Over the course of the year, I donate my services to a few worthy causes in and around the area. As I shoot quite a few family portraits in Raleigh, I figured it would be the perfect item to auction away. The winners of the Auction, the Christopher family, received a family portrait session and a 16×20 canvas print. I want to go ahead and thank them for bidding and ultimately winning the my auction prize.
The auction was held by the Kirk of Kildaire church and the proceeds benefited the children of Guatamala. This is the 2nd year I have donated family portraits in Raleigh and I have gotten such great feedback that I plan to continue donating my services as often as I can.
For the portrait session, I met the family at the MacGregor Downs country club. This is a beautiful club located in Cary, NC and just happens to be the same location my wife and I held our wedding reception. Instead of doing a full family portrait, my client just wanted her kids photographed as, like many families, it is hard to get everyone in one place once they are out of school. We photographed around the lake, boat house and behind the club. We really were eyeing the golf course but, unfortunately, it was blistering hot and no one looks good when they melt.
I hope you enjoy the family portraits and I want to thank the Christopher family again for bidding on my auction prize.
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you probably know I photograph quite a few Bridal Portraits in Raleigh NC. I really love the diversity we have in this area when it comes to the look at feel of bridal portraits and the fact you can go from urban & hip to natural and traditional in 5 minutes. My latest shoot was not for a paying client but as part of a photography group that I help run. We held a photography competition that gave each wedding photographer 10 minutes with a bride in a gorgeous hotel, the RTP Marriott. The idea behind the competition was, on many occasions, a wedding photographer must work under pressure to get beautiful and iconic photography in a non-controlled environment. The hotel was gracious enough to let us have 4 photographers working in the hotel all trying to get great bridal potraits.
As I was helping run the competition, I could not enter but I really wanted to photograph anyway as the facility is gorgeous. I also wanted to play with using different lighting techniques that, if they didn’t turn out as hoped, would not disappoint a wedding client so these are certainly a little different then other Bridal portraits in Raleigh, NC that I photograph. The end results were, in my opinion, beautiful! Using somewhat of an unorthodox lighting method, I ended up creating a very dramatic, timeless and alluring bridal portrait. It should be noted that while my model, Kim, is not a bride, she also had no modeling experience so was just as nervous in front of the camera as anyone else would be. She really rocked the shoot and I really love the end results.
I’d like to give a big thank you to the RTP Marriott staff for letting us use their hotel, our models and makeup artists, the Wedding Photographic Society for helping hold the event (there are 5 of us who help run it) and our lovely “clients” who donated their time and put on wedding dresses for us. On to a few photos that I hope you really love!
Things are certainly staying hot in August. I have been shooting so many different disciplines lately that it was a very nice “homecoming” of sorts to get back to the Highgrove in Fuquay-Varina, NC for their fabulous wedding client tasting event. Now, before someone wisecracks asking how the clients tasted, this was a tasting FOR the clients, not OF the clients. 
The Highgrove is a beautiful historic home that sits atop a hill overlooking a lake. With a beautiful arbor and lawn large enough for 120 or so people, the Highgrove is a perfect places for a southern outdoor wedding. With all of their wonderful food prepared and cooked on-site, any change I get to visit the Highgrove is one I certainly do not want to miss.
This years tasting at the Highgrove featured quite a few different stations featuring wine, appetizer, dinner and dessert offerings for wedding clients. The tasting is a great opportunity for me, as a wedding photographer, to meet future clients of the Highgrove, possibly some who are in need of a photographer, as well as see how extraordinarily talented they are with putting on a larger event. When I have a wedding at the Highgrove, many times I am too busy to really appreciate the class, style and elegance exuded by their property and entire staff. I want to thank Vicki, Roxanna and the entire Highgrove staff for their hospitality! Dinner was, of course, terrific and I have some wonderful photos to share!
As I’ve been saying, my name as a Raleigh Family Photographer is really getting out there these days. Being a family photographer is actually quite rewarding and offers a wonderful counter point to wedding photography. Even though I have a photography studio, I do all of my portrait work on location and, in this instance, we decided on downtown Raleigh for the session.
Now, before I get too far, I have to tell you the coolest thing about this session. While most people will call me to schedule their session, this was not the case with Tonya & Madi. Their close friend called me looking for a Raleigh Family Photographer as a surprise for her friends birthday. Karen, their friend, had schedule a girl’s day with them visiting a day spa to get pampered and primped. She then made an excuse to come to downtown Raleigh where I was waiting. When they walked up, they had NO idea who I was or why I was talking to them. Classic! Needless to say, they were thrilled and they both fell right into hamming it up for me.
We walked around the downtown Raleigh area looking for different and cool places to photograph. We definitely went with more of a fashion and glamour feeling for their family portraits because, honestly, that is exactly who they are. We shot for a really long time, into full on darkness. We even ran into a video crew making a music video and both Tonya & Madi had a small cameo in the filming. Not sure if they made the final cut but, either way, how cool. We wrapped up well past the hour of when “normal” photography takes place. Personally, I think the results were out of this world!
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by Brian Mullins
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