Anything Goes Wednesday - Practice Shoots at Marietta Square & Downtown Atlanta Rooftop

This is my THIRD attempt at a Wednesday blog post! The whole point of the Wednesday blog posts were that they had no topic and I could write about more than just the last amazing couple I photographed. That’s the curse of being so open-ended I suppose, I can’t focus!

The first blog post was a re-write of our “About Us” page for our portfolio website to give prospective brides a better insight into who we are as wedding photographers. While speaking with Nas and Amir during our bride & groom consultation meeting on Tuesday (who called today to tell me they are booking, so CONGRATS I am super-excited for their July wedding!!) they hit the nail on the head when Amir said he could tell I was extremely passionate about the photos and not solely looking to make money, that I really cared about my couples. Does this come across in our About Us page though? Until we meet in person it’s hard for brides to understand how Zachary Long is as a person, which is part of the reason for these Wednesday posts which border on the personal at times. Anyway, on to the next blog idea for today as this topic needed more brooding…

While Betty was attending Cocktails & Cameras this afternoon for a luncheon, I was at the “Cootie Table” with Miles, the only two boys allowed! I don’t know if Melissa or Esther were just feeling sorry for me or what but they allowed me to come, thank you ladies! Check out their websites, as they are both amazing female photographers in their own fields, Melissa Crane’s foodie blog is Dash of East and Esther JuLee is an extremely talented fellow Atlanta Wedding Photographer at Esther JuLee Photography. As Miles and I were sitting at the Boy’s table I was typing a blog on the iPhone about reviewing our new Canon XF100 Camcorder for wedding videography. The review is mostly done, however I haven’t edited the wedding video from last weekend yet! So I got to thinking, yeah that’s a nice review but we actually want to see some footage from the camera! 2 more weddings in the queue that are almost done before I jump into Saturday’s video editing process. Coming up this weekend I am doing wedding videography at Tybee Island so I am super excited but know that now I have yet another video project which may push back the review yet another week, sorry! 🙂

So what do I have left that I can blog about as it approaches Midnight on Wednesday? How about LAST Wednesday’s practice shoot with Nina and Matthew at Marietta Square? Perfect! We are trying to do a weekly self-assignment shoot where Matthew, Nina, and I all get together to just practice different shots on someone besides our significant others. I’m sure Betty appreciates not being my test subject for once and if Miles could talk he would say the same thing! Tonight (Wednesday) Betty and I had our good friends Jess and John over for dinner and drinks so hopefully we can get our practice shoot in on Thursday. More on tonight’s shoot after I get caught up from last week!

Matthew, Nina, and I decided on shooting at the Historic Marietta Square because Matthew had an engagement shoot on the following Tuesday (or yesterday, since this post is about last Wednesday). Even though this is a mecca for Atlanta photographers that live North of the Perimeter, this was my first time here! Luckily Nina used to live near the square and was super-familiar with it, so we let her be our guide.

We started off shooting some sun flare type shots, which was more about getting that soft, vintage feel to a photo by overexposing the photo and shooting the camera almost directly into the sun. Matthew was commenting that this type of look is overdone but I think here and there it can add a nice, soft feel to an engagement session or a wedding album.

Since this is Marietta, their is brick everywhere, so of course we had to photograph Matthew in front of the brick wall of a building. Contrast and clarity enhanced in Lightroom afterwards to give the photo a bit of a hard edge.

Same subject (Matthew), and different feel to the photo when he’s not standing in front of a brick wall 🙂

We moved around a bit through the downtown area of Marietta and kept seeing these alleys. After a short debate on how some couples love them and some couples hate them, I finally convinced us to just set up and take a few photos! I thought the alleys were super-cool and full of inspirational ideas for a “gritty” feel to an engagement or portrait session at Marietta square. Here is Nina using one light off camera to make things dramatic:

And a quick color photo of the similar set up:

Nina had just come from work so she headed off while Matthew and I wandered around a bit more. We saw that SweeTreats was open (and I really had to use their bathroom!) so after Matthew asked us if we could step in real quick we walked into a really cool place! SweeTreats is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, and even though it was a chilly night in the 50s they were having brisk sales of ice cream. I opted for a nice warm coffee and asked our barista Cayla what she thought was the best on the menu. She blew me away when she suggested a toffee BANANA latte… always up for an adventure I asked her to whip me up one!

The coffee was surprisingly really good! Like seriously good! Who would have thought, bananas and coffee… Also, lucky for me, Cayla didn’t mind me sneaking behind the counter to snap some photos of her in action. After editing these I liked the Black & White “mood” to the photos for the old-time ice cream parlor but here is a color photo of the amazing Cayla who has the coolest hair and perfect skin, I need to ask her to model for me!! 🙂

That was last week’s adventure, and then on Saturday I had an engagement session with Brandi and Bryan! This is another one of the couples I feel that I have known forever because they initially contacted us when Betty was just starting to go into delivery for Miles. We brought Miles along with us and headed to Stone Mountain Park for their engagement photos and got some more killer shots. Here is a quick preview, full blog post coming up later!

More to come from Brandi and Bryan! Saturday evening then was assisting with wedding videography at a Douglasville wedding which was a lot of fun, not just because it was video, though that was part of it ;). Sabine and Harry had a fun-filled ceremony and reception which celebrated their Haitian heritage. Of course even though I was shooting video I took a few still photographs, teaser photo:

I guess that almost brings us to be caught up with this Wednesday itself! Betty and I hosted our good friends Jessica and John for some food and drinks to enjoy the weather on our building’s rooftop. Betty whipped up some amazing teriyaki wings and homemade guacamole for the 5 of us (plus Miles) as we sat on the roof and took in the sunset.

Jessica laughing at something or other 🙂

As the sun dipped lower in the sky I asked John to model a bit for me while I fiddled with camera settings and angles. With some tasty Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat in hand, I don’t think he minded at all.

Somehow I managed to convince Jess to stand next to John so I could take photos of them together. Sorry Jess I know you don’t like your photo taken so thank you for being a trooper and indulging me!!

Oh come on, I just HAD to ask them to kiss at least once, right?

Lastly, Betty took Miles out of the carrier and he looked straight into the camera, maybe he is destined to be a photographer too?

Never mind, after that first photo he stopped cooperating with me!

The breeze was perfect as we snacked on some blue corn chips and guacamole, such a nice Spring/Summer day! I think we are still technically Spring but today it was about 90 degrees in the city, that’s Summer by my books!! We wrapped up the night well after 10:00 PM just relaxing from work and enjoying good company. A fun luncheon for Betty with the ladies of the Atlanta photographic community, hearing back from Nas & Amir about their July wedding, and relaxing in the evening with Jess and John! Have a great rest of the week everyone and I will see you on Sunday when I get back from Tybee Island!!