Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta

I had the great pleasure of shooting the Summer Spectacular at the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta last weekend. I'm typically not an event shooter, with the exception of weddings, but it was a nice departure from my normal style. I've attached just a couple photos from this weekends event. I have also included a link to the online proofing/ordering gallery for those parents interested in purchasing a fully edited digital image.

Note: The images on the proofing/ordering gallery are completely unedited. The images will be edited at the time of purchase. If you have any question, feel free to email me at michael@michael-knowlton.com.

The photos can be found at: Summer Spectacular Gallery

Matt and Beth: Atlanta Engagement Photographer

      This weekend was probably the busiest weekends I have ever had from a photography standpoint. This is the second shoot I had this weekend. It was an beautiful engagement session featuring Matt, and Beth Ann. We were planning to shoot in Atlanta, however, after hearing about the massive delays and road closings we decided to stay local and just find great light and shoot! I am glad we stayed, we were able to shoot right in the sweet spot where the light was just absolutely beautiful, and had we shot in Atlanta, we would have been driving during this divine light.

Matt and Beth Ann were both naturals in front of the camera. We started with some very basic headshots, which I open up every shoot with, mainly as a way to allow my subjects to relax, as well as allowing myself to relax. I always get nervous before shoots, and I am always nervous in the back of my head until I get that first shot. That first shot came about 40 photos into the session. That photo is below.

The light was amazing at this point. The sun was low in the sky, but I was shooting right into it. No fear. No lens hood. I simply shot with one hand, and used the other hand to block the direct sunlight into the camera. Allowing me to get perfect exposure on my subjects, with great hair light, and minimizing the amount of flare.

This also opens up a creative opportunity. If you look closely at the top right corner of the photo below, there is what looks like a light leak on an on school film exposure. But actually, that is the flare from my hand blocking the direct sunlight from the lens. I kinda like it.

Matt was nervous at the beginning on the shoot, but in the photo below. Well, I think all those butterflies were long gone.

I had an extra guest shooting with me on this shoot. Meet Meredith. She came along in order to pick up where I leave off. And that is often times when someone's hair is on their face, they are at an awkward angle. Much to my relief, anytime something of that nature happened, she would swoop in and make any necessary changes.

Oh, and thanks for carrying the bags!

In addition to being my second pair of eyes, she brought some wonderfully creative ideas to the table. Without her, I would have missed out on this beautiful kodak moment below.

Beth Ann, Work. It. Girl.

Danielle and Olivia: Creative Edit

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, the images below were nearly straight out of the camera (SOOC), meaning they were not edited in anyway. I've been struggling with myself lately, that my photos aren't good enough and the only reason they are even acceptable is due to the creative editing done after the fact. The previous blog post was a challenge to myself, to prove to myself that I could take atleast decent photos without having to rely on creative editing techniques to acheive that.

Enough rambling, after I proved that point to myself, I went ahead and did some creative editing on these photos and I think they turned out exceptionally well!

If you would like to have your photos be sure to contact me soon! Spots are filling up quickly!

Best Friends: One of life's biggest perks.

This evening I had the pleasure of shooting Danielle and Olivia. The two have been best friends for quite some time now. Since middle school actually. We met at Kennesaw State University, where both girls are currently attending school to start off the shoot. We met around 5, and on the way over I was freaking out a bit inside as the sun was still waaaay up in the sky. Not the ideal position to be shooting in, however, I was able to find some open shade to start with, and then the sun began to lower in the sky and the shots that followed were just amazing.

I tweeted earlier today that while I love photography, sometimes I feel as if it doesn't love me back. And I say that, because there are days where I absolutely love photography. And today, after this shoot, is one of those days. But there are other days, that I absolutely hate it. (Not literally). But there are days when I get so frustrated when my artistic vision isn't coming out in the photos I'm taking. Today however. Today, I LOVE photography. I am incredibly happy with the photos from tonight's shoot. In the past I have relied very heavily on post-processing in order to get a "cool" photograph. However, after burying my head in books, I mean, the internet, I have once again got re-inspired to go out and shoot photographs that are amazing straight out of my camera. In fact, I recently painted a wall in my room with chalkboard paint, and written in HUGE capital letters is "STOP RELYING ON POST-PROCESSING TO MAKE A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH!!!". (The three exclamation points aren't an exaggeration) I am happy to say that today I am content with the photos I took. As when it comes to photography, I'm never happy/satisfied.

The light was a bit of a challenge today, not so much the location of the sun in the sky, but instead, the location on my subjects and the sun. I was shooting straight INTO the sun for the majority of the shoot, and while it does produce that beautiful highlight in the girls' hair, it is quite a challenge to not blow out the image. I had to hold the camera in one hand, and block the light with either my hand, or my westcott 42inch 4-in-1 reflector. While this doesn't sound so difficult, autofocusing while doing so hindered me to get some of the compositions I really wanted. But, overall I am very happy with the outcome. Anywho, on to the photos, most of these photos are un-edited and straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC).

As always, leave your comments at the bottom, I always love reading them!

P.S. I am incredibly behind on editing. I have been really pushing myself to learn more from a post-processing perspective so I am quite behind, but I will be updating the blog quite frequently over the next few days. Be sure to check back in!