It’s been a pretty spectacular autumn here in North Alabama. I was worried at first because it started rather rapidly, suggesting I was starting my annual photography near the peak. I believe the peak at higher elevations occurred just shy of Halloween. In the valley, the leaves remain very bright and colorful in isolated spots. This gallery is a collection of some of my better images from this fall.
This odd structure found in Collinsville, Alabama seems to be a tangible metaphor for the sad stained state of the world today.
Another in my “story behind the photo” series…
I call this portrait “Resolve” because it shows my friend, Brittney, walking on Pensacola Beach on January 29, 2017, moments after she told me she had decided against riding back to Chattanooga and was going to stay down there with just the clothes on her back, find a job, and make it her new home…
That’s terrifying. And part of what makes growing older so frightening is the realization that our freedom to make such choices fades as we put down roots and people begin to rely on us.
Everyone who views this always wants to know if she regretted making the audacious choice.
For whatever reason, I’ve done a good bit of model portfolio and actor headshot photography for aspiring Alabama actors and models here lately.
Felicia Nepp is one to keep your eye on. What a stunning beauty!
I did a photoshoot this past weekend with a 25-year-old woman named Felicia Nepp who wanted to shoot for her modeling portfolio. She audition June 12th with IMTA, the International Modeling and Talent Agency, and will travel to New York City next March for in-person and face-to-face meetings with record producers, film directors, casting agents, etc.Read More
I can’t wait for you all to see the July issue of DeKalb Living magazine. I did a cool cover shot of local models Lizzie Kate and Ava. Lizzie is the daughter of Paige, who I did senior portraits of when she was roughly Lizzie’s age. I’m so old!
This edition is very special because it will be our first with standalone issues available to purchase from different stores across the area. Presently, the magazine has been distributed to 3,000 of our print edition subscribers as a value-added feature. I can’t express enough how thrilling it still is to see my photos on all of those magazine covers! I love it.
For an entire afternoon, I had access to the Fort Payne Coal & Iron Building in historic Fort Payne, Alabama for a fashion photo shoot displaying apparel from local boutiques Cotton+Pine and Elizabeth’s Closet. We try to mix it up and feature different vendors from month-to-month.
Thanks to their moms for being around for the photo session. We typically prefer our models to be 18+ just because it’s less complicated, but we made an exception in this case because the two girls model clothing for Elizabeth’s Closet on a regular basis and were offered up by the owner, Susan Smith, a childhood friend. I encourage everyone to check out both of these shops for great new outfits for a variety of occasions this summer.
Alabama Hwy 117 between Valley Head and Mentone has reopened at last. It shut down after a landslide following heavy rains in early April.
Today is a very momentous day. I invested in a new camera and used it for the first time today. The last time I purchased a camera was 2010, so I’d say I’m overdue for an upgrade. My Nikon D7000 is so used that it is literally falling apart (I had to get the shutter refurbished a few years ago after it broke in the middle of a wedding, and those bad boys see about 300,000 releases before that typically happens!) Not the Nikon becomes my backup camera and I am making the leap to this new brand. For 30 years, I’ve shot almost exclusively Nikon due to owning a good bit of their glass (lenses). It’s a big deal to start over with a totally different manufacturer.
Making it even more special, this is my first full-frame and first mirrorless digital camera. Unless you are a professional photographer, they might not mean much, but essentially, I am using the full range of a camera’s sensitivity and pixels, which will result in far higher quality images. Mirrorless is lighter to carry around and quieter to operate.
The new camera, the Sony Alpha 7 II, was revolutionary when it was first released in 2014 as the world’s first back-illuminated 35 mm full-frame CMOS image sensor with 42.4 megapixels. For comparison sake, my Nikon has 16 megapixels!
I did another photoshoot with Cassidy aka “Bai”, the beautiful daughter of my high school classmates Kenny and Nicole.
