Stephanie

Here's a photo from a highschool senior shoot I had this past weekend in Hampton Roads.

Her name is Stephanie, and she was great in front of the camera. She wasn't shy, she was naturally elegant, and wasn't afraid to look into the lens. She made my job pretty easy.

Midnight Snow

It's been snowing like crazy around here. There was a lull in the snowfall last night so I took advantage of it with a tripod and some boots. I walked around our neighborhood in Northern Virginia to take some long-exposure shots . Thirty seconds is a long time when your feet are frozen.

See the rest of the collection on Facebook.

As of me writing this, it's blizzard-like conditions out there and they are saying that we could be getting another 8-10 inches on top of the 10-12 inches we got late last week.

Wind-blown

Yes, it was cold, wet, but also windy. Jane is a real pro.

Jane Zook

Jane and I have been wanting to do a proper photo shoot for a while now, and it just so happened that the only day we were able to pull it together was a freezing cold, rainy day in December. She was amazing though, she has such a natural beauty that it's hard not to walk away with dozens of great photos, regardless of the temperature. She was a really good sport, doing everything I asked of her, which included standing in the middle of the road, in the rain, in the cold, in traffic, without a coat.

She certainly got a lot of stares from the bundled-up people in Ghent.

Lady In The Water

This is from an older photo session with Sara. We were losing the sun very quickly on the beach that evening, and I was juggling two models and one light in the sand. I'm so glad I didn't have to worry about cables. That is worth the price of the Pocket Wizards.

I did a lot of post production to this image. I'm not usually a fan of over "Photochopping" an image, but I like how this almost looks out of this era.

In The Middle Of The Street

This was shot at the Virginia Beach oceanfront with Mattias, an old friend of mine. Mattias is getting out of the Military, and about to pursue a career and education in acting. Naturally, he needed some head shots, but we also got him some pretty cool portraits while we had him.

My sister Phoebe was assisting with this shoot. She was holding the light stand on the sidewalk while Mattias and I were standing precariously in the middle of the street. Shot using one light shot through a very large softbox, I had to push the AB800 to the max in order to get my ratio right.

Downtown Upstairs

I don't know why it stood out to me, but I really like the scooter at the bottom of the stairs.

Taken in downtown Winston-Salem, NC while I was down there for business.

Using only available light and waiting until there was no car or person walking by, I snapped this at an excruciating 1/25th of a second, handheld. Like some sort of Russian sniper.

Bombs Bursting in Air

Oh Zay, can you see by the donzerly light?

Rest Stop Self Portrait

I had a legitimate reason for stopping at this location at 11 o'clock last night, but this is the only part of that journey that I will share with you.

This is a 30-second exposure, with me standing there for about 20 seconds or so.

Drive-By Storm

This one was taken out the driver-side window while traveling south-bound on Interstate 85 last night. 4-second exposure with traffic going the opposite direction, and I got lucky.

Lightning on the Highway

If my wife knew how many times I almost died in order to get this shot, she would kill me.

Free Portraits Anyone?

I'm looking to boost up my photography portfolio, so I'm going to be offering some free portrait sessions.

You come with makeup, wardrobe and hair ready to go, and I'll pick the location and bring 'props'. We'll spend no more than one hour, and I'll give you at least 3 free images that I choose from. I'll use any and all images for my own personal and business portfolio, and you'll have to sign a model release.

(You must be 16 years old or older. Single portraits, headshots, or couples only. I'm not offering family portraits for free online, but contact me if you're interested.)

There are limited spaces available, and I will be choosing the people I shoot. If you're interested, and in the Charlotte area during the month of June, or the DC area in July, visit the Organic Visual facebook page and become a fan. Details will be posted there FIRST. If you want to get in on it and don't have a facebook account, you can follow @organicvisual on twitter. Oh, don't have twitter either? Ok, you can read about it right here on this blog after it's been posted in those two places first.

My Beautiful Heather

My wife is a really good sport. It's hard to be married to a photographer.

Heather is so creative and artistic, I would want to shoot her photos anyway, but the fact that she lives with me and is always willing to stand in front of the camera when I want to try something new, is very helpful.

I know I post a lot of photos of my family on this blog, and I'm not apologizing. They are beautiful and lovely to look at, so you should be grateful, but I could also use some more willing/not-so-willing models. If you're interested, and able to be close-by, drop me a comment, I'll hook you up.

Check out Heather's blog at heatherbethune.com

Dugg Dugg on 36th St

Success! Dugg Dugg last night was awesome.

If you're in Charlotte, and you weren't at Dugg Dugg last night, you missed out. Dugg Dugg is NoDa's newest, quite possibly biggest, and definitely friendliest art gallery.

I was asked to set up lights for the event, and of course ended up taking some photographs as well. This one is a long exposure from the middle of the street. The location of Dugg Dugg is on the block of 36th street where hardly anyone walks unless they are parking in front of it, but last night, it was nearly impossible to miss.

Follow what Dugg Dugg is doing on the web and on twitter

20 Seconds of North Davidson

I took this 20-second-long exposure photo last night on the corner of 36th Street and North Davidson Street in Charlotte. This is less than one block from Dugg Dugg, the brand-spankin' new art gallery set up in an old abandoned cotton mill. Festivities start TONIGHT at 7pm. Music, Art, Creatives. Win, Win, Win.

Break Time for the Night Shift

This photo was taken at the oft-neglected downtown Charlotte. I don't take as many photos as I should when I'm in Charlotte, and I don't take as many photos as I should when I'm in Charlotte at Night.

I could probably start a collection of photos entitled "People standing around talking on their cellphones", but the time it takes for me to type the title is deterrent enough.

Snow My Goodness

Well, it finally happened. I'm not really surprised that it snowed, I'm more shocked that the weatherman said it would snow, and it did.

People get pretty retarded here in the south when it snows, even if it's a light dusting. Tonight's snow was prefaced with a couple days of rain to get the roads nice and slushy for the Monday morning commute. My guess is that schools had already canceled, and businesses planned to shut down before the first flake hit the ground.

I love me some snow, but I like snow where you can't see the grass beneath it. I guess I'm living in the wrong part of the country to hope for that. I think I'm sounding bitter. Maybe it's because the only working vehicle we have is a motorcycle.

The Visulite

Last night I ran lights for Public Radio and John Mark McMillan at the Visulite Theater in Charlotte, NC. Naturally, I brought my Nikon and snapped a few photos before and after the show, but during the show my fingers were preoccupied with making the stage look like a rock show. After the bands got off the stage, and the crowds split up into their cliques, I went out back and looked at the Queen City skyline. There is a great view of the towers from behind the Visulite, but I've never really been impressed with our skyline. I turned around and snapped this photo of the corner of two building jutting up against one another. I enjoy this kind of texture and mood for Charlotte more than the shiny skyscrapers and the clean sidewalks. These two buildings, clearly not put up together, but slowly built upon, tells me more about a city than anything else.