Another wedding done, several in the works

Good morning folks! Just thought I'd share some pictures from one of the most recent weddings I shot. I just finished post process on all the images and the bride loves them! I'm very happy with the results from this shoot and thought I'd share the bride's comments as well. It's worth all the running around and tedious hours behind the computer when you get an email like this:

"BEN!...They are wonderful, fabulous, perfect, and beautiful. Absolutely terrific! I just sobbed through all the slideshows. Happy tears!! THANK YOU for being a fantastic photographer, I could not have asked for more"

I have a lot of new work coming out in some local magazines as well. As soon as they hit the shelves (or websites) I'll let you guys know. I'm REALLY excited about one of them particularly, it will be here by July.

Not much is new here. We have one of our best friends from college coming in town this weekend, along with some other friends for Anson's christening this Sunday. It should be a fun time. I can't believe he's 6 weeks old today!! Crazy!

I know, I know...

It's been over a month since my last post. Close to two months I guess really. I have one big excuse though, as I'm sure most of y'all ready know, I have a son. Behold, Anson Bradford Galland:

He was actually due yesterday, on the 11th. He came 4 weeks early, but everything is perfectly fine. He's a healthy little boy and he's wonderful. You'll notice (much to his mother's dismay) that he's sporting a nice new pea green Patagonia onsie. The first day he wore it was also the first day he went the whole day without peeing on his clothes. So, go ahead and complain if you want, but my boy knows not to pee on Patagonia! Today he is one month old. I can't believe it. 

So what's new other than that? A ton. I'm extremly busy at work, which is a great thing. H2O Creative Group is busting at the seems, we're getting more and more clients and have a lot of awesome things in the works. I'v been shooting a ton too. I just finished a three-day shoot for Elegant Island Living magazine, and I can't wait for you all to see the photos. I'm really proud of them. I got the cover shot too, which is my first cover for that magazine.... and the subjects of the shoot were awesome.... you'll see. Look for it in July. 

I also have shot two weddings since my last post, I have another one tomorrow, and then another next week. Tomorrow's will probably be one of the biggest of the season for me. I'm really excited, I know both bride and groom and a lot of the guests, which will always make for great pictures. 

Next weekend's wedding is going to be an amazing blast. My cousin (dad's twin brother's daughter) is getting married here on the island. Any excuse for my family to gather is abused, slaughtered and dragged through the mud to the point of blissful, chaotic confusion. It's great. Friday before the wedding we will have over 150 people in my childhood home for a party. I'm shooting the wedding, but will be having a blast as well (read: camera in one hand, beer in the other). Many of the family is already starting to arrive this weekend. I'll be taking next Friday off as well, in order to join the chaos. 

Speaking of next Friday, it's iPhone time again!!!! Man I can't wait. I've already pre-ordered my iPhone 3GS. It's going to be amazing. I can't tell if I'm more excited about the new iPhone, or the software that they are releasing next week as well. Finally, the phone is getting faster, better camera, picture/video messaging, cut and paste, and so much more. I can't wait. I'll be there bright and early, 7 a.m. along with half my family that is also getting one. I told you, abused and chaotic!

So, that's about if for now. I promise to get back on a continual blogging stream. I'm also thinking of getting into Twitter, more for a professional basis, but if I do it, I'll let you all know. 

Have a great day!

Friday Foto: new pix 4 u

Good morning folks! It's been a whirlwind of a couple weeks. I shot another wedding last weekend which was great and the new Golden Isles Magazine is hitting the shelves today. I'm very excited about this issue particularly. I shot a lot for this issue; the cover, several spreads and as always, my photo essay. This issue's essay is a compilation of photographs from my travels to Italy, both in 2001 and in 2oo8. I've always wanted to publish these photos and am very excited about it. 

The first photo posted here is featured in the Magazine. I wanted to post it here because I really liked it. I was assigned to shoot some photos of the "First Friday" event in downtown Brunswick. It's on the first Friday of every month, and shops stay open late encouraging folks to come on out. I really wanted to capture the nightlife feel and still make it distinctly downtown Brunswick. I really like the shot. 

The second photo is from the past wedding I shot. After the ceremony the bride and groom and I walked out to the beach to get a couple of beach shots. It's always tricky to get good shots on the beach during the middle of the day, and this was about 11:30 which is typically a horrible time to shoot because of the light. The shots came out great, but I really like this one the best. What do yall think?

So, not much planned this weekend. Have some honey-dos that I'm putting off till Sunday so I can go boating tomorrow. I'm putting in at 8 am and will be out all day. I'm so excited. Bringing a grill and brats... there really isn't anything better.

Everything else is going well. Business is booming and that is wonderful, we are very fortunate.

Anyway, yall have a great weekend. I sure will.  

Firday Foto: All a blur

What a blur of a week! Man, I really don't know where Saturday ended and Thursday morning began. 

Today's foto comes from a wedding I shot last week on Friday night. I love shots like this. They are great photos to tell a story. Standing alone, it doesn't say much other than a cool shot. But as part of the bigger story, perhaps shown in sequence in an album, it shows the bride chasing the groom around with a piece of cake. This shot was taken at 1/8 of a second at f5.6 which would have been completely blurry had I not fired some flash and panned the image as well. 

Saturday night we had another baby party, it was fun. Kelly and I got lots of good stuff for the baby. That kid has easily more clothes than her and I combined. I really need to up his game on camo and jeep themed clothing. Too many damn sailboats and bunnys are going to make this kid crazy (or at least me!).

This weekend I plan on getting away. Don't know exactly what we're doing, but I need a break. I think we are going to spend a night over on Jekyll Island somewhere. This is our last free weekend before baby. 

So I have a ton of friends getting blackberries. What the heck is wrong with them? The iPhone is such a better product. All the promoting I do doesn't seem to work. Oh well. They'll soon find out when they are complaining that it won't work. HA!

I have tons of other things I could write about, but I need to get some work done. So, I'll save it for another posting. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Friday Foto: Just a blur

It's been a crazy week. Saturday through today is one big blur and I'm sure the next two months will follow closely the same pattern. It's OK. I have a lot of fun things planned and many great things to look forward to, one of which is this weekend. I have a lot of family coming in town for another Baby "Party", as I like to call it, that will be held on Saturday. I'm excited. And Sunday is Easter, which means Peeps, Cadburry eggs and not one, but TWO huge meals. I'm excited. 

I've been shooting a ton lately, and I'm really excited about that. Today's photo comes from a serious of shoots that I did for the folks at The Vine. I had the opportunity to photograph some of their work for a nationally published book in which they will be featured. This is one of my favorites. They designed these containers and planted them.  This house is on Ocean Forrest, on Sea Island.

First wedding of the season is tonight. I'll be shooting an outdoor wedding and reception down at the Village. I'm looking forward to wedding season, I really enjoy shooting them. 

My Saturday plans consist of rolling out of bed at the break of dawn and dragging myself to the beach and passing out all day. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a very nice beach day.

Friday Foto: A Spoonful of this and that

And hello there, finally, it's Friday again. As always, this week has been crazing, leaving me wondering where Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday went. The rain didn't help, which lasted from Tuesday night until last night. Back in the '50s, Glynn Haven (my neighborhood) was a thriving lake community. If you don't believe that, come look at my front yard. I came home from work on Wednesday to find the neighborhood kids splashing and riding bikes through my newly installed lap pool. Yeah, I'm hoping to get a little pool-side-ala-front-yard-puddle swimming in this weekend myself. If anybody wants in, swing on over, I'll provide the towels and beer.... ring worms are provided at no charge.

So this shot comes from a shoot I just wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. I waited to post it here until it was published, and now that the April issue of Elegant Island Living is on the stands, here you are folks. This was part of a fashion series I shot for them on island-casual fashion. The models were great to work with and so was the editor. I enjoy shooting shots like this, it's some of my favorite type of photography. This photo was shot as close to dusk as I could get and I used an off-camera flash hidden in the tree on camera right to fill in the faces of the models a little. If anything, I use as little flash as possible. The flash was set to 2 stops under exposure, shot through a soft box to just barely lighten the face. I'm very happy with the results. The setting is also superb, thanks to the generosity of the ladies at The Vine, for letting us use their backyard. The other shots, at different locations, all came out great, but this was my favorite. It was the last shot and you always get better shots, with more relaxed models I feel. But we all hit it off right away. Be sure to grab the latest issue.

So now I feel it's my duty to share with you my new favorite artist. Jason Spooner.  From Maine, he's a singer/songwriter with a recipe consisting of a little John Mayer, Randall Bramblett, Jason Mraz and hints of various Union Station, Talking Heads and Counting Crows. I have fallen in love, for sure. As perfectly described to me, his latest album The Flame You Follow (2007), is like the perfect mix CD. Starting with a sure, radio-ready song, taking a path down hard-beat acoustic guitar-driven tracks that are musical reminiscent of early Dave Matthews and ending with one of the best covers I've ever heard. I love his take on The Talking Head's "Slippery People". It's slowed down slightly, and heavy on some awesome acoustic-fueled rhythm. The whole CD has been playing non-stop in my life for the past four days. I could easily lay in bed and watch the rain fall to it, and in the same track, get up and dance wildly. I love it. 

Anyway, not much else is new. I'm excited about this weekend. We have our first baby party (I refuse to use the word 'shower'). This is the one all of our friends have gotten together to throw for us. I'm pretty excited about partying and seeing everybody. We're going to drag it out as long as possible (at least I am) with a cookout to follow at my house. After all, I am drinking for two now right? HAHA. Have a great, non-rainy day today.

Friday Foto: Slappin good music

A little late on the posting, I know. I try to get this published early for you readers, but I had a late night last night and slept in a little. 

I was hired by Rafter's Blues and Raw Bar to shoot Amy LaVere's performance last night. She's an unbelievable musician, playing the upright bass and accompanied by drums and lead guitar. Her vocals add a soothing contradiction, with her sweet high-pitched-Norah Jones-meets-Amy Winehouse sound. I highly recommend checking her site out and listening to some of her tunes. I love shooting live performances, and Rafter's is a great place to do this. 

So last weekend I drove up to Blue Ridge, GA and picked up my Tahoe. It's nice having an inclosed vehicle again. I forgot how nice it is to lock something in the car, to not get rained on. But, I'm already starting to miss the Jeep. As soon as I finish up some maintenance on the Jeep, I'll be back behind the wheel. Can't wait. 

Life has been busy, my business is doing very well now, we have a ton of work and it keeps coming in. It's great, I feel very fortunate to say that. With that said, I am looking very forward to a relaxing weekend. I WILL be spending time at the beach if weather permits. This will be one of the last "non-busy" weekends I will have for a very long time I fear, with weddings, showers, and, oh yeah, the baby. 

Anyway, yall have a great weekend.