Tag Archives: Brentwood
You lie like a fly…
Shot this little guy on my deck today using a Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens + 68mm extension tubes. Click on the photo to see a larger version. No sharpening or blurring… straight out of the camera except for post cropping.
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Also tagged commercial photographer, commercial photography, macro, macro photography, Nashville, photographer, photography, Royce DeGrie, stock photography
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Portrait of Taylor Swift
I had the honor of shooting an exclusive event Saturday night; Taylor Swift received the Harmony Award from the Nashville Symphony. Congratulations, Taylor!
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Also tagged award, commercial photographer, commercial photography, Harmony Award, Nashville, Nashville Symphony, Nashville TN, photographer, photography, Royce DeGrie, Swift, Taylor, Taylor Swift
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Too cool not to blog about…
I’ve been having problems with exhaustion and headaches for a while now, so I went to see my doctor who sent me to an oral surgeon to remove the mandibular tori under my tongue. The thought was that it might help with the sleep apnea. During the follow up to that surgery, the surgeon mentioned that he may be able to cure my sleep apnea! It would be a surgery that would require my jaw and lower part of my skull to be cut and advanced forward–a procedure called Mandibular Advancement. Sounds like fun, right? It would require my jaw to be wired shut for six weeks after the surgery. Pictured (left) is a composite of what that procedure involves. Yikes!
Well that’s not the “cool thing” I wanted to write about today. As a part of the work-up to determine if the surgery will help me, the doctor ordered a series of x-rays of my skull. One of those x-rays is called a Cephalometric X-ray (pictured below) and is very cool because it shows both flesh and bone in the profile! I have a very attractive skull underneath all this ugly! I’ve already gotten compliments on how nice my skull is. Maybe I should frame this and hang it in my office to prove that I actually am attractive, it’s just beneath the surface.
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Also tagged cephalometric xray, human skull, medical imaging, Nashville, photographer, photography, profile, Royce DeGrie, skull, x-ray, xray
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1979 Red Corvette – My Childhood Dream Car
Originally published: Sep 8, 2009 @ 21:35
Yes. It is true. I just sold the car of my childhood dreams. This is an actual photo I took shortly after I bought it nearly three years ago. It was a beauty, even if I do say so myself. One might think this was a hard decision to make. One might also suggest that the sale of this car would sadden me, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. Please, allow me to explain.
As a child I thought this was the coolest car on the planet. As an adult, I’ve worked hard, saved the money, and bought it. It was fun to drive and a real attention getter. But now that I’ve owned it, I realize “Meh… it’s just a car.” A car that can be door dinged. A car that can be wrecked. A car that can be gone more quickly than I got it. You see, I am a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ and, as such, I realize the truth about material possessions. They can make us comfortable here on earth, and they can even be fun. There is nothing wrong with owning things… unless you realize that those things might be hindering you from doing God’s work.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ” Matthew 6:19-21
I will take the money from the sale of the car and do something good with it. Something really good!
Check this BLOG in the coming months to see what we decide to do with it. Thank you Lord for a quick sale! And now, off to do the Lord’s work!
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Also tagged '79, 1979, 1979 Corvette, Chevrolet, Christ, Christian, christianity, Corvette, Nashville, photographer, red, Royce DeGrie, sports car, Tennessee, TN, Vette
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Flooding in Tennessee
More rain and flooding than I’ve ever seen in Tennessee. Our neighborhood, which isn’t even in a flood plain, had its own share of flooding. The house diagonally across the street from my house was flooded up to the windows on the first floor. Another house down the street caught in fire and the family was trapped because of the flooding. Fortunately, the family was rescued by our amazing firefighters in Brentwood. Here are a couple of photos of the house a couple houses down from mine. Wow. Click on the photos and notice the water level on the lower window. Yikes!
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Also tagged flood, flooding, flooding in tennessee, Nashville, Nashville TN, Tennessee, TN
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I love it when a plan comes together…
I love the feeling I get during the creative process when I am hit with an idea, plan it out, execute it, and… NAIL IT! I love looking at the final product when the results are better than I imagined. Rarely happens, but when it does it is very rewarding. The photo above is the result of about 8 hours in total, from concept to execution–such is the nature of good stock; lots of planning and set up time. I actually made the little house just for this shoot. I bought a little plastic house and detailed it up to make it look like a little cottage. This photo was shot at two different exposures, one for the main lighting as a whole and the other to capture the nice warm, glowing light inside the house… yes, it actually is lit from inside!
Thanks, Ryan, for the use of your hands and your patience. Now on to upload this baby for sale as stock… I think this one might be a big seller for me.
Help-Portrait
On Saturday, December 12th, I will be participating in a world-wide event called Help-Portrait. I’m looking for Make-up artists, Hair Stylists, and other Photographers in the Nashville/Franklin/Brentwood area willing to help me out on this. It’s a tremendous gift to make single mothers feel special this holiday season. It’s a chance to use your gift to give back to the world.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tu1XrBn3A]
If you’ve got talent in any of these area and you have a heart, come help me give a little of both this holiday season. If you are interested in collaborating on this project, email me at royce@degriephoto.com. Thanks!
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Also tagged commercial photographer, commercial photography, give, giving, Help-Portrait, help_portrait, holiday season, less fortunate, Nashville, Nashville TN, needy, photographer, photography, Tennessee, those in need
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Standing out in the crowd – what’s wrong with this photo?
Can you find what is wrong with this picture? Look very closely. Hopefully, you won’t be able to find anything wrong with it.
I had this concept for a project I’m working on entitled “REAL”. So I came up with the idea of the juxtaposition of a very real person with a bunch of fake versions of him in a crowd behind him. All I needed was a bunch of mannequins all dressed exactly alike and a model who was about the same height and weight, as well as the right age. Well, finding the mannequins proved to be difficult so we bought two of them at a whopping $140 each. Then, I thought of a young man in high school who attends our church who fit the part. Jordan Valdez was a good sport and agreed to do a little modeling for me on this project.
I then went to Old Navy and had my seventeen year old daughter and my wife help me choose three identical sets of clothes that are cool, but not dated or trendy. Next, the three hour photo shoot. Jordan’s part took about 45 minutes as it was easy enough to shoot him in front of the two mannequins. Then came the chore of moving the mannequins around the room and shooting about a hundred different frames. I kept the lighting stationary and the camera on a tripod to shoot the same scene every time. I set the lens to manual focus so that the depth of field remained as true as it would be if the image were all shot at the same time. Also, wanting to capture a convincing perspective instead of just duplicating the same two mannequins, I shot at 24mm to get the wide angle effect you see on the far right and far left of the photo. It gives a real feeling of the natural perspective of standing in front of the crowd and adds a little bit of quirkiness to the image through the distortion of the wide angle lens.
This images is a composite of 17 different shots all edited together into one. I’m very pleased with the results and plan to do more of this sort of shooting in the near future because I love the feeling of this photo. There is something peaceful about it but in an eerie sort of way. I love the dimensionality of the image and how it seems like you could walk right through the crowd. I also like the humanity that is evident in Jordan’s posture when juxtaposed with the crowd of robot-like imposters. Most of all, I’m pleased with how well the finished piece matches the initial concept. Like the A-Team… I love it when a plan comes together!
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Also tagged Christian, commercial photographer, commercial photography, communication, conformity, DeGrie, fake, graphic design, identity, imposter, individual, individuality, iStockphoto, Model, modeling, Nashville, non-conformity, personality, photographer, photography, real, Royce DeGrie, standing out in the crowd, stock photography, Tennessee, unique
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A photo with a certain “Je ne sais quoi”…
Since I get asked a lot of questions like “How did you do that?” and “what kind of lighting did you use?”, I’m going to start posting answers to those questions. I get a lot of comments and questions about this photo, in particular, so I’ll start with this one.
Q: Who is the blond in the photo? (Yes, that is an actual question.)
A: She is an aspiring model and actress in Nashville, Tennessee who goes by the name DELICIAE. You can find her here.
Q: Where did you take that picture?
A: In my kitchen. Yes, really. My family is very accommodating of my profession. :P
Q: What kind of lighting were you using?
A: This image was shot with single source lighting and a reflector. The light is a ring flash (ABR800) with a Moon Unit softbox diffuser.
Q: What camera configuration were you shooting with?
A: I shot this with a Canon EOS 5D and a Canon EF24-70 f/2.8L USM
Q: what settings were you shooting?
A: The settings were as follows:
ISO speed rating: 100
F-Stop: 1/200 sec
Focal length: 43mm
There was very little (minor) post editing on the shot. I try to get the image the very best it can be straight out of the camera. It yields the best quality that way. Any other questions about this photo feel free to email me with your specific questions here.
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Also tagged commercial photographer, commercial photography, DeGrie, Deliciae, iStock, iStockphoto, Kristina Withers, Model, Model Mayhem, modeling, Nashville, Nashville TN, photographer, photography, Royce, Royce DeGrie, stock photography
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Media Frenzy
This is absolutely crazy. I have the privilege of being the official photographer for the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. I shoot the annual Medallion Ceremony each year as the new inductees are given their awards. I also shoot the performances during the show at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. It is a crazy whirlwind several days but this picture sums it up in one shot.
Last year, I was able to bring a great friend, Geoff Hammond, to shoot the event with me. The arrangements didn’t work out this year as the MHOF had other ideas. So this year I recruited another good friend, Ryan Alexander to be my assistant. The idea was that Ryan would come along to help with crowd control, lugging equipment, helping set up and break down, etc. But I got an idea in the process. I have an extra camera as a back-up. I thought to myself, what if I just teach Ryan some basics and give him my extra camera to shoot pictures throughout the night. I was hoping that he would be able to catch some shots that I couldn’t get because I couldn’t be two places at once. Ryan happens to be a very quick learner. Although not all of his images were pro-quality, he really surprised me. In fact, he knocked it out of the park on several of the images he shot. He wound up getting a lot more images than I thought he would. I was amazed that I was able to give him some extreme crash-course lessons and turn him loose.
This photo is one he shot of me during a media frenzy… I’m the tall bald guy in the front of the crowd, upper right corner. I love this shot. It totally captures the chaos of the medallion ceremony media frenzy in a way that I experience each year, but cannot see from this perspective. It’s very cool as a photographer to see it from a totally different angle. Thanks for capturing this moment for me, Ryan, and thanks for the other great shots you were able to get during the event. Your ability to learn so quickly amazes me!
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