David Higginbotham Photography, The Blog » Personal

Mike and I With A Celebrity

David Higginbotham — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:02:11 +0000

Last year I did some photography for my friends at AGAPE. AGAPE of North Alabama is a wonderful organization that have been a huge blessing for children and families in this area for over 40 years.

While I was there Mike Huckabee and I were fortunate enough to have our photo made with Anna Higginbotham. She was very gracious, answered all of our questions, and was kind enough to sign a few things for Mike and I to take home to our friends.

Merry Christmas!

David Higginbotham — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:05:28 +0000

Good evening everybody!! Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

As Anna and I sit here watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation I thought it would only be appropriate to wish all of you the hap hap happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with a guy I had to Google because I’d never heard of him.

Here are both sides of the 2011 Higginbotham Family Christmas card. I think next year I’m going to put Anna and Wilson on the same side so people don’t have to debate which side to display. Of course that will leave me awkwardly by myself on the other side.

Thank all of you who helped make 2011 another great one for David Higginbotham Photography!

Mike Nix (1955-2011)

David Higginbotham — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:47:21 +0000

I’m finishing up editing a wedding today. I absolutely need to finish it today. But I was constantly being distracted by the photos below. I finally had to stop and go dig through my archives to find them so I could post this blog.

Saturday this earth lost one of it’s best. Our preacher and friend Mike Nix passed away suddenly. This loss has been devastating. Mike was an amazing man. I cant count the times that Anna and I have said to each other….”I don’t understand how a family can be that nice 100% of the time.” But they were and they are. There wasn’t anything phony about Mike. He loved you in such a sincere way that when he told you (and he did often) you believed it. It’s fairly convicting because you realize the way a Christian should act simply by referring to the way Mike acted. There is zero exaggeration in my words.

One of reasons this loss is so devastating is that everyone was one of Mike’s best friends. At least that is the way he treated you. It’s been said many times since Saturday but everyone truly has at least one Mike story. Here is one of the many that Anna and I share.

Anna graduated from The University of Alabama in May of 2004. Anna was the only college student at our large church who was graduating in Coleman Coliseum that day. I had left something in my car and had to run many blocks to retrieve it to make sure I got back inside before the ceremony began. When I re-entered the coliseum the outside concourses were mostly empty except for one man. Mike Nix had driven over 2 hours on a Monday to watch Anna graduate. Had we not run into each other he would have simply sat by himself and watched the long ceremony as he would have had no way of finding the rest of the family. It’s a simple story and it pales in comparison to many other stories I know and have heard told about Mike but it means quite a bit to us.

The “something” that I had left in my car that day was my camera. There were many reasons I could have failed to bring my camera in with me…but I have no idea why I didn’t initially. I do remember feeling like I really needed to have it. I knew that if I didn’t then I would surely regret not capturing the behind the scenes moments of this special day for Anna. Today as tears flow all over the world for this great man…including from behind this keyboard….I wonder if there was another reason I ran all that way back in ’04.

We love you Mike and will miss you terribly. Please pray for Mike’s wife Mary Lyn and his daughter Natalie as they cope with this tremendous loss.

Harry Hames

David Higginbotham — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:13:40 +0000

Sometimes I decide that someone needs to have their photo made. I may showcase those images on this blog from time to time. If for no other reason than to tell their story…even if it’s a painfully brief version.

This is Harry Hames….

Harry has chosen to dedicate a huge percentage of his time to helping the people of Haiti recover from the earthquake that struck early in 2010.

I’m not going to try and write an article on him as I know it would be inadequate. Here is a link to a local story about the work Harry does there if you want more details.

If you know Harry tell him thank you for the work he does. If you don’t know Harry look around you and find someone who does dangerous, thankless work all in the name of helping others and tell them thank you.

Follow me on Twitter and become a fan of DHP on Facebook!

Our 2010 Christmas Card

David Higginbotham — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 15:46:05 +0000

To all of my blog readers….seriously…to both of you….Anna and I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I’m thankful for all of you who trusted me enough to photograph you this year. I had a great time!

Here is the front and back of this year’s Higginbotham Christmas postcard. We consulted with a well digger* and he concurred…it was cold that day (*the witch was unavailable.) This was shot on the community dock near our place on Sugar Creek.

I made a very short video as we were trying to get everything shot.

Anna – My Beautiful Wife – Decatur, Alabama Portrait Photographer

David Higginbotham — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 03:33:26 +0000

Every now and then I ask Anna to sit for a portrait. Usually it’s because I have something I’m wanting to try and this time was no exception. She’s never thrilled but she almost always agrees to help. My initial efforts failed pretty spectacularly but just before I gave up for the night I saw this image. It’s not within 100 miles of what I set out to do. But I was a little ticked off that my first idea didn’t go well and I was simply being stubborn about getting something out of our time….so I kept shooting. I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

Thanks for being patient with me dear….in photography….and in life.

Altf Session with Dalisa and John Michael Cooper

David Higginbotham — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:53:23 +0000

This past August Anna and I went to Las Vegas. Anna had been before but it was my first time. I thought it would be cool to have some photos of us made while we were out there especially considering how unique the terrain is compared to what we are used to here in North Alabama. I didn’t have to do any searching…I knew exactly who I wanted to do it. The amazing John Michael Cooper of Altf.

It was great getting to meet both John and Dalisa. They taught us about Vegas and the desert and we taught them about Alabama. This trip was one of the best ones that Anna and I have taken since we’ve been married and this session was big part of it! You can see their blog post about our session here.

I specifically asked for JMC (I only call him that because when I asked if I should call him “John” or “John Michael” he gave me the same answer I give people when they ask me if they should call me “David” or “Dave”)…anyway…I specifically asked him to shoot one of his signature Single Flash, Multiple Frame images. Notice the random desert bone on the wood to the right. That was included for our benefit and to also creep us out a little.

So the dry lake bed they took us to felt like being on another planet. It was so cool especially to someone who grew up surrounded by red clay and pine trees.

So after a quick change we headed to the strip for a few photos on one of the many pedestrian overpasses they have there. This guy was passing out advertisements for some sort of dance club and was trying to get me to “take my pretty lady out to dance.” To this day I’m not sure why I said what I did but the first thing out of my mouth was “I can’t dance…I have a wooden foot.” Seriously….I have no idea where that came from or why I said it but I stuck with it. For those of you who have ever seen me dance you are probably thinking “I KNEW IT!”

After that we headed down to the famous Las Vegas welcome sign and finished off our evening.

Here is a photo of me and JMC…John…John Michael….Jmac….etc…

Here’s a photo of me making him uncomfortable. There’s nothing like making a positive impression on a fellow photographer.

Thanks for the experience guys! We love our photos!

I’m 32-years-old

David Higginbotham — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:28:48 +0000

I turned 32 on Tuesday of this week. I decided on Tuesday that I should start taking a portrait of myself every year on my birthday. This is obviously so that in 20 years I can look back at all of them and sadly realize that it’s no longer cool to spike your hair.

The 32nd year of a man’s life is not a major milestone like 30 was. But for some reason this year I felt like I may look back at this portrait and realize that it actually was a pretty important year. God has blessed me so much it makes me nervous. How can He choose to bless me so consistently? I have a wife that went to a tremendous amount of effort to make this birthday special. She’s an extraordinary woman who guides her competitive nature into a contest of “Who Can Give More.” She wins a lot.

I hesitate to even use the word blessed as it has become one of the most overused words in Facebook status updates.
It’s almost like it means nothing anymore. So please understand that I’m not tossing that word around without regard for what it truly means.

We tend to look at photos of ourselves and classify them based on *That was before’s*. “That was before I finished college” or “That was before I met Anna.”…etc…

I wonder what the portrait below will be before.

I’ll return to normal photographer bloggy type stuff soon.

New Beauty Dish Making Wilson Beautiful

David Higginbotham — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:49:38 +0000

I ordered a new beauty dish a few days ago and it was delivered earlier today. Like any true photo-nerd I wanted to give it a try. Anna was out so it was just me and the pup. He actually sat there in front of me while I shot for about 5 minutes. I spent almost every second of that 5 minutes saying “Staaaaaaaay……staaaaaaay….stay buddy.” He would look at me confused for a minute then turn his head to the right and just stare very seriously….almost like he was posing.

I absolutely love that dog.

Portraits of Mom and Dad – Decatur, Alabama Portrait Photographer –

David Higginbotham — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:18:58 +0000

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.

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! :)

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.

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.

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.

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.