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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"