Top Two Tips for holiday photo's.

Everyone wants to make better photo's of their family and friends during this time of year. So here is my short list for how to do just that.

1. Get closer to the person your taking the photo of. It is after all Christmas our homes are full of decorations and such that are often very colorful and in a photo can be very distracting. So make sure that if your photo is of little Johnny opening his present that your photo is of little Johnny and not the Christmas tree with little Johnny sitting in front of it out of focus because the tree was the main area of focus. Getting closer can also help prevent that odd object extruding from someones head. You don't want to have a flower or candle growing from Grammy's head.

2. Get down on your subjects level. Little Abbie has a cute smile but you would never know that looking at a photo of the top of her head. Get down their with them (in a lot of cases this will get you closer too)then your picture will include that great little smile.

Fine Art Photography

I am very excited about an upcoming fine art show to be held at the Bowen Center for the Arts in Dawsonville, Georgia. I will have three photo's in the show from my Journey series. These are photographs of how ones trip home may appear when viewed from a slightly different angle. The complete series can be found here.

The curator for the show will be Jennifer Julian. Jennifer Julian received a B.A. from Auburn University in 1986, but it was not until studying at the Art Institute of Atlanta that she became serious about her life as an artist. Her first break came in 1999 when Fay Gold Gallery of Atlanta showed her work at the prestigious Association of International Photography Art Dealers in New York City. For more on Jennifer please visit her website linked above.

The Bowen Center for the Arts is located at 334 Highway 9 North Dawsonville, Georgia, 30534. The show dates are as follows.

Show Dates: February 3 to March 12

Reception: Saturday, February 5

Curator’s & Artist’s Talk: Sunday, February 28, 2-4pm

Cool Experience!

I had the opportunity to go shooting with Richard Bernabe, dude was super cool. He is very knowledgeable of the Great Smokey Mountains, all the photo opps there, and photography in general! He is very willing to share his knowledge and he has a lot to share. I would defiantly go on another trip with Richard.

On the weekend we were shooting day one was perfect couldn't ask for a better day. Day two on the other hand was packed slap full of rain. Even with all the rain we still managed to get some great shots. With so much water in the creeks the falls we visited were really running strong.
While out we visited the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Above is one of my favorite shots from the trip, it was taken in the Little Santeelah Creek. I have to tell you that was some mighty cold water though! While on the creek we found several spots that made for some cool shots.

Wondering though the forest there you find your self in awe of the huge Poplar trees. They are several of these trees that it would take more than 5 guys to reach all the way around! It is a site worth seeing.

Interesting angles.

Photos taken from eye level almost never look as interesting as the ones from the lower or higher vantage point.

Shooting from above accentuates head, shoulders and chest; shooting from below - legs and hips.

So here it is.....

This has been one of the worst weeks that I have had in a long time. You go pick them out then bring them home. Love them teach them all sorts of things. They become a part of the family. So to get to the point of it all my friend, my pal, my puppy got killed this week. I don't really know how to deal with it. How are you supposed to deal with it? At this point I don't know.

Magazines to the Rescue!

Friday evening in oh so very cool way I hurt my back. For most of my life I have been in fairly good shape riding mountain bikes of late and any activity I could find during my younger years. I have been fairly lucky never to have fallen to serious injury. Well if you have never had back issues let me be the first to tell you so count your blessings. It SUCKS BAD!

The good thing is that I just got some new magazines in mail so I had some good reading material on hand and since I wasn't going out I actually read them. They usually lay around the house for me to pick up once an a while and glance through. I now know why I subscribe to them. These things are very informative. I learned a lot of cool tricks this weekend. So that layers mag that I buy is really worth the money. WOO HOO!

WooHoo!

New blog here!!!! This is exciting. What do I do now?