I recently did a shoot for a local restaurant company featuring the University of Kentucky’s new head coach Joker Phillips.  What I love about shoots like this one is that they’re totally opposite of how I normally shoot for weddings.  With weddings, all of my time is spent shooting and working with changing variables.  With shoots like this one, though, most of the time is spent preparing.  I arrived an hour, scoped out the space, picked out two scenes, set up lighting in both of them,  and photographed a stand-in (thanks,  Steve!) so that I could be 100% dialed in and ready to shoot when Joker arrived. 

We started shooting at 10:05AM and were wrapped up with everything by 10:18AM.  Not too shabby!  That left a few extra minutes for some fun shots of him with the people there, including me.

For the record?  He was a super-nice guy.  I’m sure he’s had his fair share of photo and video spots recently, but he was so laid back and nice to everyone.  I’ll be excited to see Joker in action this fall.  Go Cats!

I love this shot!  In the final version used for advertising, he’ll have a gift card in his hand.  Can’t wait to see it!

Awhhhhh-yeah!  Who’s that guy?  Note:  That’s a design on the t-shirt I’m wearing.  Looking at it on screen, though, it kind of looks like I have a mask hanging around my neck.  That would be awesome, though.  Can you imagine if I rolled up to a photoshoot wearing a super-hero mask?  Bwahahaha!

Bill is my lifelong friend.  By that, I’m referring to the 22 years we’ve known each other, the 20 years that we’ve been like this (I’m crossing my fingers…wish you could see it), and the 60+ years ahead of us.  When we were young, we quipped about front porch sittin’ when we’re old men.  Looking at our relationship through 30-year-old eyes now, I know that this is a certainty.

Bill is one of the kindest, most genuine people you’ll ever meet.  I’ve learned alot from him.  And he learned alot from his Granny Jane.

Bill and I spent quite a few summer days on his grandparents’ farm in Bath County.  We did a fair bit of underage driving through those fields and on the backroads.  We would help out with the tobacco crop some, though looking back, I’m pretty sure we were not terribly helpful.  Being from Mt. Sterling, we were clearly city boys.

I have plenty of history with the Manley family, and as a large component of that, I have a deep respect and affection for Granny Jane.  It was because of this that I was more than happy to document Jane’s 80th birthday party.  I had fun catching up with everyone.

I hope you enjoy the images and can get a sense from them what a great person Jane is, though I suspect you’d really just have to meet her.  Then you, too, would be just as much of a fan as I am.

Jane is a huge Elvis fan.  He made a guest appearance at her party.  Told you she was cool!

Jane shared some wisdom with us while she had everyone collected.

Here’s Jane with her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.  Quite a collection, right?

Me and Granny Jane.  I love this image.

My favorite.

Bill and Kelly’s son Ben.  Rocks are toys, aren’t they?

Carson and Ben hi-fiving for the first time.  We’re hoping they’ll grow up and be good friends.

Here’s Rama Dhuwaraha, Chief Information Officer at LFUCG.  He wanted something dramatic for this shot, so I tried to make good use of the perspective and architectural elements.

You know, this job has its perks.  Like the day I went to photograph Tricia Clemons at BabyCakes.  She sent home with me a couple of cupcakes, strawberry and cookie dough.  Katie was quite glad to see me walking in after work with that little pink box.  Side note?  Tricia is awesome to be around.  It’s no wonder that people flock to her for real honest-to-God homemade cupcakes.  You can check out her site HERE.

Matt and Wes at Lift Fitness & Wellness

This has to be hands-down, one of my fave images so far this year.  I was at Al’s Bar during Geeks Night Out, shooting the cover image for an upcoming issue of BG Magazine.  When we were done shooting, I suggested to them that, just for fun, we should do this shot.  I don’t think it will make the cover, but I think it’s pretty dang awesome. 

I met Hanna at a photography workshop.  She’s a GREAT photographer who hasn’t been in the area long, but who is making quite an impact already.  You can check out her work HERE.  Hanna and her husband Dustin picked me as their realtor during the winter.  They’re my kind of people.  We had a lot of fun through the process, and they are now proud owners of their first house, a super-cute craftsmen style home in old south Lexington.

I brought my camera to their new house.  Hanna busted out a dance move.  Dustin did not.  I love them.

UK’s PR department asked me to come out and document in my own style the events surrounding the record-breaking live broadcast of ESPN’s College GameDay.  I knew it was going to be a cool gig, but I had no idea what I was in for. 

Completely ovewhelming.  Electric.  For 4 hours, I raced around trying my best to capture the spirit of the events.  I hope you’ll love looking at these images, but trust me—You just had to be there.  Thanks, Kelley B!

When Coach Cal talks, everybody listens.  Love that guy!

Awhhh, yeah!  Who’s that guy?!  Thanks to Paul Hooper for grabbing this crazy shot of me.

Could I ask a HUGE favor from each of you?  Here in a few weeks, I’ll be hanging some HUGE prints (6′x4′?) inside of Simply Love Studio’s new space downtown Lexington (at the corner of Main and Broadway).  My problem?  I have NO CLUE which three images I want to print.  Would you mind watching this Best of 2009 slideshow and pick out your favorite one or two images?  When people walk into Simply Love for their one-stop-shop wedding planning, I reeeeally want to make a good impression and I’m hoping that you can help me pick images that will resonate quickly and powerfully with folks.  Beyond just being pretty, I think it’s important that the images embody my style as a photographer—warm, clean, real, timeless, emotional, human images.

When the slideshow is finished, you can browse through the gallery and jot down the number.  Leave your favorites in the comment section below, or feel free to hit me up directly by email, facebook or whatever.  Thank you!  I really appreciate any help that you can give.  Bye!

Trying to still carve out time for Katie and Carson during the day, I would work through the night on more occasions than I care to admit.  I leaned on caffeine as a way to keep me moving.  Zero exercise.  Poor eating.  With no time left, I rarely visited with my friends.  I still got to spend some time with my parents and brother, but not as much as I would have liked.

During one of my last weddings of the year, I thought for sure I was going to pass out on the dance floor, right there with my camera in my hand. My heart started racing, my head was spinning, and each thud from the speakers was reverberating through me, almost syncopated with my quickening pulse.  Yikes.  That’s when I knew something would have to change—and quickly.

2009 ended with me taking a 1 month break from blogging.  Real estate and photography were pretty much wrapped up for the year.  I slept—a lot.  I reconnected with folks.  I spent a bunch of time at home recouping.  It was during this period of reflection that I made the decision to hire somebody that could help take the edge of things during 2010.

I will always thank my good friend and equally amazing realtor John Rice for telling me about Candi.  They had worked together before in real estate, and he knew that she was also an aspiring photographer.  Could it be?  Someone organized, who also had some real estate and photography background?  After some informal meetings, I quickly came to realize that Candi was a talented go-getter with a super-optimistic personality.  A perfect fit for helping me with my businesses.

In just the first full month of 2010, Candi has helped me to get things organized and she’s been setting up systems that will allow me to just focus on what I love most—being with people.  I’ll be able to focus on my relationships, personal health, and still keep providing rock-solid service in real estate and photography.  I know that 2010 will be a year I’ll look back on as being a game-changer.  It will be the year that I took back ownership of my personal life.

There’s a lot that I’m looking forward to sharing with you all, and I hope that you’ll root me on as I work to find balance in my life.  It’s not easy!

Let me introduce you to Candi Thies (”h” is silent, rhymes with “peace”).  She’s my right hand from here on out.  Thank you, Candi, for all you’ve already done to improve my life and businesses.  Katie and Carson thank you, too!  2010 is going to rock! 

Instead?  I’ve been enjoying the holidays, chilling with Katie and Carson alot more, and getting things ready for 2010.  It’s good to step away occasionally.  Helps put things into perspective. It’s going to be a crazy-good year professionally and personally.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it in the coming days.

Here are a few pics from Katie’s birthday recently. The cake is from our friend and genius cake artist Brandi Romines.  She owns Happy as a Lark Cakes.  There’s a clip at the end with Carson and I singing Happy Birthday to Katie.  Carson has some mad vocals.  Enjoy!