the blog

another test

2010-01-13T13:11:00.002-05:00

now then, let's try this!

happily ever after?

Julie & Jeffery - Memphis!

2009-06-27T11:37:00.003-04:00

Julie and Jeffery convinced me it was a short walk from Clemson to Memphis.
I think maybe I'll Google it next time :)

This was a fun shoot! Two days to shoot and just hang out and take in the city.
And Julie and Jeffery were the perfect hosts. They shuttled me back and forth to my hotel and showed me the finer points (and less refined areas) of Memphis. We had time the second day to check out where Jeffery proposed to Julie; a huge public park where they brought out their dogs for some play time.
Then it was off to Graceland!
Even if you're not a huge Elvis fan you really ought to check out Graceland if you get the chance.
If you don't find it cool you'll at least find it interesting. I'm somewhere in the middle :)
And then they invited me to join them for Trivia Night with their group of friends.
A fun way to cap off a fun trip!

And FYI: James Stewart was the highest ranking military officer to win an Academy Award.
A Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve!

Self portrait in Elvis' staircase leading to his basement. The guy liked mirrors.

Trivia Night!

Misty, Sandra & Marita

2009-06-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

Misty, Sandra and Marita made the drive out from Virginia Beach to Asheville just to shoot with me! How cool is that?!
This was a fun switch from the structure of a wedding day.
We grabbed some lunch and then drove around coming up with ideas for shots and wondering if the rain would cooperate with us!
Lots of shootin' - lots of outfit changes - and lots of fun!

Hop over to Facebook to checkout some more from this shoot!

Todd & Wendy's Wedding

2009-06-24T13:03:00.002-04:00

Following closely on the heals of my last post - it's Todd & Wendy's wedding!
The wedding was the very next day after all :)

My second shooter this weekend was April Poston. April and I also met while stationed in Germany.
She and her husband were stationed just down the road from where Todd & Wendy were getting married.
Very cool - Sweet pictures all weekend and a chance to meet up with a bunch of old friends!

Todd & Wendy's engagement shoot

2009-06-22T13:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy for Todd & Wendy (and Logan!)
I smiled the whole time I was editing these shots.
Todd's been a good friend since we were stationed together in Germany.
Two days to catch up in Florida was much too short!
We only had the day before the wedding to pull off an engagement shoot which transitioned into a shrimp boil party at the beach house!
Waiting on the shrimp, Todd used his celebratory cigar to pull off a pretty good Clint Eastwood!

Blake & Jennifer - Montreat and Bridals

2009-06-19T14:50:00.007-04:00

Here's the second engagement shoot I did with Blake & Jennifer. We met out in Montreat, North Carolina for a much warmer round of shooting than the first time around! A few weeks later Jen and I met at Asheville's Botanical Gardens to shoot her bridal portraits.
Blake & Jennifer were married this past weekend so now I'm safe to put a few of the bridals online :)

An Ode To The Wedding Photographer

2009-05-18T18:25:00.008-04:00

So I'm taking a shower this morning and thinking about what to post on Facebook.
I realize that last statement clearly makes me an addict, but let's keep going with the story...
I get a few ideas and then one of them seems to rhyme and I thought "pretty cool".
A little while later Jolene and I are chillin' in an oncology doctor's waiting room and I get a few more ideas.
So I start tapping them out on my iPhone.
Doctor visits can be kinda lengthy so I made pretty good progress as I sat there.
I emailed it to myself and finished nuancing it at home.

It became entirely too long for my Facebook status so my little poem about this past weekend's wedding has graduated to it's own blog post.
Without further ado...

An Ode To The Wedding Photographer

Heading to Mobile - a late decision to drive
It would be just a short 9 hours before I'd arrive
A baconator for breakfast with fries on the side
A diet coke to delude me as I continued my drive

Burgers and beer and shrimp & grits - some culinary highlights of my recent trip
We won't stop there, the memories are many - car crashes, alligators and chicks in bikinis!

The rain came in buckets for an hour or so,
I switched on my hazards so the guy behind would go slow!
The E-Myth Revisited on audiobook
I'd never got though it had it been a plane that I'd took.

Slow iTunes from iPhones had me growing tired
But a quick stop for a mocha and soon I was wired
I need to hit the road, but first a moment to pee
Despite all the photo-ops waiting for me

Mobile at last! My GPS didn't fail
The rehearsal dinner till eleven and then had to bail
My hotel room was decent, despite smelling like mold
gifts from guests past - their stories untold

Leno and Fallon do their thing on the tube
While I check my email before drifting to snooze

Up around ten and start to get dressed
a check on the weather has me distressed
Big chance of rain and in the 80's it'll run
dressed all in black - this should be fun

The elevator hits five and opens with a ding
I head down the hall - time to do my thing
Half-dressed girls fill the room, this isn't the first
But of all my jobs, this isn't the worst

Some wrapped in towels and some dressed in pink
Some with glittery sparkles but all with a drink
I pull out my camera from my bag by the dresser
And capture these ladies becoming prettier than ever

A detour to the pool to shoot a few friends
And then it's off to the church - before it begins
The bride's in her dress and she's ready to go
I glance at her mom as the tears start to roll

The bus with the guests and groom has arrived
The bride dashes to the garden - we're still shooting outside!
Tell the driver to keep going while we rush her inside
That was a close one - almost saw his new bride!

The guests, all seated, now start to stand
The bride looks lovely, her entrance is grand
I glance to the front, "where is the groom?"
He's still with the minister in the back room!

"no flash" the alter guild kept saying to me as a warning
perhaps now she'll get the groom, so we can get going
Some prayers and a hymn and a bit of communion
Two rings and a kiss - now it's a union!

I shoot away as they head down the aisle
Past all their friends all covered in smiles
Now friends and family gather in the shade
And I keep on clicking as memories are made

Getting to the reception this party is hummin'
I'm thinking about food - there's nothing in my oven
subtly scan the buffet to see what might be yummy
I guess it all was - nothing left for my tummy

no worries I guess, I've been hungry before
I keep unloading my gear and get ready for more
scanning the sky and checking the light
I pull out my softbox - we're doing this right

A few strobist tricks to amaze and amuse
It would seem wireless flash has been experienced by few
Switching to manual, my exposure dialed in
This is where the rockin' shots start to begin

Shots of the fellas and even more of the ladies
I'm loving this light - it's freakin' crazy!
Everyone's chimping my screen, it's going so well
The compliments roll in, my head's starting to swell

As the sun goes away we all head inside
With this group were still in for one wild ride
With beer and liquor flowing for all of the guests
The DJ is hit with a barrage of requests

The DJ is tapped as a solitary strummer
but the iPods come out - this party isn't over
The dancing is wild and karaoke's a hit
The reception is great - the partiers are lit

As Flo-Rida does his thing, a lone cop strolls in
It seems even the best parties must come to an end
I say my good-byes with hugs and best wishes
A few beer-goggled lovelies even offering kisses

As I drive back to my room and think back over the day
This was a good one - I gotta say
Tons of sweet shots with cool, creamy bokeh
But tomorrow's a long drive, I'm looking forward to that mocha.

An iPhone shot of my mocha :)

Julie & Jeffery - Clemson

2009-05-07T13:42:00.002-04:00

A little rain couldn't keep us from having some fun at Clemson stadium and getting some sweet shots!

Blake & Jennifer engagement shoots

2009-05-02T21:57:00.001-04:00

Has it really been two months since I updated the blog! I gotta get with it :)

Castle LadyHawke

2009-03-03T23:54:00.005-05:00

Castle LadyHawke is a new wedding venue just over an hour from Asheville, NC.
Aaron Hogsed asked me to come along with him to shoot some promotional images for the Castle - and I was happy to go!
Living in North Carolina, how many castles do I really get to shoot?!

Aaron put together a slideshow with images from both of us. Click here to check it out!

Aaron Morell from Grae Skye Studios was also on hand getting some video, so check it out as well.

Danielle & Barnabas @ Castle LadyHawke from Aaron Morrell on Vimeo.

stuff photographers think about

2009-03-01T19:23:00.003-05:00

I came across this video today and it resonated with me.
It's not exactly my story but I saw some shadows of mine in it.

This is Zac Arias out of Atlanta. I've learned a ton from this guy so it's interesting to hear his thoughts on stuff.
Like Zac, I've had some wonderful compliments on my photography which does tremendous things for my ego - but sometimes I'm just a guy trying not to suck.

Snow & Chris had a Rockin' Wedding!

2009-02-21T23:14:00.006-05:00

Hey everybody!
Sorry I've that I haven't posted anything for a few weeks - freakin' Facebook! It's got me addicted.
But that doesn't mean I don't have some sweet images for you.

Check out the beautiful and super fun Snow & Chris!
Snow still insists on being a Doctor instead of a model - what's 8 years of school when you're fabulous!
I suppose she can just treat the guys who's heart attacks she induced.
Good job security. Smart girl.
So is Chris smarter because he's a doctor too or for hooking up with Snow?
Not such a tough call there - I'm going with the latter.

DeAnn rocks the solo shoot!

2009-02-03T02:03:00.003-05:00

DeAnn flew out from California just to shoot with me!
How cool is that!
As an added bonus she got to visit her family and friends that all live in town. How convenient!

Going on two hours of sleep, DeAnn soldiered on as we shot for a few hours and and then braved the 20 degree weather to try out some cool night shots in downtown Asheville.
As is the case with most photographers - we don't have any good pictures of ourselves! But thanks to DeAnn taking the camera from me periodically while we shot, I've got some sweet shots to use with my webpage, facebook and whatever else I can come up with!

Normally I choose the images from a shoot that I think best represent my style - or that just came out freakin' sweet!
This time I let DeAnn choose - these are her favorites. Thanks for hooking me up with some cool shots!

Tell me that first shot isn't smokin' though!

My Brand New Website - zacthomas.com!

2009-01-21T01:29:00.010-05:00

Regular blog readers will know that the zac thomas clan has had a pretty eventful year - and the website kept getting pushed back.
Well, no more! I'm tired of my lame website that's been out there this whole time. It never worked well anyway.
Many nights have turned into the a.m. trying to get the new and improved www.zacthomas.com up and running.
Of course the whole thing would be pretty boring if I didn't have all my amazing clients to show off!
So, many thanks to all of you!
Leave me some comments - I'd love to know what you think!

Rock on!

Old School Christmas

2008-12-24T18:29:00.004-05:00

So I found a new program that's pretty sweet: Poladroid.
It takes your digital photos and transforms them into old-school polaroids!
I love the not-knowing-what-you'll-get aspect :) Funky colors and fades - sweetness.
The imperfection is the cool part.
I'm having to rethink how I'm taking pictures if I know I want to run them through the Poladroid.
Here's a few from this last week that I thought were fun.

Merry Christmas everybody!

The Three Amigos hit Miami

2008-12-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

Photographer extraordinaire Aaron Hogsed of Aaron Imaging recently asked me to tag along with him on a few shoots down in Florida.
Hmmm... let me think. Sure - I suppose I can squeeze that in.
Also making the trip down with us was the amazing Aaron Morrell of Grae Skye Studio.

not live TV

Here's a few of the tastiest images - I'm putting a few more than usual on the blog since we did quite a bit of shooting.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

This isn't the typical stained glass work I come across in churches.

I'm pretty sure Dana Carvey was playing the organ.

Jennifer - our awesome bride.

A fellow Zac rockin' out at the reception.

Aaron Hogsed still trying to wake up around noon.

Your's truly, waiting on breakfast in a funky little diner.

Aaron Morrell enjoying a break from the 23 degree weather we left in North Carolina.

And we did actually get around to trashing a dress - well, we scared it anyway.

A bit of the South Beach Strip.

Boobs - can't live with 'em...

2008-12-10T17:20:00.006-05:00

The posts on my blog usually go up as I write them but I've pre-scheduled a few to post throughout this week because I knew I'd be busy.
This one is coming to you in realtime though.

So my wife Jolene has breast cancer. I mentioned that at the end of a lengthier post a few weeks ago - but there it is again for any who may have missed it.
Jolene has blogged about it in more detail. For those of you who are interested you can check out her blog right here: Life Through Mommy Eyes.
This is the zac thomas quick rundown.

We've been to the doctor numerous times now and have had a multitude of tests. While this hasn't answered all of our questions it has narrowed down the cause to either cheap Walmart bras or a disagreeable enchilada. We're still waiting on pathology.
As is the case with cancer, it tends to localize itself in certain areas of the body before becoming widespread or systemic.
That's why you generally hear that people have brain cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, etc.
So, a logical course of action would be to remove the area with cancer, however that can have objectionable results - i.e. brain cancer.
But, since this is breast cancer we're dealing with - it seemed reasonable, if undesirable. So, that's what we did.
Jolene went in yesterday for a mastectomy. And, as expected, it was successful. That figures.
You tell doctors to get rid of your cancer and they'll try for years with wildly unpredictable results, you tell them to get rid of a boob and they nail it every time.

Breast cancer - no breast, no cancer - right?
Well, there's the possibility of encountering what's widely referred to as, "the rack of shoes".
Actually, I coined the term "rack of shoes" as it relates to breast cancer and, as such, it has only now begun to gain widespread acceptance among the medical community.
Suppose it's time for a wardrobe overhaul and all the shoes have to go. Though you have a perfectly lovely rack for your shoes, you decide to toss the rack and all the shoes with it. Job well done. But did you check under the bed...
At this point we've tossed a lovely rack.

We're back home today and Jolene is doing well.
We're very appreciative for all of the prayer that has been offered on our behalf as well as the outpouring of concern and support. It means a great deal to us.

Now then, what's a post without a few pictures?
I pulled over at a car wash in West Asheville rather spontaneously on Sunday afternoon and grabbed a few shots of the family.
A tripod and a timer make for rather uninspired family photos but, what can you do?

Even I use a cell phone camera sometimes!

I sympathize with Hitler

2008-12-10T14:22:00.003-05:00

My friend Corey McNabb had this video on his blog and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd seen in recent memory.
You may have to be a huge camera dork like myself to fully appreciate it but, I thought I would share it nonetheless.
I'm a Nikon shooter - I totally feel the Führer on this one :)

The Reverend and Mrs. Hayes

2008-12-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun shoot with Kevin and his lovely wife Angela.
The two smaller individuals are Kaelin and Tatum.
Kevin is the pastor of our church here in Asheville: the Underground.
Kevin and his clan are actually one of the few families I haven't shot from our church.
But we rectified that.
Now they've got some rockin' images to grace their Christmas cards and we never even got out of their yard!

Snow & Chris

2008-12-06T13:00:00.001-05:00

Check out the amazing Snow & Chris!
These two are both in the final stages of medical school but you couldn't tell it by how they rock in front of the camera!
I'm sure Snow was channeling her inner model the whole time. I tried to convince her that modeling was just as noble as being a doctor.
It won't be long before you'll have another chance to check out more sweet images of Snow & Chris, their wedding is on the 3rd of January.
Don't touch that dial!

Boys n Toys

2008-12-06T02:07:00.000-05:00

Here's another fun shoot from Tennessee!
Hank and his parents invited me up to capture some family images with their sweet toys.
Hanks' grandpa has a cool Russian made plane, a 1990's vintage if I remember right, along with a golf cart that snuck into a few shots.
And his dad did and awesome job restoring their 1974 VW bug.
We even borrowed the neighbors Piper Cub for a few images.
So, we put it all together and here is some of what we came away with!

Babies and Seniors

2008-11-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

This shoot was a bit different.
The day after Hillary and Wes' wedding, while we were still in Tennessee, I met up with Blake and his clan for a bit of a combo shoot.
On the agenda was family group shots, images of two month old Josie and senior pictures for the twins - Travis & Dakota.
We rolled the three shoots into one and had a great time.
Travis and Dakota were perfect; good looking guys who were up for trying anything.

The Return of HIllary & Wes

2008-11-25T14:04:00.002-05:00

Just when you thought HIllary and Wes couldn't get any more fabulous - they get married!
The fantabulous all went down in Shady Valley Tennessee, at Wes' parent's farm.
When you mix perfect weather, donkeys and carriages, and a bunch of friends - it makes for a pretty memorable occasion!

Our Anniversary - 13 Years!

2008-11-23T20:24:00.005-05:00

Wow!
It doesn't seem like 13 years - it seems like forever! But in a good way :)
I don't even remember what my life was like before I had Jolene in it. And that's probably because it's not worth remembering. My life found it's worth when I found Jolene.
It's been a wonderful, amazing, sweet, sometimes very hard, but always worthwhile journey.
This last year has been a mixture of both.
This has been the first full year for "zac thomas photographer" and I'm both excited and humbled by the feedback so many have shared with me. That so many people love what I do has made it easier to endure and visualize a time in the future when the financial burden of starting a new business won't be as acute.
This was only multiplied when, in January, one of our water pipes took an early retirement and flooded our entire house. After two and a half months in a hotel and construction that still continues by your's truly; we're reconsidering the benefits of renting.
In the midst of daily life, Jolene and I are filled with Joy as we watch our little Men - Gryphyn and Vahn - continue to grow and develop. We were as excited as any parent as we observed Vahn learning to walk this summer, and then we were heartbroken when he wondered onto the asphalt and burned and blistered his feet to the point he couldn't walk for weeks. Many of you poured out your sympathies and we're very grateful; no one is happier than we are to know that Vahn's feet have healed completely.
Jolene and I didn't have our boys until we had been married for 10 years but, for that whole time, we had our cats - Tigger and Cheyenne. For 12 years they were our family. Putting them to sleep was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. Their loss was still too fresh when Jolene's dad, Bill, passed away a week later. October was a hard month.
November was progressing nicely until last week.
That's when we found out Jolene had breast cancer.
Didn't see that one coming.

My dad has always told me, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
Can I get an Amen!

So, this has been one of the best years and one of the worst years for Jolene and I. But, it's one year out of many.
And when we compare our marriage to that of my grandparents who were married over 60 years - our story is still very much in the character development stages. You could miss this much and still enjoy the movie.
We're looking forward to the rest of the story...

Some Fun

2008-11-17T14:07:00.002-05:00

If it comes as a surprise to you that I'm into photography than you're probably on my blog by accident. So head back over to Google and try again - nice talking to you.
For the rest of you I'm also into all things Apple. Perhaps not a big surprise either.
Anyway, in my online journeys I occasionally come across some funny stuff - so I thought I'd share.

Crystal & Bradford got Married

2008-11-15T22:30:00.005-05:00

Crystal and Bradford had a simply awesome wedding in Hot Springs, North Carolina.
This is despite the fact that I had to roll my old bones out of bed to make the drive and start shooting at 8am.
Morning people... honestly.
By the time I had arrived Bradford had already gone running and, to everyone's relief, it was a round trip :)
After breakfast, things got rolling and we came away with some really sweet images!
Crystal and Bradford, both wanting great pictures, even set aside some time in the itinerary for me. You gotta love 'em!
We managed to work in a baby shoot in between all the wedding action as well.

She was a guest - not a catalyst. Just in case you're wondering.

I was digging this funky old mirror made from polished metal. Try doing your makeup in that one!

Solo Stacy

2008-11-12T00:13:00.003-05:00

Well, solo isn't exactly accurate unless you don't count Stacy's daughter Kiersten, her sister and my whole family :)
I was back in Tennessee for a wedding a week or so after Michelle and Stacy's farewell shoot and Stacy and I decided to get together for some supplemental shooting. We even made it an instructional shoot and Stacy was gracious enough to smile and nod as I spewed out camera nerd jargon.
Stacy wasn't feeling 100% during our previous shoot but, it would be a hard argument to suggest she looks anything other than radiant in these images!
With Stacy's genes it's only a matter of time before Kiersten will be breaking hearts!

Moms and Daughters

2008-11-11T23:38:00.002-05:00

This post is bitter sweet.
I got to head up to Tennessee and shoot some beautiful women. We shot for fabulous in the alleys and we shot for fun at the roller rink. Sweet.
But for Michelle and Stacy this was a last hoorah before Michelle moved back to Alaska. bitter.
With emotions on high and Stacy feeling ill we still managed to come away with some awesome images!
It's hard to hide "amazing" when it's in your DNA.

There are a lot of things to do for a fun farewell. I tried to make me tagging along with all my cameras one of them.
I'm honored to be invited to be part of Michelle and Stacy's friendship.

Avian - One Year Later

2008-11-11T14:02:00.003-05:00

It was a year ago that I met Avian.
We met down at Lake Julian to capture her at just a year and a half old.
So here we are, back down at the lake, for her two and a half year pictures.
Her brother and sister, Kealey and Yasmine, even got in a few this time around!

Dad's hand too :)

Sean & Mindy

2008-10-31T12:25:00.003-04:00

Alrighty! Here we go with Sean & Mindy!
This has got to be one of the crazier weddings I've been to. But a good crazy - not like the uncle you don't talk about.
It all went down at Claxton Farm here in Asheville, NC but guests were pouring in from all over. Sweden and Australia were represented along with about nine different states as I recall including one couple actually from Asheville!

When the guests and the wedding party and the bride and groom combine to make the band it can make for a pretty lively affair. This is the first wedding I've been to where the band had a full brass section! Very cool. It seemed like open mic night with guests and parents all singing. Sean even took to the stage to perform for Mindy at the end of the night. There's definitely a music gene in this group.

Thanks Sean & Mindy for letting me part of your lovezap!

Check out the wedding slideshow and, if you haven't already, take a look at Sean & Mindy's engagement shoot in San Francisco.

Erica & Josh

2008-10-16T14:14:00.003-04:00

I'M NOT DEAD!
I know a few of you were wondering since it's been over a month since I've put anything up on the blog.
No worries, I've just been shooting a ton.
And to kick off this shooting spree we've got Erica & Josh!

Erica and Josh had their super fabulous day at The Farm Party Barn in Candler, NC. The weather was perfect for their fun and picturesque ceremony and the reception was rocking thanks to the amazing Ms. Jones & The Velvetones.

Erica and Josh are both great at playing it up for the camera and we walked away with some sweet images!
It took me a long time to narrow down my selections for the blog and I still came out with a bunch!

Wedding fun with Hurricane Faye

2008-09-12T09:12:00.004-04:00

Justin and Sarah were real troopers.
Hurricane Faye literally came through Panama City on the day of their wedding and they had to rework their lovely, outdoor wedding and move the whole production inside! Fortunately, Faye had lost most of it's force so there wasn't any damage or danger and everyone had a great time - indoors :)
Plan to have fun and be flexible with the rest - those are the best weddings!

Click To Play

There will be no blinking in my pictures!

The Mellow Mushroom Shoot

2008-09-09T13:43:00.005-04:00

Alright, to be fair this shoot doesn't have too much to do with the Mellow Mushroom but I needed a name for my blog post. It's not completely random though, we did stop and have lunch at the 'shroom. And a pretty fabulous lunch it was - I don't know why I don't eat there more often.
This is Michelle and her family and extended family. I won't go into details mainly because I've forgotten some of them and I'll screw it up. But a few carloads of family reunion participants left Tennessee and met up with me in downtown Asheville for fun, photos and food. And I'm glad to say we accomplished all three!
I've got another shoot with Michelle and her friend Stacy coming up!
Stay tuned...

David Jay, Hondas and iPhones

2008-09-03T04:15:00.007-04:00

I've got a number of shoots to post but I thought I'd give you all a little glimpse into my day.
I was headed to Charlotte this afternoon for a seminar with David Jay - who I had a chance to meet with back in May. I was looking forward to hanging out and having a chance to meet some other photographers. My infinitely cool '87 Honda WagoVan had other ideas however.
My transmission decided 207,021 miles was all that it had in it and it jerked and sputtered and literally ground to a halt while I was in route. A bit of divine intervention allowed me enough momentum to coast to a nice shady spot at a rest area. It was in this serene location that I was able to catch up with all the nice people at USAA and Honda Service, get in a little reading, make a video, check out the lovely facilities, shake my fist at God - I'm kidding.
I did get to put my new Sprint Instinct phone through it's paces while I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. It preformed admirably. It would actually be pretty cool if the world didn't have iPhones. Last week I choked on AT&T's cancellation fee when I turned my iPhone into a glorified iPod Touch. Most of you know what a nightmare it was trying to talk to me on the iPhone and I just got tired of paying for AT&T's crap they call coverage.
Well, it took a couple of hours but I got towed home and the WagoVan will live again! After I throw a few mortgage payments at it...
I realize that I said, "We'll see what happens" three times in the video and I don't want to hear any comments on the farmer tan.

One of those days

Bradford & Crystal's E-Shoot

2008-08-14T22:52:00.006-04:00

I forgot that I made this little video after the shoot. I just came across it and thought I'd throw it in here.

no free parking!

Here's an engagement shoot we weren't sure would happen.
Bradford and Crystal live in Alabama and didn't have any definite plans to get to Asheville before their wedding at the beginning of October. But, fortunately for all of us, they both had to take the BAR exam in Virginia. Perhaps not so fortunate for them but - you go to law school, you should see that one coming :)
So they made a stop in Asheville on the way back to finalize some details with a few vendors and gave me a few hours to shoot them looking fabulous! I think they both look great, especially considering they just came off a couple of intense days in Virginia.
We got started nice-n-early at 9am and I was beat by 11. Chillin' at Mayfel's in their A/C for lunch was a welcome reward.
Bradford and Crystal rounded out the day with a leisurely drive all the way back to Alabama. goodtimes.

Here's a few of my favorites from the shoot. Enjoy!

Chris & Britt's E-Shoot

2008-08-05T23:47:00.003-04:00

So where do you go for an engagement session after you shoot up San Francisco?
You guessed it - we rocked Hendersonville, NC baby! WhooHoo!

I only say that half jokingly. Hendersonville's a pretty cool, little town.
Britt, Chris and I met at Hannah's downtown and filled ourselves with some fried goodness before hitting the streets.
We've been twice now and I can definitely recommend the fish-n-chips and the calamari. That is unless you don't like calamari - then it's still gonna suck.

After spending some time downtown, we took a trip up the mountain to Jump Off Rock - where Chris and Britt are going to have their ceremony. We were rewarded with an awesome sunset to shoot with. Not only that, as I was setting up my lightstand and flash I was fortunate enough to have a nice lady come over and school me on the proper ways to use my camera's flash. It seems placing your hand in front of the flash after it opens produces much more desirable results. She was even kind enough to scroll through hundreds of pictures on her camera to show me some examples she got on her trip to France. People are funny.
In her defense, she was shooting art (paintings, sculptures, etc). A diffused flash is much better in those situations and she had found a pretty rudimentary diffusion method. But, good for her. She's not afraid to play and learn. It's all about the image, you gotta do what it takes!

Here's some of the shots we came away with! (I elected not to put my hand in front of my flash :)

San Francisco Baby!

2008-08-02T06:33:00.002-04:00

We're trying something new today, kicking it up a notch!
I had the opportunity to fly out to San Francisco in July to do an engagement shoot with Sean and Mindy. And. it. was. sweet.
I went to high school out in California and this gave me the chance to hang out with my old friend Dan from back in the day. Dan and I scouted some areas around Treasure Island and when Sean and Mindy showed up we were ready to roll.
Dan was kind enough to loan me his dad's jacket too, as I was unprepared for the San Francisco Bay breeziness.

Check out their rockin' e-shoot and stay tuned for the wedding. It's only 30 days away!

Click To Play

Gimme' a call

2008-07-29T21:00:00.001-04:00

Click To Play

The Sexy Shoot

2008-07-28T22:27:00.002-04:00

Alicia and Holly decided to brave my lenses again and this time we kicked it up a notch!
As we descended on Marion, North Carolina we saw the town's glamour barometer start to rise and it was off to find some sweet spots for shooting. We started off inside an old train car located in the heart of town. Some lone tourist dude kept wandering into my backgrounds so we moved outside, shot up the exterior of the train and it was off to the crack house!
Actually it was an old, burned factory of some kind that we came across but my money is betting it's moonlit for nefarious crack activities at some point in it's history. The crime scene tape was already there. We weren't to be deterred.
I could have shot at the factory for hours but we wanted to get in some wet shots before we lost our light so from there we headed to Lake James.
Hopping the fence at Lake James after closing time seemed much less criminal after coming from a real crime scene. I've noticed park rangers never consider the sweet, late afternoon light when they establish their park hours.
This was a fun night! I've got a great job.

Holly got one of my cameras at some point and grabbed a few shots of yours truly.

We were starving after all the shooting. Here's our little group in the parking lot at Fatz Cafe.

Kati's Senior Shoot!

2008-07-26T11:44:00.006-04:00

It was off to Tennessee this time to do some sweet senior shots!
Here's a handful of my favorites from the shoot and a little video clip I made on the way up.
I was messing with my iPhone trying to get directions to where I was headed and I was totally speeding. This cop was super cool - he was digging my '87 Civic (which is fantabulous) and he gave me directions and let me off with a warning! Donut's all around! My treat!

Click To Play

Boring with cheese - this is for Karl

2008-07-09T05:10:00.005-04:00

I did a post back in January that a lot of people liked but they universally said it needed pictures. So this post may take the title for technical and geeky but at least there's pictures to ease the pain.

My friend Karl wrote and asked me some questions about cameras. There wound up being a lot of good information in our exchange so I decided make a post from it so those of you who aren't Karl could benefit from it as well :)

Here we go...

Karl -

I'd like to pick your brain about SLR digital cameras. I've been wanting to upgrade to an SLR digital camera for quite some time now, and I have about ~$800-1000 to spend, but no real good idea about what to buy.

We've really enjoyed our (not digital) 35 mm Canon EOS Rebel GII over the years. We got a (digital) Canon Powershot S2 IS a few years ago, and while it takes decent pictures, we desperately miss the SLR "looking through the lens" bit and feel that we miss many good pictures because of its delays and having to view an LCD screen.

An amateur photographer friend at work likes Nikons much better than Canons, and has recommended the Nikon D60 or D80. But I've been wondering about trying to get a Canon that would fit the lenses we already have for the EOS Rebel GII - but that might not be a worthwhile endeavor.

Me -

I don't know if you've had the chance to check out the blog much but I did a post back in January about cameras and lenses. A bit more about lenses I suppose. Anyway, you can check that out here: http://thezacthomasblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-most-boring-post.html
Hopefully that'll help a bit.

I shoot Nikon. Canon is just as good. Quality is great with both so don't let that be a concern.
Canon puts out more models than Nikon so I haven't really kept up with all of theirs. I know the rebel has gone through a few versions but, it always rates highly. My first digital SLR was a Nikon D50 and I'm still using it all the time. It's only 6 megapixels but, that's plenty. I took the shot of the Dr. Pepper can just for you - it's the 41,998th picture I've taken with the D50.

I also have a D80 - which is what I shot your family with, it just passed 71,000 pictures. And I picked up a D200 the other day on eBay. (EDIT - I now have a D2X as well) The benefit you get, primarily, with more expensive cameras is speed and access. They take pictures faster and all the controls become buttons on the outside instead of menus buried on the inside. The D50 still takes 3 frames per second, fast enough for most people.
My main focus has been on getting the best lenses I can. The lens is what makes the picture - the camera just records it. Once you have a nice, fast lens for your camera - you're good to go. A great lens will be a great lens on any camera - a crappy lens... same thing.
If you've got great canon lenses then definitely stick with Canon and buy a better body. If you decide to plunk your cash down on a nice lens and a body then go with either a Canon or Nikon (they're the two best and it keeps your choices simpler) and then just read a few reviews, play with them at a camera store and go with what feels good. The difference between a point-n-shoot digital camera to even the cheapest digital SLR is huge in terms of speed and quality so you're going to be happy regardless.

Here's a review of the D60
and a review of the newest rebel.

The lens I always break out for shooting families is my Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Karl -

Wow! What helpful information. Between your email and the blog, I feel like I have a MUCH better understanding of what to prioritize, plus you made me feel at ease about sticking with Canon.

I'm very interested in being able to take portraits like you did of us with the very narrow depth of field, so I understand the smaller aperture is key there...

HOWEVER, we also love taking pictures of the outdoors. What type of lens would I want for shooting the wide open spaces? Would the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 be useful? Or the Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens you mentioned in the blog? Or would the typical 18-55mm f/3.5-?? lenses that comes with most Canon DSLR's be better? Or do I just need to think about a wide-angle, and does aperture matter with wide-angle lenses for landscapes?

Me -

You're good to go with Canon - absolutely. I'm a Nikon die-hard but it's the same as Honda's and Toyota's; you can argue the merits of both for hours but, at the end of the day you're still glad you're not in a Ford.

You're right about the depth-of-field relating to aperture as well - the smaller the f-stop number (the larger aperture hole) the smaller the depth-of-field. That's great for portraits and it's only amplified the more you zoom and/or the closer you are to your subject

A couple of examples:
- the shot of my cat was with the Tamron 17-50 lens at 2.8 and the zoom at 20mm - the wide end. The depth of field is quite shallow because I was literally in his face - his whiskers were touching the lens.

- the shot of Vahn in the kitchen was exactly the same settings (as far as we're concerned with the lens) and it's a much wider depth of field because I was a few feet from him.

- the shot of Gryphyn's under-appreciated hug - same settings. I wanted an excuse to put this one on the blog as well :) I love my Men!

On the other end of the zoom range with the same lens:
- The shot of our friend's son Isaac was also with the 17-50 lens at 2.8 but zoomed to the max at 50mm. Isaac is a pretty normal boy from all outside appearances so you know the distance between his forehead and eyes and then to his ears is not abnormally skewed. But you literally have millimeters of focus on his eyes before it goes soft either towards or away from the camera.

- Then there's the shot of my friend Dan in San Francisco last week. Again, the same 50mm setting with the same lens but he's completely in focus and the background gradually goes soft because of my distance from him.

So, when you're going for sweet depth of field - 2.8 isn't a catch-all, you also have to keep in mind your distance to your subject.
However 2.8 is also hugely better for taking pictures without a dependance on flash. None of these shots are with a flash.

But you mentioned that you wanted to take pictures of the wide open space in the great outdoors as well.

You will usually want a wide angle lens for this type of photography - just like the 17-50mm we've been talking about. The difference is that you will use your aperture (f-stop) at the other end of it's range - typically f-22 or f-32 - a much smaller physical opening for the light to get through. The lens that came with your camera no doubt goes down this far so you can get away with using it. If it's zoom range is wide enough for what you want then great. I like having as many options as possible in one lens that's why I choose to sport the 17-50 2.8.

At this point we need to talk about exposure for just a minute. Exposure is simply the correct amount of light making it to the sensor (or film) in your camera. Too much light - the shot's too bright, too little light the shot's too dark. Two things effect this: your APERTURE & your SHUTTER.
The APERTURE, as we've discussed, is the variable sized hole inside your lens that lets light through - like the pupil of your eye.
The SHUTTER is the curtain in front of your sensor that moves to let the light hit the sensor and back again to block it.
The Aperture can change it's size and the shutter can change it's speed - those two variables determine if you nail your exposure or if it was a learning experience.
You can delve much deeper at this site if you like: http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Exposure/Aperture_01.htm

Let's relate it to something different to grasp it.
For this little example a full bucket of water will be a correct exposure.
You can fill a bucket quickly or slowly - either way it's a full bucket.
Suppose you want to fill the bucket as quickly as possible - this would be a good time to break out your firehose we'll call f-2.8. You pull out f-2.8 and a split second later you've got a full bucket - a correct exposure.
Conversely, you've got all day to fill your bucket, which is good because you have a slow garden hose named f-22. You don't want to hold that hose for 5 minutes so you stick it on a tripod. 5 minutes later you have a full bucket - a correct exposure.
How long you need to leave the valve open is directly related to how big the hose is you're using. How long your shutter stays open is directly related to the size aperture you're using.

With outdoor shots of the wide open spaces you usually want everything in focus - like an Ansel Adams picture - so you can stare at it in it's magnificence and study it's detail. This is done with a smaller aperture.
When you stop down your lens (lower the aperture) you gradually increase your depth of field.

So here's a few more shots of outdoors type stuff.
Most of my nature work has been shot on film so I didn't have a lot to pull from on my computer for this post. You may have already seen these on my main webpage. They'll give you an idea of what's possible with small to mid-range aperture settings.

- This blue shot was of a loch in Scotland. I noticed the scene as I was driving by so I hopped out and set up my camera on a rock since I didn't have a tripod with me. My lens was at 18mm focal length (zoom) f-14 and a shutter speed of 25 seconds.

- This sunken boat was in another Scottish loch. It was bright enough outside to go without a tripod. This was 48mm at f-5 and 1/100th of a second.

- Here's a shot from the Blue Ridge Parkway facing towards Lake Julienne just south of Asheville. I got up while it was still dark outside to make sure I was in place to get the sun cresting over the mountains. Here I'm at 29mm, f-11 and 1/20th of a second - on a tripod.

- Fireworks can be fun to shoot. These were during the 4th of July show also at Lake Julienne. I set up on a tripod and shot in Manual mode. I picked a middle of the road aperture of f-9. I watched a few of the fireworks go off through my camera and focused in that area and then left the autofocus off. I zoomed out pretty wide to 24mm because you don't know exactly where the burst will be (I cropped it later). And then how long the shutter is open determines how much of the trails of light you capture - I went with 4 seconds here.

That's light and physics - my degrees are in auto and diesel technology so I won't attempt to break it down any further :) I've just learned that's how it works and I run with it.

So, worth the read?
hello...
hello...

Hmm... I guess everyone jumped over to myspace.

I shot 'em all

2008-06-23T21:25:00.006-04:00

It was off to Jonesborough, Tennessee this time to shoot a whole family!
The trend to shoot when it's amazingly hot continued this time.
I had to change my shirt three times during the day as I went to shoot a wedding directly afterwards.

This is the fabulous Stacy & Kevin with Kiersten and Camden.
Camden wasn't feeling the photo time so I handed him one of my camera's and he quickly got the hang of snapping away.
I believe he's booking weddings for next year.
We had a fun time walking the street of Jonesborough, checking out the old buildings and taking a welcome, air conditioned break in The Lollipop Shop.
I'd drive to Tennessee everyday for families this gorgeous! They made my job too easy!
Jonesborough.... upon reflection there might have been two streets.

It also hit me as I was editing, Kevin could totally be Sean Astin's brother - or stand in.

CHECK OUT THE WHOLE SHOOT IN THE SLIDESHOW!

Caren & Vincent

2008-06-19T16:06:00.003-04:00

I hit the road, traveling to Atlanta for Caren and Vincent's wedding on the 24th of May.
And it was HOT. I was very grateful for all the tall trees giving shade to the whole event.
After acclimating myself from the A/C of my car I got to shooting and had a great time!
I've never seen so much ad-lib and commentary from the guests during the wedding, quite a light-hearted group.
This was one fun wedding.
Congratulations, Caren & Vincent!

Check out the slideshow right here!

Father's Day fun

2008-06-16T01:57:00.002-04:00

I had a good Father's Day :)
Gryphyn and Vahn woke me up by yelling and jumping on me. Gryphyn told me to sit up so he could give me a hug; I've had worse demands made of me.
Our church decided to meet at Azalea Park today and just hang out together; it's cool to shake it up occasionally. We talked a while and let the boys run around and play. Then it was off to Lake Powhatan - this was yesterday's plan but we got rained out. So today we made the mile or so hike down to the lake with the jogging stroller and the various peripherals that toddlers require. We played in the water for a few hours and then made the hike back but, now with sand in our shoes. My Men passed out on the hike out so we headed home to chill with Papa John's and some movies.
"No Country For Old Men" was promising and even compelling for a while but, ultimately tanked hard. I'm glad I saved the latest "Rambo" to watch second - much better, at least as far as entertainment value goes.
Along the way I found time to call my dad and catch up for about 45 minutes or so.
Gryphyn and Vahn woke up during the first movie so we took a break and played with dad's present he got this morning - a remote controlled VW bus! We actually played with it periodically throughout the day but I was inspired to make a video this time.

The video edit is pretty rough but I think it accurately captures the 13 seconds of planning that went into it.

And here's a few shots of what makes me happy - what makes me "dad".
These were the day before Father's Day.

David & Alli

2008-06-13T01:09:00.005-04:00

If I could shoot weddings like David & Alli's all the time I'd be a happy man!
I can't tell you how much fun their wedding was.
These two, along with their whole clan, are the embodiment of laid back and fun.
I've seen full bands generate less energy than David's iPod nano!

These are just a few details from the day. If you want to see what went down you'll have to watch the slideshow!

David & Alli - this is your wedding!

Many of these amazing pictures are thanks to my second shooter, Sophia Jekic.
She did a fantastic job!
Thanks Sophia!

Double Shot!

2008-06-05T14:00:00.002-04:00

It's more of Hillary & Wes!
Here's some shots that we got during the few minutes we were able to escape from the engagement party.
Enjoy the show!

Rooftop Shooter!

2008-06-03T22:34:00.006-04:00

I warned you there would be more Hillary and Wes coming your way. Wait no longer!

Hillary is a landscape architect and she works on the top floor of the "legal building" on Pack Square in downtown Asheville.
She just happened to have a client in the Jackson building with access to the roof so we thought we'd take full advantage of that for some sweet rooftop shooting!
Jarrad Lister drove up from Spartanburg, South Carolina to shoot with me this time. Check out his blog and notice the main header image is one I got of him shooting on the roof.

That's not all. CHECK OUT ALL THE IMAGES IN THE SLIDESHOW!

Ashley & Steve

2008-05-30T13:15:00.004-04:00

Hailing from Greer, South Carolina - and not too happy about it - we have Ashley and Steve!
I got a call from Ashley out of the blue one day, she had seen my website and booked me right over the phone. Awesome.

Steve and Ashley took the time to drive up to Asheville to do their engagement shoot a couple of weeks ago. We wandered a few back streets downtown that I hadn't been on before and then we drove down Riverside Drive scouting some cool locations.
Along the way we did the taboo of talking politics and religion almost the whole time. We both agree we'd vote Bush a third term if we had the option. Can I get an Amen!

Ashley got a sneak peak at her shots before they made it to the blog and here's what she had to say, "I wanted to email you and let you know how much I love our pictures!!! They are fabulous, I can’t wait for Steve to get home to see them!"

The wedding's only a few short weeks away! Stay tuned for more!

Erica & Josh

2008-05-22T14:59:00.003-04:00

For your viewing pleasure may I present Erica & Josh!

We hit downtown Asheville on Mother's Day for our super fun-de-jour engagement shoot.
One of the highlights for me was getting into a new high-rise being built. Part of the fence had fallen over but I'm pretty sure the foreman would have welcomed us onto their constructions site regardless. One of the benefits to shooting on a Sunday :)

More coolness in the slideshow!

AARRRGGGHH!! I got me a pirate name!

2008-05-22T11:45:00.002-04:00

I came across this fun website a few minutes ago.
Everyone ought to have a pirate name!

My pirate name is:

Red Sam Cash

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Seabrook Island, SC

2008-05-21T13:41:00.005-04:00

After weeks of planning Jill Higgins had her second shooter flake out on her at the last minute.
So I got a call on Thursday from Jill asking if I could shoot for her the next day - at Seabrook Island, SC - 300 miles away. Five hours of shooting and a 600 mile round trip make for a long day but I was glad to help out, I don't get to shoot at the beach as often as I'd like.
This was a beach destination wedding for Emilie, the bride, who wasn't happy that it was overcast with occasional rain and major wind. She had to have her ceremony indoors but we still came away with some sweet images - once Emilie and Kevin saw each other it was all smiles. The groomsmen were a fun bunch too!
Here's a few shots from the day.

Thanks for having me out Jill, I had a lot of fun!

Wes & Martie!

2008-05-20T01:27:00.004-04:00

This was one spectacular wedding!
Wes and Martie were married at the Kanuga Conference Center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. With a pine wood chapel built in the 1940's to the beautiful lake backdrop and the awesome reception hall, I saw things shaping up nicely. Then you add Martie - the gorgeous bride - and her handsome man Wes and we're in for some sweet images! We're just pushing it over the top with their amazing family and friends and 14 attendants!

Wes and Martie both work in Washington and it's a downer that they're so far away. Hopefully I'll be able to shoot some weddings in D.C. so we'll have the opportunity to meet up again!

Thanks for allowing me to celebrate your wedding with you. I felt privileged to be a part of your day.

What's that? You want to see more pictures?
Well grab a seat and some popcorn - there's a nine minute slideshow waiting for you!
Make sure you have half an hour before you click here, you'll want to watch it a few times!

Amelia the Model & Trey the Actor

2008-05-15T21:22:00.004-04:00

And Jarrad the photographer.

I went down to Greenville, South Carolina last week to hang out with my friend Jarrad Lister. He's a photographer based out of Spartanburg and he shoots a lot of models among other things. I tagged along for two of his shoots that day.

The first is Amelia. She contacted Jarrad because she needed some new shots for her portfolio as she's competing in the Miss Teen USA circuit. We took a break at Wild Wings and then we met up with Trey Moore. Trey is an actor who also had come across Jarrad's work and asked him for some fresh headshots. Trey is a young guy with a pretty impressive resumé already.

Here's a slideshow with a handful of images from the day. You can even find an image of the guy that was oogling Amelia and yelling to her from his car. classy.
Check out Jarrad's blog for some of his images as well.

Alicia, Elizabeth and Holly

2008-05-14T10:22:00.004-04:00

I've kept these pretty ladies from seeing their images for almost two weeks but, here they are!
I shot Alicia and her husband back in October and she called me and said she wanted to do a shoot with her step-daughter, Elizabeth and her niece, Holly.

Three women, dressed-up, looking gorgeous - they want me to come hang out with them and take pictures. I've had worse jobs.

We met up in downtown Asheville and made an afternoon of it, walking and shooting. We took a break and had some pizza at Barley's and then headed across the street to Hannah Flannigans for some shots of a different kind - followed by some pictures on top of the bar.
Not a bad day at the office :)

Enjoy the show!

DavidAlliPalooza!

2008-05-09T11:47:00.005-04:00

Welcome to DavidAlliPalooza!
As you might have guessed - this is David and Alli.
They knew their friends were throwing them a sweet party out in Weaverville so they decided to forgo a regular engagement shoot and have me come out and capture all the festivities instead. I had a great time, I got to meet their friends and I can tell you their wedding is going to be awesome!
It's only a week away!

Check out the sweet book their guests will have to sign at the wedding.
Definitely cooler than the ledger I have from mine :(

Let's take a walk

2008-05-05T10:44:00.002-04:00

This is Hillary and Wes and you'll be seeing more of them.
These two are short on shy and long on cool and fabulousesness so we've gone out and shot three separate engagement shoots so far and their wedding's not till October! It helps that we're friends, we go to church together and we get to see each other every week.

These shots were taken during a stroll around Biltmore Lake and we've got more coming from their engagement party as well as our downtown Asheville shoot with rooftop shots from the Jackson building in Pack Square! Rusty fire escapes and gargoyles, stay tuned!

David Jay showing off

2008-05-02T20:42:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity this week to meet up with David Jay in Atlanta and get a closer look at an application he's developing called ShowIt Sites. This is a very cool app that will be bringing you my new webpage in the coming weeks.

David Jay is sort of like the Will Smith of the wedding photography industry; he's talented in a number of different areas and is a bit of a celebrity in his own right. In a few short years he became a wedding photographer and moved up to shooting weddings internationally and also began teaching around the country. He's begun a number of websites and forums that have helped tremendously in fostering a community among photographers around the globe. All the slideshows that are on my blog are also from an application that he developed.

We met at Liana Lehman's house, another talented photographer and national speaker, a casual get together to get an inside look at this latest David Jay venture. ShowIt Sites is a website development application for photographers that are high on standards and low on time. That's my assessment anyway and I'm anxious to start using it - when I get time :)
I had a great time in Atlanta; I was still talking in the parking lot past 1 a.m.

I realize the group shot is out of focus - my bad.

I stayed the night and hit IKEA the next day to pick up a few more items for our house remodel and then made the drive back to Asheville. I stopped in Greenville at a carnival I came across. I figured I'd stretch my legs a bit and get a few pictures too. I got a lot of strange looks since the place only had about 20 people total. Lots of lights - not a lot of action. One lady was very protective of her "game" and started yelling at me as I was taking a picture - she was afraid someone in Florida would copy her setup!? I'll honor her request and keep that gem off my blog.

Jackson's Birthday Bash!

2008-05-02T16:59:00.002-04:00

Many of you will remember Jackson from our shoot back in October. A few haircuts later and Jackson is turning three!
This was a party for the ages! At least most ages. We had newborns all the way to great grand parents in their 90's!
John and Elizabeth were gracious enough to allow me to come out and share in the fun with all their family and I had a great time!

Enjoy the Show!

Girls on Film

2008-04-19T04:23:00.004-04:00

Here's a shoot that doesn't come along very often!
DeAnn, Dana, Michelle and Krista have been friends since grade school. DeAnn moved from North Carolina out to California 10 years ago but she's been checking out Dana and Michelle's pictures on the blog. Jealous for a little zac|thomas experience of her own, she called me and let me know she was coming out to visit and that she wanted to do a BFF shoot with all the girls. Sweet!
We all met up in downtown Asheville and have a fun time with it. You know it's a good time when your clients get the camera and start taking pictures of you!
And yes, I realize the same staircase is showing up in all my shoots. People dig it, what can I say.

The slideshow moves pretty quick so be sure to check 'em all out in the gallery view at the end!

Jenny's "Trash the Dress"

2008-04-04T16:27:00.002-04:00

Jenny and I went out shooting on my birthday in February and she's been very patient with me getting her shots online.
Another victim of my housing mess :)
We didn't trash her dress nearly as much as we'd anticipated but the point is to really come away with some cool images and I think we did quite well in that regard.
Jenny brought her guitar along and she sang for people in the park in downtown Asheville; she even got in a little stage time at Jack of the Wood for their Sunday afternoon patrons. You never know what you can do till you ask.
We may not have trashed the dress but we did toss it halfway through in exchange for some more comfortable attire and we kept on shooting.
My thanks to Jenny for being so cool and giving us all some sweet images!

Jenny Rocks!

Cassie the Fabulous

2008-03-27T17:17:00.002-04:00

Cassie's mom contacted me about doing some senior pictures for her daughter. I hadn't done senior pictures before and I had visions of people leaning against massive numbers for the year they graduated or shots with their class ring strategically placed for maximum impact. I wasn't down with that but she assured me that's not what Cassie wanted either. She was after cool.
I thought we could probably pull that off. So we agreed to meet and shoot downtown.
What I didn't know was how pretty Cassie was or how much fun she would be to shoot. I had a great time, I think we spent close to four hours together getting awesome shots that will have other seniors hiding their pictures in shame!

Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing

2008-03-18T23:41:00.003-04:00

I have a thing for old cars.
I own a '61 VW bus, a '65 VW bug and an '86 Honda WagoVan - I bet you haven't even heard of that one.
As cool as this roundup of cars is, they are 47, 43 and 22 years old respectively and they are each showing it.
The engine in my bus went home to meet Jesus last week. So I pulled out the bug which I hadn't driven in probably four months. The key was lost somewhere in our housing mess and the battery was dead so, I had to jump-start and hot-wire the car at the same time which proved to be interesting. I drove it for a few days and learned it had a broken transmission mount. My all original Honda recently passed 200,000 miles and runs like a champ, but I'm running out of back-up cars.

We passed Jim Barkley Toyota yesterday and, on a whim, decided to check out a Honda Element that we saw. With the Elements you either love 'em or hate 'em. I admit to being one of the former. So we drove the Element around and though it had an inherent coolness, it was a stripped down, basic model with one of those colors you can't put your finger on - and I just didn't love it. Lame.
So I'm checking out a Toyota minivan I can't afford while Jolene is putting the car seats back in our retro Honda and I mention to Tyler Mooney, our awesome salesman, that I'd be willing to swallow my pride at this point and go with a minivan. It really is everything you could want in a car unless your list includes "cool". I'm all about the Hondas but there's nothing on the lot to be found and he remembers that they just got an Odyssey trade in a few days before. It had just finished being detailed and hadn't even made it to the lot yet. Tyler pulls it up and Jolene, with a reluctant smile, moves the car seats and our little Men over to the Odyssey. We take it for a drive and it's sweet. It's got every option Honda offers which, at last count, was 638 more features than the Element. And it's $1,000 less! Sold.

Tyler was great to work with, even though he offered me very little for my ego as a trade in. I'd totally recommend him.
You can find him with the used cars at Jim Barkley Toyota off I-26.
Tyler Mooney: 828-210-3313

Who needs an ego? I've got my wife and my boys, a worthwhile trade any day.
Rockin' the minivan!

It's Gryphyn - I love him.

2008-03-11T00:30:00.002-04:00

My blog posts have become scarce while we're living in a hotel and our house is still a wreck.
However, life goes on. So I thought I'd share a few shots of life in room 316.
This is Gryphyn taking full advantage of being two and a half years old and taking a bath.

Get a kick out of this!

2008-02-14T20:36:00.002-05:00

Here's a few hundred soccer shots from my friend Alec's team, the Highland Football Club.
I just knew he played soccer, I didn't know his team was rockstars! They cleaned house!
Awesome game.

Trash the Dress!

2008-02-03T03:25:00.000-05:00

So you dropped some major coin on your wedding dress and you're only going to wear it once!?
If it's going to sit in a closet till the end of time you may as well get some sweet shots out of it first!

That's what Christy did. She and I got together and meandered through downtown Asheville, spent a little time in the River Arts District and even got a few shots at Beaver Lake. She was psyching herself up to go headlong into the water for the grand finale of our shoot but we got the boot from some rent a cop who casually adjusted his vest to show me his badge before informing us this was a private lake. Nerd. So we're saving the wet look for spring.

Even if you've been married for years, these are super fun shoots with no agenda other than having fun and getting some more mileage out of your wedding dress!

This was my first "trash the dress" shoot but, I'm pretty stoked with the results. Christy is a fellow photographer and she was awesome - allowing me plenty of leeway to experiment. Check out her site right here.

It's taken me forever to get these edited and online. I'm pushing through this time; it's 3:30 in the morning, I've got to be up in four and half hours for church and then it's another trash the dress session. Oh, it's my birthday too.

I've wanted to use this song for quite a while in some slideshow but, it never seems to fit. I like it. Gryphyn likes to dance to it. It grows on you. So here ya go. You've got a volume control if you think it's lame :)

It's been one week since you looked at me...

2008-01-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

It was last Monday when, into our life a little rain fell.
Well, it was actually from the city supply but the effect is the same :)

We would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of concern and compassion towards our family. The comments on the blog, the emails and the phone calls have been very encouraging.

Furthermore, I have to give glory to God for his provision through all of this. I'm not one to shout, "Hallelujah" when a sweet parking spot opens up but I will give credit where credit is due.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
...So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6: 25-34

While we're parked in our driveway, if we leave the car running it stays plenty warm while we're sleeping. The neighbors have been kind enough to lone us the use of their hose, so we're staying clean. The barbeque still works. Really, we're doing just fine :)

ok - that part was a lie.
In reality, we've actually moved up in the world.
We're in a nice hotel with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a gas fireplace, maid service, an indoor pool, full breakfast every morning, high-speed wireless and three flat screen TV's. They even let us keep the cats. Ordinarily that bit about the cats wouldn't fall under, "blessing."

Here's a little update on the house.
Water got everywhere, They packed up our house and put it all in a warehouse. They tore out all the flooring. They found possibly asbestos tile underneath and are having it tested before removal. They found mold. They tore out most of the kitchen ceiling. They tore out a number of walls. They tore out our kitchen cabinets. And they were removing the toilets and vanities when I left today.

Hi, I'm Will. I'll be destroying your house today.

The dishwasher is all that remains of the kitchen cabinets.

This is the ceiling outside the backdoor - near ground zero.
Apparently insulation was quite expensive at the time so we found supplemental blankets, pants, shirts and numerous newspapers from '63 and '68.

1968

1963

1963

What used to be a much more welcoming living room.

Our new open floor plan.

Stay tuned, we're not done yet!

Just add water!

2008-01-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well this post isn't exactly photography related but, stay tuned and I think you'll see it plays a significant role in my business.
Jolene and I have been having some home ownership adventures since coming back from Christmas vacation. For those of you who have read my profile, you'll know that I like old houses - I'm beginning to reconsider.
Here's the rundown:
- Two days before we left Utah to fly back, our heating oil run's out at home. We have our friends who are watching our house put out space heaters for the cats. Called and had the oil tank filled for $1000! But I'll need to bleed the lines when I get home.
- We fly home late at night - it's 14 degrees. I forgo trying to fix the furnace in the dark and the four of us join our two cats in our king size bed for a night of snuggling to the hum of a space heater.
- The next day as I'm messing with the furnace which won't start, Jolene comes to tell me there's water leaking through our kitchen ceiling. A busted line and two inch hole in the celing. I turn the water off. We pack up and leave our still heatless and now waterless home. We stay with aforementioned friends for a few days.
- We get the water fixed and I go back to figuring out our furnace.
- The oil line is clogged but is soon remedied with some non-EPA approved methods involving a coat hanger and a frisbee.
- There is no filter on the line. One crash course at Lowe's involving copper tubing and flare fittings and I've soon got a shiny new filter installed.
- Gryphyn is sick and throwing up.
- Still no heat. The oil pump is bad. An iPhone search gets me to a heating and A/C parts supplier and I soon have a new oil pump installed. And - WE HAVE HEAT!
- Gryphyn is kind enough to share his ailment with me.
- Four days of (relative) peace
- We're watching a movie and something smells weird. I go out to the furnace and the whole room is filled with smoke and the outside of the furnace is burning hot.
- Shut off the power and oil to the furnace and break out the space heaters.
- Gryphyn is sick and throwing up again.
- Call the furnace professionals this time. They will have someone out on Monday - of course it's the weekend.
- 12 year old clothes dryer stops working while tending to the items Gryphyn blessed with his illness.
- Buy new washer and dryer at Home Depot - they'll be delivered Wednesday.
- Monday morning we take Gryphyn and Vahn to their music class and to lunch.
- We come home to see a shower of water from the ceiling above our back door. I shut off the water (again)

That's my back door (I came in through the front :)

Every laptop dies - not every laptop really lives.
A tough situation even for a Mac.

The water busted in the back of the house by the jackets hanging in the distance. It traveled under all the carpets and came out the front of the house along the foundation. It also took a tour of the bedrooms and master bath.

- Between calls to the insurance and water mitigation companies, family, some friends and a hotel - Gryphyn decides to spike a fever again and we got him to the doctor to find he has a bi-lateral ear infection. His first.
- While we're at the doctors office the furnace repair guy calls. He'll be at the house in a few minutes. Thanks anyway.
- We lock the cats in the bedroom with a space heater and head to Holiday Inn.
- Tuesday the water mitigation company tears out most of the rest of my kitchen ceiling and tells me they need to do the same to a few walls. Tomorrow they'll be removing my furniture along with all the carpets.
- The insurance company wants to know why I'm staying in a hotel.
- My iMac is casting a glow on the three people sleeping behind me in our hotel room as I write this. It's a little after midnight.
- My new washer and dryer will be here today. awesome.

It's a Pictage Party!

2008-01-17T10:57:00.001-05:00

Last night was our monthly Pictage User Group (PUG) meeting. A chance for photographers to get away from their computers and hang out with some like-minded shooters.
We had a fun time and had a great turn out thanks in no small part to Justin and Mary Marantz. They came down from Connecticut to share their business style with us and they were awesome - definitely rockstars! Justin and Mary have got a great wedding photography business and they themselves were just married last year and were fortunate enough to have David Jay and Becker shoot their wedding! How cool is that!!
After the meeting it was off to dinner at the Stone Ridge Tavern and then a few of us braved the snow and headed to Corey McNabb's studio to chill.
Clockwise from 12 o'clock is Corey McNabb, Sarah Henry, Honour Hiers, Justin Marantz, Regina Holder, zac|thomas and Mary Marantz.

Corey's wife Jill's was kind enough to shake us up some of her awesome chocolate martini's.

Goodtimes.

Today's the day!

2008-01-16T03:43:00.000-05:00

I've finally got my webpage put together and online! Whoo-hoo!
As you can tell I've given the blog a facelift as well. And to top it off I've got some sweet new semi-transparent, plastic business cards!
My aim has been a very streamlined and clean look. You'd be surprised how complicated that can get behind the scenes.
Hopefully my efforts are not in vain and the new look will be a big hit. We'll see!

Let me know what you think!

My most longest post

2008-01-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

I had a friend send me an email the other day asking some photography questions so I figured I would answer here on the blog and hopefully a few others of you can benefit from it as well.
FAIR WARNING: I can get technical and geeky, this could get boring pretty quick. Like I said in my last post though - the more you know about the technical aspects of photography the better equipped you are to use them creatively whenever you want. So here we go.

The first question: I am trying to understand the difference between telephoto macro and a plain macro lens. I feel like I need a different lens than my plain one that is a 18-55mm.

Alright, that's actually a statement but there's a question in there :)
All the numbers I'll put out here are for 35mm cameras - the type of camera your dad wore around his neck. Digital has changed everything and this post would be a book before I could explain it all. But if you know the 35mm numbers you're good-to-go (it's the standard) because all the new equipment out there has the 35mm equivalents listed as well.

Before we get to the macro part let's deal with what a telephoto lens is. We've all heard of telephoto lenses and wide angle lenses. With those two extremes there has to be something "normal" in the middle. But what's normal? What you can see with your eyes is normal. And that's 50mm (millimeters) in lens terms. If you took a camera with a 50mm lens on it and looked at your computer screen like you are now it would look the same, not any closer - not any further away. With that 50mm anchor point - any number less then 50 is a wide angle lens and anything greater is a telephoto. Still with me? Probably not but I'll keep writing anyway. I warned you this would be lame!
Macro. This is a term for a lens that means it can focus very close to it's subject. It's universally marked by a flower icon. That's because 99% of people shooting macro are shooting flowers (or when the camera is right out of the box they're shooting spare change or their keyboard and getting all excited while their wife rolls her eyes). So if you've got a 100mm macro lens it's a telephoto macro and a 28mm lens is a wide-angle macro. Most lenses these days are zooms so you've probably got both regardless. If you took both the lenses and focused on the "H" in the middle of your keyboard the 100mm lens may get just the "H" to fill the whole frame whereas the 28mm lens, at the exact same distance, might get from the D to the L and the 7 to the space bar. In the film days macro meant you could focus somewhere less than a foot away. Many everyday digital point-n-shoot cameras can now focus down to less than an inch. If you need to focus closer than that - go get a PHD and a microscope.
My friend has a camera that she can change lenses on - a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera - DSLR. You don't care what that stands for - let's keep going. She also has an 18-55mm lens. These are digital numbers like I mentioned. For her DSLR she needs to multiply by 1.5 to get the 35mm equivalent. For the moment, you don't care about that either. So she really has a 27-82.5mm lens. Fairly wide at 27mm to a moderate telephoto at 82mm. If you've got a camera that you can change lenses on, the best thing you can do for your pictures is to get a better lens. I will say without reservation that she should buy a Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens.
I shoot with the Nikon equivalent of this lens and it may be my favorite lens. The Canon is on Amazon for $70 - new! My second favorite lens sells for $1700 - my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8.
This 50mm lens doesn't do it all, it doesn't even zoom. It's awesome though for portraits and shooting without a flash. I shoot without a flash whenever possible. Two posts down are pictures of Gryphyn and Vahn. I know for sure the last three shot were with my 50mm lens. I was in my parents dining room on New Years day, I put down a black sheet and opened the curtains behind me and that was it. Start shooting.
When it comes to lenses - your aperture will set you free. The lower the better, meaning the smaller the number. 1.8 is much better than 3.5 Your lens is probably a 3.5-5.6 variable aperture. I've got one sitting on my desk in front of me waiting to go on eBay.
Your aperture is in your lens. It's just a hole than changes it's size like the iris in your eye. The bigger the hole the smaller the number - your "f-stop". It's a multiplier based on how big the aperture is to how long the lens is. Kinda screwy to get used to but, no big deal.
She asks what lens I use the most. Well, it's not my 50mm though I could use it more than I do. I probably use my 17-50 2.8 lens the most. It's my workhorse mainly because it's a fast zoom lens. Fast meaning a low aperture - bigger hole - more expensive. About $400 for my off-brand lens.
Man this is long. I could start typing the ingredients for Fruity Pebbles and no one's ever gonna know.
Oh well, for that one geek still hanging on...
She wants to make her pictures "glow" instead of the plain flat look she's getting. Well, if you don't own Photoshop, a screw-on "soft-focus" filter would probably be the cheapest route. The 50mm lens can work too. The shot of Gryphyn in front of the Christmas tree was with a 1.4 lens. The reason your subject pops with a fast lens is because the depth-of-field is so shallow (that's how much in front and behind the subject is in focus) You see in the picture that he's in focus but the tree is slightly out of focus and it takes on a bit of a glow because of it. In the picture directly below that you see the eye on the left is in focus but the other eye is slightly out. The same thing for most of the one's below that. The effect is enhanced that closer you are to your subject. In the Christmas tree shot I'm across the room and the tree is slightly out of focus. In the picture below it, I'm right up in Gryphyn's face and the depth-of-field is much more noticeable. You really have to pay attention to focus on the eye's with this type of lens, if the camera focuses on the end of the nose the eyes will be slightly out.
Last question: when you're taking Gryphyn's picture, does he always look at you and act "right"?
No. Usually never. But that's the case with most kids.
I make sure there's plenty of light - this keeps your shutter speed quick enough where they aren't blurry from moving. Having the 1.8 lens will help tremendously with this - it lets in much more light. Then I shoot fast and shoot often. The last picture of Gryphyn in the post is the only keeper I came away with after about 10 minutes where he wanted to chase the dog, bury his head in his blanket, play with the blinds, bite my nose, bite mom's nose and pull me down and bounce on my chest. He used to be much easier, I think I burned him out. Imagine that :)
Vahn loves the camera though. He comes alive for it. I've taken it out and started shooting him when he was throwing a fit and he started smiling and laughing for me while he still had tears rolling down his face.

My head hurts. I haven't thought about this stuff for a while, it's just sort of ingrained when you live and breath it everyday. Trying to put it in simpler terms and figuring what to mention and what to leave out is kind of challenging. It's all relatively important but different things come into play based on your individual skill level.
If anyone is still reading this and actually found it helpful - leave me a comment. This took me a few hours to put together, I'd just like to get an idea if anyone's benefiting from it.

I promise to put some pictures up with the next post so it's not so lame.

I'm a little sad

2008-01-09T18:57:00.000-05:00

Herbert Keppler died the other day.
I'm going to bet 99% or more of you don't know who he was. You can read a little bio on him here.
I outgrew Popular Photography magazine a number of years ago but, for many years I subscribed to it and read it all the way through. Mr. Keppler had regular articles in every issue. He was very good at the technical side of photography and his articles (because of the subject) could be somewhat boring. I read them anyway and I can't quantify how much I learned through him. And it made a huge difference in my photography. One of the best things I ever did to become a better photographer was to read and read. The more I learned the technical the more it would translate into better pictures. Once you know what all the buttons and switches do you're not afraid of them and you start to use them.
Mr. Keppler was from a different era and I often didn't agree with the type of equipment he liked to use or the style of photography he displayed but that is all opinion. The fact is that he knew what he was doing and it changed the world of photography and specifically my world. I remember him for that.

Dust off the tripod!

2008-01-07T03:01:00.000-05:00

If you're in the need for some commercial property for your start-up business, I've got a friend who's got 100,000 square feet of space. You should have plenty of room to expand as your business grows.
Larry Pulliam asked me to come out and shoot the Steelcase factory in Fletcher. The factory actually has more than the 100,000 sqft that's available; the roof covers 26 acres! You think your utility bills are crazy?!

Are you blessed or a blessing?

2008-01-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

Kids give you perspective.
Here's a few thoughts I had as I was looking at Gryphyn and Vahn's pictures.

Your kids see you now.

They didn't see you grow up. They will see you as they grow up.
They didn't see you as a nerd or a jock. They will see if you treat them as a nerd or a jock.
They didn't see you go to school. They will come to you as they go through school.
They didn't see you romance their mom. They will look to you to learn romance.
They didn't see how your dad loved you. They will see how you love them.

Your kids will never know the dad you want to be.
Your kids will never know the dad you think you are.
Your kids will never know the dad your friends think you are.
Your kids will never know the dad you intended to be.

Your kids will know you as you are.
Be a good dad.

A little more Mease

2007-12-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

I shot Michelle, Griffin and Carlee a few weeks ago at the Botanical Gardens. This time we met up at the Grove Park Inn to do some more family shots for Christmas cards. Everyone was much more relaxed this time around since they knew what they were in for with Sgt. Thomas (Carlee's nickname for me :)
Good stuff. What can I say? Beautiful families make my job easy!

I'm posting this on vacation in Phoenix from my laptop. I don't have access to all my usual assortment of photo tools so, I'm missing my cool zac|thomas overlay and border on the pics. If you can look past that then stay tuned for some traveling blog posts over the next few weeks.

Never too Young for fun!

2007-12-16T01:34:00.000-05:00

We shoot - rain or shine!
And it was raining today and this was officially my quickest shoot ever. About 15 soggy minutes.
Let me introduce the Youngs - A lively bunch who don't mind some unorthodox photo shooting in the name of fun and Christmas picture desperation! Nothing like waiting till the last minute! This was actually a planned rush as their daughter Courtney lives in Boston and is just back for Christmas. We didn't plan on the rain or shooting at Lake Julian but we rolled with it and had a fun time and came away with some great pictures. You can always warm-up and dry off but, make sure you get the shots!
Cassie has been super patient with me as I shot her senior pictures about three weeks ago and she still hasn't seen them! I've been trying to get everyone's Christmas pictures out and after she spent the whole afternoon with me shooting, I want to make sure her pictures get their proper attention. Hopefully those will be making an appearance on the blog in the not-too-distant future. Oh, she's in the black boots.

The Return of the Fries

2007-12-15T14:05:00.000-05:00

More Grove Park action!
You remember little Jeff from the Sky Top Apple Orchard. Well, he's quickly becoming a big man! And his son Adam too!
Good thing these boys have Julie to look after them.
It didn't feel too much like Christmas time when we shot - it must have been in the high 60's. The weather was unexpected (unless you're an Al Gore enthusiast) but it made for a great day outside and some great pictures. Adam was much more alert this time around, I don't think he nodded off once. My dad's a pastor - he's used to people falling asleep on him. For me it makes it much more challenging to get engaging pictures!

Thanks Jeff, Julie and Adam for a fun time!
Enjoy the pictures

Third time's a charm!

2007-12-14T03:25:00.000-05:00

Dana has officially milked the Extreme Hookup for all it's worth. This is the third shoot we've done and we went high class with this one.
We shot at the Grove Park Inn this last Saturday and I actually had to put on my nice jeans! It was rough.
Actually the jeans weren't bad but the crowd wasn't expected - you'd think they were having a sale on NASCAR memorabilia.
Added to that - the last thing Avian wanted was to have her picture taken! She made me earn my shots this time. She wouldn't break, even for the iPhone - she's a rock. Kealey and Yasmine were great - very patient. I think Kealey's warming up to me; I'm usually shooting the back of his head as he's running away.
I had a fun time though. I'm actually glad Avian was in a mood, she's cute when she's pouty and I couldn't have got those shots otherwise!

Friends

2007-12-13T03:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick post with our friends Robert and Sabrina and Jarrett - who may as well be Gryphyn's brother.
We first met at church and now Jolene and Sabrina work together teaching the three year old's class at MMO.
We got together the other day to get some shots for a Christmas card and then it was off to Mikado's and then the mall to let the boys run off some energy on the toys while we sat by lazily partaking of Dairy Queen's wares.

Meet Troy, Michelle and Joshua

2007-12-11T23:50:00.000-05:00

World, I'd like you to meet Troy and Michelle. Troy and Michelle - this is the world.
I've got people checking out the blog from Alaska to Florida to Germany to California to Kyrgyzstan. I'll make you famous!

I know Troy and Michelle from church. We've been meaning to get together and get some shots for a while now but, it seems like every Sunday we say, "oh yeah, we need to do that." Well, we finally did. They only live a few minutes from me at Biltmore Lake so we had a nice area to shoot. We started off with Joshua and Troy's meal time and ended down at the lake with Joshua's first time in a swing!

The Amazing Flying Currie

2007-12-11T03:21:00.000-05:00

This post is going to be a little different. Normally I select a handful of images to post and then put the rest in the slideshow. Well, I did that here too but, I found so many shots that I liked I decided to put a bunch up. I can do that, right? It's my blog!
You'll also notice (hopefully) a bit of branding accompanying the images as well. Let me know what you think about that new look.

To the post at hand.
Regulars to the blog may recognize the Curries from the soccer post a month or so ago.
John and Wendy have a cool room in their basement for their boys - all done in an airplane theme. So, naturally, shots of the family with airplanes were in order. My lovely assistant Jolene remembered seeing a flyer for the WNC Air Museum when we first came to Asheville and she actually had it in a file, "Things to do in Asheville". I called them up and they said it would be fine to come out and shoot - and they were great! We were the only people there at the time and they were nice enough to open all the hangar doors so we could have lots of light to shoot with! Awesome. They've got some great planes and we walked around checking them all out and shooting as we went.
This shoot was a lot of fun and a bit of a challenge as I hadn't shot airplanes before. I think they came out great! If you don't agree you're free to head over the eBay or something.

Meet Michelle, Griffin and Carlee!

2007-12-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

If you've got a sharp eye you may recognize Griffin from the Haw Creek Baseball posts a few months ago. That's the first time that I met Michelle. She was watching me take pictures of the games and asked me if I'd be interested in shooting Roller Derby! The Blue Ridge Rollergirls were Michelle's brainchild and they're awesome! You should definitely check them out when you get a chance.
Today we haven't got all the action of baseball or roller derby but we do have Michelle and her kids spending some time together and checking stuff out at the Botanical Gardens.
Thanks, Michelle, for your patience in getting these up. You're Awesome!

Geneva-Claire

2007-12-03T21:49:00.000-05:00

How many Mom's out there would come up with the idea to do a photo shoot of their three year old daughter in a graveyard? Well, I know at least one and every little girl should should have as cool a mom as Geneva-Claire does!
Geneva-Claire's mom, Veronica, was the person who originally told me about the train out on Riverside Dr. that was a cool place for pictures - that's where these came from. It was surrounded with thorny bushes so Veronica said "how about Riverside Cemetery?" Awesome. We got some shots with tombstones that had dates a bit too recent for my comfort level so, those didn't make the cut. However, we also shot with the Woodfins who were more than happy to see us as they've been pushing daisies for over 130 years.
As though the cemetery weren't cool enough, Veronica also arranged for us to shoot at some old cabins in Woodfin. I couldn't find their website so they don't get any love.
Check out the cemetery when you get a chance - it's huge, over 30,000 members! And if you're as lucky as I was to have Veronica and Geneva-Claire with you - you'll have a great time!

William and his support staff: Emily & Britt

2007-12-03T01:50:00.000-05:00

Emily, Britt and William were so fun to shoot! We were laughing the whole time, William was in a playful mood, the weather was perfect - it was walk in the park! (Well, a walk in the Botanical Gardens - which is a lot like a park. I'm not sure where you draw the line on that one. Perhaps a garden/park expert will read this and be good enough to leave a comment clearing up the mystery) The only reference I can think of for walking in a garden happened in the beginning of Genesis - and that went badly. We'll just stick with "a walk in the park". We ended our walk not with forbidden fruit but with forbidden Fuddruckers. After we relieved the franchise of a few pounds of red meat, there was no chastisement from God as was the case with our ancestral apple eaters. My theology may be off but, I'm quite sure this indicates that vegetarian may not be the way to go. God works in mysterious ways so, you may just want to play it safe and snap into a Slim-Jim.

Alrighty, how far have I strayed off topic in a few short lines? Pretty far.
Well, if anyone will forgive me for rambling on their post it's Britt & Emily. I couldn't ask for a funner family to shoot. Yes I said funner. Thanks again you guys for a great time and for the beef - I feel closer to God :)

The Klonis Family

2007-11-27T15:49:00.000-05:00

This was my first opportunity to shoot at the North Carolina Arboretum! Very cool. They've got a bunch of trails and gardens - a great place to get away for awhile.
As is usually the case, this was the first time I'd met the Klonis' and we had a nice time strolling through the Arboretum and getting to know each other. Their youngest son saved himself throughout the shoot to come alive at the end to give us some great shots of his six week old smile :)

Extreme Richmond

2007-11-24T01:43:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have been tuning in for a while, Kari Richmond will look familiar. She's the director of the Asheville Area Music Together classes which I had the opportunity to shoot at the beginning of October. She and her husband Matthew (who teaches percussion at UNCA) are both skilled musicians and you can see her love for it as she interacts with the kids during class. I'm excited to have my boys in Kari's classes starting in January! Check it out, it's never too early for your kids to gain an appreciation for music!
Well here is the lovely Kari along with Matthew and their son Isaac - out enjoying the area around their home in a nice secluded area of West Asheville.

I went old school with the music on this one. Classic!

Extreme Rhoden

2007-11-23T14:55:00.000-05:00

This is Claire with her parents Darryl and Ashley. And we had a fun time shooting.
Her grandparents have an awesome house in Haw Creek that is a turn of the century hunting retreat - on five acres! Who has five acres in Haw Creek!? Well I had to shoot some images inside such a cool house and then we headed outdoors to get shots in the enviable front yard. We even had a fun time breaking into the house after we locked ourselves outside! A little tip: you're not picking an old school iron latch with your Mastercard.

Extreme Pulliam

2007-11-18T00:59:00.000-05:00

Shooting at Biltmore Lake is sweet! (Enka Lake for you die-hards)
Having the water and the manicured grounds makes for an awesome setting. And when it's time for some family shots back at the house, it's a full 67 second car ride.
This time my car ride took me to Larry and Rebecca's house with their kids, Parker and Ava.
We started off chasing the kids around the playground equipment by the lake and then Parker and Ava were nice enough to show me all the cool toys back in their playroom. And they even had a few motorized, nervousness inducers out in the garage - very cool.
Thanks to Larry and Rebecca for inviting me into their home to capture their family.
And thanks to Jackson's mom for referring me - I had a great time!

The captured moments!

Extreme Martin

2007-11-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

How many kids can you fit into one shoot?
Well, with the Martins - I count nine. Actually eight and then a mini baby shoot.
And... Eight is enough!
I couldn't help it, I had to go there.

I first met Jennifer Martin when I shot her daughter Abi and her friends doing their gymnastics at Hahn's Gymnastics Studios. She liked those shots and asked me to come get some pictures of her kids. Abi was smiling the whole time doing her gymnastics so I knew she's be fun when she wasn't worried about falling off a beam!

I didn't know how far back into Leicester you could go until I drove to the Martin's mountain top retreat. I might have opted for a car with more suspension then my lowered, VW bus had I known I'd be driving miles up a winding, dirt, mountain road. But it was fun and we came away with some awesome images of everyone!

Check 'em all out in the slideshow!

zac|thomas shoots his family

2007-11-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Well, they had it coming!

I've been busy enough that I had to put my own family on the calendar for a shoot!
These are from the 26th of October - Vahn's 6 month birthday.
We just went down the road to the local high school and captured some images back in their trees. And then, a little later, we drove by a pumpkin sale on Patton Ave. and got Vahn chillin'.

I'm still working behind the scenes on the new webpage and on a number of sessions from last week - STAY TUNED!

Extreme Cleaver

2007-11-10T02:35:00.000-05:00

Here's the Cleavers! Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver.

June is one more of the fantastic people I've met through Jolene's groups. It's pushing three in the morning and I can't remember if it was AA or the PTA. The important thing is we did meet.
I met Wally at the park in West Compton where his grandma had brought him to play. I have to say, Wally looked pretty rough - he was shy, he had a hat pulled down past his eyes and he had snot on the rest of his face. In his defense I'm pretty sure he was sick. But it was a totally different kid I saw who was playing with his dad the next time we met. That was when I first met Ward - I was shooting the East Coast Regional Crocheting Championship. He was the only dad there - and he and Wally were having a great time. I gotta give a shout out to stellar dads - they're far too rare. So fortunate for the Beaver!

For these pictures we met down at the Park-N-Ride and walked around checking out some of the sculptures there. It was a little slow going at first, you can tell from June's pictures that she's camera shy - it was like pulling teeth to get her to smile. But what a smile.

The Cleaver's - another commodity of Compton.

Check it out!

SOCCER!

2007-11-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Here's something you haven't seen before on the blog!

I met Wendy through Jolene's MOPS connection. Wendy is a personal trainer and also coaches her son Zach's soccer team and asked if I could come out and shoot some pictures of the team in action. I hadn't shot soccer before so I thought that would be a fun, new challenge.

Take a look!

Masquerade Brawl

2007-11-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

Just when you were getting used to baseball and families - it's ROLLER DERBY!
I met ‘Chelle-O Shoot Her at her son's baseball game out in Haw Creek and she asked if I'd be interested in coming out and shooting the Blue Ridge Roller Girls team's - the Candy Apple Razor Blades in their bout against the Wham Bam Thank You Ma'ams. I perused their myspace page and thought it was definitely worth checking out!
I had a great time being right out in the middle of the action! It did cause me an increased level of anxiety with people skating and falling and being generally crazy around all my gear. Thankfully, it all came away unscathed - I can't say as much for some of the girls!
During a period break some guys from the Flipside Boardshop came out and did some injury inviting moves on their skateboards! I've got all those pics as well.
If you want to catch the girls in action, their last bout of the season is this Sunday the 11th in Fayetteville. They've got info on their myspace page or you can take a look at their competition's page!

I got a lot of pictures from this night so, in addition to the slideshow, I made them their own webpage with some nice big images.

Extreme Fleming

2007-11-05T23:59:00.000-05:00

I'm very appreciative of everyone who's been so patient with me as I try and catch up on all my editing.
Not the least of these are Bruce and Traci.
I first met Bruce and Traci through Jolene's MOPS group (Mothers Of PreschoolerS). We went over to their house in August for their son Elijah's 3rd birthday party. This was when I first learned that Elijah shall never come within 10 feet of caffeine and that Anna is quite possibly the toughest child born of a woman. It's totally feasible that a good section of Asheville could be powered by Elijah if he were able to be harnessed. And I've seen Anna brush off tumbles and falls that would still send me crying to my mom. Bruce and Traci definitely have their hands full with these two.
We met up on Wednesday the 25th at the Botanical Gardens to get some shots of everyone. This was my first time shooting at the Gardens and it was great! It's a very nice location to wander around with paths and bridges a stream and plenty of trees.
Thanks to the Flemings with trusting me to capture their family.

I put the Slideshow together with a song I knew and with pictures I've stared at for hours but, the first time I watched it I got a little misty :) You gotta love a family that loves.

Extreme Jackson

2007-11-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

I came across Jackson and his mother Elizabeth through Kari Richmond's Music Together classes.
Elizabeth liked the pictures from the music classes and asked if I could get some images of Jackson before she cut his hair - HIS FIRST TIME! How cool is that?!
Well I was excited to do it and we braved the weather that wouldn't cooperate all week and came away with some awesome and occasionally, soggy shots. We started off at the Marble Slab downtown and that ensured Jackson had plenty of energy for the rest of the shoot! It took Elizabeth pointing it out but, it made my day to see Jackson imitating me by getting down on one knee while I was shooting him. I just thought it was something he did - I didn't realize I was doing the same thing! After roll starting my VW bus in the parking garage it was off to grandma's house. And what a lovely house it was with cool classic toys! Jackson kept me busy as he rode a few miles on his horse and numerous laps around the house on his trike.
This was just a wonderful session with beautiful people and a beautiful setting. I had a great time and I'm sure we'll have some images of Jackson before long with his shorter hair!

Here's the Slideshow

Diamond Sluggers VS. The Wildcats

2007-10-27T23:56:00.000-04:00

Todays pictures and slideshow are thanks to Dave Williams. He asked that I come out and shoot the Diamond Sluggers game as well as capture some individual and team shots.
The game was on Tuesday the 23rd and it looked like it might not happen due to the weather. But aside from some occasional drizzle the weather cooperated and it made for some cool shots as well.
The Wildcats were the opponents that night and they benefit from Dave's request as well. With some many good looking gals on both teams, I had to shoot 'em all!
The slideshow has a handful of shots to wet your appetite but there are a few hundred more online at Pictage. You should be able to view those, at the latest, on Monday the 29th. I have the pictures there in categories according to team. Diamond Sluggers - I have multiple posed shots of each player and ten team pictures so you can pick the one where you daughter looks the best!
I had a great time at the game. Thanks to both teams for letting me be part of your night!

The girls rocked, their pictures rocked, so their slideshow's going to rock! That's how I roll.

Extreme River

2007-10-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

Here's some cool lads that I met up with last weekend.
Shawn, Barry and River.
Shawn saw some of my shots from a previous shoot and asked if I'd be interested in coming out to Flat Rock to get some pictures of River. Well I was and I did and we had a great time walking around the Carl Sandburg property and getting to know each other. What started as a River shoot turned into a full-on family shoot. And what appears to be a perfect shoot still had it's pitfalls: Barry spent some time doing recon for a lost set of sunglasses, Shawn had an unpleasant encounter with a goat that required some hand sanitizer, River cut his gums chewing on grass and I locked my keys in my car.
I must have made a good impression because these guys were so awesome; they drove me all the way back to my house for my other set of keys. A good 65 miles - Cool lads indeed.
I'm definitely going to have to pick up the dinner tab next time we get together!

The weather and the light were perfect though and we came away with some great images.
Check 'em all out!

Extreme Sharp

2007-10-24T13:27:00.000-04:00

Alicia keeps my head fat.
She is on the blog everyday and is always leaving comments on how amazing my pictures are.
Well her day has arrived. Finally Alicia has some amazing pictures of her own!
This had to be one of the most easy-going shoots I've done. Alicia and Donald are so mellow. We just wandered around their property talking about cars and work and their cool old-school tractor!
Donald builds high-end custom staircases but with his steady and soothing baritone voice he could easily work in radio.
Another amazing couple I never would have met had it not been for photography.
Do what you love!

Here's the slideshow!

Extreme Adam

2007-10-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

I don't know how I keep ending up with beautiful people to shoot but, Adam and his parents are certainly no exception!
It's so cool when you drive to a shoot and you don't know who you're looking for and a pretty woman walks up and says, "Are you Zac?"
That's exactly what happened when I drove up to the Sky Top Orchard to shoot Adam.
Adam took a little time warming up for the camera but after a bottle, some burping, and a fresh diaper - he turned on the charm and shot some grins our way!
We had a great time and came away with some awesome shots! Check 'em out!

The slideshow's right here!

Learned I am, and booked too!

2007-10-22T00:11:00.000-04:00

That's what we're going for anyway.
I signed on the other day for Corey McNabb's Rockstar Wedding Photographer workshop.
Corey McNabb is a national speaker and was named one of the top wedding photojournalists in the world in 2006 and one of the top 100 in North America.
So I'm pretty stoked to be fortunate enough to attend the Asheville native's workshop.

ADDITIONALLY:

Book me now for the 25th of October, otherwise I'll be busy with shoots and the workshop through the 4th of November.
Now is also a good time to reserve your shoot date for the month of November, while I have a good chunk of my calendar still open.

Stay tuned for pictures from my three shoots this weekend - they all rocked!

When I grow up...

2007-10-19T19:58:00.000-04:00

Gryphyn and his classmates got a visit from the Asheville Fire Department yesterday.
They stopped by and showed off their firetruck to the different classes at Mother's Morning Out.
Here's a few shots of the cool firemen and their cool truck - everyone was highly impressed!
Thanks guy's for coming by, you're awesome!