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Monthly Archives

November 2009

November 30, 2009
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Black is the new black…deal with it.

By | Engagement Session, Personal Favorites | 2 Comments

I was a little surprised when Anne and Carlo showed up for their engagement session wearing all black. Not shocked – just a little surprised. Anne has to be one of the most stylish young ladies I know in the ATL and happens to be a long time friend – currently one of my ‘inside people’ at the W Buckhead. Carlo can get away with it because he is cool as a cucumber and “Euro”. The look was cool. The day was beautiful. We wandered around midtown and talked about castles, burgers, and HOT ASS SHOES.

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We had a great time on our shoot followed by a scrumptrulescent dinner at Flip Burger with Angel and Murphy – what a DAY!

November 29, 2009
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The New PWP Blog Watermark – I don’t like it either!

By | Corporate Events, Murphy, Personal Favorites, PWP-ism | No Comments

Here is how it is supposed to work folks:
We work feverishly to create amazing images on the fly, on a whim, and at your convenience.
We work more to get those amazing images all polished up and pretty for you.
You buy prints of those amazing polished images from our little business (which pays for little things like FOOD, DIAPERS, and on the rare occasion we get a break – MILK DUDS and a MOVIE.)
We work hard, you get amazing prints, and we can go to a movie to get inspired with new ideas for the next opportunity we have behind the camera.

Unfortunately, that is not exactly how it always works. We work. We blog about what we do…annnd sneaky petes have been grabbing the images off our blog, printing them, and putting them in a frame.

Ick foo.

We are aware our images have been lifted and printed more times than I care to know…and it just isn’t cool. Why? Well, for one – you have evolved. Your friends expect more of you than a craptastic plain white paper photocopy tacked up on your wall. They know I didn’t print it, and that makes you look like a loser. For two, if it was worth the trouble to grab that photo and print it today when the memory was brand spanking new – just IMAGINE how awesome it would be to come across a pristine image of that memory five years from now…or ten..or even fifty years from now? Thirdly – I asked the FBI to stake out your place and let me know if there were any copyright violations happening….so hide your Evita bootleg….

Seriously though, to avoid me having to see my work demoted to unacceptable mediums, I created an obnoxious new watermark – logo in the bottom corner with a tiled logo over the entire image. I don’t especially like what it does to the appearance of my images, but hopefully it will be all I have to do to keep the sneaky petes from stealing my Milk Duds…

Sorry.

One more thing – one of those amazing images I am so passionate about NOT being turned into a craptastic print.

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Disclaimer: my brother’s name is Pete, my studio manager’s name is Pete, and one of our fantastic clients this year was named Pete – I have nothing against the name, the person, the noun, or the adjective, “Pete”. The term “sneaky petes” just rhymed a lot better than “sneaky bobs” or “sneaky ferdinands”.

November 24, 2009
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“Photo-from-engagement-to-groomsman-to-day-after-devirginification-ography”

By | Destinations, Murphy, Personal Favorites | 5 Comments

So many “firsts” I don’t even know where to start: first time I have ever been invited to capture an actual proposal (and one corresponding first visit to the Cayman Islands), first photo funbooth, first themed e-session shot in our home, first custom mid-century themed guest register, first wedding in Hilton Head, first attempt at time-lapse photography, first time being a groomsman AND the photographer at the same wedding, first time shooting a framed photo funbooth, and the very first time I have captured a trash the dress session on a golf course!!

Not to make this ALL about me – this is also the first time MC and JT were married!! MariClaire (MC), my sister-in-law, and her now husband JT included their favorite family photographer in every step of their amazing wedding – before, during and after!

Let’s start with a quickie from February 2008 with a shot of the proposal on Grand Cayman.

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Since the wedding was scheduled to be Halloween weekend and MC was NOT cool with costumes at her wedding festivities, she let guests get their costume crazies out at a Spooky Spectaular Halloween Engagement Party…in July. PWP provided a photo funbooth for the party where we could stop by and get our phunny pics on!

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The next idea came in the form of a fantastic mid-century themed e-session complete with props, clothes, a dog, and a whole ton of gee-wiz fun! They wanted to create a visual representation of a 1950’s guide on how to be a good housewife, and our house was the PERFECT place for such a thing…

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Shauna took the next step in designing a kickass book for the guests to sign at the wedding!

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Finally, it was time for the wedding festivities – Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island was the destination. Following outings for the bridal party, an ocean-side low country boil was the order of the day for the rehearsal dinner.

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The next day the fun REALLY started.

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Oh yea, did I mention JT asked me to be a groomsman?

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Of course I stood up to support my man, but I could not have captured all of the splendor of this day without the help of my two main go-to gals behind the lenses, Melissa and Cathi, and my two fantabulous stylists, Shauna and Katrina!

We had a third floor remote camera on auto-interval timers that captured over 700 shots starting two hours before the ceremony!

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Murphy was the ring-bearer and he had quite a good time being the center of attention! The ceremony was BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL!!

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…and this is my shot from the “groom-cam”.

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Something new for PWP Studio is a photo funbooth. The first one was our Spooky booth above and we switched it up a little bit for the wedding reception. Angel found a great idea, MC and JT loved it, and Peter was the man with the ability to execute the Wall of Frame – complete with every parents’ and grandparents’ wedding portraits AND a working sconce. Peter, you are the DUDE!! Guests LOVED it and we had a ball with it.

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The reception was a fantastic soirée at the Sea Pines Resort Plantation Club – LOTS of choreographed dancing (thanks to MC – a trained dancer and overall “you are gonna dance for me” diva!!) – everyone REALLY had  good time. I know this because I was actually one of the guests having a good time 😉

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The day after the wedding it was wedding dress #2 and a two part Trash the Dress session! We started on the beach…

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…and ended with one of the most fun concepts I have ever been invited to capture: golf course sprinklers! JT and MC wanted to have some fun jumping around mid-watering on the course, so we did – LOVE IT!!!!

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I have so many people to thank for making this happen in such grand form: Nicole W. for capturing pics when PWP wasn’t around, Peter for building the background for the photofunbooth, Nicole G. for making the PWP team look faboo, Mom for coming in from Alabama to handle the Murphy –management (Angel and I were both in the bridal party!), Murphy for being a rockstar ring-bearer and WONDERFUL two year old, Cathi and Melissa for coming down and taking charge so I could relax in my roll of groomsman,  Katrina and Shauna for being everywhere all the time – overly helpful, and Angel for being an angel… and for making me a part of this wonderful family!!!

November 23, 2009
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New kitchen staff at PWP Studio – a Murphy story!

By | Murphy, Personal Favorites | No Comments

Every year our business grows and grows and grows. In an effort to keep up with this constant expansion, we are always exploring new members for the PWP Studio team.

During the fall, the PWP Studio kitchen is buzzing with the clanking of baking pans and the smell of pumpkins because our CSO (Chief Smell Officer) has determined that there is a strong correlation between the smell of fresh baked pumpkin bread and the purchase of photographic services and goods. I don’t know the facts behind the research – I am merely the messenger…

This year, as pumpkin smell production increased due to increased demand, we needed help. We found a new resource – surprisingly we found this resource in-house!

We welcome Chef Murphy to PWP Studio! He is an incredibly talented stir-er with a keen eye for quality control. You can tell this because he is constantly sampling the goods…

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November 20, 2009
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Porsche – VA-VA-VOOM!!

By | Corporate Events, Personal Favorites | No Comments

What is the only thing better than photographing an event for Porsche?? Photographing TWO events for Porsche!!

The first event was Porsche North America’s VIP release party for their new four door sports sedan (a first for Porsche), the Panamera. The event was held at the home and super-fly event venue of Christian Ruffin of One Stop Productions – black tie unveiling for 225 guests!

Chef Tom Colicchio of Top Chef fame was on hand to host the event along with Suchita Vadlamani of the Good Day Atlanta Show. Many celebs and notable guests were in attendance to see the AMAZING new offering from Porsche.

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I would not be a photographer in Atlanta if I didn’t notice one of our industry icons was in attendance – gotcha Dennis!

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After a cocktail reception enjoying the current models offered by Porsche, it was ‘out with the old and in with new’ – the new Panamera!

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After guests had the opportunity to check out the new four door Porsche, it was time to head down to enjoy a fantastic evening meal and entertainment!

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Dana Dabruzzi and the incredible Affairs to Remember team headed up the effort for catering and event design – point man William Fogler made the timeline decisions and onsite coordination a breeze – the event was a HIT! Thanks to the ATR team for pulling me in on this amazing evening and to Melissa for persevering through a poor shoe choice to be my assistant for the night!

Thanks to a wonderful conversation with Jaclyn Schnirring of Audio, Automation & Theater, Inc. I found myself shooting another grand Porsche event just a few days later. This time we were capturing the Panamera launch event for Hennessy Porsche in Alpharetta.

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Julie Kleinschmit of Luxe Marketing welcomed me to the event team for this evening that included a fire dancer, Grey Goose ice luges, amazing eats, displays from Bloomingdale’s, live cigar rolling, lounges, models, and LOTS of razzle dazzle for a  packed house!

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Thanks to Peter and Shauna for heading up the onsite printing and real-time slide show, Adam for being my man on the step/repeat logo wall, and Kevin for being right where I needed him to be with equipment, a helping hand, and for listening to me ramble on about how and why I do what I do on the photo beat!! Oh yea – and thanks to the models for having their pic made with little ol’ me!

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November 12, 2009
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Jury duty and hackers made me do it.

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

I had an old blog that I have been maintaining for almost three years now. Hackers got into it and ruined it….

FINE…I lied.

Hackers got into it and didn’t junk it up completely; it was my own stupidity. I did a super-whammy on it when I was trying to work some kinks out post-hack; I deleted some very necessary files. I’m a photographer – not a webmaster, dangit!

Just know that I had some good stuff on the old blog, and I hope I will get it all up here some day.

In the meantime, I have been trying to make a post every day to get some good stuff back on here for you fine folks to see and read. The problem is, it is midnight again and I am just sitting down to start this post – ugh. Today was nine hours of jury duty selection (wouldn’t you know I got selected!?)!

I wanted to tell you about the amazing weddings we have captured recently and the unbelievable corporate events, too! ATL, Chicago, San Antonio, and Hilton Head have been the locations for some great events I have captured just in the past three weeks!!

Alas, it is midnight again….those are two hour posts (each) and I truly adore SLEEP.

SO, we will start with a great single image from the Hyatt Regency Downtown Atlanta. They had a commercial being taped on property for one of their partners and invited me down to capture the ballroom set-up for their marketing pieces. PWP_2416v

I would LOVE to post more, but the hackers and jury duty made me do it…one image with a promise for more!!

November 11, 2009
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I love this family…

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

…because I saw it all start from the beginning. Scott and Tracy Grove were married in 2006 in the most intimate ceremony I have ever witnessed. I say it was intimate because there were four of us there: officiant, bride, groom, and me – it was COOL! They had a fantastic reception (for TWO) at the Four Seasons in Buckhead. I captured a fantastic maternity shoot with the two of them for little Ella was born, and I was there a week after she joined the air breathers to take thefirst pictures in her nursery. being a part of their family since the beginning has been a blessing for me!

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Most recently, I was at their home ( AGAIN) to capture their 2009 Holiday portraits – we had a ball!! What started as a concept of a formal photograph with the whole family in front of the fireplace with stockings and decor quickly modified into a little bit more of a casual, “we will just do what the two-year-old wants to do” kind of session. Trying to get a two-year-old to sit still in a place she doesn’t want to be is almost as easy as it getting a fish from a bear…. and sometimes I would rather try the bear scenario!!

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We still had a ton of fun – who doesn’t love the reckless abandon children show in the face of danger…and GERMS!!! “Wait – DON’T LICK…uhhh…that phone. Oh, never mind.”
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