See What All The Flap Is About

See what all the flap is about over on my new blog!

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Read more at my new blog!

Painting With Light

Well, one of the reasons I haven't updated the blog in so long is because I've been busy trying to set up a new web site. Catch me at my new web site, where I'll be blogging:

New Arved Grass Photography web site.

New Arved Grass Photography Blog site.

PPSNF Roundtable Discussion Night

The Professional Photographers Society of North Florida had it's monthly meeting last night. The January meeting is traditionally a "Round Table Discussion" meeting, where members can ask questions about anything related to professional photography. However, the meeting started on a somber note honoring the passing of Marie Moran, a popular member who recently lost her battle with breast cancer. After a moment of silence, she was given a long standing ovation by her peers.

There were focus groups on portraiture, wedding photography, landscape and fine arts photography, marketing, pricing and business practices, and an introduction to our new member's forum. Members (and our numerous guests) spent 20 minutes in each focus group before moving onto the next topic. Hors d'œuvre and a cash bar capped the evening with a chance to socialize after the holidays.

Click here to see more photographs from the event.

TBA Big Band

TBA is the name these Jacksonville musicians have decided to call their "rehearsal band." Many of them are our areas finest music educators, and they bring an eclectic mix of big band music every other Monday night to Harmonious Monk's in Mandarin.

"Rehearsal Bands" started in New York City by musicians who were recording (usually commercials) and doing shows (Broadway type). The work was often repetitive, and they sought a creative outlet. Smaller groups were just "jam sessions," but some of the bigger groups also provided a forum for up and coming composers and writers to get their music played.

Although short a trombonist, and a drummer delayed by traffic, TBA provided a rousing performance. My Guinness was a perfect compliment to the tasty fish and chips at Harmonious Monks. The evening ended all too soon with the most interesting arrangement of Mercy Mercy I've ever heard.

Click here to view more images.

Merry Christmas!

Going out to see everyone's Christmas decorations on Christmas Eve has been a long standing family tradition. Here's a short video of some of the decorations we found.

Veterans Day

Hey gang - this photograph was taken in Green Cove Springs on Memorial Day in 2007, but it's just as appropriate for the upcoming Veterans Day celebration on November 11th. But since so many of my friends and clients are veterans, I wanted to get the word out on some terrific deals some of our local businesses are giving on Veterans Day.

The Military Finance Network (looks like a great resource for other things, too) has a page about discounts that you might find interesting. Frankly, this has inspired me. I'd like to offer a complimentary 8x10 print (or credit towards a larger print) to all veterans, retirees, active duty military members, and members of the National Guard or Reserves who order between now and Veterans Day. Something to display in your home, or give as a personalized gift to a distant family member or friend.

Not a client yet, or want to get a new photo to cash in on this great deal? I'll extend the offer to qualifying clients who book a portrait sitting between now and Veterans Day. If we can book the portrait sitting before Thanksgiving, I can have the finished print to you before Christmas - what a cool gift that would make!

Time is short, so act now! There's less than 2 weeks between now and Veterans Day, so call me today at (904) 412-4628!

Sunset Ablaze

This photograph comes from a vacation we took in 2006. The location is Sagle, Idaho, which is right across the Pend Orielle Lake from Sand Point. Just across the boarder, in Washington, smoke from a forest fire tints the sunset this gorgeous gold color.

Serenity in Saluda

Last weekend, Anna and I got away to the hills of North Carolina. The major reason was a book signing in Asheville for Anna's favorit author, Diana Gabaldon. But we also wanted some time out of the city and away from the Florida flatlands.

On the way, there's an exit sign for the town of Saluda. Well, for most people, that's pretty uninteresting, but for someone who knows about railroads, Saluda and the stories of the railroad going through there are legendary. The trains don't go through Saluda anymore, but along the way we passed this interesting little ranch. I had to take some photographs.

Not your typical sunny day - it was raining off and on all day. The tail end of the storms that have caused so much flooding in Georgia were petering out up here in the mountain village. I love how the clouds are scraping the tops of this mountain pasture.

This horse got to be a real ham. Curiosity at who this guy with the camera was and what he was doing or eager to have his portrait taken, it really didn't matter.

Asley and Spence's Wedding Album

Here's a quick video I did of Ashley and Spence's wedding album. The album is planned to be a traditional 10" square design, resulting in 20x10 2-page spreads. This is a flush-mount design, meaning that the pages are printed as composite images, rather than printed individually and matted into an album. The look is more contemporary - like a magazine spread. This is the first draft of the Album. Ashley and Spence were given a high resolution electronic version of the album in Adobe Acrobat for review, but the resulting file, at 15 MB, is too large to share with family and friends, so I created this video here, and a higher resolution HD version published on YouTube that you can also view by clicking here.

The ceremony was held at The Church of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Jacksonville, with the reception held at the Flemming Island Country Club. Both were simply wonderful venues, and I can't wait to photograph at either venue again. I just love the German stained glass at this church.

Music is "The Wedding March" performed by guitarist Michael Lancaster.

Kelley Edmiston

Here's a quick little video I made from the images I took at our Alternative Lighting Seminar. Kelley Edmiston, our model, is really excited about the video and the photos that were taken.

You might also want to look at the video through YouTube and view it in HD.

Alternative Lighting

Our guild had a mini-seminar on alternative lighting last night. We got to take some great photographs using some unusual (by today's standards) lighting. This photograph was taken using tungsten spot lights - the kind that were used in older black and white movies. Considered too harsh for color work, they've lost popularity. However, I really like this look!

Basic three light studio lighting setup. Main light to camera left, fill from camera right, and another light on the backdrop, grazing the surface to give the shadows and highlight with all those nice leading lines.

I'll have to try some black and white conversions later, but even in color, I'm really impressed.

By the way, the model is the lovely Ms. Kelley Edmisten.

Rick Ferro

I took this photo of Rick Ferro at the last Professional Photographers Society of North Florida meeting. I've been fortunate enough to work with Rick on a few projects, documenting his lighting setups for F. J. Westcott and StudioStyles.

Rick was one of many who studied under the late Monte Zucker, and this is most evident in how Rick poses and lights his portraits. Particularly the hands. I have learned so much from Rick - he's been an incredible instructor. We're incredibly fortunate to have Rick among our guild's members.

Church of the Immaculate Conception

This stunning panorama was taken during Ashley and Spence's wedding, and highlights the dramatic interior of this landmark church. I'm hoping this photo will be a 2-page spread in the couple's album. I'm seriously considering a canvas for myself to hang for my clients to see when they visit my residential studio.

The stained glass is German. During some recent renovations, the glass was cleaned and restored to it's original beauty. I fell in love with stained glass while on temporary assignment in Portugal and Spain, which gave me ample time to visit many churchs. Unlike here in the United States, churches in much of Europe stay open and are busy with tourist traffic all year round. This gave me a lot of opportunity to see a lot of very old churches.

This photo was taken from the balcony of the church. Father Murphy was very forgiving in allowing me nearly full access to the church during the ceremony.

The Rings

Another tradition in wedding photography is to photograph the rings, and many photographers study this very intently. By their very nature, jewelry tends to provide many reflections and spectral highlights that make them difficult to photograph. More than simply a "product shot," though, in wedding photography we must place the rings in some sort of context. I think these elements from Spence's uniform and the wedding invitation really put the rings in context for the day's event.



This is a standard that I've come to really like. If the light's just right, rings in the spine of a bible will form a shadow in the shape of a heart. Instead of a bible, I used a hymnal, since there was a dated entry that helps tie back to the wedding day itself.

Remember, you can click on the images to load a larger image. Also, just because there are no comments here on the blog, doesn't mean people don't like them and are commenting on them. Check out my Facebook Notes to see comments left by those who are following the blog through Facebook.

Immaculate Conception Church

Ashley and Spence were married on July 10th at the Immaculate Conception Church. The only clear view of this church is from immediately across the street, and my regular wide angle lens was not wide enough to capture this enormous, nearly cathedral size church. So I reverted to taking photographs in sections, and combining them into a mosaic, carefully splicing, adjusting perspective, and oh, yes, cloning out the homeless man perched on the steps.

Not quite sure yet how this photo will be featured in the album, but it will have to have some prominence. It was very important to Ashley and especially Spence's family, who attends this church regularly, that the wedding be held here.

Wait until you see the interior!

For more about the church and it's history, please visit The Immaculate Conception Catholic Church of Jacksonville web site.

The Wedding Dress

It's something of a tradition to photograph the wedding dress before the bride gets dressed. I hoped to reinforce this tradtion by capturing the image in black and white. The bride got ready in a small alcove beside the church foyer. Hanging the dress in the gate to the foyer allowed me to capture both the dress, and some details of the church.

Ashley and Spence's Wedding

Ashley and Spence were married last Friday, at Church of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville. I'm busy working through the photos, but Ashley was really looking forward to this photo being taken in front of the fountain in the church's courtyard.

I'll post more as I get some finished, so stay tuned!

New Phone Number!

After some difficulties with my cellular service, I've had to change my telephone number. My new telephone number is (904) 412-4628. Please make a note of it.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and truly appreciate your continued interest, your business, and your support of my work.

Wedding Photography

Sorry - no picture today. I have something very serious I want to talk about. Something that's near and dear to my heart, and my profession.

I've been getting a few calls about the recent incident involving a Middleburg wedding photographer who's taken over 2 years to deliver the album he promised in 6 months. You can read the story on First Coast News' website.

This is more than just an embarrassment to our profession, but it's a needless tragedy. It's not about the money, or getting it back. It's about the photographs and the couple getting what should be their first family heirloom - their wedding album.

What really saddens me is that this really doesn't need to be an issue. The article ends with 5 suggestions for protecting yourself. I'd like to highlight that second suggestion - "Check to see if the photographer is a member of a professional association."

As you can see over to the right of this blog, I'm a member of several professional organizations. The most important one, though, is our local guild, the Professional Photographer's Society of North Florida. I'm a proud member of this guild. We put aside our competitiveness with each other for your business in order to help each other, to grow professionally, to raise the bar of artistic merit and craftsmanship in our work, and to help each other out so that things like this don't mean you're left hanging indefinitely for your products. If any of us stumbles, there's a dozen or more ready to pick things up and make things right.

Our guild's past president, Michael Joseph was interviewed by First Coast News regarding this incident. I encourage you to read the article and watch the video from the broadcast, as it highlights the importance of hiring a guild photographer.

Here's the mission statement of our guild:

The Professional Photographer's Society of North Florida is a guild of professional photographers, aspiring photographers and industry related businesses working together with the common goal of improving the photographic industry in North Florida by assisting each member with their career success and increasing professionalism in the industry by providing educational opportunities and promoting photographic excellence through Public Awareness.

I'm also a member of the Professional Photographers of America. Membership in this organization also requires malpractice coverage for all portrait and wedding photographers.

Having a backup plan is an important part of being a professional. Being able to offer this kind of assurance to my clients is important. Please don't assume that every photographer you come across has such a significant support system behind him. Unfortunately, Jennifer and Lee Matthews may not have known, and it seems something happened to their photographer, and they're left without a support system to take over where they photographer can't. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often, but why risk it with photographs that may very well be the most important photographs of your life?

While the guild is certainly under no obligation to "make right" this unfortunate situation, I'm sure there are many photographers, such as myself, who'd love to be the "Knight in Shining Armour," do the album, and save the day for the Mathews family. After all, we're all very charitably minded, with many guild members involved in charitable work such as Operation Love Reunited and Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.

There are several logistical problems here, though. First off, the photographer, Kevin Winter Photography, has not given anyone the images to work with, nor has he released rights he retains as the copyright holder for the images. At this point, without Mr. Winter's cooperation in the matter, it would be impossible for anyone else to produce the album. Then there's a matter of the actual cost of producing the album itself. Without knowing the details from the contract between Mr. Winters and his client regarding the album promised as a deliverable (how many pages, what size album, cover material, and all the other details of his product), nobody can make the commitment to produce the album as specified in the contract.

There's no practical way to make the situation right, and that's a tragedy for everyone in our profession.