Thursday, February 23, 2012

Foto February : Eric's Mustang

Little did I know when I was kicking around the idea of this Foto February thing that I would get to photograph two classic Ford Mustangs. I'm like a kid in a candy store around cool cars. It's silly really.

Eric, one of our first grooms from back in 2001, asked me if I would like to go for a little drive in his 1967 Fastback. Nothing fancy, just a half day trip down the notorious "Dragon" looping over Tellico Plains via the Cherohala Skyway. Heck yeah!

Eric's Mustang is a work in progress. And a labor of love. And his daily driver. He bought the car 20 years ago with the dreams of turning it into a real show car, but time and life happened. It bounced around a little in his family and sat un-driven for a while. But when he recently lost his company car due to cutbacks and needed a second set of wheels for his family, he decided to get the old girl out and get her running again. No sense in buying a second used car when you've got a perfectly good one in the garage. He's done a lot of work to it and, even though it looks pretty dang good from the outside, the Mustang still needs more cosmetic work to make get it back to it's former glory.

But missing trim pieces, torn seats, and absent door panels aren't what make a car a car. It's that connection between man and machine and the road. The growl of the motor. The rumble and jolt of every bump through the aged suspension. The whistling howl of wind through long dry-rotted seals. About the only thing that can get a person closer to being one with the open road is a motorcycle. Take the idea of riding a soft, smooth, mortuary-quiet Lexus and flip that on it's head.

You have a sense of being alive when riding in a car like Eric's. A sense of living on the edge. Maybe it's a testosterone thing, but there's something to be said about that marriage of man and machine, in harmony, blasting down country roads.

We started off on the Dragon. And first I was bummed that the weather was a tad gloomy, but it ended up being a perfect day.


Look at that smile.


I hopped out to get a few action shots at a pull-off on the Dragon. You wouldn't believe the roar this old Mustang made as he drove around. It literally sounded like some grumpy beast coming to get me. And check out that body roll! These old cars weren't made to hit the curves like their modern counterparts. Everybody lean the other way!


In your best car impressions… VVRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!


Just like the other Mustang I shot, I was again struck by the curves. They just don't design cars like this anymore.


On top of the Fontana Dam. Hands down, one of my favorite photos I've ever taken. Thankfully we had the roads to ourselves that day so we had plenty of opportunities to play.


No tires were harmed in the making of this burnout. Okay, that's a lie. And I thought this one needed an old, gritty feel to it.


Into downtown Tellico Plains where we got some beautiful photos.


Can you see why they called it a "fastback"?


A good looking car and a good loo… well, the guy that drives it.


Rocks reflecting in the rocker panel. And I'm not usually a fan of gold on cars, but I think the accents in the wheels look sharp with that original Nightmist Blue color.


Again, those lines!


Busted.


My other favorite! The moodiness. The subdued hues. The trespassing. What a great photo (if I do say so myself)!


Eric, thank you so much for the epic road trip! Yeah, so it was only half a day and we stayed close to home, but after toting kids around in a minivan every day for the last 6 years, I'll take what I can get. :)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Maryville Portrait Photography - Alyssa's Maternity Session

And now a little break in the Foto February action for a maternity session. Alyssa, who is 8 months pregnant, stopped by our studio last Saturday with her 5 year-old daughter, Lainey, in tow for some belly photos. Here are some favorites from her session…

Pretty and preggers. :)


Future big sister.


A pair of cute ladies.




Of course we got a few of Lainey by herself.




Beautiful.




Cute!


And super cute!


Thank you Alyssa! Good luck in the next few weeks!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Foto February : Buy 3, Get the 4th Free

I tell you, the awesome thing about this Foto February project is the variety of assignments that have come my way. It's exactly what I was looking for! And I'm having a blast shooting everything.

Today's post is a little different. I decided to combine several of the smaller assignments into one post. That's not to say they aren't important enough to get their own post. It's just a housekeeping thing. Trying to keep our blog still geared toward the business somewhat. Speaking of that, if you're new here and looking for our wedding or portrait work, be sure to click the little tabs in the header to just pull up those blog posts (and if you're curious about this project I'm in the middle of, click here).

Up first is Caroline, one of our portrait clients from a couple years ago. She's a marathon runner, which is completely amazing to me. I have trouble walking a couple miles... I can't imagine running over 26! So when she contacted me about taking some photos of her while she trains, I was intrigued. I wasn't really sure what I would photograph; after all there's only so many ways to take pictures of someone running. But I was up for the challenge. In talking with Caroline, what struck me was how much she loves running a particular stretch of the Maryville-Alcoa Greenway near the Clayton Homes headquarters. She talked about how peaceful it was; secluded and beautiful. So while I was shooting, it hit me... the story isn't just about her running. It's about her relationship with this trail. So I sought to capture that.

A little stretching action.


There isn't too much traffic on this stretch of the Greenway; something Caroline loves about it.




And even though her path takes her right beneath Pellissippi Parkway, she says it's still relatively quiet and peaceful.




The solitude of this one needed that high contrast look.


Next we meet Aaron, who I used to see fairly regularly when I worked at the newspaper, and he worked for a local nonprofit. He has since left the world of nonprofit organizations to find greener pastures elsewhere. He's been struggling for a while, but luckily recently started a new job doing marketing and claims management for a local roofing company. Pretty cool job, right? For those that don't live in the area, we had some pretty intense storms last summer that dumped a lot of damaging hail on the homes and cars. Roofing is a booming business right now. There's a catch about the job though... Aaron is afraid of heights. Ha! He contacted me about doing some photos of him at work as a way to share with his family and friends that he found a new job.

The best way to conquer our fears is to face them head on. Why not walk around on roofs if you're afraid of heights.


See? King of the World! Aaron said he's getting better about the whole height thing. :)


He must be... right on the edge of a two story home in Walland using chalk to circle hail-damaged shingles.


Aaron gets low to explain the damaging effects of hail on siding as well.


Just a guy on a roof in Walland.


And one of my favorites (he's measuring the damaged area).


Alright, like most guys, I dig guns. I'm no gun nut or anything, but I enjoy shooting. I remembered Corey, one of our upcoming grooms, telling me about his custom built AR-15 during a bridal wedding meeting (that's what us guys talk about while Danielle and the brides talk weddings!) so when I mentioned that on my Foto February blog post, I was hoping he, or someone else that has built their own rifle would want some photos done. And he did. Corey was nice enough to loan me the AR for a few hours one afternoon to let me play around.

This was exactly the photo I had envisioned! And I'm not going to tell you how many times of throwing it up in the air it took to finally get it right. ;)


A little more of a "safe" shot, but it's still pretty cool.


And I got to unbox 300 rounds of .223 on the studio floor.


These Magpul magazines are really popular with the AR crowd. Maybe I can convince them to hire me to shoot their next catalog. *hinthint*


And this last one was the result of some serious experimentation (and I love it so much, that I almost posted all 20 versions of it). I wanted to do something different, so I started playing around with a video light and some long exposures to do what's called "lightpainting". The studio was completely dark and the only light hitting the gun during the 15 second long exposures was the video light as I moved it around the the AR-15 to paint it with light. Cool?


Lastly, one that hits a little closer to home. Thanks to my mother-in-law, I will always take time to blow my horn and wave back to the brave sign spinners and crazy characters on the sides of America's roads now.

You see, she is one now.


As much as I want to make fun of her (and don't get me wrong, she still gets teased by me) I can't really, because I'm proud of her. Not too many people I know, heck, no one else, would have the courage to swallow their pride and tackle such an endeavor. But being faced with tight finances since my father-in-law was laid off last year, she's doing it.

And she's doing it well; a ceaseless wave and a beaming smile throughout her day. Just like she told me after I took her picture, "a job's a job."


So next time you see one of these crazy folks on the street corner doing their thing, give them a wave or a good toot from your horn. It just might make it seem like it's all worth it to them
Thanks to my father-in-law for sending me an email and asking me to photograph her as Lady Liberty. It made me almost appreciate her role in my life. ;)


Thanks to you all, Caroline, Aaron, Corey, and Kathy, for taking part in my Foto February project!! And thanks to everyone for reading this super-long post! Coming up in a couple days, another classic Mustang on a mini road trip.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Foto February : A Little Junkyard Family Session

When I decided to do this Foto February project, I wanted to stay away from doing the work we already do. It just makes good business sense to not do for free what we normally get paid to do. But I did have a couple ideas for some "different" family photos. So when a photographer buddy of mine, who I only know through Facebook and Instagram, asked me if he drove his family from China Grove, NC would I shoot them? I knew right away what I wanted to do.

Daryl Brewton is a colorful guy. Literally and figuratively. A sleeve of tattoos, shaved head, goatee, black rimmed glasses… I'd almost be intimated if I didn't have a good foot in height on him (maybe not that much, but everybody is short compared to me). But deep down, he's a sweetheart. An awesome dad, husband, and what I like to call a "missionary photographer". After going on several church mission trips, Daryl started a group called dbWorldwide, an organization designed to document mission work around the globe as well as help other photographers do just that.

So Daryl and his family are cool people. And I wanted to do something cool, funky and different. He told me they would be up for anything, so Danielle and I scouted a few grungy locations and this is what we came up with...

The first stop was an old, torn down grocery store on the side of the road. We've wanted to shoot here for a long time, but never took the opportunity. Meet the Brewtons, by the way.


Daryl's been framed.


Daryl and his wife Stephanie have one cute little kiddo named Gabby.


Mom and Dad.


You know what they say, the family that poos together… actually, I don't think that is a saying.




Technically, we were trespassing. We kinda sorta looked the other way when we saw the no trespassing sign. I thought we'd be in and out of there pretty fast, but time got away from us. And that's when we met Tip. He used to own this grocery store back in the day. He was funny, cantankerous, and just a sweet old feller. He wanted to make sure we were being careful and warned us to watch where we stepped (a lot of broken glass and rusty stuff… we're lucky we made it out unscathed). When I asked if I could take his photo, he snarkily replied, "No… but your camera can." Awesome.


From there, we moved on to Headrick's Garage, which has a huge junkyard behind it. This time, we asked permission up front because I didn't want a junkyard dog to find out what my butt tasted like. They were cool with letting us play amongst the old broken down wrecks.


What a cute family.


We even found some tall grass to play in. Thank goodness it was chilly out… I would've hated to see the snakes lurking around.




This is why Gabby's hands drag on the ground now.


I don't remember what was so funny. But it was. Promise.


This was Daryl's idea, I swear. And I think he paid for it with a sore back the next day. But sometimes, you have to make some small sacrifices for the awesome photos.


Daryl, Stephanie, and Gabby… thank you all again for making the trek from North Carolina to play around in a junkyard! And everyone else, go check out Daryl's site (scroll back up to the top of this post). If you feel led to, throw a donation or two his way. I hope to someday go on a mission trip or two myself so I can't wait to pick Daryl's brain for tips.

More Foto February coming soon!

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