Tallassee Homecoming 2013

Tallassee High School's Homecoming was last week, and that meant there was a homecoming parade last Friday. I was going to be there in support of the students in my youth group, so I figured I'd take some pictures while I was at it.

I posted the pictures to Facebook in two separate albums, and prints are available for purchase through my SmugMug.com site (it's a trial membership which I may not keep, but I figured it couldn't hurt).

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day:

My camera's for the task were my Nikon D70 with a 170-500mm lens attached for close-ups and an 8MP Sony Cybershot for wider shots. (Yes, I know I'm in need of an update to my personal equipment. It wasn't worth the trip to borrow a couple D90s from Village Photographers. I do have a newer/better point-and-shoot, but I can't find the battery charger for it. I digress.)

I got swarmed by kudzu bugs, and most people assumed I was with the newspaper, but it was a good learning experience. I should have bumped my ISO up another notch and gone with a tighter aperture for a greater depth of field; there are a few pics where the float rolled quick enough to bring part of the subject(s) out of focus. That's just part of the trick to using a long lens on approaching subjects, I guess. A headband would have also been nice too keep the sunscreen and sweat from running into my eyes. A sign reading "Smile and Wave!" would also have been helpful.

Good times. I'm looking forward to the Christmas Parade already. Tallassee, AL is a fun little town to take pictures in.

Grad Season in the Rearview and Ahead

From late April to early June, I was in varying degrees of grad season mode. I shot 22 ceremonies with Village Photographers during that time. For 9 of those ceremonies I got the wonderful pleasure of NOT being the lead photographer. (That's a pleasure as a veteran photographer because you get the opportunity to shoot public relations photos and have fewer things to worry about other than your pictures.) I took pictures of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, President of the Alabama Public Service Commission Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, and many other less notable notables. I lived most of May fueled by coffee, fast food, and Emergen-C. I suffered through a pretty intense sinus infection during a week of back to back grads. And, most significantly, I made a heap of money. :P 

Before grad season got into full swing, Village sent me to Clayton State University to shoot two days of cap and gown portraits at their Grad Finale in the Loch Shop campus bookstore. Here's a little sample of what that was like (as I played around with the driver mode on my multipurpose, waterproof, point-and-shoot Pentax Optio W60).

The first grad of the season for me was Jacksonville State University. Jax State has an outdoor ceremony, and we couldn't have asked for better weather this year. I got to shoot PRs on this one, and I got to shoot them with a 55-300mm lens attached to a Nikon D90 (D90s are standard equipment for Village events, but glass like that is not). It was sweet, and I got some of the best PRs I've ever taken. Here's a sampling I was emailed by the photo manager with congrats.

In fact, I was so in the groove of shooting graduation ceremonies that I took my camera and shutter-bugged it up when I went to see a number of my youth group kids graduate 8th grade at Southside Middle School and from Tallassee High School. Results from those two events would have been better if I had been able to borrow some Village equipment, but they're kinda funny about loaning stuff out during the busiest part of grad season--go fig. The Tallassee High School principal, Coach Battles, even kicked me off the field shortly after taking the picture second picture below. That's what I get for being unofficial. I hope the one official guy they had got a good one of everyone, but I couldn't help but think, "Who shoots a graduation solo? No second or third shot, really? These kids have no options!"

Check my facebook page for more on those Tallassee City Schools ceremonies.

Whew! Glad to get this posted finally. In the next few days I should be getting the schedule for summer graduations...happy, happy, happy to work.

Music in the Park...in the Dark

Blah, blah, blah... I'm tired but wanted to go ahead and post these photos. I'll write more tomorrow.
: P

[ADDED]
It's well past "tomorrow," but something needs to be said about these pics. What follows are some photos I took when my wife and I attended "Music in the Park" in Tallassee, AL, on April 12, 2013. It was a fund-raising event to benefit the restoration of the Mt. Vernon Theater in historic downtown Tallassee.

The pictures were taken with my Nikon D70, which is a poor choice for night photography, but it's all I had. I can't for the life of me remember the guy's name who was playing while we were there, however he was really good and played a broad selection from old Blues Traveler to new indy-pop hits you would recognize from commercials.

Good times. I wish there were more things like this going on in Tallassee more often.

Business Photography for Digital Marketing and Social Media

*** UPDATED SLIGHTLY***

Hey small business owners and local managers, I've got a few questions for you.

Have you ever Googled your business? If you have, did you find your business? Chances are good that your website, if you have one, wasn't among the top results. There are all sorts of people who can help you with that, that's not my angle.

It's also likely that you found what's called a "stub" for your business in Google+ Pages or Google+ Local and a number of other marketing directories (Merchant Circle, Super Pages, etc.). These directories are designed to show up in search results higher and more frequently than your actual website. Google+ Pages are given extra-special treatment because it is a Google service. Basically, they take whatever info that is publicly available about your business, church, school, or what have you, and they list that info in their directory--kind of like the old yellow pages, but better and free-er

In almost all of these directories, Google+ in particular, the public is allowed to submit reviews and images to add useful (to other consumers, at least) information about your business. Google+ Local listings are especially significant, because they are integrated into Google Maps and regular old Google searches. That's where I can help you.

For anyone in the Tallassee area, I'll come to your place of business and shoot 5-10 quality, unique photographs that display where you are, who you are, what you do, and what you offer. I'll be in and out in a matter of minutes, and won't disrupt your business (except for a staff picture if you want one). I'll process the images, upload them to your Google+ Page, link to you from my Google+ Page, post them here on my blog, link back to your website/Facebook page, "like" you on Facebook, share your images on Facebook, Tweet about it, (all of these things improving your Internet visibility) and email the images to you for any and all future use. And I'll do it all for only $50. I'll do it for Chamber of Commerce members for $40. In fact, I'll do a free set for the first business to contact me.

***This is an introductory rate. My advertising guru brother-in-law thinks I should be charging $250 as a minimum and that I'd get upwards of $1000 per shoot in a high density market like Birmingham.***

Now, maybe you're thinking "I can take my own pictures." Sure you can, and I could change my own oil; but it's easier to pay a pro with the tools and experience to do it right, and I get better results when I do. What are you waiting for?

I posted 3 shots of my church, Liberty Baptist Church, as an early sample. ***I've just done a pro bono set for the Bound By Grace Ministries Thrift Store.*** Check them out.

Contact me via my At PEaCe Photography Facebook page, email [pecaspers(at)gmail(dot)com], or phone [334-452-3PEC]. Let's get Tallassee small businesses on the map! ...Google Maps that is.