Bonjour from Paris, France!

Hi everyone!

(Joy's Perspective): We made it here and had a safe flight arriving in Paris around 11:00 am. Checked into our charming hotel and then checked out the city...we are in amazement! To me Paris is grand, classic, beautiful, luxurious, sophisticated...magical! We have taken the whole city tour via Double Decker Bus, (which is highly recommended and don't rent a car!) Went to the top of Eiffel Tower, strolled and ate on Champs-Elysees, crossed the Pont Alexandre III, stood at the Arc de Triomphe and ate chocolate pastries...in just one day :) I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, so Garrett can add to this, but it has been an adventure! Its nice not to be driving around, traffic is kind of crazy here. The weather is beautiful as well, a little on the chilly side. I've also been practicing the beautiful French language which suprisingly is coming back! ( I took 4 years of it in high school..but never really used it!)

Our internet we are finding is hit or miss so we apologize if we don't get to answer your emails as promptly. Our cell phones aren't working :(

We just found out where the wedding is going to take place: Hotel de Crillon. And we are shooting our clients' engagement session tomorrow around the city :)

We will post pictures whenever we can from today and the rest of our trip, but only when the Internet connection can manage it!

Hope all is well and for now, Bonsoir :)

Look who rolled into town

Four of our absolute favorite photographer friends came rolling into the big town of Apison this morning and stopped at our doorstep.

Katie and Chris Torres and Brandy and Sticky Rammel came up from Atlanta to spend a few hours with us. It was great!

We first headed to Southern, where we critiqued the images from the Digital Photo class (see below two posts). It was great having them on hand because they added so much to the classroom experience.




Then we came back to the house and Joy and I cooked lunch. Then we headed downtown to hang out for a bit before they headed back.

Graycen showing off her new little bird with black-rim glasses. So cool!




The ladies...


The men...


At this point she was no longer amused by all the nuts.



After we got home I mowed the lawn. I wish they had stayed around for that. :-(

Good times with great friends

Tomorrow evening we head to the airport and take off on a 6-week marathon travel/work session that includes weddings in Paris, Scotland, and a shoot in Italy, a wedding in Orlando, two sessions and a speaking engagement in NYC at PhotoPlus Expo, a wedding in the Tampa area, then a speaking engagement back home in Tennessee, then another wedding in Tampa, then an engagement session in Charleston, then another wedding back in Orlando. Then we come home for a couple days before turning back around and flying out for a few days of relaxation with a small group of photographers at a cottage in Maine. It will be a whirlwind, but we're totally excited about it.

Last weekend we had some wonderful relaxation with great friends. The Wrights, along along with dozens of other friends and family, went camping at Indian Boundary in Tellico Plains. They've been doing this adventure for years, but this was our first time joining them. It was a blast!







Benjamin being independent


The weather was beautiful!


Napping Nolan


Graycen LOVES reading. She obviously gets that from her mom!


Night, night.




Time to get up.


Sydney working early, sporting her PJs as she pulls the wagon.


Graycen eagerly took over.


And finally, just before leaving, we got a portion of the group together for a bridesmaids and groomsmen shot. LOL, j/k. Actually, this represents 1/2 of our fantasy football league. Note: the tallish guy on the right, Tyler, he's even taller in real life! He's actually standing at the lowest point in the image. Good thing we're not playing fantasy basketball.



Thanks guys, for having us along. It was great fun! We're looking forward to doing it again sometime.

I'm impressed!

Today we met with the Digital Photo Class at Southern for the final time. It was exciting because we had a few special guests with us (more on them later).

We were totally blown away by the students' work. Each student turned in three images and I selected my favorites to post here.

Photo by Stephan Castro-Shoemaker


Photo by Sam Steele


Photo by Ryan Harrell


Photo by Robbie Burnham


Photos by Megan Brauner



Photo by Matt Herzel


Photo by Ian Zinner


Photo by Duane Gibson


Photo by Donnie Keele


Photo by Courtney Herod


Photo by Britni Brannon


Photo by Brandon Russell


Photo by Ben Stitzer


Photo by Aaron Cheney


Great job guys! I'm so inspired.

Class is in Session

I had a great time shooting with the students from the Digital Photo class at Southern. We split the class in half and one group came downtown on Friday and the other group on Sunday.

Each student was responsible for bringing a subject to photograph, and everyone did such a great job. I've been looking at their images and I'm so excited for them. Tomorrow we'll review the images in class and we may even have a couple surprise guests, which I'm equally excited about.

Stay tuned and we'll try to get a few of their images up. For now, here are a handful of shots from downtown.

2 Year Anniversary of our Blog and a New Look!

So it was 2 years ago when we created this blog...hard to believe! Its been through one makeover and we thought it needed another fresh new look with new colors and bigger images. What else is different..at the top left, you can search for topics, you can see what we're up to, subscribe for updates, read our archives. Stay tuned as we add more features and fun stuff! If you have any suggestions, let us know :)

We had another blog started at the same time just for personal use, called The Sand Trap, but we retired it in May 2006 and integrated both concepts with this one. For us, two blogs were challenging to keep up with. But once we had just one and made it a part of our schedule and started writing about everything that was going on, it really started to become an online journal. And now we can look back over the past two years and see where we've been, what we've done, and how we've grown as artists and as a family.

So, if you don't have a blog or something similar, we encourage you to start one (BRIAN, this means you!!!). Start it for your high school years, college years, marriage and family...etc. Every milestone! Every few days we'll browse many of our friends' blogs and we can't help but feel proud of them for everything they're doing. And most importantly, it's become an amazing way to remain connected.

Thank you to all our wonderful readers, commenters, and supporters! We couldn't have done it without you!

Photo intensive half way over

I just returned home from a great shoot downtown with some of my friends from the digital photo class at Southern Adventist University. On Wednesday we started a several-class-period intensive on on-location portraiture and wedding photography.




The first day we spent a couple hours in the classroom talking about photography. Then we split the class into two groups. One group came downtown on Friday and the other came downtown today. Each student brought a friend as their subject, while I went from group to group and photographed with them.

It was a blast!

Tomorrow we'll be back in the classroom talking about post-production, and then on Friday we'll review the images and do an in-class critique, where we'll all get to review each other's images.

I can't tell you how exciting this has been. These guys are doing great! We'll be sure to post some of the finished images.

Ashley and Jason tie the knot in Tampa

It was no surprise that I had a blast working with Ashley and Jason. I know from the first time we met (at Disney) for their consultation that it was going to be great! I was also fortunate to have my friend Ron Rader in town from Arkansas to help out.

The bridesmaids waiting to get ready...


The bride getting ready...


Check out these two!


The first dance...


Daddy's dance...


Sportin' some serious socks!


And speaking of serious...a picture of concentration as this guest patiently waits for the decisive moment.


The topper...


And last but obviously not least, Jason sent someone to surprise Ashley by fetching their cute little Hula, who graciously shared a few dances with everyone before wearing down and nearly falling asleep.



Thanks so much Ashley and Jason for letting us be a part of your special day. We wish you all the best as you begin your new life together.