Winter Months with My Camera
The winter months seemed especially long this year. Rather than becoming a bear and hibernating with my camera for the winter (which was definitely tempting amidst what seemed like perpetual freezing temps), I decided to try my hand at working on other types of photography.
I focused on shooting models, nature, lifestyle, couples, and family this winter. I also decided to break out my film camera at many shoots to achieve a classic, light and airy look. Juicebeats Photography was even featured on a few blogs this season including Bitchless Bride, Bridal Guide Magazine, Lookslikefilm and few others coming out in the next couple months. I am excited for this year's wedding season, but I wanted to share several of the photos from my shoots this winter that encouraged my creativity and allowed me to capture a variety of fun, glamorous, and tender moments.
July 4th Weekend
Hi friends. Juicebeats here.
July 4th was an incredible weekend for me and my family. We started off the weekend by leaving work early on Thursday July 3rd to have our company picnic with hamburgers and hot dogs at the Cove off Northshore. I was able to spend some extra time with my son also.
July 4th is a celebration of independence for our country, but it is also significant to me because it is my Dad's birthday. We started the day with brunch at my parents' house, and of course, I brought my camera with me to capture a few pictures of my dad receiving his present-- 4 generations of Messings in a big 16x20 frame.
After hanging out and going to the pool, I went by my in-laws house because we were also going to celebrate Carla's/my mother-in-law's birthday while her sister and brother-in-law were in town for the night. Her present from us was pictures of the grand-kids that I took a few weeks earlier at the UT Gardens.
Later on that night of course we had to see the fireworks and play with sparklers.
Saturday July 5 we went to the pool to take Jaden swimming for the first time. I think he is really going to like the water.
All in all, it was an eventful holiday weekend with friends and family. I hope you all enjoyed your 4th as well.
Juicebeats
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Juicebeats' 30th Birthday
Hello friends. Mrs. Juicebeats here.
You didn't read that incorrectly. I'm Staci, Jason's wife, and I have taken over his blog to tell you about an amazing weekend that we had celebrating this awesome husband, father, photographer, and producer.
It's kind of a rule of thumb in our household that a birthday is never only one day, so I saw to it that Jason had a fun-filled weekend planned without having to think about it himself. His birthday celebration began on Friday when we went to Brazeiros with his family. If you've never been to this restaurant, it is quite the experience. Basically, you start off with a delicious salad bar filled to the brim with everything from fresh cheeses to artichokes to pasta salad. Jason always enjoys the fresh grated Parmesan atop the fluffy cheese biscuits served at the table. Once the real part of the meal begins, you are given a card with a red side--for stop--and a green side--for go--in order to signal to the servers whether you want to continue eating the varied and tasty assortments of meats they carve tableside. The Brazilian steakhouse has been a favorite of ours since it opened in Knoxville, but it was a particularly special experience this evening to dine with his aunt and uncle, grandmother, two cousins, godmother, parents, and in-laws (my parents); of course, baby Jaden and I were also in attendance. The food was great, but the company was even better. We ended the night with their delicious chocolate mousse cake, compliments of the house as a birthday treat for Jay.
Saturday started with a delicious breakfast--if I do say so myself--made by yours truly for my hubs on his special day. Last year, we started a new tradition that is so true to who we are as fun loving adults...playing laser tag. It was off to Laser Quest for us and a couple of friends and family members that afternoon to really get the good times going. We played one game and then spent some time shopping before finishing out our last two games. What Jason would tell you about this experience is that I was the loudest person in the arena during play and that he dominated every game. What I would tell you is that he is a camper, but we won't mince words since this is, after all, a post celebrating him. His reign as laser tag king, sadly, continues another year.
What Jason didn't know about Saturday, and that I had planned for a month, was a surprise party for him at Barley's downtown with all of his friends. As I checked the RSVP list repeatedly over the past few weeks, I could not believe how sweet his friends were to signal that, yes, they would be in attendance despite the distances some would have to travel to be here. He had friends and family in attendance from Huntsville, Nashville, Memphis, and Atlanta. Some of his best friends from high school who live locally even showed up at Barley's. After lying to my husband for weeks about the fact that none of his friends could make it for his birthday due to other obligations, the moment finally arrived to show him just how much everyone actually cared. As he walked into the room, a look of utter shock and complete surprise overtook his face, and I felt thrilled that all of my planning and deceit had actually paid off. The gluttony took over; we stuffed our faces with some of the best pizza in town and prepared for the rest of the evening.
Of course, there was no other place we would rather go to cap off Juicebeats' 30th birthday than Latitude 35, our favorite spot, especially significant as a place of celebration to us (as we spent the evening after our wedding there). We danced (including a new dance move Jason invented called the skateboarder) ; we sang; we laughed (at each other and others), and we all considered ourselves lucky to have such an amazing friend to celebrate. Just as he felt so blessed to have friends and family take the time to honor him this weekend, I know we all feel just as blessed to have him in our lives.
Mrs. Juicebeats
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Acting Career?
Hello friends! Juicebeats here.
When I was in 5th grade, an adult theater group came into our school to put on a play for the lower grades. The play was called Charlotte's Web, and I was asked out of everyone in the 5th grade to help with the play by staring as Wilbur. The reason I was asked was because there is a point in the play that Charlotte the spider asks Wilbur to do some athletic things, splits being one of them, and at the time, I could do a split. I had to put on a fuzzy pink outfit and do everything that the adults told me to do. I didn't have to recite any lines for this part. The woman who played Charlotte was really surprised when I did my split in front of everybody. I surprised her so much that she couldn't recite her lines after that. After the play was over, the theatre group thanked me and told me I did such a great job. This was one of my first experiences with acting. I have done numerous plays and voice overs and I've been behind the scene with the camera since then. I have even modeled clothing and tuxedos. My friend, Marc Curry, in comparison, has done numerous music videos, a TV show called Fatal Attraction, and several other ads and publications. We both have recently put our names in at Gage Talent Agency. Maybe you will see us in the next blockbuster...
Here are a few of our head shots:
Contact me at juicebeats@juicebeatsphotography.com for your professional headshots. Most employers are looking at your Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and maybe even your Instagram photos, and they want to see a professional person. A professional headshot can sometimes more easily land you the position you want.
Let me help you take your acting career to the next level. Get your acting career on the right foot with a visual compilation of your best acting work. Juicebeats Productions can create the perfect acting reel to give you the edge in this competitive field.
Also, we have some great summer deals for your next portrait session. Receive a $50 print credit with your next individual or couple session and $75 with your next family session. Mini sessions are also available.
Juicebeats
Downtown Knoxville
Hello friends. Juicebeats here.
Saturday morning I was on a mission to take some artistic photography in downtown Knoxville. I met up with fellow photographer, Lev Gross-Comstock of Comstock Photography. We grabbed our Starbucks' coffee and headed to start shooting in Market Square. I've been downtown many times, but I've never really stopped long enough to see the area through an artistic perspective. We both had our 50mm lenses and started shooting in Market Square. My first few shots weren't of any buildings; I actually saw a bed of flowers that caught my eye. Since it is spring, I thought it was only fitting to take a couple snaps.
After getting a few different shots in Market Square, we headed down the street toward old Gay Street. We caught a couple of early risers walking down the street.
We also stopped to shoot a few cool things in the window of a production company.
Next, we headed over to the bridge overlooking the train tracks. I know that a lot of photographers have shot on this same bridge, but I wanted to try and get a new perspective and maybe achieve something new. I decided to capture a few high dynamic range images (HDR), which is taking a few of the same images with different exposures and putting them together to create a photo with a lot of detail. Here are a few examples.
They may almost look like paintings or drawn pictures, but they contain all the detail from the pictures I took. I set my camera up for the shot and took a normal exposure photo first; then, I took two more shots with the exposure compensation at -1 and +1, then to more at -2 and +2. This captured all the highlight and shadow detail that the original shot could not pick up. I edited the original photo in Lightroom as I would normally and synced all the same edits to the other four photos and exported to Photoshop. Finally, I combined all the images together in Photoshop and exported back into Lightroom where I finished the editing. Several steps were required to create these images, but I think they turned out pretty well.
After taking those shots on the bridge, we headed down to the tracks to take a couple shots.
I love how taking a shot on the railroad tracks with a wide angle lens makes them look like they go on forever. I had a lot of fun walking around and looking for things that I normally wouldn't pay attention to when I go downtown in the Old City.
Lev and I ended up walking around all over downtown from Market Square, to Gay Street, the Old City, and back up through the other part of Gay Street. We got some good exercise and took some great photos. It was a great learning experience for me and fun to capture some of the art of downtown Knoxville.
All of these photos in the blog and few others are available for purchase. Just click the slide show below. You can also download copies as screensavers or backgrounds.
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Right now I am offering a $50 print credit with an individual or couple portrait session and $75 for a family session. Contact juicebeats1@gmail.com for more information.
Juicebeats
What an Incredible Weekend
Hello friends. Juicebeats here.
I wanted to give you some updates on what went on this past weekend. First, Friday night after work we went over to my in-laws house to see Jaden's Nana and Pops, aunt and uncle, and cousin. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and played card games. This has become our Friday night ritual lately since having Jaden.
The games get a little long when we start trying to play with Jaden instead of paying attention to the game.
It's been a crazy 6 weeks so far. Seems like he is growing so fast. We have been so blessed to have everyone wish us well, and we've had some friends and family come to visit Jaden for a little while.
Saturday was a fun day too. We had a celebration dinner for one of my best friends, Daniel Wohl. His 30th Birthday was actually on Sunday, but we celebrated Saturday with huge slabs of filet and some awesome food. Daniel and a few others decided they would see if they could still climb the climbing wall with planks too. Daniel actually did very well and made it 3/4 the way up. Check out the gallery of pictures below.
Sunday morning I had another art photography session where I converted Maria Walker's paintings into digital copies. Check out her paintings and contact me below in the comments or send an email to let me know if you would like to purchase any of her art.
Coincidentally, Daniel's birthday also falls on our anniversary which we celebrated on Sunday. We spent the day hanging out with Jaden napping, and taking our first walk as a family around the neighborhood.
Staci and I had our first date night since Jaden was born at the Melting Pot in downtown Knoxville. We ate a 4 course meal consisting of cheese fondue, caesar salads, land and sea entries, and a dark chocolate marshmallow and Oreo fondue for dessert. We finished the night by also taking a bite of our wedding cake.
All in all, it was a great weekend of celebrations and time spent with family and friends.
Don't forget to contact Juicebeats Productions for all of your photography needs.
Juicebeats1@gmail.com or you can use the contact link at the top of my webpage.
Thank you,
Juicebeats