2007 August » regina holder photographer

Monthly Archives: August 2007

31st August, 2007

new office – biltmore park

Today was an exciting day! I got the keys to my new office space at Biltmore Park!!!

I have been meeting clients at the different coffee places and at their homes for the past 7 years. It has been very frustrating not having my own dedicated space with photos on the walls. Plus, I have to drag my albums around in a rolling suitcase and make the statement, “I’ll be the one with the luggage.” so that people know how to find me. This summer has been especially difficult with the popularity of the iced coffees. It seems every time I go to say something, they turn on the blender.

I had initially called Biltmore Park back in November about one of their synergy suites, which is a small office with access to a conference room. I have been on their waiting list for months. I just happened to see a sign in downtown Asheville a few weeks ago for an office that I really loved on Pack Square in the historic Jackson Building, but parking was a serious concern. I was very close to signing a lease with them when I decided I wanted to look at other offices. Nate at Beverly Hanks Commercial came to the rescue. Nate went to a commercial property meeting and came back with 2 options at Biltmore Park. I ended up with a much bigger office, 513 sq feet, as a sublease in One Town Square. Nate has been awesome and I really appreciate all that he went through to get me into the best possible space!

During the process, I have gotten to know Nicole at Verge Events, who has her office at Two Town Square. She has been wonderful and will be helping me with my grand opening. I am also excited to be near Blossoms at Biltmore Park, who have done some of the most incredible floral arrangements this summer. I will let everyone know when I am open and ready for you to stop by! I can’t wait to get started. Here are some before images:

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31st August, 2007

kathy and john

Kathy and John were married on a Friday afternoon at Oak Hill United Methodist Church in Candler. Kathy is one of those overachiever brides – she graduated from college at UT, got married and moved out of state in less than two weeks, all while their new house was being built back here. I am always amazed at what the couples go through in the months and weeks before the wedding. In the time that I spent with Kathy and her family, it became very obvious how important her mom and sisters are to her. Her mom was heading up the building of the new house and helping with the wedding, all while keeping up with her younger daughter in the state track meets and working full-time. I guess super achieving runs in their family!

One of my favorite photos ever happened as Kathy and John were making their departure. Kathy’s grandfather had one of his friends bring his horse and carriage for their grand exit. The horse was huge! I love the motion in this image as I panned with the horse.

Click here to see Kathy and John’s wedding slideshow.

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24th August, 2007

Tag…you’re it!

I’ve just been tagged by the absolutely fabulous “it” couple Justin and Mary and Erin from LaCour, too! in this fun blog game that’s going around where we have to list 8 random things about ourselves that you might not know and then tag some other photographers to get in on the fun! Here goes…

1 – I don’t eat anything with seeds in it. I have a major hang up on seeds. I don’t mind the flavor of the items, just won’t eat them in their natural form. strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon, etc.

2 – I HATE folding clothes, so I don’t! My household chore as a kid was folding clothes out of the dryer. HATE it! So, when I do laundry, I leave all the clothes in baskets either in the laundry room or closet and put them in the dryer for a few minutes to get the wrinkles out.

3 – I am IN LOVE with Andre 3000 from Outkast – seriously! Ever since I first saw him in the SouthernPlayistiCadillacMuzik video (directed by PDiddy) back in 1994, he has had my full heart and devotion. I even love him in Idlewild which is not a good movie. He is the most fantastic in the So Fresh, So Clean video. Second to Andre is the most white of white boys, Anderson Cooper. I tivo Anderson every night just to see what tie he is wearing.

4 – I have been into Hip Hop/Rap since I was in college. I saw Public Enemy, Tribe Called Quest, Digital Underground (minus TuPac who was filming Poetic Justice), Black Sheep, Nice and Smooth and lots more. My favorite album right now is the new TI. I feel so isolated with none of my friends here having a clue about what I am talking about.

5 – I am a TV addict. It is always on. I can see it just out of the corner of my eye sitting at my desk. My tivo has 40 season passes. I watch a lot of reality shows, the weirdest one now is The Pickup Artist on VHI – a truly crazy show! Some guy named Mystery and his two wing men, J-Dog and Matador are teaching geeks and freaks how to pick up chicks! I kid you not – one of the craziest shows I have ever seen. I love America’s Next Top Model, getting to see all the photo shoots and A Model Life with Petra. which leads to #6

6 – I watch QVC more hours than not! My friend Donna that I worked with in Durham got me started watching it. The main reason is that I am so picky about clothes and don’t like the local options. Lane Bryant is so trendy and their clothes are made for tall fat people. Catherine’s is ok and I sometimes find t-shirts that I like, but it mostly old lady clothes. Everything on QVC comes in sizes XS – 3X and they feature many famous designers, such as Mark Bouwer and Carson Kressley. Most times that you see me I have on QVC clothes. I do not buy loads of jewelry like some people I know! Since they buy in bulk, they have really awesome prices and easy pay, which lets you break up your purchase in up to 5 payments. It’s how I got my last desktop and my new Sharp Aquos 42″ plasma.

7 – Ok, something photography related: I got my first camera when I was 7. My first photo was of my grandfather on Christmas day holding my new Ragged Ann doll. I moved up to a 35 mm Sears brand camera at age 10. My mom, grandmother and brother toured the US in the summers and visited family members in Arizona and Washington. My mom was a school librarian, so she had the whole summer off. I took hundreds of rolls of slide film in all the national parks. Ansel Adams was my first hero. Then, I evolved into loving fashion photography and Bruce Weber, who became famous with the Calvin Klein ads in the 80s and currently does the Abercrombie catalogs.

8 – I sleep with a 100 pound dog. Lennox is my baby and has slept with me every night that I am home for the last 7 1/2 years. She’s a sweet snuggle bud. Even when I was in a serious relationship (14 years!), he slept upstairs in the guest room and Lennox slept in the bed. When I get home late from a wedding, she is always in bed waiting on me.

So, now the fun part: tagging other photographers!
Corey Cagle
Michael Juiliano
Dana Andreasson
Elizabeth Myers
Christine Tremoulet

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4th August, 2007

mary kristen and isaac – couple portraits

So many times when I am at a wedding, a bridesmaid or friend of the couple will approach me and tell me that she wants me to do some portraits for her and her husband. I am always super flattered that they have liked the couple’s engagement portraits and sometimes bridal portraits enough to want me to do their photos. Well, as busy as everyone’s lives are, it is very rare that I actually hear from them. I’m always super disappointed that they haven’t taken the time to do some photos that they want. It’s really uncommon for a couple to have a nice portrait of them after the wedding photos are done. I was so excited that Mary Kristen took the opportunity to actually go through with it!

Mary Kristen is friends my bride, Heather, from last September. Mary Kristen and her husband Isaac were such a huge help to Heather and Clay on their wedding day that Heather gave her a portrait session for Christmas. Months of back and forth and scheduling later, I finally just drove down to Greensboro one Sunday afternoon to spend some time with them.

Mary Kristen and Isaac have been married for five years. As with most sessions, they started out a little stiff. By the time we got to the bamboo, they were having fun! We were walking through the park and there was a couple ahead being all kissy. They just laughed and made their “we’ve been married a long time” claim. As we were leaving the park, they were all sweet and kissy, too! I just love their photos! Thanks to Heather for an awesome portrait session gift and to Mary Kristen and Isaac for being so fun and taking some chances.

Click here for their slideshow.

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3rd August, 2007

elevate workshop – orlando

I had the opportunity to spend 4 days with some of the most awesome photographers and friends at the Elevate workshop in Orlando in June. Garrett Nudd and his wife Joy hosted the workshop. I have followed Garrett’s rise to success and fame through one of the photographer’s forums that I am active with. I am always excited to see the new images he posts and now check out Garrett’s blog daily. Garrett has the ability to get his brides and couples to do things that I have never seen anyone else do. His bridal, engagement and wedding images look straight out of a high fashion magazine editorial. Beautiful, sexy and different! We always tease him that he works will in bathrooms!

For the last several years, Wedding Photojournalism has been the big thing in wedding photography. Last year, I took Denis Reggie’s workshop and he is the king of wedding photojournalism! See my blog from last year. Then, in February, I took the LaCour workshop and they produce some of the most gorgeous and elegant images in the storytelling of the wedding event. Another blog link. Andrew and Rachel actually sat in on this workshop. While this is totally my style of shooting weddings, being inobtrusive, documenting special moments, creating family legacy, I was struggling with the portraits. I have so many brides that want bridal portraits, but expect the dress spread out, look at the camera pose. I knew until I could show that a bridal portrait could be so much more that it would be hard to get someone to do the crazy things I wanted. The same thing with the couple portraits, I didn’t have sexy, out of the box images to show, so it was hard to say “kiss her neck, look sexy”. Of course, I totally understand that not all couples are going to want those type photos and that is totally fine! I don’t want anyone to do something that they aren’t comfortable with!!!!

The workshop kicked off with a beautiful party at the Solutions Bridal Salon in Winter Park. They have many of Garrett’s images on their walls. Garrett and Joy brought in some excellent guest speakers! Gene Higa and Ann Hamilton came in from San Franscisco. I was so excited when they were added as guest speakers. I have followed their blogs for almost a year, too! Lisa Konecny of E Events Design gave some great advice on working and building relationships with other vendors. She had a great influence on the new marketing materials I am working on. Zack Arias does his own lighting workshops and I really regret that I couldn’t stay over for it in Orlando, but I will get to go to the One Light Workshop in a couple weeks.

During the workshop, we actually got to do some shooting! First, we met Garrett at an empty house in the process of remodeling – not the typical spot to do a couple session! Garrett led the group as we shot along side of the master! Then, later that night, we shot 4 different sessions of models. My photographer friends from Atlanta, Katie and Chris Torres, were one of the couples that I worked with that evening. I had shot with them in Chattanooga last November, so I have quite a collection of images of them! Here is link to those images. Since I had to get the model images finished up this week, I thought I would share some of them with you. I’d love to hear what you think!

Here’s the slideshow of some of my favorites.

Me with Garrett and Joy.