World Wide Weems

Allison Rose and Max Socol

2011-06-03T17:18:00.005-04:00

Allison Rose and Max Socol were married on May 29 at Tumbling Waters Conference Center and Retreat at Camp Darom in Clayton, GA.

Katelyn Hudson and Jeff Hardwick Wedding

2011-06-03T17:16:00.003-04:00

Katelyn Hudson and Jeff Hardwick were married on May 21, 2011 at Indian Hills Country Club in Marietta, GA.

Katelyn Hudson and Jeff Hardwick Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Katherine Colmer and David Johnston Wedding

2011-06-03T17:12:00.002-04:00

Katherine Colmer and David Johnston were married on May 14, 2011 at Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA. Their reception followed at the Piedmont Driving Club Golf Course, also in Atlanta.

They hosted the "Rehearsal Day 5K" on May 13, 2011. Funds raised by this informal race in Atlanta's Piedmont Park benefited cancer research.

Katherine Colmer and David Johnston Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Hollie Wilson and Clayton Womack Wedding

2011-06-03T17:10:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Hollie Wilson and Clayton Womack!

They were married at the Albritton House in Butler GA on April 16, 2011.

Baby Portrait Lit With Flashlight

2010-12-09T02:42:00.002-05:00

I don't usually make blog posts about portrait sessions. I like to keep them as private as possible until the families have been able to get their prints and give gifts (portraits always make great gifts for relatives) before they are plastered all over the wwww. By that time, it's been too long to post it as new work.

I did want to share this image with you for two reasons. 1) Look at that expression. 11 week old babies never give a photographer expressions like that. 2) This portrait was lit in an unconventional way.

The light source here is a Mini Maglite LED with the reflector removed. Maglite calls this "candle mode" because the flashlight looks like an electric candle. Very convenient when you need some light at your camp table, even more convenient when you need a continuous light source for a baby portrait.

The light is gaffer taped inside a small Chimera 9"x36" softbox.

WPJA & Brides Magazine Photo Contest

2010-11-15T02:54:00.005-05:00

This image from Deborah Rosenthal and Danny Asher's wedding took 9th place in the Culture & Customs category of the Wedding Photojournalist Association and Brides Magazine 2010 Contest.

Ayleen Murphy and Art Supernault Wedding

2010-11-10T02:52:00.004-05:00

Ayleen Murphy and Art Supernault were married on November 6, 2010 at The Davenport House in Savannah, GA. The reception followed at Garibaldi's Cafe'.

Wedding coordination and reception entertainment by First City Events.

Ayleen Murphy and Art Supernault Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Kelly Sullivan and Rocky Copeland Wedding

2010-10-19T05:13:00.003-04:00

Kelly Sullivan and Rocky Copeland were married October 16, 2010 on the beach at Tybee Island, GA. The reception followed on the yard of the historic Tybee Island Light Station.

Wedding coordination and reception entertainment by First City Events.

Kelly Sullivan and Rocky Copeland Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Cary Anne Barrow and Daniel Claxton Wedding

2010-10-07T21:27:00.001-04:00

Cary Anne Barrow and Daniel Claxton were married on October 2, 2010 at First Baptist Church of Butler, GA. The reception followed at The Albritton House.

Cary Anne Barrow and Daniel Claxton Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

2010, So Far

2010-09-30T15:16:00.002-04:00

I pulled together a gallery with some of our favorite images up to this point in 2010. More to come...

2010 Favorites So Far - Images by Hassel Weems

Kristen Brewick and Tyler Wilson's Wedding

2010-08-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

Kristen Brewick and Tyler Wilson were married on August 7, 2010 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Roswell, GA. Their reception followed at the Marriott Windward Hotel in Alpharetta, GA.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Kristen Brewick and Tyler Wilson Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

April Sheppard and Sam Britt's Wedding Preview

2010-08-04T18:02:00.001-04:00

April Sheppard and Sam Britt were married on July 31, 2010 at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Atlanta, GA.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

April Sheppard and Sam Britt Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Lindsey Sluder and Stven Knapp's Wedding

2010-07-22T02:40:00.002-04:00

Lindsey Sluder and Steven Knapp were married on July 17, 2010 at First Baptist Church of Auburn, AL. The reception followed at Believer's Church in Auburn, AL.

Lindsey Sluder and Steven Knapp Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Jenny Watson and Carter Barfield Wedding

2010-06-28T16:42:00.001-04:00

Jenny Watson and Carter Barfield were married on June 26, 2010 at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon, GA. The reception followed at Idle Hour Country Club.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Jenny Watson and Carter Barfield Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Lauren Turner and Zachary Hambrick's Wedding Preview

2010-06-22T01:34:00.001-04:00

Lauren Turner and Zachary Hambrick were married on June 19, 2010 at Gaither Plantation in Covington, GA.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Lauren Turner and Zachary Hambrick Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Nicole and Trey's Wedding Preview

2010-05-20T03:26:00.002-04:00

Nicole Thrift and Trey Mitchell were married May 15, 2010 at Plantation Farms in Byron, Georgia.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Nicole Thrift and Trey Mitchell Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Elisabeth Nesbitt and William Hanes Wedding

2010-04-29T01:40:00.000-04:00

Elisabeth Nesbitt and William Hanes were married April 24, 2010 at Seaside Interfaith Chapel. Their reception followed in the Lyceum at Seaside School, Seaside, FL.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Elisabeth Nesbitt and William Hanes Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Chelsey Boatfield and Brandon Robinson's Wedding

2010-04-29T01:38:00.001-04:00

Chelsey Boatfield and Brandon Robinson were married on April 17, 2010 at First Baptist Church in Butler, GA. Their reception followed in the fellowship hall.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Chelsey Boatfield and Brandon Robinson Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Kelly & Tony's Wedding Preview

2010-04-16T16:34:00.002-04:00

Kelly Torrance and Anthony Capozzi's wedding ceremony was held on April 10, 2010 at the Chapel of All Faiths in Milledgeville, GA. Their reception followed at the Milledgeville Country Club.

Click the link below the slide show to see larger photos.

Kelly Torrance and Anthony Capozzi Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Camera Remote & Motor Drive Cables

2010-04-01T03:59:00.004-04:00

If you are looking for another option to trigger your remote camera take a look at Flash Zebra. They have cables for cameras you didn't even know you could fire remotely.

For Photographers - Footswitch Shutter Release

2010-03-29T15:01:00.002-04:00

With the growing popularity of photo booths at weddings and events, many photographers are looking for a good way for the subject of the photo to also trip the shutter. The self timer doesn't work for this and using a set of Pocket Wizards introduces other problems. (1.Someone inadvertently walking off with the transmitter. 2.Tying up $400 in radio equipment to cover a 6 foot distance.)

The other problem I see in many images from photobooths is that people often stand out of the area of sharp focus and the area where the light is set for a good exposure. Often, the people aren't even in the picture. With a radio remote in someone's hand they can stand anywhere and still trip the shutter.

I thought about how to do this and figured a footswitch would be the perfect answer. It's cheaper than a set of radios, requires no batteries, and the person tripping the shutter has to be in one place to trip it. The best thing is that an inexpensive, durable footswitch is readily available. I found the perfect one at Amazon: Casio SP-3R Sustain Pedal for Casio Keyboards

This isn't the only pedal that will work but I have tested this one and know that it does. Many of the other pedals have automatic polarity switching so they can be used with different brands of keyboards. This is good for keyboards, bad for cameras.

To make it work you will need the pedal, a motor drive cable for your camera (the same one you use for Pocket Wizards will work) and an adapter to mate the 1/4 phono plug of the pedal to the 1/8 mini plug of the motor drive cable.

If the thought of soldering connectors gives you the shakes, I'll make up a 5' cable for you for $25. (E-mail for details.)

If you are able to do a little soldering you can save $25 and do it yourself. You can make an adapter cable with a 1/4 mono phono jack, a 1/8 mono mini jack, and some two conductor wire. They have all of this stuff at Radio Shack. Or, you can cut the 1/4 plug off the pedal and replace it with a 1/8 mono mini jack.

I'll post a video about this if there is any interest. Let me know in the comments or by e-mail.

For Nikon 10 Pin - Pocket Wizard Motor Drive Cord

For Canon - Pocket Wizard Motor Drive Cord

Erin Carrell and Michael Walker Wedding

2010-03-19T14:01:00.002-04:00

Erin Carrell and Michael Walker were married on March 13, 2010 at Blue Springs Plantation in Albany, GA.

You can see their preview here or on our wedding preview site.

Erin Carrell and Michael Walker Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Dot Dannenberg and Jake Williams Wedding

2010-02-23T17:26:00.002-05:00

Dot Dannenberg & Jake Williams were married February 20, 2010 at Crossroads Methodist Church in Perry, GA. Their reception followed at the Austin Theater in Fort Valley, GA.

You can see the preview here or larger on our Web site.

Dot Dannenberg & Jake Williams Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Erin Pulver and Andy Pringle Wedding

2010-02-23T17:22:00.002-05:00

Erin Pulver and Andy Pringle were married on December 30, 2009 at Grace Church in Marietta, GA. The reception followed at Dogwood Terrace in Acworth, GA.

You can see their preview here or larger on our web site.

Erin Pulver and Andy Pringle Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Panasonic Lumix LX3 User Report

2009-12-23T02:54:00.001-05:00

Panasonic Lumix LX3

I just bought this little camera in November of 2009. I think I've seen more interest in this camera than I did when I bought my Nikon D3. That's something else for a compact camera that first hit the shelves in 2008.

I think the interest lies in the fact that the specs say that that this is a serious pocket camera and everyone ants to know if it's true. After a month with the Lumix I say that it is true for the most part. Obviously, there are some trade-offs. The sensor noise is better than most compacts but it's nothing like what I'm used to in my SLRs and the controls are really small.

Sample pics are easy to find so I'm only giving a usability report.

There are some nice features that could easily go un-noticed. When you are in manual focus mode the distance scale includes a depth of field scale that changes dynamically. Pretty cool for a camera you are likely to scale focus. Auto focus is quick for a compact camera. Also, you can move the AF point anywhere on the screen. The quick AF button in manual focus mode is a stroke of genius.

It has spot metering. (This is important enough to me that it gets it's own paragraph.)

Important features are accessed through buttons or dials, not menu options, with the programmable function button being a huge win.

There are a few things I do not like about the camera. One, the screen is not really a good indication of exposure. Auto gain should be disabled in manual exposure mode so that the screen previews my photo. This will not be an issue when I get an optical viewfinder but it's difficult for my pea brain to think about all the other stuff I need to consider and remember that the screen image is not really in line with my settings.

The start/stop of the movie mode is very strange. There is lag between hitting start and the movie actually recording but it cuts the last second of your movie when you press stop. You need to wait a second or two after the action has ended to stop recording because you will lose the last second that occurred before you pressed stop. (My explanation makes almost as much sense as this senseless camera behavior.)

The microphone is better than I expected but I prefer to capture audio with my Zoom H2 then sync sound later. It seems like the audio and video will sync for about 3 minutes from these two sources. This is fine for my purposes since I rarely record more than a couple of minutes per clip but it will drive you up the wall if you need to record for very long.

The lack of manual exposure control in movie mode is maddening. Exposure jumps wildly during recording. Changes in exposure can be drastic, like the camera doesn't understand that things might come in and out of frame quickly and exposure does not need to be adjusted because the scene was dark for 1/30 of a second.

The camera does not ship with any kind of video editing software. I've heard that iMovie does a good job on Macs but I use PC. Sony Vegas 9 (consumer version, $75. Not the $500 pro edition) is good software and handles the H264 .mov files easily.

I bought this camera for two main purposes. First, I wanted to have a good camera with me at all times. It absolutely fills that purpose. It's winter now and I can easily carry in a jacket pocket. In summer I suppose I'll resort to cargo shorts or a small belt case. The camera is all metal so it's kind of heavy for a shirt pocket. It's uncomfortable in jeans pockets but not too bad in other pants. It's far smaller than my SLRs so I still feel like I've been freed from a ball and chain.

My other purpose was to make videos. I needed a good 720P camera for things like product videos and a few other projects. Other than the oddities already mentioned this is a very good video camera. 720p at 24fps looks nice. It should seamlessly integrate with my Nikon video workflow when I move in that direction. I hope I never end up doing video at weddings and events but I do have a video project or two in mind. More on that later...

From Katie's Bridal Session

2009-12-09T17:58:00.002-05:00

Here are a few images from Katie's bridal session at the 1842 Inn and St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon, GA.

Katie Leverett Waller Bridal Portrait Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Scroll down a few posts to see Katie and Adam's wedding photos.

Katie Leverett and Adam Waller Wedding

2009-10-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

Katie Leverett and Adam Waller were married October 17, 2009 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon, GA. Their reception followed at Idle Hour Country Club.

You can see their preview here or larger on our web site.

Katie Leverett and Adam Waller Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Tawanda & Toussaint's Wedding

2009-09-25T18:30:00.002-04:00

Tawanda Scott and Toussaint Sambu were married September 19, 2009 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Macon, GA. Their reception followed at The Blacksmith Shop.

You can see their preview here or larger on our web site.

Tawanda Scott and Toussaint Sambu Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Meg & Jonathan's Wedding

2009-09-03T02:03:00.002-04:00

Meg Chambers and Jonathan Campbell were married on August 29, 2009 at the DeKalb County Historic Courthouse in Decatur, Georgia.

You can see their wedding preview images here or on our wedding preview site.

Meg Chambers and Jonathan Campbell Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Hayley and Bart's Wedding Preview

2009-08-13T04:17:00.002-04:00

Hayley Carlton and Bart McDaniel were married on August 8, 2009 at First Baptist Church
in Opelika, AL. The reception followed in the fellowship hall.

You can see a small selection of their wedding photos here or on our wedding preview site.

Haley Carlton and Bart McDaniel Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Deborah & Danny's Wedding

2009-08-07T17:52:00.001-04:00

Deborah Rosenthal and Daniel Asher were married on August 2, 2009 at the Westin Hotel, Buckhead, Atlanta, GA.

You can view their wedding preview here or larger on our wedding preview site at www.hasselweemsweddings.com.

Deborah Rosenthal and Daniel Asher Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Lake Oconee BBQ & Blues Festival Spetemebr 25-26, 2009

2009-07-29T03:28:00.003-04:00

My cousin, Jay Weems, is starting a new BBQ contest on Lake Oconee. He has a goal of raising at least $10,000 for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

It's a Kansas City BBQ Society sanctioned event and it is a GA state championship event. There will be arts, crafts, live music, and lots of good BBQ.

The new Web site went live tonight:
www.lakeoconeebbqandbluesfestival.com

Anna & Chase's Wedding

2009-06-25T00:54:00.004-04:00

Anna Hudson and Chase Laurance were married in Roswell, GA on June 20, 2009 at Roswell United Methodist Church. The reception followed at Brookfield Country Club.

You can see their preview here or see it larger on our wedding preview site at www.hasselweemsweddings.com.

Anna Hudson and Chase Laurence Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Jordan and Jeff's Wedding

2009-06-11T00:09:00.002-04:00

Jordan McCann and Jeff McCool were married at Roswell United Methodist Church on June 6, 2009. Their reception was held at Ivy Hall at Roswell Mill.

You can see their wedding preview here or see the photos larger on our wedding preview site.

Jordan McCann and Jeff McCool Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Heather & Chris' Wedding

2009-06-03T16:48:00.002-04:00

Heather Allen and Chris Shields were married in Atlanta, GA on May 30, 2009 at Mount Paran Church of God.
Their reception was held at the Vinings Club.

You can view their wedding preview here or larger on our wedding preview site.

Heather Allen and Chris Shields Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Victoria and Jason's Wedding

2009-05-27T18:41:00.001-04:00

Victoria Gracia'a and Jason McLott were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Milledgeville, GA on May 23, 2009. The reception followed at the Willis House.

You can view their wedding preview here or larger on our wedding preview site.

Victoria Gracia'a and Jason McLott Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Twitter

2009-05-21T23:40:00.002-04:00

Bene' and I are on Twitter now. If you follow us it will make us feel loved or important or something.

beneweems
hasselweems

Maybe we'll announce special offers or tell silly stories in 140 word increments.

Darcy & Matt's Wedding

2009-05-19T14:10:00.002-04:00

Darcy Bradshaw and Matt Reifenberger were married on May 16, 2009 at Rathbun's Restaurant in Atlanta.

You can see their wedding preview here or visit our wedding preview site to see it larger.

Darcy Bradshaw and Matt Reifenberger Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Hassel in the WPJA Top 10

2009-05-05T02:08:00.002-04:00

I was surprised tonight when a colleague congratulated me on being one of the Wedding Photojournalist Association's top photographers for 2008. I didn't even know the list was out and never expected my name to be on it. Not only is my name on the list but I'm at number 6.

Julie Zorn and Charles Shipp Wedding

2009-04-30T23:20:00.002-04:00

Julie Zorn and Charles Shipp were married on April 25, 2009 at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Their reception was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Georgian Terrace Hotel.

Nicole Fantz of Peachtree Weddings did a wonderful job of coordinating the day.

You can see their wedding preview here or visit our wedding preview site to see it larger.

Julie Zorn and Charles Shipp Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Lisa Goldsmith and Matt Knight Wedding

2009-04-09T04:13:00.002-04:00

Lisa Goldsmith and Matt Knight were married on April 4, 2009 at Briarlake Baptist Church in Decatur, GA. Their reception was held at 173 Carlyle House in Norcross, GA.

You can see their preview here or click over to our wedding preview site to see it larger.

Lisa Goldsmith and Matt Knight Wedding Preview - Images by Hassel Weems

Krista Leonard and Matt Kinsland Wedding

2009-03-29T18:28:00.003-04:00

Krista Leonard and Matt Kinsland were married at Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. Their reception was held at The Ledges Country Club. You can see it here or go to our wedding preview site to see larger versions of the photos.

Since we were already in Huntsville we got up Sunday morning and went to the US Space and Rocket Center.

WPJA Q4 First Place Winner

2009-03-28T05:47:00.003-04:00

This image from Amanda and Collier's wedding won first place in the departure category of the Wedding Photojournalist Association's Fourth Quarter, 2008 Wedding Photography Contest.

Hear Me Ramble

2009-03-09T16:23:00.002-04:00

Many people have commented on my use of remote cameras and off camera light. These two things would be very difficult without the use of radio equipment. Pocket Wizard makes the best radios in the business. Gary Miller of Pocket Wizard interviewed me for their podcast, you can listen here.

Melissa Cobb & Thaddeus Hollingsworth Wedding Preview

2009-01-23T01:51:00.003-05:00

Melissa Cobb and Thaddeus Hollingsworth were married on January 17, 2009 at Eucalyptus Lane in Oxnard, California. You can see their preview here or click over to our wedding preview site to see it larger.

Bridge Out

2008-12-08T13:38:00.003-05:00

Placed here as a public service to my fellow photographers who may find themselves contemplating violence against their computers. As always, do this at your own risk. Don't come crying to me if you fry your computer.

Problem: Adobe Bridge CS3 slows to a crawl, will not build thumbnails, locks up, smells funny.

Solution 1: Trash preferences. Start Bridge, before splash screen hit Ctl-Alt-Shift. This will give you a dialog box to set Bridge back to it's original state. This serves to make you take a lot of time re-customizing your workspace. If you do it several times it will increase your frustration level which I hear is similar to a good cardio workout.

Solution 2:
If 1 doesn't fix the problem (it didn't for me) check your cache folder. If you can get Bridge to open, click Edit > Preferences > Cache then click the "Choose" button to find your cache folder. Go to that folder and check the file size of #.err where # is the name of your computer. If it is not 0 bytes then you probably need to delete your cache folder. Open the file in a text editor like notepad. This is how I found my problem. Every error line referred to the inability to access filesystem_blobs.myi. This file corresponds to filesystem_blobs.myd, which appears to be the actual cache of information. Both of these files were found in the "bridgestore" folder. I found that my filesystem_blobs.myd file was 8.47 GB. Way too big. Even if it wasn't corrupt it would have taken forever to load so it was time for a new one.

I renamed my cache folder to test my fix. Sure enough, Bridge started a new cache folder and everything is working like new. I went back and reclaimed my 8.47 GB of hard drive space by deleting the old folder. You will lose some information like keywords and any stored thumbnails when you do this but your pictures will be safe.

Thanks to Josh Johnston for helping me find the solution to this problem.

2008 Favorites Gallery

2008-11-30T04:58:00.002-05:00

Bene' and I would like to thank all of you who invited us to record one of the most important days in your lives.

Here is a gallery of a few favorite images from each wedding we shot in 2008.

Heather and Matthew's Wedding

2008-11-20T01:58:00.001-05:00

Heather Lynn and Matthew Emilio were married on November 15, 2008 at Prospect United Methodist Church in Jeffersonville, GA. The reception followed at the Community House in Cochran. You can see their wedding preview on our wedding preview site.

Katy and Andrew's Wedding

2008-10-24T02:26:00.004-04:00

Katy Stokes and Andrew McConnell were married at Cator Woolford Gardens in Decatur, Georgia on October 18, 2008. You can see their wedding preview on our wedding preview site.

New Wedding Preview Site

2008-10-20T23:17:00.003-04:00

We will be changing to a new wedding preview system in the very near future. In the past you have needed two addresses to see your preview. One for the Flash slideshow and another for shopping cart. Our hosting provider, Photoshelter, has announced it's new platform which will allow us to put it all on one site as well as other useful additions.

One of the best new additions is your ability to embed your preview slide show directly into your blog or web site. All you need to do is click the upward arrow in the lower right hand corner, copy the code, then paste it into your Web site.

Take a look at the preview in the next post to give it a try.

Macy & Paddy's Wedding

2008-10-16T02:03:00.002-04:00

Macy Strickland and Patrick Brown were married on October 11, 2008 at Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia. They rode a tandem bike over to the reception at the Solarium.

You can see a preview of their wedding images here in flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Kelly and Dave's Wedding

2008-10-09T03:33:00.002-04:00

Kelly Bowden and Dave Lewis were married on October 4, 2008 at FIrst Presbyterian Church in Macon, GA.

You can see their wedding preview in flash format or on our shopping cart site.

Mary & Jimmy's Wedding

2008-10-05T21:50:00.006-04:00

Mary Bragg and Jimmy Sullivan were married September 27, 2008 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Savannah, GA. The reception was at The Olde Pink House.

You can see a preview of their wedding photos here in flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Oh - don't miss Mary's music! Jimmy's on the record, too, listen for those bass lines...

Teri and Nate' Wedding

2008-09-25T12:47:00.003-04:00

Teri Godbee and Nate Miller were married on September 20, 2008. Their ceremony and reception were both held at Pineola Farms in Fort Valley.

You can see their wedding preview here in flash format or on our shopping cart site.

Amanda and Collier's Wedding

2008-08-26T23:26:00.002-04:00

Amanda Williamson and Collier Watson were married on August 23, 2008 at Bethel Congregational Methodist Church in Butler, Georgia. Their reception was held at Massee Lane Gardens.

You can see it as a Flash slideshow or on our shopping cart site.

Just Married, Sarah and Jeremy

2008-08-21T00:45:00.003-04:00

Sarah Buzzard and Jeremy Kemp were married on August 16, 2008 at Kimball Hall in Roswell, GA.

You can see their preview here in slide show format or here on our shopping cart site.

Laura and Jake's Wedding

2008-08-14T01:03:00.002-04:00

Laura Wood and Jake Kirkwood were married on August 9, 2008 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon, GA. The reception was held in the social hall. Entertainment was the Loose Skrews Band of Macon.

You can see their wedding preview here in flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Wedcomp Summer '08 Winners

2008-08-07T18:08:00.005-04:00

Wedcomp is a new wedding photography competition we mentioned here on our blog in April.

First, Bene' won 4th place in Getting Ready with this image from Ramona and Chris' wedding.

That's Ramona's mom on the left while our friend Brooke Lee styles Ramona's hair.

She also took 9th place in the Ceremony category with another from Ramona and Chris' wedding.

Hassel took 8th place in Reception with this photo from Sandy and Roger's wedding. (You might recognize it as a 1st place winner in the WPJA Action category a couple of months ago.)

He also took 11th place in the Reception category with this one from Andie and Stan's wedding.

Thank you to Wedcomp for picking these four photos as part of the top 100 images in your International contest. We are honored to be in such good company.

Most of all thanks go to our clients who trusted us to shoot their weddings and gave us these award-winning moments to record.

Cholla and Chris

2008-07-31T05:18:00.003-04:00

Cholla Simons and Chris Khoury were married at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia on July 26, 2008. Their reception was held at The Armory Ballroom and it was catered by Culinary Creations. Entertainment was provided by Kevin Nichols.

You can see their wedding preview here in flash format or on our shopping cart site.

Ashleigh & Sean's Wedding

2008-07-24T16:32:00.003-04:00

Ashleigh and Sean were married at Eagle's Brooke Country Club in Locust Grove, GA on July 19, 2008.

You can see their Wedding preview here in a Flash slide show or here on our shopping cart site.

Catherine and Ben's Wedding

2008-07-12T04:47:00.002-04:00

Catherine and Ben were married on July 10, 2008 (yes, the date is right, it was Thursday) at Macon's Federated Garden Club.

You can see a preview of their wedding photos here in Flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Amanda and Michael's Wedding

2008-06-24T19:10:00.002-04:00

Amanda Broadway and Michael Parsel were married June 21, 2008 at Roswell United Methodist Church and held their reception at Primrose Cottage.

You can see the preview in flash format or in our shopping cart site.

Jane Brown & Jacob Hall Wedding - June 16, 2008

2008-06-18T18:45:00.003-04:00

Jane Brown and Jacob Hall were married Monday, June 16, 2008 at the First Baptist Church of Monroe, GA. Their reception was at the Twisted Oak Woodfire Grill.

You can see their wedding preview on our shopping cart site or in flash format.

(I have only been to one other Monday wedding in my life - my own. Bene' and I have been married for over 18 years so Monday is a good day to get married.)

First Place in WPJA Winter Competition

2008-06-05T18:15:00.004-04:00

This image from Sandi & Roger's wedding won first place in the Action category of the WPJA first quarter of 2008 photo contest.

The little girl is the groom's granddaughter, the man who is about to be hit by the snowball is the groom's brother. He looks like an innocent victim in this picture but I can tell you that he wasn't altogether innocent. He had thrown a few snowballs himself at this point. (If you click he link to the preview you will see him throwing one.)

Snow is unusual in Atlanta so I considered myself fortunate to have snow on a wedding day. It made for a beautiful setting that I thought really punctuated such a unique wedding ceremony.

ISPWP Contest Judge

2008-06-05T01:57:00.002-04:00

Hassel is a judge in the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers' 2nd quarter 2008 photo contest.

Laura and Barry's Wedding

2008-06-04T00:00:00.007-04:00

Laura Greenhaw and Barry Willis were married on May 31, 2008 at the First Baptist Church of Opelika, Alabama. The reception was held at the Auburn University Conference Center.

You can see their wedding preview here in flash format or on our shopping cart site.

Just in case you are wondering - we have not started applying cheesy Photoshop effects to our pictures. I called the church to see if they had any rules for photographers. I spoke with Diane, the church's wedding coordinator. She gave me the guidelines then told me about this window where the organ used to be and that we were free to shoot from there if we wanted. There is no glass in the window, but there is decorative ironwork. The white fuzz you see is out of focus iron that Bene' was shooting through.

Sarah and Andrew's Wedding

2008-05-28T19:02:00.002-04:00

Sarah DeLoach and Andrew Wheat were married in the front yard of Sarah's childhood home in Macon on May 24, 2008. You can see their preview here in flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Donna & Michael's Wedding

2008-05-27T02:36:00.002-04:00

Donna Mashburn and Michael Nestor were married May 17, 2008 in the Pawley's Island Chapel on Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Their reception was held at The Old Gray Barn beach house.

You can see a preview of their wedding photos here in Flash format or here on our shopping cart site.

Warren & Michaela's Wedding

2008-04-29T14:26:00.002-04:00

Michaela Speirs and Warren Grice were married on April 19, 2008 at Henderson Village in Perry, GA.

You can see their wedding preview here in Flash format, or at Hassel Weems Weddings with the ability to order prints.

Our Daughter Has Been Published!

2008-04-05T23:42:00.003-04:00

Anna's cousins gave her a subscription to Clubhouse Jr. Magazine for Christmas. There is a section of jokes in the back that is her favorite part. It is the first thing she reads every time a new issue arrives and she tells the jokes over and over.

She made up the joke all by herself and asked us if she could submit it to the magazine. She was ecstatic when she saw it published in the April, 2008 issue.

New Wedding Photography Contest Benefitting Thirst Relief

2008-04-04T19:52:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine told me abut a new wedding photography contest where a portion of the proceeds are going to support Thirst Relief - an organization that exists to bring clean drinking water to third world nations.

Our mission is to overcome death and disease resulting from the consumption of contaminated drinking water by providing pure water to those in need around the world.

The contest is Wedcomp08. I hope you see a few winning images with our names on them.

Lee & Larry's Wedding at Macon's Blacksmith Shop

2008-04-03T01:19:00.002-04:00

Lee McNees and Larry Hillock were married at the Blacksmith Shop in Macon, Georgia on March 29, 2008.
Catering by Michael Falduti of the Red Tomato in Bolingbroke 478-994-6336
Entertainment and ceremony sound by Kevin Nichols, DKH Entertainment

You can see their wedding preview here.

Congratulations Gail & Bob!

2008-04-03T01:16:00.002-04:00

Gail and Bob were married in a ceremony at a private residence in McDonough, Georgia on March 22, 2008.

You can see their wedding preview here.

WPJA Musicians and DJ Category

2008-03-19T04:44:00.000-04:00

It was only 14th place, but I guess that's not too bad for the big end of the year contest.

This picture is from Donna Dupree and Joshua Haynes' wedding, May 26, 2007. The wedding and reception were held at the Jarrell 1920 House in Juliette, Georgia.

In keeping with the WPJA rules there has been no Photoshop manipulation of this picture. The reception was in a white tent. I put an off-camera flash behind the musicians and lit the ceiling above and behind them. It was a relatively low tent and they were on a stage. I knelt on the ground to get an even lower angle and shot into my backlight. Just like shooting on white seamless paper in the studio.

Web Server Changes

2008-02-13T02:36:00.002-05:00

I am moving my Web site to a new provider. If you are unable to reach it, please let me know and please remember to try checking the site again later.

If you are looking for wedding photos you can look at hasselweemsweddings.com for previews from recent weddings.

Thanks,

Hassel

On a Snowy Day in Atlanta

2008-01-23T00:46:00.000-05:00

Sandra Bean and Roger Blaine were married at Anthony's Fine Dining in Buckhead on January 19, 2008.

Take a look at their wedding preview.

Changing Phone Providers

2008-01-11T05:52:00.000-05:00

We are currently changing to a new phone provider. If you have any difficulty reaching us at our regular numbers, please try our fax line at 770-898-1596. We have disconnected the fax machine for the time being until the other phone lines are working properly.

Thanks!

Congratulations Kara & Warren

2008-01-07T18:20:00.000-05:00

Kara and Warren were married at Martha Bowman United Methodist Church on December 29, 2007. Take a look at their wedding preview.

New Web Site is Live

2007-12-25T18:33:00.000-05:00

Just after Santa left the gifts under the tree, he uploaded our new Web site. Take a look.

Congratulations Andie & Stan!

2007-12-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

Andie Bobb and Stan Hauseman were married November 3, 2007 at the Wimbish House in Midtown Atlanta. Take a look at their wedding preview.

Congratulations Jennifer and Chris

2007-10-23T02:21:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Smith and Chris May were married at Atlanta's historic Trolley Barn on October 20, 2007.

You can see their wedding preview in Flash format or in our online shopping cart.

Congratulations Katherine and John!

2007-10-18T01:37:00.000-04:00

Katherine McGoldrick and John Eubanks were married at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia this past Saturday, October 13, 2007. The reception was in the main ballroom at the Idle Hour Country Club, also in Macon.

You can see a preview of their wedding photos here in flash format or here in our shopping cart site.

In Illinois with the Johnstons

2007-10-10T00:39:00.000-04:00

We had the opportunity to visit our good friends Josh and Amy Johnston in Peoria, IL this past weekend. I helped Josh shoot a wedding and also took some family portraits for them while we were there.

Here's one from the wedding. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to take the carpet or the shoes, so I just took a picture.

The Johnston family:

On Sunday, we drove up to Chicago and met a mutual friend, Dennis Lee at Gino's East where we ate the best pizza ever. We are ruined.

Mazel Tov! Katie and Jonathan

2007-09-30T22:22:00.000-04:00

Katie Gibbs married Jonathan Eisner this past Saturday, September 29, 2007. The service was led by Rabbi Greg Hershberg of Congregation Beth Yeshua and was held at West Highlands Baptist Church in Macon, GA. The reception followed at the Armory Ballroom.

You can see a preview of their wedding photos here in flash format or here in our shopping cart site.

Holly Kissed a Boy

2007-09-26T03:40:00.000-04:00

That's what one of her bride's maids said after Holly Harrell and Adam Powers were married this past Saturday, September 22, 2007 at McDonough First United Methodist Church.

You can see the preview here in Flash format or here on our preview site with shopping cart.

WPJA Q2 Contest Results

2007-09-20T23:04:00.000-04:00

The results are in for the Wedding Photojournalist Association contest for the second quarter of 2007.

This first image took 5th place in the Reception category. It is from Ramona and Chris' wedding reception at the Cherokee Town Club in Atlanta. I used a slow shutter speed to pick up the lights in the room and an off camera flash from the left to make the dramatic light on the guys' faces and Ramona's veil. The off camera light is fired with a radio trigger.

An off camera flash was also used in this Top 20 entry in the Reception category. It was placed far behind them, and to the right. The sharp highlights are from the flash, the remaining illumination is from the ambient light. Sarah and Jeff's wedding and reception were held at Clearwater Plantation in Macon.

Donna and Joshua were married at his family home, now a bed a breakfast operated by his parents in Juliette. (The Jarrell 1920 House, next to the Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site.) The only light in this picture is from the fixtures and window you see within the frame. A family member was in the hallway steaming clothes for the wedding party. I saw the steam rising into the light, so I got in a position to wait for the right moment to grab the picture. This image is in the Top 20 of the Getting Ready category.

Thank You Locust Grove Deli

2007-09-10T16:36:00.000-04:00

Thank you Locust Grove Deli for letting us hog your Internet connection today.

Our DSL modem bit the dust last night, and we needed to get online to do a little work today. Yvetta fed us some good food, and let us stay at a table for a couple of hours to get our work done.

If you are in the Grove, look for LG Deli in the former library building on Hwy. 42.

Flash Preview - Beta Test

2007-09-10T16:33:00.000-04:00

I am in the process of moving to a flash based viewer for wedding previews. Jessica and Tim's wedding is the first that I have done, so please take a look and tell me what you think.

Jessica and Tim's Wedding Preview - Flash Format

Congratulations Jessica and Tim!

2007-09-10T03:44:00.000-04:00

Jessica Brown and Tim Bold got married at the Log Cabin Chapel in Smyrna then went on their reception at the Crooked Creek Golf Club in Alpharetta.

Coordination was by Michelle Grant of Infuse Events.

You can view their wedding preview at hasselweemsweddings.com

Kim De Feis and Jeff Delbridge Wedding

2007-09-07T04:02:00.000-04:00

Bene' and I photographed Kim De Feis and Jeff Delbridge's wedding this past Saturday September 1, 2007.
The wedding was held at Alpharetta First United Methodist, Aplpharetta, Georgia.
The reception was held at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Duluth, Georgia.

I have just uploaded Kim and Jeff's wedding preview to hasselweemsweddings.com.

I know a few people look at the pictures like this one in our galleries and wonder how on earth I got down on the floor in the front of the church to take them. The answer is that I put the camera under the front pew a couple of hours before the ceremony and then trip the shutter with a remote control. I was fortunate at Kim and Jeff's wedding to have a place to set a second remote camera from another angle.

Both of the preceding pictures were taken without my having to disturb anyone in the service by moving around to get a different angle.

Oh Man, I've Been Tagged!

2007-08-30T02:42:00.000-04:00

Man of style and all around good guy, Delaney Holliman tagged me. That makes me "it."

The deal is if you get tagged you have to share 8 things that you figure nobody knows about you. I tried to pick the 8 things that would result in the least amount of jail time.

8 Things you don't know about me.

1. The only class I ever failed in school was Beginning Piano. I took the class because I needed something easy to kill time. I had most of the credits I needed to graduate early, but they made me stay at school all day to take those classes. The problem with this class is that it required practice, which was more work for me than if I had just signed up for another academic class. I would go into the practice room with my partner and sleep while she practiced the whole hour. I think she got an A. I only learned one song, The Muffin Man.

2. Learning to play The Muffin Man was a portend of things to come, which also leads us to my next thing you don't know about me. I not only knew the muffin man, I became the muffin man, a salesman for Otis Spunkmeyer.

3. I used to own a horse, her name was Brandy. I have not ridden in a long time. My father still owns a few. They're more fun to look at than to ride.

4. You all know that Bene' is my wife and best friend. What you might not know is that I met her at church when I was 21 years old. I proposed the first time I ever talked to her alone. She said yes. We are closing in on our 18th anniversary. (This is the most important of the 8, but I'm throwing in the middle to keep you, the reader, off balance.)

5. My handwriting is beyond horrible. You didn't know that because you've never seen anything I've written by hand. It's even worse now that I have been typing everything for so long. I can barely write a check.

6. Other than the one time I downloaded a memory card for Zack Arias on his computer, I have never used a Mac.

7. My family moved from Macon to rural Putnam County when I was 7 years old. We lived in a little unincorporated area named Rockville. It came by the name honestly. For several years the family chore was to pick up rocks in the yard.

8. I started my first job when I was 12. I worked every Saturday with George Dunn, the county surveyor. My main job was to hold one end of the 100ft long steel measuring tape we used, which developed this odd looking muscle next to my elbow. I learned that flexing it and telling the teacher my elbow was injured would me out of class. I can still flex that muscle 22 years after moving on from that job. Most importantly, I learned a lot about the value of hard work from Mr. George, he was a very good man.

The rest of being tagged is that I get to pick a few folks of my own to tag now. I'll post links as they blog their lists.

Kim Bednarski. Can you believe I know somebody named Bednarski? Sounds like a made up name from Happy Days. I can hear Fonzie saying it now...

Jen Capone. I have no idea if she's related to Al or not. I'm afraid to ask.

There are still a few tagging deadbeats on the loose - Josh J, Zack, Janne G-E.

LGUMC Live Auction

2007-08-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

Locust Grove United Methodist Church is having a live auction this Saturday, August 18, 2007. Details are on the church Web site. If you've been thinking about having your family portrait made, we have a portrait session with an 11x14 print up for bid.

Side note: we photographed Tara and Zeb's wedding there back in April.

Bene' Weems vs Anna Shearouse

2007-06-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

Bene' challenged our friend Anna to a race on the inflatable obstacle course. It was set up at church for the VBS wrap-up party.

Windows Media Player 11 & Vista - Trouble Again

2007-05-17T18:48:00.000-04:00

A while back I wrote about the trouble I had upgrading Windows Media Player from v10 to v11. I eventually rolled back to v10 because nothing I did made the songs I purchased from buy.com play in v11.

That fix was fine until lightning hit one of our computers. I needed a new notebook, and the one that got hit only runs some office applications so I bought a new notebook and pushed my old one down the line. The problem is that he new notebook has Vista, and the super-no-good Windows Media Player 11.

From what I can tell there is no fix. I've tried everything, even to downloading all of the music again through buy.com's store. This is supposed to fix it, but no.

So, I'm not buying any more music protected with Microsoft's DRM. I'm either buying the CD or getting my music from eMusic.com. eMusic is great since the songs are much cheaper and they are plain-jane mp3 files. They have more indie and lesser known bands, but I'm getting to hear a lot of music I wouldn't have found otherwise. THe major label stuff they do have is super cheap. I paid $1 a song for my White Stripes music from buy.com, but I could have purchased their older stuff for $.33 a song from eMusic.

eMusic has a very good referral program. If I send you an invitation to join we each get 50 free songs. The only catch is I have to actually know you. So, if you know me and want to join, send me an e-mail and I'll send you the invite.

Is a link like a conjunction?

2007-04-30T12:14:00.000-04:00

This has been available since 2002, but we just found it last week. All of the Schoolhouse Rock songs are available in this DVD set.

We remember watching them every Saturday and learning about bills, conjunctions, electricity, verbs, etc. Now our little girl is learning from them. Saturday AM not required.

For Parents of School Age Children

2007-04-27T10:10:00.000-04:00

Enchanted Learning is a great site for printable teaching materials for children. You can take advantage of the free ad-supported pages or pay a small yearly fee for ad-free access.

Old Camera Information

2007-04-26T11:03:00.000-04:00

Because I am a photographer, people often ask me about how to work their dad's old Nikon. I always try to help, but this site, Photography in Malaysia, is the best place I have found for detailed instructions on older Nikon, Canon, and other brands of cameras.

Sports Shooter #100

2007-04-25T02:56:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Robert Hanishiro for reaching the milestone of the 100th Sports Shooter newsletter.

Robert has been writing the Sports Shooter newsletter every month for just over 8 years. It started as an e-mail to a few friends and quickly grew into what is, in my opinion, the best photography related site on the Internet. As the name implies, it has great appeal to sports photographers, but there are many acclaimed news photojournalists among it's members.

I am proud to say I have been a reader for about 7 years, and a member for almost 4 years. It was on Sports Shooter that I first learned how to use remote control cameras. Conversing with and reading after working photojournalists has helped shape how I approach the events I am privileged to photograph.

Thank you, Robert, for giving so much to the photographic community.

Mrs. Graham, Where Are You?

2007-04-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Graham was probably the world's best English grammar teacher. Her husband, Bob, was my middle school football coach. I learned all manner of good things from her. He taught me that football coaches are mostly bluster, especially when they can't put together a winning team. (He also taught me to never turn your back on a frustrated coach or you might get kicked in the back.)

If, like me, you can't remember what your 7th grade grammar teacher taught you about dangling participles or something equally arcane, check grammarerrors.com.

It's the next best thing to reading your old grammar textbook.

New Weddings

2007-04-18T19:44:00.000-04:00

Speaking of what I'm doing (reference previous post) there have been a couple of weddings added to www.hasselweemsweddings.com since then.