Weekend in Tampa Bay

Wedding season has begun. Last weekend started a string of 7 weddings in 8 weeks. This weekend was our furthest ever. A family I knew from church back in the day contacted us about shooting their wedding in Tampa Bay. We were flattered at the offer and got their date locked in. The wedding was on a Friday so we scheduled to stay an extra day and make a very mini vacation out of it.

After doing the math I figured it would be cheaper to drive even though the 10 hours one way was not appealing. Rebecca was also afraid at the possibility of having to get her gear checked. Lost camera gear could not be an option. So to spice up the drive down a little bit a decided to set up the camera and do a time lapse. I know I've been a little time lapse heavy as of late, but I think they're fun. We set up the camera in the back seat on the tripod. Photos were taken every 60 seconds except for a few certain scenes that warranted being closer together. Rebecca will be adding some actual photos of our trip to her blog in the near future.

We drove down on Thursday and got there just before dark. We got some seafood at a local joint then went briefly to the beach. I don't think we've been to the beach since Matt's triathlon nearly two years ago. Josh and Lauren's wedding festivities began at one on Friday. They had the ceremony at a local botanical gardens which was really pretty. Everything went real well. Once again, I'll let Rebecca give a more detailed account of that day.

Saturday we had to cut back on our per diem since we had gone a little high the first two days. So we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and used some coupons. We also had to go to the Apple Store because Rebecca's laptop had quit working. Since she had planned on working in the car on the way home we figured it would be best to go ahead and get it fixed. She needed a new battery and a new charger. Glad to have that taken care of we moved on to activities we couldn't actually do in Birmingham. Next stop was Ikea. The 3 hour maze of home furnishings was overwhelming as always. I calmed my nerves with some Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. Keeping the per diem low. Rebecca got a few small things. I think she's set on some new office furniture, but we didn't have room in the car. Maybe it was just a secret ploy on Rebecca's part to go back? After leaving we went to the beach and got there just in time for it to start raining. A little ice cream helped to pass the time and got back out for the rain to pass and leave a beautiful sunset.

The drive back today seemed to drag on forever. Rebecca managed to squeeze in three naps. She'll probably stay up most of the night now.

Brett Long Photography

An ongoing debate in our household is whether or not I can call myself a "photographer." I've been assisting Rebecca for every wedding and been with her for 95% of all other sessions outside of Samford stuff. Am I on her level of skill? Absolutely not. However, I've picked up some stuff along the way. I can operate a camera pretty efficiently and she does actually use my pictures a good bit. She occasionally threatens to fire me, but there's no way she could find somebody to work as cheap as me. I really like taking pictures. Its always different, challenging, and a nice change of pace from my business. Its also great getting to work with my wife. A lot of shoots are at inopportune times, nights/weekends, but we're together so I don't mind.

There have now been two occasions in which I have acted completely solo. I joke that I am going to break off and start my own photography business, but that would quickly take away the fun. The first time was last spring when I shot the Southern Conference Track Championship hosted at Samford. Rebecca and Caroline were tied up with Samford stuff, so the conference photographer hired me as his side for the weekend. It was a good time, but weird being on my own.

The second time came this past Thursday night. A family friend called last minute to see if Rebecca was available to shoot a small premiere ceremony for the movie Courageous. The photographer they usually use had backed out. Rebecca was already doing something at Samford, so I called the guy back to tell him she was busy, but I was available if that would do. He would take whomever at this point in the day. So I drove to the theater and went to work.

The movie is the fourth production from Sherwood Films, a ministry of a church out of Georgia. This film is about the importance of fatherhood and depicts the lives of four sheriff's deputies. So the premise of the premiere was to honor the local police officers around the city. Along with a bunch of officers, the state Attorney General Luther Strange was there. Overall attendance was not that great, but the people there were excited.

We had already planned on going the following night with our small group, so I did not stick around for the movie. So my payment for my time was free tickets for Rebecca and me on Friday night. With movie prices these days, its a decent amount for my skill level.

Rebecca touched up my photos when I got home. She even said they were acceptable enough to but her company name on them for media release.

So Brett Long Photography is available for all your photography needs.

The extremely tall man is Attorney General Luther Strange coming in at 6'9"

Flashbus in Nashville

Rebecca and I are both approaching our busy time of year. This past weekend was a sample of several more to come. On Thursday we drove to Starkville for an engagement session, then another on Friday. On Saturday we shot a wedding before we headed back to Birmingham. Its great having clients in Starkville which allows us to travel to our old home and see all our MSU friends.

On Sunday we had the opportunity to drive to Nashville for a one day seminar called the FlashBus Tour featuring Joe McNally and David Hobby as the speakers. Rebecca, Caroline (Rebecca's Samford boss), and myself made the trip. As the name implies the seminar was all about small flash. Lighting is probably the hardest aspect of photography to me. Its easy to take a nice picture outside, but to be able to light up someone nicely indoors or in low light in an interesting manner, takes some skill. Rebecca and Caroline are way ahead of me on skill level, so I mainly went to be able to have a basic understanding of what Rebecca is trying to accomplish when I help her on shoots. As many of the volunteers had these as name tags, I am the VAL - "Voice Activated Lightstand."

We had a great time and I learned a lot. Both speakers are well respected in the photography world and they were both great speakers which kept it interesting. Lots of great simple tips on lighting to make a picture so much more interesting.

On a side note, I've always visioned photographers as "artsy" people, well the bunch at this stop on the tour was more like a Star Trek convention with cameras. Lots of dry humor comments from the audience and technical lingo on camera workings. We saw several clever t-shirts like: "Do you mind if I shoot you?" or "Ask me to flash you." I would be willing to bet I was the only Agronomist there.

Who are the nerds taking pictures with the bus?

We took these pictures with no flash, ignoring everything we just learned from the day

Life's Certainties

I remember hearing the saying, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." As I wade into the beginnings of adulthood the latter part of that phrase is becoming more and more prevalent.

My last post was on a benefit of having a photography business, this one is about one of the negatives. I have been reluctantly exploring the correct method for starting a small business over the past couple of months. I knew we needed to be legal in Uncle Sam's eyes, but he doesn't exactly make it real clear on the approved approach for doing this. They all tell you about the business side of things, not the legal, pay your taxes, requirements.

Anyways, Rebecca and I finally decided to not trust our own knowledge and go see someone who does know what to do. We went to Helen Grissett at Columbus Tax and Accounting. She was a Dave Ramsey ELP for small business. She was kind enough to sit down with us for about an hour free of charge and walk us through getting an Employer Identification Number (EIN), filling out sales tax form with the state, and answering all of our ignorant questions on the subject.

Our next step was to go to the bank and get a business checking account set up. That took about another hour. So now we don't have to ask people to rewrite their checks when they make them out to Rebecca Long Photography.

The third step of getting a business license was halted because we have to get approved by the city to work out of our apartment. That will take a separate form for that and then we can apply for a business license.

I'm beginning to think businesses biggest competitor is the government. I'm not looking forward to doing our income taxes.