FotoRecord » 2009

01.17.2009

You get a sense of history when you enter The Duke Mansion in Charlotte.

Built in 1915 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the mansion was once home to some of the most influential and powerful families the state has ever known.

Zebulon V. Taylor, president of the company that would become Duke Power built the home in 1915. James B. “Buck” Duke, founder of the American Tobacco Company and Duke Power Company bought and expanded the mansion to its current 32,000 square feet in 1919. Also Doris Duke’s father, Buck Duke’s legacies include Duke University, Duke Power and The Duke Endowment.

Well, that’s enough of a history lesson, but you get the idea.

And while the mansion doesn’t host weddings or receptions, it’s an excellent place for rehearsal dinners and bridal portraits. It’s also a bed and breakfast with 20 guest rooms.

Aundrea Hopkins, senior conference services manager, is great to work with and she can help you arrange your dinner, party or portrait session.

The Duke Mansion in Charlotte has an incredible history and is a wonderful spot for rehearsal dinners and bridal portraits

Aundrea Hopkins is the senior conference services manager at The Duke Mansion

Hopkins at the mansion, which has a variety of interesting settings for photographs

01.11.2009

We're celebrating

The economy seems to have everyone feeling down and the Carolina Panthers suffered a tough loss in their playoff game last night - but we still have reason to celebrate today.

It was two years ago today that I left The Charlotte Observer after 14 years of adventure at the largest circulation newspaper in the Carolinas. I’d spent more than 20 years in journalism but it was time for something new.

We started photographing weddings five years earlier as a side venture but it was time to commit all of our efforts to our growing business.

Along with celebrating, we want to take time to say thank you.

Thank you to all of the wonderful couples who have given us the honor of sharing one of the most important days of their lives. We appreciate your faith in us and we do everything we can to deliver images that have lasting value.

We also want to thank all of the great wedding professionals we’ve encountered along the way. We’re also appreciative of our corporate and editorial clients who gave us some great assignments. And thanks to all of the talented photographers we’ve gotten to know better.

We’ve had some changes this year, including moving our office from Davidson to Dilworth and this new journal we started in September to better showcase our images.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to do something we love and for the freedom of running our own business.

So even in these dark days we find ourselves thankful.

Here’s to another great year – cheers!

01.08.2009

It’s always fun to look behind the scenes, and I got an interesting opportunity to work with the advertising agency MadGENIUS Inc. this week documenting work they are doing with the new NASCAR Cup Series Farm Bureau Insurance race team at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls while coaching the Washington Redskins and three Cup Series championships with his race teams, is an incredibly accomplished and inspirational leader. He is also a man of great faith and he leads by example.

I always appreciate working with pros and they were plentiful on this shoot - the Gibbs people, the MadGENIUS group, the film crew from Eyevox Film & Video Production and the Farm Bureau Insurance executives.

It will be fun following the Farm Bureau Insurance car’s progress as it makes its first foray into the Cup Series this season.

NASCAR race team owner and former NFL Coach Joe Gibbs, left, chats with Farm Bureau Insurance executives Tommy Doolittle, center, and Buddy Trosclair prior to filiming a commercial this week

With MadGENIUS creative dirctor Eric Hughes, left, looking on, NASCAR race team owner and former NFL Coach Joe Gibbs chats with Farm Bureau Insurance executives Tommy Doolittle, center, and Buddy Trosclair prior to filming a commercial this week

Jeff Tanner, left, of Eyevox Film & Video Production, gets the camera ready as Eric Hughes, creative director for MadGenius Inc., prepares to interview Gibbs in his office

Gibbs, sporting one of his three Super Bowl rings, studies a script for a radio spot

Gibbs on screen during filming

Gibbs makes his way through the Huntersville shop of his race team

Gibbs makes his way through his Huntersville race team's shop

The crew films in the race shop

Gibbs talks with members of one of his race teams

Makeup artist Crystal touches up the shiny dome of jackman Nate Boens as they prepare for filming

Tanner is a study in concentration during filming

Gibbs directs traffic during the shoot

Gibbs jokes with Farm Bureau execs Trosclair and Doolittle

Gibbs, whose teams has won 3 Cup Series chamionships, is filmed walking through his shop

Gibbs, whose teams has won three Cup Series championships, is filmed walking through his shop

01.05.2009

Happy belated New Year to all!

This time of year is always good for reflection as well as looking ahead thinking of renewal and change.

I know many people are hungry for change with all of the bad economic news and the anxiety it has created. I’ve been around long enough to know that tough times come and go and you just have to keep pushing ahead until things improve.

We were blessed with some amazing weddings and wonderful clients in 2008 and we’re excited about the great events we already have scheduled for 2009.

We’ve met many incredible people over the course of the past seven years of photographing weddings. We’ve gotten to know many of our clients better and watched their families grow. This has been such an honor and privilege and we strive to have a great working relationship with all of our clients.

I’ve been thinking about change recently and I wanted to come up with a way to open our services up to more couples who have an appreciation for our documentary approach to weddings.

For me, the bottom line has always been about the photography. Our best clients are always the ones who share our passion for images that capture people as they really are.

We know budget is on the mind of almost everyone this year.
With that in mind, we’ve added a new package to our existing choices. “The Documentary” package is a streamlined option that offers the same high level of service and quality to our customers while allowing for more flexibility in pricing.

The booking season is upon us so please contact us soon for more information about all of our coverage options.

I hope you are looking forward to 2009. I know we are!

month: January 2009