Drawing Back The Curtain...

Every now and then I like to show people the guts of a picture. How it was made. This means everything from the lighting to the backgrounds, to where the subject was standing. I recently did an in home maternity portrait. Here was the set up...
You can check out what all the pieces are by visiting my flickr page.

And here are a few shots from the session.

The details taste so good!

I often find that photographers over look the small details. I think most of us our guilty of that at some point. We can sometimes has a tendancy to only see the big picture (The forest, but not the trees).

I was in Savannah, GA not long ago. It's a beautiful city, but when I photographed it, I wasn't happy with the images. I realized the reason was I was trying to focus on too much. The "big" picture was just too big.I started capturing the small details that make that city so special and the results were much better than I ever expected.

Wedding photography is very similar, you have to get the big shots. The first kiss, the first dance, exchanging the rings, etc... However, if you miss the small details (like this strawberry) you really miss out on some of the things that make a wedding day so special. Brides spend a lot of time making sure everything is perfect. A good photographer should spend just as much engery making sure all of her little details get noticed!

Some times it's about what's missing.

This is one of my favorite wedding images I took of a wedding in Oregon. It was a great candid moment, the bride and groom walking down the vineyard, the flower girls running being to keep up. PERFECT! Well perfect except for one thing. The wedding planner was walking in front and in between the bride and groom. I know she didn't mean to ruin the shot, but the fact is, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and GRRR as a photographer you just want to scream...MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!- But you don't, or at least you shouldn't. I took the shot with her in the middle making some goofy face. About 30 minutes worth of photoshop later and BAM! She's gone. You'd never know she was there. I took her out without too much trouble, but it was well worth it. The shot went from being an if only... to a wow that's so cute! Throw in a little black and white conversion and you've got a keeper! I end up doing something like this at least once a wedding. I don't wait to get the brides opinion, she doesn't need to know. All a bride wants is great pictures that she and her family will always treasure. That's what you got to deliver every time!

A Capital Place to be...

South Carolina is an awesome state to photograph. We have everything from oceans to mountains. We have alligators, bears, panthers, and some great birds. I'm not normally a "wildlife" photographer, but don't get me wrong I don't mind it either. In fact I actually really enjoy it. However,people, portaits, weddings... things like that are really what I shoot the most. So when the Exposure.Columbia Flickr Group had it's first photo walk down town, I knew architechure was going to be the name of the game. - Not something I'm normally doing.

Downtown Columbia has some great building, but the capital building is by far the most recognizable if not one of the most beautiful. Many a bride gets her portrait taken on the steps. It's become a natural backdrop for lots of events, speakers, and general craziness. (I once saw a girl painted as a tiger in a cage to protest.... well who knows what).

This image of our state house is one of the first photos I took with the new Nikon D700. I had the ISO cranked up to 3200 just to test the noise level. (that's photographer talk for crap on the image). The camera did great. I'd like to claim that this was EXACTLY what I was shooting for, but the truth is sometimes you get some good suprises. - Just like good ol' SC!

Trans World Africa.

Trans World Radio - Africa, has found some of my Zimbabwe Flickr images, and has asked to publish them. I'm really excited about that. Trans World Radio is an international Christian broadcaster and one of there broadcast arms deal with social development in Africa. In this case they have developed programs to educate people on how to clense water for themselves in the midst of a cholera crises where people are dying from this disease. People from all over the world gave to this need and the World Health Organisation helped get the program on air in that country.

They want to use this image and maybe a few others for there bi-annual magazine.