Christopher Bloor, Alpharetta Wedding & Portrait Photography Blog

Hot Air Ballon Stories

cbloor — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:22:57 +0000

There are times that a story comes together through images. Many years ago, I thought it might be easy to build a story from just a few images. But after years and years (and a lot of shooting), I have found that is just not the case. Sometimes you can luck out and it may just happen; But those times are rare. If you plan for it, know what might be coming, you can start to see the story unfold as you capture each image.

It was the morning of July 4th; About 5:30am and I was in the mountains of Southern California. Our job that day was to help set up and get ready a hot air ballon for campers to have the ride of their life in. We had to set the balloon up and get every kid, counselor and staffer up in a ballon ride by 8:30am. Easier said then done: I learned that as the air heats up, it becomes harder and harder to have the ballon lift off the ground. Almost to the point of being impossible if it is really hot. And trust me, it can get really hot in Southern California in the summer. No matter where you are.

Each year at the beginning of summer, Pat Murphy from Reach for the Stars comes up to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times and gives over 100 campers the ride of their life. While all of that sounds neat, what is even neater is what this ballon is all about. Pat’s ballon in one of the only ballons in the US that was built so that children in wheelchairs can come on board and ride in their chair. So every camper, regardless of how mobile they are can have the same ride as everyone else. Beyond cool! As you might guess, I have never set up a hot air ballon. And I found that I was in for more than just a ballon ride.

Sometimes, I just get these wild ideas…..

cbloor — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:23:01 +0000

I had an assignment to shoot a local restaurant a few weeks ago. The idea was to capture the look and feel of the environment: People having fun, good food, good drinks etc. As I was working through my pre-shots and what I wanted, I had a crazy idea. What if I had two people in the street. 2 normal people, sitting (in the middle of the street) having a drink….on a green chair. What if one of those people was in a robe……….with a pipe ……….and had a golf club near by. I was not even remotely sure what the client would think, but I figured that you only live once, so why not try it.

For a lot of these shots I was lying prone in the street shooting; prone in the MIDDLE of the street shooting. I had no way to tell if a car was coming by; I could not see, could not hear, nothing. There was enough nearby traffic that if a car didn’t see me, I would have been toast. I would never have heard it coming. Thankfully that did not happen. Most people stopped and more than a few times, people were staring at us trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

It was hard to keep a straight face for some of these! This was a lot of fun.

A Pure Day

cbloor — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:33:17 +0000

The idea was for people to be able to feel the freshness and the excitement of the restaurant through images. Many times, restaurant shots are just plain and boring; shots of an empty room with no people; static food sitting on a bland table. Blah! These folks wanted you to be a part of the action and crave the food that would be in front of you.

So what do we do? Show up at 5:30am to start working with the prep-cooks:

See how food is prepared:

Set up and getting ready for the action:

Can you say awesome fish tacos:

Would you like a drink with that?

As the night ends……

Cinco de Mayo in Motion

cbloor — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:56:12 +0000

This week I was asked to shoot a restaurant for Cinco de Mayo. They wanted images that showed people in motion with the hustle and bustle of the day; while highlighting their establishment. Because of the amount of people (and the last minute nature of the shoot); I was unable to get releases from people. To be honest, I am not even sure I should have tried there were so many people there.

This is a 30 second shot @ f22. It was getting dark fast and this was one of my last shots of the night. Of course I had a tripod and you can only image how much fun that was with all of these people milling around. I love how the lights in the distance flair up and sparkle. And yes, I played with the TV for my client. Why not!

Blue House Portrait

cbloor — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:02:27 +0000

My new favorite thing to do with an image is to add tonal contrasts to an image. While I don’t want the subject to become “funky”, I do want their surroundings to be interesting. I look for an image be felt and not just sit there; not to be flat. Perhaps That is too much philosophy , but that is what I strive to do. Sometimes I push it too far, but sometimes (most of the time), it just works.

Below is an example of that. The first image is the finished work, and below that the original. The original is not much to look at, but by adding tonal contrast to the house and playing with a levels adjustment, you can see the result. It literally is night and day.

Roswell Criterium – Cycling in Action

cbloor — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:26:54 +0000

Many years ago, when I was still a young lad, I used to race for Schwinn Bicycles. Every day, I would get up and train from 5:30 till 8am, when I had to be in school. When school was over, I would get back on my bike and ride till dark; do my homework and get ready to start it all over again the next day. Most weeks, I was doing between 5 to 6 hundred miles a week. I loved bike riding. There was always something fantastic about the speed and the motion of it.

Well, a long time has passed since then and I am sad to say that I really don’t ride anymore. But the passion and love of the sport I have never lost.

I heard about the Roswell Criterium (A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km), often run on closed-off city center streets) this past weekend. Not only did I want to see the race, but I wanted to capture the speed and motion that I used to feel as a kid in my images. Below are some examples of the race this weekend.

Sometimes the Unexpected Shots are the Best Shots

cbloor — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:07:52 +0000

Today, I drove down south to Columbus GA to shoot a corporate volunteer event. The day’s plans were to document the activity and success of volunteers working with a local non profit. Unfortunately, the day did not go as planned; just as we were getting ready to start, the sky opened up and it felt like 2 inches of rain dropped upon us in an instant. Half of the days plans were gone in an moments time.

But even with that, a lot was done and a lot of success was had (with some fun of course).

Just as I was getting ready to wrap up, I was walking around to make sure I captured some of the little things, when all of a sudden two girls yelled at me from outside the fence. They wanted to know what I was doing and why was I taking pictures. They were not part of the event, just some kids passing by. Before I could even answer, they asked if I would take their picture. Who am I to say no to that! Thankfully, I had my 14-24 lens on my camera and I could pull this off.

I stood up on my toes, put my hands (and camera) through the barbwire and pointed it down. There was no way I could look through the viewfinder. I just clicked the shutter, Luck must have been on my side as I think this ended up being my favorite shot of the day. I know that it doesn’t fit my purpose of the day, but for me personally I love everything about it. The smiles on the girls faces, the way the boys line up behind them.

Just perfect stuff.

Rock Gym Shots

cbloor — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:59:02 +0000

A local Rock Climbing Gym asked me and the great Megan Case to shoot the gym for a new website they are putting together. To be honest, this ended beng a lot harder then I thought and I think we are going to have to go back. While I got a few good shots, most of them are not what I would want to show the public. I decided that I needed to do my lights a bit differently and shoot at different angles. While the lighting was OK, the angles just were all off. Live and learn as they say.

But as I said, I got a few and here they are:

Yes, she is climbing upside down.

I am litterly hanging over the edge to get these next two shots. One of the guys was hanging onto my belt as I leaned over (way over) the edge.

Some Random Portraits

cbloor — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:40:31 +0000

I had forgotten to post some of my favorite shots form a session I did a few weeks ago. It is hard to pick the best of the best when you have so many good ones to choose from. The “traffic” shots were just wild. I think we almost caused some accidents by being out there. Just too funny.

Sometimes the Son Outdoes the Dad

cbloor — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:43:24 +0000

As many of you know, my 9 year old son loves to join me and shoot with me when the opportunity presents itself. Over the last year he has started to attend local Photo Review meetings and enter competitions. Yes, he is competing againt adults as a 9 year old.

Each month, a topic is chosen in advance and every photographers needs to submit an image that meets that criteria. This month, the theme was Abandoned and Decayed. We both submitted images, but truth be told, I didn’t do too well. He on the other hand, for the 2nd month in a row, received an Honorable Mention. Not too shabby for a 9 year old.

The title of his piece was “Mom, I think we need a new roof”

He shot 9 images and used Photomatix to create a HDR image. From there, he used levels and curves to make it pop. Yes, I might have stood over his sholder and shared with him how to do something, but these were his ideas and his hands doing all of the work. And yes, I am proud of my little guy.