Grad Season 2016

It's that time of year again: GRADUATION SEASON! I'm still shooting grads with Village Photographers out of Auburn, AL, and I'm grateful to have that opportunity. This year my schedule includes 11 ceremonies scattered around Metro-Atlanta, West Georgia, and central Georgia. (I was set for 15, but a contract conflict cost me 4 grads in one day. What had happened was we had contracts with individual schools to shoot their graduation ceremonies, but the school district had a contract with another company and they overruled. It's unfortunate for Village since we've been serving those schools over a decade; it stinks for me because that's a fat wad of cash out of my pocket...but I digress.)

Here are some iPhone pics snapped before, in down moments during, and after my grad assignments from the past few weeks.

University of West Georgia:

(Note: This was the first time in my ten years of graduation photography that an indoor ceremony was moved outdoors day-of. They did a great job changing things on the fly, and our crew rolled with it well.)

Perimeter College (location - Georgia World Congress Center)

Clayton State University 

(These cases are the best. A police officer working this grad said he uses them to carry his guns.)

Albany State University (location - Albany Civic Center)

That's a taste of the fun I've had so far. Five ceremonies left (should have been 9), 3 more days (should have been 4). It's been mostly smooth sailing so far. Here's hoping that holds up.

Back Again & Let the Grads Begin

[Delyed post from May 2, 2014]

Things are almost back to something you might call normal after a herniated disc in my neck sidelined me for a while. Today my first grad of the spring season with Village Photographers. (OK, actually I shot Life University back in March, but that's more of a pre-season grad.) It's good to be able to get back into photography work.

It was Faulkner University's graduation day today. I've shot Faulkner a number of times, and they're great people to work with. This was the first time--at least in recent history--that they'd held an outdoor ceremony. I had previously taken pics at ceremonies in their old gym and at the Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center. I missed the air conditioning and consistent lighting, but the scenery was much improved.

There were a little less than 400 graduates receiving various degrees today. That's a pretty big graduation for us. I could tell afterward that I'm still out of shape. It could have been bigger, but I guess some people just don't value participating in such ceremonies. 

It surely wasn't the weather that kept anyone away today. It topped out around 71 degrees, which is great compared to the 80-95 degree range of most outdoor commencement ceremonies. We could have had some better cloud coverage, though. We set up with no clouds and eventually God graced us with a thin but consistent cloud layer that held for most of the pageantry. It started to break up about halfway into the graduates crossing the stage. I was adjusting my aperture as often as every two or three graduates. 

 

We had no major issues; things went smoothly from start to finish. The only hang-up was getting out the parking lot. I was out in under 15 minutes because I had to park far from the stadium. The rest of the crew who parked close to unload and load equipment were unable to even start out of their parking lot for around an hour.

I'm looking forward to the, I think, 15 ceremonies I'm on this season. Did I mention how nice it is to be close to normal again? Eventually I'll get around to posting the results from my first official wedding photography gig. That was last weekend, but I'm still going through the pictures. You may also see a photographer's guide to having a great grad picture taken when you get your diploma. It's amazing how consistently people mess up their own picture.

That's it for now. Stay peaceful!

Montgomery Dragon Boat Race and Festival

The Montgomery Dragon Boat Race and Festival was August 24, 2013, and I was happy to be on the scene shooting all sorts of pics with Village Photographers as the official event photographers for the entire festival encompassing--I'm guessing--a couple thousand people. I know I shot around 2,000 pictures. You can find those pics in the mix with other photographers' pics through the Village Photographers website. I started the day by the stage and in the Athlete's Village and moved to the marshaling area after lunch. (Thanks for the tasty vittles, Dreamland BBQ!)

Here are some pics I took on my iPhone 3GS just to document the day and catch some cool moments:


Beginning of the day:

Overlooking the Athlete's Village, Stage, and River: 

Big Al pitching a fit after the Oar Eagles won the Battle for the Iron Paddle (War Eagle!):

Overlooking the Riverfront and Marshaling Area from the Harriet II:

On the Harriet II (Happy for some cloud cover!):

 End of the day bad duck-face selfie:

 Dramatic lighting on the Riverfront sign:

Cool old advertisement for Wrigley's Spearmint Gum:

More iPhone Pics from Grads

When I shoot a graduation with Village Photographers, I often pull out my iPhone 3GS and pop off a couple pics to document the day. I look forward to being able to upgrade to a better phone with a better camera. Nonetheless, here's all the shots from some spring and summer grads:

Faulkner University:

 Huntingdon College (It was the first indoor ceremony I've ever shot there.):

Troy Universiy, Troy, AL (Spring):

Auburn University Montgomery:

Jefferson Davis High School (at the Alabama State University Acadome):

Troy University, Montgomery, AL:

Before the Booker T. Washington High School grad at First Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL:

LaGrange High School:

Troy University, Troy, AL (Summer):

Troy University Sorority Bid Day Kappa Delta Group Pics

August 10 was sorority Bid Day at the main campus of Troy University in Troy, AL; and I was happy to be on the scene shooting with Village Photographers. Bid Day shoots involve both candid and group photographers. Early in my days with Village, I shot the candids. I graduated to shooting the groups a few years ago. Thankfully we had enough photogs on the scene that I didn't have to pull double duty. Also thankfully it was a beautiful day and easily ten degrees cooler than last year.

Below are some shots I took on my iPhone 3GS during some down time. Again, these are random iPhone pics I took to document the day, they are NOT pictures taken for Village Photographers on a professional camera.

Grad Season Is Here Again

This post is called "Grad Season Is Here Again" because I had a great post about the beginning of another graduation season with Village Photographers. However, I had to stop in the midst of writing that post to actually do my job here at the Alabama State University commencement ceremony, and this app apparently doesn't auto-save a draft when you close it. Grr...

Anyway, here's a couple pics!

(Pay no attention to the time stamp. I got an error at the event and had to wait until I got home to republish.)

Graduation Season Is Almost Here!

The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, I've started my garden, and Easter is tomorrow morning (He is risen! He is risen, indeed!)...It's almost that time of year--GRAD SEASON! Working for Village Photographers is how I got my start in professional photography. They do all sorts of stuff, but VP specializes in candid photography for Greek events at Auburn University and graduation photos for high schools, colleges, and universities all over Alabama and Georgia (plus one in Pennsylvania).

I moved out of Auburn, so most candid photography events don't make me enough money to be worth running back and forth from Tallassee. Grad season is a whole other story. Today, I got my tentative graduation schedule, and it's going to be a busy few weeks coming up. I'll be working TWENTY-ONE ceremonies between April 28 and June 2. Happily, the vast majority of those are two or more ceremonies on the same day, which means those twenty-one grads are on eleven days. This looks to be an exceptionally lucrative grad season for Village Photographers and, by extension, for me.

Having my grad assignments nailed down means that I can also float the possibility of some spring and summer wedding photography. I'll have more about that in an upcoming post.

Holiday Market Day One Done

Alright folks. The first day of the Holiday Market is done. I've downloaded the pictures to my laptop. I'm charging batteries. I'm about to reformat all my memory cards. Then, I'm going to sleep. I'll be up about 5 AM to be ready to go set up about 6:30 to be ready to shoot by 8AM. That's what I call early.

Today wasn't a rousing success. I think I probably cleared the cost of the business license. However, I talked to a lot of people who are planning on coming by with their kids or grandkids before or after the parade tomorrow. I'm expecting big things for day two.

You might have seen my facebook post about needing to borrow a camera. My camera stopped working right before activity started to pick up for no discernible reason. It had happened momentarily earlier in the day, but this time it seemed to be a complete failure. Only Jessica's prayers can give any explanation to why it started working again after a half hour of not. Nonetheless, it's working again. I was able to finish out the night taking pics. I probably missed four or five opportunities for photo sales, but I'm pretty sure I'll catch those folks again tomorrow.

No fear for tomorrow. Richard Patterson of Village Photographers was on his way in our general direction and Jessica met him at the interstate to borrow a pair of cameras, just in case. Also on tomorrow, I realized the tent can go about a foot higher! I'm stoked, because that means I can actually have people standing if the group is too big. It just occurred to me that it also means I'm going to have to do something extra to keep the backdrop from blowing in the wind. I think I can handle that, though.

See you tomorrow!