Making Use...

Virginia Garden Wedding By Jennifer Colina Photography

In September I worked with Jennifer Colina, a Richmond-based photographer, as a second shooter at one of her weddings.  The week before this event she had photographed with me at one of my weddings.  Both of these lovely, garden weddings have been in the queue of beautiful content I have yet to post here on the blog!  But I will catch up this spring!  I am catching up.

Recently I learned that the wonderfully popular blog, Style Me Pretty, has featured the wedding I shot with Jennifer as one of their Real Weddings.  

 Ashley and Tim had a gorgeous, detail-rich event at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  I had so much fun photographing all their creative and personal touches, like the cigar bar, colorful pinwheels, and the stick collection that identified each table.  Plus, I thought their grey, ivory, and orange color scheme was such a sophisticated take on traditional autumnal tones.  

I'll post more of my photographs from Ashley and Tim's wedding in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, head over to Style Me Pretty to see Jennifer's good work (plus lots of other beautiful wedding inspiration)!

Blogging for Others, Part 2

Nick's picture story, Redwoods: The Super Trees is on newsstands now in the October issue of National Geographic Magazine.  

 

The images in the story are gorgeous and moving, a powerful testament to the majesty of our natural world.  The photographs took Nick and Nathan (his photography assistant), as well as a team of scientists and editors in California and at the Geographic, about seven months total to create.  Of course, seven months' worth of photographs actually takes two years to collect.  That is many trips back and forth, from coast to coast, many calls and emails, and much coordinating.  So if you are the archive assistant, working in the office in Virginia and witnessing all this travel and coordination from a perch at a computer (that'd be me), this story is a long time coming.  

If you buy a copy of the magazine you'll get a tear-out centerfold portrait of a 300-foot redwood.  Yours to keep!  Awesome.

Please check out the two wonderful videos on the National Geographic Magazine website.  In the first, Nick talks about what feats of engineering and photo magic went into the creation of the gigantic centerfold portrait.  The second video, by field assistant Nathan Williamson, explains how three of his and Nick's favorite images were made.  

So what's next for Nick?  

I'm afraid I am not at liberty to say...

The Hurry Up and Wait.

About a month ago I worked with Jackson Smith on a portrait assignment for the Cville Weekly.  We photographed a very nice man named Adam Nelson at the UVA track for a story on the body.  Adam lives, works, and trains right here in Charlottesville and is going to win the gold medal in Shot Put at the Olympics this summer.  I am confident of this fact.  Here is a video Adam showing off his fine skills: 

Before he arrived at the track on the cold, drizzly morning of our shoot, Jackson and I got into the Olympic spirit.  As usually happens, we were fully set up and ready with our lights, cart, and computer well before Adam was due to arrive.  We already had done some test shots.  We had strategically attached a couple of umbrellas over the cart so as to protect the computer and other gear from the rain drops.  And then we had time to kill.

Right behind our set up was a very large, blue mat, the kind that a high jumper might land on.  Too much fun to be ignored.  First we practiced our horizontal, high jump landings.  But our technique was poor and the experience wasn't particularly exciting without a pole to clear.  We realized it was far more fun to run straight at the mat, jump into the air, and dive as far we could across it.  We called it the Super Man Event.  

Jackson out-jumped me for sure but what I lacked in skill I made up for in flair.

Jackson had height on his leap, but he grimaced.

But look at that flight!

The landing, however, was lackluster.

My leap was not as extraordinary but I remembered to smile for the judges.

I ended with a graceful bend. 

And just kept... bending.  

Here is the picture of Adam that made the cover of the Cville.

Never a dull day working with Jackson.

2nd Shooter

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph a wedding with my friend Will Kerner as his second shooter.  What a pleasure!  It's so fun to photograph at another photographer's event because you get to move a little slower than you might at your own event.  It was my first wedding of the season and I enjoyed myself immensely.  

The afternoon was  H O T  and I drove to the church listening to tornado warnings on the radio.  But the storms held off and everyone remained in excellent spirits despite the high temperatures.    

The ceremony took place at Grace Episcopal Church in Keswick, Virginia, which is the church I grew up attending throughout my childhood.  My grandparents were married there in the mid-1940s and my parents have a beautiful black and white picture of them emerging from the church in pinstripes and satin, big grins on both their faces.  

The reception was at Ash Lawn-Highland, the historic home of President James Monroe.  Gorgeous grounds with mature trees and gardens--and peacocks (though you won't see any here)!

UVA Beyond Measure

Last fall I worked with Jackson Smith on a ten-day shoot for a new campaign at UVA Health System. We worked on the "Changed My Life" portion of the campaign, in which community members whose lives were changed by a medical experience at UVA held posters of the faces of the medical staff who "changed their life." These prints now hang throughout the hospital as posters on walls and banners strung from the ceilings. It was a particularly long shoot because each final picture required two photographs--the medical staff, which we shot within the hospital facilities, and the former patients, whom we shot on location around the area. Because we live and work in the digital age (!), these two images were seamlessly joined in post production to create the finished products. Throughout the shoot we were followed by a video cameraman. The "Making of the Campaign" video is now available online, along with the various TV, print, and radio spots that were created. The whole first half of the "Making of" video shows scenes from our photo shoots. The video is a nice behind-the-scenes look at how the photographs came together, and it also reveals a peek at our "hurry up and wait" dance moves.

Scenes from the field...

Last week I photographed Montague, Miller & Co. at their annual awards luncheon at Farmington. Just like last year, we did the shoot in the lovely, sunny Jefferson room, where I can stand in the balcony and look down on the crowd.

This year Jackson loaned me some equipment and came along to help me set up beforehand, though he had his own job that afternoon and couldn't stay to watch me in action. I've assisted him several times since the fall so it was fun to have him along on my shoot for once.

"Can I get a meter reading, please?"

Jackson, as the cheeky assistant:

Jackson, as the professional assistant:

Rise and Shine and Lay Down On The Table

I recently worked with Jackson Smith again, assisting him with a shoot at UVa Health System. We arrived at the hospital before the sun rose to photograph the new "Artis Zeego" maching by Siemens. The machine "employs robotic technology to provide virtually unrestricted positioning capabilities" for angiogram procedures. Although I still do not fully understand the exact science behind the Zeego, I do understand what a big deal it is. Siemens has produced four so far. One is the prototype at their factory, one is in hospital in Germany, one is in Houston, and one is at UVa. November 12, 2007 was the first day that the Zeego was used on any patient in the entire world! Unfortunately, the German team got that honor as their day starts six hours before ours. But UVa did the first procedure in America later that morning. Before the surgery began, Jackson and I went in to photograph the Zeego. We set up some lights and worked the various angles. Then Jackson and one of the Siemens representatives decided that a model should be on the table. Apparently I do not fit the "normal" patient profile, but I would do. So I took off my boots and climbed onto the table in my blue jeans and stripped socks. I took out my earrings and they covered me up. And here I am, in the world premiering photographs of the latest Siemens technology! Afterwards, the nurses came in and scrubbed down the room. Within a couple of hours, Jackson and I were wearing blue bunny suits, bouffant caps and booties. He photographed the procedure (inserting a stent into a man's liver, which the wiggled through his body from a tube in his cartoid artery--up by his neck!). I mostly watched and made some minor adjustments on the lights. I can confirm that the patient was sleeping comfortably because that TempurPedic mattress on the table was not too shabby. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/medical

All In a Day's Work

For the last 10 days I've been assisting Jackson Smith, a local commercial photographer, with a big shoot for the University of Virginia Health System (www.healthsystem.virginia.edu -- pretty much all the pictures are Jackson's). We're working with art directors from Lewis Communications in Mobile, AL to create images for a new hospital campaign designed to emphasize the positive contributions of the medical staff in the lives of their patients.

On Sunday morning we arrived at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport to set up a shot of a recovered patient who works in baggage claim. We hauled out all of the lights, butterflies, power packs, and gear and set up under the watchful eye of a security guard. When Jackson decided we needed to move the baggage carts for a better composition, the security guard turned his back and said, "I can't watch this."

Here are two polaroids from the shoot. The first shows Jackson pulling the carriages into position as the sun rose over the mountains. The second is me on top of the truck after we got the shot and were packing up.

After three straight days of rain, we couldn't get enough of that blue sky and sunshine.

I had actually photographed at the airport once before in 2004 when Lincoln Ross Barbour (www.lincolnbarbour.com) asked me to model for him. He was photographing the new airport improvements for an ad campaign and I got to wear the suit I bought as a college senior and pretend to be a jet-setting business woman. I knew I'd use that suit for something important!