David Higginbotham Photography, The Blog

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The Phi Mu Superfriends

– Alabama Portrait Photographer –

Thursday, February 25, 2010 Posted in Portraits

A couple of years ago almost all of Anna’s college friends were actually going to be in the same town at the same time. This is a pretty rare occurrence since they all live all over the country. They have such a hard time getting together that I have jokingly told Anna that if they could actually all get their schedules together for a trip I would pay for it. I love them all but I kind of find myself hoping they stay busy….that would be expensive. Anyway….we thought it would be a good idea to shoot a group photo since we had so many together. I guess I should apologize to Lindsey….she was in Texas and couldn’t make it to this meeting of The Phi Mu Superfriends (my nickname for them…not theirs). I guess if you all get together again not only will I have to pay for it but I’ll have to take another picture.

By the way I just started to be cool and type out an abbreviation of the name of their group…not a good idea.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Wedding Photographer

2 comments

vicki - David – I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF THE PHI MU “SUPER FRIENDS”!! Where did you take the picture?

Have a great day – VickiFebruary 26, 2010 – 9:49 AM

David Higginbotham - Thanks Vick! This was taken at Ginger’s parent’s house in Tuscaloosa a couple of years back.March 2, 2010 – 8:35 PM

Remote cameras at weddings

– Huntsville, Alabama Wedding Photography

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Posted in DHP News * Weddings

I always have a second photographer with me at weddings. The overwhelming majority of the time it is photojournalism superstar Gary Cosby Jr. We work hard to capture all the emotion and character that presents itself during a typical ceremony. Sometimes we feel like we are doing the job of 3 photographers and sometimes we actually are!

These are some photos from a wedding that Cosby and I shot a couple of years ago in Athens, Alabama. We knew that there would be a great vantage point from the upstairs balcony of the house at Madelyn’s in the Grove. We also knew that we would be hard pressed to actually get up there and shoot during the ceremony. So we put on our newspaper photographer hat (which if you are Cosby looks like this) and decided to utilize a remotely triggered camera.

Athens, Alabama Wedding Photography

This isn’t something we do at every wedding because truthfully it’s not always necessary…but at times it can really make a difference!

Decatur, Alabama Wedding Photography

If I would have been running up and down stairs at this particular venue I would have risked missing the moment below.

North Alabama Wedding Photographer

2 comments

Jonathan - How do you trigger the unmanned camera? Do you just pre-focus it and use a remote?February 24, 2010 – 7:14 AM

David Higginbotham - Hey Jonathan!

We trigger that camera with pocket wizards. One transceiver on the body with the appropriate cable and then another either on camera or just handheld. You can fire it manually by pressing the test button or if you do have it mounted on the camera it will fire every time you fire your camera. I think in this instance Cosby fired that manually (test button) as the bride and her dad were walking up the aisle. We did pre-focus it…that’s what he was doing in the first photo.

Thanks!!February 24, 2010 – 10:57 PM

Portraits of Mom and Dad

– Decatur, Alabama Portrait Photographer –

Sunday, February 21, 2010 Posted in Family * Personal

As I mentioned in my previous post I have a goal to get updated portraits of my family to hang in my house. I went to my parents’ house last week to shoot some images of them. I started with my Dad out in their shop. One of the items out there that I wanted to make sure to include was my granddad’s 1953 Chevrolet truck. Several years ago my brother partially restored it and I actually used to ride with him to school in that truck.

Athens, Alabama Portrait Photographer

Decatur, Alabama Portrait Photographer

Huntsville, Alabama Portrait Photographer

Enviornmental Portraits in North Alabama

1953 Chevrolet truck

Character Portraits

Mom wasn’t thrilled about having her photo made but I promised her I would do a good job….I am really happy with what I got! Hopefully…she’ll at least pretend she is happy with them too! :)

Unique Portrait Photography

Personality Photography

I wanted to put them in parts of the house that were relevant for each of them. The room below used to be my sister’s room when we were growing up. It has since become a guest room and it reflects my Mom’s style and artistic ability. If I’m not mistaken the two paintings over her shoulder are ones that she painted.

Artistic Portrait Photography

The room below was my room when I was little. I stood there thinking about how I wanted to set up this photo and it hit me how much bigger I remember that room being. This room is quite the multi purpose room now. Guest room….grandkids room….work room…etc… But the reason I wanted a photo of her there is because of the mural she painted for my nieces and nephews.

Huntsville, Alabama Photography

This is Albert. The most obese Jack Russell Terrier to ever waddle this planet. He’s getting pretty old now but he’s a sweet dog.

Athens, Alabama Photography

Decatur, Alabama Photography

Now the hard part will be deciding which images to print and hang in the house. Now on to my brother…sister…sister-in-law…and brother-in-law….not necessarily in that order.

8 comments

Jack Russell Lover - Oh my. Albert looks like he’s seen better days. He reminds me of my granddad’s JRT who’s about 17 years old.February 22, 2010 – 4:11 AM

Carla Swinney - David! These are awesome shots of your parents, and the dog. Love them! I know they love them too!
CarlaFebruary 22, 2010 – 9:03 AM

Abbey Saloiye - These are wonderful. I wish I had portraits just like these of my grandfather.February 22, 2010 – 9:14 AM

David Higginbotham - Thank you all for your comments!February 22, 2010 – 7:20 PM

Photography By Jef - This is why you are 1. One of my favorite photographers, 2. A photographer I want to emulate 3. A photographer I would love to mentor me.March 3, 2010 – 5:20 PM

Vicki - The pictures you made of Bobbie and Jimmie are so good!!! I know they will like them too. It is wonderful your parents have kept the 1953 truck that belonged to your grandfather.

VickiMarch 3, 2010 – 10:18 PM

PhotographybyJef - What lenses and settings did you use to do the portraits of your mom? It looks like a slightly wider angle lens. And what was your light setup? Your dad in the garage had to have had a softbox or something to the left of camera. It’s well lit!March 7, 2010 – 7:51 PM

David Higginbotham - Jef,

For some of Mom’s portraits I used a 70-200 f2.8 and for a few of them I used a borrowed 85mm f1.8 lens shot wide open. For all of the images except the one of my parents together all of the light was natural. Even that photo of Dad in the shop was lit by a small window. It was an overcast day and the light was pretty easy to work with. I used reflectors on a couple but for the most part everything was straight up ambient light! On the portrait of them together I used a small strobe fired into an umbrella. Even then the power was turned way down. The angle of the light coming in from the windows wasn’t quite at a flattering angle so I added the flash to even it out. There is a ton of ambient light in that image as well. Hope this helps!

DaveMarch 10, 2010 – 10:13 PM

Go Create

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Posted in Personal

One of the things on my list of goals to accomplish in the first few months of this year was to get around to all of my family members and create good portraits of them. I was sitting at my kitchen table one day with some guests at the house and they asked about the black and white photos I had hanging in our kitchen. They wanted to know the story behind them. I felt crummy because there wasn’t a story. About ten years ago I shot some artsy black and white photos for the fun of it. I found them when we moved here so I decided to hang them up. No story…nothing. I decided then that I should fill my walls with pictures that actually mean something. I want to decorate our walls with pictures that actually have a story. So the next time someone asks I hope to be ready with something better.

Decatur, Alabama Portrait Photography

On Monday of this week I spent part of the day with my parents and shot portraits of them. The photo above is from that session. It is a hat that belonged to my granddad. It was really fun and I have several others that I will share here on the blog later this week. When I was editing through them it hit me…if I wouldn’t have made the effort those wonderful portraits wouldn’t exist. I know it sounds simple but I am guilty of getting wrapped up in photography as a business. I am commissioned by my clients to create portraits of them and I do…and I love that. But it’s all the other pictures that are falling through the cracks. I hear and read from other photographers all the time who stress how important it is to shoot for yourself. I have always agreed but rarely acted.

The awesome thing about being in a creative field is that I can get off the couch, go out for a few hours with my camera, and actually create something out of nothing. So here is my challenge for all of you especially those of you who are creatives. Quit talking about it….quit thinking about it….quit planning for it…just go do it. Go create.