old school

groomsmen
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

We brought a couple of rolls of Kodak TRI-X to shoot in the Nikon F100. I first used TRI-X in Okinawa when I took my first photography class as a little kid on base.

It had been quite a while since I shot black and white film. I usually do the digital to B&W thing when I want that look. The real thing definitely has a look that is hard to replicate with digital so I'm glad we ran with the real thing for some of the wedding photography.

Sammy's big laugh

NC State Arboretum
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

A shot of the kids while we were out at the NC State Arboretum with the Joyner's and the Brown's. The kids had a wonderful time running around and chasing one another. We got a lot of great photos and this one makes me smile. Sammy with her big laugh.

The Arboretum is a fantastic spot for portraits. There is always somewhere where there is great light and interesting little garden areas to use as beautiful backdrops.

Bride & Groom

Bride & Groom
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

The post-processing of all the images is done, hooray! This was a lot of fun shooting this wedding. Playing around with the D700, shooting a few rolls with my Nikon F100 and a couple of interesting shots turned out on the toy Holga. Thank God for blessing this work.

Congratulations Todd & Melissa Whitford!

The pictures are available here.

all smiles

all smiles
Originally uploaded by Chris Townsend

What a great little face! This is one of my favorite shots from a recent set of portraits we did with some of our friends and their children.

After having played with the D700 for a time I was pretty bummed to have to send it back. That camera caused no small amount of tension in the house as I declared how I was going to be buying one of those $2400 cameras VERY soon. Thankfully, God restored my sanity and I'll be sticking with the film cameras a little while longer for my personal work and just rent the big guns as needed. lensrentals.com has pretty much any set up you could need.

This shot was taken on my Nikon F100 film camera with Kodak Portra 400NC and reminds me WHY I still like film for portraits. The look could be replicated with digital of course but I didn't have to spend any time in photoshop with this. The colors, the saturation, the warmth, it just comes off looking "right" when I shoot film. Thank God for a great film based portrait outing right after having sent the D700 back!

If you are looking to have some portrait work or wedding photography done in the NC area we'd be glad to talk to you about that and see if our style works for you.

We are located in Apex but can work in the greater Raleigh area (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, etc).

bridesmaid

bridesmaid, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

We shot just at 1500 pictures at the Whitford wedding. That was definitely way more than intended. I was working with some rented gear that I was evidently REALLY enjoying using.

 This shot however, was an experimental one with the Holga toy camera. I think the draw to that camera is the never knowing quite what I'm going to get once the roll is developed. This shot turned out quite interesting and definitely has that trademark Holga look.

The wedding shots will be posted and finalized soon. I've got all the digital work done from the D700 but am waiting on a couple of rolls of black and white film to be developed.

spring morning

spring morning, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

Spring in North Carolina has got a jump on the official date. It always seems to. We have a wedding to photograph this Saturday which is the "official" first day of spring and we are looking forward to that.

We are excited to be getting back outside and seeing all the colors and feeling the warm air again. I saw these beautiful pink blossoms set against the Carolina blue sky and had to stop and capture that little slice of springs early start here in North Carolina.

If you'd like to see some more of my shots of NC I've got a gallery of pictures that I've started here.

Why do you say?

Why do you say?, originally uploaded by Chris Townsend.

Playing around with some Lightroom adjustments and making my daughter look like one of the children from "Children of the Corn". I can remember after having watched that movie with my brothers and my mother while my dad was away TDY. We all knocked on her door afterwards and were pleading with her to let us in to her room because we were scared. She replied, "boys, go away I'm not letting you in after that movie!" LOL.

With that in mind, if you choose us to do your portraits have a look at our work over on our Flickr site. I promise we'll do good work and make you look great like in the majority of our portraiture work and won't experement with wide angle shots on you like this portrait of my daughter. If you are looking for photography services in the Apex, Raleigh, Durham area we are available for work.

Hay you sorry $#%^!

I've been taking pictures of this old barn for well over a year now.  Stopping by every once in a while to grab a shot when the light was just right to try and make an interesting shot.  Well, Friday I met the owner and evidently he didn't like that I take pictures of this barn and let me have it.  As I was setting up to snap a shot of the only window left I hear someone yell out, "Hey, you sorry #$%^$!" It startled me but then I finished taking my shot as I was pretty sure what was coming next.  I talked to the man who eventually calmed down and then headed off to work.  I guess I've pretty much exhausted the shots that I'll be getting of this old barn.