Wow! Jamie and Wade's wedding was all we had anticipated and more! We were fortunate to be a part of their entire weekend. We got to know their families and friends at the rehearsal Friday evening and then had an absolute blast of a day on Saturday. Jamie and Wade are blessed with so many good friends who shared their joy this day. We loved being able to do a quick portrait session in the beautifully restored Tarrer Inn in Colquitt.

Their detailed planning was evident by the way the overflow crowd was accommodated at the church for the ceremony. Their reception was a blast with the guests being thrilled and entertained by The Tams! The wedding party took the stage with the band to rock the house! The night flew by and before we knew it the newlyweds were feted with sparklers as they made their grand exit to begin their honeymoon trip to Lake Tahoe. We can't think of a better way to close out a wedding photographer's year than with such a special wedding as Jamie and Wade's.

Click here for a slideshow of their images.

Check the Proof Galleries page for the link to all their images.

We're still processing the images from Jamie and Wade's wedding. However, we do have the Party Shots from the photo station at their reception ready for viewing. The photo station was a hit with their guests and hopefully will provide everyone with a few extra fun memories of their day. Click on an image below for a sampling of random images.

Click here to see all the Party Shots in Jamie and Wade's Wedding Galleries.

We will update the blog with select images from their wedding soon.

Do you ever find yourself associating a song lyric with an event in life? After Jetta's shoot, this snippet of verse from the classic Roxette song has found new relevance. (listen)

We had been eagerly anticipating shooting with Jetta since she scheduled her session with us. When the day arrived, we were not disappointed.

When you shoot with someone for the first time, you never know just how things will go. Once we started the studio portion of the session, it was clear this one would be good. When we moved on to location shooting, it only got better. Jetta's selection of the old building held special significance for her and made her images even more awesome.

We love photographing these extended portrait sessions which include both studio and location shooting. These sessions allow capturing the wide variety of looks and emotions we like to include in album designs. We wish we had unlimited time to shoot more of these extended sessions - even more so when we get to work with folks like Jetta!

Click here for a few more from Jetta's session. Check the Proof Galleries page for the full collection of images.

Ok, we find ourselves with a delimma. We shot a bunch of images of the Lee County High School competition cheerleaders for a specific assignment. We only needed a few of those images for the task at hand. Now we're faced with a hard drive folder's worth of images and the conviction that "an image is a terrible thing to waste". What to do?

We experienced our first cheer competition this fall in Columbus, then our second a little later at Ola High School in McDonough. Not knowing what to expect regarding the lighting and access to the floor, these were learning experiences for us. With the help of the cheer moms and coaches, we quickly got up to speed and were able to capture some good images of these athletes. We were awestruck by the talent these athletes bring to the floor. To us, their sport is unique in that it requires so many different skills to be competitive: strength, coordination, grace, and even acting ability - all perfected by an enormous amount of teamwork and practice. In addition to the competitions, we captured a few shots at a recent LCHS football game.

So, in the interest of image preservation, we've posted images from these events for those interested. These images aren't categorized - they're pretty much in the order shot. We have made the images freely downloadable at no charge. This is our way of saying thanks to the athletes for all their hard work and talent. There are instructions for viewing and downloading the images once you click through to the proof gallery site. You have our permission to print or display these images as you like for any non-commercial purposes. If you do avail yourself of the free downloads, we'd love to know which images you liked. Please send us an email noting your faves. We have included the ability to order (non-retouched) prints at a nominal cost from the site for those who prefer that convenience.

CLICK HERE to view the images.

Marianela and Ron celebrated their marriage with family and friends a few days ago. The events took place at the Carnegie Library building in downtown Albany. The location next to the beautifully restored municipal auditorium lent a classic tone to the atmosphere. Their love story has been over 30 years in the making. This day's celebration was both a long awaited culmination and beginning of their next chapter. We were indeed fortunate to be asked to be a part of their special day.

We got to spend some quality time with Matt on Friday afternoon about a week ago. Matt's a senior at Lee County High School. We've known Matt all of his life and are proud of the fine young man he's become. We were honored to be asked to make his senior portraits.

We visited locations around the downtown area for some shots then we stopped back by the studio for a few more.

Here are a few from Matt's afternoon session.

One thing we love about photography is that it allows us to meet and get to know new people. A couple of weeks ago we had the good fortune to meet and shoot an extended session with Jenna, a senior this year from Lee County High School.

We shot first in the studio and then visited several locations around the area for some outdoor settings. The late summer heat and gnats couldn't dampen Jenna's enthusiasm. We had a fun shoot and got some great images.

We love shooting these extended sessions because they allow for such a wide variety of moods and looks to be captured.

Click here for a small selection of Jenna's images.

This past Saturday, over 300 riders and many, many volunteers participated in the 6th Annual Nut Roll bicycle ride. This event is produced by the Pecan City Pedalers bicycle club and benefits the Parks at Chehaw Creekside Education Center. This ride has grown over the years and just simply keeps getting better. As a cyclist myself and member of the PCP club, I have a special interest in this ride.

I spent the day traveling the 103 mile route capturing images which I hope convey the feeling and spirit of the day. Everyone I talked with throughout the day appeared to be having a great (though tiring) time. The many smiles I saw on their faces confirmed this.

The weather was just about perfect for the ride, although it did get a little warm in the afternoon. Rain was forecast, but never threatened. The rest stops were comfortable and the riders had a great selection of food and drink to replenish their energy. The Education Center at the Parks at Chehaw is the perfect site to host such an event.

As in the past, I've posted the full gallery of images on our proofing site. Visit the full gallery to see all the images (warning: there are a lot of them!).

I've put a small selection of these images in a slideshow on this blog which can be viewed here.

It's been a busy week - very busy, but lots of fun. We just finished a delightful portrait viewing session of Brittany's senior session. We were thrilled to watch Brittany and her mom as they viewed her images for the first time. This makes our efforts so worthwhile and gratifying for us.

We shot last Saturday in the studio, then shot on location Sunday afternoon. Brittany is an awesome model. Her enthusiasm and her mom's support let them take the August heat and mosquitos in stride. We knew we were going to have great images, we just didn't anticipate the tough job of selecting a manageable number of images from the many we captured! Brittany's good friend Felicia accompanied her during the sessions and stepped in for a few shots herself!

Next, for us, is production of Brittany's album. We'll share a few of the spreads when we're done with the design and layout.

Click here for several images from Brittany's session.

Jamie and Wade visited us this past Saturday morning for their engagement portraits. Their wedding will be in December and we can hardly wait!

We shot in the studio which gave us a welcome respite from the hot August weather. We change up our sets a bit to introduce some variety in the shots, as we strive to get something unique in each of our sessions. This was easily accomplished this morning as their wonderful personalities were so evident in their images. Their love and enthusiasm have inspired us as we have gotten to know them better.

It is so gratifying for us to be participating in this special event in their lives. After the images were captured we were able to learn more about their plans for the wedding and their future. Their future is a bright one indeed!

Click here for several images from their session.

We were delighted to help celebrate a friend's birthday this weekend. After the group enjoyed a good meal at an area restaurant, everyone gathered at our home for dessert and coffee. We fired up the strobes to make a few family shots of the three (almost four) of them. Having an attached studio surely comes in handy at times like these!

Click here for a few images.

This impromptu studio session just kind of happened. Cody attended a birthday get-together at our home. We made several shots of one of the honoree's family while the rest of the crowd was looking on. Since we had everything set up, we prevailed upon Cody to stand in for a few shots.

He finally agreed, and after a few minutes we getting some great shots. We were excited to add a few new "guy" shots to our portfolio.

Click here for a few of the shots.

We love shooting "hot" weddings - they're loads of fun. Last week we delighted in a double dose of hotness - a great wedding day in the south Georgia July heat!

Simple recipe: Mix the excitement of the day with a flowing gown and black tux. Add two fun and crazy people in love. Add a heaping helping of good friends and family. Sprinkle with equal parts serious and silly. Bake in the July sun until done! Then chill with food, music and fun 'til the new Mr. & Mrs. head out for a honeymoon cruise. We were truly honored to be a part of this special day!

We've known Stephanie and her family for years, which made us feel even more honored to be asked to document the day. We quickly (and easily) came to know and like Randy. We were able to meet some new friends during the day and reacquaint ourselves with some old friends we haven't seen lately. The fun and fellowship of the day was abundant and the day went by all too quickly.

If you've checked out our site in the recent past, you've probably seen our post of Stephanie's bridal session. If not, scan down the blog and you'll find it. While we were shooting at the wedding, we heard one of Stephanie's young friends repeatedly refer to her as "Princess Stephanie" - an apt description, we think.

Click here for a few shots from the day.

Here is a link to the full collection of images from the wedding.

Here is a link to the full collection of images from Stephanie's bridal session.

We were invited to attend Sydney's dance recital last Saturday night.

Leslie Hodges directs the Camilla Pelham School of Ballet~Dance Theatre South. This production was simply awesome. The dance students were good. Really good! The guest dancers' performances were stunning.

Too often other performing arts recitals we've attended have been, shall we say, a bit tedious. Cute and fun, but still left you wishing the finale would come soon. Leslie's troupe shattered this stereotype with their performances. It was in fact very entertaining and the finale came all too soon. My only regret was my limited vantage point for taking photos. Flash photography was a no-no, so the available light was all we had to work with. Thank goodness for the low light performance of the Nikon D700. The 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens was a big help as well, although from my seat I could have used a bit more reach. In hindsight I could have maneuvered my way to a better vantage point in the auditorium, but it may well have been obtrusive to others. Since we weren't shooting in an "official" capacity, I kept a low profile. The few images posted here hopefully give a glimpse of the evening. Well done, Leslie and dancers!

We attended Byne School's graduation ceremony recently. Several of the new grads and their families are friends of our and we wanted to share in this milestone in their lives. As expected, it was an evening full of excitement and joy. Like everyone else, we took our camera along to capture a few memories. Click on one of the photos for a few more pics of the evening.

Congratulations Byne Seniors 09!!

Springtime weddings are always refreshing. They are even more so when the spring weather is nice and the venue is a beautifully landscaped garden! We were pleased to be asked to photograph Lindsay and Jason's wedding recently.

The ceremony was conducted poolside at the home of the bride's father. The gardens adjacent to the pool area were simply awesome to behold. A tent was erected for the comfort of the bridal party and guests. Thankfully no rain fell during the day. In fact, the weather was pretty much perfect.

The ceremony was an intimate affair with family and close friends of the couple in attendance. We were made to feel like family ourselves, and thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening with these new friends.

We've included a few images here in a short slideshow.

We recently had the opportunity to photograph Lauralee with her favorite horse, Pete. The pastures were green and the weather was perfect. Pete was even cooperative as well! We hope we were able to capture a glimpse of the bond between the two.

Sydney and her mother visited us in the studio recently for dance portraits. Her mother wanted the images to emphasize Sydney and her outfit, so we went with a high key setup on white to keep things elegantly simple.

Sydney had a blast and so did we. She worked the camera like she had been modeling for years. Click here for a few more.

Last week we had the privilege of photographing Haley.

She will be a senior next year and wanted something a little different for her senior portraits. Her recipe for different included a prom gown, couture hair style, Georgia boots, and a horse named Pete. We knew from the outset this would not be your average senior session. We walked down manicured dirt roads and beside immaculate pastures, finding some great settings for her shots.

The afternoon light faded into night all too quickly, but we did capture some memorable images. We look forward to photographing Haley in the studio to round out her senior portfolio!

Click here for a slideshow from this session.

We had the good fortune to host Stephanie's Bridal Session last week.

I think every photographer secretly dreams of shooting a top model in haute couture fashion. After Stephanie's session, it seems fair to add high fashion model and photographer to our respective resumes.

It wasn't a complicated setup - simply Stephanie in a white dress in a variety of settings. Of course it wasn't just any white dress, but THE white dress. Any concern we had about not capturing an adequate variety of images instantly vanished as soon as we started shooting. Stephanie with her accouterment was simply stunning.

We shot in several locations downtown and finished up in the studio. By every measure, this was a great session indeed! We can hardly wait for the wedding!

Click HERE for more images from the session.

This past Saturday found me strolling around downtown during Albany's Mardi Gras weekend. I was there as a spectator of the Regions Bank Race Weekend bicycle races. The day started off a bit foggy, which wasn't good for racing, but the soft light created by the sun filtering through the fog was ideal for a few "walking around" detail shots.

It wasn't long before the fog burned off and the sun was out in full force. The race day started with Time Trials followed by several categories of Criteriums. The racing was first class and the event was professionally produced. This is big time racing in Albany!

Being a cyclist myself, I can really appreciate the hard work, dedication, and time these men and women have put forth to become competitive in the very demanding sport of bicycle racing. I am grateful to the race promoters, racing clubs, and the city for staging this event. Competitive cycling is not a major sport in the U.S., and to have an event of this caliber in Albany is a very good thing. In an attempt to offer some tangible thanks to all those involved with the races, I've posted a large number of images which may be freely downloaded. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the racing and attempting to capture a bit of the excitement of the day.

See our Proof Galleries page for the link to the racing images gallery.

As always, comments are appreciated.

We were fortunate to be able to attend the 2009 Miss Gnat Days Pageant this past Saturday evening. We felt honored to be invited back to photograph this pageant for the second year. It is held each year in the auditorium at Mitchell County High School in Camilla, Georgia.

The weather forecast was for rain and storms, but luckily the worst weather was avoided. The rain that did fall didn't dampen the girls' enthusiasm. We arrived a bit early to give us time to set up our "camera room" - actually we just took over a hallway outside the auditorium.

We shot a few portraits before the pageant began, with the remainder to be shot after it concluded. We grabbed Haley, Miss Gnat Days 2008, for a quick shot as she was making her last minute preparations to MC the pageant and transfer her crown to a new Miss Gnat Days.

The production of this pageant was excellent as usual. We were able to join the audience and enjoy the pageant. This gave us an excellent opportunity to try out our newest camera, the Nikon D700, which is notable for its great performance in low light. We were amazed at the quality of the shots taken with just the stage lights in the auditorium.

After the pageant concluded with the announcement of the winners, things got a bit busy as we shot individual and group portraits. We've posted a large collection of images from the evening on our proofing site.
See the Proof Galleries page for the link.

We really enjoyed being a part of the pageantry and look forward to our next such event!

Click here for a slide show of a few images selected from the proof collection.

Lauren visited us recently for a short session in the new studio. She wanted to see what we could get with just a white background. I was concerned there wouldn't be enough variety in the images. Fortunately, I was wrong to be concerned. It was amazing to see the difference a couple of outfit changes and a prop or two could make.

Click here for a slideshow of several shots.

Well, as usual, we're slow to update our blog. We've actually been pretty busy the last several weeks. The biggest news is that we've essentially finished the construction of our new home based office and studio. Up to this point, we have done primarily location photography - weddings, pageants, and location portraits. We have a portable studio which we transport to a venue and, upon request, have set up in our home for studio sessions. A portable studio is essential, but we were finding it too restricting with respect to backgrounds and lighting choices. These limitations plus the increasing requests for studio sessions and our need for an efficient work space led us to build our new studio. The studio is located off the back of our home and gives us the space needed to photograph, edit and administer our operation. While maintaining the convenience of working from home, this addition allows us to keep the needed distinction between living space and work space.

We have still not completed our decorations and image displays. We also will be upgrading our studio lighting and backgrounds as we go forward. We wanted to share what we've done so far - here are some images of the studio taken after our first studio session. (The lighting and background were configured for high-key shooting.)

We're excited and grateful to have this space and look forward to putting it to use!

This is the view as you enter the studio. The back door exits into the screen porch. You can see Mozart's personal portal to the porch to the right of the door. He LOVES chillin' out on the porch.





A wide angle view of the studio.




We love the ability to change backgrounds quickly!




Shooting area from the photographer's perspective. Mozart was checking out the setup.




The next post (Beth and Jeremy) was our first session in the new studio. We should have posted the studio photos earlier, but were too busy shooting in it!

Check back soon - more studio shots on the way.