Alzheimer's Music Fest

Recently I attended the Alzheimer's Music Fest hosted by Eddie Owens at the Red Clay Music Foundry in Duluth, GA.  The festival raises funds for family caregivers of those afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.

My colleague, Lou Raimondi, organized a photo shoot of the event for a group of photographers.  I was excited for the opportunity to shoot in such a dynamic environment.  Lou shared his experience with concerts and provided some helpful tips.  The light changes in relation to your angle to the stage, making it a bit of a challenge to get the right shot.  It helps to crank up the ISO so that the shutter speed is high enough to freeze the action.  Here are some of the performers in action:

Lianne Hutcheson

Pure Ed

The Listening Wall

The Lost Boys

Peyton Parker

Bumpin the Mango

Andrew Black

Ann-Marie Petty Band

The Mike Watson Band

The added bonus was listening to some great music for a very worthy cause.  I definitely plan on attending next year.

Enjoy the day,
George

Soccer in The Studio?

Senior Portrait Session

Skylar came to our studio for his senior portrait session outfitted in his soccer uniform and wanted to capture some images with "attitude."  A dark background with strong directional lighting and a couple of strip soft boxes for edge light provided the drama to match Skylar's passion for soccer.

As his session progressed, attitude reached new dimensions and we had to up our game to compete with Skylar. That's when we introduced the fog effect and a longer lens to lend an atmospheric quality to the drama.

To showcase Skylar's fondness for the outdoors, we took advantage of fabulous late afternoon light to capture some images in a natural setting. 

Skylar thoroughly enjoyed his session and his charming personality shines through.  He was totally engaged in each scenario and worked off our poses creating a few "looks" of his own.

The combination of excellent collaboration and fun resulted in amazing images that forever portray Skylar as he graduates high school and looks forward to new and exciting times in his life.

Wishing Skylar all the best as he begin his college career.

Enjoy the day,
George

Caitlin's Senior Session

Senior year is milestone in our lives, and is a perfect occasion for a portrait session capturing that moment in time, and expressing who we are.  One of our goals is to always have fun during our portrait sessions.  That means placing the subject at ease, playing some good music, using lighting and posing to make them look their best, and shooting tethered to a computer so they can view the images as we go along..

 

Caitlin's session started in the studio with Caitlin modeling her prom dress, with unique cut outs and design.  The style called for a striking background to compliment the dress  We chose one that was bold with angled lines mimicking  the designs in the dress, using directional lighting from the right with a reflector for fill.  

The timing of the session was planned to coincide with late afternoon light, that is much softer and flattering than mid-day direct light. This provided us an opportunity to use the sun as backlight with fill in flash to even out the exposure.  

Congratulations, Caitlin.  We wish you all the best as you head off to college and embark on the next exciting time in your life.  Thanks for letting us create your portraits.

Enjoy the day,
George

Horsin' Around: Equine Session

Thistle Crown Farm in Gainesville, Georgia is owned by Laura and Jeff Cegalis.  We worked with Laura and Jeff to develop images and a video for their website, along with some personal images of Laura with her horses, Scooby and Capone.

Thistle Crown Farm is a beautiful place and is a tribute to Laura and Jeff's hard work.

The pastures are absolutely lush as Jeff has been working with an agricultural specialist to enrich the soil and also has installed an irrigation system.

 

We explored various locations on the farm to find one with the perfect  light for an intimate portrait of Laura and Scooby.

I always try to visualize a portrait when I am setting it up, looking at the lighting, background, and any challenges I may need to overcome.  When photographing horses, this is especially critical as it takes some effort to move a 1200 lb. animal into place, and is difficult to have them "take a step or two to the right."  In many of my outdoor portraits, I use a flash to fill in shadows and create catch lights in the eyes.  With horses I first ask the owner if their horse is comfortable with flash, and then fire a few flashes to acclimate them prior to shooting.

We caught Laura putting Copone through his paces at the TCF jumping arena.

For posterity, Laura and Copone gratiously posed with yours truly after the jumping session.

Upon visiting Thistle Crown Farm, it is readily apparent that Laura and Jeff are passionate about their farm and providing the best possible environment for horses.

It has been great fun and the above shot seems to confirm that the horses enjoyed themselves.

Click here to see the You Tube video we made: TCF You Tube
Click here to visit the website for Thistle Crown Farm

Enjoy the day,

George

Snow Maiden is Outfitted at Melanie Watson Custom Dressmaking

Melanie Watson Custom Dressmaking has earned a reputation in the Philadelphia area and beyond for extraordinary creations, so when a Snow Maiden needed a new wardrobe for children's reading programs, she commissioned Melanie to craft it for her.  The results were amazing and we were asked to capture portraits of Katie modeling her costume.



Our concept was to use a wintery backdrop to compliment the dress.  Since there was no snow, we created a set in Melanie's living room with a portable backdrop and speedlights. A patterned muslin was draped in front of seamless paper and lit to maintain cool tones for a "snowy" look.   A few extra light spheres added in post reinforced the mood.

Katie assumed her role and moved into some great poses to compliment her character and to show off the dress.

A Snow Princess stopped by and shared a moment with Katie.

Melanie Watson is very creative and a talented dressmaker.  You can see more of  her work at: http://www.mwatsondressmaking.com and be sure to check out her blog: queenoftheflies.

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Enjoy the day,
George

Portraits of Winter

The recent ice storm in the Atlanta area provided much anxiety with downed trees and power lines. We were fortunate to have had only one night without power (can we say Internet withdrawal?).

One by product of this event was nature's show of light reflecting off icy surfaces. A glance out the window quickly confirmed that it was time to venture out.  I gathered my gear and flew out the front door as most times the ice is gone by noon.  As it happened in this case the frigid temperatures kept the ice around for several days providing extra time to look for lights and patterns.

Because of dangerous road conditions, I decided to work close to home which provided a plenty of photographic opportunities and a chance refill my coffee cup in between shots to help stave off the cold.

It was a cloudy day, which meant that Mother Nature's softbox provided great light, keeping the highlights from being overexposed in the images.  The trees were transformed into fountains of light with their icy cloak reflecting the cloudy illumination.

On day two, it was time to get up close and personal for some macro

shots.  A set of extension tubes mounted between the lens and camera body on a tripod  enabled a close up look at patterns and details of the icy covering on the tree branches.

A good practice when you bring your camera in from the cold is to first wrap it in a plastic bag to keep the condensation from forming and prevent moisture buildup on the external body, as well as the internal electrical components.  Once the camera reaches room temperature, you can remove it from the bag.

Each season has its own personality and Old Man Winter certainly showed his with this storm.  Lots of white and cool colors distance him from the other seasons, and make for a spectacular show.

Enjoy the day,

George