The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article [article link] about nine real estate markets that are “primed for a breakout” due to the vacation home market. St Simons Island is one of these markets and ranks amongst the highest growth rates with such prestigious company as Napa Valley and Santa Barbara, California.

The article has an accompanying slideshow of photos from the various areas written about and includes one of my photos of 700 Beachview’s balcony overlooking the ocean.

Here are a few of the Humane Society photos I took this week. I am always so happy to see new dogs when I go there because that means that the other ones have been adopted! They even had a 130 pound Great Dane there! He was beautiful.

So if you are thinking about adopting a dog, check the Humane Society and Animal Control and see if one matches up with you.

I love my iPhone. I was an early adopter and had the very first one within weeks of them coming out. I now have the latest iPhone 4S and think it is great. One of the things that makes it so good, is the camera on it. For a phone camera it is really pretty amazing. I use it all the time for my everyday camera when I don’t want to lug the big DSLRs and heavy lenses around. I also use it for updating things like this blog, facebook, texts, emails, etc, where it is better to have a photo. I’m not alone in this obviously. The smartphone has become a way of life for many, especially when it comes to social media.

This latest issue of Golden Isles Magazine had an article about four local people who stay connected to the community and their friends through social media. The author had mentioned photographing them with a smartphone. I knew this could be tricky, but decided we should try it. My iPhone 4S has an 8 megapixel camera on it, so the resolution should be good enough. I also know that resolution alone is not enough to make a good photo.

So, I ordered a small iPhone mount for my tripod. Yes, I was going to shoot it on a tripod. Why make things harder by hand holding? I knew I wouldn’t use the little LED flash on it, so would need to be very still. What I could use for light though, was a reflector. And in order t keep the camera from moving when the shutter was pressed I would use a cable release. With the new iOS5 the shutter could be activated by pressing the volume up button. This also means that when the headphones are plugged into it, the small volume up button on the cord could be used… a cable release.

I photographed four people in various settings. One in the shade of a large oak tree and building (Jeff Homans). One in the bright sun at the beach (Beth Burnsed). One inside a somewhat dark bar (Kurt Stradtman), and one at a park on a clear day (Natasha Williams).

Overall, I was happy with the shots for what they were. Could I have made better shots with a DSLR and off-camera flashes? Absolutely. But it was a challenge that I learned a lot from. I also think in this case it helped to better tell the story… and what’s more important for editorial photography?

Here are some of the other photos I shot for columns in this issue of Golden Isles Magazine. The people may not be as famous, but I enjoyed making these shots.

Catch 228 and Brad Campbell: The editor and I went to Catch 228 in Redfern Village to learn about and photograph Tuna Tartare. That just so happens to be a favorite of mine! When the dish came out it was beautiful. I really enjoy photographing food. It is hard to make things look as great as they are. Brad was fun to talk with as well. I admit that my wife and I have been back quite a few times since that shoot!

Par for the Course: I met Jeremy Carter at Sea Island’s Retreat Golf Course. Jeremy was great to work with as we figured out what he was writing about and how best to show it. A little bit of design afterwards helped the shot. I also loved his tip on using bandaids to find the sweet spot on a club.

By Design: Interior Designer Lori Flanders Cook wrote a column and needed photos to go along with it. I took some photos of her home as well as of her. She had a beautiful home on the marsh that photographed well.

Worth Knowing: The Worth Knowing column was on Arlie McNeill. Arlie is an auctioneer who has donated much to charities. He is well known in the community for this. We photographed him at his “real job” at Edo Miller Funeral Home. As I looked around I saw that he has been photographed a lot! So I came up with more of an action shot of him auctioneering. He was wearing a tux and we set him up in one of the rooms and used a microphone to make it look right. Arlie has a great big smile and played the part perfectly. I really had fun with this one.

There is one more feature article I photographed that I’ll cover in another post. Yes, this was a busy issue!

May is here, so a new issue of Golden Isles Magazine hits the shelves. This was a busy issue where a lot of photography fell to me. But I was also glad to give a big assignment to photographer Chris Viola and introduce a new photographer, Amanda Moncus who did a great job. Amanda is the wife of photographer Chris Moncus and the team do great work.

Last month, editor Amy Carter let me know that we would be going to Little St. Simons Island for a special assignment. Little St. Simons Island is a cool place. It is a rustic retreat which is only accessible by boat. The manager of the island is Joel Meyer. I have photographed him for a magazine in the past and gotten to know him well ever since. He even asked me to go out to the island to give the naturalists there some tips and pointers on taking better photos of their guests.

This special assignment was to photograph the owners of Little St. Simons Island. Wendy and Hank Paulson are passionate people who love nature. Mr. Paulson is also the former Secretary of the Treasury.

We took a motorized boat from Hampton Marina a half hour or so after the Paulsons left in their kayaks. We barely beat them there. I was able to grab some shots of them paddling through the marsh and pulling up to the dock. Photographer Chris Viola was kind enough to assist me on the shoot and hold lights and reflectors.

They love looking for birds and other animals including reptiles likes alligators and snakes. They always have their binoculars handy. I was able to get them to pose for a cover shot for a few minutes. They liked my idea of a rustic American Gothic inspired image which I had thought of that morning on the way to the marina. So far everyone is liking it.

Of course, after all the photo shoots for this issue (and I’ll go over the other ones in subsequent blog posts) there was still the production to do. I do the magazine design and layout as well, so I was pretty busy. Grab a copy when you see it and give it a read. The articles and columns are all worth reading. As a visual person, I think the design and photography of the magazine are very important, but you also have to have content. Editor Amy Carter and her fellow writers always do a great job in that category!

I have been busy creating a lot of websites recently. I think everyone realizes how important they are and have decided to really put their marketing dollars to better use. Many of them have stopped doing Yellow Pages ads at all and put that money into websites.

Well, this website redesign is different. Wexford Homes, LLC, has been building custom homes for years. He has built some on St. Simons Island, GA and many more in the Washington, DC area. I designed a website for them in 2005! Now he was back for more and wanted something updated in both design and technology. Every company should realize that a website is a major part of their marketing costs. And it is something they should redo every 3 years or so. Some companies can get away with a bit longer, but so much changes in technology in that time. Monitors are larger and the resolution on them is much better so we design our sites wider. Certain other technologies come and go. Still have Flash on your site? Try looking at it on an iPad.

But the major upgrade to the Wexford Homes website was to make it a Content Management System (CMS) site. This means that the client can to updates to the site without the need for the website designer or developer. Clients love being able to update the sites, add news and change their portfolio. This is just what Wexford Homes needed.

I am very happy with the way the site came out and so is the client. “Wow, nice job! That looks just great.”

One of the photos I did for Golden Isles Magazine this past issue was of a local sculptor named Anthony Quickle. When I arrived at Anthony’s studio, we quickly figured out the best place to shoot him would be in his work area surrounded by the tools of his trade. I set up some lightstands and figured out my angles. I used one Speedlite in a Lumiquest SBIII to the camera right on a lightstand. I didn’t want to soften things too much and went for some punchy contrasty light. The second Speedlite was behind the subject on a Joby Gorillapod standing on a shelf. I let the light from the rimming light peek over his shoulder a little more on one side. It was very similar to some of his work lights there (which can be seen behind him), so I made it seem like it was one. I set both flashes off with the Phottix Odin system which I am very happy with.

I was very happy with the way we could use one of his pieces to be highlighted in front of his clothing. It became a part of him. A little dust and dirt (not hard in that area) and his tools made it all come together for a shot I was happy with.

The charities that are close to my heart are the ones that help dogs. I have been volunteering with our local Humane Society to photograph some of their dogs and cats. There is actually a group of professional photographers in the community who rotate weekly in taking their photos.

After doing some photography of the Humane Society for Golden Isles Magazine (post on that coming soon), it was nice to get back there yesterday to photograph new dogs. And what was great is so many of the dogs that were there only a month or so ago were not there anymore. They had been adopted!

So here is some new ones (and a few that have been there a while who needed new photos). If you are thinking about a pet for your home, please consider the Humane Society and Animal Control. There are so many great dogs there… and right now they have a lot of puppies, too. I still love the older dogs though.

In the current issue of Golden Isles Magazine (January/February 2012) on shelves now is an article on a new Buffalo Farm located just north of Darien, GA.

I photographed the buffalo and the family that runs the ranch for the article. Like most photo shoots for magazines, I learned a lot and had fun doing it. I also think I got some good shots out of it.

The family was very nice and taught me a lot about the bison. Seems they can be quite tougher than regular cattle to deal with. They are more territorial and will charge you more often, but are also more sensitive and can die from being over stressed.

Check out the photos here and look for some good bison meat to be available locally. If you haven’t had it, you should try it. I love it.

The year is over and I have done 365 once-a-day photos! The final photo is of my wife Miranda and I as we enjoy a glass of champagne before the year turns to 2012. Taken with camera on tripod and using the Orbis Ring Flash and a 580EXII.

It has been an exciting year. My business has continued to grow and for that I am grateful. It is only going to get better if I keep working hard at it. I appreciate all those that read this blog. It is certainly something that takes work.

Happy New Year!