Cameron and Chandler’s Vogel State Park Engagement Session

Since the shelter-at-home order in March, Sharon and I have been spending a lot of our time at our tiny cabin near Blairsville. The nearby scenery, along with the cool temperatures, make the area an awesome location for engagement sessions.

So, when Cameron and Chandler and I were planning their engagement session, I suggested a couple of mountain locations.

They chose Vogel State Park, only four miles from our cabin.

After we took photos around the lake, we headed to the waterfall. I suggested we go back to the cars and drive around to a parking area nearer the falls. But when we got there, the parking area was blocked.

So, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. Leave the park, and go around the lake to the road to Woody Gap, where there was another parking place close to the falls. But when we got there, we encountered No Parking signs, again.

The third choice parking place was near a dirt road that I thought would lead us to the waterfall. Alas, it did not. The road was someone’s driveway. To our delight, they weren’t home.

We finally made it to the creek that ran from the foot of the waterfall, but not to the waterfall. At that point, with the light fading, we abandoned our quest for waterfall photos. Maybe it was meant to be. At least Cameron and Chandler didn’t end up in the water, like this couple.

Thanks, Cameron and Chandler, for being such good sports about the whole adventure.

North Georgia Engagement Photographer

What a wedding photographer does when there are no weddings

COVID-19 and the subsequent quarantine has left a lot of couples scrambling to reschedule their weddings. A few have decided to have a very small ceremony right away with a larger get together later. But many have simply postponed until they feel certain they’ll be able to celebrate with friends and family.

Wedding (and event) photographers, like myself, look at our calendars and see open dates from now until we don’t know when.

So, I decided to create my own assignment. Take porch portraits (lots of photographers are doing this) of Pine Lakers showing off something that has been helping them survive quarantine. I’ve been especially interested in photographing artists and musicians with their instruments, art work, journals, sculptures or paint brushes.

In addition, I’m asking each person to write a little something about what’s keeping them going while they’re hibernating.

Here’s a portrait of Amy Pence and a poem she has written about quarantine.

Amy Pence, Tree Side of the Lake

Ways to Stay Inside the Inside
by Amy Pence

[A softness, as if from everywhere, is touching the earth – Rilke]

Preempt your regular programming to go bullseye into the universe.

Love the muddled memories of your created earth.

By midnight, develop a routine--

--quickly dispense.

Travel down rabbit holes, but burrow lightly.

Enact two dozen varieties of flora—one that billows from your palm.

Make furious love to your shadow. Over a threshold, imagine a constellated real.

Piece together the rough details that cradled your birth.

Watch your fear, but protect the young in their thriving.

Experience one ecstasy a day:

-          the split apple’s tart future

-          the velvet anemones turned to sun

-          the masked fisherman

as he lets the fish go.

Make allowances for the composition of bread and other transcendent materials.

Forget the hands that may have disfigured you & remember the ones that

drew you to beauty.

If don’ts once hindered you, turn them into a softness.

Contemplate the highest ceiling—all the star charts—reconstructed from our rough

anatomies.

Initiate a different touch. Keep going -- 

See previous porch portraits

See next porch portraits

What Black Men Learn From Their Parents About the Police

About three years ago, I came up with an idea for a photo project … take portraits of black men and ask them what their mother told them about the police.

I even took a few photographs to begin the project. But, as happens sometimes with my ideas, my follow through was weak. I took several portraits at the beginning. Did a poor job of keeping up with which photos went with which quote and got discouraged by my disorganization.

As the litany of names of black men killed by the police continued to crescendo over time, my desire to resurrect the project grew. So, I headed out to the outskirts of two recent Black Lives Matter protests to continue the work.

Several times when I ask what their mothers had told them about the police, the men told me that it was their Dad or another parental figure who gave them advice about the police. So, now instead of asking what their mothers told them, I’m asking what their parents, or a parental figure told them about the police.

Here is a portrait taken of Monterio on June 3rd after a protest on Decatur Square. And below is his response to the question:

What did your parents tell you about the police?

I learned growing up that we get treated differently. If you get pulled over, don’t make any sudden move, just stay still, try not to give them any reason to draw their gun on you.

Along, the way you learn that even if you don’t move or don’t do anything, it can happen anyway.

So, you just gotta pray. I have a big belief in God. I know that if I’m meant to be, I’ll be here.

As you go on you learn we get things handed to us harder. It’s something you learn to adjust to. I’m just  glad we live in a time now that our voices are being heard more.

I feel like as time goes on, I feel like a lot of people will eventually figure out that equality is the roots of everything that will go good in this country. Without it, we’ll still be separated.

I feel like right now with the President, I feel like we gotta (I don’t say my own views to change anyone else’s view,) but I reel like the President is trying to enforce a race war and I feel like we just can’t let him do it.

We’re all human and I feel like we all bleed. We all breathe the same. I feel like we just have to look at each other as brothers and sisters. There’s no difference, we’re all human.

Pine Lake Porch Portraits: Surviving Quarantine

The coronavirus pandemic and our efforts to stop the spread by quarantining in our homes has thrown me into a bit of tailspin.

No surprise there, eh?

So it’s been a while since I’ve written a blogpost, and now I have quite a bit to blog about … because I’ve kept myself busy as a way of staying sane.

The first big project I worked on after the shelter-in-place order went into effect was a series of porch portraits in Pine Lake. My original idea was to photograph artists and musicians on their porches and then ask them to tell me how their passion for their art was helping them thrive (or at least survive) during quarantine. Once I started the project I realized that not all artists were using their art as a way thrive. Some were gardening, or spending more time with their kids or sewing masks. So I decided to broaden the project to include any neighbors who had found a way to thrive/survive.

Here are a few photos with writings from someone in the photo:

Susan Reardon, Flower Side of the Lake:

My violin has always meant the most to me as a means of connecting with other people.

Growing up, I was an orchestra geek and played in all kinds of ensembles -  a strolling strings group playing cheesy elevator music at luncheons, theatre pit orchestras, accompanying church choirs, chamber groups, duets with my mom. As an adult, I've tried to keep this up with amateur orchestras and music camp and private lessons with a partner. 

The past year or so, my violin has given me a new way to connect to my brother. A CPA and nonprofit development director by profession, it turns out he is a a songwriter at heart.  Lending a fiddle  line to his tunes and playing together with him and his band has added a whole new depth to our relationship. 

So, during quarantine (having come to the frustrating realization that it is IMPOSSIBLE to play together over Zoom because of the lag) he is sending me recordings of him playing and singing.  I record myself playing along and send it back to him. Not quite the same joy as making music together, but it keeps us in ongoing conversation, and builds hopeful anticipation for the day we can jam together again. 

But honestly, what's getting me through this quarantine more than anything is walking around this beautiful town we live in. Miles and miles each day - meditatively walking by myself,  taking our dog out for exercise, walking and talking with my husband, walking (with safe distance between us) and talking with my dearest friends.  Moving my body through these streets and trails is what's moving me through this unprecedented time.

Valerie Boyd, Flower Side of the Lake

As a writer, editor and teacher of writing, I often talk about the power of narrative—about storytelling's capacity to influence our understanding of the present and to change and impact our possible futures. For me, a saving grace has been writing and deeply thinking about shaping narratives of the pandemic even as we live through it. As I consider the impact of the words we use, I’ve started to call this moment The Great Pause—and to see it as an opportunity to reimagine everything, to reinvent ourselves, in the godliest images we can conjure. 

I also am privileging joy, seeking and finding beauty, comfort and solace in the smallest of things: a satisfying FaceTime conversation with a friend; my late mother’s simple cornbread recipe; a stump planter of rosemary and cilantro; a dollop of sour cream in the middle of the pancake batter; a bottle of cold-pressed juice that boasts the perfect balance of lemon and watermelon juice; a successfully executed cardamom-lime loaf; a bright idea.

Valerie Boyd Author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston
And the forthcoming Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker

Suzie Pope, Tree Side of the Lake

My neighbor is taking porch portraits. The payment was a sentence on what is helping me thrive in this time.

"Working towards a world where every person is treated with dignity is what helps me thrive."

When they arrived they asked if it was just me. Well, nope! I am working towards that world with the strength and love of my parents (pictures of them in the 70s fighting the good fight on the Bernie poster), the strength and love of the women before me (pictures of my grandmothers, Elmira and EvaLena on the table), and working for that world with the strength and love of soldiers of equality like Bernie Sanders and the many others with names we know and those with names we don't know.

Also, I am wearing my "Medicare For All" shirt and that is my dog, Pinto Bean.

Viva la revolution!

Roshana Paxton, Teacher, Tree Side of the Lakee

During this time, having Khloe in the house is helping me mentally. 

Her energy keeps me on my toes. Without her I would probably would go crazy.  Watching her play and teaching her all the cool things I learned as a kid keeps me going!

Everyday I try something new, from playing Jacks to popping wheelies on her bike. I know through her learning, she's teaching me how simple life can actually be. 

Stephanie Spiller, Aikido Instructor, Flower Side of the Lake

Our whole family practices aikido. We are able to continue to train in this art, on our pink mats, in our tiny basement dojo.

Daily practice is good. 

See next porch portrait post

Welcome to the World, Fin: Atlanta Baby Photography

Proud parents, Vanessa and Tim, welcomed Fin into the world on August 4, 2017.

“Weighing in at 8 lbs. 1 oz. and measuring 20 3/8 inches, the newest member of his grandparents’ Dream Team and current record holder of ‘Cutest Kid Ever’, introducing the One, The Only...Ronk the Jackal, Cobra-Snake, Thor the Destroyer, Spider-Monkey Winterstein.”

— Vanessa, Mom

Tiny baby feet ... always cute.

Keeping little, yellow ducky close by for security.

Daddy sings really low ... "Swing low, sweet chariot."

Who you looking at?

I love hanging out on Momma's shoulder.

Looking for a photographer to capture real life photos of you with the new life in your world, give me a call (404) 298 6263. I love babies!

Atlanta Portrait Photographer, C Brown Photo

Family Coffee Table Book | Atlanta Portrait Photographer

Baby Lifestyle Photo

I love documenting families, especially where everyone is excited about the new arrival. Here are a few favorite layouts from the coffee table book I created for Martinez family.

atlanta family portrait

lifestyle portraits atlanta

baby and sister photograph

Check out this link to the whole book.

Family Coffee Table Book | Atlanta Portrait Photographer

I love documenting families, especially where everyone is excited about the new arrival. Here are a few favorite layouts from the coffee table book I created for Martinez family.

Check out this link to the whole book. https://albumexposure.com/cbrownphoto/public/martinez-family

Schedule your family portrait here.

Miles' Day-in-the-Life Portraits

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Rev. Dawn, an interfaith minister who performs lots of interfaith weddings in the Atlanta area. I attended a meetup of Spiritual Entrepreneurs that Rev. Dawn started and got to know her through that event. We decided it would be great for me to head over to her place one day to document the activities of her five-year-old son and his new kitten (and his much shyer cat.) Miles is a deligtful five-year-old full of energy and lots of awesome expressions.

Here are a few favorites of Miles, Mom and kitten:

Atlanta Children's Photographer