Friday, August 30, 2013
Amazing things
I just overhear these words in a Hickory restaurant, during a conversation between two women: "Earnhart" and "Junior." How odd is that? Not at all....
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Adventure of the Week: Shooting Photographs at a Wedding in Alabama
My son and I traveled to Alabama this week, to shoot photos at a wedding in Alexander City. Alexander City, AL is the town of my birth, but I have not been there often since leaving in 1970. The bride in the wedding is almost related to me--she is my first cousin's half sister. Betsy, the bride, had a very laid-back country theme to her wedding.
The adventure began in the wee hours of Friday morning. My son, Thomas, is sixteen and got a Volvo S60 this summer. He is always motivated to drive--he loves his car. We left Caldwell County at approximately 1:00 AM Friday morning and drove the seven hours to Alabama with very few stops. My son always plans meticulously to stop at certain exits in South Carolina to buy gas, because he knows the cheapest stations -- even though he expects me to pay for the gas. We made great time, and stopped at a Starbucks in Opelika, AL to get coffee at sunrise.
My son and I laugh and make fun of everyone on the road. I am also notorious for imitating the rappers that he always plays on the radio. I have a great impression of Li'l Jon. We had a great time driving down, talking about man-code issues and laughing at the other drivers.
On Friday, our task was relatively easy: shoot pictures of the rehearsal party at a venue named "The Children's Harbour" on Lake Martin. The event was very informal so the number and variety of shots was limited, and we had exhausted the possible compositions within an hour. We shot approximately one thousand frames, but that included many photos of an approaching thunderstorm that was creeping across the lake.
Saturday was a LONG day. We arrived on site at the wedding church to begin shooting the bride and bride's maids preparations as they put on their makeup and had their hair styled. We started shooting pictures at 10:30 AM. We took a short break, during which we drove up the country road to a big sign that read: "Jesus is the Answer." I took several pictures of the sign, to possibly use on a CD cover that I am designing for a music producer in Finland. We returned to the church, and I continued shooting the bridal party while Thomas shot the groomsmen preparing.
At about 1:00 PM on Saturday, we began the formal pictures. The brides father sees the bride in her dress. The groom sees the bride in her dress. The bride and her father...The bride and the groom...The bride and groom with the wedding party...The bride and groom with the bride's maids...The bride and groom with the groomsmen...On and on and on and on and on and on..........
Finally we were done with the formal pictures. Thomas set up a GoPro to shoot video. I attached a digital recorder to the sound mixing board for the venue to record all the sound through the microphones and music system. I solicited a volunteer to shoot video with my iPad--of course I used this as an excuse to introduce myself to the cutest single girl present. We finished our preparations and we waited.
We shot several hundred frames of the attendees as they arrived, as well as the families. When the actual ceremony started, Thomas and I ran around like madmen. We shot every angle, every person, experimented with different exposures--basically we tried to shoot every possible different shot that we could take. I made the decision earlier that we would go with natural light, because the wedding was mostly outside. An approaching storm made the lighting a challenge. The scene would change from bright sunlight to dark, cloudy skies in just a few seconds. The wedding ceremony concluded with the newly wedded couple leaving on a pontoon boat.
Thomas and I raced to the car, and hit the road. If we were the first people to arrive at the reception, we could easily shoot pictures of everyone as they arrived, ensuring that we got all of the attendees before they drank and left at random times. We shot the guests as they arrived, and then the bride and groom as they arrived in a 1939 Model T, Ford. The reception with in a horse barn and was very country. Betsy played both kinds of music: country and western.
Thomas and I had a great time making fun of all the guests, especially the ones that danced. Thomas was quite amused watching me try to make conversation with the cute girl that helped with the video. At one point I was moving closer to start small-talk with her, when some other guy came out of nowhere and jumped in front of me. Thomas said that I looked funny trying to "play it off." Thomas said I looked like I was doing the electric slide, shuffling away from the two of them. He laughed at me for many hours on the drive home over my pickup skills.
Thomas dropped me off at the Dunkin' Donuts in Gastonia, and continued to his mom's house in Charlotte. My mom and dad stopped and picked me up as they started up 321 North towards Hickory and Caldwell County. Once all the photos were downloaded, the final count was 6135 frames (not including the bad ones we deleted on the cameras). I began the arduous task of post shoot processing, and separated photos that needed adjustments into appropriate categories. The pictures are still uploading--and will be for a long while.
I am really impressed with how Thomas has improved his photography and people skills. I had promised Betsy that we would take these photos as her wedding present, so we were not expecting to make any money. I was actually spending money to do the job. Betsy's father surprised me with an envelope--he said he wanted to help with my expenses. The amount of money in the envelope was much more than our expenses. The family had probably checked on the cost of wedding photography and understood how much money they did not have to spend because we took the pictures.
Our trip was mostly fun, although my poor old body was exhausted, from the travel, when I returned home. The wedding and reception were enjoyable and I got to see my Alabama kin folk--which is a rarity. Overall it was a good adventure. The envelope full of money didn't hurt either.
My son and I laugh and make fun of everyone on the road. I am also notorious for imitating the rappers that he always plays on the radio. I have a great impression of Li'l Jon. We had a great time driving down, talking about man-code issues and laughing at the other drivers.
Saturday was a LONG day. We arrived on site at the wedding church to begin shooting the bride and bride's maids preparations as they put on their makeup and had their hair styled. We started shooting pictures at 10:30 AM. We took a short break, during which we drove up the country road to a big sign that read: "Jesus is the Answer." I took several pictures of the sign, to possibly use on a CD cover that I am designing for a music producer in Finland. We returned to the church, and I continued shooting the bridal party while Thomas shot the groomsmen preparing.
At about 1:00 PM on Saturday, we began the formal pictures. The brides father sees the bride in her dress. The groom sees the bride in her dress. The bride and her father...The bride and the groom...The bride and groom with the wedding party...The bride and groom with the bride's maids...The bride and groom with the groomsmen...On and on and on and on and on and on..........
We shot several hundred frames of the attendees as they arrived, as well as the families. When the actual ceremony started, Thomas and I ran around like madmen. We shot every angle, every person, experimented with different exposures--basically we tried to shoot every possible different shot that we could take. I made the decision earlier that we would go with natural light, because the wedding was mostly outside. An approaching storm made the lighting a challenge. The scene would change from bright sunlight to dark, cloudy skies in just a few seconds. The wedding ceremony concluded with the newly wedded couple leaving on a pontoon boat.
Thomas and I raced to the car, and hit the road. If we were the first people to arrive at the reception, we could easily shoot pictures of everyone as they arrived, ensuring that we got all of the attendees before they drank and left at random times. We shot the guests as they arrived, and then the bride and groom as they arrived in a 1939 Model T, Ford. The reception with in a horse barn and was very country. Betsy played both kinds of music: country and western.Thomas and I had a great time making fun of all the guests, especially the ones that danced. Thomas was quite amused watching me try to make conversation with the cute girl that helped with the video. At one point I was moving closer to start small-talk with her, when some other guy came out of nowhere and jumped in front of me. Thomas said that I looked funny trying to "play it off." Thomas said I looked like I was doing the electric slide, shuffling away from the two of them. He laughed at me for many hours on the drive home over my pickup skills.
I am really impressed with how Thomas has improved his photography and people skills. I had promised Betsy that we would take these photos as her wedding present, so we were not expecting to make any money. I was actually spending money to do the job. Betsy's father surprised me with an envelope--he said he wanted to help with my expenses. The amount of money in the envelope was much more than our expenses. The family had probably checked on the cost of wedding photography and understood how much money they did not have to spend because we took the pictures.
Our trip was mostly fun, although my poor old body was exhausted, from the travel, when I returned home. The wedding and reception were enjoyable and I got to see my Alabama kin folk--which is a rarity. Overall it was a good adventure. The envelope full of money didn't hurt either.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
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