A ritual I have for starting a new year is to review the past year and be grateful for the opportunities and the clients that have came my way.  This year I have so much to be grateful for!  Fantastic weddings and events, numerous commercial projects, I stayed busy all year, so busy I didn’t have the time to blog about it!  These are some of the highlights from 2010.

Brad and Alli

This is a shot of my 2010 Wedding Giveaway winners at a Braves game, in their private suite with their friends.  This was not the only special event I shot in 2010, I also photographed a luau themed party, complete with roast pig and fire dancers.

Fire Dancer

Not all the events were social, I had several corporate assignments.  The most interesting was the four day event I blogged about earlier this year, Dragon Boat races.

And the race is on!

This shoot was fun!  I spent a large portion of the day riding in the rescue boat shooting with a very long zoom lens to get closeups of the action.  It was tricky because the boat was small, and I had to stand to get my shots!  They were moving, my boat was moving AND rocking!  Good thing I didn’t get seasick!  Or fall overboard!

As much fun as these events were, there is nothing like a wedding.  If you ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you weddings have my heart, and I love shooting them.  Here are a few images from my 2010 weddings.

Mom and Bride's Sisters

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Happy faces, love it!

Wow, what a great face.

Mother of the Groom and Mother of the Bride just before going up to light the Unity candle.

Dancing with the new Hubby

Dancing with her Dad

I don't know about you, but I can feel the love.

Wedding Ducks (apparently)

And here’s some dancing from another wedding.

Having fun or what??

Ok, let's keep a straight face, hold it, hold it..........

Failed!

Some shots from a wedding November 2010 at The Georgian Terrace.

Heirloom Headpiece

A Classic Profile

Bored? Nothing to do? Read a Bridal magazine!

Fantastic!

Beautiful!

Wedding Cake Grand Ballroom Georgian Terrace

BTW…….. The cake is from Celso’s Cakes, yum!

Party!

A bit of "Air Guitar"

Yes, 2010 was an amazing year!  Great clients, lots of fun and excitement, the best yet!  I know 2011 will be even better and I am eager to see what happens next!

The Atlanta Wedding Photographer

I was recently given the opportunity to participate in a bridal show at Olde Towne Athletic Club.  In addition to being an exhibiting vendor at the show, I had the honor of being asked to shoot the fashion show.  The fashion portion of the show was produced by Karin Trexler, manager of Wedding Angels, a bridal boutique in Historic Roswell.  Makeup and hair styling for the models were provided by Voila Salon, also of Roswell.  I was very excited to be shooting the fashion show, and at the same time, freaking out just a bit because I had never photographed a show before!  You would think that in all my years as photographer it would have came up before, but no, not till this show.  I think it worked out ok, the girls were beautiful and looked stunning in every gown they modeled.  For some of them this was their first time as well, so I guess this was a day of firsts for many of us.

Love her smile!

One of the Bride’s Maids dresses, they had all four seasons represented in the show, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Great view of the train, nice!

And a little spin for the guests.

Great attitude!

Is that Lady Gaga?

You can tell she is having a great time!

Beautiful!

They had so many great looking gowns!

Again, great attitude and smile.

After the show, such fun girls!

I asked one of the models to sit for me in a mini portrait session.  I was impressed with her elegance and gentle nature, she was a joy to photograph.  Her portrait was made next to one of the windows using almost all natural light with only a small amount of flash for fill.  I like using lighting like this, it’s similar to the way it was done by the classic painters like Vermeer, who used single light sources in their paintings.  To me, the look is timeless.

We had been talking about her boyfriend, I think the smile is for him.

In all, I had an amazing day!  Running around with my camera covering the event, and nipping back to my booth from time to time to chat with potential clients, AND shooting the show!  Whew!  What a day!

If you would like to see what you missed, it’s all on line in my  preview site.  Just click the link in the sidebar.

The Atlanta Wedding Photographer

From a wedding at Olde Towne

One of my long time favorite wedding venues is Olde Towne Athletic Club in Eastern Cobb county.  I have been invited to participate in their January 31st bridal show.  I am excited to be in this show, it’s one you will not want to miss!  Olde Towne Athletic Club’s ballroom should be a hit.  After years of using a temperature controlled temporary structure for receptions, the new ballroom is now finished.  It’s beautiful, I can’t wait to shoot there on Sunday!  It just won’t be the ballroom I’ll be making photographs of, there’s also a fashion show.

The fashion show is being put on by Wedding Angels, if you don’t have your wedding gown yet, you won’t want to miss this.  Wedding Angels has a shop in historic Roswell.  If you can’t make the show on Sunday, stop in for a visit, you’ll be glad you did, the selection and service are second to none.

Music and entertainment will be by Todd Peavy, I have worked with Todd before, and he always puts on quite a show.  There will be other wedding service providers besides myself and the ones mentioned above.  I don’t have a list of them, I guess you will just have to attend and find out.

Speaking of attendance, this is a limited attendance show, you must RSVP to get in.  Don’t worry, it’s easy to register for the show, here’s the RSVP link.  The RSVP page also has the event times and other details as well as the location of Olde Towne Athletic Club.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there!

The Atlanta Wedding Photographer

Bridal Show Flyer

I will be an exhibiting sponsor at the upcoming Gwinnett Historic Courthouse bridal show on January 17, 2010.  I will have sample books, prints and albums on display.  Come and visit with me and the other wedding service providers.  The June show had a great attendance, this could be the best show yet!

People are surprised to learn that the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse is also a wedding and wedding reception venue.  They have been doing weddings there for years.  There is plenty of parking nearby, and the upstairs ballroom is ideal for a wedding reception.  There is a very cool feature that I love, and you will see demonstrated at the show, an outdoor balcony, it’s perfect for a bouquet toss!

Even if you have your church or wedding venue already selected, come on down!  You never can tell, you just might find the right florist, wedding planner, caterer, or photographer at the show, see you there!

The Atlanta Wedding Photographer

I have all the time in the world.

You are probably wondering why there is a photo of a turtle on a wedding photography blog.  No, it’s not because this is the Bride’s favorite pet and he will be in the wedding, can you imagine waiting on him to make it down the aisle?  Good guess, but that’s not it.  There is, however, a story behind Mr. Turtle’s portrait.

I was standing at my kitchen window a few weeks ago having a snack, when I noticed this turtle near my neighbor’s gate.  I don’t often see turtles where I live so I decided to grab a camera and snap a few shots.  I had made three shots when I heard the office phone ringing.  I rushed back inside and caught the call, it was a potential client inquiring about May 1st, 2010.  The call went well, we spoke about twenty minutes or so, but didn’t set an appointment, they wanted to “look around some more.”  I don’t push for appointments, so I just said, “sure, call me when you are ready to meet.”  I went back outside to resume my turtle photographs and he was just gone!  Now how far can a turtle go in twenty minutes?  Apparently pretty far!  I looked around for him everywhere and he could not be found!  I didn’t think anything else about it, uploaded the images to the computer and went back to work.

Two days later I received an inquiry from a potential client that had been referred to me, their date? May 1st, 2010.  Long story short, we made an appointment, I visited with them in their home, and they booked me that night.  Two weeks later, I get a call from the pervious potential client wanting to sit down and discuss their wedding plans.  They were disappointed to hear their date was taken!  I did give them the names of some other photographers I liked, and wished them luck.  This has happened more than once over the years I have been shooting weddings, one time I had a potential client miss her date by the space of an hour!  I don’t “hold” dates, or “pencil them in,” I try to be fair by making it “first come, first served,” it’s a common practice in the wedding industry.

It’s just not limited to photographers.  I had a client a few years ago hire me in what I would consider an unusual way, she booked me first before her church!  We were chatting about the wedding and the church she wanted for her wedding when she mentioned she had not yet confirmed with the church, or given them a deposit.  I told her she needed to call them today, confirm, and make arrangements to pay the fee.  She said, “Oh, I can do that tomorrow, I’m going shopping for a gown this afternoon.”  After some urging from me, she called, spoke with the church and found out it was being shown that afternoon for a wedding on the same date!  Needless to say, she was there within an hour with a check!  Please understand, this was not a church in downtown Atlanta, this was a small church below Newnan, you would never think it could be busy with weddings, but it was.  Had she went shopping that day, she might have lost her church!

My point with these two stories?  Let’s go back to the turtle, I thought for sure I would be able to go back out and resume making pictures of the turtle.  I was thinking that he might at best have gone a few feet, after all, he WAS a turtle, how far could he go?  Well, I for one was surprised when he was gone, gone, gone!  How does this relate to you and planning your wedding?  Some things are unique, like churches, wedding and reception venues, even more so when you are talking about a specific date and time.  It’s a similar situation with artists and artisans, like photographers, florists, cake makers, bands, etc.  The question is, do you want THE photographer, florist, or band, or do you want to settle for less than your heart’s desire?  Get the unique elements set before you go shopping for the dress, they mass produce those.  I had a client just recently select a Priscilla of Boston gown for her April wedding.  I’m sure it will be beautiful, especially on her, but they will probably make several in that size and style, not just one.

So, hopefully you already have your date set, church and reception venue booked.  Now it’s time for your next steps.  If you are in the process of finding a photographer, please visit my page “Three Things You Should Know“, it’s a guide to selecting the right wedding photographer for you.  And the timeframe you have for finding one?  It depends on your wedding date, to give you some examples, I have a client for November 2010, coming to meet with me Thanksgiving week, she will be in Atlanta then, she has her venue already booked.  My Spring 2010 should be fully booked by the upcoming holidays, if it’s not, Christmas engagements should finish it sometime after New Years.  This is not just me, but other full-time professional photographers as well.  Most of my current clients have booked me several months in advance of their weddings.  Please keep in mind, this is a similar situation for other wedding professionals as well.

The Atlanta Wedding Photographer