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.

Friday Foto: New Lens, Another Wedding, Bird and Dog

Hey Folks, that title about sums it up. I bought a new zoom lens the other day, and it is bodacious. Really bodacious. It's nice and long and fast too, which allows me to get shots like the ones above of a Great Blue Heron and my dog. A lens described as fast is one that has a low aperture, allowing one to  shoot photos with little light and still get them sharp. This lens is going to really shine when it comes to weddings. I'll be able to sit in the back and shoot close-up photos of the ceremony with no flash. Anyway... that's that. 

So, I finished the last wedding I had and posted the photos. Below are two of my favorites from that wedding. To see more of them, follow the yellow brick road to here and see all my favorites.

I have another wedding this weekend. It's another one of my close friends getting married. It should be a grand ole time. Rehearsal dinner tonight and the wedding tomorrow. 

Next weekend is Memorial Day and I have a couple of college friends coming down and I can't wait. I haven't seen them for about a year and Kelly hasn't seen them in about 4 years. Crazy huh. Anyway, that's all I got right now. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Timing is everything

I'm sure I'll get kicked hard for posting this photo, but it's worth it to convey this simple rule in photography: Timing is everything. No where is that more important in event photography, especially weddings. 

Man, this week as flown by. I've worked harder this week than I have in a long time and this weekend couldn't come at a better time. My one down weekend (sort of) until another wedding next weekend. It will be a great wedding though, another close friend getting married. 

Kelly and I are heading up to Statesboro, GA tomorrow to see her sister graduate from Georgia Southern. Then on Sunday we are hosting a Mother's Day dinner at our house, which has turned into a small soiree of sorts. Everybody wants in!

I plan on finalizing the photos from this past wedding this weekend. I'll post the link here so you can all see them. I'm slightly changing the way I present photos from a wedding, I'm going to give each bride and groom a little web flash slideshow of my favorites on top of the regular ordering page. That should make for better viewing. 

Anyway, that's all I got. Hope yall have a great weekend. 

Friday Foto: Lot's of People, no Pants

I thought I'd get your attention with that title. Today is No Pants Day! It's a great holiday, and anyone can participate. I'm wearing shorts today, wish I could go all out and be in my undies, but alas, I have to maintain some sort of professionalism (ha, yeah right). So, enjoy fellow pantless patrons.

I've been shooting a lot of people lately. Some for weddings, some for portraits and some for advertising. I like shooting people because there is that element of the unexpected, that you don't get when shooting static subjects like homes, flowers and beaches.

I like this shot... Behind Rafter's Blues and Raw Bar on St. Simons Island. We do a lot of work for them, and I have spent a good deal of time there listening to great music.

Anyway, I'm excited about this weekend. I'm going out in my boat tomorrow, the inaugural summer boating trip, to be followed, by many, many more. I have a shoot Sunday afternoon and all day Monday for a conference and then more weddings to come. I'm keeping pretty busy, and loving it.

Yall have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Busy little bee

I will shoot more this week than I have in a 7-day period probably ever. I had a bridal portrait session last weekend, I spent two solid days shooting flora and landscapes for Sea Island, today I have a soccer team shoot and this evening kicks off my first wedding of the season, and it's going to be a big one. I'm shooting the rehearsal tonight and the wedding with all festivities tomorrow.

I'm really excited about the Sea Island shooting I've been doing. I'm working with my good friend Whit who works as a landscape architect for SI and we are compiling a DVD portfolio of all the work that the landscape department does. From whole residential landscapes and hardscapes, to floral arrangement, centerpieces and containers. It's a ton of stuff and I'm only done with half of the shooting, but am very happy with some of the shots I've gotten so far. 

Bridal portraits are always fun. Brides are usually so excited to get into their dress and the excitement just jumps into the frame. This was a great bride to work with. I've known her for a very long time, so that always makes thinks a little bit easier. 

I'm really pumped about the wedding this weekend. It's going to be a blast for sure. What makes this one (and several I have this summer actually) particularly great is that I know the bride and/or groom very well. Knowing each other ALWAYS makes the photographing easier and better. People feel more comfortable with a photographer they know and/or can relate to, versus some sleaze in a black suite with slicked-back hair bossing you around. So be on the lookout for some of my favorite photos from this wedding when I finish, I'm sure I'll get some great ones.

Friday Foto: Ummmm, Pizza

I love food, no big surprise there. One thing I love ALMOST as much as eating food is shooting food. The colors are always really diverse and the creativity is almost endless. Food photography is actually a really big thing. There are photographers that specialize in only shooting food. Lighting and composition is key in all photos, but I think a little more so in culinary photos. See, it's easy to take a picture of a dish, but to make it look appetizing is where the skill and know-how comes into play. If the food looks flat (poorly lit) and sloppy (poorly composed) forget it. Take the photo below. This is a slice of real pizza, believe it or not. Look how flat it looks. The photographer had a flash shot directly on the food, allowing no shadow and light fall-off, creating a very washed out image. Not to mention the composure... ummmmm, wax paper.

I'm working on a promotion for Brogen's North, a local restaurant here in town. They are running a special on a medium pizza, two house salads and a pitcher of beer for $22 (not bad off the rack price of $30!). I used an off-camera flash and bounced it off the ceiling and then the mirror (not visible in pic) to the right of the food. I think it came out pretty nice. 

Anyway, not much else is new. I'm chaperoning the High School's Grad Night this Saturday evening. This is, for you that are less informed, when a whole bunch of HS seniors go down to Disney World for an inclusive party basically. Rides are open and it's an all-night event, just for Seniors. They have well-known bands there too. Laugh if you will, but it's a pretty sweet gig for a chaperone. Disney takes care of us. There's a whole chaperone-only section that has a never ending buffet, unreleased movies on the big screen (complete with free popcorn and candy), and yes, we too can ride all the rides (which I really enjoy). They already have security down there in the park, so we really don't do much.

That's all I got. Yall have a great weekend. 

Friday Post: Up on Cripple Creek

I just got back from Colorado. I was there from last Thursday until this past Tuesday. I spend the days fly-fishing and photographing (OK, and drinking my fare share of the CO-based beer from the Belgium Brewing Company, i.e. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit). I had a much needed brake, some quality mountain time, but I'm glad to be back to my wife and home. 

We went to Cripple Creek, the town The Band's song (Cripple Creek) is based upon. Note to readers, next time you go to Colorado, DO NOT got to Cripple Creek. Aside from the Pecos Bill themed slot casinos and the crappy poker joints, there is NOTHING here. 

I did a lot of photography, more so than fishing I would say. We fished three solid days and I am happy to inform you that I was NOT skunked. On the third day I got about 5 trout, which is fine with me. 

As all my photos go, I'm not totally done with an image until I print it. Inevitably there will be tweaks in the printing process that will render the photo better. However, I am pretty please with some of the stuff that I got while out there. 

We stayed in my uncle's (dad's twin brother) cabin. It's on top of a mountain in Westcliffe. My aunt (their sister) has a cabin on the other mountain, and you can see them from each other. Talking between cabins across the valley is a breeze. I say 'cabins' loosely, because these are not your typical mud and log dwellings, as you'll see in the photos.

So, without further adieu, here are three different galleries with some photos from my trip. Hope you enjoy. I would love to hear what you think, so post up.

My artsy-fartsy photos

My Uncle's Cabin

My Aunt's Cabin

Friday Foto: IR again...

I'm still really interested in Infrared photography. I've blogged about it before, if you remember. Basically, it's a film that is sensitive to the light waves that are just beyond our perception. So, the fact that we can't see it makes it that much harder to shoot. Above is another example of IR photography, although not a true example. This was recreated in photoshop. 

I bought a roll of IR film though, and hope to experiment with it next week when I am in Colorado. I'm really excited about going. It's going to give me great opportunities to expand my photography, and not to mention fishing. I've been in withdrawl for awhile now because it's been awhile since I last wet a line. 

The other photo is from the same place that the "IR" one was taken. Right before that photo was taken, Gwinny had jumped off the dock and right into the marsh mud.... the kind that you sink into. She went completely up to her underbelly. I laughed hysterically watching her try to get out of that one... she succeeded in 4-Lo.

Not much else is new on my end. I have some great things in the works though, and you all will be the first to know when they come into fruition. But, for now, keep your fingers crossed for me folks.

I plan on shooting a little this weekend. Hopefully I can get out early Saturday morn. The rest of the day I WILL spend with beer and beach. I promise you that. Have a great day!

Friday Foto: Nothing New, but don't worry

It's been a slow month for me, photography speaking, but don't worry I got LOTS on the horizon.

First and foremost, I'm in this month's Southern Living Magazine! Monkey Love Gallery and Dessert Bar, where I've hung a couple shows, was featured in the Georgia Living section of the April 2008 issue, and the half-page photo of Britt (the owner) is taken with her pointing at the photos and the caption reads:

"The menu at Britt Figueroa's Monkey Love Dessert Bar and Gallery in Brunswick includes big laughs, serious talk, and exhibits such as these photographs by Ben Galland."

So, that's pretty cool. I'm excited about that one. Other than that, here's what else is new. I'm working on a new design for my web site. It will look and feel very similar, but be way cooler. It's going to be 90% Flash, and you are going to be able to activate it in a full-screen mode and on select photos you'll be able to zoom all over the photo to really see the detail in the work. And, finally, you'll be able to order fine-art prints from the site. All prints will go through me, so I can control and guarantee the quality.

And last but not least, In about 2 weeks I'll be traveling to Colorado for a Fly-Fishing and Photography trip. I'm going with my dad and a couple of his brothers. My uncle has a cabin tucked away in some mountain out there. We will most definitely hike into remote places in search for trout and I am packing in my camera equipment. This will be my first trip out west as a photographer (although I've been out there two other times, before I really knew what I was doing). I've been reading and studying a lot about the landscape out there and plan to try to get a good study out of the whole experience. I'm looking forward to making BIG photographs (composition, not file size).

I'm also looking forward to coming home after that trip. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Truer words were never spoken when it comes to Kelly and I. We hate being apart for too long (we can't ever seem to get enough of each other!), but the away time will make the return that much sweeter.

In other news, I finally got a piano. My uncle (mom's brother) gave me a spinet type last weekend. I'm meeting the piano tuner over at the house this morning. I'm so excited, you have no idea. I LOVE to play and miss it tremendously. Well, that's all I got folks. Happy Easter.

Friday Foto: another BW

What do you think of this one? It was an underdog, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. 

So, I'm glad it's Friday. It seems like everyone around me has been stressed out of their minds lately and I'm really looking forward to hosting a little get-together Saturday night to ease all those tensions. Usually I'm on front of the line with stress, but not right now (funny how that works).

I have no real big plans for this weekend. I'm going to, of course, work on my Jeep a little. I need to process photos from a recent wedding as well. 

Friday Foto: #61!

Thursday morning was the grand opening of the Chick-Fil-A on the island. I had caught wind that the first 100 people in line get free food for a year (it measure down to 52 free Combo meal coupons to be used whenever you want and expiring in 1 year). So, I set to camp out.

I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't heard much talk about it from any other people here on the island other than my little group going. We planned on scoping it out Wednesday afterwork to determine if we needed to spend the night in the parking lot or not. Well, my ride to the gym Wednesday morning answered that question as I counted about 5 tents already pitched a whole day before the event.

I spent the rest of the day working in anticipation for 5:00 p.m. I was out the door and signed up at the registration tent with number 61 by 5:15. I had my sleeping bag, my beach chair, jacket, camera and flask (of course!).

Whit and I were originally camped in our designated spot by the drive-thru, but upon complaining about the sewer smell and actually watching raw sewage bubble from the clogged drain, we were quickly moved to the place you see in the pics. These were taken about 1:30 a.m.

We had roll-call every hour up until 2 in which we had to line up and prove our attendance. If you left the parking lot or missed roll call, you were disqualified. Finally we "slept" a little from 3-5. They woke us up at 5, began roll call and after standing in line for close to an hour, enduring a speech and trumpet solo by Dan Cathy himself (owner of all), we received our coupons to the cacophony of cowbells, cheers and the chant of "corn hole" (cleverly named depository of the raw sewage, you figure it out...)

I was back in bed for an hour and then at work... what a day.

Not much planned for this weekend. I have a real small wedding to shoot on Saturday and that's about it. Yall have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: She's going to kill me

It's very rare that Kelly actually lets me shoot her. I'm sure if I was more proactive in requesting her assistance as a model things would go smoother, but regardless, it was fun.

Shooting people has always been fun and challenging to me. It is 100% completely differant than shooting landscapes, abstract, etc. The only source of lighting I used was an off-camera flash triggered wirelessly. This allowed me to position the flash where I want the light to be, very similar to a strobe system. I used a soft box on the flash to dampen and soften the harsh light from the flash.

I'm sure I'll get chastised for posting these pics and be sure to view them now (read: save them to your computer), cause they might be removed soon. But oh well, I'm proud of them, I think they turned out very nice (read: HOT!)

Anyway, not much else is new in the life of Ben. I have a leak in my brake lines on my jeep and have decided to just replace all the brake lines, instead of just the one. It's almost the same amount of work to do all of them as it is to do one, and this will ensure longevity down there.

I have no big plans this weekend. Might go watch some soccer tonight. Have a great weekend all.