Blue Eye Media

Children Singing Video

This is a quick video I did for our church's children's choirs.  They did a program last week and I thought I'd shoot a little at their dress rehearsal.  Here is the result. 

 

My Life

I have been thinking about starting a new blog that highlights things from my "personal life."  I'm sure most everyone has heard that you're supposed to keep "personal life and business life separate."  But, that doesn't really seem to fit for me.  After all, photography is a personal business.  Just take a typical wedding - I am generally one of the only people present when the couple sees each other for the first time (the wedding party, parents, etc usually get kicked out of the room).  Or, take a maternity session. . . how often do pregnant women show their bellies?  Still not convinced?  Consider a baby session. . .the infant has been home for just a few hours and the parents are allowing me to hold and mold their new bundle of joy.  Plus, I just love my family and don't see any reason why you wouldn't either.  Not to mention, its my blog and I can do whatever I want!

My wife was out of town this morning with our baby. Feeling guilty about using the TV as a babysitter, Abigail (my 4 year old daughter) and I took it to the yard.  She loves playing outside and it gives me a good excuse to try some new things with my camera. 

 

While I was loading the pictures above on my computer I came across a few others on the same card.  I turned 31 last week and we went out to eat with the family at Ingleside Village Pizza.  I actually did some work for Tina, the owner and genius behind IVP, about a year ago.  You can see some of those photographs here.  At any rate, I didn't shoot much on my birthday but here are a few I found. 

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures.  I plan on sharing more glimpses into my life and the things I like and love as I move forward with this blog.  Enjoy this Spring Day! 

Gigi Babies

A friend of my wife has a children's clothing store, Gigi Babies.  She needed a few pictures of an outfit she made for our daughter, Abigail.  I don't do any of the shopping for our kids clothing; but, I can say that her stuff looks great on my kids and is very reasonably priced!  Check her out on Facebook or Etsy. 

Fall Colors

I took these on Thanksgiving Day last year.  The family is actually my sister and her in-laws.  After lunch, they wanted to find a nice place to take a picture.  We drove over to Wesleyan College and found this awesome tree.  The color of the tree was amazing!  Just one of those lucky finds that made for a great picture. 

Its been too long!

This posting is beyond overdue!  My wife has openend her own business (Peek-A-Boo Paintings);   Abigail is now four and has become a preschool social butterfly; we've been trying to sell our house since March; and, we've added another to our family.  I'm now the proud dad of two girls!  Mallory was born this past summer and, as most babies do, has demanded quite a bit of attention.  So, with these minor changes in my life I've allowed myself to fall way behind in updating my webiste and blog.  Fortunately, I've been able to stay comfortably busy shooting and have tons of images to post over the coming weeks.  I've also been busy updating my pricing structure and will post the changes soon.  So, for now here are a few pictures.... 

Mallory at 7 days old.

This shot was a bit of an accident.  Aubrey, my wife, was posing Mallory while I was testing my flash settings.  Turned out to be one of our favorite! 

Yep.  That's a chair in a yard.  Totally normal! 

Abigail was (and is) so excited to be a big sister! 

So - that's it for now.  I'll be updating quite a bit over the coming weeks so check back again soon.

 

 

Jon & Rachel - A Love Story

Our family grew this past weekend.  My wife's brother married my best friend's sister.  I've known the bride for 20+ years, so it was a really fun wedding having our families merge together.  I was asked to do a video for their rehearsal dinner.  I was supplied with pictures from the bride's family as well as the grooms.  The challenge was turning the old photographs into a story.  The entire "princess | cowboy" theme was developed from the one picture of Bo, Rachel's brother, as the dancing jester. Little did I know that Creede Hinshaw, the preacher, would borrow that theme and incorporate it into his opening remarks during the ceremony. So...the lesson to be learned. ..watch yourself when someone takes your picture, it may have an impact many years from now! We are so very happy that Rachel is now our sister-in-law!!!!!!

Loveshack

I am a bit of a picky photographer.  I won't just accept anyone on as a client.  I've turned away business based on my intuition that our personalities may not be a good match.  I believe that it is important for my clients to feel relaxed and comfortable in order to get the best photographs.  In fact, I don't even really like the word "client."  It seems too impersonal.  For me, it brings up images of pushy salesmen who are only trying to make a buck.  I take great pride in my work.  Whether I am shooting a couple, a baby, or something as simple as a tee-shirt, I want to produce the best possible image.  I invest a lot of my time and energy into every photograph (and the people I shoot are investing a lot of their money).  Although a session may only last an hour, I'll probably spend another three to five hours processing the shots.  For me, every photograph becomes a piece of art.  For my "clients" they become priceless memories.  After all. . .although you'll move, change furniture, redecorate, maybe even have a little plastic surgery to change the way you look, the photographs I take will become a part of your home for many years (probably for the remainder of your life).  And with that, I strive for perfection in my work. 

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few hours working with an amazing couple, Rachel Walker and Jon Lewis.  However, this was a very unique session in that I have known Rachel since we were kids (our parents are great friends and her brother has been one of my best friends for 29 years) and Jon is my brother-in-law.  They are getting married in May 2010 at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church and the reception is going to be behind the Walker's home on College Street. 

We spent about 2 hours on a Friday afternoon shooting at several locations around downtown Macon.  We started behind the Walker's home.  There is a rustic barn that created an amazing backdrop for many of their pictures.  In the photo below I was simply taking a "test shot" to make sure I had all of my camera settings adjusted properly; however, it turned out to be a really good picture (not because of me, but because of Rachel)! 

Jon and Rachel brought along their bulldog "Duke" who actually seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.

The picture above was taken at the Grand Opera House.  There are some great old doors on the fire escape that make a wonderful backdrop.  Again, it helps when the people are as beautiful as Rachel and Jon! 

I think the railroad track shot has become a bit of a standard for engagement pictures.  I though this particular one was nice because as it seemed to capture a very natural (and sweet) interaction between Jon and Rachel. 
The pictures above was taken on Coleman Hill.  This was the image used for the engagement announcement in the Macon Telegraph.

And finally....

If you're interested in seeing more images of Rachel and Jon, you can visit their gallery by clicking HERE and entering the password "26113". 

       

Beginnings

After typing about 5 different intro's for this blog, I figured I'd start with a photograph.  After all, this is a blog dedicated to my business Blue Eye Media.  I think I've placed too much pressure on myself to create the perfect beginning.  So. . .after a nice deep breath I took the plunge, dropped in an image, and am off to the races!  

But this first photograph isn't just any old picture.  It is one of those moments that I'll never forget.  It was August 25, 2007, our first night at home with a new baby (yes, she did have that much hair when she was born).  As we were getting her ready for bed (or so we thought), I was taking pictures and capturing the excitement of our new child.  Most of the pictures during those first few days she has her eyes closed.  But, for a brief moment, as my wife gave her a kiss, she looked up and locked eyes with Aubrey.  It was in that moment that I knew "I can do this."  And thanks to Lady Luck. . .I got a picture!  Although we had posed 100's of shots during those first few days, this is by far my favorite.

Since I'm a proud father, here are two other pictures of my daughter.

So there you go.  The first posting for this blog.  I promise everything will not be of my kid (although a good bit of it probably will since I think she's pretty awesome).  I just figured I'd begin with her since I find a lot of my inspiration from her.  My plan from here is to update about 3x's week.  So keep checking back for new content.