Monday, October 10, 2005

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day One

WesWineLoRes
"Where's My Glass?" by Wes Aldridge

Well, after another night of immortal hell of trying to get the blog up, including, but not limited to jumping from hotel to hotel, it is complete. And, what if the shot is a little cheezy, huh? Who cares. Of course it is a self portrait, maybe one of the better ones I have done of self.

I was at this very, very cool vineyard and winery called Childress Vineyards. Childress was once a NASCAR great and upon retiring, he returned to his native home of Lexington to start this grape juiced extravaganza. The grounds and facilities were beautiful and easily the most impressive vineyard I have ever photographed. My self portrait came from doing a light test for a shot I was going to do of the winemaker. I thought the wine barrels made the perfect setting for him, so I set my camera on my tripod and fixed up my 550EX flash on a light stand with an umbrella reflecting toward me set on self timer.

The winemaker was very funny and laid back and a pleasure to photograph. The shot of him is similar to mine, but he is about five inches taller and he has a wine glass in his hand. His attitude was just so good I got perfect facial expressions from him. He enjoyed the time and offered me a chilled bottle of Childress Chardonney at the end, which I gladly accepted and thoroughly enjoyed tonight!