Happy New Year!

Jenny and I wish all of our friends and clients a happy new year, and we look forward to a great 2009? Let's hope the country turns around and the economy improves.

Presentech.com Web Site Gets a New Look

Presentech Digital Color Printing is the best service bureau that I know of in Atlanta for large and small format printing. I have used them for over 13 years and they only get better each year.

Recently they updated their logo and also wanted to freshen their web site with information on their trade show services. If you are looking for the best service in town, great quality output and fair pricing, check them out at www.Presentech.com.

Studio Product Photography of Hot Sauces

I was hired by the Extreme Gourmet to photograph their line of hot sauces and spice powders for the web site that they are having built. Having tried many of the sauces, I have to say that they are some of the best that I have tasted and well worth trying. I'll update the blog when their site goes online.

Cool Custom Bird Houses

My 9-5 boss at Graphic Works and friend, David Urda, is quite a handy guy. This year for Christmas presents, he built his family members birdhouses of their favorite structures. These included a camper, a southern style house and a casino. Check out the bird house gallery.

Amanda's Thai Kick Boxing Photos

Amanda is someone that I have known for quite a while now. She is a genuinely nice person with a wicked sense of humor. She has also changed a lot since I first met her by losing over 80 lbs. Her transformation is really quite amazing, and I barely recognize old photos of her.

She has also become a serious fitness nut. One of the things that she practices is Moi Thai, aka Thai Kick Boxing. You can see some of her moves in her kick boxing gallery. I am very proud of her.

Amanda Blue Hat Portraits

My good buddy Amanda came over this morning to take some photos of the Thai kickboxing that she does. When I answered the door, I knew I had to have a quick session of her and her blue hat. It matched her eyes perfectly. Here are those photos...
See Amanda & her blue hat photo gallery.

Portrait Class Taught in Masqueman Studio

This weekend I gave my first ever portraiture class in my studio, a.k.a. the garage. I had 3 students show up and we covered the basics of studio lighting from hot lights to beauty lighting to corporate portrait set-ups. This portrait is of Teri, a talented architecture photographer who is branching out. It is because of her interest that the informal class became a reality. I enjoyed the experience very much.

Pin Hole Camera Photo from the 1980's

When cleaning out a closet, I found a treasure from the past. In elementary school, we had a cool science teacher who showed us how to build a pin hole camera out of a shoebox, aluminum foil and x-ray film. Here is the result. I have no memory of the exposure time, but I think it was a few seconds. That's me with the arrow pointing to my head.

Christmas Photos of Cape

My next door neighbor and I have been conspiring for weeks to secretly take Christmas photos of her young grandson, Cape, as a present for his parents. This morning, we finally got our chance. Bonnie did everything but stand on her head and Cape was a real trooper. He sat a good 20 minutes before he had enough. I love working with children. There is a real magic in their eyes and which makes all the hassle of the holidays worth it. Some of the photos were then enhanced and hopefully will make a memorable Christmas card for them. Check out Cape's photo gallery here.

The Thanksgiving Story Teller

My father is a gifted story teller... always has been for as long as I can remember. Some of the tales he that he tells revolve around native culture and how ingenuous their way of life was.

Every year around Thanksgiving he shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for Native American culture with children at church.

He dresses in a native outfit that he made himself through countless hours of work. It is probably 40 years old or more by now. If those feathers could talk, they would reveal many adventures and a few secrets.

Family Thankgiving Trip 2008

Jenny and I made the 10 hour drive to Virginia to see my family. The drive was well worth it since we only get to see them about once a year now. I took a ton of photos of all the kids and relatives that were present. You can view the galleries here: Family Photos, Kids Playing, Dad's Indian Program, Meet Cooper Austin Hughes, Justin, Natalie & Samantha, Sparklers.

EuroPhotoVideo is overhauled

The EuroPhotoVideo.com website was relaunched after a major overhaul to its content and structure. Justinas Bartkevicius comes from an creative family of artists, photographers and videographers and this web site showcases their work along with Justinas' excellent photography.

EuroPhotoVideo serves the Lithuanian and Russian communities in Atlanta and in Europe. They speak 5 languages fluently which can make your special event photography run smoothly.  Check them out at www.EuroPhotoVideo.com.

New Web Site for Matthew Humphreys, Atlanta Songwriter

I was asked to create a web site for an Atlanta songwriter, Matthew Humphreys. I used photographs that I had taken earlier in the year to make the web site navigation and the album covers. An e-commerce option was added with Sno-Cap so would allow people to listen to and buy Matthew's music. Check it out at www.MatthewHumphreys.net

The Secret Power of Boston Terriers

Meet Winston and Buddy, two of the most personable pups you'll ever see. We barely got them to sit still long enough to snap a few photos. We had to bribe them with choice parts from our Subway sandwiches that we just had picked up. Hey, superstars don't work for free. Just ask that Jerod guy.

See the Boston Terrier Gallery here.

Mr. Struve's Evil Looking Subaru WRX STI

If Darth Vader drove a car on earth, it would probably be this. At first I was afraid to get near "Satan's Hot Rod". I had once seen it lay down a smokey burn mark in the parking lot when "the accelerator got stuck on the floor mat". (Struve, save that excuse for the fuzz.)

The fall foliage was particularly beautiful with the afternoon sun backlighting it. We snapped a few shots before the sun blinked out. Check out the photos here: Subaru WRX STI Photo Gallery

Impromptu Fall Portraits

While out shooting cool Fall foliage, I met an another photo- grapher who works in my business park. She was out doing the same thing I was. I noticed that she was wearing great Fall colors and I could not resist asking her to stand in for a few informal portraits.

See Apohia's Fall portraits here.

Fleeting Fall Colors for 2008

This year's display of fall colors seemed to be hit or miss. Many trees went quickly from dull brown to no leaves at all. But, every so often I stumbled across a few stellar performers. Like they say, it is better to burn out, than fade away.

Check out the fall leaves gallery.

NB Consultiing Web Site Launched

I was approached by NB Consulting to perform a quick makeover of there aging web site. Within just a few days, I created the web site. This was done just in time for a large trade show that they were attending. Check out the NBConsulting web site here.

Also, I was able to create a matching tri-fold brochure for them to pass out to prospects who are interesting in their SAP consulting services. View the brochure PDF.

Scuba Diving on a Sunken Air Craft Carrier, the USS Oriskany

I went down to Pensacola Florida with David and Bob to dive the USS Oriskany which was sunk a few years back to become the world's largest artificial reef. This ship is huge and very deep. The flight deck is somewhere around 140 feet so our dives did not last very long...maybe 20 minutes each. The folks at MBT Divers took care of us and really did a top notch job of getting us there and back safely. I would highly recommend this dive to any advanced open water diver.

The Accordion Man

When I visit my clients in Virginia Highland, I often hear this accordion player. I really like that he brings some life to that corner of the neighborhood. I talked to him for a few minutes and snapped a few shots. The neighborhood would not be the same without him. View the accordion player gallery.

Wedding Photography at Wolf Mountain Vineyards

I was hired by Dean Stevenson Photography to assist on the Stubblefield wedding to take place at Wolf Mountain Vineyards in Dahlonega, GA. Working with Dean was a great experience. He is a true master of his craft. To see Dean's work, visit his web site.

We shot different aspects of the wedding since the location was large and spread out. Here are some of my favorite shots that I got that day. This wedding highlight gallery is my creative vision of the wedding that includes retouching and compositing.

High Flying Wake Boarding Photos

A weekend of shooting wake board riders made me appreciate the art of timing great action sports photographs even more. The interesting thing about this photo shoot was getting the angle of the sun exactly right to capture the rider's faces while also allowing some backlighting of the water spray. The biggest challenge was the drops of water between the rider and the boat wreaked havoc on my Canon's focus. Enjoy the wake boarding galleries below:

Best of Wakeboarding Photos, Jason's Wakeboarding Gallery , Mike's Wakeboarding Gallery , Ryan's Wakeboarding Gallery , Cass's Wakeboarding Gallery , Matt's Wakeboarding Gallery

Wedding Photography for Mandy & Kate

I have known Mandy for many years and when she asked me to photograph the commitment ceremony that she and her partner Kate were going to have, I jumped at the opportunity. My wife and I drove to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and stayed at the beautiful Graylyn Manor. We met up with the couple the next day and had a great time meeting everyone.

The wedding went off without a hitch, and I stole the couple away for a few minutes of intense shooting. We were chasing the sunlight, but got some great shots in the hidden garden of the church. Check out the galleries of the event below:

Mandy & Kate Color Photo Gallery
Mandy & Kate B+W Photo Gallery
Group Photo Gallery
Ceremony Gallery
Reception Gallery

Goodbye Old Friend...

This entry is dedicated to my 1994 Acura Integra who boldly went wherever I pointed it. After sitting in the drive way for many months, my neighbor, Kyle in the photo, approached me with an interest in it. He is fixing it up so that is good.

The best way to get over a lost love is to replace it as quickly as possible which I did with a 2005 Acura RSX Type S. See the Acura RSX Gallery here!  I'll miss you... you rattly old clunker. 

Barbara & Will Engagement Photos

I have known Barbara for many years and I am getting to know Will. Both these guys are super people and a pleasure to hang out with. I drove to Dahlonega to Will's beautiful mountain top cabin. Within minutes of arriving, we were driving on unpaved roads, knocking through 6 foot weeds and scouting locations to take some engagement photos. We founds some great streams and ancient moss covered stairways, You can see the color gallery of engagement photos here and the B+W gallery of engagement photos here.

Portrait of Atlanta Songwriter, Matthew Humphreys

Matthew is a songwriter who needed portraits of himself and his favorite guitar for his MySpace page. We chose to shoot B+W photos to be artsy. We tried many poses and lighting setups to give the shots an edgy look. You can see the whole series of photos in the Matthew Humphreys Songwriter Gallery.

Visit Matthew's MySpace page to hear his music.

Light Portraits of Matthew

After we shot the dark series of photos, we switched gears and shot some high-key portraits. As you can see, Matthew cleans up quite nicely. It is hard to tell this is the same man in the B+W photos of the Dark Series Portraits.

Dark Portraits of Matthew

I asked Matthew to sit in for a grungy set of B+W portraits and this is what we came up with. I wanted these to be dark and textural showing every single hair and pore. Check out the partial gallery here.

Clifton Family Photos

Tonight I had the pleasure of making portraits with the Clifton family... Eileen, Dave, Dana and Michael. I loved that they would do anything for a good photo. It was one of the most fun photo sessions I have had to date. Check out the color gallery here and the B+W gallery here.

A Voice from the Past

This week I received a call from a man that I met in Tuscon Arizona at a World War 2 veteran reunion. I was there with the Liberty Foundation that flies a rare B-17 bomber from that era. I met many great guys... all heroes in my book. They just don't make men like this any more.

Sam Robertson told me some harrowing stories of his 18 missions bombing Germany in the closing days of the war. He and his crew had some close calls including a run in with one of those little German rocket planes ("What the HELL was that!!!"), very concentrated flak over Berlin and a damaged ball turret that trapped him for hours. It was an honor and a privilege to talk to him. I made a video from showing the WW2 veterans that I met during 2007. For more information about B-17s, aviation and them men that fought WW2, please visit www.LibertyFoundation.org

MacRae Designs Web Site Launched

MacRae is a high-end furniture manufacturer that specializes in modern reproductions of antiques. I was hired by Studio Supplee to create a catalog site showcasing chairs, tables, consoles, accessories etc. View the web site at www.MacRaeDesigns.com

Talledega Grand Prix Motorcycle Video

My first video post on YouTube.ccom is up. It is a quick presentation of photography and video shot at a recent track day in Alabama. Check it out!

Talledega Grand Prix Track Day Photoshoot

I was the official shooter for 2 of my motorcycle buddies, Kris Mellstrom and Bobby Hynson, at a motorcycle track day in Alabama. This gave me the chance to try out my new Canon 100-400mm zoom lens. I was able to capture some decent shots even behind the protective fences.

See Kris Mellstrom's trackday photos.

See Bobby Hynson's trackday photos.

Check out my other motorcycle photos.

3 Bears Bakery Web SIte Revised

3 Bears Bakery & Cafe needed revisions made to their web site to reflect recent changes. Updates to text, graphics and information were completed. If you are ever in the north Georgia foothills and want to grab a gourmet sandwich, this is the place to go. 

Right next door is the Verandah Gift shop that has a variety of fine gifts, home goods, bath and beauty products. Make it a destination. Learn more at www.3bearsbakery.com.

Catering Thyme Web Site Launched

Catering Thyme, a new catering business in Marietta, Georgia needed a web site. This one was created to showcase their delicious food and great services. Catering Thyme serves metro Atlanta and north Georgia. Visit CateringThyme.com for more information.

Liberty Belle B-17 Flys to England

The Liberty-Belle B-17 that I work with is in the UK flying around Scotland and England. They made the same trek as they guys of WW2 to get to England. People are eating it up over there because the plane is rare to be flying. If you are interested, you can see the web site that I did for them at http://www.libertyfoundation.org . They had some fancy equipment put on-board for the flight like a satellite phone and tracking system. I got a call from them when they were flying over oceans of icebergs. That was pretty cool.

Euro Foto Video Web SIte Launched

This is the portfolio web site for Justinas Bartkevicius and his family of talented artists, photographers and videographers. Maybe talent is hereditary? Working in the metro Atlanta area and Lithuania, they are fluent in English, Russian, French and Lithuanian. The site is a work in progress and will have additional text and material added soon.

BugBand.net Gets a Facelift

BugBand.net was revised with new graphics, colors and video content using the same base structure to save time . One of my favorite client's web site needed a quick update to freshen it. This e-commerce site sells BugBand DEET-free insect repellent. The stuff works great too.

Casual Portrait for a Friend

A friend needed some headshots for her business web site so we set up a quick studio and took a few portraits. The photographs were business casual.

Team Murphy Raises $3465 for Diabetes Research in the Tour de Cure

We could not have had a better day to ride 50K for the Georgia Tour de Cure, a long distance bike ride to raise money for Diabetes Research. The morning started out chilly, it rained and then finally the weather turned warm and windy. The event was so well organized that I am already looking forward to next year. If you like riding bikes and want to do something worthwhile, you should think about riding next year.

Thanks to everyone who's generous donations helped me raise $325. Team Murphy did even better raising $3465.

Liberty Belle B-17 Visits Atlanta

The Liberty Belle B-17 came back through Atlanta for a weekend of flying. A small setback with a smoking engine was quickly fixed and flights resumed as normal.

For more information about the Liberty Foundation and the Liberty Belle B-17, please visit www.libertyfoundation.org

I Shot an Office Full of Lawyers

No, this is not a juicy internet confession. I was hired to photograph a bunch of corporate head shots, group photos and environmental portraits for Fincher, Denmark & Williams LLC, a law firm in Jonesboro, GA. I was in and out in 3 hours. I'm not sure how I escaped without a lawsuit, but somehow I did.

Baby Elise & Barrett Family Portraits

This photo shoot was a lot of fun because we had many generations on both sides of the family present to welcome little Elise into the world. The portraits were shot in the Barrett's home where everyone gathered for brunch.

Andrew Hughes Trains for Tour de Cure

This May I am going to participate in a 35K bike ride to raise money for diabetes research. It is called the Tour de Cure and this leg takes place near Atlanta, Georgia. I am riding with Team Murphy whose captain, Maura, happens to be a diabetic. We are all doing this for somebody we know. For more info or to donate please check out this page.

Quick Tour Video of Our Favorite Photos

Those with a fast internet connection and Quicktime can watch a 2 minute video of our favorite photographs here or they can browse the photos in a gallery here.

Masqueman.com Updates Photo Galleries

Masqueman.com has revised its galleries of photographs taken by Andrew Hughes for Masqueman Photography & Design. The photo galleries now showcase my best work and can be browsed here. 

Masqueman.com Web Site Updated!

After weeks of hair pulling and late nights, I have finally finished the updated version 2.0 of my web site, masqueman.com. This site for Masqueman Photography & Design features samples of my graphic design, web design and photographic work. It now has drop-down menus, better galleries and samples.

Trip to San Francisco

Jenny and I took a short working trip to San Francisco, CA. It was a whirlwind trip and we experienced lots of sights and sounds including seeing a hit and run pedestrian accident. I think we walked 20 miles one day. Note to self, things are much further than they appear on a map.

Alcatraz had a strange calmness about it that belies its history. THE Golden Gate bridge is spectacular. The city's food is excellent, but our internal time clocks messed up our eating schedule. The trolley cars are memorable. China town is a trinket shopper's delight. We saw a photographic exhibit of Annie Lebowitz that blew us away. I recognized much of the work already. I would like to get back to see the rest of the city that we did not get to this time.

When we landed back in Georgia, our plane hit an air pocket and we dropped like a rock. The passengers let out a collective scream before the plane started flying again. Whew! dodged another bullet... 

 

CoutureCakesInc.com Web Site Launched

This is the second collaboration I have had with a very talented artist, Lisa Humphreys. She is a cake genius who makes impossible sculptures from just batter and icing. I built the web site adding animation and interactivity to her layout. Bon apetit!

My New Acura RSX

A new era has begun for me. Last March I finally stopped being stubborn and bought a car to replace my aging, but trustworthy 1994 Acura Integra. I drove that car for over 11 years and we had many trips and adventures together. Not to mention a few tickets. Ah, the memories.

My new car is an improvement on the old one... It is a 2005 Acura RSX Type S. It is very similar to my old car except, much nicer, faster, better built and kids don't point at and laugh anymore. I can finally get some respect on the streets. This still does not prevent my car from getting dinged in parking lots. I guess some things never change.

My neighbor wanted to buy my old car to play with it. I can visit it any time that I want to, but mysteriously, I never have.

New Presentech.com Web Site Launched

Presentech.com is a fantastic service bureau in Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in large and small format color printing. I redesigned their old web site for better usability.

Maserati GT Photo Session

I got an opportunity to photograph a exotic Italian sports car at dusk in Ackworth, Georgia. The car was being sold a few days later so we had one chance to make the photos as a lasting memento of the car. We could have done more with more time, but the good light only lasted a few minutes.

WinoFest 2008 at Scott & Maura's

Scott and Maura throw fabulous parties, but this one is probably my favorite annual event because it involves a blind wine taste contest where the winner takes all! Takes all of what you ask? How about 15 bottles of wine (and not that stuff that comes in a box either!). I brought my mobile studio to record the participants. Some of the portraits get very silly and fun, but what do you expect with all that wine flowing?

Valencia Capital Group Web Site Launched

This is my second web site collaboration with Spencer Marketing LLC. Valencia Capital Group is building a large eco-friendly vacation destination in the Bahamas. This web site promotes the company and its ventures.