Friday Foto: Canon 5DMII OMG

What a whirlwind week since my last post. Let's just start by saying how happy I am I have insurance. 

So, long story short, my camera was standing up on my tripod in my office. It was knocked over and the lens, flash and (later discovered) camera were broken. I called Allstate and, thanks to my extra insurance that I have taken out on my camera gear, it was all covered. Here's the beauty of it all though, instead of getting the same camera, I was able to get the newer and improved version... and improved it is. The Canon 5D Mark II (the one I blogged about a couple of months ago, that does HD video if you recall), is amazing... and VERY hard to find. I was actually worried because I needed a new camera and that was the most likely choice for me to get, but you couldn't find them anywhere. Sold out everywhere. Well as luck has it, the little consumer Ritz camera store in Jacksonville received the one and only one they were slated to get for the whole holiday season, just moments before I walked in last Saturday. I bought it without thinking twice. After having two major shoots this week so far, I can safely say this camera is incredible. 

Today's foto comes from a shoot I had up around Baxley, GA where a development is underway and we are doing all the marketing for. The piece of property, Eagle's Point, is amazing. All lots have river front views (Altamaha River). And, driving my Jeep up there was awesome too....

So, yesterday was my wife and I's four year anniversary. Pretty crazy to think that we've been married for four years. I'm very blessed. 

This weekend will be very relaxing, something I'm really looking forward to. A little last minute christmas shopping, a little work, a little getting ready for our Soiree and a lot of christmas music... I'm so ready for next week!

Stay tuned, because I'll post here again soon. Hope yall have a great weekend! 

Friday Foto: Almost here

What's almost here? Christmas. The weekend. The new year. The Music City Bowl in Nashville that Kelly's brother is playing in for Vandy and we are going to. Our annual Christmas Soiree that is going to be bigger and better than ever. My new business. What's that? A new business you ask? I'll elaborate more on that in future posts, but to put in a few words, I just sealed the deal on a partnership in which we are creating a new business that focuses on photography, design, marketing and advertising. We're basically taking what we have now, honing it and developing it into a much more polished enterprise. I'm extremely excited. 

Today's foto comes from a recent engagement photo session I had. I really enjoy shooting photos like this, because it gives me the time to really interact with the people, which I love to do. I love the intimacy that this photo gives off. It's simple, but beautiful. Great couple too, really sweet and you could really tell they were in love. 

I just finished the last photos for the upcoming issue of Golden Isles Magazine, which now frees up a lot of my time, until the next issue of course. So what am I going to do this weekend? Well, nothing. Might do a little Christmas shopping, although I did most of mine online this year. Might work on the house or the Jeep... OK, who am I kidding, of course I'll work on my Jeep. 

That's about it folks. Stay tuned for more info and more posts. I hope to be posting more in the future, as part of my new business plan, so bookmark me! Happy Friday. 

Friday Foto: Hello, I'm still alive

Yes, yes, yes... it's been too long since my last post. I am sorry. I've been so busy since the week before Thanksgiving that I'm just now coming up for air. First thing's first, Kelly and I went to her second check-up this week and found out the sex of our baby... let's just say it'll be Tonka truck time soon!!! It's a boy! We are so excited. Kelly said she felt it was a boy all along, and was really hoping it was. I was too, so we are so excited. 

Today's foto comes from my front yard. We had a sheet covering some plants one night when it got cold, and I was letting the dog out in the morning and saw this tiny little leaf laying on the sheet, with the drop of water just like that. I often see little things like that and say to myself, that would make a nice photo, but never actually take the shot. Too much hassle, etc. Not this morning. I got my stuff out, set up the tripod, attached the macro lens, enabled mirror lockup and dialed in a nice small aperture for maximum sharpness. Other than minor spot removal and dodging and burning in photochop, this is a pretty true shoot. Time spent from concept to completion? 20 minutes. It was fun. 

So this weekend we are getting our Christmas tree. It is easily one of mine and Kelly's favorite things to do in the entire world. Seriously. Decorate the tree, listen to christmas music, and then partake once again in the best christmas movie ever, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. After all, "It's all part of the experience." This photo came from Webster's Christmas tree farm, located north of Darien, GA in The Ridge. This is a cut-your-own tree farm and it's so much fun. We are planning on getting our tree there this year, but we'll see how the weekend folds out. This shot was part of a photo essay I did in The Golden Isle's Magazine titled "My Favorite Things."

I do have lots of other stuff going on right now. Lot's of change in my professional life, but I'm going to save that for another post, once I iron out all the details. So for now, that's all I have folks. Sit back and enjoy Friday and the weekend. If you are not yet listening to christmas music, you know who you are, get on it. I've had it blasting since November 1st.... I may not stop this year. I may continue listening well into May. We'll see. 

Friday Foto: Fire

Good morning folks. Well this week has sure flown by. I'm so busy, days and weeks just seem to be one big blur. I live for the weekends, to give my body, eyes and brain a break, but lately the weekends have been consumed as well. Last weekend alone I had five different shoots. I'm not complaining though, I'm thankful for being busy.

I did get to relax a little last weekend. A group of our friends got together and partied under the stars on Saturday night. We had a big bonfire, roasted marshmallows, listened to some football on XM radio and drank a little beer. I'm actually doing the marketing on the development this fire pit is located at, Wildlife Preserve, so I took a couple of photos while out there for possible marketing pieces... If anything else, I like the photos. This is the kind of stuff I really like to shoot.

So, this weekend will be much like last weekend. I have a wedding tonight, shoots all morning tomorrow and then hours of processing that needs to get done on the computer. It's OK though, I promise you I'll still find time to relax a little... that's never a problem I assure you.

Next weekend I'm heading up to Nashville to go to the Vandy/Tenn game. I'm really excited about that. I'm actually leaving Thursday, swinging by and calling on a client in Elijay, GA on Friday, and then heading up to Nashville. I'm excited because it will be a relaxing weekend, which I need. 

So, that's all folks. Oh, I'm working on a whole new way to display wedding proofs online. I'm really excited about it. It should be leaps and bounds better than what I'm currently doing, and loads easier on the user end. Can't wait, I'll keep ya posted. Cheers!

Friday Foto: Fabbing it up

One of our new clients is Boykin Steel and Crane, a steel fabrication (and much more) company located in good ole' Jesup, Georgia. I drove up there this week to get photos of the facility and such to use in their marketing material. They do amazing work, constructing everything from handrails to entire schools. It's amazing. Anyway, here's a couple of my favorites. I really like the group shot, it's exactly what I was trying to get... you really need to click on it to see it larger, I love how raw it is, goes just with the whole mood I was trying for. 

So, not much else is new. This week went by fast, lots of work. This weekend should be a fun-filled, fast weekend. I have an engagement photo shoot Saturday morning, going to a football party after that and then doing a chill fire and s'more making session later that night. Sunday finds me shooting again, three different shoots that afternoon. Nothing like staying busy, I'm fortunate.

The latest edition of the magazine I shoot for, Golden Isles Magazine, is on the shelves now. It looks really good, I'm proud of it. It hasn't been updated on their site yet, but as soon as it is I'll post the link. 

Oh, and no, I'm not going to comment at all on what happened Tuesday. 

Friday Foto: New fav

Good morning folks. Today's photo is one of my new favorites. Going along with last week's post, this shot has been photoshopped a little, just to give it a more dramatic effect. I really like this photo. It was a candid, un-posed shot. I happened to walk out on the balcony of the ocean house the bride was staying out and saw her reflecting before the wedding. This was literelly minutes before the wedding. I'll be finishing up this bride's wedding photos this weekend. They are great. 

So today is Halloween. It's also Georgia vs. Florida weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. Tonight we are going to a costume party, tomorrow an early morning book sale and then all you can eat and drink football party, so needless to say, I'm really excited. Not to mention the weather, it is wonderful, absolutely outstanding. 

So with nice weather, you want to know how I'm liking it in the Scrambler? Well.... yeah. With the help of my friend Joe I got the transmission back in over the weekend. I tidied everything up and took it for a test drive. It drove perfectly. I was so happy. Then I noticed the oil leak. I filled it up with oil on Sunday and it was completely drained by Wednesday... yeah, not good. Frankly, I don't have time to trace the leak, tear the jeep down again and fix it, so i took it to a trusted mechanic who I know will do it quicker than I can. It's just a gasket, so it's not that bad, just a PITA you know?

So, that's all I got folks. Have a great halloween. I might post a photo up later of some of our costumes, so be checking back...

Friday Foto: Quick Photoshop Fix

I love photoshop. I've had this conversation several times with numerous different people. A lot of photographers and people believe that photoshop is a crutch and that it's popularity makes us question whether a photograph is really good or if it's been enhanced in photoshop to give it that 'wow' factor. It's true you can make an ordinary photo extraordinary within photoshop. When it comes to the validity argument of whether or not the photo is still a photo (in the truest sense), I offer this. Any photo that I showcase that I call a photo will not be largely enhanced. Sure, every photo I take goes through a editing program... just like every photo taken in film needs to be developed (and can be manipulated there, just so you know). But photos that have been greatly enhanced past their point of being true, I will let you know... it's just not right to try to pass off a sunset photo that was composed of three different images. 

Anyway, that leads me to today's foto. I needed a quick image of someone shooting a gun from a profile view. Really quick actually. I ran over to Brunswick the other morning, took the shoot and was done with the brochure I was making that afternoon. Here's a before and after of the photo... representing, in my opinion, how photoshop can really be useful in enhancing images. Sure, I could have gotten close to the same effect (although not exactly) with proper lighting, exposure, white balance, etc, but I didn't have time for that. The client loved the shot, and my favorite comment so far on it has been, "Wow, that looks like something you'd see in Atlanta or somewhere." HA HA HA HA

Anyway, so not much else is new. I have a couple of things planned this weekend, first and foremost is to get my Jeep all back together. I'm so close, with the transmission already positioned in place, I just need to bolt it on. I need to repack the front bearings as well and then refill all the fluids and cross my fingers that I did everything correctly. 

I also have a video project to shoot. But, most importantly, I have some time to spend with Kelly. I've been so busy this whole week, either at the office or under the Jeep, I don't think I've actually seen her in close to 3 days. 

So that's it folks. Hope yall have a great weekend and quick Friday. Cheers.

Friday Foto: Foggy, outside and in

Whew...what a busy week. I'm glad it's Friday and I'm glad Im leaving for Athens this afternoon. I'm heading up to see Kelly's brother who plays for Vandy whoop some Dawg butt... hopefully. Should be a great game.

Today's photo was taken over next to the Lodge at Sea Island.

So, I'm getting into video. I purchased an HD video camera for a couple of jobs and can't wait to play with it. I'm really excited about making little movies. When I get my first one done, i'll post it up here so you guys can check it out.

Have a great weekend, I will.

Latest wedding

Here's some pictures from one of the latest weddings I shot. As always, I do a little "photographer's favorites" section. Enjoy!

The photos are here!

Friday Foto: Lots going on, lots new

Good morning folks. Wow, what a whirlwind couple weeks I've had. I've been so busy, was laid-out sick for close to four days, and have been working late every night. It's OK, I'm having a good time. 

Today's photo comes from a wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago. I really like this photo. It was such a gorgeous venue and a wonderfully arranged and tasteful wedding, large in part to the great planning by Event's by Caroline, the wedding coordinator that put the whole shindig on. So easy working with her. 

I'm shooting another wedding this weekend and I'm looking forward to it. It should be nice with the ceremony at the Gazebo on St. Simons, and the reception at the Coastal Kitchen restaurant which is on the Marina here. So other than that, I plan on spending the rest of the time this weekend under my Jeep hopefully making some headway on putting the thing back together (read last week's post). 

Hmmm, so what else is new? Well, Kelly told me not to mention anything out right, but that if I wanted to allude to it, I could. So let's see... 

"So, I'll soon have a great subject to shoot for future Friday Fotos."

"I guess I won't have too many more weekends where I write, 'Nothing much else is going on.'"

"There goes my photography and Jeep budget, right out the window."

"I'm so freakin excited I can barely stand it."

"Come June, I'll have another hand under the Jeep that can get in small places... OK, maybe not right away."

"At least Jeep makes one of these." (Sorry, this one might have given it away!)

Have a great weekend folks, I will!!!

Friday Foto: Great weather, no Jeep

Oh man, I am loving this weather. It got down in the 50s last night. I'm so pumped about this weather, especially since the weekend is here and what a fall weekend it is! I get to attend a wedding this weekend (not shoot), which will be a nice change. Then, after that, I'm going to a Bluegrass festival here on St. Simons. They'll have an all-you-can-eat BBQ, oyster, low-county boil, etc. Oh yeah, and of course, beer. I'm excited, it should be loads of fun. 

So this picture is from Ridgeville, just north of Darien. I was up there a couple days ago and liked how the sun was lighting the spanish moss. Thought I'd share it with you guys. 

So the Jeep.... yeah... It's about to undergo a semi-major drivetrain facelift. My clutch has been going out, so I knew I needed to replace that soon. My rear main seal has been pretty much nonexistent, leaking oil EVERYWHERE, and just recently, my ring gear has been pretty much dying. I was planning on undergoing all this work in the next couple of weeks, but was forced to begin now as of last night. The ring gear is what the starter turns over to get the car started. It is a big ring with teeth on it located in the engine. After awhile, the teeth start to wear and the starter can't grab. You can sometimes rock the car back and fourth (what I've been doing to two weeks) to try and get to a place on the gear that still has teeth, so you can start it, but last night it finally didn't work anymore. Luckily I was at the house so I pushed it in the garage and that's that. Time to drop the tranny and get real messy. I'm going to replace all that stuff and clean the whole thing up, new fluids and any other parts that can be replaced while I'm at it.

Other than that, I have no plans. Going to open my windows and have some fresh air. I advise you to do the same. Cheers folks.

Friday Foto: Black Sky

I thought this photo was somewhat fitting for the current weather we've been having. I haven't seen the sun in about 4 days, but I'm not complaining. This giant front that has come through has cooled things off tremendously and I'm absolutely loving it! This photo is another infrared film shot. I like it; like the simplicity in it. The sky is rendered black because it was a very vibrant, cool, blue and that's black in infrared b&w film world.

The other shots were taken at the Spa at the Cloister on Sea Island. I was hired to shoot some product shots for a company that had a hand in the construction of the Spa. These are a couple of my favorites... 

I'm shooting a wedding tomorrow. It should be fun, I'm looking forward to it. Not much else is new really. I'm working on photos for the Magazine, and that's keeping me busy. I get to pick my subject for my photo essay in it and I'm really excited about this one, but I'm not telling! But what's just as exciting, I get to lay it out this time as well. I'm really pumped about that... It's going to be awesome, can't wait to show you all. 

Not much is on tap for this weekend. The usual, I'll crash after shooting the wedding and probably work on my jeep a little on Sunday. Whatever I do, I'm going to take full advantage of this weather, that's for sure. 

Have a great weekend guys. 

Mid-week sharing time

I thought I would share a couple of links with you, mid-week, for a little surprise. I know, I normally don't post during the week anymore. I wish I could, I'm just so busy. Ahhh, I miss the days where I would post at all hours and you readers actually commented. Oh well.... hehe.

First link, the magazine I shoot for, The Golden Isles Magazine, has a web site with the whole issue in PDF format, so you can go check out the whole thing, if you haven't seen it. And, in response to a recent comment on one of my last posts, I did have a picture of Village Creek Landing, or Coozies as it's known by locals... check out page 18 of the online version of the magazine.

Now, onto the second thing. Canon just released a new camera about a week ago (the 5D Mark II). The cool thing about this new Digital SLR, is that it records video... not just any video, but HD. You can use all of your normal camera lenses on it, but record video as well. It's amazing. This one photographer got his hands on a pre-release version for 72 hours and shot this short film, the first one, with it. It's unbelievable, really. I think this is going to revolutionize a lot of videography and photography. You HAVE to watch this video, it's like three minutes long. Keep in mind, the guy did NOTHING to the footage except compress it to fit on the web. I'm speechless.... Here it is. Enjoy folks.

Friday Foto: Busy shooting heads

The head shot. Something every model needs to get them into the world of modeling. It's my understanding that they get head shots and try to market themselves to different agencies. If they are lucky to be accepted, they will most definitely be reshot by that agency... but they need something to get their foot in the door. I got hooked up with this agent here locally that has several child clients (up to 18 years old, I'm guessing) and have been busy shooting head shots for these kids (4 this week alone!). I love shooting people, especially when the person is used to being photographed. It's such a change from shooting people who are shy in front of the camera.... but, I like shooting those kind of people too... it gives me a chance to "crack" them and really try to get something genuine out of them. I shot this girl yesterday afternoon in downtown Brunswick. The downtown lends itself to great photo opportunities offering several unique backgrounds. I haven't even began to process these photos yet, but pulled this one out for yall to look at. I think the shoot went great. 

In other news, we were planning on traveling up to the mountains this weekend, but decided at the last minute against it. We are going to just lay low, soak in some down time before I have four weekends back-to-back with weddings and events. 

Man, something I always begin to blog about this time of year, the weather. It's cooling off a little bit! I know this is just a front and will only probably- if we are lucky- last through the weekend, but it's going to be fantastic and I'm going to take full advantage of it. Mid-70s and low humidity will be a nice change from the norm. 

I got my jeep all put back together, so that's good news. I'll tinker on it this weekend for sure, but nothing major. I probably will install a choke with the cool weather coming now. A choke enables the engine to start easier when it's cold, and not having one for a cold start is a real pain. So... that's it. Happy Friday.

Friday Foto: Jeepless and colorless

Good morning folks. Another week flown by, that's crazy. Time seems to be flying by lately. I can't believe it's almost halfway through September. So, today's picture is just a little glimpse of a project I'm working on. I won't delve too much into it, for fear of getting scooped by somebody, but I'm pretty excited about it. This particular image I'm very proud of. It is a true infrared image. I bought a couple rolls of infrared film before I left for Italy and have been experimenting with them. I took some shots in Italy and finished up a some of the frames here. I sent the film off to a lab in Atlanta and got the negatives back early this week. I then scanned them into the computer with a film scanner and that's it. I haven't done anything to these images yet. I LOVE the dynamic range in this shot. I have more shots that are just as good I think, and as soon as I get my collection together you'll be first to know my friends.

So, onto the jeepless part... nothing new here. I began a routine little wrenching on my Scrambler last weekend and it's still on-going. Nothing is easy with that thing. I've spent more time dealing with mud and rust covered bolts and nuts then I've actually spent doing something constructive. I'm freshening up the front axle; replacing the fluids, etc. Good thing I have my scooter, so I'm not at a total loss anyway... and 100 mpg isn't that bad!

I am shooting a wedding this weekend. It's over on Jekyll Island. I hope to spend the remainder of the weekend putting my Jeep back together, finishing up a couple of wedding albums and spending some time with Kel. That's all I got on the tap folks. I'm trying to coax Kelly into heading up to the cabin for a short little getaway next weekend. We'll see if that comes into fruition, I sure hope it does. I could use a little mini-getaway. Have a good friday. 

Friday Foto: Golden Isles Magazine

Well it's out folks, my first issue of the Golden Isles Magazine that I am shooting for. For this first issue, September/October, I was not the exclusive photographer due to my Italian adventure in July. So I do share some photo credit, but the magazine is filled with predominately my photos including my photo essay "Vanishing Landmarks" which I'm pretty happy with. This cover shot is mine as well, and much loved local favorite, low country boil. The magazine looks good, the design still needs some tweaking but we are working with them on that. 

Not much else is new here. I have nothing planned this weekend, which is really nice. Yall have a great weekend!

Friday Foto: mmmm, pasta

I love italian food. All kinds. I don't care what it is. So, of course, I jumped at the opportunity to work on the marketing material for Parisa's Marinara sauce, which will hit stores soon and is straight from St. Simons Island. Earlier this week I shot some pics for the web site that I'm working on. Hope you like.

I'm so excited about this weekend. It's a 3-day weekend! Yay for labor. It's also my birthday today, so I get to sit on my rear all weekend and do nothing.  Not. Actually, I'll be pretty busy, but it's OK. I have my new Apple TV to play with as well! Yes, my wife is wonderful. She feeds my addiction to gadgets and Apple products quite nicely. 

This thing's amazing. It stores all my music, photos, movies and more on it and makes it easily accessible from my LCD TV and surround sound. I can also access the web on it, so I can surf using my TV. Man, it's so cool.

Anyway, that's all I got. I'll be posting some new photos soon, so check back! Ciao.

Friday Foto: Fay Foto Fun, etc.

Whew, what a week! I absolutely LOVE storms. For many reasons really, but for mainly the dramatic skylines, winds, excitement in the air, etc. For you who don't know what I'm referring to, I'm talking about Tropical Storm Fay. It barely missed us yesterday and we are still getting pretty nice rain and wind bands from her as she slides south across northern Florida. 

Let's back up for a second though. This past Tuesday I took a day off to hang out with my cousin who was in town for the night. It was great to see him and we really got to spend some quality time together over beer, fishing rods and the boat. I caught a nice pompano that I filleted right there and plan on cooking this weekend for dinner. Not bad for a day off!

So, Wednesday was the first real day of storm conditions. I had to take a head shot of somebody at lunch for some new business cards I'm working on for them, and since I already had all my gear out, I looked around for a photo of the storm. I went out to Gould's Inlet and didn't really get much. I got this shot, the one you see below. I turned around to see this camera man with a lens in my face. Turns out he was with The Brunswick News, and now I'm on their web site. I've really made it big now, let me tell you.

 

I knew the waves would be crashing over the rocks at 5th Street beach, so I drove on down there and got this shot. I was putting away my camera when a little lady pulled up to watch the waves. She sat there and I watched a huge wave come over the rocks and wall and crash onto her car... she speed off scared out of her mind.

I then called my friend who I KNEW would be out surfing or planning to. I was right, he was en route to the Sea Island jetty at that very moment with some friends about to go hit the waves. I followed them out there and grabbed some shots. You really can only surf here (St. Simons Island, Sea Island) during storms. We just don't really have the waves for it. Even in storms, the surfing isn't great. Nice waves, but they break too fast and your ride is short.

Other than that, that's all I've been doing. Shooting, working and trying to stay dry. I put my hard top and hard doors on my Jeep to combat the rain a little. It definitely helps, but it still leaks and I've been packing full rain gear every day prepared for the worse. I have no plans this weekend. I'm supposed to be helping my in-laws move into their new house if the weather holds out. If it doesn't, I'll be doing a lot of nothing... to which I'm NOT complaining. Have a great weekend, stay dry. 

Friday Foto: Whew...

What a week. I've been swamped at work and on top of that, have been shooting like mad trying to wrap up all my shots for the magazine. I finished the shots yesterday at lunch and what a relief. Next issue won't be so stressful, because I won't be in Italy for 2 weeks during the production. 

Today's shot is an outtake from a shoot I did for the magazine. I'll make it a habit not to post any photos here until they are published, giving the magazine first rights. The magazine is doing a spread on Fly-Fishing. Being an avid Fly-Fisherman, I got real excited about this shoot. I organized a couple of models, a boat and a cooler and we set out last Friday after work. On the way to Hampton Marina, the bottom dropped out of the sky raining like I haven't seen in a LONG time. We waited it out at the Marina, determined to get the shot. It cleared up and we rushed out, not knowing how long of a window we would have. We hit a couple of places and returned,  just in time for the rain to come back again. That's one thing I love, the way the sky looks during a storm. It's so dramatic. This shot was taken from Mosquito Creek, looking out to the ocean. I love how you can see the rain coming in from the right side of the picture...

I am looking forward to this weekend. I plan on doing a good bit of work on my jeep and house. It should be a fun time. That's it for now folks.... I'll be back soon.

Friday Foto: One of my favs

So this is a photo I took in Italy. This was taken in Siena, just outside of Florence, Italy. We went there for a little day trip. One of our favorite things to do is to just walk. We start walking in a city we don't know and see where it leads us. We know Florence like the back of our hand because of this; it's all we used to when we lived there and largely how we spent our time last trip. Kelly was walking down this long corridor and I quickly pulled my camera out, changing the settings to insure the sky would blow out (all white like it is) and aid in silhouetting Kelly. I hand-held this shot, resting my arm on a post to make sure it was sharp.

Anyway, not much else is new. I've been real busy with work and photographing. Actually, this afternoon I have to go out in the boat and get some fishing photos. I know, tough life huh?

Kelly started back at school this week. The kids don't come back until next week. She's playing the "poor me" card pretty well, but I know deep down she's really glad to be back. She loves to teach and loves her kids. 

No major plans this weekend. I'm beaching it on Saturday, gonna work on my jeep for a while, and just lounge around. August is pretty lax for me, thank goodness, because I have three weddings in September, two in November and one in December (so far). Whew!!!! Have a great Friday folks.

Friday Foto: italiaono fotografie

I'm back, did you miss me? We had an amazing time. It truly was a trip of a life time. Everything went perfect, only had one travel hiccup on the return trip (a delay), but other than that, everything went surprisingly perfect. Our apartment was great; centrally located, nicely furnished, cold AC. I have so much I would like to write about it, but that will have to come later. To sum it up though, the best thing about the trip? Going to Lucca, a little town outside of Florence, in the heart of Tuscany; and spending time with Kelly, just Kelly. This was the first time, in a very long time, Kelly and I were able to spend a solid period of time together, with just each other, probably since our honeymoon. It was great. Here's some of my favorite photos.

Friday Foto: Shula and Florence

That's an odd combination. I bet no where else in the WORLD can you find an article talking about Florence, Italy and Coach Don Shula. Consider yourself lucky folks. 

This past week I was hired to travel down to Jacksonville, FL to shoot the grand opening of the Sheraton Hotel and their restaurant Shula's 347. The restaurant is the 27th steak-house that former Miami Dolphin's Coach Don Shula owns. I'm not a big sports fan really, but apparently this guys a pretty big deal. I believe he is the most winningest coach in NFL history (correct me if I'm wrong). I know he led the 1972 Dolphin's team through a perfect season (17-0) and won the super bowl. He is a great guy. The opening was very nice, especially the Jacksonville Jaguar cheerleaders. They had a silent auction as well, the main item being a helmet signed by the whole '72 team that went for $3,800.

So, tomorrow Kelly and I leave for Italy. I am so excited I can barely stand it. I can't fully let go yet with excitement because I still have a lot to do at the office, plus a wedding to shoot tonight. I imagine the time will go by very fast though, leaving me standing in the 2-hour security line at the Atlanta airport upon me before I can say ciao. 

Our plans are very basic. Eat, walk, shoot pictures, eat, eat gelato, drink wine, drink wine, drink wine. We have a few places we want to go see around the Florence area (all through Tuscany) but mainly plan on just hanging out. We've lived in Florence (during college) so a lot of the "must see" stuff is already checked off the list. We might venture as far as Venice for a day, if we feel like it (I know, tough vacation huh?). The last day we are flying out of Rome and are packing a full day in there, seeing everything we can.

I'm really excited about shooting while over there. I'm bringing a good selection of gear, as well as some film stuff including my favorite black and white film (Ilford 50) and two rolls of Infrared black and white film. I'm pretty pumped about experimenting with that stuff. Anyway, I hope to be able to put together a show of some sort, but we'll see. 

That's all I got folks. Stay tuned while I'm away. I might be posting from time to time from Italy via my iPhone, so swing on by for some updates! CIAO CIAO!

Friday Foto: Golden Isles

So I've had a pretty good week folks. Very busy, but very productive. This week I sealed the deal on a contract that makes me the exclusive photographer for The Golden Isles Illustrated. The magazine is a regional bi-monthly publication that focuses in and around the Golden Isles. This magazine is ran through a branch of the Brunswick News and used to be in production but has since been on hold. They had some kinks to work out, graphically and editorially. The have decided to revamp the publication, getting fresh writers and designers. They actually sought me out for my photography and after some negotiating, we have agreed on a contract giving me exclusive photo rights within the magazine.... meaning, I will shoot all the pics for the publication's features. I have even been given wide range on what I want to shoot and they are interested in running pictorials of my choice. So, this is great news for me, I'm very excited.

So what else? I'm heading to my cabin this weekend. I'm very excited, ready to get away to the mountains to relax a bit. But, I'll be bringing a lot of work as well and trying to catch up 100% on my work load.

On the Jeep front, I'm finally getting bigger tires for my Scrambler. I'm so excited. After spending all last weekend under a friend's Wrangler installing a 3-inch suspension lift and new 33" tires, I got the fever worse than ever. Hell, I've always had the fever, just didn't push it. I actually found an unbelievable deal on a set of 33" off-road tires (33x12.50 TSL's, for you who care) from a guy up around my cabin, so I'll be picking them up this weekend. I'll post a pic when I get back.

Thanks folks, and have a great weekend. 

Updated Website

After a long time, I've finally updated my web site. I have several new photos through out the site, along with a new gallery format that allows for fullscreen viewing of the photos. So, head on over to www.benjamingalland.com and enjoy folks. 

Thanks, and happy Friday!

Friday Foto: Trash the Dress

Well, not entirely a Trash the Dress shoot, but the closest I've been to one yet. I've been begging my brides to get crazy in their wedding dress after the wedding. Jump in the water, roll on the ground, play in a fountain. The potential for great photos is high! What better juxtaposition then a bride in an elegant wedding dress, doing something not-so-elegant? You may think I'm crazy, but Trashing the Dress has actually become a very popular thing amongst brides these days.

Anyway, so if you keep up with Apple news you will know that they will be releasing a new software for the iPhone and a new iPhone at the beginning of July. Both updates are continuing to revolutionize the cellphone technology market. Kudos to Apple! If you ever wanted an iPhone, July 11 will be a good time to buy one. They upgrade the phone, made it thinner, faster and half the price! 

No major plans this weekend. No weddings or shoots believe it or not. That's all I got folks. Thanks for tuning in. 

Womp Off 2008!

What a huge success the Womp Off held on St. Simons Island was yesterday. Held at The Old Coast Guard Station beach, the Womp Off, or Wompzilla (as some have called it) drew more people this year than the past two combined. I shot the event and hosted a slideshow last night at the award's ceremony up at Gnat's Landing (a local restaurant/bar). Oh, and just in case you don't know what womping is... it's skim boarding. Throwing a thin surfboard-like board on the incoming waves and gliding over it. As you'll see in the pics, it can be pretty dangerous and pretty amazing. 

The first one was shot with a method called panning. I had to stop down the aperture to allow for a slower shutter speed and then pan with the moving subject, allowing for the subject to be in the same spot on the picture (making him appear motionless) and the background blurred across the frame... make sense? It's tricking to get right and I'm really happy I did get this one, and a couple of others.... I'm setting up www.wompoff.com right and I'll let you know when it's up. From here, we'll have more info on the sport, event and all the photos. Hope yall had a great weekend. (as always, click to enlarge these photos!)

Friday Foto: Wompzilla!

This weekend marks the 4th annual Womp Off here on St. Simons Island. What is womping you may ask? Skim boarding, that's what the less-informed call it. You take a thin surfboard-like board, throw it on the skim of the water as the tide comes up, run and jump on it and coast. Womping got it's name from the sound the old plywood boards made as the slapped onto the surface of the water. I had probably the coolest wompboard EVER! I wanted one so bad, and in typical father fashion, we just didn't go out and buy one... NO NO, we had to MAKE it. Oh was it sweet. Marine-grade plywood, about 3/8 of an inch thick, about 10 coats of polyurethane for an ultra-thick coat, with custom graphics like a "B" for ben (hot green, yellow and pink, of course). Ocean Motion and SOS (Save Our Sands) stickers plastered everywhere. Man, I wonder what ever happened to that. No doubt it ended up in one of my Mom's garage sales, fetching a whopping $1.25. Hope somebody dropped it on their big toe as much as I did.

Anyway, I don't womp any more. I think it's a physic thing really. There's some mathematical formula for how much weight to surface to water depth ratio that I'm SURE I EXCEED, thus disabling any womping from my future. Instead, I shoot the boarders, which I find equally as fun. This is really a great event, very family oriented. They teach the little kids how to do it, and then hold all sorts of competitions. After it's over, we have a big award ceremony up at a local restaurants (Gnats) where I'll show a slide show of the good, the bad and the ugly. The whole thing starts Sunday at noon at the old coast guard station beach.

Other than that, I have a pretty busy weekend. I have an engagement photo session Saturday morning with a wedding Saturday evening. My shootin' fingers gonna be tired.

Yall have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: End of May, Beginning of Busy

As if I'm not already busy enough, today is the last work day of May, and June and July are my busy months. I don't think I have a free weekend between now and the time we leave for Italy. Speaking of Italy, I took this photo in Venice (of course). I especially like the gondola driver... he makes the photo.

Anyway, so nothing else is really new since last post. We had a blast on Memorial Day. I went balls to the wall the entire weekend. Woke up, went to the beach, drank beer, went to dinner, partied hard. I paid for it on Tuesday morning when I was at work by 7:30 a.m.

That's really all I have folks. Pretty short post, I know, but I have nothing more to say. Yall have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Blue Moon

I love that beer, such a great taste. Here's a pic of the full moon rising over the channel between St. Simons Island an Jekyll. I dug this up the other day for a spread in Elegant Island Living magazine. Don't know if it will be used, but they were looking for moon shots. I like it.

So, I'm so excited about this weekend. My college friends Susannah and Laurie (they're sisters) are coming down to see us! I'm really pumped. I'm taking a half day today and going home and smoking a whole butt, chicken, some wings, etc. We are having a Memorial Day cook out tomorrow, and seeing as how I plan on being at the beach around 9AM tomorrow, I won't have time to smoke the food then. 

Sunday night is Gnatfest, so there'll be live music and lots of partying at one of our favorite bars. So this is really the perfect weekend for my friends to come.

Kelly and I are really excited about our trip to Italy. Throughout the next couple of months I'll post some of my favorite photos from when I lived there, so keep an eye out. 

And, last but not least, my sister passed her nursing boards yesterday! She is a real RN, congrats to her! I made her do shots last night... not with a needle (such a good brother I am!).

I'm going to Italia!

Kelly and I just booked our flights and our lodging. We are finally, after 5 years, going back to Italy. If you didn't know, we lived there for close to 5 months in 2003 while we studied in Florence. We have since then missed the unsalted tuscan bread, olive oil and chianti so much. Thank God for frequent flier miles, as we were able to use them and secure to tickets flying into Florence and back out from Rome. I knew all that spending I've been doing on my American Express card since High School would pay off one day!

We have been planning on going for awhile, but we were planning on going next summer. When I found out I had enough miles to get the tickets for free, we bumped the trip up to this summer and are so excited.

We are renting a place in Florence for a week. We want to be able to cook, so we want to have access to a kitchen and this way we save on food costs too. Here's where we are staying, we've already booked it. Falleri Apartment.

We are going to rent a car for a day as well, go drive up in Tuscany, visit a vineyard, and stop at every kilometer and take pictures. I'll write more about Italia within the weeks to come, don't worry. BTW, I took this photo with my old 35mm Minolta Camera, loaded with Ilfrod BW 100. I loved that film. It's a skyline shot of Florence taken from Piazza Michelangelo, a great place in Florence... awesome walk to get there.