Two-fer!
I wish one of my weddings this weekend were in Hoover... Then I could call it the two-fer in Hoover. Which almost rhymes.
Anyway, just pulled into Birmingham from my wedding in Huntsville, which was fun... great times with old friends. Back for just long enough to charge my camera batteries, back my files up, and crash for a few hours before I leave...
For my second wedding in Auburn! Long weekend. I need an intern. 
See you soon!
I love 8mm!
So many weddings in queue... I just got the film back from a few 8mm weddings I shot last month, and while it will be a while before I can post anything from those, I can show you one of my favorite parts of being an 8mm shooter: "the ends!"
When I get to the end of a wedding day, after the bride and groom make their getaway, I often have film cartridges that have unshot "ends," sometimes just a few seconds, sometimes more. There's no way I'm going to send the rolls off with unshot footage, so:
Enjoy! That's Stephen DeVries and me, cutting a rug at the A Bryan Photo studio in Birmingham.
See you soon!
Summer!
Actually, I'm not sure when the official end of spring was. But when I walk outside, the crushing heat and humidity tell me that it is, in fact, summer in Alabama. That, and all the campers going to Talladega.
I've been shooting alongside Stephen DeVries all summer, either assisting him on his weddings, or rolling Super 8 on my own. It's been a blast, it's great to have him back in town for a while. We shared a studio for several years, and since he lives in New York now, I don't get to see him nearly as much as I'd like.
I've got several weddings in various stages of completion that I can't wait to share, but here's the big news for me this summer:
That's right, I'm engaged! Blows my mind... Her name's Courtney, she's fantastic, and I'm blown away and grateful beyond words that she's chosen to spend her life with me.
Stephen did the photos for our engagement shoot, which actually started out as a regular sunrise session, and turned into the other thing when I proposed in the middle of the shoot! Stephen was rolling Super 8 with my camera, and as soon as I get the film back from Pro 8mm, I'll post the proposal here. I can't wait to see her reaction, because I was so nervous I think I blacked out a little.
If you want to see the full gallery from the shoot, Stephen's got it up here! Thanks for looking, talk with you soon!
Blast From the Past
I have a little stack of dead hard drives, an assortment of old externals in varying capacities that have died in lightning strikes, drops, etc. I never threw them away because, hey, data. My data, be it ever so infuriatingly inaccessible.
In a last-ditch attempt to recover some of my oldest weddings, I recently bought a NewerTech universal drive thingy, stripped the case off of one of the drives, and plugged it up. And hey, it worked! Mounted up like a champ. So now I'm sorting through gigs and gigs of old pictures and movies I'd completely forgotten about, and I thought I'd share a favorite with you.
From way back in March of 2008, that's me (center) with Roger Eason and Stephen DeVries. We were walking around Birmingham with Caleb Chancey, trying to get some shots for our nonprofit's website, and at this point I'm pretty sure Caleb was just messing with us.
Look at that beard! Ridiculous.
I'm running out the door, but I hope that picture brings you joy. And yes, I back up much more regularly, now.
I’ve been told I don’t blog enough.
These comments are absolutely vindicated by my four month absence. Wow, I'm not very good at social media! I'll try to do better.
I guess a recap would be in order, before proceeding... January! Stephen and Jessi moved to New York, in a whirlwind of boxes, backdrops, and Ikea. I was really sad. I lived and worked with Stephen for two years, and Jessi lived to close that she was practically the third roommate. It was very strange to have them gone, and so suddenly.
February! I don't remember much of February. I moved into a new place with an old friend, and didn't unpack most of my boxes for a month. One great thing about the Phoenix was a lot of storage space. I could (and did) accumulate a metric ton of stuff that simply had no place in my new, normal-sized, apartment. A lot of stuff hit eBay and Goodwill, those first few weeks.
March! I spent most of march catching up on videos that got pushed back by the Epic Move, and working on a video for Christ City Church, a new David Nasser project in north-east Birmingham. You can check it out here, if you wish:
(If you happen to be viewing my blog on a 45 foot-wide projector screen, congratulations. You're viewing it as intended. Otherwise I'm sorry, your experience may be sub-optimal.)
I'd never produced a video for that kind of event, but I had a blast putting it together! It was a great service, with powerful worship led by my friends in Rush of Fools, with Mac Powell and Aaron Shust. Mac Powell has a voice like a diesel motor running on molasses.
April! Actually, that's right now. I'm still catching up on my weddings, as well as my work on The Never-Ending Documentary. So close, so close... I'm also inching ever closer to my own nuptials, the timing for which has progressed from, "um..." to, "sometime in the fall?" I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for checking in, I promise it won't be another four months before I post again!
New year, new everything
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a great night! Here at 501 we had a little New Years/going away party for Stephen and Jessi, who move to NYC in just over two weeks. It's only been a month since we found out, and I still can't believe it's almost here! If you haven't heard yet, you can read about it on the Bedouins blog:
Bedouins International - What's Next?
The gist is, Bedouins International (the nonprofit media collective I started with Stephen way back in '07) is moving to New York, to operate for a year alongside Times Square Church, a fantastic missionary church we've worked with many times over the last several years. For a variety of reasons, it wasn't the right move for me, so in a few weeks I'll be parting ways with them, as they strike out into the unknown. It's bittersweet: I'm really going to miss them, but I'm also very excited to see what God does with 2010 in my life! I've been working with Stephen since we meet at Auburn, and he's been my constant collaborator and one of my best friends for that entire time. So when they pack up their van on the 16th for the 20-hour drive to their new digs in Brooklyn, I'll be basically starting over.
Find a new house: Check.
Find a new job: Still looking. (Know anyone that's hiring?)
Pack to move: Holy crap. I own far, far too much stuff.
And on top of everything, I'm starting to look at marriage as a pretty definite thing in the next twelve months! Life is crazy! God is good.
But before any of this New York craziness happened, I was brainstorming two projects for 2010, both of which I'm pretty excited about. The first, a photography blog:
I'm calling it Full Manual for a Year - or FuMafaY, because that's funnier.
THE PROJECT - This project is inspired by two generations of photographers. The first are those early pioneers like Niépce and Daguerre, who having little more at their disposal than basic chemistry and strength of will, captured light on plates of glass. That's pretty much miraculous. The second are a new breed of photographers who have turned their backs on the prevailing trends and rediscovered the joy and power of making pictures in the old ways. Names that spring to mind are Jonathan Canlas and Rodney Smith, and every hobbyist carrying a Holga or a K1000 around day-to-day.
THE GOAL - I want to rediscover (or more likely, discover for the first time) who I am as a photographer. I want to understand light, really understand it, and learn to use my cameras much more intuitively, more naturally than I can now.
THE RULES - The rules are pretty simple, and apply to every photograph I take this year, whether it's going on the blog or not.
1. Monday through Friday, I have to post at least one photo a day, but may post more.
2. Every photo posted must be taken in manual mode. That means manual focus and manual exposure, preferably using a light meter.
3. If I need to use a flash, the flash must also be in manual mode. No ETTL!
As you might expect, there is one case in which I can make exceptions to the rules above, and a corresponding sub-rule: If I'm on assignment, and need to work faster than this protocol will allow, I may switch back to my usual style of shooting. So if I'm shooting a wedding, and find that I'm not yet proficient enough to make this work in that setting, I can flip it over to AV (or whatever) and finish the day that way. However, I have to start the day in full manual.
I registered fumafay.blogspot.com yesterday, and there will be an accompanying Flickr stream, as soon as I get a few minutes to hook that up.
The other project is a collaborative writing concept that isn't quite ready for it's debut, but that I'm very excited about. More news as events warrant.
So that's it! I'm looking forward to an amazing 2010, I can't wait to see what God does with it! Talk to you soon...
Paul
Merry Christmas!
I've always loved the Christmas season, but lately for different reasons than when I was younger. I lost my faith in Santa Claus at a pretty young age, but for years the promise of Christmas morning still kept me up far past my bed-time, staring at the ceiling of my room through the quiet dark, and woke me up hours before my parents, who had somehow managed to sneak into my room in the interim and place my stocking at the foot of the bed. I remember that weight against my feet waking me up, and the mysterious lumps that strained against the faded red felt of my stocking. My brother and I would open our stockings slowly, almost reverently, laying out identical candies and toys in fan-tailed rows, like an archaeologist laying out shards of pottery newly freed from the earth.
I took the pictures above at my Grandmother's house this morning, and when I look at them I see Christmas morning. My Papa would buy the biggest frosted tree (do they still do that?) he could find, and wedge it into the corner where the fish now hangs. They spent days decorating the tree, but nobody under 15 even saw it, because it surmounted a truly astonishing pile of presents, several feet deep at the walls, spilling well into the middle of the room. For a few years there, the entire extended family came to their house for Christmas, and we'd open presents until we were shell-shocked with largesse, and then eat until we passed out.
It's hard to believe, but it's been almost 15 years since their living room has undergone that transformation. We're back in Atlanta for Christmas this year, but the crowd is much smaller, and the venue is different. To my surprise, I much prefer this new arrangement. My Uncle Gary and his family are down from Illinois, and along with my parents and Grandmother, are celebrating at my Uncle Barry's house in north Atlanta. I can't wait to get up in a few hours and watch my cousins tear into the presents, and to spend a few perfect days just hanging out with family!
I pray everyone has a truly blessed Christmas day, and I hope to see may of you in the new year! There's some exciting stuff coming in the next few months, and I can't wait to get started! More details to come, but for now I'm crashing out... Merry Christmas!
I’m back!
Oh my goodness! It's been such a crazy month so far... Scotland was awesome, New York is crazy, my own bed is fantastic after two straight weeks of hotel beds and meeting-room chairs.
I'll post pics of Scotland when I can get around to sorting the thousands littering my computer, but for now here's the last week:
Monday: Up at 4:00 AM to catch my flight from Glasgow to NYC, watched Harry Potter on the seat-back, barely made my connection, crashed in Atlanta at my friend Allen's house. It's weird for old friends to get married, it's weirder for them to have babies.
Tuesday: Back at the studio, got to hang with Stephen for the first time in six weeks. (He was in Africa) Court got off work, all's right with the world.
Wednesday: Corey's back from Penland! And they're testing the fire alarms in the building, so it's time for a sidewalk show-and-tell.
Thursday: I don't remember much about Thursday. I was probably working on movies.
Friday: Ditto, but after work we went out to the dollar theater to see Tanantino's new one. I love dollar theaters, they're just a dollar!
Saturday: Hung with court, finished the Scotland trip film (to be posted soonish), went bowling with Court, Stephen, and Josh for our studio manager Jessi's birthday. Stephen stomped everyone, as he is wont to do. I'm not bitter.
And that pretty much brings us up to the present... I got an email from my team lead at Times Square Church, telling me that the video was well-received, which feels pretty good. I'm resolv'd to blog with increased regularity in the coming days, a resolution I've made before, but this time I mean it. For reals.
Alright, back to it. I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving week, say hello to your families for me, and eat lots of turkey. We'll talk soon!
Things I have learned in Scotland
I don't have a lot of time right now, but here's a list of things I've learned while in Scotland, in no order other than the order I remember them:
1. Driving on the left-hand side of the road is not as hard as people say. 99% great, 1% terror.
2. Scottish people are universally awesome.
3. It's almost impossible to take a bad photograph here. You've only to close your eyes and throw a rock, and you're guaranteed to hit something that's quintessentially Scottish.
4. The coffee here is pretty bad, but they serve it with Scottish accents, so I don't mind so much.
I'll add more as I remember them, but for now I have to get back to work! It's one in the morning here, and we're just getting started in the Media Office (a commandeered Holiday Inn Express conference room). The Lord is doing amazing things in Scotland, and I'm stoked to be here for them!
Talk to you soon!
PB
Happy Halloween!
Have you met my girlfriend Courtney? She's great. We took the day off from other stuff (for me, making movies, and for her, watching football) and just hung out. It was awesome to spend a whole day just kicking it, we haven't had the time to do that in a while... It was my responsibility to think of activities for the day, and one that I'm pretty happy with was carving jack-o-lanterns tonight! Our approaches couldn't have been more different, but I think both pumpkins are valid, in their own way.
Is that too art-school? Ascribing artistic validity to a pumpkin?
Anyway, after about an hour of gooping, carving, shaving, and etc., the fruits of our labors:
I hope everyone's had an awesome Halloween! From the noise floating up from 3rd Avenue, it's just getting started in Birmingham. We'll talk soon! Peace...