Easter is Approaching!

Easter time is approaching!  I must say this is one of my favorites joys of early Spring.  I can remember my parents taking me and the siblings to department store to get our Easter outfit.  That was a special Sunday for us kids.  Of course, we knew the real significance of the celebration, but the Easter fashion show was indeed a treat for us lol. 
Now, having a little daughter, I'm so looking forward to capturing her second Easter through pictures this year.  Other families are excited about doing the same.  Today, I was fortunate to shoot an Easter themed session with the Strickland family.
This was such a fun shoot as they were so coordinated with their matching yellow outfits.   We started out in the studio and really just freestyle photographed with much of my white backdrop, adding Easter props here and there for the kids. 
After that, we went to one of my favorite spots to shoot during this time of year and finished with a few outdoor shots. 
Here's a little peak into there elaborate session.  It was Easter themed, along with casual attire and impromptu candids.

Enjoy!

Shooting a Mass

Well, today was an interesting one.  I was asked my one of former co-workers from The Laurinburg Exchange, Matt Smith, if I could lend my photography skills and help with this year's graduating class as the seniors were wanted to pose and form "2012" on Pate Stadium's field. 
I thought this could be a simple task, but after the first attempt, I knew we were up for a challenge lol.  When I arrived for the first shoot, the persons who laid out the outline in the field only formed a "12" which was obviously too small to fit 300+ students into, so that wasn't a  successful shot of course.
 After such issues, Matt, I and his Publications class came up with several ideas that would make the shot a better one.  We asked the field drafters to center the "2012" outline and spread it wider so when shooting from my 45-47 degree angle (the top of the bleachers), it would be more obvious that we're shooting this formed number.
WELL, you can't always get what you wish for lol.  Not only were we not center, but again the 2012 was not spread out so the distinction in the 2's was evident.  So, we had to try and improvise and take the shot, while 300+ seniors were unable to sit still lol.  All in all, it still was fun and hopefully next year's planning can be better.  Maybe they'll resort to what we used to do and shoot everyone standing or sitting in the bleachers.  That would have been the wiser shot and more controllable one.

Thanks to the Matt, the principals, faculty & staff for their help, patience and constant hustle to keep the students attentive and in their positions!  Hats off to you all ...lol... I have even more respect for teachers now! 

Here's a before and after of the shots:

Before:

For the edit, I took the "S" out because it wasn't centered, and tried to enhance the grass to make it greener.  I also enhanced the red.  

I still think it's a little hard to make out the "2012" but it looks okay :)

After:

Aging Gracefully

Over the past weekend, I was given the privilege of capturing the 90th birthday celebration for Ms. Willa "Pat" Stewart at the Highlands in Laurinburg, NC.
I was contacted a while back by her daughter about covering the event.  Now, anyone that knows me knows I really enjoy covering events.  Not only for networking purposes (large crowd lol), but you also get to meet so many different people and interact with them all.  I also enjoy capturing events from an artistic eye.  I like to capture a shot or perspective that the client may not have even viewing their event from.

Ms. Stewart's event was a very special one.  It was decorated beautifully and was conducted in a graceful manner.  The family was very sincere with the expressions of love they were showing for their mother, aunt, Godmother, grandmother and so many other titles.  You could really that this lady had a direct positive and loving impact on everyone's life that was present.
One of my favorite moments (besides the reminiscent stories) was the Mother and Son dance.  Not only was it special, but it was a kick to see someone who is 90 have such rhythm and style at an age where the average person wouldn't imagine having so.  Happy Birthday Ms. Willa "Pat" Stewart!

I'm be posting pictures from this event and will link them soon!


Quinyon

Beautiful blessings!

Okay, so from this moment on I'm vowing to stay consistent with the blog updates.  My sister, who's a PR guru in Charlotte, keeps telling me that this part of my photography is essential for internet growth (...beyond what Facebook social networking and tagging will bring.)  So anyways, this is the first of many more to come.
I have some catching up to do with introducing sessions, so I thought I'd start with a special one including my two most prized subjects -my beautiful wife and daughter.
Over the summer, we were planning to go for a Sunday drive and end up somewhere for dinner.  It was such a beautiful day out and I had just received my remote flash kits in the mail, so I was eager to try them out.  This mini-shoot was totally spur of the moment.
We went to a lake at St. Andrews College here in Laurinburg and took a few test shots.  Technically, all of the shots were great, but my daughter was being the little busy bee that she is, so getting those poses were the real task at hand.
We still managed to capture a few candids and just being able to shoot them was a treat in itself.  So, I thought I'd share.

The rest can be seen here.

Enjoy,

Quinyon

Capturing Preschool

Capturing your child's special milestones and achievements throughout their early stages of life is so important.  Their growth and graduation from daycare is no different.  Schedule a consultation with us about our photography services for your preschool and daycare.  We're well-equipped with light kits, backdrops and more. We will come to your facility and set up on location for the shoot.

Packages
We can create custom packages to your liking.  Our more popular and cost efficient packages include professional shots of each child and staff, already cropped for 8X10, 5X7, and wallet sizes, given in the form a photo disc, where each parent obtains all rights to the images and can produce as many pictures of their child as they would like.
We also have many preset and customizable printing packages as well.

Your set
You can choose from a variety of backdrops for the daycare or we can custom build you a prop set that will reflect your daycare or preschool program.  The possibilies are endless.
 
Contact us today to schedule a consultation.  

Shooting bundles of joy!

Well, first off, this has been a very busy and adventurous week.  At work, we tried to cut things short because it's Memorial Day weekend approaching (as if I'm looking back on Monday) and a long awaited vacation is needed.  Not to mention my wife's birthday celebration is in the mere future, so I needed my schedule open for the latter portion of the week. 

Being a photographer during a very busy season, it's sometimes hard to imagine taking time off, but we all have to have a break just to remind ourselves of why we're working and pursuing our passions. 

So, even though the extra revenue would have been nice, I decided to turn down a few nice last minute projects and instead enjoy my wife and baby daughter, which I would never regret as a decision.

One of the my projects that I did tackle was an infant shoot. 

Now, I've shot two year old kids and up, but I didn't anticipate how different an infant shoot would be.  First, instead of meeting the client at some location or my studio, we agreed to shoot on their location.  This meant packing up the vehicle with light kits and backdrops and heading out some 20 miles to their house. 

I really wanted to play off the 'bed of roses' theme, so I put constructed a flower set and it worked perfect with the infant. 

After about 10 minutes of set up and a bottle of milk, a paccie (pacifier -but if you're a parent, "paccie" works), and grandma's hands, we were into a successful shoot.




As soon as I send the completed package to the clients, I'll be sure to share more with you.  

Best, and enjoy this last day of your extended weekend,


Quinyon

Macie's Sweet 16

Okay, this was shot about a month back, but I had to wait for specific instructions on who to keep within the photo album before placing the images online, so here it is. 

I was asked to capture a Sweet 16 birthday party a month back.  I can recall wondering what to expect from the event. 
Now, I've shot events throughout the Laurinburg, NC area but never a Sweet 16 party.  To be quite honest, I was a little concerned over how this party would look visually because I can remember during my high school days of party attending, around the age of 16, most teenagers were still wallflowers at parties and usually socialized within clicks. 
WELL...not at this party.  They danced and were full of energy from the start of the music, to the presentation of the party girl's (Macie's) car for a present, til the DJ was stopping the music.
They had so much fun and I had a blast capturing the event.  Macie's family really gave her a great party and she was very appreciative.  Here are her images with her friends...

Macie's Party