New Terry Weaver Photos

Just a quick update. Terry and I were able to finish out the shoot we started a couple of weeks ago. I added the new shots to the end of the old shoot. This time we went to one of my favorite locations to shoot, the old Spring Hill High School. Enjoy!

Click here for the gallery!

99.7 WTN's new hosts: Ralph Bristol and Michael DelGiorno

Tuesday gave me the opportunity to photograph the two new hosts for 99.7 WWTN's morning slots. To say that I had fun would be a complete understatement. There was no ego or pretense anywhere in site. Both of these guys are genuinely nice (not to mention, funny!).

The shots aren't anything that most people would find pleasure in flipping through (they're all done in front of a backdrop so they're easier to digitally cut out) so I'm not going to put up a public gallery. But I CAN'T have a post without pictures so here are a couple we did outside of the studio set up.

If you get a chance, give these guys a listen! Ralph is on from 5-9 AM and Michael takes over at 9 until 1 (when Dave Ramsey comes on).

First Shoot with Terry Weaver

Terry and I had a great time traipsing around downtown Nashville finding places to get the right photo. We started on 21st and had a FANTASTIC lunch of sushi, then headed off to the Scarritt Bennett Center to use their great architecture. At least 5 or 6 people made comments wishing Terry good luck on his wedding day... Apparently only grooms are ever photographed there. After a couple, we stopped explaining that Terry was already married, these were just headshots. Sometimes it's easier to just say "thank you."

We wandered around more of the city, but eventually settled in the gulch area where we got some more great photos and headed home.

To see the best of the shoot click here!

PS - Terry is a speaker at youth events nation wide. You can find out more about him on his site WWW.TerryTheWeaver.Com.

Toby Mac, Riverfront Park, Nashville Cityfest

Here they are, boys and girls. The best (IMHO) shots from the Toby Mac concert at the Nashville Cityfest. I had a GREAT time and I think the shots turned out really nicely. Toby and crew put on a fantastic show that made it easy to capture the energy and fun.

I owe a BIG "Thank You" to GabeReal of the DiverseCity band. He's the one responsible for getting me so up-close and personal (BTW: he's the one in the brown sweater).

Here are they are!

I LOVE being a photographer!

It's 1 AM and I'm totally awake. I've spent the last few hours importing and trying to start the filtering-through process of shots I took while at the Nashville City Fest, shooting Toby Mac. At this point, I'm only half way through my first filtering (when I shoot over 500 images... It takes a few times to get only the great ones).

Anyhow, I was just too excited about this to wait to post... so here's a teaser. Stay tuned for the rest!

Shorpy

I'm not going to make it a regular habit to divert your attention to other sites, but this is just too much fun. Shorpy is a daily blog of old photographs. While they call themselves the 100-year old photo blog, their photos date anywhere from the mid nineteenth century up to the late 50's. I love this blog because it's SO visual, it takes me mere moments to "read" all of the new posts each day. I've also discovered that, depending on screen resolution, some of these photos make pretty great desktops!

Anyhow, check out www.shorpy.com and enjoy!

Dotson's Pure Country Cooking

Life's a funny thing. Caroline (the boss/wife) and I had made plans to take her mom to one of our favorite restaurants anywhere, Barbara's Home Cooking, for Mother's Day. Unfortunately, somebody convinced Barbara that it would be a good idea to replace her fried chicken and meatloaf with fillet mignon and fresh salmon in an artichoke heart, white wine sauce. What the heck!?

Out of a desperate need for "home made" fried chicken, we went to Dotson's in downtown Franklin. I'd been there once before many years earlier, and the only thing I remembered was the "non-smoking section" had three tables in the middle of the restaurant...

I'm glad to report that this time around, I'll remember a lot more. In fact, I had just finished paying when I found myself in a great conversation with the owner, Art McCloud. To make a long story short, I ended up shooting for them two days later!

If you get the opportunity, be sure to swing by and have some banana pudding or a slice of the chocolate pie (pictured). Yes, it tastes every bit as good as it looks.

Photo Updates

Just wanted to make sure everyone checks the homepage. I've put up some new photos. Those of you that frequent the this blog will recognize most of them, but there are still a couple of surprises...

New Shots include Dan Trippie, bridal portraits for Jessica Di Toro, and a small non-human friend snatched off a wall by my friend Will.

Enjoy!

Photo Tip of the Day!

One of the biggest differences between professional photographers and Aunt Netta is simply this: the number of shots taken. Let's be honest, how many of us have a roll of film that has photos from more than one birthday... for the same person? One of the things that pros figure out early is that often, the best way to get the perfect shot is to take a lot of bad ones. That's one of the reasons that a photographer promising a certain number of shots is a bit silly. I have AT LEAST 10:1, bad for good. The point is, I don't stop until I get that one. It's a simple matter of odds. If you've got a 100:1 shot of getting a good photo, take 102... Just to be sure.

Obviously, this isn't a conversation about composition, exposure, depth of field or any other of the things that contribute to a great photo. Those are all extremely important and can't be ignored. Nevertheless, you dramatically increase your chances of getting the RIGHT shot if you take more.

(PS: This is especially true when photographing children!)

Jessica's Bridal Portraits

This last weekend afforded me the opportunity to shoot bridal portraits with Jessica. This shoot comes a mere week on the heels of her engagement shoot (which you can see here). I got to spend an absolutely joyful afternoon walking (and driving!) through the beautiful Percy Warner park with her mother and grandmother. I should note, if you're looking for photo assistants, they're both great.

Anyhow, the shoot went very well and yielded some fantastic shots. The gallery is here.

New Shots with Dan Trippie

I first shot with Dan about a year ago when the Journey Church was first launching. Both Dan and Ivo (the other person from the church that I shot at that time) are on my main page. The Mrs. and I have been serving at Journey for nearly a year now. Dan and his wife Gina have been working with our two little ones. They have HUGE hearts and are clearly in love with what they do.

Anyhow, while I was proud of the work that came from that first shoot, this one felt completely different. Dan and I were much more comfortable with each other and it shows in how much more relaxed he is. Half way through the shoot, Dan started joking about the ficus trees standing around. Be careful what you joke about... this photographer may just take you seriously! It took some doing, but I think we got the first COOL shots of ficus trees in existence. Check out the whole shoot here.

Oh, by the way, if you're looking for a body of believers to call your home in the greater Nashville area, Journey is an excellent church of folks that actually care.