Maddie's Senior Session

Last weekend, a friend of mine (Check out Brian's work @ Studio6) came into town to shoot and meet other photogs in town.

I had a shoot scheduled with a musician from Birmingham who had to reschedule at the last minute. But Brian was coming, so we took Maddie (aspiring photog from Lovett high school) around the outskirts of Atlantic Station here in Atlanta for a little impromptu photoshoot. It was a blast. We found some cool locations and just practiced our craft. Sometimes it's just great to get out and shoot for fun, because it let's you try things you normally wouldn't with a scheduled paying Client. Hopefully Maddie learned a little in the process, but we definitely snapped some great Senior pics along the way:

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WaterSound

2 Minutes of Water Sound from Stephen Hunton on Vimeo.

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Jared Johnson is Reinventing Himself

Jared Johnson is a country artist, formerly out of Nashville and now gracing the great state of Texas with his country rock sound. Jared and his wife just relocated back to Texas where he's reinventing himself and his sound. He's been on a couple TV shows such as his current place on The Singing Bee.

He's a great guy with a really fun personality and was so much fun to shoot with. Including our having a beer at our last stop in the Woodlands. (Goose's Acre).

Thanks Jared! I can't wait to hear the new tunes!!!

Check him out @ http://www.myspace.com/jaredjohnsonmusic

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Thoughts on the first 60 Days

I've been "self-employed" for almost 60 days. So much has happened in less than 2 months, but so much needs to continue to happen. It's amazing how many ups and downs, how often it goes from full-speed to stopped and back to full-speed again. Conversations turn into gigs, gigs turn into gigs, conversations lead to nowhere...ups and downs. when's the next shoot? what about that email I sent, did it sound right? was I priced right, did I do everything I could. It kinda reminds me of this pic in that everything about the image is fun...but behind the camera, I'm getting doused with rice and my gear is getting all dirty and crusty...I don't really know what I meant by that.

Maybe the hardest part of being a full-time photographer has been the change in certainties. Now, we all know that nothing, even a full-time desk job that feels certain...is actually certain, but this new venture is even less certain because I used to know that a check was in the mail every 15 days. Now it's all about getting booked, making connections and selling "the brand". Honestly, it's really fun. It's exciting to see my work get noticed, to have someone hire me for my creative eye, etc...but it's also scary. There seem to be so many variables into getting the next gig, and I have so much to learn. Constantly feeling like I don't know what I'm doing isn't something I'm used to, and it's been humbling. But the things I've learned have been that much more exciting because it's coming from a place of total blindness. Shooting is the easy part, but learning to build a brand is the tough one. Before it was nice to have a shoot on the weekend...now it's necessary to shoot as much as possible. Before I could take my time...now I always feel like I'm running out of it.

But, now I appreciate the time more. I'm more aware of it, and enjoy it more freely when it comes to me. From time shooting, to time with my family that I wouldn't have had, had I been sitting in my cubicle in building C on the 16th floor, in the corner where the window overlooked the window in building D and blocked my view of Atlanta.

So, yeah...it's tough when you're only as good as your next shoot, but the competitive side of me is addicted to learning more, to discovering what it is I'm truly supposed to do, and to enjoying myself, my family, and my job more than ever.

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Paige + Jason + Summer Georgia Rain

I had the chance to shoot Paige and Jason's wedding in Covington, GA on May 23rd. It was at the home of the FFA, on their large campgrounds and was an amazingly beautiful place to get married. Paige and Jason were such cool people and made shooting so easy (as you can tell from the pics), but the rain did test us quite a bit.

The bridal party was huge and everybody seemed to have a fun/lively personality, so it was a blast hanging out with everyone...even if we had to dodge the rain a bit.

The biggest challenge of the day was that the outdoor wedding had to move inside, to a basketball gym with no lighting aimed at the stage...I didn't want to shoot with a flash because it would have been pretty distracting in that dark room, so I just opened up my ISO and let 'er rip. I'm pretty happy with what I got, but was definitely sweating it a bit when the last minute decision was made to go in. All in all, an amazing day with great people and some fun images as proof.

Thanks Paige and Jason for a great day!

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The Conner Family Session - Augie rocks!

So...how cute is this little boy? He had such amazing eyes! It was great to shoot with the Conners again, as any second shoot is always amazing because it means they liked the work, so I was humbled to get to do it again. The Conners are an awesome family and we have fun when we're shooting.

The shoot was crazy though becuase these storms were blowing through Smyrna every few minutes. It would be perfectly normal out, then the clouds would rush through and dump rain on us for like 10 minutes, then we'd shoot more, then more rain, then shoot...etc. You get the picture. All in all I was really happy with how the images came out, especially considering the challenges with the weather!

Thanks Kate, Steven and Augie for a fun shoot!!!

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The Vitulli Sneak Peak

Kristine and I were blessed to have some amazing friends in college. Friends we wish we got to see more of now. Matt is one of those friends. He and Kristine went to Texas A&M together and he and I became friends from all of the long distance driving I did to come see Kristine over our 4 years of dating long distance. He's an amazing guy and has an amazing family, so it was such an honor to get to run around Market Street in The Woodlands, TX when we were in town to see family.

Thanks Vitullis! Y'all were awesome!

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