get your feet moving

It is that time of year. Kids are back to school. Homework is on the table and after school activities begin. This is our busiest time for child and infant sessions.

Kids are morning people. We photograph during the week beginning at 10am. We are now booking the fall. Every session gets the time it deserves. Need to stop and feed the baby, no problem. We have a nursing room in both of our locations. We understand that it takes an act of congress to get them ready. You can be certain we will be ready when you arrive. Our professional staff will greet you. I have kids (3 and 5) and understand your needs. You will leave with images that speak.

success on the weekend

Making it happen is what it is all about. I was so tired on Sunday morning I could barley get out of bed, but no complaints we are grateful for the business. Most of my work entails following people around at the high points. Documenting the milestones. So, this car was from the wedding on Friday in Seneca/Clemson. Definitely an asset to the images for their book. Don't forget to consider cool transportation to your reception while there is still light :) Roll like a rock star, this Guy that got married is with the group Mercy Me.

are you ageless cool or are you trendy?

I have been thinking about this weekend and the events planned all week. Looking for the edge, the next creative outcome. Where will I get satisfied? I always approach a wedding as a clean slate. No presupposed ideas, just having the chance to photograph people on a really important day. It is so fun to watch how people interact when excitement is up. You just need to know where to be. After this many years, I can anticipate most of it, but the cool stuff arrives at random. I also see trends come and go. What was cool yesterday may not be cool now. The 80's for example, what would we laugh at if it weren't for the 80's. Even if people don't realize it now, they may not want to look back at a totally trendy album in 80's style. I go for classic. No, not traditional. Timeless is so cliche and such an overused and misunderstood word. It truly has been diluted by overuse. Blue jeans in color in a black and white, do you still like it? It was the thing 8 years ago, does is still hold up? I mean okay, it is your cute son, etc....but if it weren't your child would you go for that now? Look back in time and fine styles that are still cool and respectable. Incredibly, they did it with so much less than we have now. Make sure your outcome is going to be cool a few decades from now :) A few years ago, this little girl in the photo was trying to kiss the ring bearer during the ceremony. Do you think this will still be a cool shot when she is 40? Just asking. Oh, and it is going to get cold soon, maybe go in your closet and give some of that trendy stuff you will never wear again away to goodwill or something :)

my new secret weapon

I am always interested in the next cool thing to get me happy about my work. I don't always know what that means, but I am looking for it. Perhaps it is new equipment, a cool subject or a new playground nonetheless I am looking. In the rain, people get freaked out. Especially if there is a wedding. I asked myself a few years ago after traveling to London, what do they do here since it rains all the time? So I bought some wedding photojournalism books whilst :) I was there and low and behold they make it work.. Anyway it rained last Saturday and many new and cool (at least for me) came from it.

By the way my new secret weapon is coming in today, I hope.

the 90's

I think I made this image in 1994. I was in India, and we were north of New Delhi about an hour. I was shooting an old Nikon 35mm, and we driving along in this really small car. It was hot, about 115 degrees F. We were behind this tanker truck that was full of bullet holes (repaired of course) and it seemed we were in the middle of the desert. Then this field popped up and there was this woman standing there looking at us perfectly still and balancing who knows what on her head. It was so beautiful. I knew if I asked our driver to stop, that it may ruin this image of what I could see in my head. So I shot through the dirty windshield and this is is the image I got. I didn't know if it would be any good or not, I just hoped it would help me remember what I saw, which in many ways is all that I do now. I get to see such beautiful things in my work, and my camera helps me to help me and others remember. Even though this was 15 years ago, I remember the details because the image brings it all back. I am glad that I took a chance and shot through the dirty windsheild of a moving car to get this.

what do people really want, and do they know

I have been making photographs for some time now. I have seen trends come and trends go. I wonder to myself how one balances staying true to yourself and compromising style for the almighty dollar. I mean a brother has to eat right? Well, I personally think that compromise can sometimes bring tragedy. You do a piece of work you don't like, it goes on a wall. Then people see it and hate it, so they won't use you, or....they love it and expect you to produce this work that you don't like. Now you are just working the job and have lost site of your creativity, and the reason you got started in the first place. Balance that by not wanting to be the guy who everyone in town knows their grandmother will like. Stay true to your roots, and don't be afraid to try things and possibly even change your mind or ways of doing things. There is no shame in a smart retreat.

This has been a cool week so far

Tons going on. weddings are everywhere, and thinking of a new secret weapon. This is an image of a cool couple outside in downtown greenville, sc. When they called the store (www.coxphotography.net) they said really nice stuff about our website. basically, saying they didn't expect to find someone like us in greenville. a pleasant surprise she said I don't want to gaze at my belly or even for it to feel like a madonna or pregnancy shoot, just shoot us because we are in love and it just so happens we are pregnant. is that not just cool? anyway we had good fun and ate some ice cream too. :)