michael allen photography {memphis wedding photographer} tennessee photographers

Vera Wang - Extraordinary Beauty Fashion Reel - Southern Bride Magazine 2012

2012-02-14T14:22:00.002-08:00

Here is the featured reel from my recent shoot with Southern Bride Magazine just outside of Birmingham Alabama. The "Extraordinary Beauty" shoot included amazing gowns from all the name labels in the bridal fashion industry, including Vera Wang. Special thanks to the magazine editors Lynn Walker and Sherra Meyers for coordinating this amazing shoot, the models were stunning, and the chance to work with up and coming model Jessye Bullock was an honor. Of course Katherine, Jill, Nick and Jordan made the shoot with their incredible fashion sense. And more thanks for the soundtrack from The Music Bed and one of my favorite artists Marie Hines

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Southern Bride Magazine 2012 - Tennessee Wedding Photographer

2012-01-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

Southern Bride Magazine new 2012 Issue on newsstands today!

We are once again very excited to have our beautiful photography featured on the cover of Southern Bride Magazine.
We love shooting for Southern Bride, and are always humbled by the honor of being featured.

Here it is . . . the Winter cover for the Tennessee Arkansas Mississippi issue of Southern Bride Magazine! They are hitting shelves over the next couple of weeks across the MidSouth! This cover shot was taken at Russell Crossroads in Alabama by Michael Allen Photography with his team featuring Tracy Leigh Photography and guest photographer Rob Lyons of Rob Lyons Photography. The model is Cat! Gown: Gilda by Enzoani (available at Low's Bridal and Formal Shoppe) Ring: from Margaret Rowe Vintage Couture Jewelry, Earrings: from Nina Shoes, Makeup: Make Me Up by Danielle, Hair: Janice Allen of Eston Salon Spa. Visit Michael Allen Photography to see more of the images included in the magazine!

A Beautiful Winter Wedding - Memphis Photographer

2012-01-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Memphis Photographer - Memphis Tennessee Weddings - Michael Allen Photography - Bridal Portraits - A Beautiful Winter Wedding in Memphis
Here's a few sneak peak images from Joslin & Jason's wedding in December 2011. I love the softness and beauty of Joslin' bridal session, we had just a few minutes before the ceremony in the last light of the winter day to capture some special moments. Those moments right before she walked down the isle, contemplative, warm, and loving. For this post I chose just a few black & white images mixed with just a couple of color images that I think really tell the love story of their day! I love the last image of the night that Tracy captured as they left the reception, the available light from the sparklers framed the couple perfectly, and the movement of the photo caught them in a special moment that tells the whole story with just one frame. My last wedding of the 2011 wedding season was simple, elegant and endearing. Congratulations to Joslin & Jason!

Nutcracker Ballet Memphis

2011-12-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

During the holidays we had the pleasure of shooting for The House of Talent's production of The Nutcracker Ballet. I love the grace and beauty of the ballet, and this team of dancers performed well together. December was a very diverse month of shooting for us, from a major catalog shoot, to a worldwide release for sensational country pop star Lauren Alaina, to shooting 2 music videos, and a documentary, we had a lot of family portrait sessions for the holidays, a portfolio shoot for singer songwriter Jill Dyson, and last weekend we photographed our last wedding of the season. We've still got a couple of weeks left this year, and several more photo shoots on the schedule, it's been a great year in photography!

Here's a couple of my favorite photographs from the ballet.

Memphis Recording Artist - Memphis Music

2011-12-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

Memphis Recording Artist - Memphis Music- Award winning singer songwriter Jill Dyson's recent photo session was shot on several locations in Memphis. Michael & Jill spent the day together shooting for her new EP and promotional materials for her recent tour. We also shot a live video of several of her new songs in the recording studio, which will be edited later in the spring. Here are a few of the photos she will use for her promotional materials. Michael has been photographing musicians for many years, and offers a unique photo styling to his shoots. He has worked with local new talent artists, as well as grammy award winning artists, to international recording artists. With each session, Michael likes to load the photo truck and take the artist out for the day, away from cell phone calls, busy schedules and get the artist to focus on the photo session. Getting good photos is more than aiming the camera in a tightly scheduled session, if you get the chance to spend the day on location for a shoot, the results are amazing.

Memphis Family Holiday Portrait Sessions

2011-11-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

Memphis Portrait Photographers, Collierville, Tn.
We kicked off the fall season with our "Family Holiday Portrait Sessions" last week on location at the beautiful Criss Cross Lodge in Collierville. In alliance with www.Webzmedia.com, we have teamed up to offer our clients very special "Say Bees" private sessions on select settings on the grounds. Here are a few from the session with Amber Patten and her beautiful girls. In November we are offering fall portraits, and in December, we will offer winter sessions with a Home for the Holidays theme. Let us know if you would like to schedule a session, we are selling out of sessions quickly.

Emily & Joseph's Memphis Engagement Session

2011-10-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a new engagement session with Emily & Joseph. We met downtown early one morning and spent a few hours together wandering around some of my favorite spots in the South Main Historic District. For this session I used my Canon 50 mm 1.4 lens, this is a heavy piece of glass, but probably one of the finest lenses Canon offers, capturing a film like quality of color, depth and sharpness. We had a beautiful day to shoot, even with the full sun and bright sky, we found lots of great little spots to frame the session. Emily & Joe were so much fun, and they were really into getting some unique images for starting their new life together. I look forward to photographing their wedding next year.

Autumn Bridal Portraits in New York

2011-09-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Any bride want a portrait session in Central Park in November? Contact me for the details. We are tentatively planning a trip to NYC in early November, and the leaves in Central Park will be beautiful! Here's a couple of photographs from one of my sessions with Lucy in Central Park.

http://www.michaelallenphotography.com/wedding/category/avant-bride-new-york

Emmaline Bride - Clarksdale Mississippi Weddings

2011-09-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

We are so honored to have Lauren & Myles wedding featured on Emmaline Brides blog. The Emmaline blog features the best weddings that have something special that brides will want to use to help them plan their own weddings. Lauren & Myles did much of their own wedding planning, and with the help of their vendors, family & friends, the wedding was an amazing day full of classic moments and timeless elements that every bride wants for her wedding day! Too read all about their wedding on www.emmalinebride.com, just click on the photo below.

Clarksdale Mississippi - Ground Zero

2011-07-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to have a wedding featured by emmaline bride which is a great wedding blog featuring the best weddings in the country. Lauren & Myles had an incredible wedding in the Mississippi Delta this summer.
One of my favorite things to offer a couple is the chance to do it all over again! Imagine reliving the very best part of your wedding day, just the best parts! That's what we do when we shoot a couple after their wedding. They get a chance to have fun and not worry about the wedding day schedule. Ah, relax and have some fun! Here's a sneak peak of Lauren and Myles couples session outside of Morgan Freeman's "Ground Zero" nightclub in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. My second photographer Tracy &amp;amp; I had a blast shooting this. Visit her blog to see a few more of the photos from the wedding at www.tracyleighphotography.blogspot.com.I also love it when one photo says it all!

Memphis Tn Wedding Videographers - Modern Wedding Films - Allison & Matt - Wedding Video Trailer

2011-07-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a new wedding film trailer for a recent wedding we filmed in Memphis for Allison and Matt on the mighty Mississippi river. We are really excited to release this film for Allison and Matt, they were so much fun to work with, and we think we really captured them in a beautiful way on their wedding day. The one minute trailer shows a sample of scenes we shot on a warm summer afternoon in June, with lots of Southern flavor, romance, and wedding inspiration. The finished film will premier later this year. Congratulations to Allison and Matt on their amazing riverfront wedding in Memphis! A short film created by Michael Allen and Tracy Welch of www.filmindesign.com and www.michaelallenphotography.com

View on ExposureRoom for low HD sizes

Memphis Tennesse - Southern Bride Magazine - Seaside Florida - Fashion Photography Workshop

2011-07-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year we hosted an editorial photographers workshop, the goal of the workshop was to teach editorial styles of photography, and give the workshop participants a chance to have their photographs published in a magazine. Here's a new short film documentary our team shot while on location in Seaside Florida featuring a fashion shoot & editorial fashion workshop for Southern Bride Magazine. Part of our service is world class photography, and modern cinema films, and helping other photographers learn more about their craft. The documentary features our recent photographers workshop we hosted for Southern Bride Magazine in beautiful Seaside Florida. You'll get an inside look into the world of fashion photography, insights from some of the photographers who participated in our workshop, and many beautiful scenes of the 4 beautiful models shown in several locations throughout the town of Seaside. Our theme for the short film was inspired by the Kevin Costner film, "Message in a bottle". We shoot cinema films for editorials and high end weddings across the Southern US and the Caribbean using the latest HD cameras from Canon.

View on ExposureRoom for faster playing medium and small HD size

Memphis Photographers - Wedding & Bridal Fashion Photographers

2011-06-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Press Release: June 2011 - Memphis Tennessee
Photographers Michael Allen and Tracy Welch both of www.michaelallenphotography.com are pleased to announce that they have both had their images selected by the editors of Southern Bride Magazine as the cover shots for the Tennessee and Alabama issues of Southern Bride Magazine. We also have several images in the feature spread of the fashion section. The magazines will be on newsstands across the South in locations such as Barnes and Noble.

First Cover Photo by Tracy Welch

Second Photo Cover by Michael Allen

Michael recently produced a photographers workshop and fashion shoot in Seaside for the magazine. Half a dozen photographers signed up for the workshop and all worked as teams for the shoot. The recent "Photographers Dream" workshop took place in one of the Top 12 destinations in the world, Seaside Florida. Michael's team hosted a 3 day hands on photographers bootcamp, where participants worked along side photographer Michael Allen, shooting for Southern Bride Magazine. The photographers workshop titled "DREAM CHALLENGE" had a mission to shoot for the magazines feature story, a bridal fashion shoot featuring the latest fashions in the wedding world.

Michael taught the photographers mixed lighting techniques with California Sunbounce reflector systems, and Pocketwizard flash controllers for Canon and Nikon along with editorial photographer Joe DeScoise to capture lifestyle editorial photographs for the magazines fashion layout and cover images.

Short Film Documentary: A behind the scenes look into the photo shoot & the hands on bootcamp, with scenes taken over a week on location in Seaside, interviews with some of the team, and details about shooting for a fashion magazine was shot as a short film documentary and is now being shown on the website and the magazine's blog.

Seaside provided the locations and the team support, Southern Bride hosted the shoot, and Michael Allen was the lead photographer and instructor for the workshop, teaching photographers editorial lifestyle techniques using California Sunbounce reflectors, ambient lighting, and mixed flash techniques. Our sponsor, www.lensrentals.com, provided some giveaways for the participants, and rented extra gear to the team. Guest photographer Joe DeScoise also helped teach the workshop with Michael. Tracy Welch was the assistant director of the workshop and worked as a camera operator for shooting the short film.

The soundtrack was from www.themusicbed.com, a new resource for stock music for photographers and filmmakers.

SEASIDE Editorial Fashion Photo Workshop - "The Photographers Dream Challenge"
PRODUCED & DIRECTED BY michael allen

ACCOMODATIONS & LOCATION
PROVIDED BY Seaside Florida - Cottage Rental Agency

SOUTHERN BRIDE MAGAZINE corporate headquarters - Memphis, Tn & Birmingham, Al

Memphis Wedding Videographers - Modern Wedding Films

2011-03-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

We've been photographing weddings for over 8 years, and we've shot wedding videos for over 15 years. In 2010 we made the switch to Full Frame HD filmstyle videos using the Canon 5d Mark II, which is the worlds most talked about professional camera. We offer a very different style of short films than the average videographer, modern, artistic and compelling. {We stay very busy and only have limited availability for wedding films, so be sure to get on our waiting list early.}

Here's one of our recent "engagement" films that couples use for "save the date", rehearsal dinners, and receptions. Jennifer & Tony were so much fun to work with, and they gave us free reign to create something very special for them. Short films are so much fun, and it gives the couple a chance to do something unique and creative. We combine the engagement photo session with the film session, so couples get both stills and video for wedding announcements, save the dates, guest books and more.

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Memphis Wedding Films - Memphis Engagement Photographers - Key West Wedding

2011-03-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here's one of our latest Love Story cinema films. Melanie & Wyatt were married in Key West at Christmas time, and we set out on their engagement shoot early in the day For their shoot we incorporated a cinema film "Love Story". We also shot their entire wedding weekend, and will have the final edit done later this spring.

View on ExposureRoom

Southern Bride Magazine - Fashion Photography Workshop - Memphis Photographers - Birmingham Photographers

2011-02-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to be producing & teaching the Southern Bride Magazine 2011 Workshop series February 21-23 in Seaside Florida.
We have a great photographers hands on workshop planned for the week. I'll be teaching some of my bridal editorial photography techniques from my new book and working with special guest speaker/photographer Joe De Sciose whose credentials include being the Senior Staff Photographer for Southern Living Magazine, The New York Times, Conde Naste and more. Joe's website is www.findinglight.com and I am honored to have in helping with the workshop.

Visit http://www.southernbride.com/news-events/workshop / for all the details

Modern Wedding Photographer - Memphis Weddings

2010-12-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a sneak peak of Sarah & Jody's wedding at the Carahills Wedding Chapel in West Tennessee. For this post I used a full selection of B&W toned images to show the elegance of their beautiful day and to portray the artistic side of this beautiful wedding. They had all their family and friends present to celebrate their wedding day on a beautiful, clear blue skied morning just a couple of days after Thanksgiving. Earlier this year I photographed Sarah & Jody's engagement photos which you can find in an earlier post on the blog. Congratulations Sarah & Jody!

Memphis Wedding Photographers - Modern Memphis Wedding Photography

2010-11-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my recent weddings that I photographed for Nicole and Rob. My goal and vision for wedding photography is to capture the essence of the day in a very beautiful, romantic, modern style. I sometimes shoot with a black & white theme in mind, other times, I love to push the envelope of bold beautiful colors. Nicole and Rob had a great wedding day, and they were just simply incredible to work with. We had to deal with a day of rain for an outdoor ceremony, but at the very last moment and a slight delay, the rain stopped and the couple's ceremony with friends & family proceeded. The wedding was held in the quaint setting of Club Windward in Lakeland Tennessee. Here are just a few of the highlights of their wonderful day!

Memphis Modern - Business Profile Film - Michael Allen Photography

2010-11-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Heres one of my recent HD films featuring up and coming Interior Designer Morgan Armstrong. This short film gives Morgans clients an up close and personal view of Morgan's design firm, www.memphismodern.com production company creates compelling short business profile films, created with an indie filmstyle approach. Utilizing the hottest digital camera in the world, the Canon 5d MarkII, my production company only works with select companies and specialized indie crews to create stunning HD full frame films on budgets ranging from $3,000 to $30,000+. We also create beautiful wedding films, but not your typical wedding video, our films are created from a very artistic perspective, and have specific requirements for location and times.

View on ExposureRoom

Vintage Southern Bride - Memphis Editorial Wedding Photographers

2010-10-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Last winter our team was busy shooting the fashion spread for the 2010 summer issue of Southern Bride, which is on newsstands now. I love the challenge of shooting editorials, the magazine editors call me up with some ideas of what they want to present, sometimes it can be pretty simple, other times it can be way out there. Either way, it's usually up to me to come up with a shooting plan. I'm usually more of a modern style photographer, but shooting a vintage style is the hottest thing right now, so I knew this was going to test my creativity as a photographer.

Shooting an editorial is very demanding, as sometimes the editors are standing over your shoulders directing every detail, and sometimes making photographers do things that may not work. We have to give feedback on the spot, and either accept what the editor wants, or be bold and say no to a certain set up. It's almost like shooting a wedding and the bride wants a shot in a location that has horrible light and is almost impossible to make fit your training and expertise for a quality photograph. So if you think this job is a walk in the park, it's not at all. It can take an hour just to set up an light one scene, imagine shooting a dozens scenes in a day.

The biggest challenge is shooting in all hours of the day, from sun up to sun down, and even at night. Lighting each scene takes lots of time, and when the models run behind in hair and makeup, we sometimes set up a scene and tear it down and relocate as the light changes fast. Cloud cover one minute, clear sunny skies the next. Interior scenes, exteriors, rain, cold, heat, all in one day.

For this shoot the editors wanted to feature vintage wedding dresses covering a time period of the entire first half of the 19th century. We ended up covering 6 decades from 1900 to 1960. Some of the ideas were to simply have some inspiration from certain time periods, and some ideas were to copy those time periods.

My wife Janice Allen who is a very successful and creative hair salon owner, sat down with the editors too, and we all collaborated on a plan. The magazine editor and their art director scouted locations across the south, and came up with a 19th century mansion near Mobile Alabama.

The Hotel Magnolia has seen several Presidents of the United States stay in their quaint hotel, and many other famous people over the years. The hotel had just about fallen apart until recently when it underwent a massive restoration. Today it is a gem of history that is well worth the stay. Fortunately for our team, we spent 4 days with full run of the house for our shoot. www.thehotelmagnolia.com was fully staffed with a 5 star restaurant, which catered our meals with some amazing food, one of the perks of shooting for a magazine.

What vintage shoot could happen without an antique Rolls Royce? We found a company that had just the right limo. With 4 models, 6 time periods and over 25 dresses to shoot, we shot over 5000, narrowed those down to about 200, and let the editors make the final selections. We also created a short film covering the behind the scenes aspect of the shoot, with a full frame HD camera system, we captured over 10 hours of footage that went into the making of the film. You can view the film by searching "Vintage Southern Bride" and finding it on the top of that search on google.

One idea I had to help us create more looks from the models was to incorporate wigs, so my wife and I went to the local wig store, and with the help of some sweet Asian ladies who spoke very little english, we came out with half a dozen hairpieces that fit the bill. Janice is an amazing hairdesigner, and did an incredible job on this shoot. Southern Brides art director, Kat Ballard, had the vision of what she wanted to accomplish, and our team met on location for a few hours to review the scenes. Once the shoot began, we had to light over 20 locations, which explains why the shoot took 3 twelve hour days. We also had 2 makeup artists that we had never worked with before, and they also did an incredible job.

So that's a little background on the shoot. The magazine premiered the issue in June 2010, and asked that we hold off on our blog post until now. Here are just a few of my favorite images from the shoot, the magazine called the spread "Vintage Designs in Modern Times". Part of the goal was to have some modern twists mixed in the vintage style of the shoot. I hope you gain some inspiration from the images, and be sure to get a copy of the magazine on newsstands across the South.

Memphis Wedding Photographer - Jennifer & Brian's Wedding Day Session - Classis Modern Photography

2010-08-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer, and I'm a bit behind on my posts, here's a couple of portraits from Jennifer and Brian's Wedding this past weekend. I will try to post a few more soon, but the next couple of months is pretty wild. I actually need to post several more from June and July, but this one was right on my desktop......I love the way Brian gently held Jennifer for this moment.} The next image shows Jennifer's amazing dress. For a few minutes, I felt I was back on a fashion set shooting for a magazine!

Sarah & Jodys Engagement Session - Memphis Wedding Photographers

2010-05-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I did an engagement session for Sarah and Jody for their wedding this coming fall. One of my favorite spots is on Main Street in the art district. I worked downtown for many years, so I'm very familiar with the streets and all the cool spots to shoot. A lot has changed in the past 10 years, and a lot of historic old buildings have been torn down. I love to find old buildings that remain a part of Memphis history. We had a great morning roaming around downtown from Central Station down to the riverfront. Here are just a handful of the images I shot.

For engagement sessions, I suggest for couples to have a custom album designed for guests to offer their thoughts and best wishes on special photo pages created just for this purpose. For Sarah & Jody's session I added some custom detailing for their images, giving them a vintage style and artistic edge.

I also suggest couples get several large canvas prints to display at their wedding ceremony and reception. I've done large prints in 24" x 36" or 36" x 48" canvas prints which really make a statement. After the wedding, these make great art prints to hang in their new house.

Memphis Weddings - Carahills

2010-04-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last winter I met this great girl at a photography show in Memphis, I could tell from the first minute that I was gonna like shooting her wedding. She is full of fun, very nice, and knows what she wants. She and her now husband, Greg, were a total delight to work with. We had limited time to schedule their engagement session, and I had forgotten that they were bring their kids along. (I'll post some of the engagement session later). The short story, if you are a photographer and don't shoot kids very much, go out right now and find some! Their kids were full of energy, if they are anything like my little girl, probably a sugar high from too much candy. Anyway, Jennifer was amazed that I actually got some images for her to use! My ability to photograph kids came in handy, fast on the shutter, and quick to set up the shots, and the ability to be patient in any situation. The end result for their engagement session was some pretty cool images that they loved! Here is a sneak peak of a few of the images!

Here are just a few images from their wedding last weekend in April, 2010. They were married at Carahills in Galloway Tennessee, which just opened a cool new chapel and reception hall. Set is a rustic wooded area, Carahills is a great place for a wedding! Congratulations to Jennifer and Greg! Thanks for being so much fun to photograph! It was an honor for me to work with you guys and all the kids!

Memphis Wedding Photographer - Weddings Tennessee

2010-02-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Megan and Wes on their recent wedding. They had a beautiful wedding at St Mary's Cathedral in Memphis with the reception following at Central Station in the Downtown Art District on South Main Street. They had a full military wedding with a compliment of honor guards, groomsmen and bridesmaids. Our team started early in the day capturing all the details and behind the scenes preparations with our photojournalistic coverage of the day. Sometimes a winter wedding can get a bit chilly in Memphis, but the weather held back for the wedding day and gave us several opportunities to get some fun shots outside. Megan and Wes were both wonderful to work with, and both their families were very gracious. With most Catholic weddings, the day was quite long, and everyone was very excited about the wedding reception that followed at Central Station. Here are some of the highlights of the evening were the Honor Guards who welcomed the newly married couple to the reception along with several hundred guests. Central Station is one of my favorite places to photograph, with all the historic architecture, and ambiance of the facilities. Holiday Florist handled all the flowers and decor, and the incredible band played late into the morning hours to help Megan & Wes celebrate their wedding! Special thanks to the editors of "Say Yes" at the Commercial Appeal Newspaper for covering the wedding event!

Here are a few photographs of the wedding for you to enjoy!

Amanda & Alex's Wedding - Memphis Wedding Photography

2009-12-20T16:16:00.000-08:00

Amanda and Alex were married in late December in the outskirts of Memphis. I met Amanda 4 years ago when I photographed her sister Rebecca's wedding, and always hoped that I'd one day get to photograph Amanda. About a year ago, I met Amanda and her mom at a local bridal show, and we reconnected. She is a fun loving, animated young women with an infectious smile, you can see why Alex was drawn to her. Together, they both have an incredibly warm approach to everyone that they meet. The wedding was held in a new event center in Arlington. Carahills offers a rustic and elegant country setting for couples who want a ceremony and reception in a romantic rural setting. I love winter weddings, and each winter wedding has it's own charm. Here are just a few of the photographs of their wedding that I selected for the local newspaper feature article that will be in Sundays Wedding Lifestyle section. Congratulations to Amanda and Alex!

Southern Bride Magazine 2010 Fashion Shoot - Memphis Wedding Photographers

2009-12-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

This soon to be released issue for 2010 will feature some of the images that I shot with my team last summer. We had a great shoot with a tropical rainforest theme designed for brides to embrace the elements of nature. My beautiful wife Janice handled the incredible hair fashions for the shoot which gave the models an extra touch of elegance. Shooting in a southern rainforest has it's challenges. We treked through about a mile of narrow trails on a muddy day using a Kawasaki Mule 4 wheeler. Once we reached our scouted destination, we had to deal with a very hot humid day, full with mosquitos, bugs, poison ivy and a few snakes. Fortunately, the models braved the elements that most brides won't have to. I've shot in locations in the Jamaican rainforest, many tropical islands, and up in high mountain terrain, I'd say this was about the most challenging shoot dealing with the heat. One of the models got attacked by a mosquito, which whelped up on her face after a few minutes. Of course, timing each model arriving by 4 wheeler caused some delays, and our day got away from us fast. We shot in morning sunlight, mid-day sun, afternoon direct sunlight, late afternoon sun, and that perfect light at the end of the day, and for the last segment, some rainclouds came upon us for the wrap up. Special thanks to Southern Bride Magazine and their editors, the staff, the interns, and all of the models, makeup artists, florists, drivers, gear roadies, and the Memphis Museum team for helping us simulate a real southern rainforest. As you can see, the results were well worth the work and sweat.

New York Fashion Shoot - WeddingSalon.com -Filmindesign - Weddingindesign

2009-11-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

We were on location this week in NYC shooting for a bridal fashion line. The shoot included shooting a HD short film for the designer. Here are a couple of behind the scenes photos from our shoot in Central Park...In this scene Michael is shooting on the 5D Mark II HDDSLR using the steadicam system. As you can see the model for the shoot, well she is simply gorgeous! The weather was also perfect, with the change in seasons, we were able to shoot summer looks, and fall looks with the dramatic colors of the changing leaves. Here our crew was shooting some steadicam footage.

We were also featured in the world's most prestigious wedding showcase, The Wedding Salon Bridal Show. Located at the Roosevelt Hotel, this prestigious high end wedding show gave brides the chance to meet David Tutera and the legendary Sylvia Weinstock, among others. There was an amazing bridal fashion show, beauty services featuring Yves Saint Laurent, hors d’ oeuvres, cocktails & fabulous gift bags, the show was a huge success, where brides came from all over the world to see the finest in wedding planning, design, photography and more..

Caia & Chris's Wedding - Memphis Weddings

2009-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Caia & Chris had a very posh event beginning at The Madison Hotel, then on the Grace St Luke's Cathedral, with an elegant reception at the Memphis Country Club. We had just a few minutes to photograph a few bridal portraits of Caia in this beautiful wedding gown which we loved. The guys were all perfect gentlemen for their session at The Madison Hotel, with appropriate black tuxedos for their formal wear. Congratulations to Caia and Chris, who will be honeymooning in Europe.

Weddingindesign - Filmindesign - New Websites Launched This Month!

2009-10-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

We've just launched our new Filmindesign site and our new Weddingindesign site. We began our photography career shooting 35 mm transparencies, then we moved on to 35mm negatives and medium format films. We've also been working in video for many years, and are very excited to make the switch to full High Definition. With recent changes in technology, we have been able to convert our incredible Canon lenses for use in our full frame 35mm HD Cinema cameras. It's been pretty neat to see the world of cameras make this incredible change from film to image sensors over the past several years. I can't imagine what will be next. Anyway, back to our post. Here is a preview of our www.weddingindesign.com and our www.filmindesign.com website trailer in HD letterbox format. Be sure to check out our new sites and see the cool images we have posted, we are pretty excited! (we've also changed our blog format to a wide screen format, so we can post bigger images for the world to see.)

View on our Filmindesign website

Jessica and Billy's Wedding - Memphis Tennessee Weddings

2009-10-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jessica and Billy on their recent wedding. We had a blast photographing their wedding day, Jessica was a beautiful bride and we really loved her incredible dress. They had so much fun, we almost forgot what time the ceremony started. Later in the evening, they hosted a very chic wedding reception at the China Exhibition at The Memphis Zoo. It was a very posh event, where the guests were treated with food from the four corners of the world. We had perfect weather for the outdoor event, and the celebration lasted until the early morning. Here is just a small sample of some of the photograph highlights from their wedding.

Sarah & Ben's Wedding - Memphis Tennessee

2009-08-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

I love classic church weddings. The beauty and simplicity of each element of the wedding day combined with a beautiful church setting is artistic. Capturing each little special moment of the day is something a bride & groom will cherish for their lifetime. Sarah & Ben asked me to photograph their wedding about a year in advance, which gave us time to get to know one another, and gave Sarah time to focus on the details of her wedding planning. We did an engagement shoot and created a guest signature book, which everyone at the reception fell in love with. Sarah & Ben's tender affection for one another was evident in each frame that I shot, and at the same time they were relaxed, having fun their entire wedding day. I love it when I arrive in the bridal room early in the day and find the bride just smiling and laughing, it sets the tone for the entire day for everyone involved. It also gives me time to capture some special moments.

Here are just a few of Sarah & Ben's photographs from their very special day. Congratulations Sarah & Ben!

Serengeti Sunset - Michael Allen Photography

2009-08-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Every year we travel to some of our favorite vacation spots along the gulf coast from Perdido Key to Seaside Florida. As a photographer I stay so busy shooting for clients, magazines, and numerous assignments, I sometimes like to take a break and go on a personal shooting safari to see what I shoot for fun. Here is one shot that looks like the African Serengeti, but was actually shot from the balcony of my house through the treetops. An incredible display of clouds and the last shot of the day. This one will go in my collection of gallery prints for my next exhibit.

Fashion Week Memphis - Michael Allen Photography

2009-07-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Last week Fashion Week took Memphis by storm at the new Minglewood Hall Concert Arena. Larry Perry with www.Epic1media.com produced the event. My friend www.briankcrainphoto.com shot with me to help capture some incredible images behind the scenes and during the fashion show event. Enjoy some of the highlights from the week and the show! If you were one of the models and want to see all of your images, go to www.pictage.com and do a search for your name.

Jessica & Neil's Wedding in Memphis - Michael Allen Photography

2009-07-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

I met Jessica & her parents who found me through my studio referrals. I knew that this would be a great family to work with, and really looked forward to shooting her wedding. Jessica and her new husband Neil, will be residing in Montana, another one of my favorite places to visit, and my wife's home state. This was a very fun wedding, despite the brutal high temperatures and high humidity. A couple of weeks before the wedding, a storm took out the main air conditioning unit at St Mary's Cathedral downtown, but fortunately they had a huge temporary AC unit piping in cold air into the main cathedral, however, the beautiful outdoor courtyard was full of heavy duty AC gear, and prevented us from shooting much out there. I'll also have to say the party at the reception was one of the best I've seen, everyone had a blast and the band was another highlight of the evening. Here are a few of the highlights from Jessica and Neil's Wedding in Memphis.

Hannah and David's Wedding-Memphis Tennessee - Michael Allen Photography

2009-06-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a few highlights from Hannah & David's Wedding last weekend. They were a great couple to photograph, they had a blast and were always having fun all day long. After the ceremony the reception was held at the Old Daisy Theatre on Beale Street. One of my approaches to photographing a wedding is to catch the couple being themselves. I want them to have fun and enjoy their beautiful day. Part of my artistic approach is to get the couple interacting early in the day, that's when the moments start to happen. The rest of the day seems to flow with all the details of the day. Hannah always has a smile on her face (so does David) and you can see from the photo collection here, how much in love they are with each other. They were a great couple to photograph, and even with the busy wedding schedule, we managed to sneak them away for a few moments for some timeless photographs! I also love the bride's incredible hairstyle, very elegant and classic...thanks to my beautiful wife and her award winning talents!

Sarah & Aaron's Wedding - Knoxville Tennessee - Michael Allen Photography

2009-06-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we traveled to east Tennessee to photograph Sarah & Aaron's Wedding in Knoxville. Seems like this year I've been all over the country, and the Caribbean photographing lots of fun weddings. Sarah & Aaron were a joy to work with, and the hospitality that their families and friends shared with us was simply amazing. One of my personal highlights (outside of the wedding) was the 2:30 a.m. hotel fire alarm that had about 300 hundred guests standing out in the street in our jammies. We were all half asleep, but definitely made some memories with this "after-after" party. Fortunately, it was a false alarm, and we all climbed back up the 9 stories in the stairwell and crawled back in our beds and went fast to sleep. The next day I had a little "jet lag" from my interrupted sleep, but the weekend was a great adventure. We drove to Knoxville a few days early to explore the mountains, took our daughter to a real gold & gem mine where she panned for gold, spent two days with our dear friend Dolly Parton in Dollywood, and I got a chance to hike the Cumberland mountain trails and zip across five 1000 ft zip lines at blazing speeds in my repelling gear. That was about as much fun as my shark diving adventures in Little Cayman a few years back. Anyway, back to the wedding! We had great weather, a beautiful blue sky day, and perfect temperatures in the 80's. The wedding day was a pretty fast paced day, but Sarah and Aaron were game for some adventure, so we took a quick little tour of downtown Knoxville's downtown outdoor Market, which made for some great photo backdrops. As you can see, Sarah & Aaron, and their entire wedding party had an incredible wedding day! Enjoy!

Sarah & Nick's Wedding - Memphis Tennessee - Michael Allen Photography

2009-06-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few highlights from Sarah & Nick's wedding. They were married at White Station Church of Christ with their reception at Memphis Botanic Garden. I had a great time photographing their wedding, and they had a fun group of friends for their large wedding party. It was a beautiful day for a June wedding, and everything was picture perfect for their day! I love photographing weddings like this, everyone was incredible! We had a great day with time to shoot lots of details. I put together a few of my favorite shots for the blog, and chose a collection of black & white images that create a classic modern wedding. For the outdoor photographs I look for the best light, choosing some partially shaded areas. This was a very bright day, so I look for high canopies under large trees to soften the light. When I find the right light, it mimics a large soft box, creating some very fun and timeless images. Sarah & Nick were very at ease with the camera, and as you can see, they ended up with some incredible photographs. Congratulations Sarah & Nick!

Emily & Glenn's Wedding - Memphis Tennessee

2009-05-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Emily & Glenn on their recent wedding celebration. I had a blast working with Emily on her wedding day, her family and friends are so wonderful. It was a great day to share with this fun couple! I love working with couples that relax and have fun, capturing them on their very special day is an honor. Their wedding day was one of those potential rainy days, with looming clouds and rainshowers all day long, but when it came time for photos, the clouds broke away and the skies cleared like a scene from the Old Testament when Moses parted the sea. I hope you enjoy a few of the highlights from their beautiful wedding! Emily & Glenn flew in from New York to get married in their hometown for a grand wedding day. As you can see by some of the details, it was a beautiful event.

Kelly & Keith - Memphis Brooks Museum of Art - Michael Allen Photography

2009-05-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Kelly & Keith on their wedding, which was recently featured in Southern Bride Magazine. I really love working with Kelly (& Keith) and her eye for fine details. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is an incredible choice for a wedding with all of it's art exhibits, fine paintings and sculpture. I particularly love the architecture of the building, including both ultra modern design and historic detail from the early 1900's. Angela Mazanti was the event designer, and offered creative uses of color and texture for their wedding, making their wedding an incredible, beautiful event. Here are just a few of the details of their day.

Food & Wine Magazine Top 10 Chefs - Michael Allen Photography - Memphis

2009-04-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Kelly English at Restaurant Iris...... One of our recent clients has just been selected as Food & Wine Magazines 2009 Top Ten Best New Chefs! This is great honor and a significant award. If you have not been to Kelly's new restaurant, be sure to make reservations well in advance, it was hard to get in before, now with this award, it may take months just to get in. The food is absolutely incredible.

Here is a brief review from the Food & Wine article:

How his cooking career started: “I was filleting catfish in a little fish shack in Oxford, Mississippi, while I was pre-law at Ole Miss. I realized I liked going to work more than going to school. When I told my dad, who’s a lawyer, that I wanted to go to culinary school instead of law school, he was really excited about it. In his business, everyone is unhappy; I liked the idea of making people happy. He took me to August restaurant in New Orleans—we had gnocchi in fennel cream sauce with black truffles and blue crab, and from that first bite, I knew. That dish changed my life.”

How he opened Iris: “I was in Memphis with my now-wife, Angela, and I heard about a space that was for sale, an old Memphis institution called La Tourelle. Inside, there was a stained glass fleur-de-lis (a New Orleans symbol), and I said, ‘Oh my goodness.’ We went outside and there was a rainbow. I said, ‘What’s next, a unicorn?’ Everything about it was exactly right.”

Be sure to read more about Kelly at www.foodandwine.com/articles/best-new-chefs-2009-kelly-english

Kelly and his wife Angela were married last year in Memphis at an extravagant high end wedding at St Peters with a grand reception at Central Station. Shown here is a portrait of Kelly & Angela we photographed on location at Restaurant Iris. Congratulations to Kelly and Angela for this incredible honor.

Buckle Stores Advertising Session - Michael Allen Photography

2009-03-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few commercial advertising photographs that I shot this month for "Buckle". For this session we were going for a natural lighting for an edgy fashion look, keeping a bold color palette within Buckles targeted demographics. Sessions like these are a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. We had over 10 models, 2 hairstylists, 2 makeup artists, 3 fashion designers, and our team. Part of the concept of the shoot was to work in a live store, creating strong public excitement of shooting on location in one of Buckles highly successful stores. The gear used was pretty simple as far as lighting. I got to put my new Canon 5d Mark II to the test and used a variety of lenses from a 15mm fisheye, a 24-105mm IS lens, and a 70-200mm IS lens - in RAW mode at 21 megapixel. Shooting on this camera reminds me of the days when I shot all transparencies for the magazines. The digital capability of this camera is fantastic. I used several reflectors, blended natural light with ambient sunlight, and worked in ISO ranges from 640 to 6200. I also used some flash depending on the spots I choose on the location, bouncing flash into the reflectors to create a full wash effect. We had the ad agency team on location who helped us stay on task and kept the team working at full steam. I've done lots of sessions like these over the years, and working with great models who know what to do takes the session over the top! Hopefully sometime next year some of these will end up in their ad campaigns, I'll keep you posted when they go to press.

Children's Spring Portrait Sessions Now Booking in Memphis

2009-03-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

It's a perfect time to book your child for one of our lifestyle portrait sessions. We love to catch kids being themselves and having fun, you get some incredible photographs of the most simple things. Here is one image of a portrait group we are working on for our Spring Portrait Sessions. With Easter just around the corner, what a perfect time to schedule a session. We customize each session to fit your child's personality, and unlike some portrait studios, we shoot over 100 images, so you will have more choices than you can imagine. This image will be great on a 24x36 inch canvas portrait. Instead of buying expensive art for your home, invest in your child as Art.

Baby Sessions

2009-03-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

I love the diversity of professional photography especially when I can go one day from shooting wild rock stars, then book a session with a new mom and her sweet new baby. My approach to photographing any subject is to capture some incredible images. Children are an incredible blessing in life, and if you can capture them being themselves and combine those moments with Art, then you have a great session. I did Shannon's wedding a couple of years ago, she recently called me for her maternity session, and now her new 5 month old baby boy. I schedule quite a few baby sessions each month, and love every minute of it. I used the new Canon 5d Mark II with a 24-105mm IS lens. I shot these at ISO 1000 in the studio with a soft box, 4x6 reflector, and a small backlight for the background with some spill on the subject from behind. My studio has a nice full glass wall that brings in lots of daylight, so I shoot everything in daylight mode.

Yung Rip

2009-03-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last month I got a call from a music industry executive in Australia who represents a new hip hop artist - Yung Rip. He is in Memphis recording his new cd at Ardent Studios. I got a chance to photograph these images with the new Canon 5d MarkII camera. Here are just a few of the images from the session. I'll keep you posted when the cd comes out and which images they choose for the cover. The great thing about working with new artists, they have lots of drive and incredible talent, you never know when you may be working with the next grammy winning artist.

Save The Dress-Memphis Wedding Photographer

2009-03-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

Here's our hot new photography feature that everyone's talking about. If you want one for your wedding or engagement session, just ask about our special package offer. Our videos can be downloaded to your Facebook, Wedding Website, or wherever you want. Check out our new video and imagine yourself in these images....pretty cool! You can also get some pretty cool music from a list of great artists in our stock music plan. Tired of the same old boring videos? We can change that!

Memphis Wedding Photography Classes - Photo Art

2009-02-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here is part of a recent collection I shot in Mobile Bay last summer. The Photo Art collection is one of our most requested techniques for brides who love art! We also teach this in our workshops and one on one mentoring classes. Find out more about our workshops on the website. We teach photoshop processing techniques and a variety of art techniques. We teach classes for advanced photographers, and new enthusiasts. We can also bring in our advanced team, one who is a recent graduate of The University of Art in San Francisco to teach larger workshops. Ryan is a master in the entire Adobe CS4 Suite, and has an incredible talent for art. On this image, I did a layering process with about 6 layers and created an overlay along with distressing to create this piece. Visit our website at www.michaelallenphotography.com to find out more about our collections.

Lindsey & David - Memphis Tennessee - Michael Allen Photography

2009-01-23T13:13:00.001-08:00

Here's a sneek peek of Lindsey & David's wedding on January 17th, 2009. They had a full Military Style wedding at Griffin Chapel in rural Memphis. Here are just a few of the highlights from their wedding.

Michael Allen Photography Memphis - Southern Bride Destination Weddings

2008-12-18T15:46:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pages of the new 2009 Spring Summer Edition of Southern Bride Magazine due to hit the newstands in January. I loved shooting this session, and chose one of my favorite locations in Perdido Key Florida, a remote key with beautiful surroundings and a rainforest landscape design at the Eden Resort. I hope you enjoy the photographs shown in the layouts from the magazine. For the session my wife Janice provided the hair and makeup designs, and the support team at Southern Bride Magazine assisted with the models and location arrangements, as well as assistance from Orange Beach Weddings, For the session, I used a Canon 5d with a 70-200mm IS lens, and a large california sunbounce reflector, and a variety of additional scrims and reflectors from Westcott. We contracted the models from the local region, and as you can see, they did an incredible job on the session. Part of this collection was shot for our Destination Weddings collection, to give brides an idea of how to turn an ordinary beach wedding into an incredible destination wedding with an international flavor. When I started the shoot, I set the model away from the building, but as I turned and began to notice how the building looked like the bow of a huge cruise ship, I moved the set quickly toward the balcony of the resort to take advantage of the available light. The session began at high noon, which some photographers shy away from due to the intensity of the sunlight, but in this case I used it to my advantage and popped in some extra sun with my reflectors. For the next segment of the session we traveled to the historic district in Mobile Bay. I'll post those next. I hope you enjoy!

Michael Allen Photography Memphis - Flemings Prime Steakhouse

2008-12-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent photographs from a corporate session with Flemings Steakhouse. Flemings is one of my commercial clients. Flemings is one of the best,high end, fine dining restaurants in the country, winning numerous accolades nationwide. Located prime cities offering the finest in dining experiences,

Flemings offers some incredible cuisine and fine wines.

For this session I was asked to photograph the local owner-partners in the Memphis location for the companies website and various media publications. For this session I used a Canon 5d with a 24-205 mm IS lens and a Canon Fisheye Lens with a colored corrected soft box from Westcott, a diffused fill flash, a small hot light to accent the background, and combined the ambient lighting of the restaurant. I kept the ISO from 500 to 640, and the aperture at 125, with an f-stop of f4. For the room settings I again used some small hot lights to accent the room, and adjusted the color temperature to match the ambient lighting. I left the images a bit on the warm side to add to an evening dining experience.

Michael Allen Photography Memphis - The Gift

2008-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Last month I was asked to photograph a story line that is being edited into a HD Video presentation for the Holidays at Hope Church in Memphis. The basic story line is about a recovering alcoholic father and his first Christmas back at home with his wife and daughter after treatment. His daughter gives him a gift that reminds him of how wrong he is in his daily life, and how much of a blessing he has in his family. This is a pretty exciting photography/ HD video that will be shown to over 25,000 people who attend the Hope Christmas services on Christmas Eve. It's not often that I get the opportunity to have that many people see my work in one place, so I'm very excited to be involved in this project. These images will be edited by the production editors at Hopes state of the art facilities, cut in Final Cut Pro and rendered to full 1080i HD and shown on 2-25 ft x 35ft HD screens using the latest Christie HD projectors. I did a similar project for Hope this summer, which I will post at a later date. Here are just a few of the several hundred images that I shot for this project. I shot this with a Canon 5d with a Canon 24-105mm IS lens in available light with a california sunbounce light reflector & light modifiers, I did a mild boost in the vibrance level, but the images needed very little color adjustment. This project is a great example of a cinematic style of photography that I offer to many of my commercial clients. Here are just a few of the images from the shoot, they are not in any particular order, but I hope you enjoy the images. (All Images Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved - Michael Allen Photography)

Michael Allen- Editor's Choice Award- Capture Memphis Book

2008-11-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here's an update from the special Capture Memphis book which was released at a special book release event last week. The book is now published and available for sale at Davis Kidd Booksellers and other local Memphis book stores. We are very excited about this breaking news!
This years "Editor's Choice Award" was given to Michael Allen Photography for the collection of photography featuring Special Events in Memphis! We are so excited to have one this prestigious award. This is a tremendous honor to be selected as the best of over 10,000 photographs submitted in the competition. We are also very excited to have many of our photographs published in this great new book showing off our great city! The book is now available at most major bookstores in the Memphis region. Be sure to visit www.capturememphis.com and order a copy. Thank you Memphis for this great honor! A few select Memphis Photographers won similar awards for their photographs, including Mark Allen, Michael's brother who is an avid photographer in the city. Several other Memphis photographers are featured in the book for their top voted photography as well. Capture Memphis is an incredible book that depicts the absolute best photography in Memphis! Shown above is one of the award winning photographs that appear in the book from the Hope Summer Concert Series. Follow the images below and visit the Capture Memphis website.

Thinkwell Creative

2008-10-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a few samples from a recent commercial shoot for my clients over at www.thinkwellcreative.com. We did a full business session to build up their stock images for their new website. Each month I get to work with 3 or 4 businesses who are staying on the leading edge by keeping their portfolios current. For this shoot we spent the morning at Shelby Farms, brought several props from our planning session, and came up with several concepts for their campaign. These photo sessions are great for businesses for keeping ahead of the competition, highlighting what your business does best, and involves your staff by building enthusiasm and team collaboration. If your business would like to book a session, contact us and we will walk you through the creative process for designing your photo shoot for your business. We can make it simple, or go all out for a full production shoot complete with makeup artist, set design, on location or production studio facilities.

Capture Memphis & Michael Allen Photography

2008-09-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out what's going on in Memphis at the Capture Memphis website. It's great to see all the amazing photographers posting there beautiful work. This summer I selected a few of my most recent photographs to enter into the Capture Memphis contest. I'm very excited to have several of my photographs voted in the top rankings by several hundred thousand fellow Memphians. The photos will be included in the "Capture Memphis Book" to be released at Davis Kidd Booksellers in November. If you would like your own personal copy featuring the very best photographs of Memphis by some of the best photographers in the region, be sure to visit www.capturememphis.com and order a copy.

Trash The Dress -John Michael Cooper Workshop - Memphis - Michael Allen Photography

2008-08-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

In July I had a great opportunity to attend an advanced workshop by the world famous John Michael Cooper, along with 15 or so professional photographers from across the country. John Michael Cooper is known for starting the "Trash The Dress" craze that is sweeping the world.

He and his wife Dalisa came to Memphis on their recent nationwide tour to teach a workshop about their photography style, business workflow, and a little creative session for all of the participants. John's website is www.altf.com and he is a great guy, very wide open about teaching his profession, and not quite as wild as his photography may imply. My friend Jake Morrow hosted the class, and there were a wide range of photographers in the workshop for the day. Everything I show in my photographs here on the blog are shots of John Michael at work, showing and teaching his style, camera techniques, and creative ideas for models and concepts for each session. The "Trash The Dress" concept is basically a style of photography where the bride and groom are photographed after the wedding, and not as concerned about keeping that beautiful white dress so perfectly clean. Not every dress is totally trashed, but the locations where the photos are taken are very unusual and very artistic. In fact, John Michael taught his concept was mainly a publicity stunt to drive his business, it took off and the rest is history. Some of the photos I shot here show John Michael at work with several models, and one part of the concept session was a tribute to Malcom X. I hope you enjoy seeing some photos of the workshop.

Ginny Owens - Bebo Norman Concert - Michael Allen Photography - Memphis

2008-08-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots I took for the Hope Summer Concert Series a few weeks back. One of my favorite recording artists is Ginny Owens. I've worked with her a year or two ago, and she is amazing. Not only is she very funny, she is very down to earth and friendly. At the concert, she was playing the grand piano in the 5000 seat concert arena, she has a very soulful, soft way of playing, here I am firing away with my Canon 5d, which is not a very quiet camera, I hoped that the shutter noise would not be too much of a distraction. I asked her later in the green room if she was able to hear my camera, she laughingly said yes, but she did not mind. She will be coming through Memphis this year to record her new album, and I hope to work with her in the studio. Another amazing artist is Bebo Norman, I hope you enjoy a few of the photos from the concert that I shot. There will be more posted on the Hope Concert Series website if you want to see more.

The Red One Camera - On Location Shoot - Hope Production Crew

2008-08-25T08:24:00.001-07:00

This Sunday I had a lot of fun working on the set of a local production company in Memphis for an inspirational documentary segment for my great friend Brian Albrecht at Hope Studios. The team was comprised of myself, Jerit Abart, Brian Albrecht, Andy Dean www.deanfv.com (who owns The Red One)

Shannon (our talent for the lemonade making segment), and several other guys from local studios in Memphis. I've been a videographer for many years, mainly on high end productions, and love to work on certain projects as they come up. For this project, I worked in a couple of roles as key grip, and audio engineer for the production. I was very interested in working on this project with Andy, who has the new Red One very high end

production Cinema camera. This camera has incredible capacity, utilizing a full frame 35mm sensor, shoots in RAW, and is essentially the next generation of digital film camera, surpassing most any camera in the world. I recommend going to The Red One website for more technical info at www.Red.com if you are interested in film production, video production, or professional still cameras, as it's

pretty amazing. Andy also has a full production truck with all the pro gear, a full kit of Zeiss lenses, and state of the art digital capture essentials. Here are a few stills i shot of the morning segment of the crew at work. We had a blast, and worked all day indoors, out in the rain, after the rain stopped, we got to enjoy some Memphis humidity, and then some scorching rays of sun in the afternoon, all in true hollywood production fashion. I'll try to set up a link on my blog when the piece is finished for you to see.

Southern Bride Magazine-Kids Shoot-cupcakes and candy - Michael Allen Photography

2008-08-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the spring I had the opportunity to shoot a special feature for Southern Bride Magazine. Most photographers don't want to tackle 9 models at once, yet alone 9 child models, but I love photographing children. I also had lots of help, so we kept the kids pretty busy, without a lot of downtime. You have to work fast, because kids will loose their attention span quickly. You want to keep the activities simple, and have things that they really enjoy. If they stop to play, then it's all over, you have to keep the activities well organized, and make sure to supervise the entire party all the time. This kids party was a true fairytale, complete with magic tricks, flying doves, lot's of special tricks, balloons, candy, and incredible clothes for the kids wardrobe. I love photographing kids, they have a way of being themselves, and once they are used to the camera, they get quite comfortable with the surroundings, making it a great opportunity to catch them having fun. We had an early morning call time for the shoot, around 8 am. I must admit, I'm not a morning person, but it's better than a 4 am call time! Be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine at your local newsstand or bookstore. For this shoot I used my Canon 5d, a canon 580 flash, and bounced off my California Sunbounce 6 foot reflector. The room also had overhead skylights, so the light was good. I wanted to achieve a very natural look, and still have an editorial look as well. I used both the 70-200 Canon and the 24-105 Canon "L" lenses throughout the morning. The kids were a blast! I had lots of help from the entire team, the mom's, the editorial staff, the vendors. I think the candy table kept the kids interest the most, and the Magician had his hat full of tricks too. Special thanks to the editors & staff at Southern Bride, Alyssa and Sherra, and Kim. We had candy furnished by Dinsthul's Fine Candies, Angela with Southern Event Planners arranged all the displays, Mr Nick provided the magical distractions, Clothes by Halo Hattie, and hair styles by Julie Beck and Janice Allen at Eston. Cupcakes by La Baguette, Shoes by Baby Deer, Dresses by Strasburg Children, addition clothes by Bella Bliss. And, of course, all our wonderful little models!

Southern Bride Magazine-Michael Allen Photography

2008-07-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I did a shoot for Southern Bride Magazine in Mobile, on the gulf coast region of Alabama. The location was the Bragg Plantation in Mobile, an 18th century southern mansion located near Mobile Bay in the historic district. I've driven through Mobile many times, and love it when I can shoot in the downtown district. The downtown district is a very scenic, bustling area full of history, great architecture, and full of beauty. When we arrived at the Bragg Mansion, it was an extremely hot day, part of the nice weather we have in the south. When I changed from indoors to outdoors, my lenses would fog over with condensation., that's how humid it was that day. Since we did not have a full day to shoot, I chose to keep most of the shots indoors, and kept the outdoor shots brief. I did not want my models makeup to melt, or have their faces flush with the heat. A good friend of mine, Brian Crain, a fellow photographer for Southern Bride Magazine, lives in New Orleans, and faces the humidity more than most. We've both learned some tricks to help with the humidity, but I know you really just want to see pictures and not hear my stories, so here are a few of the shots. I shot around 1100 photos, but we were on a 4 hour schedule that day, so I normally would shoot more. All of these were shot on my Canon 5d with the 24-105mm IS lens. I did pull out my fisheye lens for some of the detail shots, but mainly stayed with the 24-105. These have not been retouched yet, I'll have a bit of post to do in photoshop. I really liked the first shot you see posted, a trash the dress look.

Pictage Modern Book by Michael Allen

2008-07-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

The new "Modern Book" is now available from Michael Allen Photography! You'll love this new modern twist on the coffee table book. Definitely a step up to a great new wedding book that everyone will love to have to showcase their wedding photography! This is probably one of the first out of the lab in California, I'm sure a lot of photographers are waiting in line to get these incredible new books.

While at the WPPI show in Las Vegas I spent some time at the Pictage Conference, and at several of the Pictage educational events.

I love learning more about my craft,

and take many trips each year to learn

and strive for excellence in my photography.

One of my goals at the recent WPPI (Wedding Portrait Photographers International) was to bring in a new book and album line into my studio for the many weddings that I do each year. There was a sample of the new "Art Book" from Pictage, and I definitely liked it as a new style book for my clients. I also got some information on their new "Modern Book", which is a book style that very nice high end coffee table book.

I just got my studio sample in yesterday, and took

these photographs for my website package portfolio

last night. You can see by the photos, it is a pretty nice book. I ordered the 12x12 size, and it is something I think brides will like. It is a heavy book, but not too heavy. The quality is very good, and the pages are true photographs bound on a board page.

The pages are not as heavy as the Sequoia Album, but I think I like it that way, as it seems more like a coffee table book. The dust jacket is a nice feature, and the photo cover is simple and modern. For this sample book, I chose Morgan & Nick's Wedding. I like the flush mount pages, and I'm an avid fan of the Pictage album designer software, which makes it easy to design a book. The turnaround was about 6 weeks, but Pictage is promising a 4 week turnaround, so I was pleased with the delivery time. I've got one more sample book on order, I'll see how fast that one comes in.

Brides will like this new option for their weddings. The Coffee Table books are nice to have, but this gives them an upgrade to a nicer book without having to have a big heavy wedding album. I usually suggest to brides to get both the Sequoia Album and a coffee table book, now with the ability to order a clone book, this will be a great option. My brides will love the new Modern Book. It's the next level in coffee table books, and for the modern bride, a perfect fit.

Shannon's Maternity Session

2008-07-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo from Shannon's maternity session that we did last week. Shannon and Peter got married a couple of years back, and they are beginning their new family with a new baby boy! We did several styles for the session, here is a sample of one of the styles. We had a lot of fun and came up with about 6 totally different sets. I also mixed in several black & white shots, and we did some silhouettes on black and brown backgrounds looked great! Be sure to schedule your session around 6 to 7 months. We also so newborn sessions! I do most of my maternity sessions out of my home studio, so mom's feel a bit more comfortable. I also do sessions right at your home, I shoot lifestyle looks and also bring a couple of backdrops too, all I need is a nice bright window along with one of my large softboxes.

Destination Weddings

2008-07-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

In June we went to Perdido Key to shoot a session for Destination Weddings and Southern Bride Magazine. Here are just a few of the shots with Summer and Kris on Perdido Key. We were able to shoot on location at Eden Resort, which is Perdido Key's premier resorts. Special thanks to Keven with Eden Resort for giving us free reign on the resort property. We loved this location for it's incredible tropical landscaping, sand dunes, and remote beaches. Be sure to check back on our website for the full portfolio soon. Thanks to our models Briana, Summer & Kris. Thanks to Morgan Allen Armstrong for helping with the dresses. Additional thanks to the editors and staff at Southern Bride Magazine, Orange Beach Weddings, and Eston Salon, my wife Janice Allen, for the incredible hair and makeup!

Great Output Magazine - Michael Allen Photography-Artefact Studio

2008-07-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this months issue of Great Output Magazine. We got a call from the editor a couple of months ago to talk about our book design & publishing thoughts, and we were happy to offer our input for their article about the newest book publishing offerings for pro's looking for the newest info for printing photo books for our clients and brides, as well as info for all the great and aspiring pro photographers out there in the world today. We offer a great new book line from Artefact Studio, which has a lot more options than books that we've carried before. Our favorite aspect of the new Artefact line is the ability to print on watercolor paper, opaque, glossy, matte and linen.

The professional quality of these books is amazing, we are able to produce high quality photographic books printed on archival paper, with complete design control. The editor's story focuses on several new ways for photographers to print photo books, and we were glad to be a part of their story that will go out to over 20,000+ photographers worldwide.

We do a lot of photography books for a lot of our customers. Not only coffee table books for weddings, but books for our commercial customers as well. There is a huge paradigm shift in the printing world going on, and printing high quality professional books has become very affordable. In the past years it would cost thousands of dollars to print books, and you had to order several hundred copies. Today we can order 1 book, or 20 books. Our staff has the ability to design custom books for our commercial clients, which will take the place of brochures. Now customers can have books made in any size, any quantity, and with reorders at a more affordable price. For our bridal books, can offer really incredible professional books for just a few hundred dollars, and brides can order various sizes of clone miniature books for under $50. We believe that our photography business has now entered the publishing world, and that more and more customers will turn to photographers for the custom book designs. Be sure to log onto Great Output and read the full article!

Michael Allen Photography- Sara Groves Concert

2008-06-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Each summer I help sponsor the "Summer Concert Series" at Hope, along with Compassion International, and several other sponsors. This year Sara Groves appeared in concert along with Matthew West in Hopes new 5000 seat arena. This year Sara won best album of the year at the recent "GMA" Awards. I must admit, I'm one of Sara's biggest fans, and have met her before at Hope a few years back, and she is an amazing person. She is as kind and warm as her music. I've had the opportunity to photograph many recording artists over the years, and she is one of the most genuine people that you can meet. Sara and her husband, (who is equally as nice as Sara) along with their 3 children came to Memphis for the concert which was the christening concert for Hope's new facilities. Be sure to visit Sara's website at www.saragroves.com, and Matthew West's site at www.matthewwest.com to find out more about their incredible music! I hope you enjoy a few of the photos I shot from the concert. I used my Canon 5d with several lenses, the 24-105mm L lens, the 70-200mm 2.8 L lens, and the 15mm fisheye lens. Shooting concerts I always use available light, and run my ISO anywhere from 250 to 1600 depending on the lighting situation. I always shoot the aperture wide open with shutter speeds from 60 to 15. Hope's new "Christie HD" 25 ft projection screens throw an amazingly clear image into the room, as you can see on some of the photos, I was able to use the HD images as my backdrop.

Real Wedding Awards on THE KNOT

2008-03-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to Amber & Travis for allowing me to enter their beautiful Southern Wedding

in The Knot Real Wedding Awards. Their wedding was a true traditional Southern Style wedding in Oxford Mississippi. Special thanks to Kate at Abash Events, and The Colonel's Quarters for their amazing wedding designs. The competition is lot's of fun, and Amber & Travis have a chance to win a Safari Adventure. Be sure to visit www.theknot.com to see more of their photos, as well as all of the other entries from around the world.

Bella in Calla Lilly

2008-02-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

I love the Art of photography.

You may have seen some

of my earlier posts of the

"Ballerina Collection" where I

created a simple, timeless collection

of children. In the "Bebe Collection" I love to

add creative elements, I used a recent session with Janna and her beautiful new baby "Bella". My goal for Bella's session was to capture very simple photos in a "real life" approach.

When I ran across this shot, I knew exactly how "Bella" could bloom. When I got into post I had an idea in mind inspired by Anne Geddes using flowers. I pulled my flower collection, but I did not have just the right flower, so I ran down to the florist and ran across this calla lilly. The florist didn't have a very large one, and the detail was not as defined as I would have liked, but it works well for this pose of "Bella" growing out of the flower as a new baby in bloom!

(Janna and her family recently had their house broken into and all the photos taken, hopefully this will get their collection growing again)

Hope you enjoy this beautiful piece of art!

Jenny's Bridal Session at The Esplanade

2008-02-01T15:31:00.001-08:00

Last week our team

had a lot of fun with

Jenny's bridal session at the

Esplanade. I love the bold colors

and the blend of elegance that

the designers created at this

beautiful new facility. For Jenny's

session I wanted to capture a very elegant

side of Jenny - it's not every day that you

get to be a bride - so I wanted

to let her create some beautiful

memories to last her lifetime. . . . . . . . . .

Janice created the hairfashion for Jenny

that would complement her veil, and

let her beautiful long blonde hair be

seen. The dress is a very simple, yet

very detailed dress that is absolutely

gorgeous. . . . . . . For the set, I used

several room sized reflectors, as well

as a strobe flash on an extender cord,

which allowed me to position the

flash where I wanted it. Also, I took

advantage of the natural light coming

in from the massive windows. In the last shot I

let the sun blow out the photo a bit, just to give

the photo a nice artistic edge. I used a Canon

5d with a 24-105 L lense, wide open at f4 and

controlled by speed to get the exposure just right.

These have not got to post yet, where I'll boost

the contrast, clean up the backgrounds and make

small adjustments to the exposure.

Thanks to the staff at The Esplanade for letting us

use this great facility! Visit www.esplanadememphis.com

I love the great use of colors, elegant interior space,

and modern ambiance. Be sure to visit them for

a tour of this beautiful new facility located just

a few yards from our studio in the town square in

Cordova Station.

Bridal Session at The Pink Palace

2007-10-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a great time with Janna and her bridal portrait session. I love it when brides find incredible places for their
weddings. The Pink Palace has been a landmark in Memphis way before Elvis was born, my grandfather used to take me there as a kid, so it's always a flashback for me to enter the building.
For this shoot I used my Canon 5D, some fill flash in a couple of situations, along with a 4ft silver reflector. Janna was so much fun, she brought her mom and Justins mom, and we all had a chance to talk about her wedding plans, and just get comfortable in front of the camera. My advice to every bride, do a bridal session, it gives you a memory of a lifetime! I'll take these into photoshop

and do a little post production before they are printed, and Janna

will select her favorite for her finished framed portrait

2007-09-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone...here is some new techno stuff I'm trying out for the website. Check out
Animoto...some pretty cool stuff!
http://animoto.com/play/cae24b7ea77dd0be24669d24b2098722"target="_blank"

Memphis Wedding Photography Southern Bride Magazine

2007-08-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

Last month I got a call from one of the editors to photograph a segment for next years issue of Southern Bride Magazine. I wanted to use as much natural light as possible, so most of what you'll see in the magazine was 100% light from the window the studio. The sun was coming in from the west, and I had sheer white fabric diffusers and some silver diffusers.

I did use one 1/2 k hot spot for some fill, but only when the clouds covered up the sun. This article is yet to be written, so I can't elaborate on the details, however,

the photos will feature wedding veils and head pieces.

I used a Canon 5D with a 24-105 IS f4 lense, and working in available light and low light, the camera performed incredibly well. I wanted a soft look, and lots of detail, I'll go back in and do some touchup and may add some softness around the edges. This photo is right out of the camera. Before it goes to print it will undergo a bit of photoshop retouching.

Keep an eye out for this issue, it's sure to be a favorite for brides in 2008. I shot about 300 photos for this segment, we will use about 6 most likely.

Jeremy Horn & Brenton Brown Concert

2007-08-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a great new recording artist that I photographed last month for his debut concert and CD release, Jeremy Horn. Jeremy opened for very well known recording artist Brenton Brown http://www.brentonbrownmusic.com/ Take time to check out both of their sites, it's well worth the time.

Visit Jeremy at http://www.jeremyhornmusic.com/ and find out why his new CD debut at #10 on http://www.amazon.com/ last week in the new worship music category. Here are just a few of the photographs from the concert held in Memphis last month as part of the Hope Summer Concert Series. Visit http://www.hopemusicacademy.com/ for more info. For this concert I used my Canon 5D with the 70-200 2.8 IS lense. The light conditions in concerts are all over the place, so I stay in manual and make constant changes on about every dial on the camera....quite a workout....but some nice results. I guess living in Memphis has it's perks getting to be a part of some great music moments.

Jill Dyson opens Concert for Mark Schultz

2007-07-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This is my friend Jill Dyson at www.jilldyson.com. Jill is a talented singer songwriter and recently opened for Mark Schultz www.markschultzmusic.com at the summer concert series at www.hopepres.com. Jill has recently written several new songs for her upcoming CD, and is being mentored by Bruce Carroll at www.brucecarroll.com in the studio at Hope. Jill and her husband Shannon are great friends & neighbors, we hang out with the family when we get a chance, and I've been helping her develop her business. Here are a few photos of Jill taken in the studio, and around the corner from my house in old town Cordova. Keep and eye on her career, she has tremendous talent. www.megapixel.bz

Memphis Wedding Photography Southern Bride Magazine

2007-07-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

In between everything else I do, I've had the great opportunity over the years to work as a contributing artist to several magazines, the experience and rewards are great. This past year I've been working for http://www.southernbride.com/ and I wanted to post a few photographs from the recent issue that just hit the magazine stands. Some of the photos are pretty simple and straight forward, for the in-studio shots of the models, used 2 low 50 watt voltage halogens just to see what would happen, I've used much larger 1 k fresnels in the past, but I wanted to see how the new Canon 5D would handle this situation. I added the bubbles in photoshop just for kicks...For the cakes, http://www.thattakesthecake.net/ I used natural light with a reflector, for the candy I used a reflector overhead with a Canon strobe pointed straight up, and the outdoor shot had just a tiny bit of fill flash, just enough to let the colors of the clothes pop a bit. I also had the opportunity to work with a couple friends (also photographers) http://www.ramblinrosephotography.com/ and http://www.bellphotoart.com/ along with my wife Janice at http://www.estonsalon.com/ and Julie the Aveda Color Director for ESTON. Also, thanks goes to the editors at Southern Bride, Alyssa and Lyndsay and the http://www.brooksmuseum.com/ for the location.

2007-07-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

My little girl Amelia loves to help me with sessions. Her she helped me with the new
"Ballerina Session" that I offer in the studio. For this session I used a halogen softbox, and a small light on the backdrop for a little dimension. Each photo has a bit of photoshop work just to add a bit of softness. From these sessions I create a mini album, and a framed print or gallery wrap for the clients. This is a favorite with most moms that have little ballerinas at home. I used my Canon 5D with the 24-105 4.0 IS lense.

2007-07-10T18:38:00.001-07:00

Last Month I had the opportunity to shoot some concerts at Hope for their summer concert series. Here are a few shots from two of the concerts, I'll try to post
a few more photos later. Most of you are familiar with the song Via De La Rosa, it was written by Billy Sprague who performed with his friends Bruce Carroll and Bob Bennett. Photographing concerts give me a lot of time to try new techniques, shoot
in some impossible lighting situations, and stretch my creativity by catching the artist in just the right moment. I also had the opportunity to photograph another well known christian artist, Nicole Mullen, www.nicolecmullen.com who has written many of todays most popular songs. She is a powerhouse of energy, and catching her was quite a job, I was able to get several dozen action shots using my Canon 5D with a 70-200 2.8 IS lense.

2007-07-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Bridal Portfolio's are the hottest thing in weddings right now, I love to work with new brides in creating a session that brings out their beauty in a romantic way. For Mandy's session, the backdrop set the mood at the historic Nineteenth Century Club in Downtown Memphis. I encourage every bride to include a bridal session at the top of her wedding photography priority list. Every bridal portrait becomes a cherished part of the brides memories. I get many brides calling me wishing that they had done a session for their wedding years ago.

A lot of my bridal sessions take a lot of planning, and some sessions I do several months after the wedding day, and some brides give them a surprise gifts to their husbands, so it's well worth the time and expense.I tend to shoot the bridal session as I would a fashion models session, using special locations, extra studio lighting, and special attention to the hair and makeup. I also want to stretch the bride a bit from her wedding poses, and direct her in the style of the session. I want the bride to walk away from the session having fun, and a lot of choices from her session. More than one portrait, but a complete portfolio with photographs she can use for years. She also let me do her engagement session, and that's posted below as well.Mandy did an incredible job in her session, and she's been very gracious to let me share some of her portfolio on my blog and on my website. Thanks Mandy!

Mandy & Jerry's Engagement Session

2007-04-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

I love to take photos of couples in love. Their expressions toward each other are almost like watching a romantic movie. I talked to Mandy and Jerry about shooting their engagment photos, and I asked if they would give me some freedom to shoot their engagement photos.

I love to scout locations and find places that are unusual, different, and not always the expected.This old railcar is about 500 feet from the busiest streets in the city, but no one even knows this old car is sitting abandoned on the tracks. It's mostly overgrown with weeds in the summer months, but the rest of the year it's an amazing spot for some great photos.

Mandy needed little direction, Jerry followed her lead well. I was a little concerned about lighting, the sky was overcast, but it was bright. One of those days you need to wear sunglasses to keep the sky from making your eyes tear up. We spent about an hour and moved to a couple of locations near the tracks. Old town Cordova has been rezoned for industrial, so the old charm of the original small town has diminished, but the building remain intact, and offer some nice backdrops. I used my Canon 5D in manual mode

for most of these shots. I only did a small amount of post in photoshop. I may go back in a do a little bit more at some point, but I like the results so far. No flash was used, as the 5D can work well in almost any light source. See my gallery for the rest of the photos, I'm booked solid for the next 10 months, so I can't get to the blog page as often as I'd like.

WPPI 2007

2007-03-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a week at the WPPI convention in Nevada. We got up each morning at 8:30 to go some incredible classes to learn the hottest new things in photography from the best photographers in the world. (let's say I got up at 8:30 and my wife, Janice, well...she went shopping at about 10.... she'd hang with me some, but she's a hairdresser by profession, so the workshops are not always her thing, unless we are at a hair show, then she's all over it)

The WPPI is the largest professional photographers conference in America, and I got to meet, study with, and learn from over 50 different world famous photographers from around the world. My first class was with Art Wolfe, who is an incredible photographer with National Geographic Magazine, and he dazzled us with his new collection about to be released worldwide this year on the National Geographic channel. One of my loves in photography is outdoor photography, ecology and the environment. I love the beauty of our planet, and the delicate detail of our ecosystems. If you have time, visit www.artwolfe.com and see this guys incredible work!

Most of my studies at the www.wppi.com this week were for portraits and weddings, so I went to as many classes as I could all day long...from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm each day...so I did not get much time to see the sights...but I'll post a couple of photos above...most of the photos in this post were from the trade show floor where all the big companies gave even more classes. Canon and Nikon were the main camera vendors, Adobe Photoshop and Apple took up most of my time as I learned the new CS3e versions and many other cool photo programs. (I went to several classes taught by Julieanne Kost with Adobe, she knows her stuff and is an Adobe guru)

Some of my favorite photographers that I put on my learning list: Mike Colon, I've met him briefly once before, and chatted briefly again with him. Mike is exciting and full of creative genius, you'll probably see a little of his influence in my photography style. Bruce Dorn is another of my favorites, he has a cinemaphotography background, and has a new found love for wedding photography, I love his style utilizing fresnel lights, again, my style. There's one shot of him on this page, again, my cheapo pocket camera did not do him Justice...Not too many photographers utilize his style of photography, so being able to study in his lectures is a huge plus for me.

I also love Bambi Cantrell and her partner, Michael Van Auken. I had a chance to see both of their workshops and chat with Michael for a few minutes about marketing. I spent a lot of time in the Pictage booth, got into the VIP booth and learn again from Dennis Reggie, Bob Davis, Michele Celentano, Liana Lehman, David Jay and many more. The pictage guys are great! I love their service and how they support me in my quest for the best in service for all my customers.
Some of the hottest things at the show: Canon's new Mark II 16 megapixel camera is on my list when it comes out later this year. Adobe Lightroom & CS3, DXO, Wacom, Gary Fong's new lightsphere, Graphi Studio, Epson Professional Printers, Image Therapy, GNP, Capri Albums, Willowbook, Lensebabies...these were just a handfull of the vendors that I visted with and spent some money too......my goal is to only have the best for my clients, so getting the best in the business is important.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Vicki and Jed Taufer from www.VGallerynet. They are on my "list" of who to watch, they are super nice and both have incredible talents. Oh, I forget to talk about the gallery wraps, I'll get some in the studio over the next few months, you'll love these.

Anyway, we had a blast this week, learned a years worth of information, and got a chance to hone my skills even more. Most of my clients know me for my wedding style, and a lot of mom's love my baby portrait style, and my business clients always benefit from my "out of the box" approach to projects. My goal is to always achieve more, even when I'm at the top of my game, I always step back and review, learn, and evaluate my skills. This year is just about booked solid, so I plan to use all I've learned to give my clients the best possible in artistic & technical photography.

Here are a few quick pics from our cheapo pocket camera, we stayed at the Paris Hotel, got to eat at our favorite restaurant, Wolfgang Puck in the Venetian, and wandered around for a day, and got a day in at the pool too. We didn't catch any shows, but we did go to Mandalay Bay to see the aquarium, and we went to one wild but tame dance club, Pure, just to check it out, and we ate lots of croissants at the Paris Hotel. WPPI treated us to lots of great parties, food and food and more food and we got to meet lots of great fellow photographers.

Ronell Ragbir & Ginny Owens

2007-03-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the honor of photographing Ronell, a sweet young teenager from Trinidad. Here is a part of Ronell's story, she's here at St Jude fighting terminal cancer. It's claimed a part of her leg, doctors don't give her much hope, but she's letting God use her through this terrible disease. This story is amazing, inspiring and beautiful. Ronell has some simple wishes that are coming true, she has a gift of songwriting, singing and love. A lot of people have come together on giving Ronell her wish. In fact, at the time of this blog, I'm sure this story has grown even more.

While sitting in a luncheon last week for a musicians conference with my friend Bruce and his team, I was asked if I had time to photograph Ronell in the recording studio for a project that will benefit St Jude. Ginny Owens got a call too, she dropped everything in Nashville to drive down to help Ronell. It was a sweet time, emotions were incredibly beautiful. Ginny has overcome so many obstacles in her life, and wanted to help Ronell in her quest to share what God is doing in her life. (visit Ginny's site at www.ginnyowens.com )

I can't wait to see how God uses this special girl. Being with her in the studio for 2 days
reminds me that we are not here on this planet on our own power. It's humbling. It's a reminder to use our gifts that God has given us to help one another. I'll keep you updated
on this project and it's impact on so many familys at St Jude. (For you photographers out there, I used the Canon 5d with existing light, iso 1600 and 3200 using the 24-105 mm IS Canon lense. The studio was very dark and quite a challenge to work in low light, and, the noisy mirror prevented me from shooting while they were recording, so I was limited in opportunity to shoot.)

Amelia

2007-02-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is Amelia, my sweet little 5 year old. Here are a couple of quick shots. The first one is from the new camera right out of the box last summer, no post work on these. Here she's swinging under the stairway at Hope Church. I get to use Amelia as my model anytime I want to experiment with styles and lighting.