Babies

Most days I'm grateful for my career. I love people and taking pictures of them. I also love the outdoors and get to do quite a bit of nature photography. Sometimes however I get in a rut, loose my sense of wonderment and find myself working within too familiar a set of parameters. Hence, I decided I'd start photographing babies around their first birthday. I'm thankful for all the little smiles, questioning eyes, snot, giggles and cries. These little people are so human, miraculously so, and give me hope. 

Pilgrimage Festival 2016 - Franklin, TN

Beck rocked! Let's get that out of the way. But I'll come back to it later. 

Walking through one of the fields from one stage to the next I turned to my friend and said, "Here we are, we've been waiting for this, and it's here." I was a little sad saying it because I knew it'd be over before I knew it, but I was also very happy in the moment. Pilgrimage is an intimate little festival, but you'd never guess it by seeing the artist line up. Although I saw a good number of friends, I'm pretty sure most of our town doesn't realize how good we've got it right here in our backyard. The food selections are great, there's plenty of beer, the market of artists and makers is wonderful and the music is pretty beyond compare. My favorites this year were Beck, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Stumbellas, Langhorne Slim, Better Than Ezra and one of my dearest friends, Matthew Perryman Jones. Here are some photos of some great musical moments. Enjoy. 

The Strumbellas, The Struts, Beck, Shakey Graves, Better Than Ezra, City and Colour, Langhorne Slim, Kasey Musgraves, Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Mindfulness and Awareness in Photography

I've always been pretty aware of the stuff around me. As a photographer that's pretty necessary. Even just walking to get coffee I often stop mid-stride, hold up my fingers like a viewfinder box, and tell the air around me, "that would be a nice shot." I can't really help it - I just tend to see my surroundings as compositions of colors and shapes and ideas.

Heading back to the car after finishing up a shoot I had at the Atlanta airport last week, I looked back to see this Buddhist man in his orange kāṣāya standing near an American Flag banner. The complimentary orange/blue color scheme was striking, however, equally striking was the cultural significance of the scene. I had to snap a photo and I’m excited to share the image and know your thoughts. In a season where our country’s ideals seem so much in flux I hope we can pause to take a deep breath and together practice some of the “Eight Fold Path” or the “Beatitudes” - whichever float your boat - they will certainly move us in the right direction.

What feelings, emotions, issues does this image bring up for you?
 

Olia's Dresses + Salem's Jewelry

My smart wife Sarah recently had a smart idea. A collaboration: Olia Zavozina's dresses and Salem Emamalie's jewelry. Sarah creates content (the social media kind) for Brentwood Jewelry and every month I do a photo shoot to help create the image part of the content. Olia is a friend of O'More College of Design (where I teach) and I even saw an OCD alum (JENNY!) who works for Olia while on our recent shoot! My daughter Ellie and friend Fairlight were two of the models. It was a big day with lots of shooting, but I'm excited for the images we got. Tough to take a bad pictures when you've got beautiful models, amazing dresses, stunning jewelry, a great team of make-up artists and stylists and a wife who did a great job at putting it all together.

Pilgrimage Festival is Around the Corner!

Last September when my friends and I parked our bikes and walked through the field at Harlinsdale Farm to hear our favorite bands we were giddy with excitement - ready for the best day ever! It was like being 12 years old and walking through the turnstile at Six Flags over Georgia Amusement Park knowing that this was as good as it gets.

Last September brought us the first ever Pilgrimage Festival at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, TN. So many of my favorites were there: Neko Case, Wilco, Charles Bradley, Willie Nelson, Iron and Wine and lots of others. I was there to experience the music, art, food and drink, but I was also on assignment to document the festival for Visit Franklin (Williamson County Convention and Visitors Bureau). Photos below!

This September is sure to be another amazing two day music and arts festival with the likes of Beck, Violent Femmes, City and Colour, and Big Sam's Funky Nation (again!). I'm hoping to get a chance to shoot the festival again this year. Here are some of my pics from last year to get you excited for what's to come this September.  Get your tickets here: goo.gl/BcHXfC

The Liturgy of Birds and Birdwatching

In light of the recent world events and opinions surrounding those events, by mind has become restless and my thought patterns dizzying. I needed a day in the woods with the critters and their songs. There is something so sacred about the animals - their communion with each other and their world. Their presence among us - the violent ones - is a gift. 

If you've not walked around Radnor Lake I'd highly suggest it. Get there before 8 and you'll see and hear more birds. After that and there are too many humans. 

Here are some shots I got this morning.

And they cried like little babies

So on my way to teach class this morning I had the idea that to make learning about studio lighting more fun (and weird) we would all have to make crying faces for our portraits. Here they are.

Kauland and Sarah - Sneak Peak pt. 2

Here's sneak peak part 2 of Kauland and Sarah's wedding. Enjoy!