any of those places. Furthermore, my cousin and his wife are living in Belize with the Peace Corps right now. We are meeting up with them for the "real tour". I'm bringing my camera gear, of course, so expect some photos when I get back. It's been awhile since I've shot landscapes, so I'm looking forward to it. We will not be getting back to land until next Saturday (June 9), so no post next Friday. To make it up though, I'll try to get some photos up for you all to check out on Sunday sometime.

Have a great weekend/week.