Charleston

This Christmas week has been relaxing and enjoyable. Amy and I made a run down to Charleston to visit Hilliary and Francois for a few days. I had a chance to do what I call a "walk about" around the city during a couple of mornings doing some photography.One thing I do when traveling is to get up early and walk the area looking for interesting photographic details. I guess I am like a mailman taking a walk on his day off. I can't get away from photography. Its in my blood. Here are a few of the images I captured.

MERRY CHRISTMAS. Here is an easy way to take your own family portrait. Get the family together with three dogs and try to get everyone to look at the camera. First I set up the pose with a couple of test shots. I got into place with my remote control for the camera and we got the dogs ready." Ok everyone look at the camera and smile" I would then throw a shirt and a gift box toward the camera.It worked a few times until the dogs ran off.Everyone was here for Christmas. Lori, Ian, Me, Amy, Francois and Hilliary. Of course we have Howard, The Worm and Cooper.We wish you all the best this holiday season.

Note Cards

We have just a couple of days left until we close the studio for the Christmas Holidays. Amy and I are looking forward to the time off. The kids will be with us this year and it will be great to have everyone together. Ian and Lori will be arriving on Thursday morning around 10:30 am and Hilliary and Francois will be driving up on Thursday evening. Last year was our first Christmas without the kids.This year should be better. It will be a full house of kids and dogs.
I just completed a new product which is a line of note cards. I have finished a series of coastline images and I will be packaging them for display in the studio for sale next month. They are 4.25 x 5 cards that are blank inside for adding your special information. We will be highlighting our cards in our January newsletter.I am going to give some away through the blog so keep in touch.
Have a Merry Christmas and I hope to post some of our family adventures over the hoildays.

The Shrine Bowl

It has been a long time since I had a chance to post to the blog. The studio has us on the move trying to keep Santa's work shop going.
Amy and I had a chance to attend the Shrine Bowl on Saturday. It was exciting and the first time in years since I had the chance to photograph from the sidelines. I would have enjoyed it more if it didn't rain the whole time. I am glad I had the plastic bags with me to cover my cameras. I did have a chance to meet some other photographers on the field that live in the sports world of photography. They are a different breed. If you want to check out the action from the sidelines go to www.shrinebowlphotos.com
This is a web site I came up with just for the game. It links over to billgoode.com to our photo store.
Amy has been sick for the last week and I know sitting in the rain watching that game on Saturday was not a help. I had tickets to see the Pathers on Sunday. This would have been the first game in a couple of years I had a chance to see and I had some killer seats. We gave them up to a friend of our in Charlotte. It was a cold day and I know another day outside would have put her over the edge.

Gift Cards

This will be a big weekend at home. I will have a chance to finish the house for Christmas. Since we traveled to NJ last weekend it put us behind. I want to put a plug in for the studio and tell everyone not to forget starting Monday we will be offering studio gift cards for 25% off. get a $100 gift card for just $75. This will make a great gift and if you are looking at a beach portrait next summer this will be the chance to get a discount. If you are out of town we can ship the cards right away.
I will be posting more Jersey pictures this weekend so stay intouch. I will be planning a few photo contests this year for some cool prises. All you will have to do is email in a photo. Our first one will be in January. You may win a nice dinner or something even better!

New York

Right before you get to the start of the "Jersey Shore" over looking the town of Highlands are the Twin Lights. The view from this hill top is just beautiful right at sunrise. On a clear day you can see the New York skyline and on down the Jersey coast. The town looks like an old fishing village with a New England feel.

On our way to the 34 street pier for dinner in Long Island City at the Waters Edge we stopped off to visit Grand Central Station.They had a awesome holiday lightshow in the main area of the lobby.Now I know what it means when someone says its busy as Grand Central Station.


The boardwalk in Asbury Park is coming back to life. " Its cold out on the boardwalk" Starts a famous Christmas song.I had a chance to get up early Friday morning and visit a few photo spots.


Big Weekend in the Big Apple! Amy and I were in Jersey this weekend because my sister turned 60 years old. It was a full four days and one very cold one walking the streets of New York. I am going to post a bunch of photos tonight when we get home but we had a major Tarboro moment in the big city. This is a small world. We were walking through Time Square on Saturday cutting our way through thousands of people and I was pulling a small case on wheels. We were on our way to Pen Station on 34th street to drop off my nephew James off to make the train to JKF airport.I am crossing the street in a NY christmas way with wall to wall people when someone say " hey the zipper on your bag is openning" I look up and its April Fretwell from Tarboro with a group of freinds. Wow! You can't go anywhere in the world without seeing someone from Tarboro. I guess it took someone from NC lend a helping hand.

The Wedding

What an exciting wedding! I was in WIlmington last weekend working for our friend Lane Neese and Hilliary was one of the bridesmaids. That doesn't happen often when your daughter is in the wedding. The weather was beautiful for a reception on the docks of downtown Wilmington. The service was at the Orton Plantation. If you ever have a chance to visit this area the garden make the perfect background for a wedding, What an awesome way to finish my last wedding for 2007.We have already booked a number of weddings for 2008 so far and many of the important wedding dates are being taken.

The Tarboro Project

If you see me out and about in Tarboro its because I will be helping with a new brochure the town is creating. It is always a refreshing change to get out of the studio and do this kind of work. I will soon be setting up sessions in a few of the indurstries around town and capturing more of the city. This past Wednesday was a beautiful day to see downtown form the view of a bucket truck. Not my most favorite thing to do but exciting. As I was going up the operator yells " are you scared of hights". I though why is he asking me now. It is a strange feeling not seeing the arm of the boom holding you up as you sway in the wind. I have a great respect for those lineman having do to it everyday.The image on the billboard as you come into Tarboro next to Sara Lee has a few people on the Tar River. I was in a bucket truck for that image hanging over the river and that was a little uneasy.
I am looking forward to being a part of the new Tarboro publication.

The End

The Chrismas Special is over!!! It was fun but we do look forward to that last session of the evening. Thanks to everyone that took part and we will see you next year........I hope.

Christmas Special

Today is it!!! Every year we say its our last year but we do have fun during the Christmas Special. It has been exciting year after year to see how the children have grown. Some come just for the special every year so we see such a change as they come to the studio. We had fun with the Legget family during the Christmas Special and Sunday in the Park. The sled was really cooking!!

Santa

This is the real deal. The story about this Santa plays out like a real TV Christmas story of my own. Every year we display our Santa portrait with pride and all the children know how important we really are because we are the official "Santa Portrait Studio". We are connected to the real Santa. So we say.
When I first came to North Carolina in 1976 I started working for WEED radio selling advertising and doing some DJ air time. I wasn't very good. It was hard to blend a Jersey tone in NC and sound like you lived here. Not that exciting. Most of my so-called account lists were made up of closed businesses. The people I worked with at the station were imported right from the sitcom WKRP (remember that one).A fun group of people to work with.
I did have one account owned by this very interesting fellow that sold singer sawing machines across from that famous hotdog place called Boonies. He never did purchased a radio ad from me but every week I would stop by because he was a great person to talk to. I knew I could always get a good feeling by just stopping by. A kind of person that would light up a room and made you feel good after a visit. About six months later he closed his business and I lost tract of him.
Well about six years ago we had a session planed In October for a 7 year old boy. They had been very good customers and been to us a number of times in the past and mom said she was bringing a friend that would dress up as Santa for her Christmas Cards. Would it be ok? When they arrived this small gentleman with the real beard and hair said hello and looked right at me and said " you don't know me do you'. I looked at the guy and I said "yeah your Santa". Well it was the same fellow I had spent time with back in early days in Rocky Mount selling radio advertising that I lost tract of. It was a great session doing the Santa Portrait and we had a wonderful time going back thought the past and connecting again.
I did not know it at the time but Santa was sick and would not be with us very long. I think it was about six or eight months after that meeting that I found out he had past away. After hearing the news on that day I headed over to Rocky Mount to give a copy of the Portrait I had at the studio and they used it during his service.
It is a strange story for me and I don’t know why I spent time putting it in print. Our Santa portrait holds some special memories and I know I am blessed to be the person to capture this very special moment of such a caring person during this time of his life. Its times like these I can see how important our job really is. Capturing a single moment in time so we can share, enjoy and cherish for a lifetime. It’s a small world.

The Christmas Special

The big one is almost here! Our Christmas Special. It starts this Monday and only runs for three days this year. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:am till 6:40 pm. We cut out Sunday to run our " Sunday in The Park" outdoor session program. The Park program is a free session fee for outdoors with only a $100 minimum order. Right now we are full and I am looking forward to a beautiful day in the park this coming weekend. We do have times available for the Christmas Special. This will be our first time in years not running it on Sunday so we will see what the results brings. It is a fun portrait program but after every year we promise ourselfs we will never do it again. Then comes the fall and we forget all the pains of being on the floor all day. This year we have added more time to each session so we can make it enjoyable.
we have a great selection of Christmas Cards to choose from.

Sunset

It was a very busy weekend starting with a rush to the coast for a Friday night before wedding dinner in Atlantic Beach, up at 6:am for a 7:30 family portrait on the beach, The wedding started at 5:pm until midnight. The Tams were the headliner for the receptions( the groom came out as one of the Tams in the opener) and Sunday afternoon a beautiful bridal portrait on the grounds of Orton Plantation near Wilmington.On my way home I just had to stop to capture a beautiful sunset sky over Goldsboro. The sky was on fire with color.
Here are a couple of highlights.( I can't show the bridal until after the wedding)


The groom was part of the act when they first came out as a surprize for the bride....

More Eating at The NC State Fair

We did have a good time eating through the Fair. My favorite as always was the
Maple Cotten Candy and the Cattleman's Steak.

My favorite cotten candy come from the maple booth and we can not forget the london broil.
Tim and I had a contest to see who would spot more more people we knew. Of coure I won at the end when I stopped at WIld Bills Corn and it was Bill Harris from Greenville NC that we just completed a beach session selling from the booth.The best has got to be the Cattlemans Steak. If Lee Perry can eat here so can I. I do have some more fair eating to post so I will be back later..

How about some Philly Cheese Steak. Tim was checking out the tall ladies and doing some Ice cream and dogs.

It is time for the NC State Fair and we eat right through it. I just love the smells and sounds of the Fair so I though I would make you a little sick and show you everything we eat.Tim, Donna, Dean, Tracy, Amy and I had a fair feast.
How about a little Funnel Cake.

The Trip Day 4

Day 4
I started driving this morning at 3:30 am and it was exciting to know we were on Mountain Time and had two extra hours. We drove that morning for a few hours and took a quick break right when the sun was ready to rise. We pulled off this exit with nothing on it at all and realized it was a dirt road. As dark as it was we could not even see how soft the road was. I had this vision of us getting stuck in the sand with the buzzards over head stuck in the dessert. It was the fastest I had turned the truck around. We were in the middle of nowhere but we did get some beautiful sunrise shots.

The excitement grew as we entered California. We were there! We were still 8 to 9 hours away but we made it to the big state. We always made sure we captured each state's sign to give us that extra jolt to keep moving.
The California landscape as your enter from the south is like riding on the Moon with mountains, desserts and nothing. We were heading to Barstow, which is the end of the line for Route 40 highway. I remember a sign in Wilmington NC that has Barstow on it. I can say I traveled 40 from one end to the other. I think the highest mountain roads were in this part of California.

It was crunch time and we arranged for my departure on the10:30 red eye back to NC with Lori by phone.
We figured the miles ahead and what the GPS lady was telling us we would arrive by 8:35 in the San Francisco area. The plan was to drive to an area close to the airport and Ian would stay at a local hotel with the truck so he would not have to drive into the city until the next morning when the uhaul place was open. I would have maybe 20 min to clean up and get a shuttle to the airport. Ian was driving the last leg and moving along at a fast pace and doing a great job. We plugged the hotel info into the GPS and were on tract until we made the turn off the highway that should have been about a mile away. The area had a lot of construction so when she said, “ turn right onto Drove road” the road was different. We made a wrong turn and then the GPS said go 3.5 miles then… I shut it off and said no way! I was just thinking I was not getting out of there that night. I did not realize the airport was just 5 minuets away. I though Ian said it was 8 miles away. (A.D.D. people don’t listen to each other). I am thinking 15 to 20 minuets with traffic. At this point we are making wrong turn after wrong turn looking for the hotel. The road in some cases is just wide enough for the truck to drive on and as I looked through the back right side mirror I can see the trailer just inches from the barriers. I am on high stress alert by now as we pull into a gas station. Ian is driving and I am telling him to pull over, not there! No way out. We change sides and I back out of the gas station. We just started driving and he points out another hotel as he is canceling the other reservation since we cannot find the first hotel. We pull in and Ian runs out to check if a room is available. They don’t have a room but I can get the shuttle to the airport. Its 8:45 right now and the ride is on its way. I drove to the back of the parking lot and found a space for the monster and did a quick pack while heading for the lobby of the hotel.
I found a bathroom to change for the flight home but Ian needs my lab top to transfer some files to a portable hard drive. “It will only take a moment”. I come out of the bathroom ready to go. The shuttle is here and Ian’s file has 3 min left to download. Just as I say good-bye and the shuttle guys are waiting the files are complete and he disconnects the hard drive. Close! Not the goodbye I wanted but I had to leave right away. We just did not want to drive the big rig into the airport since we didn’t know the way and it would have taken longer to take the car off the trailer to get there.
I am at the airport looking like a dirt bag. I have not shaved since Saturday. I am not the cleanest looking person. I get my boarding pass for the 10:30 flight and it is now 9:15. I go through the scanners after taking off the shoes and everything else and I have to go off to the side for the “extra checking area ” because I forgot I had a knee brace on my left leg that had wire running through it so it set off the beeper as I kept walking through. They have my arms out patting me down. I guess I looked like Ted the letter bomber or something. I was there for about 15 min getting the once over. I had a carry on and a laptop bag so when the guy said he wanted to go though my bag I said at your own risk. “I have been on the road since Monday and everything in there is dirty”. My wife wounn't open it. He took a quick look. I got to the gate at 9:45 and sat down with a cold beer and a sandwich.Time to take a break. I dropped part of the sandwich and spilled most the beer on the table when I went to move my bags around. At that point a bottle of water would be a safe choice.

The flight was fours hours and I know I would not sleep much at all on the plane. I arrived in Charlotte at 6:am and after a quick flight to RDU Amy picked me up at 8:30. I made it back to the studio and had three session that afternoon and don’t know how I finished them. I had been up the previous day at 3:am and I have gotten maybe one hour of sleep in 26 hours.
It was a great trip I would do again ( without the truck). I only wish we had the time to stop and visit some of the sights off the road and take ore images. The trip was somewhat tense at times but the time we spend together was priceless…

The Trip Day 3

Day 3
Up at 4:am and on the road by 4:30. The new truck was giving us a renewed power. We were ready to roll. Being able to do the speed limit plus was feeling better all the time. Now we were under the gun to get to San Francisco by Thursday evening for my flight back to NC. It was looking like a plan. In hindsight one more day away from work was not going to change the world compared to sharing one more day on a trip of a lifetime. I should have just moved my Friday at the studio.
Because of the hours we lost from the start of the trip we did not have much time to just stop to capture the landscape like we wanted. It is amazing how the landscape does change once you get into Oklahoma. Most of our images were from the truck window and the weather was just perfect. We did stop for lunch in Amarillo Texas. It was a true Texas steak house with this huge model of a cowboy out in front. Of course right down the road was the
Cadillac Ranch, located along the tatters of historic Route 66. It was built in 1974, brainchild of Stanley Marsh 3, the helium millionaire who owns the dusty wheat field where it stands assembled are used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids."
Visitors are encouraged 24/7 -- just don't steal any of Stanley's colorful signs. The 62-year old Marsh has had a few interesting run-ins with the law over his brand of enforcement. In 1994, he was accused of threatening an 18-year old with a hammer and penning him inside a chicken coop. He's been sued by a family claiming Marsh tricks teens into working for him after catching them red-handed with one of his signs. Of course every Springsteen fan has to visit the Cadillac Ranch. If you are taking a trip across country you have to visit www.roadtripamerica.com for the most bazaar strange sights listed along the highway to make your trip exciting.
After stopping to capture a beautiful western sunset at this strange truck stop we logged in 925 miles on day three and started to look for a place to rest around 9:45.We stopped in Gallup New Mexico very close to the Arizona state line. I was getting stressed and my knee was getting stiff so we were both a little short with each other. It was time to take a break. Tomorrow was going to be a long one with the last leg ahead of us. We were going to be on the road at 3:am and had about 950 miles to go.

DAY 2
7:am on the second day we arrive at the Uhaul dealer in Nashville TN as the doors were being opened. The guy behind the counter was very helpful but had to go through the right channels and red tape to help us out. We could not just change trucks unless the first one had a “ real problem”
At this point we were not leaving unless we had new wheels and they had the trucks available on the lot. He said another person that would make the call on our problem and would be there in about 30 minutes. So we went to IHOPE for a quick meal. As we returned the counter guys said we were clear and directed us to our new 26 ft ride. She was a big one.
Now the fun part begins. It was 8:45 am and we were looking at taking a days worth of packing from one truck to another. I think it was the pancakes that gave us the drive. Ian stated the time like it was a race and we opened the doors to begin.
I set up the video camera up on the other side of the parking lot so we could see both tail ends of the truck as we loaded one to another. It was funny to watch in fast motion.
As we unloaded the truck it was apparent that the first one was way overloaded. It took us just two hours to finish. With the new 26 ft truck now packed you would never guess all that was in a smaller size uhaul. As we acted for the camera at the end of our performance we noticed we had used a piece of furniture to hold the video camera. We had to make a space for that last table.
As Ian got the paper work in order I backed our new ride up to the car trailer and hooked everything in place. After a quick change of clothes we were back on the road by 11:45.
The new truck was perfect. We cold not even feel that we were pulling a car behind us and it drove like a van. We now had some time to make up. Doing the marathon truck pack took a lot out of us so we were only able to make it 563 mile on the second day to Sallisaw Arkansas right at the Oklahoma state line by 9:30 that evening. Our plan was to get up at 4:am the next day and hit the road running with a full day. By the way I think Arkansas has the worst road system. An evening storm was heading our way so we made the call to stop for the night. I know if Amy were with us she would have never let us stay at this motel. I think the people in the next room were living there. We were not staying long. To say the least they did not have wireless.

The Trip Day One

DAY 1
How exciting to have the chance to drive across the country with your son and spend some quality time together. Here we were two guys with A.D.D heading across the country. Who know what could happen or where we would end up.
Amy and I arrived from a wedding shoot on the coast in Durham on Sunday afternoon to see the truck half loaded and Lori’s dad Angelo breaking a sweat while walking a large box to the driveway. Amy first comment as we approached the house was “ that truck sure looks smaller then I though”. Boxes everywhere it was truly moving day.
Ian’s life long talent as the Tetris game king gave him the ability to pack that truck tight.
It was packed from top to bottom with every available air space filled. It was an awesome pack job to fit the total contents of his house into a 17ft Uhaul truck.
Monday morning October 1st at 10:45 we hit the road. Lori had just left for the airport to fly back to San Francisco and Amy was left to say the farewells.
I figured we had three and half good days of driving and I needed to get back by Friday. We had the right music, a few books on tape, maps, GPS, cameras and video ready to go. All the toys were set. We were also pulling his car on a car trailer. Right before we left I walked of the length of the rig to be 39 feet. That made us official truckers.
We said our goodbyes to tearful Amy and heading out to highway 40 West. I have driven many types of trucks; cars and cars pulling trailers in my life but this one felt different right from the start. We turned the corner to the main road as Amy was following behind us. As we headed down that first street to the exit ramp the truck hit a small bump in the road. The top of the truck begins to sway a little and felt very top heavy as the trailer started fishtailing a little back and forth. The cell phone rang and Amy was asking if everything was ok! Fine no problem was the reply.
We decided to take a quick stop to the Uhaul place so they can take a look a the truck to make sure everything was on go before we started the trip. At times it felt like the front wheels were just about touching the ground. The guy at the dealership reassured us that this type truck does feel a little top heavy. No problem. We made a quick stop over to Best Buy to pick up a power converter to help power our toys so we were off again.

The truck did not feel right. At one point we were in the Greensboro area and came across a bad spot in the road as the top of the truck started to sway the trailer stated to fishtail again. This time we were going in one direction as the trailer went in the other. The cars behind us kept their distance I am sure not knowing what was going on. So we knew going over 55 mph was going to be a problem. We decided the North Carolina and Tennessee Mountains were going to be very hard to say the least. At this point I was thinking this was not going to be a fun week and I would be lucky to make it back by Sunday going at this pace.What came to my mind was the segment of the movie Anchormn when Ron Burgundy is put down by his friends while drinking a milk in the stree on a hot day. " Milk bad choice".
By Ashville the pressure was on. We made the call to take the car off the trailer and Ian would drive the car over the mountains and I would drive the truck since I was used to the feel of it.
We would get as far as we could and then set the car to the trailer once we were on flat land. It was a long night but we somehow made it as far as Nashville Tennessee. I was doing the white knuckle ride in the truck not trying to hit any bumps in the road that would set the top of truck into a sway and Ian was behind me in the car helping to keep the pace 50 to 55 mph. That was as fast as I could go safely. Nashville was going to be all I could take for one day so we found a place to stay.
Ian was on the phone for a while as we approached Nashville and arranged to meet at the Uhaul dealer first thing in the morning as so we could change trucks. The though of taking everything out of one truck to the other was not sounding bad at this point. We knew we could make it up in speed if we could get a faster ride. We only drove 506 miles that day. It was a long 506 miles.

On The Road

Ian and I are on the road Monday morning for an exciting adventure in search of muffler man. What is that! We are driving all his stuff to San Francisco and I am going to put four days on the road. I was looking around on the internet planing the trip and came across this strange site called www.roadesideamerica.com. It gives you highlights of the oddest things on the road. They always report on this guy called muffler man. A large business icon like the one you see in the Sparano's opening video.This guy must be all over America.
We are going to view some strang sites from the window of our truck so it should be something. I hope to post reports during our travels if we can find internet access.

Back Home

It was a great trip! Amy and I did this about eight years ago and always wanted to return to New England in September.
The weather was perfect. When I turned in the rental car I was surprised to see we had driven 1,200 miles from last Friday.It didn't seem that long at all.We will try and get back to the real world but it is hard to come down from this New England high.

I spoke to Hilliary when we got home and she reminded me that I did not have a single picture of her and Francois on the site except what is on the wedding web site. What you do for one in the the family you do for both. I was somewhere last week and was asked " who did you get for your child's wedding?" We had a total team effort going. We have many friends in the photography world we call family so I called on some very close friends to be a part of this once in a lifetime event.
Cindy Smith in Raleigh from Postive Results Photography and Tim Talley from Tim Talley Photography in Reidville NC ( he is my redneck friend and would love the yellow car shot below) and Joe Gierisch from Raleigh a fellow yankee. I always enjoy spending time with and our friends Mickey and Sandra Chambers who missed Hilliary's wedding but helped with Ian's. It is so great to have friends in the business that are always willing to help and share their time and we hope to be there for them one day.

I have spent much personal time on this part of the website and hope you have enjoyed the images. I have some studio
specials coming soon so check in. If you are not on the studio email mailing list let us know so we can keep you up to date on what we have coming soon.

On The Way Home

We had a chance to spend very little time in Boston last night and enjoyed our dinner at Cheers. We took in the sights at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. I am looking forward to a return trip in April when Hilliary & Francois run the Marathron.
Yesterday was not a big picture day. We spent some time in Plymouth looking for "the rock" but never saw it.
It was a little misty and rained in the morning and throughout the area until we got to Boston.Here are a few images. See ya in NC.