Atlanta Technology & Commercial Photographer
portraits
Fall Colors & Family Portraits in Piedmont Park
Fall color family portraits in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA for Christmas Cards.
Gary Petty Executive Portraiture
Gary Petty executive portrait. (William Godfrey)
Gary Petty is the President and CEO of the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) based in Washington, D.C. The NPTC is the only trade association in the United States devoted exclusively to the interests of the private corporate trucking fleet industry and its professional practitioners.
Tiffany in Prison
Back in February, I photographed a gorgeous redhead at an abandoned prison in Atlanta. I’d heard rumors of the place from multiple photographers and with some serious google sleuthing I managed to find a location. It is creepy and fun at the same time during the day but it is a very serious neighbor hood in Atlanta that needs to be treated with respect. I got lucky and didn’t run into trouble but it was pure luck. I did have an Atlanta Police Officer waiting at my car when I returned. He was super nice and just explained how bad of a neighborhood we were in and to be careful.
Anyways, the prison was super eclectic and diverse so we spent a few hours there and got tons of photos. Tiffany didn’t have a ton of experience modeling, but she did amazing! She brought along an awesome makeup artist friend who did a fabulous job on Tiffany’s makeup.
Now, I just need to hire some private security to go back and do more!
Faith at the Train Yard
Old, abandoned, graffiti filled warehouses with a beautiful model
I learned something about myself recently, or rather, rediscovered something about myself. I enjoy going places others wouldn’t to take photos of people. I love exploring because it adds some excitement to a whole shoot. And recently, I pulled these favorite past times of mine together in a hastily prepared shoot that turned out to be a lot of fun. I was using a monster of a camera that I had barely used before and putting my techinical knowledge to the test.
All of these images were shot with a Contax 645 and a Phase One IQ160. I also used a Canon 580 EX II in a Westcott Apollo softbox for the main light and the rest of the light was ambient. The challenge with this setup was the Contax body which only has full-stop incremental adjustment of both f/stops and shutter speeds. I needed to use ISO, flash power, and flash distance to make any small adjustments to my exposure. The highlight indicated on the IQ back worked great to help keep my exposures on target.
Which image is your favorite and why? Leave you answer in the comments below.
Twilight Self Portrait in Cleveland, Ga
A few nights back, I was in a odd mood (for me) wanting to shoot some self portraits. As per my usual self, I didn’t want to make it easy and I came up with a bit of a challenge. “Take a photo of me, that I like and want to show off.” Yeah right.
After a 20 min brain storm, I decided on a tight shot at dusk with diffused side light plus a rim and that is exactly what I got. But! The challenging part was getting the image. As I mentioned before, this was a self-portrait. My only help were two light stands and a tripod. Let me tell you, those guys aren’t very good for anything beyond standing upright and staying still.
I had a spot picked out on the ground which helped a lot in terms of getting focus and keeping focus, but I still needed to manually dial in the focus to keep it tack sharp since I was shooting at f/1.4. I started by guessing the distance and then tweaking to get the exact focus. Once that was complete, I started working on getting the exact exposure for my lights. I use the new Pocket Wizard TTL radio slaves to make some things a bit easier. My main light was set to TTL, but because I was bouncing out of an umbrella Canon’s TTL system has issues (as with any bouncing with Canon flashes). So I set the flash exposure compensation to +1 to get the results I was after.
Then I moved on to the rim light which is always a bit tricky to get setup. Any good rim light is basically pointing directly at the camera lens so you have to use gobo to block the light from the lens. Otherwise, you will get some crazy lens flare that is not very attractive for most shoots. I used the same type Pocket Wizard to trigger the rim light as well, but this flash was set on manual at 1/16 power because TTL has no idea how to deal with a rim light. In my experience you are better off keeping full control of that light.
Once I had the lights, exposure, and focus dialed in, it was just a waiting game then. I gave myself plenty of time to get the shot setup before dusk. This was also useful because I kept having to reshoot the images to get myself lined up exactly as I had the image in my mind’s eye. This part was a little tedious, but I really like this image of me and you won’t hear me say that often!
What do you think? What could be better?
Rachel at the Gallery
Beauty Queen at an Atlanta Art Gallery – Images by Will Godfrey
What a weekend I have had! I got back from Los Angeles on Thursday and started training a new employee on Friday, then found my way to the bars in Buckhead and managed to meet a really chill chick. Anyways, today, Rachel and I shot some more photos at the gallery she works at in Peachtree Hills. My first impression about the gallery was “clutter.” But as she showed me around, I realized that it was a good location; especially utilizing the fire escape off the back of the building. I had a great time with her as usual! Look for me soon!
A Beauty Queen at the Park
Beauty Queen at Memorial Park Atlanta – Images by Will Godfrey
A few days ago, I had the pleasure of photographing a new model, Rachel. She recently won Miss Atlanta 2009 and just so happens to live pretty close to my new residence. She was not at all what I expected making her a dream to work with! I had an erroneous stereotype of beauty queens in my head which she quickly shattered. The shoot went great and she wasn’t afraid to get dirty, but she was on the lookout for ants! 
Enjoy!
Mallory by the River
Beautiful Woman at Oconee River Milledgeville – Images by Will Godfrey
Two weekends back, I made the short trip down to my alma-mater in Milledgeville, Ga to see a long-time friend/model of mine. I have been itching to shoot some more portraits and Mallory has been asking for some for a while now. If you have been following my shoots with her, you may notice a huge change in her hair. Anyways, we went down by the river in Milledgeville, hoping for some rain which we didn’t get. Mallory is so much fun to work with because she is not afraid to get dirty. Hope you enjoy the photos!
Where’s your nose?
My niece, Mackinzye, is the cutest child I know (I may be partial though) and a few weeks back she was playing in our living when a shaft of light came right across the room. I quickly grabbed my camera because I knew that the light was going to be there for long and that she would not play in the same spot for much time either. She has been learning to point out different body parts, so she decided to show off for the camera. Enjoy!
The Dock by the Airport.
A few months ago, Colleen and I went out to take some photos and I have been extremely busy and have not had time to post these images. I took these photos at an old dock near the Milledgeville Airport that seems to be abandoned. Hope you like them!
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