Vinings Offered By The Cawley Group, Keller Williams

I confess, I am really behind in my blogging, I have a lot to share with you and will be uploading more over the next few days, unfortunately, they may be out of order in date of occurrence, but hope you enjoy the posts.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to photograph this fabulous listing in Atlanta in the Vinings area. the listing broker is Kris Cawley of The Cawley Group/Keller Williams(678-898-5784). I tried a new technique here and am trying to decide whether to use it again or go back to flash or a combination. Anyways, enjoy!

More Tornado Damage

The first week of April high winds and perhaps a tornado that didn't quite make it to the ground, ripped centuries old trees from their very roots and sent them crashing into antebellum homes and modest cottages alike. For the past 3 weeks or so, Madison has sounded as if a horde of angry bees has descended upon it from the sound of all the chain saws screaming into the fallen trees everywhere in town downed from that storm.

Our residents have been hard at work cleaning up the mess and repairing damage as the Spring Tour of Homes is scheduled for the 5th and 6th of May. And Lady Madison does love to preen and show off her beauty to visitors! Modesty aside, Madison is truly one beautiful little town.

Alas, last night we endured more high winds, roof ripping and trees falling. Most of us were up until the wee hours of the morning, one ear listening to the winds howl and keeping the other ear tuned to radios and TV's. Our power went out at about 2am and we sat in the dark and watched lightening strobe against the sky as rain pelted heavily against our windows. After about 15 minutes it was gone, we were so fortunate, nothing but small limbs and leaves about our yard and after driving a few short blocks around our home, we really realized just how fortunate we had been. A few blocks in one direction a small neighborhood called Beacon Heights has suffered a lot of damage and a few blocks in another direction a huge pecan grove lost a significant number of trees. I don't know the extent of the damage to these areas as the roads were blocked going to them.

I think the only reason the damage around town isn't any worse  is due to the storms 3 weeks ago having leveled several diseased and rotted trees-I'm guessing we lost at least a couple of dozen trees then. If all those had not come down until last night, I doubt we would have been able to get around this morning at all.

Tree in front of Cultural Center

Old Gas Station Awning_1

Gas Station Awning_2

House on Hwy 83

Happy China Sign

Trees_1

Main Street Home

NBC Realty Bldg

Roofing ripped off building

Trees_2

Trees_3

Tree at the tall people's house

Another home damaged

Trees_4

Trees_5 on Walton and Main

I've attached a few photos taken from the hubs' car windows, mainly to show my marine in Hawaii what happened around us.

High Falls

Had a blast photographing this lovely farm outside of McDonough. If I'm remembering correctly, Kris Cawley, the realtor for this property says it's about 20 acres, love the start of the renovations. Kinda modern but still very much a farmhouse. Hope you like the show!

SEPPA 2011

Wow what a great weekend. The Southeastern Professional Photographers Association (SEPPA) was held in Athens this past weekend. Lot's of long days and nights. Loved it learned a lot. I've got to get a small take-with everywhere camera. Maybe an iPhone... Some classes would allow photos to be taken, some would not. Hard to lug the D700 around and not be able to use it. Just what I need somethings else on my list of "things to buy"! But wish I had some photos to share!

Magnolia Estates

Got back out to McDonough again to shoot some real estate. Sweet little house is a great neighborhood. I was supposed to shoot a really cool listing Kris has out at High Falls. What I saw of it - gorgeous estate, completely restored farmhouse/cottage, free standing studio, sitting on 20+ acres. The homeowner failed to tell Kris they had an alarm system. Yep, we set it off, waited for the police to show up, decided we would need to do the shoot another day. But anyways, here's a couple from the one I did get to shoot.

Beautiful Day for a Walk

What a gorgeous day! Had a bit of a walkabout and went to cemetery and photographed some ironwork there. I know, I know sounds macabre but it's so peaceful (duh!) and really beautiful and with the paved trails a nice place to walk. So here's a few pieces from my walk today.

Holidays are over, back to business!

Whew, can't believe it has been so long since I've posted! What a great holiday got to see just about everyone in the family. Had a week with my favorite US Marine, so good to spend some time with my
boy.

We have been snow/iced in for the past couple of days, I don't know how people live in mess like this day in and day out all winter! I was getting a stir crazy so when I made lunch today I took some step by step photos and created a slideshow that I am going to post. I hope y'all like it!

Christmas cards for wounded warriors.

A friend of mine posted this link on her FB page. As a mother of a US Marine, I am especially touched by the idea of doing this so: 


When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address: 
A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army 
Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20307-5001. 


Please pass this on. These wonderful people have sacrificed so much. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Whew, been a busy few weeks, getting things organized, photographing homes. I had the fantastic opportunity to visit my old "neighborhood" and do some work for the most wonderful Kris Cawley, broker for Harry Norman Realtors, Mcdonough. Hopefully, there will be many more to come.

Crystal Lakes:

Love to do twilight shots!

Elegant two story foyer and winding staircase.

Alexander Lake

Gorgeous wooded lot

Extensive moss path to lower property

Lake view from edge of property

The Madison Produce Company

The weather is just fabulous this time of year. So much fun to get out and take walks. I thought I would add a photo of the green grocer on the square-the Madison Produce Company. It's really a colorful little shop, there's also a co-op option where you pay a fee and get a box of locally grown produce every week - how cool is that?

Courthouse

Another taste of Madison for you. Our courthouse, it's an older building that had a multi-million dollar renovation. It's right on the square in downtown Madison. The reno really came out well, don't you think?

Don't forget to Vote

Just got back from casting my vote here in my sweet town of Madison where I inadvertently learned a great lesson. When I walked into the polling place I was greeted by a beautiful woman with the sweetest smile. She handed me the form and told me what parts to fill out. Witness the contrast of that experience with the rest of the story. I took my paper over to Lady #2, she briefly greeted me, looked over my paper, asked for my ID, Behind her was a worker looking for her diet Coke in the fridge and was upset because she didn't see it. Lady#3 is talking over her shoulder about the missing soft drink and what soft drink she had, something about a crochet project of someone else's, etc., never once looking at me or acknowledging me in any way as she scanned in my ID and handed me the ballot card. I took my card, cast my ballot, when I turned away from the voting machine - beautiful lady #1 greeted me once more with her beautiful smile and gave me my "I'm a Voter" sticker and wished me a great day. Which lady do you think left me with a positive impression of Madison poll workers? 

What I take away from that experience is to never underestimate the value of a genuine smile, to pay attention to someone who is in front of you and focus on your job, not your co-worker or the latest discussion on anything other than the task at hand.

I have been a poll worker and I know it's a long, boring day that begins very early. So I understand chatting and having friendly conversations amongst yourselves and even the voters that come in you may know personally. But when you have a voter in front of you, it is your job to make eye contact, pay attention to that voter. Greet them with a smile, make them feel glad they came out to vote even if all you say is "Here you go, thank you for coming."

Antique Sweets

Oh my, this place is wonderful. My vision of heaven includes the fragrance of a candy shoppe. Delicious and the cutest displays always.

Autumn in Georgia

Even though UGA lost today, again to Florida, this day was perfect in most every other way. Weather could not be better.

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone had a most marvelous Friday. I don't have a photo to post for you today. I spent the day with my mom in Canton.

My Favorite Orthodontist!

Dr. Paschel and his staff make a great team. The man knows his teeth straightening and has a sweet and very nice staff! He finished up Mason's care a few years ago when we first moved to Madison and I was really blessed by the opportunity to have my "late in life" orthodontics done by him. So if you are looking for a great orthodontist who has a great staff - Look up JEP, as he is called up and tell him Debra sent ya!

Amelia's Dress Shop

We have the cutest little dress shop in town. My fantasy is when I get down to that perfect size 10 is to go in and buy everything I want!

Madison Morgan Cultural Center

Went about town today taking photos of some of my favorite places and some are just interesting places I'll be sharing with you. Today, I'm fulfilling a promise of a few photos of our beautiful cultural center. At one time it was the school for the county; the original auditorium is where all the concerts and plays are performed. I love that Madison is so committed to maintaining these gorgeous structures.

Ellis Paul

Larry and I went to a concert at the Madison/Morgan Cultural Center tonight featuring folk singer Ellis Paul. I am so glad we went, the acoustics in the hall are just perfect, The center has this beautiful Steinway piano, the man simply could not say enough good things about it and our beautiful Cultural Center. A mellow, enjoyable evening.

I'll take photos this week to show you all this treasure we have in Madison. Randall Bramlett is performing next month. I've heard him there before, a concert worth attending and with tickets only $15.00 a real entertainment bargain! Can't wait to show you all the photos.

More Summer Fun

During the summer I attended Georgia School. This is a once yearly school held in the North Ga Mountains and it's a week dedicated to learning an area of photography. I worked with Tri-Coast Photography, Mike Fulton and Cody Clinton with off camera flash.

What I love about photography is the creative things you can do with photographs in Photoshop. I know there are a lot of photographers out there that do not want to touch Photoshop, but essentially it is a digital dark room. Professional labs have always done some sort of touch-up and special effects to photographers photos as well as photographers themselves who had dark rooms.

I will show you two of my favorites from Georgia School and a different special effect(called actions) for each one.


Photo 1:
No Special Effects:

 Edgier Look:

 Photo 2:
No Effects

 w/Special Effects

I have some really cool ones I want to try, one is the "Twilight" effect - Anybody want to be a vampire? Give me a ring and we will set up a model session for you.