Christopher Bloor, Alpharetta Wedding & Portrait Photography Blog » Portrait

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.

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.

Meet Larry – Natural Light Portrait

cbloor — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:26:37 +0000

While Larry may not look familiar to you, many of you do know him, you just don’t know it. He is one of those Hollywood behind the scenes kind of guys. But if told you “who” he was, you would know him or at least his work. Simply put, the words that you have heard on many TV shows have been his, not his voice, but the spoken words.

Many years ago Larry was a typical hollywood struggling writer. He graduated from NYU film school, but was having the hardest time finding consistant work. But with a bit (OK, a lot) of fortitude, Larry’s success has finally come. His resume now reads like a hit show wonder. And to be honest, I think it is about to get bigger. Larry has either written or produced for shows like Six Feet Under, Alais, Boomtown, Millennium. But this next Sunday, one of the most exciting projects he has worked on thus far will start to air.

I am not exactly sure how long I have known Larry, but my guess is we are at about 20 years or so. Larry is one of those people that I consider one of my best friends. We may not speak every day, or even every month, but when we do, it is like not a day has passed since we last saw each other. Each day when I come to my office, I get to see Larry, along with Bear, (Bear’s name is another story), in a photo from many years ago right after we all jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. The smiles on our faces were as wide as they could get.

Larry and I have been through a lot together. Truly the good bad and ugly. That photo is certainly from the “good”. A number of years ago, Larry was writing for a show and called me a few days before one of the eposides to let me know that he has a little shout out for me that week. I was not sure what to expect, but when we watched it, I laughed out loud. Two of the shows characters that week were “Chris and Priti” (my wife). Thankfully neither of us died in the show, but it was truly funny and one of those things that Larry will at times pull out of his hat.

A few weeks ago, I was in California and had the chance to spend some time with Larry. Just as he was about to take me to the airport, I took 5 minutes and shot a few frames in his backyard by the pool.

If you have a chance and would like to see some of Larry’s work, on Sunday, HBO will start the 10 series show The Pacific. Larry has written two of the episodes for this series. And while I have not seen the final product, I can tell you that the previews look awesome.

Some Fun Portrait Work

cbloor — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:19:36 +0000

I participated in a photo shoot last night with a number of other photographers south Atlanta. With 3 stations and 3 models, we had the opportunity to be creative and work on our skill set. But as you will see, it didn’t go as planned. I think it must as been a full moon, as we ended up with some crazy fun stuff.

The first shot, is by far my fav; the 2nd, is a spur of the moment shot as were waiting for the model to change outfits; it went downhill from there……….

Christmas Week Stuff – Portraits & Cold Landscapes

cbloor — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:48:37 +0000

The kids and I spent the Christmas week in North Georgia on Lake Hartwell. The wife has abandoned us (ok not really, but it sounds better) to go see her father in India. So the kids were left to our own devices and ended up having a blast togther.

Below are a series of images I took during the week. The portait work is really just some fun, personal work; Nothing outstanding, just fun stuff. The landscapes: I wanted to try and capture the cold that has been running through Georgia this month.

As always, let me know what you think!!

I had a hard time with the below 2. I could not decide if I liked the color or BW version better. I shot this with the intent of turning it into a BW. But in looking at it, I really think I like the color better.

Our two very good friends!!

I shot this @ 2.8 with an ISO of 8,000. I am still amazed that I can do that!

And my favorite people in the world………..

Merry Christmas Everyone

cbloor — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:54:15 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope that it was all that you wanted it to be. I knew that these three little people were happy Christmas Day!

Christmas Portraits

cbloor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:36:40 +0000

This is a quick sample of one of the reason that I love this time of year. Who could look at this and not just smile?

Pollye & Katrina Get Married

cbloor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:24:19 +0000

Sometimes you meet people and you just click, it doesn’t seem to happen often, but every once in a while, you get surprised. When it happens, there is an instant warmth and comfort with with the people that you are speaking to. Pollye & Katrina are two of those people.

The first time I met them, we talked about ideas and visions for their big day. We went back and forth on how to make everything just so. They were so open to suggestions on how to make it perfect that I cannot say enough kind words about them. They made my job so easy. Describing them as relaxed would be an understatement (even though they would tell you that they were not relaxed). Even on their wedding day, they let me give them suggestions on how to make it just a little bit better.

I don’t think I could have asked for two more kind and generous people. Thank you Pollye & Katrina for letting me be a part of your special day!

This is a big post, mainly because I had so many wonderful images it was hard to choose which ones to post and which ones not to. So I decided to go just post them all (well, not really all, but a lot of them). Enjoy!

Family Portraits Done and Ready to Go!

cbloor — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:23:56 +0000

Ok, it took me a few more days then I wanted, but here some of the highlights from my session a week or so ago. While the setting helped a lot in getting some great shots, they made it perfect!

OK, we had some fun every now and then!

Four generations were here. How cool is that!!

Family Portrait Sneak Peak

cbloor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:20:04 +0000

I had a blast yesterday with these folks. They had me laughing non-stop. We did a lot of different locations and groupings; To be honest, they could not have been any easier to work with. They seemed to have this down pat. They knew how to stand, how to look (keep your chin down, tilt your head, etc). They were willing to do try some different things that they had not thought of. And that made it all the more fun.

Their great-grandmotehr (who you will meet in a later post) was a blast. She was willing to have me put her up on the top of a pickup truck and photograph her as she was driven down the street; while I am willing to try a lot of different stuff, they might have been pushing my comfort zone with a spry women of 91.