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04.03.10News NC Photography Photo Albums

T oday's bride and groom have so many choices when it comes to choosing their wedding album. In fact, there are so many different companies making albums that in can be overwhelming trying to decide which style and which photos to put in the book. We like to offer our clients three different styles of albums; a montage album, a classic album, and a handcrafted album. The montage album is our most popular album and has a storybook look with multiple photos on a page. I custom design the albums then the prints or layouts are sent to our album company to be be printed and bound. Each design is unique according to the bride and groom's taste. I personally like to keep the design of the album as simple as possible. The classic album looks similar to the montage album on the outside but on the inside it has a more traditional look. With the classic album the photos are matted with archival black mats. The classic album may not be as trendy as other albums but is timeless. Because of that, we still have brides that prefer the look of the classic album. The handcrafted albums are made by hand and are printed on fine art paper. The covers are made from high quality fabrics such as silks, linens, and fine leather. Also available are covers and paper for those who are environmentally conscious and prefer a "green" album. The handcrafted albums are sewn together by hand rather than glued. Although these books require a gentler touch, they will last a lifetime and provide you with a unique fine art look. We also offer our couples an engagement book. These books have become quite popular. It's called a Photobook and is designed like the montage album. Finally and most importantly, when choosing images for your album you will be tempted to put too many photos in your book. Keep only the best... edit, edit, edit. Forty to seventy-five photos, depending on which album you choose, are enough to tell the story. A great fashion editor, Diana Vreeland once said, " Elegance is refusal " and that is so true when designing a wedding or engagement album. Here is a sample layout of a Photobook from an engagement session of Danielle and Graham. Their wedding is coming up in May and I am really looking forward to it! If you would like to see a sample of one of our handcrafted books click here.

02.28.10News NC Photography Workshop - One-On-one with Colleen

I enjoy sharing my love for photography with others who have a strong interest in photography! I get so excited and it gives me great joy to teach. This past weekend I had the opportunity to share a little about photography with Colleen, an up and coming photographer from the Outer Banks. Colleen arrived at our home office on Saturday morning with an eagerness to learn ... you could see it in her eyes! We spent the morning discussing a topic dear to me, "Understanding Exposure". You see, proper exposure is the biggest problem for all photographers, whether amateur or professional. Your technique can be perfect, your lenses the best available, the location the most exotic: but if your exposure is off, your photographs will be off as well. It is vital to always keep in mind the basics of exposure. After an intensive morning on exposure (and Colleen absorbing everything like a sponge), we headed out for the afternoon to shoot, with Karen as our model. Colleen and I enjoyed working with natural light capturing some beautiful shots. Sunday we spent the day working on post-production, workflow, Lightroom and Photoshop. Thanks Colleen for a great weekend! Karen and I look forward to visiting you and shooting with you at the Outer Banks. Here are a few of my favorites Colleen shot on Saturday.

02.13.10News And The Winner Is ........

Our Share Your Heart Contest has been rocking for sure! All three stories were great and each very deserving to win. It was nip and tuck for a while between story B and story C. In the end story C pulled out ahead and won! Congratulations Carol for winning our Share Your Heart contest with a beautifully written, poignant story about your work place! Thank you all for visiting our site and for casting your vote. We welcome you to visit our site often and please leave us comments; we love hearing from you. Another contest coming up very soon! With it being Valentine's Day we would like to leave you with these beautiful words about love found in I Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I dole out all my goods, and if I deliver my body that I may boast but have not love, nothing I am profited. Love is long suffering, love is kind, it is not jealous, love does not boast, it is not inflated. It is not discourteous, it is not selfish, it is not irritable, it does not enumerate the evil. It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth It covers all things, it has faith for all things, it hopes in all things, it endures in all things. Love never falls in ruins; but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be superseded. For we know in part and we prophecy in part. But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded. When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I reckoned as an infant; when I became [an adult], I abolished the things of the infant. For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known. But now remains faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Happy Valentine's Day!

02.10.10News Share Your Heart Contest Finalists!

W e have three finalists for the Share The Heart contest. Whew ... was it ever hard to narrow it down to only three! In fact, we could not make the final decision. We got it down to six stories then had to ask for help from a third party. It was really tough! All the stories were great, some made us laugh and some brought tears to our eyes. We wish we could share them all with you. Before we share the three stories for you to vote on we'd like to say, from the bottom of our hearts, a BIG heartfelt "thank you" to all who participated by sharing your story. Okay, drum roll ........ But wait, do you need a reminder of how this works? Leave a comment on our blog with your vote. You can invite friends and family to vote as well. The story with the most votes wins (or the person that wrote the story wins, you know what we mean). The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day. Easy enough? Let the challenge begin! Drum roll ....... Wait, wait, wait ... hang with us, be sure read each story. We know it's a long post but hang with us and cast your comment (vote). Now, for the top three stories ... GO!

Story A This story involves the unlikely combination of a squirt gun and a box of doughnuts. I had my eye on an attractive strawberry blond who was serving as a temporary typesetter where I worked, filling in for a woman who was on maternity leave. My job was to bring copy for her to transcribe. This was back in the Neanderthal age of computers, way before there were Apples and Dells. I’d spike my typewritten copy on a hook on a wall behind her, and it was her job to type my copy onto something that resembled tickertape, which in turn was placed into another prehistoric computer to produce copy that could be pasted up and composed for publication. In any event, this daily sequence put us in constant contact. She’d occasionally complain that I was giving her too much work. I told her it was her job. It was an odd way to flirt, and we’d been bantering like this for weeks. Clearly, I was smitten, but I didn’t quite know how to ask her out. And I wanted to get this one just right. One day there was an open box of doughnuts at her work table. I spiked my copy as usual, said something clever to her (she said I was being “smart,” and not in the intellectual sense of the word, either), and I was about to reach for a doughnut when I was momentarily distracted by someone behind me. When I did turn back to grab my doughnut, the box was gone. She had a sheepish look on her face. “Who took the doughnuts?” I asked. “What doughnuts?” she replied. Keeping a man from his doughnuts is never a good idea, but I figured I’d take the high road on this one, so I turned and started to walk away. That’s about the time I felt something uncomfortably wet strike my neck. Then again. And again. “What the heck ” I thought, and turned. There she was, wearing a self-congratulatory grin on her face and holding a squirt gun in her hand. Her co-workers were laughing, and one of them even applauded. Well, that did it. I walked away without saying anything. But I was in a panic. Her time with the company was running short, down to just a few more days, and I was still looking for a way to ask her out. So I sat at my typewriter, grabbed a sheet of paper (which serendipitously happened to be pink), and, in the best formal business-professional English I could muster, asked her for a date to Kyoto’s and a movie. I put the note in an envelope and took it back to her. She opened the envelope and a hint of fear instantly ran across her face. “Is this a pink slip?” she asked. “Just read it,” I said. She did. She smiled. She said, “Yes.” We were married just a little over a year later. And that was 30 years ago.

Story B Children and mothers never truly part - Bound in the beating of each other's heart. Charlotte Gray She is my mother, the greatest influence in my life. Not only as a mom but also as a best friend and sister I never had. She has taught me to always try my best, to treat everyone equally, to not give up when things get hard. She tells me to at all times be honest because in the end, lies always hurt more. When I make decisions and she doesn't always agree with them, she makes sure that I know that she is behind me all the way because she wants me to always be happy. She has taught me right from wrong and the significance of self-respect. Cancer is an illusive illness that has amazing ways of surprising the people that it afflicts and their families. You will see my family was no different. In May 2009, I heard six words I never wanted to hear from my dad “Ashley, your mom has breast cancer.“ As that moment in time stood still and I was numb with fear. I had no idea how much our lives would be changed forever. At a moments time, my world came crashing down. The thought that this spiteful disease could take away someone so close to my heart was sickening. I knew my mom would be strong because she was already successful at disguising this diagnosis during my wedding. I knew in my heart there was something on my mom’s mind during my wedding but I brushed it off by thinking this is her only daughter getting married and she is grown up and on her own now. Hopefully this will be an end to one tough journey in her life and the beginning of the next chapter. You should never take your parents for granted. My mom instilled this in me as a child. But as I grow with age I realize the numerous sacrifices my parents made. At the time I may not have always been appreciative. In the last year especially understand this and I am very appreciative. At a moments time this can be taken away from you. I hope that when I am a mother I can instill the things I learned from my mom. I will close with one last thought about my mother. My mother is more than what a mother is supposed to be - she is what every mother should aspire to be. My mother is who I hope to be one day.

Story C My Job Is Dear to My Heart At the nursing home where I work, I'm daily confronted by sights that are unspeakably sad. But surprisingly often, there are also scenes that bring tears to my eyes for their astonishing beauty. I want to stop in my tracks, circle my forefinger and thumb over my eye and frame the image in memory. I'll stand there wishing I were a photographer who could capture these images to inform and surprise the world. For who knew there could be as much beauty in a nursing home as in a museum, a cathedral or a garden? I’d like to photograph Corrine with her daughter. Corrine suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. One time I asked her if she'd like to go listen to some music and she replied, "On this planet?" I usually don't laugh at such lapses in cognition (or was it?) but that one had me chuckling. Corrine's daughter doesn't laugh though. She battles the foe of dementia for her mother with the strength and determination of a prize fighter. She constantly talks to her mother about family and friends, local and world events. To hear only the daughter's side of the conversation, you'd think Corrine was busy whipping up dinner back in her own kitchen. I overheard one of these one-sided conversations a few days before Christmas. Corrine's daughter was showing her gifts that were going to be from Corrine. The daughter held up a scarf and asked, "Do you think Aunt Martha would like this one? Good! Let's wrap it for her." I can't begin to describe all the love in that, but a photograph might capture it. You'd see the sweet yet steely desperation for normalcy in the daughter's eyes—the entertained but somewhat vacant look in the mother's. You'd see this woman courageously fighting to keep her mother with her one more day and you'd feel blessed to witness such determined love. And then there's Ira. He's so frail and slow and bent over that you wonder how he even takes care of himself. Yet you can set your watch by this man. He comes to feed his non-responsive wife each meal as he has done every day for three years. Ira should be on magazine covers like a sports hero; paparazzi should follow him around to show the world how real men keep promises. Ira is a quiet soul; he doesn't converse much with staff or even look around. With head down, he walks straight to Rosemary. Three times a day. I’d like to record this image—Ira walking toward his wife. Last Christmas, a bunch of rowdy kids from the YMCA sang Christmas Carols. Their performance was lovely in all its spontaneous glory—like a field of wildflowers on a breezy day. There was one little girl whose straight red hair was cut in a pixie. She smiled a lot and added hand motions to some of the words—just whenever the spirit moved her. What a little character. What a unique expression of God's goodness. The scene I most wanted to capture was when their leader said, "Okay, tell everyone bye." The crowd of 25 kids charged out into the wheelchairs and started hugging people. The old faces beamed and grew younger behind the embraces of this wild and happy choir. I even saw overjoyed tears wetting the cheeks of the ever-silent Molly after nuzzles from the feisty strangers. This crazy little thing we call "love" is the most powerful force in the universe. It's the only power on earth that "never fails" according to Saint Paul. Maybe it doesn't always change things exactly like we want. But change things it most certainly does. * All names have been changed to protect privacy.

What does the winner win? Remember the last post about the contest? The winner wins either a B&W session with an 11x14 portrait included OR a matted and signed B&W fine art print. Cast your vote by leaving us a comment. Winner will be announced on Valentine's Day!

02.02.10News Anthony Dean Griffey Wins Two More Grammys!

High Point,N.C. tenor Anthony Dean Griffey added two more Grammys to his awards shelf Monday night! Mr. Griffey was principal soloist on the winning Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance. Both were for the San Francisco Symphony’s live concert recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10. Griffey, already a two-time Grammy winner, missed the awards show. He was in Australia performing in the opera “Peter Grimes.” We had the pleasure of photographing Mr. Griffey last November when he attended the High Point Debutante Ball. Nan Lyles Kester, a native of High Point and a fan of Griffey's, is also in the photo. To find out more about Anthony Dean Griffey and his calendar of events visit AnthonyDeanGriffey. It is amazing at how much talent North Carolina has produced! Congratulations!

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