Parker Smith - Atlanta Portrait Photographer

It's Alive!

2011-08-02T12:55:00.004-04:00

8/3
Up-UPDATE: The site is now live at http://www.parkersmithphoto.com/portraits/

We are still having an issue with the redirect for ParkerSmithPortraits.com, but hope to have it resolved soon.

Please check it out and let us know what you think!

Parker

8/2
UPDATE: Well, everything seemed to be working fine, but the site is not loading. :-( Sorry. We're working on it.

After many, many moons, the new website is now live. Yippee!

We have moved the blog to the new site.

Please bookmark our new blog page, and check in with us there. There are several fresh posts waiting for you!

The New Website (is almost live)! A sneak peak...

2011-07-14T14:43:00.028-04:00

Tricked you, didn't I?

The parenthetical song title was always one of my pet peeves. For example, Simon and Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Hunh? Do they ever even mention the 59th Street Bridge?

Anyhow, after about 500 zillion hours of work, we are almost ready to launch the new website and blog! If all goes well, Monday July 18, we will have our new site live and ready for all your eyeballs.

I have been crazy busy with photography, especially commercial projects, and outside of that work I have been devoting an extraordinary amount of time to the site. (Lots of film piled up, waiting to be processed.)

The site is built on WordPress, and was designed and coded by moi, Parker. HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, it's all there, and I'm really proud of both the form and the function. Kristin has been very patient with the process; she knows how obsessive I am when I set my mind to something. Her thoughts on the design are all reflected as well. I've done all the hard code, but the design process has truly been a collaboration, as is our business and our lives. (She also did all the great copywriting.)

It is definitely a new look for us, but we've spent the better part of this year brainstorming and really contemplating who we are as a studio, and what we want to communicate to the world. The new site will be the beginning of our process, with much more to follow.

Thank you so much for all the love.

Parker

Hello, It's Me

2011-06-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the extended absence from blogging. We have been working feverishly to finish our new website and blog, and, like so many things, it's taking a bit longer than anticipated. The new site will provide a very comprehensive look at what we do in the studio, our location portraiture, dog portraiture, Sprout Club, family portraits, everything. The blog will also be a part of the website, rather than a separate entity, so it's all good.

In addition, we are completely reframing and updating all of our wall displays for the studio. I keep moving the furniture around, too, trying to get the perfect feng shui arrangement. Our electrician Larry is here today setting up all of the new lighting, and the phone is ringing off the hook with commercial projects, so we are moving at a hectic pace trying to keep up with everything. I put in about 12 hours a day, pretty much every day.

Unfortunately, getting these various projects across the finish line always takes longer than I anticipate when I start 25 different things at once! See this post for a fuller explanation.

One super swell project we hit last week was to photograph Ms. Victoria Stilwell of Animal Planet's "It's Me or The Dog" for all her new marketing pieces as well as her new line of Positively branded dog products, soon to be launched. I'll post some of those images when I finish the retouching. Here's one of me working with Victoria:

You can see some of the endless bitz unt pieces that go into a studio portrait. In the back is David, one of the four dog handlers who helped us manage all of the dog units for the shoot. Victoria's dogs, Sadie and Jasmine, are real sweethearts. Jasmine likes to camp out on Sadie:

Anyhow, I've been saving up a lot of stuff for the new blog, and we'll hit it there when it launches. See you soon.

Okhata! - Mutt of the Week

2011-05-18T17:30:00.000-04:00

Okhata came to the studio all the way from Clemson, SC!

A web image just doesn't work here; you have to see the original print to get the full impact of his beauty, the marvelous coat, the juicy nose, and the wild whiskers. So I've included a detail shot to give the kind reader a sense of what is really going on with all this beauty (and -- quick toot -- my superb lighting).

Note the white and blue inclusion in his left eye (right eye in the picture).

Thanks so much to Kimberly for making the drive and bringing her special buddy to us. :-)

Hammers and Lutes

2011-05-10T17:29:00.001-04:00

The German composer Johann Mattheson is said to have remarked that if a lute player lived to be 80, he had surely spent 60 years of his life tuning the lute.

In this painting by Rubens, you can see why someone might make such a statement:

Many years ago, buried deep in a painful renovation of a house that really should have been either gutted or leveled, I modified this witticism: if I spend ten years renovating this house, I will have spent half of it looking for my hammer! It turned out to be a 5/2.5 split!

Lute tuning and home renovations are both best left to professionals.

As you know, we recently moved our Atlanta portrait studio into a new space, and being the DIY guy that I am, I set about staining the concrete floors, installing new base moulding and a bunch more stuff that really should have been left to a professional.

The problem with DIY projects is that you are almost guaranteed to NOT get what you actually need whenever you make a trip to the hardware store. Thus, each project requires 3 or 4 trips to the hardware store, and each trip adds an hour to the total project time (when you factor in stopping at CoffeeBucks each time you pass by). My total number of trips to either ACE or Home Depot was really insane, something like 33!

Updating the axiom: if you spend two weeks on a DIY project, you'll spend one full week at Home Depot, about six days looking for your hammer, and one day to do the actual work!

Portrait Installation

2011-05-10T17:06:00.000-04:00

Here is a view of a recent installation of my portraiture. You might recognize two of them from The Manhattans. They are an absolutely delightful group of children, well-loved by their family.

New Studio!

2011-04-27T17:03:00.003-04:00

Greetings from the new Mothership! We recently moved to the front of our building, into a really wonderful space that has quickly become our new home.

So, same building at 1095 Zonolite Road, but we are now in Suite A.

We still have a bit of decorating to do to get everything just perfect, but we are very happy that we took the opportunity to move. We'll post some photos as soon as we get everything in it's right place.

Here's a little something to hold you over:

Wadsworth! - Mutts

2011-04-27T16:09:00.001-04:00

Mr. Wadsworth came to us via Heather at Zoo Atlanta. He's a big hairy buddy, and it took me days to find all the fur tumbleweeds he left behind. What a face! I love it.

Wadsworth's sister felt compelled to get in on the action, too:

Francesca!

2011-04-27T15:17:00.001-04:00

Meet Francesca:

Now, Francesca is a little sweetheart of a dog. She comes into the studio in her little handbag, dances for treats, and is just a general delight.

She had mom and dad eating out of her paw!

Ozzy - Mutts

2011-04-04T16:27:00.001-04:00

Odd eyes? Check. Fruit bat radar ears? Check.

Say hello to our latest Mutt, Ozzy!

The Ozzy man is a beautiful mix of Australian Shepherd and Jack Russell Terrier. His mom said he was named after Ozzy Osbourne, and he certainly lives up to it: Ozzy is a wild man! The bottom portrait is his homage to Bark at the Moon and pretty much sums up the entire session. He never stopped moving! You might call him the "Blizzard of Ozz." (sorry, couldn't resist)

Nate, Jr. - Mutts

2011-03-30T16:45:00.005-04:00

Here's a portrait of Nathan, Jr., one for the Mutts book project.

Nathan is an amazing mix of American Staffordshire Terrier, German Shepherd and (wait for it) Bichon Frise(!?) He is also a big lover man, and spent most of the session trying to lick my face. :-)

If you have a mix breed dog, please post an image of his/her loveliness on our Facebook page (linked at the top of this page). If we like his looks, we'll bring him in for a portrait session and add him to the project. Yippee!

Nate came us to via Heather G. at Tucker Pet Supply. Thanks, Heather! :-)

Baby M. - Sprout Club

2011-03-23T07:34:00.000-04:00

Ajax - Bernese Mountain Dog

2011-03-22T13:13:00.001-04:00

Ariana - Italian Greyhound

2011-03-22T13:10:00.000-04:00

Fine Art Updates

2011-03-09T11:27:00.000-05:00

A quick update to the Fine Art site, with three new Rodeo portraits and nine more Impromptus.

Speaker Ralston

2011-03-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

My photo story on Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston just hit the mailbox:

I blogged about this shoot back in December. Speaker Ralston is one of the rare subjects of importance who will give you more than five minutes of his time!

Sisters

2011-02-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

Brothers

2011-02-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

F.W. Guerin

2011-02-11T14:32:00.070-05:00

This lovely portrait is by the American portrait photographer F.W. Guerin, of St. Louis, c. 1899.

I dug around to find out a bit about him, and came up with his business card. Pretty fancy!

A couple more from Mr. Fitz:

This last image reminds me again of how photographers of the past -- many of them now rendered anonymous -- were incredible artisans of light and form.

The lack of craft and thought in portrait photography today is pandemic, and it is unfortunately on display almost everywhere you look. I have a B&W portrait of myself and my sister that was made at an Olan Mills studio sometime around 1970. The quality of lighting, printing and expression in this tiny little photograph is utterly perfect, and would shame most "professional" photographers today. From Olan Mills, I tell ya!

If you'd like to see more of F.W. Guerin's work, you can hit the Library of Congress Photography Archive and search his name.

Sometimes looking backward is the best way of looking forward.

Lola, Mutt

2011-02-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

Cubby, Panda, Polar & Teddy

2011-01-27T19:05:00.002-05:00

The serenity of this portrait gives the impression that all was completely chillax during the portrait session, when in reality the fur was flying, as they say. Polar, the big one, is a wild Labrador trapped in a Standard Poodle's body. But look at them! It's just perfect.

People always ask me, "How did you get that dog to sit still?" My answer is "I didn't." Dogs have this crazy rhythm that you have to tap into. It's a cadence, a beat, just the way each person walks a little faster or slower, or kind of straight or bouncy. You have to tune into the dog's wavelength. So what is shown is not necessarily what was, except for perhaps a brief planetary alignment. (I go through that dance with every one of my subjects.)

This is one of the things I find most fascinating about portraiture, the idea that a work of art exists in a space often quite removed from the circumstances of its creation!

For instance, many of the people in my Impromptus series live and work in the Briarcliff/Sage Hill area over near my studio. (Close proximity has been one of the reasons I have photographed them. It is bricolage; you use what is at hand, and try to find the magical and mysterious in the commonplace.) What is odd is to see these people again and realize how unlike their portraits they appear. I have literally driven past many of them and done a double take, as if I know a person, but can't quite remember from where.

Anyhow (if you're still with me), we spent a tremendous amount of time planning and executing this image, and I think it really shows. :-) Hey Man, Nice Shot!

Bandit and Daisy

2011-01-25T12:53:00.002-05:00

Two adorable critter portraits of recent vintage.

Foto Turan, Istanbul

2011-01-25T12:51:00.000-05:00

Istanbul

2011-01-21T17:14:00.001-05:00

Cruising down the Bosphorus, 1998. This is the Ortaköy Mosque, at the foot of the Bosphorus Bridge, which is currently the 16th longest suspension bridge in the world.

The Manhattans

2011-01-19T13:29:00.001-05:00

Snow Portrait

2011-01-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

Till's Black Eye

2011-01-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

Nutella

2011-01-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Mutts!

2011-01-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Here's a beautiful mutt to start the year off right. Many thanks to Maggie for once again finding us an amazing mix. :-)

Tillmanisms

2010-12-26T01:49:00.001-05:00

"Walker, does Harry Potter turn all of the bad guys into bacon?"

"No, Tillman."

"Darn."

O Tannenbaum

2010-12-25T13:32:00.002-05:00

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

What happiness befalls me

When oft at joyous Christmas-time

Your form inspires my song and rhyme.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

What happiness befalls me

- O Tannenbaum, anonymous English variant

In a delightful annual ritual one of our neighbors posts a lovely Christmas tree at the end of her driveway. For eight years, we have driven by this simple display and found in it a quiet perfection, a true spirit of Christmas amidst all the giant inflatable snowmen.

Over those years, I have tried many times to photograph this tree and capture what it is that makes it so special. Photographs can never quite tell the true story of its beauty, but let's try anyway.

Merry Christmas to you!

Santa Atlanta

2010-12-24T23:08:00.000-05:00

Updates, to date

2010-12-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

Many pardons for the slow blogging this month. I'm trying to catch up with a little of the famous Blogisher's Clearinghouse.

Between studio portraits and commercial photography, we have been fairly swamped this month. I wrapped up studio portraits this past Saturday with two lovely families, then packed up all the gear for a full day on Sunday with Chick-fil-A.

We commandeered the new Suwannee store and started the shoot bright and early on Sunday. Someone posted this sign to keep all the hungry people away:

Every time we do these shoots, we get people rattling the doors all day trying to get some food. They see the cars and suddenly they think -- miracle! -- Chick-fil_A is now open on Sundays! Alas, it is not to be, but if you shake the door and give puppy dog eyes, the fine people of CFA will give you a coupon for a free sandwich. :-)

Unfortunately, all of that photography is licensed out such that I cannot post any of it on my blog, but here's a quick one of the crew that handled all of the thousand tasks that make this kind of project possible: hair, makeup, art direction, coffee, organization, store standards, rustling, wrassling and finagling.

A&B

2010-12-16T15:51:00.000-05:00

S&S

2010-12-16T15:43:00.000-05:00

Naughty or Nice?

2010-12-16T15:37:00.001-05:00

Which is which?

WagCalendar v.2011

2010-12-15T11:55:00.001-05:00

Our friends over at Wag-A-Lot have just released their 2011 calendar, featuring elegant black and white dog portraits of real Wag clients by moi, Parker, PLUS over $185 of coupons useful for all of their top-notch dogocentric services.

Stop by either of their two locations and snag a few! Only $15 gives you a great holiday gift for your dog loving friends, and all year they can enjoy great dog portraits by moi, Parker.

Speaker of the House

2010-12-03T13:22:00.001-05:00

This past Wednesday, I spent the afternoon down at the Georgia Capitol, photographing Speaker of the House David Ralston for Georgia Magazine. He was incredibly generous with his time, and was a most agreeable, and affable, subject.

Since all of the images are off limits until publication in March 2011, here's a quick one of me and the Speaker on the rostrum. He even let me hold the semi-official gavel. :-)

Rodeo Portrait

2010-12-03T12:30:00.000-05:00

Walker's Wish List

2010-12-01T00:02:00.002-05:00

Joy to the World

2010-11-26T05:05:00.000-05:00

If you've been dreaming of a beautiful family portrait for the Holidays, it's not too late. We still have a few spots open for Christmas delivery, but don't wait, call us today!

We hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Hexbug Havoc

2010-11-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

Guest blogging by Walker:

Block Party

2010-11-23T16:41:00.001-05:00

Boys LOVE to throw things, so when I have boys in the studio, one of my favorite tricks is to have them throw balls or whatever at me. Big B was in the house today for his most recent portrait session, and I "caught" his throw with perfect timing. He's a Southpaw with a Major League Arm!

Little A.

2010-11-20T13:13:00.000-05:00

Rodeo Portraits

2010-11-20T13:01:00.003-05:00

Two portraits from a Rodeo in Summerville, Georgia. More to come!

Big E.

2010-11-19T16:17:00.000-05:00

Baby B.

2010-11-19T16:10:00.002-05:00

Baby B. is just a precious little dumpling! This is from her second Sprout Club session. Six months, look at that hair!

Family B.

2010-11-19T16:05:00.001-05:00

This is the second year I've photographed these guys, and I always feel like I'm looking into my future: the brothers are all spaced about 3.5 to 4 years apart, as are my three boys. The oldest brother here is going to be asking for the car keys before too long! We always have a blast and make some great portraits.

Sausage World

2010-11-16T15:33:00.003-05:00

Family Portraits

2010-11-12T15:31:00.002-05:00

As a studio photographer, one of my favorite things to hear from parents is how much their children enjoyed the portrait sessions.

Most people have this vision of studio portraiture that involves getting all dressed up in clothes you would never wear and experiencing something about as exciting as a trip to the dentist.

Kristin and I really work hard to create a lively, fun environment so kids can be themselves! Look at that sparkle in their eyes. That's how you know they are having a good time. :-)

Donut Time

2010-11-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

Toni's Bea

2010-11-05T16:01:00.000-04:00

Our friend Toni from Highland Pet recently fulfilled a lifelong dream by getting her first bull terrier, Bea.

Most people know the breed from the 80s Budweiser ads featuring Spuds Mackenzie. More recently, the Target dog (who has his own Facebook page) is a Bull Terrier.

Toni brought Bea in and we made the above fabulous portrait. Bea has a real sweet tooth, and kept trying to eat Calder's lollipop!

Calder, sleeping

2010-11-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

Halloween Portraits!

2010-10-29T15:16:00.000-04:00

Our neighborhood has an annual Halloween party, and for the past six years I have been creating some great portraits of the kids in their spooktacular splendor. Enjoy!

Family Portraits

2010-10-23T11:37:00.002-04:00

I had a wonderful time creating these family portraits for Laura and Gabriel.

Some babies are delightfully easy to photograph, and Baby L. was just that. She was a real sweetheart, so expressive, so playful.

Thanks guys!

Executive Portrait: Simmons

2010-10-22T10:17:00.002-04:00

Busy fall here at the studio! Waaay behind on the blogging. :-)

This is a portrait I made this week of the President (left) and CEO of Simmons Bedding Company for Three.

Gemini

2010-10-16T10:18:00.000-04:00

So we grew together

Like to a double cherry, seeming parted

But yet an union in partition

Two lovely berries moulded on one stem

- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

As a Gemini, I've always found twins fascinating, the reality of having another human being share your entire genetic code, of living with another who is your mirror. The search for individual identity is such an incredible struggle: are we hindered or assisted in that quest when there is more than one of us?

(This portrait is from my larger series of impromptu portraits over at the Fine Art website.)

Christian, Magnificat

2010-10-14T14:04:00.003-04:00

Christian is a lovely blue and white Sphinx cat who was in the studio today.

Our friend Toni from Highland Pet Supply was cat sitting for Christian's mom, Barbara, and posted an image of him on Facebook. He was camped out on her keyboard and looked like he owned the place. I knew I had to meet this cat!

After calling Toni, I realized I had previously photographed Christian's dog buddy/brother Cannon, who is a Chinese Crested show dog. Barbara says that he and Cannon love to wrestle, which must be quite a sight!

Christian is quite personable, very intelligent, and not at all skittish or afraid as most cats are in the studio. The skin of the Sphinx feels like a fine chamois, warm and very soft and smooth. He is truly a magnificent creature; I am totally smitten!

Flashes of Hope

2010-10-07T16:45:00.048-04:00

Today, I was over at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Eggleston for my annual shoot with Flashes of Hope. If you aren't familiar with Flashes of Hope, they are an all volunteer organization that provides free portrait photography to families of children fighting cancer. I have been working with them for about five years now.

My shoots with Flashes of Hope are always a highlight of my year, one of those days I always look forward to. The children are always a true delight, so full of spunk and spirit, so strong in the face of adversity. It's truly emotional work for me, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to create something beautiful for these families. They periodically send me letters to let me know how much the portraits mean to them.

Imani and her mom (first two panels) are previous subjects of mine, and Imani's portrait was featured in People Magazine. Two years later, she is doing quite well, as you can see. At the request of her mom, we recreated her People pose. She's a doll!

As I was Saying...

2010-10-06T17:06:00.002-04:00

Sorry about the long time, no blog. We've been crazy busy with a bunch of commercial projects the last ten days, but we are pretty much wrapped with those clients and hitting the fall portrait season on all cylinders.

Jumping off the last post, here are some great dog portraits I made for our wonderful friends over at Wag-a-Lot, Atlanta's best doggie day care. Can you tell I love dogs? :-)

Lots more to come. Stay tuned...

Best Dog Photographer in America!

2010-09-24T20:39:00.001-04:00

Well, we knew we were going to be featured in Doggie Aficionado magazine, but imagine our surprise when we saw that our studio was chosen "Best Dog Photographer" in the country! Woo-hoo!

Fellow Savannah native Jamie Deen (of The Lady and Sons fame) is featured on the cover, so the 912 has been well represented this month.

Thank you so much to everyone for all the love and fur over the years. This is a major thrill for us. It just keeps getting better. :-)

Parker and Kristin

PS: The image that is featured is our V-Dogs portrait - you can see it on display at Intown Animal Hospital along with many more fabulous dog portraits.

Hanker for a Hunk a' Cheese

2010-09-24T14:46:00.001-04:00

You may remember this delightfully odd video from your youth. Or, from your nightmares.

Weimaraner, Yawning

2010-09-21T14:18:00.001-04:00

Charlotte is a real beauty of a Weimaraner. She is eight months old and the beloved dog of a local veterinarian.

I've always loved these dogs, their cleverness, their eyes, their warm gray fur and musculature. Every time you meet a Weimaraner, they make you feel good about life. Our Italian Greyhounds are sort of like mini-Weimaraners, except way more obnoxious!

Squirrel, Gone

2010-09-20T16:54:00.001-04:00

As previously noted, squirrels seem to have a death wish. They dart out in the road, do a little dance, and try to make you squash them flat.

But my previous experience with the fuzzy tailed rodents could not prepare me for a spectacular act of squirrel suicide this past Saturday.

We were traveling down LaVista road on the way to Till's soccer game, when a crazed squirrel goes running towards the street. I saw him coming, and managed to slow down and swerve just before he leapt with geometric, kung-fu movie precision, his arc landing him at Point X on LaVista Road a nanosecond before my tire passed over it.

Gone. Stupid squirrel. Totally ruined my morning.

This is probably the sixth squirrel I've run over in my life. If you take that as the average, then multiply by the number of drivers on the road, it's a miracle there are any squirrels left.

Anyhow, here's a funny picture of a squirrel drinking beer:

Swim Team

2010-09-17T14:46:00.001-04:00

See more over at Parker Smith Fine Art.

Tellus Museum

2010-09-17T13:25:00.002-04:00

For a great time with the kids, head out to the top notch Tellus Natural History Museum in Cartersville. Dinosaur bones, great exhibits on sound, light, mechanics and magnetism. You can splash around while panning for gems, dig for fossils, marvel at the amazing Foucault's Pendulum, and view the amazing mineral exhibit (one of the best I've seen outside of New York and DC). They even have fossilized dinosaur poop! The boys, of course, loved it.

Separated at Birth?

2010-09-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

Yoda's walking stick @ Serenbe

Crab claw in the asphalt @ Stone Mountain

Doggie Aficionado

2010-09-14T15:38:00.000-04:00

We just found out that Parker Smith Portraits was one of the choices for Best Dog Photographer in Doggie Aficionado's recent online reader poll. They are rebuilding their website, but apparently we are in the October issue! Woo-hoo!

Baby J.

2010-09-10T16:07:00.002-04:00

Fine Art Updates

2010-09-10T12:13:00.003-04:00

Just added to the Fine Art gallery: Untitled Portraits

The Rules of Whack Bat

2010-09-10T11:33:00.000-04:00

It's All About the Benjaminz

2010-09-09T13:29:00.005-04:00

Hundred dolla bill, ya'll!

Serenbe, Summerville, Stone Mountain

2010-09-08T16:43:00.094-04:00

We spent Labor day weekend bopping around Atlanta and points both South and North. Our first stop on Saturday was the lovely Serenbe community in South Fulton.

Serenbe is a 1000 acre planned community with a working organic farm, gourmet restaurants, classic homes, an inn, artist ateliers and endless walking trails. The boys enjoyed the organic market, with homemade oreo cookies, fresh berries, a drum circle. We had lunch near the dog park and wished we had brought the 'ooches. A horse Park, trampolines, gift shops. It's great.

They also have in-ground trampolines which are scattered around the area to help (safely) burn off excess boy energy! Kristin and I decided to build our second home there. :-)

On Sunday, Kristin took the boys to the new Chocolate Experience at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and I drove 90 miles up to Summerville, Georgia for the first event of this season's Georgia High School Rodeo to create more Rodeo portraits. Shooting film with a large camera, these days are always very productive for me. I see better. Five hours of looking and photographing amounted to six rolls of film, only sixty total exposures.

Here's the scene, taken with a dirty iPhone (for that trés chic LensBaby effect):

As I was packing up my equipment, there was a loud thud and cry. In the middle of an event, a young girl's horse apparently had a heart attack and fell, dead, right on top of her. It was a frightening sight. A group of men raced in and freed her. Fortunately, she was not injured, just greatly shaken. Horses are powerful animals, and I give them great respect, and distance.

Monday was T-Lo's seventh birthday, conveniently timed with a school holiday, so we went to Stone Mountain for a little play time. The boys really like the crazy climbing area called SkyHike. I found a few faces to portraitize, and we played some mini-golf.

Birthday dinner was at our new neighborhood restaurant, Napoleon's. T-Lo made his goofy face when he got his Scooby-Doo Nintendo DS game from Nana Cheri.

We finished the night at Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, and Till got a big birthday hug from the Yogurt.

Happy Birthday! What a great weekend!

Pibbles and Nibbles

2010-09-08T15:51:00.003-04:00

We have donated our portrait of pit bulls Pibbles and Nibbles to Friends to the Forlorn, a pitbull rescue group. They are printing a calendar to sell to benefit lovely pits like P&N, sweet dogs who need a home!

Everlasting Moments

2010-09-08T12:29:00.001-04:00

"What do you see as you look throughout the camera, Maria? You see a world to be explored, to preserve, to describe.

Those who have seen it cannot merely close their eyes. You can't turn back."

- Everlasting Moments

The film Everlasting Moments tells the story of an impoverished Swedish family in the early 1900s. The mother, Maria, wins a camera, and through the encouragement of a local portraitist, learns the art of photography.

It's about the joy and sadness of life, family and art, and how, as a photographer, you find beauty in the world against all odds. Highly recommended.

Cousins

2010-09-03T13:24:00.003-04:00

Cousin K. was in the studio for her one year portraits when Kristin and the Monkey Boyz stopped by to visit, so we tossed them all together to make a sweet portrait for the grandparental units. It's nice to have a little girl to leaven the all-boy madness!

Mutt of the Week - Jess!

2010-09-03T13:06:00.002-04:00

Jess is the sister of Bean, our previous M o' TW.

They were both adopted from Ruffus Rescue, who are at the Toco Hills Pet Supermarket several weekends every month, with lots of dogs and cats who need your love. Be sure to keep them in mind when you need some fur-based lovin' in your life.

The Studio

2010-08-30T15:23:00.004-04:00

Kristin's got the studio looking pretty spiffy. :-) Come see us this fall!

(click the photo for expanded awesomeness)

Vern Yip

2010-08-27T16:07:00.008-04:00

I recently created a set of portraits for designer and HGTV host Vern Yip. As expected, his house is amazing! It made me want to come home, toss all my furniture in the trash, and give Kristin the credit card.

Vern is also an avid collector of fine art photography, and has a remarkable collection of artists, so we had plenty to talk about. :-)

Tillmanisms

2010-08-25T09:52:00.001-04:00

"Mom, when can we start watching movies with salty language?"

- Tillman, 6 & 11/12

Mabry

2010-08-24T15:55:00.003-04:00

Mabry was a model for the Fenuxe shoot a few weeks back. I revisited these images and I just love this one. She's kind of petit for a Great Dane, only 100 lbs., which is what my beloved Luna Dog weighed before she went to doggie heaven.

I'll be launching the commercial site later this week, and posting some new updates to the fine art site with some portraits I made on Independence Day.

The Fine Art site is Live!

2010-08-20T13:34:00.017-04:00

We've just launched a new website, focused on my fine art photography.

The following three series all date from 2010:

Rodeo is a series of portraits made in Perry, Ringgold and Resaca, Georgia.

The second series is so far Untitled. These portraits are all made while I'm out and about, living life, at the grocery store, on the way to work. I introduce myself to people and create a portrait right on the spot. The stories are really amazing, and I'll try to tell some of them over the next few months.

And, finally Swim Team is a series of portraits of swimmers on local swim teams.

These three projects are all works in progress. Swim Team is probably done for the year, but the other two projects will be added to quite regularly.

(For the technogeeks out there, these images were all shot on film -- primarily Kodak T-MAX 400, some Ilford HP5 -- with a Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera.)

The series Jubilee is my vision of The South.

It's the sound of a thousand cicadas buzzing in the pines on a hot Savannah morning, sunlight glaring, the saltwater breeze blowing through the moss, and that beautiful, fecund smell of the marsh. I love the South, especially the coast. This is my love song.

The images in Jubilee date primarily from the last five years, although there is one image -- Milk -- that was created around 1992. Most of this work was captured on film, although a few digital images managed to sneak in despite my best attempts to exclude them. :-)

If you click the little box icon in any of the galleries, you'll get an amazing full-screen view which automatically sizes to your monitor.

I hope you will take the time to view these photographs. Please enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

Photos from Fenuxe

2010-08-17T15:14:00.008-04:00

As promised, here are some photos from my recent photo shoot with Fenuxe Magazine.

Nibbles and Pibbles!

Cover girl Lola the Sphinx is wearing a $4800 Palladium necklace with Diamonds, Blue Green Tourmaline and Aquamarine by D. Muscio Fine Jewelry Studio.

Tinkerbelle Tortoise wears a Diamond Pendant Necklace ($4800) also from D. Muscio.

Luna the Rabbit is wearing a Canary Yellow Flower collar by Juicy Couture, $55

Mabry is wearing another beautiful piece by D. Muscio,

an Initial Stainless Steel pet tag with Cubic Zirconia ($240)

Thanks to all the fine people at Fenuxe and everyone else who helped out with the shoot! :-)

Mutt of the Week - Bean!

2010-08-13T15:10:00.007-04:00

Our Mutt of the Week is Bean!

Bean is the fur baby of Celia, who owns Natural Body Spa. Their corporate headquarters are a few doors down from us on Zonolite, and as I was driving home a few weeks back, I saw Bean and locked up the brakes. That precious face had to be in the Mutts book! It wasn't just required, it was mandatory.

Bean also has a sister, Jess, who came in the studio this morning for her portrait session. Jess is also quite fetching (no pun intended) and I created some wonderful portraits of her as well.

Bean and Jess were adopted from Ruffus Rescue. They have lots of dogs and cats available who need your love, so be sure to check them out.

Cute Family Portrait!

2010-08-12T14:55:00.006-04:00

Love this one! The family was delightful to photograph and are, unfortunately, moving to Iowa. :-(

I think this is a pretty nice going away gift.

Baby G.

2010-08-11T15:06:00.001-04:00

Fear Factor: Escargot

2010-08-10T11:12:00.006-04:00

While in Paris, Kristin, a former vegetarian -- now reformed into a voracious carnivore -- had her very first escargot! At a fancy pants Parisian café, no less.

Since you're gone

2010-08-10T10:31:00.003-04:00

Since you're gone, the nights are getting strange
Since you're gone, I've thrown it all away
- The Cars

Well, I haven't thrown away everything, but I have been to Goodwill three times this weekend, each time with the Swagger-Wagon filled to the top with toys and clothes and all kinds of things we no longer need. It feels so good to purge the excess in life. Hopefully Kristin will agree when she returns home from Paris to find our house looking like a Danish apartment.

Ted, with Frog

2010-08-09T00:47:00.001-04:00

I was playing poker with my homiez, when a tiny frog took up residence on Ted's shoulder. He (the frog) was quite content and probably would have stayed put if I hadn't poked at him.

Scenes from the Monkey House

2010-08-08T11:41:00.001-04:00

Wild boys, never listen.
- DuranDuran

Louvre; or, Goodwill?

2010-08-06T14:03:00.002-04:00

Kristin just emailed that she was at The Musée du Louvre; I just got back from dropping off a bunch of stuff at Goodwill. Not fair.

The boys are being great, and so far I've been using the time to seriously clean house, throw away or Goodwill a ton of stuff that had been clogging up my physical and mental spaces. It's always healthy to let go.

I even cleaned the refrigerator!

Paris, mon amour

2010-08-06T13:43:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, Kristin flew off to Paris for five days with her cousin Merriah and a few other friends. When we were checking the chart for her seats, it said she was in business class! I was laughing that she'd have a tipsy, fifty-something businessman next to her, buying her drinks and attempting to schedule romantic ron-dez-vouses with her on the Champs-Élysées.

Unfortunately, I was looking at wrong seating chart. She ended up with the little people in coach, next to a guy with bad breath who farted, repeatedly, in his sleep. You have to suffer if you want to see Paris.

Meanwhile, I took the boys to Ikea where we found an Eiffel Tower of our own. Bitty Bear struck a fitting pose:

Me and the boys for five days! As Nancy Reagan used to say: "Stop the Madness!"

Lonesome Dog

2010-08-03T16:38:00.001-04:00

Fhotos with Fenuxe

2010-07-31T12:59:00.002-04:00

Just wrapped a humongoid photo shoot here in the studio with the folks from Fenuxe magazine. The spread is for their annual pet issue and will feature pets that are in need of adoption from various adoption agencies around the ATL, Shorty.

We photographed two blinged out Pit Bulls, nine kittens, one Sphinx cat (wearing a $6000 handmade necklace), a tortoise, a Great Dane, two Chihuahuas, and two house rabbits. We will post some of this after the issue hits the streets in mid-August.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to help today!

Kenney

2010-07-27T16:13:00.004-04:00

Gabby the Tabby

2010-07-27T15:46:00.005-04:00

Abby! Mutt of the Week

2010-07-23T17:04:00.006-04:00

Our Mutt of the Week is Abby! That's quite the dog smile, isn't it?

She is the fur baby of Andrea, owner and artist at Forever Impressions. Abby is wearing a handmade silver keepsake dog tag, custom made by her mom (and cleverly covered by my watermark, oops). Please be sure to check them out!

The Mutts Project has really caught fire lately. We've had some spectacular mixes coming in and all of the work has really helped me refine my vision for the project. We'll start rolling some of this out in the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Hannah

2010-07-22T17:25:00.005-04:00

A few months back, I met Hannah and her mom Virginia while photographing a Rodeo in Ringgold, Georgia. They sort of took me under their wing, showed me around the rodeo, and explained what all the different events entailed. Since then, we have become friends, and they have been into the studio on several occasions. Every time they come in, we spend about an hour just yakking about everything in the world. They are both a real hoot.

This particular image was made at the Georgia High School Rodeo finals in Perry, Georgia. This project has been shot entirely on black and white film (see image below), but after making a series of portraits of Hannah this Sunday morning, I really felt like I needed to capture this image in color. Dug around in the bag a bit and found the Canon 5D, blew off the dust and grabbed this just before she had to run off for the queen ceremony.

This portrait of Hannah is part of my larger series of Rodeo Portraits:

To see more, just hit the Rodeo keyword in the list to the right. The website with all these and many more portraits will be ready next week!

Jelly Jars

2010-07-18T20:38:00.011-04:00

We recently discovered Braswell's Select Organic preserves at the Dekalb Farmer's Market. The preserves are produced by a local company out of Statesboro, and they come in flavors such as cherry pomegranate, strawberry and apricot. Before dinner tonight, we had a snackatizer of crackers with honey goat cheese, salami and a dollop of Braswell's fig preserves.

The preserves are all delicious, but what I really like is that they come in adorable European drinkware. I have to admit, I've been buying way more than we need, just to get the glasses. I've got eight glasses so far - should I keep collecting until I have twelve?
post and images by Kristin

Parker chimes in: These glasses remind me of our travels in Greece, where you sit down at the taverna, order a liter (or two, or three) of the local wine and they serve it in a carafe along with these small but robust European glasses. Go get you some!

Baby H.

2010-07-15T13:31:00.002-04:00