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Rockstar Workshop: Baby Hank!

On day 5 of the Rockstar workshop, I had the opportunity to present to the attendees my philosophies and strategies surrounding my favorite topic: Lifestyle Baby Photography.

Corey took some awesome images of me shooting and speaking, and he also set up some fun shots of the whole group, but sadly I don't have those images yet. I'll add them as soon as I can.

What I do have to show are images of my absolutely wonderful model child, Baby Hank. I cannot describe to you just how wonderful this family was. Chuck and Cendi are completely in love with their adorable child, and it is obvious in the way that they interact with him. I actually had to wipe tears out of my eyes at one point, as they were singing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." They got to the last verse, and suddenly they were singing "Mommy and Daddy love Hank alot...." It was sooooo cute. I don't think I was the only person who got a little teary over it!

So without further ado, meet Baby Hank!













Their super fun dog, Trout, was also around for the session. He was incredibly well behaved, and a piece of cake to photograph.









Thanks so much, Chuck and Cendi, for allowing us all to come into your home and hang out with your family. You guys were absolutely wonderful, adn I hope we get the opportunity to hang out again soon.



I will add fun images of the rest of the day later!

Robbie & Rachel.... Fire Engines and Helicopters!

Wow! What an experience! Robbie, a fire captain in Georgia and helicopter crew chief for Erlanger Medical Center's LifeForce in Chattanooga, and Rachel, a medic who also has quite the background with LifeForce, took me on a wild ride through their amazing careers as we photographed their engagement session on Saturday!

We started at the fire department in Georgia with some quick images around the ladder truck. The crew at this station were so friendly and accommodating! I already had respect for the profession, but even more so after experiencing the quality of people involved!













We then headed downtown to grab some images at the helicopter pad on top of Erlanger Hospital! It was such a privilege again to be hosted by an incredible crew, and we had a great time getting some fun images around the helicopters!











As we were finishing up, Rachel asked me if I would grab some images of their main helicopter as it was taking off so the crew would have some really great pictures to keep! Those of you who are photographers know how close I actually am as I took the following images with a fisheye lens: I was almost blown over by the incredible down-force of the blades as the helicopter took off! It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had!






Congratulations to Robbie and Rachel on their engagement and soon-upcoming wedding, and great thanks to them for devoting their lives to careers in which they risk their lives to keep us safe! You guys are awesome!

Rockstar Workshop: Day 4

Day 4 dawned much too early... :) The previous nights party had us all a little tired, but after arriving at the studio and getting started for the day, I again was reminded of how blessed I am to be hanging out at the workshop! Corey had so much to share about Delivery and Workflow, and although I have picked his brain a million times over the last few months, I still learned so much from what he had to share!

A few quick images from the day... Corey drove the Landy in to the studio, and that was a fun new experience for me.



Later in the afternoon, Corey had us go out and shoot headshots of one another. My buddy Tom and I split off to do a little shooting. I grabbed a couple of him, and he got some fun stuff of me!

Tom by me:






Me by Tom:





A few more images of the antics going on during that time frame:

Corey with Aaron:



Tom and Aaron:



Corey with the Landy:





After the day's session, we went out to celebrate the workshop's success at dinner. Dinner was held at Fiddlin' Pigs and was hosted by our very own Photographer's Solutions. Sadly, I think all of the images that were taken were on Jeremy's camera, so I'll have to maybe add some of those later. We had an awesome time!

The final day was the day for Rockin' Baby Shoots... and Corey took loads of cool pictures for me. I'll have something fun to share soon!

Rockstar Workshop: Day 3! Happy Halloween!

Wednesday was crazy busy, packed full of information and more fun shoots and parties! I am quickly running out of time, so I am just going to give you a few images to show you how much fun we had!

We did a shoot downtown, all dressed in Halloween garb. I didn't even take my camera, I wanted to be available to help, and also function as a "voice activated light stand for Corey"... It turned into loads of fun. Check out Corey's blog for more fun images from the night session!





As a "voice activated light stand", I had fun pointing the flash at myself and at Corey while one of Corey's awesome attendees (and my new friend) John Sanderson, took some fun pictures of us. Thanks for sharing these John!











Then we went back to Corey's for a Halloween party. We had a fog machine and everything!

Stole all of these from Jeremy, because I was way to busy enjoying myself to take any pictures!







Good times!

More soon!

Rockstar Workshop: Day 2!

And the fun continues! While Nathan is at home taking stunning photographs of Emily and Bryan, I am having a blast here in Asheville hanging out with some super cool photographers at the Rockstar Wedding Workshop.

Tuesday, Corey spoke about Sales in the morning, and then my good buddy, Adam Linke shared with us a bit about Pictage. After the morning lessons, we headed out to the most delicious barbecue joint in town, 12 Bones, sponsored by the aforementioned Pictage. Thanks to Adam for making the trek up here and picking the dinner tab!









After lunch, we went back for a bit of Shooting discussion, and then we headed off to the beautiful Biltmore Estate to put what Corey had just talked about into practice.

How fun was it to get our passes, and they look like this?!



Tom and I were VERY excited about them!



Again, it was much fun to watch some of the other photographers at work. Check out this homemade contraption by John Sanderson. Fun stuff!



Jill was playing ninja, all laid out for a shot. I joined her down there, but I got kicked in the head, so I didn't really go ninja any more after that :) Thanks Zac.



Corey imparting brilliance upon my buddy Ty.



The infamous Adam, having loads of fun.



Me and Adam... Adam, this image is only barely blogsharp ;) But I'm usin' it anyway!



My one shot of our beautiful models, Hadley and Kevin.



Headed back to the car...



One last look.



After our shoot, we went out and grabbed some dinner, and then went to to see Corey's buddy Byron play. The band was absolutely brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed them! While waiting on Byron to come out from backstage, we took a few self portraits.

Thanks Ty for sending me these pictures!

This is Corey, Jeremy, Ty, Tom, and Sophia.



And then one last shot from dinner... Ty grabbed this image of me shooting Corey, self-portraiting himself and Byron. Perfect point and shoot capture! Love it!



Happy Halloween guys! I'll be back with today's update later!

Emily & Brian

Last night we were finally able to make a portrait session happen for Emily & Brian Goodwin! Emily owns Boutique Couture here in Chattanooga, and we have been talking about doing a session for her and her husband for months now! The weather and our schedules finally came together last night and we got some great images! Emily and Brian are total naturals in front of the camera, and they're totally into each other - it was so great!


Early on, I encourage them to move around a little bit, to not stay in the same pose, and this was what they gave me! How fun!




We were also able to take advantage of a little bit of color!








We had to keep chasing the light, but we managed to find a really cool spot where we hung out for a little while!










We finished up on a simple set up steps...

Rockstar Wedding Workshop... Day Two!

Well, sadly, it's 2:00 am, and I am still awake. I think I might've dozed off at my laptop earlier in the night, but I knew I wouldn't really be able to sleep until I posted a few images from today at the workshop.

Most of the morning and early afternoon today was spent getting to know the other attendees, and listening to Corey's words of wisdom regarding marketing. Corey is a marketing genius, so it was awesome to hear him articulate that for us.

I will post more specifics later, maybe, but for now I'll just leave you with a few images from the model shoot we did this evening!

Photographers doing their thing...

(Check out that lens... *drool*)





















And a few shots of our beautiful models, John and Anna.















Fun stuff guys! Can't wait til tomorrow...

Well, actually, it's already tomorrow. Goodness, I should get some sleep!

I wanted to add just a few images from last nights dinner... the group decided to go to Carrabba's for dinner. It was great to just hang out and socialize a bit over some good food.

My dear friend Adam Linke sent over a few images from the night, since we were too busy chatting to take any of our own!

I want to give a huge shout out to my new friend Larry Crandall from White Glove Books, as he picked up dinner for most of the group! So awesome! And then my own personal thanks to the McNabbs who were so gracious in picking up the rest.

Rockstar Wedding Workshop has begun!

I am here at Corey McNabb's studio, and Corey is currently instilling brilliant advice on sales and marketing to the students at the Rockstar Wedding Workshop. I'm going to try to get this blog post up quickly, so I can go back to focusing on all that's going on here. We're having so much fun that I have to share just a bit with you!

Friday, Corey and I shot a fun wedding at the Biltmore Estate (actually, Corey shot a wedding, and I had fun tagging along and shooting a million pictures of him shooting, plus a couple bonus shots of the wedding ;) I might share a couple of those later.)



Yesterday, we met in the early afternoon to go do a bit of color-seeking. The fall color here in Asheville is extraordinary (I love LOVE Asheville in the fall!).

Corey and I got a chance to spend the afternoon with Zac Thomas and Thomas Flint as we enjoyed a bit of the crisp mountain air!












I love this group portrait that Corey got of us in the hood of his Lexus. How fun!



After the leaf watching, we headed back to change and prettify ourselves for the opening party. It was loads of fun... check out the incredible set-up provided by the brilliant Tara, from Weddings with Tara.



(Ice sculpture! Insane!)





The beautiful Tara.



Fun gifts:





The hostess with the mostess, Jill McNabb.



Rockstar sighting...It's Corey McNabb and Parker J!



Me and my new buddy Tom.



Regina and Sophia, being VERY excited to be here!



Tom, Sophia, and Ty:



I love this picture of me with Parker! Thanks Corey :)



It's looking to be an awesome week. I'll keep you guys posted as the week goes along, but for now, I'm going go learn more super secret stuff!

Thanks again to Corey, for letting me come and spend the week! I'm having a blast!

Congratulations to Rich & Heather!

Congratulations to Rich and Heather on baby Alana, due to be born in just a few weeks! It was an awesome privilege to be able to photograph their maternity session this evening. The weather has been so crazy and unpredictable, but it turned out great!

I took a little bit different approach to the session with a little more posing than I normally do; it was fun to get creative and play with light!

Here are a few favorites from the shoot!