Friday Foto: Newness!

Last Saturday morning I got up nice and early with a buddy of mine to shoot. We were on location by 6:10 a.m. to catch the early morning light. I decided to go shoot over at Gascoigne Bluff. I haven't shot there in awhile and I know the light falls nicely through the trees. Well, when the sun rose it wasn't exactly as we hoped for, lending much more to cooler colors than warmer ones. However, the whole point of this particular shoot was to challenge myself. I get so bored of shooting the same old things with the same old style. I tend to shoot warm because that's what I like, but for these photos I played with a cooler approach and am pretty pleased with the outcomes. BTW, if you are confused in what I keep referring to as warm and cool, it can be basically summed up by the overall color tone of the photo... is it my sunny, vivid, orangey, or is it more cool, mystical and subdued...

I'm leaving this morning to make my way up to Atlanta. I have a wedding to shoot up there and am looking forward to going. I'm staying with a college friend and will be seeing a lot of old friends while I'm up there. Kelly is staying here, it's the release of the last Harry Potter book and she is enjoying that with a couple of girlfriends. I have borrowed a fisheye lens to play with at the wedding, I'm really excited.

Next weekend my parents have rented a house down in Captiva Island, FL, close to Sanibel on the Gulf side. We are going to go down there and enjoy the end of summer break. It should be a lot of fun as well.

If you like Jazz, check out Ronny Jordan. He's a lot like George Benson, with a little bit more Acid Jazz influence. I have been enjoying a lot of him lately. Alright, I'm out...

Friday Foto: Some wedding pix

I'm getting more and more into shooting people. I enjoy it, and I really enjoy the post processing that's involved in it. I want to shoot more. I'm calling out for all models to step forward. If I can shoot you, email me. These couple of photos are from a recent wedding I shot in Orlando.

I have nothing planned this weekend and am looking very much forward to it. I plan on shooting a lot hopefully. I'm getting up early tomorrow to take a different approach to classic early morning shots that one typically gets. I get so bored taking the same shots around with the same scenery. Instead of blaming my lack of growth to that, I should try to use that to my advantage. I'm trying to diversify my photography. I want to be able to shoot anything.

Not much else is new. Oh, if you haven't yet, you should pick up the July edition of the Elegant Island Living magazine. This local publication has featured my photos in a 6-page spread on nightlife and fashion. I'm pretty proud of it. I'll scan the pages and place them here for all to see.

So, take care. Summer's closing fast it feels like. It seems like it has blown by faster than ever this year. Oh well....

Friday Foto: Freedom (Fireworks) Feature

Today's word of the day is alliteration. It is easily an incredible installment in any ones interior, one that should be initiated at all instances.

For the Fourth I got to watch the fireworks from the top of the lighthouse. Yeah, it was pretty sweet. Best seat in the house, and yes, I did bring my camera. Here are some photos from that little excursion.

We have a lot of family in town this weekend for a baby shower (one of the first for the family) and it's going to be a busy weekend for sure. I'm only working a little today...

Anyway I need to get started on today's load, so y'all enjoy the fotos.

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.

Whew!!!

This has been a LONG week. Let's start on Saturday. I got up in the morning and began disassembling my rear axle in my Scrambler, to install a locker. A locker is a device that transfers power to both tires on the rear axle, instead of just one (which is the default for all automobiles). Having a locker gives you more power and traction in offroad, wet and snowy conditions; anywhere where one tire may slip. Anyway, it's supposed to be an easy install, but taking into consideration that the Jeep's 23 years old, it took awhile. I worked all day Saturday, all day Sunday and Wednesday and Thursday. I finished it last night, drove it around and it worked great! I'm pretty happy and consider the whole mess a giant learning experience, one that I learned a ton from. Also, on the Jeep front, I finished the installation of the winch. Here's a pic. It's a mean machine now!

So I'm glad that the whole car mess is over now. My boss is back in the office, he has radiation once a day now but will be here to work. We have an intern for the summer as well, which takes some of the tedious work off me. So all in all, things are beginning to pick up. I'm beginning to see which things are more important, which things are worth thinking about and which things we should just throw away.

Today's Friday Foto comes from a shoot I did this week. This is a picture of the new Beach Club at Sea Island. It is still under construction (as seen in the photo), but coming along nicely. They have folks working around the clock over there and it is slated to open by July 4th I believe. We'll see if that happens. It is truly amazing though, no expense was spared.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. It's Memorial Day and time for a break. I'll be a beach bum the entire weekend. Definitely going out in the boat as well. That's all I got. Last day of school today for Kelly, she's beyond excited. I'll talk to y'all soon.

Almost forgot... Apple looses 4 bil.

One other thing... did anybody hear about Apple Computer this week? Everybody know about the iPhone right? Apple's new cellphone, slated to come out July... well, an editor of one of the most popular technology blogs on the Internet, Engadget, got wind the other day that the phone's release date had been pushed back to November, and Apple's new operating system, back to January. This tip came from a reliable source within Apple and the editor attempted to confirm this with Apple's PR department, but didn't. So, he posts this info. Within 24 hours, Apple looses close to $4 BILLION in stock. A huge chunk was sold just minutes after the post.

So, what do you say to that! Can you believe how much power blogs have now? It's crazy.

Friday Foto: Almost Over

Yes, Friday is here and the week is almost over. I have spent more time at work this week than I ever imagined. It's needed though. My boss is in the hospital right now undergoing surgery to try and remove the cancer that he was just diagnosed with (two days after his mother passed). I've been "holding down the fort", if you want to call it that (I still haven't found the cannons though). It's been busy to say the least. I'm sure all be in over the weekend sometime, just trying to keep the business up ya know?

So Kelly and I went out for a little cruise the other night and made our way over to the new dock that Sea Island built out in Epworth. I like that dock, they did a great job on it. I was hoping to photograph one of the highest tides I've seen in a long time. Monday night it was insane, you could not see marsh between St. Simons and Brunswick, no lie. It wasn't this high on Tuesday, but I did get this shot. I really like it. It really conveys the mood I was in. I really feel like I shoot in moods. I use photography to unwind sometimes; I'll go out and shoot one evening to decompress all my stress, etc. I can see that in my photos, compared to shots not taken in these "meditation sessions", if you will.

I've been reading a good bit about flash photography, using it to fill in shots. I have a friend who's into it too, although he's planning on using it more for still life, and I want to use it more for people. Check out this site: www.flashflavor.com. It's devoted to the stuff that I might start getting into. Pretty amazing technique. I know I could do it, but it would definitely require me ponying up a little bit more money to pay for some equipment, not that I've ever had a problem with that (don't worry Kelly!).

On the Scrambler front, I got some new stuff done. I installed a new set of Skyjacker shocks last weekend and I really like the difference. It's not much of a smoother ride, just a little less crazy over the washboard-type road. I installed a Warn M8000 winch on the front, now I can go anywhere. Warn is the best company I've ever dealt with. I bought a used winch from a buddy with plans to rebuild it. After countless emails and phone conversations with Warn, they wound up sending me a factory refurbed one free of charge! It's amazing. I haven't used the winch yet, but don't worry, it's not going to be that way for long.

Anyway, that's all I reckon. No plans this weekend. Probably beachin' it all day tomorrow. Thinking about hosting a little BBQ too, tomorrow night. Who knows? I do have loads of photographs to process, so I will be doing that this weekend at some point. Thanks for reading.

Friday Foto: Ramblin'

Well, last weekend I shot a big wedding. It wasn't the biggest (as far as the amount of guests) but it was definitely one of the nicest. Today's Foto is from that. These are the bride's and bridesmaid's bouquets sitting in their stand waiting to be carried down the aisle. I like this shot. Straight out the camera, no manipulation. I say that because to get the faded focus in the background can be easily down in photoshop, harder to do and get right in the camera. It's all in the depth of field, choosing which aperture you shoot at, and not going over board. Anyway...

This week has seemed to fly by, I can't believe it's Friday and I'm here again. This weekend I have nothing planned. Actually, for the next couple of weekend I have nothing planned. Then, it's cruise time! Yep, I have a cruise lined up for the first week in June. That will kick off my summer, with something planned every weekend until mid-August. So, I'll be busy.

I plan to work on my Jeep a little this weekend, work on the house, definitely squeeze some beach/beer time in, and prepare a nice feast for my mom and mom-in-law on Sunday night (I know, I'm such a model son...). So that's it. That's all I got.

Friday Foto: Happiest Place on Earth

I like Disney, I'm not obsessed with it as some people I know are, and it definitely gets old, but for a couple of days, when it's NOT hot outside, it can be a lot of fun. That's why I just signed my wife and I up for one of those business/seminar trips, where you get all those stuff if you sit through a 90 minute tour/sales pitch. I get 4 days/3 nights lodging and tickets to the park. It's not a scam, I checked it out...

Anyway, this is a picture from The Magic Kingdom from Grad Night we went to the other week. As I said, it was fun, but long... the band playing is "The Fray".

I'm taking a half day today; this weekend I have a big wedding, with rehearsal to shoot this afternoon and wedding all day tomorrow. So, that will be good. Keep me busy for sure.

That's all I got right now, sorry so short, but I am super busy. These past two weeks I've been running all the work load at the office by myself. My boss's mother passed and he has been very sick. It's been very busy, but things are under control. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Volume

I've been in a great mood for the past couple of days, and it's a nice change from the cloud of stress and anxiety that has been visiting for, what seems like, ever. Don't get me wrong, things are still chaotic, busy and ever-rising, but, it's my perception I guess. Some times you just got to turn the volume down; the music's still there, but drop it down a notch, you know?

My cousin-in-law's friend is having her baby today (through a C-section), and so yesterday I took the opportunity to shoot her. She's a pretty girl and I knew it would make for a good photo shoot. I had her go over to the maternity clothes shop here , also owned by another one of my cousin-in-laws, to pick out some outfits for the shoot. I got some great shots, and really haven't had much time to process any of them, but this one I did. It jumped right out at me in the processing last night. I really like it. It's simple, beautiful and sincere all in one.

So, last week was Grad Night at Disney World. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part was definitely staying up until 4 a.m. I found a new pair of sunglasses, Ray-Ban's, so that made the trip worth it to me. I took a couple of photos, and I'll show you guys those in time. The Fray played, and they were good. I do like them, although I can't help to think they are just Coldplay posers. Actually, I can think of a lot of bands that are Coldplay posers. Not meaning that in a negative sense really, but they definitely seem to be piggy-backing the style and fan-base that Coldplay laid out.

This weekend will be fun. Guess what I am doing? Nothing. That's great. I mean, I have nothing planned. I will be doing stuff, of course. I'm going out in the boat tomorrow, probably the whole day. Sunday, I might take a trip out to Cabin Bluff, scout it out before the wedding that I'm shooting there next weekend.

Any who... that's all I got for know. Here's what I'll leave you with: turn it down, just a bit. I've found that it helps a lot.

Friday Foto: I'm back (and can see!)

Sorry, I know I took a little vacation from blogging here, but I was out last week for LASIK eye surgery. It went fantastic and as of yesterday, I'm seeing 20/15... a slight step-up from my 20/450 not 2 weeks ago! It turns out before surgery, while wearing glasses or contacts, I was still only seeing 20/65. According to GA law, you have to have eye correction to drive at 20/60. So, that explains a lot!

Anyway, the past several days my schedule has been quite hectic. My boss has been out of town, his mom just passed away. But things are getting under control.

Guess what I get to do Saturday? Chaperone Grad Night at Disney World. That's right folks, I get to travel down to Orlando and party with all the highschool seniors at Disney World. I'm extatic. Hey, atleast I get a free trip to the happiest place on earth, right? For those that don't know what Grad Night is, it's all night... like, you don't get back until Sunday around 10 a.m. Disney stays open all night just for HS seniors. It's fun if your a highschooler... I had a good time when I was a senior. I'm still trying to figure out how to slip a little flask with me...

Anway, I took a fresh foto for you guys today. I stopped by on my way to work at the Land Trust's new nature trail located just off Frederica Road. If you haven't been there yet, go... it's cool. I hope you like it. I'm also bring my camera (not my big one though) to Disney with a little pocket tripod too. I hope to get some cool Disney night shots. It should work out nice.

Well, that's it. I'll be back soon guys, so don't think I'm neglecting y'all.

Friday Foto: Last Fleece day

Good Friday to all. I'm afraid this weekend might be the last weekend of cold. The weather has been playing games with our hearts, pulling us into high 80s beach weather, and then yesterday and today I have on pants and a fleece. I think this cold snap is a fluke though and it may be our last until fall. So, I'm enjoying it, you better believe it. The top is down!

Today's picture comes from Hunting Island State Park. The whole island is a state park in South Carolina, just about 50 miles north of Savannah (right next to Paris and Fripp Island). I was there last weekend for a quick little getaway and it was so nice. Nice to getaway, not so nice being surrounded by the Griswalds with a 50 foot RV and a 100 pound bag of deer feed. If I hear any song covered by a reed pipe again it will be too soon.

So no big plans for Easter. Got some family coming into town and will spend some time with them, some time with Kelly and some time with the ole Jeep I'm sure. Speaking of the Jeep, it's coming along nicely. I've gotten my front and rear bumpers in now. I've painted both of them and installed the front one, but not the rear yet. I like the way they look.

I'm very happy with the scrambler. I towed a pop-up trailer all the way up to Hunting Island last weekend and the jeep did great. It was the first big trip with it and it ran and drove like a champ. I was really proud. Guess what happens next Wednesday?! I get new eyeballs! That's right, I'm going under the knife, or laser rather, and getting LASIK. I'm super pumped!

So, that's all I got. Hope you guys have a great Easter and a great weekend!

Project Scrambler: DONE....(for now)

After 4 weeks of busting my ass and knuckles on this Scrambler, I am to a stopping point. This weekend I finished prep work and painted the jeep Chrysler Light Metallic Khaki. It's a really light metallic flake, barely noticeable, just gives it a little sparkle. I am very pleased with it.

I finished sanding and taping on Saturday morning, then painted the primer and top coat on. Sunday after church I painted the clear coat on and installed the new fenders and various other things. I'm at the point now where everything else I want and plan to do to the jeep can be done at my leisure. I'm satisfied with her, everything else now is fluff that will just make her look and perform better. I'm so very happy. Let me know what you think.

Friday Foto: Firenze

Another blast from the past today. This photo is almost exactly 4 years old. I took this when I lived in Florence, Italy. One of our favorite places to go was Piazza Michelangelo, a little park at the top of Florence. It was a nice walk up there and always had a great view of the city. Plus they had a killer gelato spot up there (italian ice cream, if you didn't know). I was watching a show on Florence on the travel channel earlier this week and it got me thinking about my photos from my time in Italy. I have some good ones, but I was just then getting heavy into photography and I see a lot of immaturity in my shots. I like this one though, a nice juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity. I can't wait to go back. Kelly and I are a planning on going at the end of Summer 2008.

So it's official, I'm scheduled to get laser eye surgery April 11. I am so excited. It's going to be great.

Guess what I am doing this weekend? You got it, working on Margaret. All the body work is done and I'll start taping it off this afternoon and begin painting Saturday morning. I can't wait. New paint is going to make this Jeep look amazing. Yes, I am painting it myself. It's all in the prep work. Painting will be the easy part, given that you have the proper tools (which I do). I'll post pictures after I'm done, you won't believe it, it's going to look awesome. I'm going with Light Metallic Khaki (it's a current Jeep color found on '02s and later).

So that's it. Oh, did you hear that Chick-Fil-A bought the El Potro's on the island for a cool 1.3 million? Yeah... isn't that crazy. Traffic is going to be great with Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A right next to each other. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Tree moving

Yesterday I shot a crew of people moving an oak tree. It was quite impressive. This is the same company that moved all the trees for the Sea Island Company's new development out towards the north end of St. Simons Island. They moved close to 200 trees, and some as far as two miles. Dang.

Hopefully, it was easier for them then as it was yesterday. It took awhile to move that 100+ year-old oak tree in a new condo development across from the King and Prince Hotel. They started by digging a four-foot-deep trench around the entire tree, about 10 feet from the trunk. They then take a cable and drag it under the tree with a back-hoe and sever all the roots. They bind the bottom with a burlap-type material, hydraulically pound steel poles and plates under the tree until it is now sitting on this platform of sorts. It took two 1,000 lbs back-hoes about 3 hours to move this tree 100 yards.

I have some experience pulling things that are stuck, being some what of an "adventurous" driver, but this was nothing like that. These back-hoes are amazing. They actually would lift themselves into the air and then allow the whole back-hoe to drop to create the force needed to jerk this tree one foot. The whole ground would shake. At one point a shard of metal roughly the size of a football broke off and flew through the air. It could have easily killed someone, but luckily it landed no where near the crowd of people that had gathered to watch this event. The foreman assured us that this doesn't happen often. Anyway, I though it was interesting. Here's another interesting thought, do you think this tree moving company guarantees their work? I mean, can you guarantee that the tree lives after all this? I highly doubt they guarantee their work, as far as the tree living is concerned. What a job. We move your tree, you pay us around 15 G's, and if your tree dies, sorry! (Notice the tree's relationship to the white house in the first and last photo... see, it moved!)

So, this weekend I am, you guessed it, working on Margaret. I'm skipping down to Jacksonville early in the morning tomorrow to pick up some new seats out of a wrecked Wrangler to put in my Jeep. I'm pretty excited. I hate the seats in it now. I should finish body work this weekend and maybe get a coat or two of primer on! Can hardly wait. Hope you guys have a great weekend, I know I will.

Project Scrambler: New Interior!

Talk about getting a lot accomplished this weekend. I have a lot to show for it, including black-stained hands that I CAN'T clean.

Friday night I finished prepping the interior of Margaret. I took everything out. I vacuumed, brushed and wiped the whole thing down with Acetone. This cuts any residue that may be there to inhibit the proper adhesion of the Herculiner. Included in this photo stream you'll also see the body work I did. The major rust areas I cut out and replaced with new steel plates.

I then rolled her into the garage and began applying the herculiner. I love that stuff. It's messy though. You have to first cut it in in the corners with a brush, it's much more accurate. Then you can roll in the larger places. I applied one thin coat and took a break for dinner around 7:30 p.m. After dinner I applied another coat, this time laying it on real thick. Those two coats were about 7/8s of a gallon. Saturday morning I applied the last coat (a whole quart) and rolled it out into the yard to let the sun speed up the drying process. Saturday afternoon it was rock-hard dry and amazing. I am so pleased with the outcome of it. I bolted back in the seats, installed new seat belts and went for a cruise. It's definitely a little quieter with that rubberized layer. I love it.

I got a Tuffy Overhead console that's only made to fit Jeeps with the common 2.5 inch rollbar. The Scrambler has a beefed up 3 inch rollbar. I've always liked the overhead consoles, and decided to attempt a fabricated bracket to install it. I got 3.5 inch u-bolts from the hardware store and made a bracket out of 3/4 inch plywood. I bolted this to the back of the tuffy box and then, with new holes drilled for the new u-bolts, I bolted the tuffy box to the rollbar. It worked like a charm! I love it. Now I'll have a secure place to store my electronics and be able to lock them.

Next task is body work. I'll spend the next several hours grinding all body rust, replacing where necessary and bondoing a lot. I hope to be painting in 2 weeks max!