Football Practice

 Well, it's been a minute. I might post about that later and try to fill in the gap with some back-posting. For now, here's some pictures from my kid's football practice.

Camera: Nikon D7100

Lens: Nikon DX VR 18-140mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED

Location: Thomaston, Georgia

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.

What's New with At PEaCe Photography?

This will all make sense in a moment.

A new location: At PEaCe Photography is now centered out of Thomaston, GA. My primary vocation is Christian ministry leadership, and Silvertown Baptist Church called me as their pastor in July of 2014. I plan on staying here quite a while, and I hope being somewhat convenient to Atlanta, Columbus, and Macon allows for increasingly consistent photo work as well. (Forgive the bad weather, but the "Merry Christmas" sign connects with the next item.)

A new camera: Finally, I personally own a legit camera. Yeah, you'll tell me that a great photographer can get great pictures from any camera, but when someone wants to decorate the walls of their restaurant, for instance, you can't offer them 6.1 megapixel images that pixelate beyond 11" x 14". So now I have jumped from a D70 to a D7100, and I have an Olympus PEN that serves as a reasonable backup. I'm grateful for all the years of using Village Photographers' equipment, but it's no longer practical. Plus, no self-respecting photographer should have to borrow his primary gear. (Forgive the poor staging, it was Christmas morning and I was even more interested in my kids.)

A new kid: Chronologically, we had him before I got the new camera. Charlie was born December 10th. Having survived the first two months, we're coming back to more normal routines.

All that to say...

I'm back, and I'm looking for work. What have you got for me?

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!

So Whatever Happened to At PEaCe Photography?

The previous post is from October 2013. It is now 2014. You might be wondering, "What happened?"

There should have been a post about Tallassee Trade Day 2013, and one about Holiday Market, and at least one about graduation season with Village Photographers. But there's not. Here's why.

In June, I developed a pain in my shoulder. Thinking it was just the result of me sleeping on it funny, I did nothing about it. Fast-forward to September, it's getting worse. I started seeing a chiropractor (a graduate of Life University, whose commencement I've shot many times). My shoulder/arm problem turned out to be a neck problem. I was getting better for a while, and then I got terribly, horribly, suddenly worse. Chiropractor to physician, physician to neurosurgeon, it was a herniated disk in my neck--uncorrectable by therapy.

So there, I had neck surgery in early December and have been recovering slowly ever since.

Trade Day would have probably been a bust since there was rain and low attendance. Holiday Market is one I'm kind of bummed to have missed, along with the Tallassee Christmas parade. That was the weekend after my surgery, and I was pretty sure my head was going to fall off at any moment. None of my Wetumpka High School church-kids are in the band or anything, so I didn't mind missing the Wetumpka Christmas parade except for the free candy and chance to practice. I felt worthless having to cast off my graduation assignments, but I had warned Village it might happen. All the crews already had a suitable replacement lead--no harm, no foul there.

I'm not able to be up and active for more than three or four hours at a time yet, but I'm getting there. I walked over a mile today, and it didn't kill me. It's going to be great to be able to get back to some random gigs here and there in 2014. I'm already looking forward to the May-June grad season. Plus, I'm supposed to shoot my first wedding in April. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for being concerned about me. :P

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.

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):