Heather and PJ Engagement Shoot
Hello friends. Juicebeats here.
I am so excited to share with you this Knoxville couple's engagement photos. Saturday, May 31st, I was able to photograph Heather and PJ for their engagement. Heather and PJ have been friends of mine for several years now, and I was excited by the opportunity to photograph them. They are such a great couple, and you can tell that they are so in love.
We decided to do their photo shoot at Volunteer Landing Marina in order to take some beautiful and unique shots at one of Knoxville's most interesting sites. By visiting the marina's bridges, docks, trails, and railroad tracks, we were able to capture some sweet moments.
Heather and PJ are to be wed this December in Cancun, Mexico, and I am looking forward to traveling with them to celebrate their special day.
The Masters
Hello friends Juicebeats here,
This year's Masters tournament has me pretty bummed that my favorite player (Tiger Woods) is not playing this year due to injury.
The last few years have been disappointing for him as far as majors go aside from the off the course issues. I am one of many that started playing golf when he became a professional and have been enjoying the game ever since.
A few years ago I was able to go to the Masters with a few friends of mine. If you have ever been to Augusta for the Masters, than you know how beautiful that course is, and I got to see almost all of the players.
I watched as they practiced shots and took notes on what parts of the course to hit and how fast the greens were; I also observed as they had a little fun skipping the ball across the water for the fans on hole 16 . I had a great experience seeing these things up close, but my favorite memory wasn't of the actual play or seeing the players up close. My favorite memory was how I was able to get into the course.
Here's the story...
My friend Andrew had 2 passes to get into the tournament for 3 of us to go. Andrew knew a secret spot to sneak in, so he could get in without a ticket. My friend Jon and I were going to go into the front gate with the tickets and meet him at the gift shop. This was the plan. The Masters has an extremely strict policy on cell phones, so when my friends and I pulled up and parked, we left our phones in the car so we would not have to get stopped by security and have our phones taken away. When we met up at the gift shop, I handed Andrew my ticket so he could get on the course as I was finishing up a transaction at the gift shop. Jon had gone with Andrew taking his ticket too, leaving me without one. When I started to meet them on the course after paying for a couple polo shirts, I was immediately met by a security guard asking where my ticket was. I instantly went into panic lie mode. "Oh my gosh, sir, it must have fallen out of my pocket." He let me look around for a second before saying to me," Come with me." He brought me into the security office (Masters' jail). I sat there for a few minutes trying to think of what to do. I couldn't call my friends because they both didn't have cell phones. I didn't have another ride or anyone else I could talk to for help. I sat there in Masters' jail for about 30 or 40 minutes until I noticed through the window the bathroom right next door to the security office. I asked the security guard if I could go to the restroom. He said yes and followed me to the door. The restroom had 2 doors, an entrance and an exit about 20 or so feet on the other side close to a pathway to get to the course. This was my chance. As the security guard wasn't looking, I bolted out the exit door down the path and on to the course before he even knew I was gone. I finally found my friends on the course after hiding and trying to blend in with the crowd. I told them what happened, and Andrew immediately gave me back the ticket. I attached the ticket to my jacket, so it would be seen just in case the guard came looking for me. Nobody came, but I swear I heard one of the security guard's walkie talkies on the course say black male 6'2" may be on the course.
Each year when the Masters approaches, I think about my trip to the tournament and how lucky I was to get to see it in person.
Juicebeats
Sweet 16 Photo Session with Cami
Hello friends and photography lovers.
Juicebeats here, and yesterday I had the pleasure of working with a beautiful soon to be 16 year old Cami. Our photo session was at the Springbrook park in Alcoa, Tennessee. Cami wore an off white dress with a jean jacket and cowboy boots. Megan Kiphart assisted me on the shoot. Cami was a bit shy in the beginning of the session, so I had to do something to make her a feel a bit more comfortable. Hmm...Why not wear the tiara I brought for her to wear in some the pictures?
That got some great smiles out of her.
Cami under the tree
Springbrook Park is wide open but has some visually interesting spots for photography. There is a part in the park with a bamboo forest.
Cami in the Bamboo forest
The park also features a fountain, duck pond, and lots of trees and shaded areas.
Cami by the Fountain
Cami liked those parts, but I think her favorite part was when she got to blow sweet 16 confetti at me. She got a real kick out of doing that and even threw some at me too.
Cami blowing sweet 16 confetti
Here comes the confetti
I loved working with Cami, and it was great to see her feel more comfortable as the photo session went on; this made for some great candid moments. We had a lot of fun in the park. Enjoy these photos for Cami's sweet sixteen.
If you would like to book a photo session feel free to contact me by email juicebeats1@gmail.com or you can use my contact page.
Juicebeats
What an Incredible Weekend
Hello friends. Juicebeats here.
I wanted to give you some updates on what went on this past weekend. First, Friday night after work we went over to my in-laws house to see Jaden's Nana and Pops, aunt and uncle, and cousin. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and played card games. This has become our Friday night ritual lately since having Jaden.
The games get a little long when we start trying to play with Jaden instead of paying attention to the game.
It's been a crazy 6 weeks so far. Seems like he is growing so fast. We have been so blessed to have everyone wish us well, and we've had some friends and family come to visit Jaden for a little while.
Saturday was a fun day too. We had a celebration dinner for one of my best friends, Daniel Wohl. His 30th Birthday was actually on Sunday, but we celebrated Saturday with huge slabs of filet and some awesome food. Daniel and a few others decided they would see if they could still climb the climbing wall with planks too. Daniel actually did very well and made it 3/4 the way up. Check out the gallery of pictures below.
Sunday morning I had another art photography session where I converted Maria Walker's paintings into digital copies. Check out her paintings and contact me below in the comments or send an email to let me know if you would like to purchase any of her art.
Coincidentally, Daniel's birthday also falls on our anniversary which we celebrated on Sunday. We spent the day hanging out with Jaden napping, and taking our first walk as a family around the neighborhood.
Staci and I had our first date night since Jaden was born at the Melting Pot in downtown Knoxville. We ate a 4 course meal consisting of cheese fondue, caesar salads, land and sea entries, and a dark chocolate marshmallow and Oreo fondue for dessert. We finished the night by also taking a bite of our wedding cake.
All in all, it was a great weekend of celebrations and time spent with family and friends.
Don't forget to contact Juicebeats Productions for all of your photography needs.
Juicebeats1@gmail.com or you can use the contact link at the top of my webpage.
Thank you,
Juicebeats
How to Photograph Art & Lighting Techniques
Hello friends and photography enthusiasts,
This past week I was asked to photograph some paintings for a friend. This would be my first experience with art photography, but I already knew that I would need a good lighting set up to do it. Luckily my uncle, Michael Messing of Michael Messing Photography, was available to help with the lighting set up. We used 2 strobe lights set up at a 45 degree angle from the paintings with the camera placed in the center.
Diagrams of the set up:
To make sure we had the correct amount of light hitting the paintings, we tested each corner of the painting to see if the light was evenly hitting the picture. The light meter showed us what aperture to set the camera to for best results.
Setup: For these shots of the paintings we used the sync speed of my camera to the flash which was 1/200 shutter speed. The aperture was set at f10 and ISO at 100 for best results without introducing digital noise. My camera, the Nikon D610 with the 24-70mm f2.8 was zoomed all the way to 70mm to flatten the image as much as possible. You could even go higher using a 70-200mm lens to further the flattening.
When creating digital prints of paintings, you want them to to look exactly like the originals with no glare from the flash, and the color has to be on point.White balance is key! I shot in RAW format so I could make any changes necessary later if needed, but if I was shooting in JPEG format, I would have to make sure that everything was exact. Before taking the first shot, I used my white balance cards and had Michael hold them up in front if the painting.
I took a test shot of the cards in the frame, so I could use this shot later to correct white balance in Lightroom when cropping the paintings and correcting the color.
Once we had everything where we needed it, it was time to take the photos of the paintings. Every shot was framed so that the focus point was in the middle of the picture with little surrounding area. The way to do this is to keep the lens zoomed in but move the Tripod forward or backward depending on how much you are trying to take out. This makes it so that you will not have much cropping to do later on.
Here are a few examples of Maria Walker's Art. If you like her work and would like to purchase a print copy of the art, please leave a comment below, and I will get you in touch with her.
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Juicebeats
Our Gracious and Loving Grandma's 80th Birthday
Our Grandma Helene Messing's 80th Birthday
January 28th, 2014, My grandmother Helene Messing turned 80! We gathered as a family at Copper Cellar for brunch to celebrate her wonderful 80 years. My grandmother is the sweetest, kindest, and most generous lady ever...hands down. She has 6 grandchildren, including myself and 1 great grandson. She is always there for us whenever we need her and cooks the best meals anyone could ask for. She has everlasting love for all of us. I Love you Grandma!!!
In other news on the same day...While my sister was in town for our grandmothers 80th, I spent some time with her and my parents at their house. We found out my dad looks like Mandy Patinkin when he has a beard.
My Dad
Mandy Patinkin