Wednesday, September 26, 2007

We're Coming Along...


The studio is moving right along. Tomorrow evening, we're supposed to start the hardwood flooring. I cannot WAIT for this to be finished and operational! We're looking at having our Open House on Saturday, October 27th. More to come on that; but we'll have door prizes, CAKE & PUNCH, and a ton of fun! Here's a couple of shots from last night...




Sunday, September 16, 2007

A Beautiful Day...



Wow! What a beautiful day it was yesterday! I spent the better part of the day working in the studio. Most of the painting is done; and yesterday, we were working on hanging trim and stuff like that. Then, yesterday evening, Kellie and I took off to Bridgeport, Alabama, where we photographed the family of a former co-worker of mine. The location was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It was back in Doran's Cove and seemingly as beautiful as anything in Cades Cove! I had the pleasure of seeing my friend, Misty, and meeting her family - husband, Justin, and son, Walker. We had a blast doing this shoot! Here are a few samples...

Friday, September 07, 2007

Jameson

Whew, what a day! I spent about five hours treking around Chattanooga with my good friend Royce Cornelison, president of P&C Construction. I'm doing some commercial work for them - shooting finished jobs of theirs for them to display on their website and in a new brochure. I saw some VERY nice buildings today folks!
Then I came home for about an hour before setting off in the other direction to Skyline, Alabama, where I photographed my little buddy Jameson! Jameson's mother, daddy, grandparents, and myself followed him all around his grandparents' yard this evening (fighting gnats or mosquitos or something)! He didn't feel too good today, and wasn't just full of smiles; but we got some adorable shots anyhow!!! Here's a couple of my favorites. The last one is of Jameson and his "Maw" - the one person who was getting smiles out of him this evening! Of course Maw didn't want her picture made; but I got this one anyhow and had to include it here! So, Emily & Jesse, here are a couple of samples; and I'll try to have the rest finished in a week or so.
Thanks!!
-BYRD

Thursday, September 06, 2007

I've Been Tagged...

I have been "tagged" by 2 of my photographer friends... Gerri Weatherbee , and Anna Karin . This means that I am supposed to share with you, my blog friends, a few random facts about myself. So...here goes!
The Rules.Post the rules before you give the facts. Post eight random facts about yourself. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag eight people and list their names. Leave the people you tagged a comment on their blog, letting them know that they’ve been tagged.
1. My wife was born on my third birthday! Yes, we share the same birthday (February 11); and to further complicate things, we married on that day in 2000! I also have an uncle and first cousin who share our birthday!
2. My great-grandparents, Wiley & Josie Bird, also shared their birthday (May 21, 1893/1894).
3. By that last comment, maybe you can tell that I am an avid genealogist and probably enjoy that more than nearly anything else! I have published three books on the subject, and have three more in the works.

4. The last book I published, The Bird Family (2003), was something I had worked on for more than 10 years! I started gathering information for it before I could ever drive!
5. I love wathing reruns of Andy Griffith, Bill Cosby, and Little House; and yes, I cry during almost every episode of Little House!!! And there's nothing wrong with that! At least that's what my therapist says! ;)
6. The smell of skunks doesn't really bother me. It's not my favorite smell or anything; but it just isn't all that bad. Smells like burnt coffee to me. On the other hand, I really don't like to smell things PERIOD. I don't care if it's a candle or a diaper - I don't really like to smell things. My wife will come running at me with a candle, saying "smell this!" and then gets mad because I DO NOT want to smell it!
7. I am really scared of spiders. I mean, not to the point that I freak-out if I see one; but boy if I think I've got one on me, WATCH OUT!
8. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Since I've been married, I've wanted to be a school teacher, a mortician/funeral director, a photographer, and my dream since I was in high school - a barber! Whatever I do, I want to do it right; and so for now, I'm a photographer! Who knows about thing time next year!
Okay, here's my special 8:
I'm gonna be lazy and not "tag" anybody else :) Sorry!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Cades Cove...

It's that time of year again that I start planning my week for our trip to Cades Cove, where we'll shoot family pictures throughout the week. This is a BEAUTIFUL Fall setting, folks! Think about joining us this year! The sitting is ONLY $50.00, which is cheaper than my regular on-location sitting fees! The dates are October 1 through 6, so if you or someone you know will be in the Smokies during that week, give me a call or shoot me an email quickly! Also, if you have a favorite spot elsewhere in the Smokies, we'll meet you there too!


-BYRD

In the Works...

We've got a lot of exciting things going on! The studio should be complete in about a month; and we can't wait for our Open House so that everyone can come see our great new space! We are also now offering a greater variety of digital albums and memory books! AND, we're revamping our wedding packages, which is pretty big for me, since I haven't really pushed any focus towards weddings over the past year. So, watch out for great things to come! Hopefully by the first of October, I'll have my first "Mini Session Day", offering Halloween Portraits to the kiddies to have their picture made in the costume! Then, by the end of October, we will begin our Christmas Mini-Sessions! I'm telling you THERE'S A LOT OF GREAT THINGS IN THE WORKS, so check back often!
This picture has no relevance to the post, I just liked it! These are my girls - Kenzie & Kayla!
-BYRD

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Godwin Reunion

The Sunday before Labor Day is always a day that we can count on spending time with the Godwin Family at Maw-Maw Godwin's house. Maw-Maw Godwin is Kellie's great-grandmother. We always have such a great time with this part of the family and one thing has never changed over the past eight years that I have been in attendance - these folks KNOW how to cook! Here's a couple of shots of the day, all of which can be emailed to any of the Godwin Family if they will just shoot me a note requesting them. Also, ALL of my shots from today can be viewed on my MySpace page. Pictured here are Maw-Maw (Dimple Godwin), 5 generations between Maw-Maw Godwin, Maw-Maw Joyce, Vicky, Kellie, and Kenzie & Kayla, and the last shot is of the girls on a swing with some of their cousins.