On Assignment; El Paso, Texas-Day Seven

"Buffalo Soldier" by Wes Aldridge

I stopped to eat a traditional Mexican lunch in an absolute dive-bar style restaurant today... completely authentic in every way. The food was incredible and I absolutely gouged myself on a hearty plateful of tamales, enchiladas, taquitos, rice and beans, and great chips and salsa.

After the meal, I walked outside to the rental car. I had parked next to a cemetery, so of course I wanted to go exploring. It was rundown and old, and very interesting. I walked around a bit and finally I saw this sign. "BUFFALO SOLDIER." I don't know what it means or why it was there, but here is the shot.

And now, my assignments in El Paso are finished. Back in Nashville after a nice flight delay and hellish weather during the flight. I liked El Paso, but seven days was very much enough.

On Assignment; El Paso, Texas-Day Six

"Crack Donalds: The A-Bomb" by Wes Aldridge

I was driving around as the sun was setting, trying frantically to get a shot that the client wanted for the magazine. Well, I didn't get it because of circumstances beyond my control. It is what it is.

I did find a nice scenic perch that allowed me to look out over the eastern side of El Paso. There were lights everywhere, a very interesting site. I wanted to take a shot, but a plain and normal shot just seemed too dry. And then... there it was.

Amid all the blinking, sparkling and glittering lights of the city, I see the Golden Arches. I had this crazy idea about how Crack Donalds was somehow the Anti-Christ of Western civilization, akin to a bomb exploding inside those of us that choose to consume its foul, but delightfully greasy, filth.

So, BOOM! Its pretty tiny, but you can see the Arches going off like an Atom Bomb.

On Assignment; El Paso, Texas-Day Five

Today I finished the non-appointment exterior photography for my El Paso assignment. I found myself on the eastern outskirts of the city. Someone had mentioned an old mission that was in the neighboring city, Socorro. By pure luck, I saw a sign that said "Texas Mission" with a big white arrow on a blue sign pointing ahead of me. I bought the ticket and took the ride. I hunted for the mission and found it. It was serene and beautiful, worthy of a couple of shots.


"Open Door Welcome" by Wes Aldridge


"Mother and Son" by Wes Aldridge


"View to Heaven" by Wes Aldridge

On Assignment; El Paso, Texas-Day Four

"Another TD RUn" by Wes Aldridge

Tonight I shot the University of Texas El Paso Miners football game against the Texas Southern Tigers. The game was an entire blowout, Miners taking their winning season to 8-1 with a 45-0 shutout, knocking the Tigers further down in the rankings to 1-8. The game was overall pretty boring. UTEP just trounced the Tigers all over the field. So, I tried getting creative with my shot. I slowed down my shutter speed to around 1/30th of a second and panned with the action as a UTEP player caught a 30-yard pass and tried to keep his balance.

On Assignment: El Paso, Texas-Day Three

"Space to Ponder" by Wes Aldridge

Today was long. I spent a good bit of the day in Juarez, Mexico. It was an emotional time for me. What I saw opened my eyes to the reality of poverty. Juarez could only be described by me as a slum. I had never witnessed anything like it before. The houses were tiny shacks, thrown together with anything you could think of. The cars were circa 1987, rundown and on the last leg. The people had grief and defeat written across their sun-beaten faces. There were so many things to see... and I wasn't able to take one photograph of the massive tragic reality that surrounded me. I was with a translator and she sped us around to the locations that I had to get photographs of, never stopping in the thick of it all.

I must return there and document the things I see through photography.

This is a self portrait I did while I was shooting close to sundown in the desert. I was enjoying the beautiful landscape and thinking a lot about the things I saw today. I figured I wanted to make this a lasting memory for me. I sat the camera down on some rocks and got the self-timer going. The shot actually turned out in focus and with a pretty nice and even exposure. With sunlight like that, its pretty hard to go wrong.

"Quelli che passa prima che ci rimarremo nella memoria."

On Assignment: El Paso, Texas-Day Two

"Aquatic Grace" by Wes Aldridge

This is a shot from the El Paso zoo. I wanted to capture the aquatic grace of the sea lions. Think I got it.

On Assignment: El Paso, Texas-Day One

"Wild Lights" by Wes Aldridge

I am in El Paso, Texas, right now. A stones throw away from Juarez, Mexico, and right up the road from New Mexico. I thought I would be excited about this one. Now that I am here, I certainly am not. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I am not feeling El Paso. I have only been here for a day so far, maybe I will give it a little more time before I make a judgement on it.

El Paso is massive. I drove around for hours tonight, trying to get a feel for the area and how to navigate it. The map of the area is basically useless because it is about 3-feet wide and the roads are so small a magnifying glass would help greatly in reading it. Too bad I can't hold a magnifying glass while I am driving. The city is pretty compacted, everything seemingly built tightly around or on top of each other.

I had envisioned vast desert landscapes with cactus growing and tumbleweeds bouncing by. That isn't the case thus far. All those landscapes are interrupted by sprawling city buildings and strip malls. I hope I can get some time to find locations that will make for nice scenic shots.

Don't know if I am tired or worn down or just getting burned out, but my last trip to Indy and this one now, just haven't seemed right for some reason. I wonder what that means to me?

Well I am pretty undecided about this one: Is it really cool or just garbage? Ah, who cares. I think this shot is an illustration of my frustration today. It was made with a 30 second exposure at f/22 with an ISO rating of 100. I threw on the 16-35mm wide angle lens and waved, panned and zoomed the camera during the exposure.

Mixing the Mood

"The Berries" by Wes Aldridge

I like how this one is mixing all the different visual elements.

Five O'Clock's Dark

"November Moon" by Wes Aldridge

I was leaving work this afternoon and I had an overwhelming urge inside me to shoot some photos. I had been planning my next two weeks' shoots in El Paso, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama, so little actual photography was happening today. I need that stuff every day, can't live without hitting the shutter button a couple times a day.

I looked up and the sunset had all but faded away. I noticed the moon... and it was 5 p.m. That is soooo wrong. I mean, winter time is pretty miserable for photographers. With the sunrising at 7 or 8 a.m. and setting between 4 and 5 p.m., that doesn't give much time to get all the many, many assignments photographed that we have. It is pretty frustrating, and I wanted to try and portray that frustration in a photo.

Here we have the 5 p.m. November moon shrouded in empty tree limbs. Think that one shows a little bit of photo reality right now... and it will only get worse before better times roll around in Spring.

This one was shot with my 70-200mm telephoto lens on a tripod at ISO 100 with an extremely long exposure at 25 seconds at f/32. I was pretty impressed at how much the leaves were recognizable in the foreground because I was focused in on a celestial body pretty far away. It even looks as if the moonlight is illuminating the leaves, but that was really me cheating a bit. The leaves were lit by a street lamp overhead, but it sure looks like the moon is doing it.

I like this one, I do. Consider it a clever little photo trick!

Popping In The Sun

"Kettle Corn" by Wes Aldridge

I shot an assignment of a craft show at the Williamson County Agro Expo today. I also got this shot of a girl making a huge pot of kettle corn.

Hot LIghts On Church

"The Hustler" by Wes Aldridge

Well, this is sort of the shot I was trying to get the other night when I witnessed the man get run over by the car. I thought about the irony in the location of the porno store: Its address is on Church Street in Nashville. So, I think that's funny. I wish I could have gotten to this shot about 30 minutes earlier. It would have had a cooler sky, but such is life. It is done now.

Window View

"The Van Gogh Sky" by Wes Aldridge

I was leaving work today and saw the beautiful sunset. The only problem was, I didn't see anything around to shoot with it. I drove by a building and saw the reflection in the windows. There we go. Looks almost like a Van Gogh painting.

Close Your Eyes, Then The Ugly Things Will Go Away

"Conveniently Blind Eye" by Wes Aldridge

Well, this shot has nothing to do with my story I have to tell. But, I couldn't bring myself to the point of taking a photo of it.

I was driving down Church Street, en route to the HUSLTER Hollywood store to shoot some of the neons on the building. About five cars in front of me, I see taillights and slight swerving. The car hit a pedestrian, a dirty homeless man. He bounced to the street and the car didn't even stop to see how he was. This was during rushour. Each car in front of me passed right by the man, who was lying there motionless and bleeding on the sidewalk. It blew my mind. What a bunch of fucking soul-less assholes. I mean, I do some pretty ruff things, but give me a fucking break... this guy just got smacked by a car and they didn't even stop to see if he was alive or not. They didn't stop because he was homeless.

I pulled up to him and slammed into park with my hazard lights flashing. I literally pulled this man out of the street to avoid being hit by any other vehicles. Right as I almost had him on the sidewalk, a lady wearing a nurse's uniform ran up to me and grabbed his legs and helped me. Then, another nurse stopped by. And yet, within another minute, one more nurse showed up. The scene of the accident was only a few blocks from Baptist Hospital, so that explains that. I called 9-1-1 and paramedics, fire truck and police officer all arrived within 10 minutes of the accident. They took care of the homeless, dirty man and rushed him to the ER.

The homeless, dirty man's name was Andrew. I took the time to find that out because I cared to. Tonight, with all the thousands of people in Nashville, Andrew needed only one to stop and help him live. I am proud to say, that was me. And for all of those people that watched and drove on... fuck you, you worthloss dogshit bastards. Recognize the value of human life, no matter how much better you THINK you are than someone else who is less fortunate.

Hunger and Decay

"The Human Form" by Wes Aldridge

I think the shadows on this one give it great depth. You see what seems to be a thinning decay and are still left to wonder who and what it is. The human form is a mysterious thing.

Precious Anne

"Bestrafe Mich" by Wes Aldridge

There is something beautiful about her. You could see it in her eyes, even as crimson tears flowed down her cheeks. She made punishment seem pleasant. Her face told the stories of years of confusion and she finally was able to clear her mind tonight, to make it all new again. A moment of her simple purity is worth more than a lifetime of my lies. Peace danced around and delicately placed an olive branch on her bare shoulder.

When the Art became as close to perfect completion as we felt possible, we needed a change of scenery. Her cold steel blue convertible Corvette was the key to immediate happiness. She made the engine roar in 3rd as the frigid night air screamed through my hair. She tore around the corner and I looked over to see the moonbeam sparkle a glare from the corner of her right eye, and she smiled. After what seemed like only minutes, we were in the countryside surrounded by pine trees and became a moving part of the rolling hills. The high grass whipped hard as we flew down the two laner, complete with broken yellow line and absent of lamps. It seemed like we were flying by faster than the night, but the needle only read 45. We knew we were free and as long as the tank didn't go dry, we would stay that way. So we drove on, and on, listening to the sounds of night silence that filled the air.

She leaned closer to me and asked in a whisper, "Can you hear it?"

"What?"

"The stillness... the calm," she replied. "Can you hear Fate's call?"

"Of course. Its been our ear candy all night, right?"

"Then listen closely," she said, as I heard her finger nails click against the switch for the headlights... and then there was darkness. "Lets let the moon show us the way for a while," she said, giggling as she steered with her knees so she could light her Marlboro. I leaned in again and she sparked mine as well.

It may seem insane, but it was perfect for our moment of Fate, right then, right there. I didn't know her name two hours before, and will probably never see her again after this ride. I told her to keep her foot on the gas and we will think about the rest of the world some time later.

The Vette roared like a monster, again, and we were streamlined lost somewhere fading between the night air and a dream.

Some things are just never as they seem, hehe.

Helloween Rocked

"Make-up" by Wes Aldridge

Tonight was by far the best Halloween I have ever had. Nine Inch Nails played the Gaylord Entertainment Center... and it was beautiful. NIN are one of the greatest live acts I have ever seen.

Anyway, my friends Jim and Jen were prepping for the show in our downstairs restroom while we were watching a NIN DVD. Jim wanted some eyeliner and a little fake blood to set his costume off, so Jen was applying it. I think it is a really neat shot, totally capturing a fun moment for us tonight. It was an intimate moment between friends that were working together for a common goal, to get there. They finished. Then, we were off to the show. Killer.

GWAR is WAR

"Music, or Not?" by Wes Aldridge

Tonight I shot GWAR at the City Hall in Nashville. If you do not know what GWAR is, then do a little internet search and find out a little bit. It was one of the most vile, disgusting and nasty shows I have ever see... and I am a better man for it. Let's just say their shows are notorious for fans wearing rain gear because the band shoots so much fake blood and other liquids on the audience. I am covered from head to toe in fake blood, but man, was it fun. Rock On.

Sky Is Burning

"Autumn Fire" by Wes Aldridge

The fire in the sky is more beautiful in Autumn.

I shot one of my freelance assignments for Jolesch Photography today... from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. It was punishment. But tonight did have its rewards. My partner today was Alan, a freelancer that does things for many different people, including the Tennessean. He invited me to come see some of his friends' band at the Radio Cafe. The place was small and interesting and I think I met almost every known photographer in Nashville. After watching their work for years in The Tennessean, I finally was able to meet George Walker IV and John Partipillo. George is well known for his Tennessee Titans photos, amongst other things and John is who I look for for all around great photography. Everyone I met tonight were friendly and nice.

Maybe I have some new friends, I hope. I could have been out partying and playing with all my friends on this, my favorite holiday time of the year, Halloween weekend. I think I made a good choice though.

On Assignment: Fishers, Indiana-Day Five

"Scott, In The Woods" by Wes Aldridge

This is a portrait that I did with a photographer named Scott in the woods early this morning. Set the flash on a stand. Slow shutter speed. Fast spin with the camera body. Wah-lah.

On Assignment: Fishers, Indiana-Day Four

"Go Round" by Wes Aldridge

I was shooting for a small section of the magazine tonight at a place called Jonah's Fish Market. The interesting part was, it had a nice collection of fine wines as well. I was trying to get a shot that wasn't totally boring. I shot too much, got a little "outside of the box." I like this one. Slow shutter speed, rear curtain sync flash, spinning the camera during the exposure... elementary stuff, I know.

Oh, and by the by, if anyone is keeping score here besides me, MIND OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER had its 10,000 visit tonight. Right on, think I should celebrate. Anybody got some CheezWhiz and a catapult? Well, I would settle for bottle rockets and a bottle of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel.

On Assignment: Fishers, Indiana-Day Three

"Noblesville City Hall" by Wes Aldridge

WARNING: This post contains Explicit Language and Mature Content that some readers may find offensive. If you are under 18, or are easily offended by strong content, or are simply a feeble wiener, stop reading now and just view the photograph on this post. You may find discomfort within yourself if you continue reading. Do so at the risk of your own conscience.
Thnx – The Mgmt.

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Today was the day from Hell. All the Forces were working against me: Nature, Man and Machine. Bastards.

The sun has only made an appearance for about 2 hours collectively this week and exterior photography has been nonexistent… thank you Nature.

There are still a handful of people that haven’t returned my phone calls to set up photo appointments after leaving some of them 7 messages… thank you Man.

And the fucking mirror locked in the exposed position on my camera today, forcing me to send it back to Canon for service and drive into Indianapolis to rent a camera for a week… thank you Machine.

I am not angry, mad, upset, enraged… none of those. Right now, I am Bitter. I think that Bitter is one of the most hateful emotions a person can feel. When people are pissed, they can get aggressions out through whatever it may be… drinks, drugs, sex, blowing something up, whatever. Pick your poison, everyone does. But you can’t kick Bitter like that. No, not a damn chance. It lives deep, down, dark and low inside you, festering and seething and trying to stealthily crawl its way to the top of everything you are. You taste it in the back of your throat and you don’t feel steaming hot, you get more of that cold, numb and disconnected feeling.

I truly almost had enough today. I almost reached that point and threw my hands up. It has been one of those weeks where everything seems to be against me. But, you know what? Fuck you. I will defeat you. You are weak and I am strong. I have come too far to give up now. Bring it on, bring more, bring everything you’ve got. My will is too strong, I will overpower you. I will succeed and laugh in your face.

Now that the psycho ranting is over, let’s blow some sunshine up our asses so everyone leaves on a high note!

Ok, so I was always taught that tomorrow brings a better day and there always has to be something good, somewhere. Well, I just saw a commercial during the World Series that excited me. It seems that Joaquin Phoenix is playing Johnny Cash in an upcoming film with Reese Witherspoon. That is awesome because I can’t explain to you how much CASH means to me. He, along with Hank Williams The First, are in my opinion two of the greatest American poets that have ever lived. There is just something magic there. I am looking forward to paying my wallet-raping-$9-fee at the local cinema to see “Walk the Line.”

Now, I just lost a Paper-Rock-Scissors Game with Evan, and we have some catching up to do and some World Series to watch.

On Assignment: Fishers, Indiana-Day Two

"Bunny Ears" by Wes Aldridge

Today I was prepping to shoot a portrait of a husband and wife team that ran an acting studio and performance theatre. They were both former players in Broadway shows and really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. I wanted to shoot them on stage and try to use the lighting rig behind them as part of the backdrop. I wanted the look of stars to be coming from the lights, so I needed a really long exposure time to make that happen. Naturally, I wouldn't be able to hold the camera steady for a good 4 seconds, so I put it on the tripod. While I was making adjustments to the angle of the shot, the two were playing around and having fun. I was looking into the viewfinder when I saw... the bunny ears. Snap, and I got a moment of this little ol' couple's happiness, pure and unstaged... no pun intended, of course.

On Assignment: Fishers, Indiana-Day One

"The Ref" by Wes Aldridge

I am on assignment right now in a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. Fishers, oh Fishers... I have come to you again. I shot this magazine a year ago, and I am back again.

So, I had to shoot a family having fun at a local upscale bowling & gaming facility for a feature story. I shot them playing the lanes and think I got some cute stuff, mission accomplished. I needed to get another shot of the facility for a different department of the magazine. There was a room with nice pool tables, akin to Buffalo Billiards, for all those who may have that fine establishment in your town. I got a nice shot of a platinum blonde mother-daughter team playing a game of pool. I was finished. But then the owner grabbed me and said he wanted to do one more thing. Alright, I'm game.

He said he had messed with one of his servers a little earlier about being in one of the photos, because he knew she really didn't want to. He said he was going to get her and tell her she had to be in a shot. He told me to be mean.

At that point in time, I let every thought of the "traditional prick" photographer run through my head. It was time to get in character. When she walked in, a little confused, I started barking at her to "pick up the pace, sweetie, because I've only got five minutes." And it was on from there... and I let her have it.

If you know me, it is pretty hard for me to be a true and absolute jerk. I made her get in this pose about to break the rack. I kept telling her to give me a real smile because the "fake" one she was doing made her look stupid and really screwed up the picture. I was gruff and kept cutting her off after everything she started to say. She had this astonished look on her face that was priceless. It was totally awesome. I kept busting her chops and you could tell she was really getting pissed. At the point I could tell she was going to blow up, I put the camera up to my face and said, "smile and on three, say 'I got duped.'" She was like, "What?" And then I spilled the beans to her about her boss setting her up. The entire place busted out laughing and she ran around trying to kill her boss and me. Man, it was funny. Here she is, disgruntled smile and all. She was a really good sport!

But, as you can see on the TV screen in the background, my boy Vick and the Falcons are wearing the NY Jets out and I need to tend to some Monday Night Football.

A Great Time For Pumpkins

"The Pumpkin" by Wes Aldridge

The Fall is truly a great time for pumpkins.

Long Day's End

"McGavock Sunset" by Wes Aldridge

I shot a freelance marching band assignment at McGavock High School today... all day. I was shooting directly into the sun the entire time, which made the exposures on the shadowed faces of the particpants pretty difficult, especially with cloud coverage knocking me around 3 f-stops every few minutes. It made the autofocus on my camera not work worth shit. Really need that autofocus when the quota is to shoot at least 100 different photographs of constantly moving people in a span of about 8 minutes. Not easy, but sure is fun. Shooting the marching band competitions is like playing a game at the fair, I think. You figure out the movement patterns, lock in your focal point and push the shutter button second after second as each band member marches by until both of your hands start to cramp... then you do it some more.

After I finished shooting my 24th band (members ranging from 50 to 150) of the day, it was time to download the thousands of shots and get the heck out of there. While I was standing there finishing up, I looked over the tree tops and saw the beautiful sunset. Not much to the shot really, just Nature's majesty.

Dead... And Standing Tall

"Stix" by Wes Aldridge

What a brave tree to keep on standing after his prime.

Another Day In The Sun

"Ol' Cowboy" by Wes Aldridge

The sun was beautiful. The expression tells his story. Too long and hard at it, and getting too late in the day for him.

A Night On The Cumberland

"The General Jackson" by Wes Aldridge

I went searching around as the sun started to set tonight. The sun is setting much earlier these days. I barely have time to drive from the office to my place before the colors become brilliant. Yes, it is Fall now. The days are shorter, the weather is more unpredictable and the nights are becoming longer and longer. The life of a photographer becomes a little harder right now, but that's alright. I love the weather because I know winter is just around the corner and that is when things get really tough.

But, tonight, for all of those who love when I shoot ANOTHER Nashville skyline shot, this one is for you. I went across the Cumberland River to see what I could see. I had planned on shooting some of the industrial sculpture work close to the landing. I was doing sunset silhouettes when I looked up and saw the riverboat General Jackson coming down the river. I hadn't gotten a shot of it before and it is most certainly a part of iconic Nashville. Cool, I thought I would get a shot, and what the heck, someone might even want to buy a print of it, right? Hehe. I hope so.

Well I got lucky because the boat docked right in front of the Bellsouth building. I thought I was going to have to shoot it while it was moving. I put up the tripod and metered out the light. The exposure was less than 10 seconds, I think and the aperture was somewhere around f/7.1. Anyhow, I like it.

Not Noticed

"Oblivious" by Wes Aldridge

After work, a few of us went for cocktails. Of course, the Canon was in tow. I saw this guy sitting at the end of the bar by himself. He just had this look about him. I wanted to get a natural scene without the subject noticing me taking the shot. It was incredibly dark in there and I was forced to shoot at ISO 1600, hence the large amount of grain in the frame. I sat the camera on the bar and positioned it toward the lone man. I exposed for 0.6 seconds at f/7.1 to let enough light in with my 50mm lens. I snapped the shot. The man never was the wiser and I had another two happy hour beers. It was fun, expecially just knowing the abilities of my camera and lens system to compose and meter the light in the shot without even looking through the viewfinder. I think I am starting to really feel it inside me.

Wild Run and Rampage Hunt: Fear and Loathing in Nolensville, Tennessee

"The Feed Store" by Wes Aldridge

So tonight, I am still at the office doing a photo database that has to be in by midnight. I took a break and did a wild run to find a shot with the full moon in it. I was having no luck what so ever. I started to fret. Then, I see a sign that says, "Welcome to Nolensville." I had no idea where the hell I was and only hoped for the best.

I was in luck.

I saw this old feed store of some sort, no idea where or what it was. The moon lit it nicely. I threw the camera on the tripod, shot at ISO 400 with a 30 second exposure at f/22. Of course, that is me in the Jesus Christ pose in the shadow in the foreground. Just thought it made it a little more creepy. Right on.

The Normal One

"Moon and Leaves" by Wes Aldridge

Here is a shot similar to the last one. It is the effect you get by simpling adjusting the exposure to capture the ambient light of the tungsten light on the leaves of the trees framed around the moon in all its streaking glory.

The Ideas We Have When the Situation is Right

"Shooting Moon" by Wes Aldridge

I went out just a little too late to catch the last warm rays of sunshine on this beautiful day. It is ok though. After a few days of fun, fun, fun, I was able to think outside the box and I came up with a good one I think. The center light in the frame is of course the moon. The streaking coming from the center is, believe it or not, tree leaves. IT was completely dark outside, besides the tungsten coming from the street lamps illuminating the leaves. I put the camera on a tripod with my wide angle lens. I set it at f/22 with a 30 second exposure and zoomed the lens in, giving that streaking look. Its pretty cool.

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day Five

"Autumn Abstract" by Wes Aldridge

Finally a beautiful day and the deed is done, once again.

I can see what I want to see, can you?

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day Four

"Bridge to Somewhere" by Wes Aldridge

I saw this scene and shot it for a purpose today. Its pretty symbolic of how I am feeling in life right now. I mean, you clearly see the boards right in front of you on the bridge. And you can see what's at the end of the shot, even if where the treeline meets the sky is a long way off. What you can't see is where that bridge goes when it dips down in the center of the frame. You know something is there, just not sure what. Do you just stand on the bridge where you are, because hell, its a pretty rockin' view from where you're at? Or, do you face the risks of the unknown and journey to that place where you can't see?

"Open your eyes..." - Vanilla Sky

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day Three

"DND Drummer" by Wes Aldridge

The chain of events that lead to the shot.

I did a portrait of a teacher today. She asks if I like Metal. I reply yes. She invites me to go see a band she really likes, her treat. They happen to be opening for Dark New Day, whom I shot last Friday night in Nashville. I walk in with my camera in hand and the girl for DND at the merchandise table says, "hey, I know you." Then the tour manager comes over to me and gives salutation. The rest is merely detail captured with the flicking of a shutter button. After the show, we were invited to come to a private gathering of the bands and tech crews. Pretty nice being able to have cocktails with rockstars.

My birthday turned out to be pretty good, even though I spent it with total strangers. Twenty-five and counting, who knows for how long...

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day Two

"Another Beautiful Day" by Wes Aldridge

Before anyone comments about this not being my usual delicate touch of nice photography, let me explain.

This shot encapsulates what was my day: dark, dreary and raining. The wet ground and gray skies have been present for two days now. The only thing really missing in this shot is the rain and frustrations of trying to get in touch with all of my assignment contacts. And lets just say that this single frame is the only one I have snapped of any exterior photography. The forecast doesn't look much better for the rest of my time here in Lexington. But, you know, I have Hope. I know I will get all my assignments done one way or another, and I fear not. I shot a magazine in New York in the dead of winter with four-and-a-half feet of snow on the ground and it turned out just fine. A little rain? Ah, no problem.

Let's hit the hay, lots to do tomorrow.

On Assignment: Lexington, North Carolina-Day One

"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!

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

"Bass: Chris Lowery" by Wes Aldridge

Ok, promise, last shot from Dark New Day. I just enjoy sharing my rockstar photos. This is Chris Lowery, bassist. He is one of the most animated performers I have ever seen on stage... pure energy. Anyway, the reason I love this shot is the lighting of course. The deep shadows and brilliant highlights are good enough to convey the mood in this situation.

One More Shot, The Details

"Vox: Brett Hestla #2" by Wes Aldridge

I wanted to put up one more shot from Dark New Day. After I posted the last shot, I noticed that the interesting details of the singer were covered by his arm. Notice his hair and tattoo here. Interesting stuff. Completely shaved balled besides his center line of spikes, a la Mohawk and his tattoo of an angel on the back of his head. Just wanted to share those little details.

Dark New Day

"Vox: Brett Hestla" by Wes Aldridge

Tonight I shot Dark New Day at Exit/In in Nashville. They completely rocked. I saw them a couple of months ago and this time the show was even better. They totally controlled the crowd and dominated the venue. It was great.

Frist Center

"The Frist" by Wes Aldridge

A night shot of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville.

Fire Water

"Hot Ducks" by Wes Aldridge

This was a shot from Centennial Park in the pond right as the sun was setting. I waited for these ducks to swim across the reflection of the sun to get this silhouette. I like it.

Sundown In The City

"Union Station" by Wes Aldridge

Not sure why I haven't shot this one before now. Probably because parking sucks around it and I ended up parking at the Frist Center For The Visual Arts a few blocks up Broadway. Anyway, this one is shot just as the sun was fading off the building. It is Union Station.

Snuffed Out

"Oink" by Wes Aldridge

You think it has anything to do with the old Manson murders? Me too.

Fender Bender

"Crash Action" by Wes Aldridge

He, he, he. A little PJ action for ya.

On Assignment: Greenville, North Carolina-Day Five

"Warming Up" by Wes Aldridge

Tonight I shot the Eastern Carolina Unversity Pirates football game. I have to say, I don't think my idea of fun is shooting football, at least not with a 70-200mm lens. It just wasn't long enough to get any good action shots. I put my teleconverter on it to get some extra range, but that makes me lose 2 f-stops of light. Losing some light isn't good for shooting a night game. I ended up shooting at 800 ISO speed and I knew that meant some big time grain in the shots.

I needed a 400mm f/2.8 lens to get the good action. I got the shots I needed for a feature story with my wide lens from the top of the stadium above the pressbox. I do believe that there won't be too many action shots in the feature, though.

Anyway, I have a 7:45 flight in the morning from Raleigh. The drive to the airport is 1 hour and 30 minutes, if you know exactly where you are going. The rental car return is offsite from the airport. I need to be there about 2 hours before my flight to get the car returned to shuttle to the airport and get checked in and through security. With all that, I pretty much need to leave here at 4 a.m. I do honestly dread this. At least I will be going to the Titans game when I get back, if I can stay awake. Its almost 11 p.m. here and I still need to pack and get my gear situated, so signing off.

On Assignment: Greenville, North Carolina-Day Four

"Slither" by Wes Aldridge

Imagine this: You are walking through the dark woods, alone, searching for a shot of the rare, indigenous North Carolina, speckle-headed woodpecker for one of your assignments. As luck would have it, you see one and start tracking him through the thick forest brush ever so slowly and quietly. You continue this for three hours and finally the bird decides to land on the ground to look for food. You get on your stomach and inch closer and closer, trying to get the most exciting shot possible. There he is, with a freshly snuffed out earthworm in his mouth that he just plucked from the earth. This is the shot. You are looking through the lens, finger on shutter button, ready to snap the shot and then... you feel it... a sharp prick in your right forearm.

You drop the camera violently and the bird you are stalking flys away in distress. You jerk your head around as a burning sensation instantly grows stronger and stronger. You see eyes staring up at you, cold yellow eyes. The eyes of a copperhead snake, one of the most poisonous in North America. After whishing his pink tongue at you a few times, laughing in your face in his own snake way, he turns and slithers slowly away into the underbrush. My present grip of paralysis through shock and fear wears off, and I scream into the empty woods, the dark, cold, empty and all alone woods. No one hears your scream, so you decide to stop, you weakling. Stop screaming you infant. There is an equation of life and death at hand, and screaming without hope while two tiny streams of blood trickle from your arm is not the answer to it.

You gather your wits for five minutes or so, which seems like an eternity, and realize that you must get help immediately. You know without a doubt that you must lift your body from the ground and find your way back from the woods to your rental car. Putting one knee underneath you and then the other, you use the low hanging limbs of a spruce tree sapling to lift yourself to your feet. After becoming vertical, you feel the nausea beginning to take hold. You take three or four steps, numbers mean nothing, and bend over to vomit... and you do, twice. Sweat starts to bead on your forehead and your black polo shirt starts to become tighter and tighter with your breath becoming more erratic and cumbersome.

You must leave this place, on your own freewill. You don't want the help of a coroner just yet. And you stumble forward and the journey has begun. Find your way home, on your own, before you are called that way. What was that? Someone's voice faintly in the distance? What did the voice say? No time for that now, just find the car fast.

After wandering for what seemed like an eternity but was actually only 49 feet, you drop to one knee. You almost forgot about your forearm, until you rub it and feel the knot starting to bulge. And it feels slightly glossy and smooth, as if a thin coat of honey were on it. This is textbook protocol for the repercussions of a venomous snakebite. Jesus, the venom is starting to take hold.

You jerk again and lose what was left of your chicken salad sandwich that was once lunch. Your head spins hard to the left and your body buckles and hits the ground. You want to get up and keep going, but the foliage beneath you is so inviting and warm. The cold, dark forest doesn't matter now and you know that resting for a few minutes in your present state is the best answer you can muster. Your strength is fading and a power nap will do you well, you are certain. But your lips and mouth are drying out. Where is my canteen? Didn't think I would need it this trip. And so it was, the thirst continued.

The Carolina forest looks much different from the view on your back. You can see the silhouettes of the tree leaves above you dance in the wind beneath a blue sky somewhere beyond the treetops. That is where I am, that is where I want to be. It was the only logical thought that ran through my mind as my breathing became more relaxed and shallow.

I wish my neck wasn't itching so badly.

You rub around your Adam's apple and noticed the swelling... all the way up and down your windpipe. You rest easy because you know you are almost back to your car, even though it is four miles from where you lay... in the opposite direction you have been walking.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds and everything was black. "Keep going," I thought and opened them again. Vision seems funny, almost one-dimensional. Your left eye opened along with your right, but its vision just wasn't there.

Time to move along. Tried to get up. Fall. Rest. Rest. Rest. Sleep. You awake in an open field that you have never seen, but know as if you have ran through it a million times before... and I started, running toward the sun.

Thank God this ugly monster was encased in glass and couldn't strike me.

On Assignment: Greenville, North Carolina-Day Three

"Mexican Light" by Wes Aldridge

I went to shoot an assignment in a mexican restaurant today. I got really lucky with it. I walk into this place and most of the color schemes were in bright pastels. I knew I only had about 15 minutes to get this one done, so I looked around a little and found the perfect place to set up a shot.

One side of the building had a greenhouse-style room, glassed over roof, you get the idea. The warm and rich afternoon sun was shining through the glass and the colors were amazing. I knew this one was going to be good, and after I had set up the table, it was on point. I didn't even need to use any artificial lighting. I think this was only the second time I have done a food shot without someking of strobes and umbrellas and softboxes.

This is one of my test shots I did to meter light before the food came out. I just wanted to share it because the setting was so perfect and the light turned out so good. I was happy that something on this trip turned out nice and easy!