Spring! (My camera loves you, but my nose . . . not so much.)

While I've been location scouting these past two weeks, I've stopped to document our gorgeous season in Roswell and Alpharetta, something I did last fall with the autumn colors. While I love spring for the beauty of blossoming bushes and trees, some days I struggle with the pollen! A-choo! Fortunately, my camera has no such complaints.

Location Scouting: Old Mill Area

I love, love, love location scouting especially when I find a gorgeous new spot for future shoots. Early Saturday evening I drove down to the Old Mill area of Roswell and shot these photos of the Vickery Creek dam, covered bridge, crumbling walls, and milling equipment remnants in the area. I felt a bit like my mom, an adverturess when it comes to hiking and exploring, while I trekked around the place. Some of the spots were a little tricky to get to, namely that breathtaking view of the dam, but they were worth it. Several shots are for the love of the texture of the place: a forgotten wall crumbling under the ivy, rusting metal wheels, a piece brick wall looking like a rock washed up on the shore. Then, there are the "insert your family/adorable child/senior here" shots where I worked to find the best backgrounds and angles for future shoots. I'm planning on doing quite a bit more location scouting in the near future . . . so stay tuned!

Autumn Photography: Alpharetta and Roswell

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been itching to take photos of the gorgeous autumn leaves this season. Georgia is just bursting with fall colors this autumn, and I've invested a bit of time documenting some of my favorite fall finds. Enjoy!

Hembree Park
Roswell, GA

Martin Road
Roswell, GA


And a quick spot color of that tree because it's so gorgeous!

A little rain in the morning wasn't going to stop me from taking pictures!

Webb Bridge Road and Winward Lake Drive
Alpharetta, GA

I love the leading lines of the trees and the wall, and it looks so great in black and white.

Location Scouting

Today I went location scouting with my little guy after lunch and again after dinner while Jacob watched the baby for an hour. I'm always on the lookout for good spots to take photos, but lately I've been working on finding locations close by. That way, when clients ask if I know a good spot to take photos, I have a few that I know well and that are easy to get to.

I've been using Google Maps lately to do some initial decision-making on where to go. Google Maps has satellite, terrain, and street views that are quite accurate. From those, I try to find local ponds, trails, and other spots I wouldn't ordinarily see on a regular map. (The first two photos from this post are from a beautiful little trail and pond area I found this way.)

This afternoon's project was to find out what the Big Creek Overlook area looked like. On the satellite view, I could see a nice open area (rare in tree-covered Alpharetta), and I thought a field or an open area like that might look great in some photos. Well, when I got there, I found that it was a residential area. I really loved the look of the field I could see from the road though. So with baby in arms, I knocked on the owner's door and asked him if I could go down and take some pictures of it. "Knock yourself out," he said. The second two pictures are from this lovely area.

An artist friend of mine once asked me how I compose a photograph, and I've been thinking about that question again today. A photograph is a two-dimensional object, but you can create the illusion of three dimensions by including a foreground (slightly out-of-focus), middle ground (in focus and where the subject of your photograph will be), and background (blurred nicely by a wide aperture and long focal length). The third picture demonstrates the kind of composition I'm talking about.

Then again, there are times when you want your photograph to have that two-dimensional quality. After my initial success with some silhouettes, I'm excited to try them again. So, after dinner tonight, I scouted out some great spots for silhouettes at Alpharetta High School. Now all I need are some people to put in my new locations!