The cast wanted to have their photo with us, so we obliged

One of the keys to moving a lot of folks through an event like this is having good help.  On this day I had GREAT help!  Marlene is always my right hand when I shoot, and on this day I asked my friend Terry Wyatt to help.  This duo made it all happen, Jack!  They stayed positive and happy, happy, happy while getting the guests quickly on and off the set.  It never ceases to amaze me how many folks want to stop and “small talk” with the celebrities.  The talent is always polite, but do you really think they want to now minute details about you or your family?  Oh well, people will be people and we all have our little quirks.  (Like telling the same stories over and over, that would be one of mine, just ask my wife)

Marlene making it all look pretty in just a few seconds

Meet the unbearded Robertson.  Occupationally he is a pastor of a church and not involved in the family business.  He and his wife were extremely friendly and will appear in next seasons episodes.

My younger brother Tony drove down from Ohio just to be here. He has been a fan before it was cool!

A very special thank you to Scott Ellis that asked me to cover for him on this day.  He photographed the Friday night and Saturday afternoon events but because of a wedding conflict needed some help for Saturday night.  Nashville is a big city with lots of photographers, so I really appreciate him selecting us to photograph this job!

Photo gear:  Fuji X Pro 1 with 18-55 zoom, Elinchrom lights, Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod and my trusty Gossen Starlite 2 meter.

Because of weather we were chased indoors and that is never as beautiful as the outdoor setting around Lake Providence.  Last years concert with the Oaks provided some incredible concert images with the late afternoon sun setting and illuminating the group!  But, you got to roll with it, so we ended up at The Mill in Lebanon.  It was my first time there and it is a nice venue, but you have all of your typical challenges.  Terrible access to the artist on an elevated stage so you are shooting up at them.  Thick, black velvet curtains to soak up any possible remaining light from the over intense floods so they appear to be in a cave at best.  It is what it is and you do the best you can!

When you are stuck with a low angle, you shoot what you got.  In this case, boots!

I always try to document the concert the best I can for Miss. Shari.  She is the super energy, driving force behind all the fun, recreational activities that are offered here in the community.  I think of  her as the “cruise ship director” from Love Boat days, some of you may be old enough to remember that.  She always does her job over and above anything that would be expected and she is a joy to work with!  If only every client were that easy to work for…

So, you need some typical concert shots, that’s what everyone wants to see, even if they were there.

The entire group did a “finger popping, do whop” song with some mad vocal harmony!

Maybe another close up, detail shot or two.  Hey, Ronnie and I both like Yamaha’s!  He plays his and I ride mine.

Have you ever wondered how so many entertainers look almost the same in every single photo you see of them?  I’ve photographed quite a few, and they are able to just “turn it on” and it looks totally natural.  As a photographer, most people are anything BUT that when in front of the camera.  This is what they do and get paid for.  (they actually do get paid to do it)  If you think of it, how does a vision impaired person know where or when to smile?  I admit, I wondered how this would happen, but it did, flawlessly, time after time.  The results are the same smile you see in every picture of Ronnie Milsap.  A big, happy, beautiful smile!

Every single time, the same wonderful expression. How does he do it?

The secret is…29.  That’s right, his band leader and he have worked out a system that works perfectly.  With his band leader/guitarist standing right next to me, Ronnie knows to listen or tune in to his voice and look in that direction.  He counts to three and Ronnie says, “29″ as big as he can.  At the right moment, you just snap the shutter.  Now, the other folks are somewhat surprised initially, so they may not look all that great, (timing is everything) but the artist?  Awesome!

So, the next time you have to take a group shot and don’t want to go with the typical “cheese” smile, why not try 29?  It just might be what you are looking for!  Thanks for the tip and a great concert Ronnie!

Remember when your whole life was before you?

I photographed a graduation for a friend this past Saturday.  I thought this young ladies expression was so full of hope and expectation.  The speaker did an awesome job, and it was one of the more memorable challenges I’ve heard at a commencement.  He is an attorney, and he asked how many of the audience could remember their commencement addresses.  We all laughed.  I certainly didn’t.  Do you?  He then went on to challenge them by saying the only thing he wanted them to remember from tonight was if they knew Jesus Christ as their Savior.  He said it was the only thing that would EVER matter in their entire life.  That is a huge statement, but he was absolutely right!  So, I want to ask you the same question, do you?  The answer to that will change your life and your eternity!

What a great job the kids are doing adapting to her!  Especially Jade, who just cannot get enough of her!  Vinnie, is still not sure what to think, I’m sure she will grow on him.  He is now the boy between two girls, just like his Uncle Aaron was growing up.

Here are all “the girls” together.  Geemaw, Mommy, Jade and Gianna

Daddy and Jade counting her toes to make sure they are all there. And yes, she does have feet like her mommy!

I’ve already warned Scott that girls will wrap you around their little finger and you will let them!  It doesn’t matter if you are warned or not, it just happens.  I am speaking from experience and yes, it still works today.

One of the advantages of being the grandparents and the photographers is that you do get included in the photographs!  (and you can retouch yourself if you want to, and why wouldn’t you?)

Photographed with the Fuji 60mm macro lens on my X-Pro 1 and just a hint of fill flash, I do love this image!

“Sisters”  Every now and then we get a shot that we just love, this is one of those images!

The final shot is just the 3 of them, but there will be more with the entire family very soon.  This was a great day and I thank my Lord that I am alive and healthy enough to make the trip up here for the weekend!  I’ll head back tomorrow and Marlene will stay here for a few weeks to help them get settled in.  We are blessed that because she doesn’t work outside the home, she can take this time to help out and enjoy the family.  She is a huge blessing to many people because of that flexibility.  I am no doubt the most thankful and biggest recipient of all she does!

 Great job Sis and Scott!  What a blessing she is.

]]> http://nickcoury.com/2013/05/welcome-gianna-rose/feed/ 3 http://nickcoury.com/2013/04/my-camera-is-like-a-golden-ticket-to-lots-of-p/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://nickcoury.com/2013/04/my-camera-is-like-a-golden-ticket-to-lots-of-p/#comments Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:28:08 +0000 Nick Coury http://nickcoury.com/?p=2710 I was talking with my friend and fellow Dury’s employee Terry Wyatt yesterday and he brought up this thought.  It’s something I’ve said before, just not in those words.  I like that description a lot.  I don’t take for granted the people I get to meet and the places my camera has allowed me to have access to.  I would be lying if I told you I had the foresight to plan these events 40 years ago when I started in this profession.  I have been blessed to have access to folks I would have never dreamed of meeting, let alone now call many of them “friends.”  I don’t want this to sound as if I’m bragging, because I’m not, it has absolutely nothing to do with me.

L to R: Ricky Skaggs, Phil Keaggy and my good friend Tommy Coomes

My two son-in-laws are HUGE guitar fans.  They are talented at their instruments and have one thing in common, they have followed Phil Keaggy for years and admire his incredible skills.  It turns out, that Ricky and I  have a mutual friend, Bill Fortney.  Tommy Coomes is in the group Love Song.  In fact, Tommy and Phil are best friends.  I asked Tommy to do me a favor at Christmas, and as a result our boys have autographed instruments from Phil.  Again, no way that just happens.

This morning I’m getting ready to photograph some of the cast of “Duck Dynasty” at Lipscomb University here in Nashville.  Another unbelievable opportunity allowed of the Lord to me.  In just a little while Marlene and I will be photographing lots of folks that get to meet the cast.  I’ve invited my brother Tony down and he is excited as he can be to meet them.  Driving 7 hours to hang out this evening and back again tomorrow, but totally worth it to him.

So I am a bit reflective right now about just this aspect of what the Lord has allowed in my life.  I guess it all comes down to one word, “thankful.”

Marlene and Babs chillin’ after a great meal

Yes, chaps were necessary! Wind chill on the legs was pretty brisk

Tom and Barb are also our neighbors here at “The Webb.”  It’s easy to catch up with them when we are out on a walk or just to drink a cup of coffee.  Note:  Barb now owns a Keurig so it’s OK to drink her coffee.    (Another story there)

Officially we logged about 125 miles of wonderful roads.  That is with the exception of “the mile long yard sale” we happened to ride into.  Not fun.  Lots of clutch and brake work there, but it ended up OK.  Tom planned a return route on the Old 96 which is one of our favorite stretches of road here in middle Tennessee.  Scenic and twisty, just the way we like it!

Joe’s Place, Woodbury, Tennessee

What’s a ride without dessert?  Incomplete!  Snow White Drive In was our final destination before we headed home.  All in all, a great ride with wonderful friends.  A perfect way to start the 2013 riding season!

It’s that time of year again!  Spring is finally here and it’s time to get out on our bikes.  Today will be our first of hopefully many rides this summer.  Last summer was the worst season since I’ve owned a bike for riding.  I don’t think we made 5 group rides all year.  This year will be different, I am committed to log more miles, spend more time with friends and use our bike to get some “down time” from my daily responsibilities.

I was looking through some of my past road trips, some were short day runs, others covered a few states and multiple days.  They all have a few things in common…fun, food, and lack of stress!

A Fall ride in Ohio with lifelong friends!  Mark, Sue, Pam and Doug

We’ve been riding for a little over 10 years now, that seems hard to believe.  I’ve never really had a hobby that I enjoyed until riding came along.  For some reason, I am so focused on making it all work together and keeping Marlene and I safe, that concentration is relaxing to me.  I’m not thinking about much of anything else but my surroundings and how the bike is running.  Seems weird right?  All I know is it works!

Tony’s I 75 in Michigan with Super Dave Maylen and Will Crockett

Above was the ride we called “The Bacon Run” all this to get a BLT sandwich with 1 pound of bacon!  What’s not to love about that?  Best of all, we made some memories that will last a lifetime.  No one needs a sandwich with that much bacon, but we laughed uncontrollably when we saw the size of that thing!

So today we will head out with our Faith Rider friends in Nashville in the search of good times and a new place to eat.  I do know this, it will be fun, we will eat well and I will be better rested as a result of it.

One thing I’m looking forward to is playing with my newest camera, the Fuji x20!  This is the newest version of Fuji’s advanced point and shoot and I just got it yesterday.  I loved my x10, so I’m sure I will be really happy with this one too!

Wrapping up the trade show season is always a good thing.  By this time of the year, you are just ready to be done.  I believe I’ve been working photographic shows nearly 20 years.  I have had lots of fun and met a ton of great people that are now friends.  We enjoy going out to dinner and sharing the places we know about.  If you are in a new city and want a suggestion, just phone a friend and they will come through!  Lunch stop was just outside Atlanta at the OK Cafe, this was suggested to us by our good friend Brett Wells and he was right.  Robert, Johnny and I all had great meals here!

This is a classic diner that is super affordable with quality food.  The best, super thick chocolate milkshake I’ve had in a long time.  Old fashioned metal blender cup and a spoon to scoop it all out!  The decor is fun and the service was exceptional.  Look at the detail in the “burger and fries” shot. Hand held close up that looks good enough to eat.  (pun intended)

Next stop was Athens, GA.  Turns out that beside being the home of the Georgia Bulldogs it was also the place where Luke Bryan and Jason Aldeen were having their concert on Saturday night. This was the first ever concert at their field and it was a huge success.  We heard estimates of over 60,000 people at this concert.  There were cowboy boots and hats on most of the folks we saw.  To say the city was busy would be an understatement.  It was more like crazy!

It was awesome that Aaron’s show and our event were in the same city!

This was the high point of my weekend, getting to take some time to visit Aaron at the event he helped curate and assemble.  He also taught a class and was a featured artist.  So great to see the man he is and the gifted photographer he is becoming.  I love his creative eye and he has a gift for teaching too!  Not everyone can teach, it takes a very special talent and a LOT of work to make it understandable.  He nails it!

Now that I’m back home I can report it was not a great show at all.  Very sad for some of the turmoil going on in this association and others.  Poorly promoted and attended, sadly unless they recover well, this could have been the last SEPPA Convention.  I wish them well and hope they can regroup in the next two years.  Really nice folks that just have fallen onto some hard times.

As for me, I’m just glad to be back in Music City with my bride!  We just took at great couple mile walk and got caught up on all that I missed while I was gone.  We have a lunch date planned and then it’s back to business as usual.

Bucket lists.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve actually written it down or not, most of us have one.  If you’ve ever stated something you would like to see or do before you die, that’s on your list!  For me there are just a few bands that I would really like to see, not many at all really.  But, at the very top of my list was Tower of Power!  (click this link and you can listen to some of their music)  I first heard them either in high school or shortly after, it doesn’t matter, I’ve always wanted to see them live.  Seriously, there aren’t many groups that can boast of a 44 year track record!  I think that 4 of the original members were playing last night.  (May 11th they are in Cleveland, OH in case you are interested)

One of the standout performances was by world class drummer David Garibaldi.  He is literally in the Percussion Hall of Fame, how cool is that?  Rock solid beat and a wicked left hand that hit every “kick” with incredible precision.  Sure I admit I’m partial to drummers, but this was really, really solid!  My only complaint was that from our seats he was blocked by “Doc” so we didn’t get to see him as well as we would have like to.

That said, they are all super talented musicians that exceeded my expectations.  It’s really gratifying when you’ve looked forward to something for that long and it turns out to be everything you hoped it would be.  Money well spent and a night that I won’t ever forget.

I won’t bore you with the rest of my bucket list, because it is pretty short.  I think that as a cancer survivor, there are fewer “things and places” that are that important to me.  Sure, I’d love to take the love of my life to Hawaii sometime before we are too old to enjoy it.  I also have a really ambitious motorcycle ride that I’d like to make too, it will take about three to four weeks.  Realistic?  Who knows.  Part of the fun is dreaming and planning these things irregardless of the outcome.  It’s biblical too, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18  When I was recovering from my cancer nearly five years ago, I started watching shows that featured different restaurants.  There were a few that really interested me and I would tell Marlene, “when I get better I want to take a bike trip there.”  She would always agree and encourage me to plan it out and make it happen.   I literally made a list of a few of those places, and I can tell you that I’ve been able to cross a few of them off!  It’s not about the actual meal, it’s just reaching a goal.  One little thing to look forward to that would help take your mind off of the treatments and reality of all that meant.

By the grace of Almighty God, I am very much alive, very healthy and very thankful!  I’ve been able to see our youngest daughter marry her husband and am now the “Bapaw” to three (soon to be four) beautiful grandchildren.  None of them were born when I was diagnosed.  That is a huge blessing in itself.  Add to that, the many, many blessings the Lord has given us, far too many to list.  His mercies are new every morning. Lam. 3:23  I can tell you that without the promise of eternal life with my Savior, I don’t know that I would have made it through those months of treatments and recovery.  All praise and glory belongs to Him!

I’ve shown this before, but I was reviewing some images and realized I made a very amateur mistake on this photo.  Before I confess to what it was, take a look at a 100% crop.

Right out of the camera from the Fuji X Pro 1

And now the final image that I am very pleased with:

Beautiful window light at the Marathon building

OK, so what was my big mistake you might ask?  I saw this beautiful light and got so excited that I forgot to check my settings.  When I saw this image I was blown away by the sharpness.  I also thought the depth of field was more than I expected…until I looked at the meta data.  We were in extremely low light before we found this spot so my camera was still set to ISO 2000!  That wasn’t the stupid part because as you can see, this camera looks great at that ISO.  My 18-55 lens was at 27mm, still no problem, but that helps explain the depth of field I saw.  The real surprise was that I didn’t pay attention to the basic settings and I shot this at 1/16 and f9.8!  That is way too slow (but it worked) and I could have opened way up to get a more shallow depth of field.  I wouldn’t select that slow of a shutter speed intentionally for this situation, but the optical stabilization worked really well.

This is a great example of always taking time to execute the basics properly, which I didn’t.  However, in this case it worked out just fine and I now have a great portrait of my wonderful son!

*”faux pas” The term comes from French and literally means “false step”.