Jeremy

Jeremy

There is an immeasurable amount of talented and amazing people in this industry all around the country and it was amazing to have the opportunity to meet and interact with so many as they chased their What’s Next. We got to see part time portrait photographers make leaps into full time, husband and wife teams launch their own workshops, talk shop with Mike Hanline from WHCC, see random concerts with our friends Liz and Ryan, watch the team from SHOWIT launch Pass v.2, celebrate birthdays in Brooklyn, and ya know, help SHOOT A FREAKING WEDDING in NYC with Justin in Mary in the middle of it all!

It’s far to easy to call this trip “once in a lifetime” but I don’t think that’s being fair to me or my lifetime. I think we all deserve to find those risks and opportunities and just ask and turn them into experiences, friendships, and memories.

J

Check the video below to see our experiences, friendships, and memories from The What’a Next Tour!

All that leads to a little bit of deliriousness and the need to get the heck out of the bus and have some fun. Be it hanging in a Texas Wal-Mart, getting yelled at for filming inside(woops!) or walking all around the beautiful city that is New Orleans, taking pictures with my best friends. Below is episode 2 of The What’s Next Tour showing just that!

Jeremy

It was without a doubt a hectic day shooting, pulling footage, editing, and coloring all with one person but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Justin and Mary have been so welcoming and Liz and Ryan and Ashley have been absolutely rocking it out to make sure all goes smooth.

This really goes to show that sometimes less really is more. Keeping my lens selection in my shootsac down to a set of primes and using the ever so mobile monopod made it so much simpler to get in and out and get the shots I needed without being in the way of the crew.

Keeping checking back and stay tuned for additional films and more behind the scenes looks from the What’s Next Tour.

J

We had a crazy day of travel and setting the bus yesterday but today the real action begins, and I feel so fortunate to be the one to document it all. The dry run this morning, the set up, tomorrow’s first stop, and everything in between will be shared in a series of short films/webisodes over the next few weeks. Please make sure to drop in here or over at Justin and Mary’s site to see all the updates.

I’m really excited to see how far I can push the “run and gun” of single shooter DSLR set up and still accurately and intimately tell the story of J&M’s adventure. Between flight and bus restrictions I really had to think about what gear is necessary and what can stay at home. As the weeks go on I’ll share what items I brought and how they helped push the story without adding anything unnecessary to clutter them film or the tour bus it self!

The first tools I’ll discuss will be camera support. This was one area I really had to keep simple and use only what was absolutely needed.

The obvious, the Manfrotto BHDV 561 Monopod

Small, versatile, an easy choice. Can support any lens/body combo I carry and super easy to move and set up a shot. Also with he fluid head and lower ball joint gives a wide range of simple camera movements.

Next, The cinevate Atlas FLT Slider

This was a little tougher to justify story wise but is a great, compact slider that fits right into any bag. The kicker to give to me the ok in packing this piece of gear was to be able to have some clean, steady establishing shots of the stage set up and venues that Justin and Mary spent a ton of time ensuring were perfect.

Other than a small, nondescript set of tripod legs that’s it. No cranes, no glide cam. Just the basics. Stay tuned and I’ll dive into camera and lens selection as well as our on the go audio set up. See you guys on the road!

J

Ashley and a few of our closest friends made time this weekend to do just that. Spend time with each other, be present in the moment, and just enjoy the blessings we have. Our adventures took us to a lovely winery in Purcelville called Notaviva Vineyards. A place with great wine and an even better story that really hit home for me.

The owners, Stephen and Shannon ,a pair of musical engineers and long time long distance daters, found themselves spending an afternoon at a local winery in Leesburg Virginia. After a few glasses of wine and a few hours of catching up and just being content with their lives, Shannon leaned over to Stephen and says “who gets to live like this?” He thought for a moment and replied back with a simple “would you like to?”

That was it. That was their moment. A few weeks later the property was purchased and Notaviva was born. Less than 10 years later the two of them are still at it. Doing what they loved living the life they wanted, not the one they were supposed to. That idea and that moment just hit home so hard for me and I was so pleased that I was there. In that moment, to hear and appreciate their story.

J

Casey and Phillip chose to have their wedding at the always awesome Water Table in Virginia Beach. We’ve shot there before and as a venue it does pose some interesting challenges. The entire ceremony is back lit by 20 foot windows which provide awesome light, makes for some really neat silhouette opportunities, and makes a cool backdrop of boats and lights at night. The drawback is if you’re set up in the usual spots you get a very blown out image and can lose a lot of detail and definition. We knew Phillip and Casey were going to have awesome vows and that our capturing those moments during the ceremony were what would best push their story forward. Before the ceremony ever started we were able to measure out and do some slight rearranging with the help of the awesome team at ACE to ensure we could get 3 cams behind them so as to have them lit well and really capture their facial expressions and body language during the ceremony to accurately share the emotions they were feeling. And by using the 135 and 85 we were just out of sight of the photographers and kept a shallow depth of field.

Jeremy

Music licensed through the Music Bed

1. New website has launched! So many amazing people went into making my site what I’ve always wanted it to be. I can not send enough love to the team at Showit, Promise and her crew at sitehouse, and of course my amazing wife for doing all the design and building the site for Nick and I. Please head over, watch some films and tell us what you think!

2. New blog site has launched! If you’re reading this, you’re seeing it! Again, I’ve got to give all the props to Ashley as she spent all her free time making this happen with the help of the amazing team over at ProPhoto!

3. Not to take away from the new site and blog but this is kind of a big deal. Effective the end of December I will no longer be employed at my day job at nTelos wireless and will be pursuing my dream of making my film business full time. Probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do in my adult life was to tell my dear friend and “boss” Greg that I would no longer be running a store for him. Absolutely bittersweet. On the flip side the amount of opportunity and time this has opened up for me is mind blowing. I look so forward to be able to take on so many more projects, getting to spend way more time with my couples, and most importantly spend more time with my family. In fact I’m pretty sure my parents think my face actually has turned into a canon body and 50mm lens. Eek.

At this point I feel like I’m to turn into the guy from every infomercial and hit you a “but wait, there’s more” because there is. But. Not today! Stay tuned for more awesomeness in the coming weeks, we’ve got a lot to share with you all, in the meantime let’s celebrate!

Jeremy

Here’s to getting to spend more time with those we love!

(thanks so much to the amazing Laura Gordon for the photo!)

It didn’t matter if it was a barn, ballroom, or the adorable Duck Pond on the Virginia Tech campus. It didn’t have to be a huge ceremony with hundreds and hundreds of guests. In fact it needed to be exactly twenty-two, twenty-five if you count Nick, myself, and the awesome Tara Lilly who was on hand to snag photos. And for them, it was perfect. We always love to become close to our couples but I really made new lifelong friends that day. I can’t wait for our hiking excursion next Spring and look even more forward to seeing the photos Joey snagged of me while filming!

Jeremy