Steeples for Peoples

I had this desire a while back to do a series of images that centered around church steeples as the subject matter. I honestly still haven’t worked out my complete thoughts behind the series or have even written an artist statement about it. I just realized that church steeples are a huge part of the Southern landscape, a Southern skyline if you will. I really began photographing them when I started wedding photography. I will usually make images of the location of the weddings and them make a fine art print for my clients to have something unique from their wedding day. My plan is to put them together as a body of work and display them in a fine art venue. They vary quite a bit in terms of how the image is exposed. I have used the digital media as well as film to make these images. Lately I have been enjoying film. What I love about film is the actual process of making the image from start to finish. For this series I have been using a Holga or a Lomo Diana, then scanning the negative to make a digital file and then building the image in Photoshop. I like to start simple and then go from there. The image becomes somewhat of a subjective interpretation of a scene.

Two weeks ago I photographed Jason + Tiffany’s wedding. I took the Lomo Diana along and had some fun. The first two images are before and after examples. The third is an alternative representation of the same church.

Tyler + Jessy

Tyler and Jessy are married…yeh! Like me they are Barton College Alumni. So, I got to spend the day back on Barton’s campus for Tyler and Jessy’s wedding. I did a post a few weeks ago displaying their fine art print they will be receiving along with the rest of their goodies. Thanks guys for letting me take part in your big day.

Let me explain this fella below. I got in place before the ceremony began, sitting in the front pew of the chapel. When I looked over, this fella was sitting next to me. Needless to say, this has never happened before. I was quite curious. It’s not everyday a gnome is sitting in a wedding service with you. The groom’s Mom let me know that his name was Sanchez. So, as you will see he kind a pops up in pictures from time to time. I of course, had to do a ring shot with him too.

Tiffany

Congratulations to Tiffany and Jason! They were married this past Saturday and had such a beautiful wedding. One of the things I will remember about Tiffany is how calm and collected she is. Even on her wedding day she was as cool as a cucumber! I wanted to share some images from her bridal portrait session. I had lots of fun with this one!

Fun Stuff: Critiques

Simple tip for today: take time to evaluate your work and to have someone else evaluate your work.

Okay, so normally the words “fun” and “critique” are not mentioned in the same title or sentence. But, today they are. Last night I completed the first night of the Coalesce Worshop. I talked a little bit about the importance of first of all knowing what makes a great or successful image. There is a lot that goes in to knowing if you have created a successful image. Part of that is simply knowing how to evaluate your images or even someone else’s images. In the Photo I course I teach at the college we learn about the fundamentals of photography, but we also learn about how to evaluate images, which I think is really important. When I was in school studying art, critique day wasn’t something that I really looked forward to. I mean, who really wants to hear that they work isn’t perfect. Who wants to hear that they might have more work to do or that their work isn’t quite as good as they thought it was. My bubble was burst many a time. Now that I am out of school and teaching, I miss having my work critiqued, because now I really see the importance of it. I actually miss having my bubble burst. I still try and find people who I trust that I can receive criticism from because I know it is so beneficial. It’s kind of like having someone peer review a paper you about to turn in. They see so much more than you do.

All that to say, if you are struggling with the imagery you are creating, maybe you aren’t happy with it, or maybe you just don’t know what to think, find someone who you value to give an honest opinion and have them critique your work.

I have a really great resource for you if you are looking to expand your own critique-ing abilities. Zack Arias has been doing these video critiques where people submit their websites and he and his wife will go through and critique the work. I have watched several of them and they are great. They are definitely not holding back. Some people get their bubbles burst, but it’s great stuff. I found myself a little tense when I was watching the videos because I could relate to the work being critiqued almost as if I was being critiqued. Click HERE to check out the critiques. They might hurt a bit. But, honestly, the critiques that I remember most and that helped me the most in school (and out of school) were the ones that hurt.

Will Work for Disney Dollars

I think the last post I did of Bree and Ty I said that Bree would allow me to photograph her for a sucker. Well, we upped it. Inflation has set in and now she is working for dollars to go to her Disney fund. So, Jill (my sister), and her two kiddos came up last weekend. It was time for Ty’s 6 month pictures and we also took in some really great fireworks over the 4th of July and even made a US flag cake. Bree ate the blue berries that were on the cake and not the cake. I really wish I would think like that. Well, we had a good time. Here are a few pics…I’m sure I will show more from our time together in the future:

Here is Bree…bandages and all. One thing I love about Bree is all her faces..good faces, bad faces, funny faces…

The Good Life:

Hanging out with the Hodges

Meet the Hodges. I met them at Wrightsville Beach at their favorite beach hangout for some picture time. What a great family. It seems like I say that a lot about my families. I am fortunate to work with such great people. I had a great time rolling around in the sand, so much that I think I was sandier than the kids. Once again, I am jealous of the blue eyes.

The Crooms

I met up with the Croom family in Wilmington a few weeks ago. It was a hot one, but we had a great time. These kids are just precious. These two fellas just loved the camera and I was loving that! They were such a great family to work with. I just met them, but they were so nice I felt like I had known them longer. So, thanks guys for making it so enjoyable!