I’m photographing the event for possible inclusion in the book “More Than A River” that I’ve been working on for the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce.  I’ll be at the actual event tomorrow but today I wanted to go and shoot a few photos at practice.  I shot images with my normal cameras but also used a GoPro HD Hero 2 camera mounted on the side of the boat with a suction cup.  The camera was set to take 2 photos per second and was mounted just out of reach (or so I thought) of the first paddler.

Please note the look of confidence on my face as I check to make sure the camera is firing.

After looking at the images later I quickly realized that I hadn’t aimed the camera very well.  The camera doesn’t have a viewfinder or a lcd screen on the back so I was having to aim by guesstimation.  It was aimed slightly too low as you see by the image below.  I was cutting off the head of my rower.

Well whether my rowing friend meant to or not she did me a favor by doing the following…..

In the middle of one of her efforts she clubbed my camera.  Did she do it on purpose?  I think this image proves that it was definitely an accident.

This left me with the following view….

I wasn’t thrilled with the fact that I was cropping the top of her head but it looked like a masterpiece compared to this view.  Well my mystery rower (I do intend to find her at the event tomorrow so I can thank her) was kind enough to take her paddle to my camera yet again.  Only this time she used it to straighten the camera back upright.

She placed it in a much better position than I had initially thus resulting in several images that will make the cut for consideration in the book.  So I wonder if I should give her partial photo credit?

I won’t be able to share any of those final images here just yet but I will leave you with this….

My buddy Juergen Beck from Freedom Light Productions is an excellent videographer who had already put a few days work into the dragon boat event.  He expressed silent criticism of the location I chose to mount the camera.  I guess I’ll have to admit that he was right.

Thank goodness that lady clubbed my camera.

That’s the first (and hopefully last) time I’ve ever said those words.

Make sure you go to Plastic Recyclers new site at http://www.prsei.com/ and check out how the images were used there!

Above….Brent Mentz

Above and below….Shane Barratiere….a pretty good cowboy name too if you ask me.

and finally…..Keith Pigue.

 Anna and I have always enjoyed watching bull riding.  One common thread that seems to run through all the cowboys that do it….they have just a touch of crazy in their eyes.  While I was waiting around to photograph one of these guys above one of the cowboys got his spur caught in a rope and was dragged around the arena a few times.  It was pretty hard to watch but they eventually broke him loose.

I took this image of Rachel before their ceremony and it was definitely one of my favorites from the day.  I had completely forgotten about it though and was so excited to run across it again when getting this blog post together.  The color version is the new lead photo currently on the front page of my website.

Never underestimate how romantic an old boat up on blocks can be for a newly married couple….but I wouldn’t overestimate it either if I were you.

]]> http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/02/rachel-and-roberts-may-wedding-decatur-alabama-wedding-photographer/feed/ 0 http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/01/charles-and-caras-wedding-decatur-alabama-wedding-photographer/ http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/01/charles-and-caras-wedding-decatur-alabama-wedding-photographer/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:47:53 +0000 David Higginbotham http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/?p=811 As I’ve said before it is always an honor to be selected by a bride and groom to photograph their wedding day.  It felt even better when Charles and Cara scheduled their date around my availability.   I know these two families and have a great deal of respect for them so knowing that they thought enough of my work to do that certainly did mean a lot.

I don’t normally post images from the rehearsal dinner but this one of Charles and Cara sharing a moment during the slideshow was a favorite so I thought I’d include it.

Cara chose to have a bridal session before the wedding day…

This next image is one of my favorite bridal portraits.

As you can see from the image above it was a bit of a cloudy day and there was a threat of rain.  Not only did it not rain but we had sunshine exactly when we needed it.  I bet I know why …I’ll come back to that.

There was so much prayer happening to keep the rain off of this ceremony.  I know that was why the weather cooperated!

Like I said earlier I know these families.  Because of this there were times I just knew I should be paying attention.  I was really focusing on Blake (Father of the Bride) as he waited with Cara prior to walking her down the aisle.  As the sunshine came out during one of those key moments he closed his eyes, lifted his head slightly, and took a deep breath.  I almost fell of the hill I was standing on trying to make sure I captured it.

Later I asked what he was doing.  He told me he was saying a prayer….thanking God that He had given them such beautiful weather.  On it’s own the picture is good.  But with the story it turns into much more.

“The bride is coming! The bride is coming!”

My buddy and fellow photographer Jonathan Palmer was my second photographer that day.  He captured this amazing image from the widow’s walk.

Venue:  Westview Farm
Catering:  Curry’s 
The Bride’s Cake:  The Corner Bakery
The Groom’s Cake:  Pastry Art Bake Shoppe
Flowers:  Diana Appleton

I imagine that little dead-end road is a pretty good representation of a lot of dead-end country roads on the water.  Everybody knows everybody.  You drive up and down that road more than once and you aren’t a regular…you’re likely to be stopped and questioned.  It’s community watch without the monthly meetings.

I’d like to photograph a lot more people at Sugar Creek and hopefully one day I will.

]]> http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/01/faces-of-sugar-creek-alabama-commercial-photography/feed/ 0 http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/01/mike-and-i-with-a-celebrity/ http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2012/01/mike-and-i-with-a-celebrity/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:02:11 +0000 David Higginbotham http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/?p=796 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.

For 37 years that outbreak was the deadliest ever….then dawn broke on April 27th 2011. The outbreak as a whole (spanning 4 days) killed a total of 346 people with 249 of those losing their lives on the 27th.  It happened to be another Wednesday.
My friend and fellow photographer Gary Cosby Jr. is my second shooter at most weddings. His day job is staff photographer at The Decatur Daily. As I did many times during my time at The Daily he chased the storms and documented the damage that day. However his experience was far more significant than any tornado warning I ever chased.

There is no way I can recount his story the way he did so please take a second and go to his blog to read the story about the monster tornado pictured above.

I told you all of that to tell you this. In the midst of the most tragic week in our state’s recent history life continued to roll on. Pooja and Kiran had plans for many days of celebration leading up to their Saturday wedding. The first of which was on Thursday, April 28th. As the rest of Alabama was trying to process what had happened the previous day these two were at the airport trying to squeeze 10 months of planning into one morning of re-planning. There was no power at their wedding venues and cell phone communication was spotty at best. The only place they knew to go that had power and internet was the airport. They called and e-mailed a lot of people and managed to move everything to Nashville, TN.

Cosby jumped directly from the frying pan that is tornado/recovery coverage into the fire of covering an out of town wedding. I greatly appreciate his work and ability to function mentally after the 3 days he had just experienced. You wouldn’t have known that I was appreciative by looking at the accommodations I managed to snag for us.

Turns out that there was quite a bit going on in Nashville that weekend. There weren’t too many choices on rooms although this was a double bed room when I ordered it. Although I tried to give him the bed Mr. Cosby chose to sleep on the floor. This room seriously reminded me of a cruise ship cabin.

Normally there isn’t so much back story on a wedding but I felt that this wedding needed that explanation. If you had walked into either the ceremony or the reception and did not know the full story you would not have known that everything had been moved last minute. Everyone involved did an amazing job and Pooja and Kiran rolled with the changes. It was a truly wonderful experience that I feel fortunate to have been a part of.

Venue: Ganesh Temple, Nashville, TN
Reception: Embassy Suites, Cool Springs, TN
Wedding Planner: Calandra Terry with An Event To Remember
Catering: Sitar Restaurant
DJ: DJ Sahil
Cultural Décor: Mandap World
Videography: Mitchell Videography
Cake: Elegant wedding cakes by Dathern Moon
Second Photographer: Gary Cosby Jr.

2012 Valentine’s Day Special from David Higginbotham Photography on Vimeo.

For an added fee I’ll even appear in the photos with you.

CLICK HERE for more information or to book your session.

I was fortunate enough this past June to photograph a wedding in Rome, Italy at The Vatican.  Yeah I know….something like that should have already graced the pages of this blog.  I’ll get to that very soon too.  But one of the first e-mails I had when I turned my phone back on after the flight home was from The Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce about being the photographer for a coffee table book they were planning on publishing. It has since been named “More Than A River”. So since then I have been working on documenting almost everything about this city and the surrounding county.  There is still much work to do and I hope I can document some behind the scenes from that work as well as some related photos.  Of course I won’t be able to publish any of the final photos here until the book has been published but I can post some images that will give a little glimpse into what I’ve been working on.

The most recent thing I shot was the annual Polar Bear Plunge that takes place on New Years Day at the Decatur Boat Harbor.  This isn’t just something that the arguably unstable of Morgan County participate in but is instead a worldwide ritual carried out by crazy people worldwide.  My goal for the photos in this book is to shoot events, people, and places in this community in the most creative way possible while still making sure to tell a story.  I wanted to photograph the polar bears from the water.  It sounded so simple when the idea first hit me.

One of my first phone calls was to Phil at Dive Sports.  He could not have been more helpful and I certainly do appreciate him.  When I told him I was planning on photographing from 50˚ water he politely told me that I would more than likely drown without a dry suit.  Phil took care of getting me set up with one so that I could maintain motor function…a detail I hadn’t really considered.

I was using an Ewa Marine bag for my camera.  It’s a poor man’s underwater housing.  My usual Nikon D3 wouldn’t quite fit with the lens I was using so I fell back to my Nikon D300s.  Using one of those bags is like having someone wrap your camera up in a blanket, club you over the head, and then ask you to compose a photo.  The up side…it did keep my camera dry.

Anna was there for several reasons but the most important one was keeping me from drowning.

One of the event’s organizers had a thermometer in the water so we could quantify exactly how crazy the participants were on Sunday.  As you can see we were several ticks above freezing but smack dab in the middle of “spoilage” which I can only assume is another word for lunatic.

Although I can’t publish any of the photos I hope to use in the book I can show you a few I shot before and after.  If you were wondering what Santa Claus does to unwind after Christmas here is your answer.  You may see more of ol’ Kris Kringle later on.

Now you see him…and now you don’t.

As much as I’d love to tell you that the photo below was carefully composed and thoughtfully exposed it was not.  This one goes in the happy accident pile.

I looked at the metadata on my images and I was only in the water for about 5 minutes.  It was unbelievable exhausting.  At one point Anna had to swing a bag to me to hold on to in order to catch my breath.  The picture below doesn’t reflect how terrible I felt at this point.

Even though I know this picture isn’t the most flattering of me I had to include it because it illustrates what I felt like.  It took me an hour to stop feeling sick.

Gary Cosby Jr. was on hand shooting for The Decatur Daily and shot the photo below as I caught my breath.

It’s easy to take such a well composed, well lit photograph when you’re warm and dry and your camera isn’t wrapped in a ziploc bag.  :)