"Lit" by Wes Aldridge
Sometimes I will snap a frame off for the heck of it, with no purpose or intention for it in my mind. There was no reason for it, it held no defined purpose. It was just a moment in time. A slice of life, and it became worth everything to me. And every once in a while I will just fall in love with something like it. That's what happened with this shot. It was real and I didn't even catch her name.
This was shot with my 50mm at f/1.8 to give it that awesome depth of field. No lights, tripod, reflectors or any of that other crap. It was raw.
"Action JaxN" by Wes Aldridge
Another portrait I shot in an empty theatre of one of my best friends in Atlanta, Blake. We have known each other for many years and played in many bands together. A very good drummer, drinking buddy and overall a stellar comrade. We have been through the thick of it all, came out alive, and not with too many broken bones or spirits. We made that strange connection, that Bonnie and Clyde-do-or-die, stroke-it-to-the-end-and-let-it-roll kind of a moment. That's what we've got. And all you out there, may never find that! Ha, we are true ruffs in the broadest sense of the word.
And, here he is in all his beauty. Aviators and a strange pink coat. That is the way we will go out of this world one day too, boy-O. Strange and hard, no fear and kill the regrets. Turn off the lights and set the table, cause daddy is coming to dinner soon. Grrr...
"The Drummer" by Wes Aldridge
This is a portrait of Andres Garban, drummer for Nashville rock band Thaxton Ward, at Mercy Lounge. At most Thaxton Ward shows that I shoot, I never get many shots of Andres because he is always stuck in the back of the stage and the lighting is usually terrible. Well, amigo, I felt like you got left out a few times, so you made the blog.
I love this shot. It is one of my favorite music photos. A simple portrait. I don't want to tell you the shot settings and light set up because I think it would take away from the composition and mood of the photograph. Let's let it be my little secret.
"Face of Fear" by Wes Aldridge
I shot this because it worked at this particular moment in time. I was searching for a "secret garden" at the James K. Polk house in Columbia, Tennessee. I found it. These old marble statues stood in the garden with plants growing all around them. There was something mysterious to it all.
The way the shadows fell over this statue's face was almost haunting. The damage the weather had done to it added an even more chilling effect. I thought it was cool. I like to find fear inside myself about things that are unknown.
"La Chihuahua" by Wes Aldridge
Everyone, meet Chongo. He made an appearance at the studio to help do a product shot of some locally manufactured doggie treats. Chongo is the 6-year old Chihuahua of one of my fellow staff photographers, Brian.
The dog really rocked and was pretty cooperative with the shoot, after we went through the proper channels talking to his manager. Chongo was pretty demanding during the shoot. He wanted 75 green M&M's in his doggie bowl, which was trimmed in gold. That was a pretty standard request from most of our clientele, so we had plenty of greens around. He wanted the four latest issues of PAW, a pretty risque skin-mag in the canine world that had a Lassie centerfold. We sent the intern out for those while we were setting up the lights. The most demanding request he had was for a bottle of Opus One Mondavi, a fine merlot from California in the Sanoma Valley. At $220 per bottle, that was a little difficult to find and it stretched our budget for the shoot a little farther than we had planned.
But, as this shot shows, Chongo was a happy camper and so were we to see this cute little doggie and the bag of treats looking good in this shot.
"Clean" by Wes Aldridge
The Village Cleaners in neon.
"Parking is Tough" by Wes Aldridge
Its not every day that you see a car wrapped around a railroad crossing sign. I did.
"Downtown Hero" by Wes Aldridge
This is a civil war memorial statue in the historic downtown area of Dalton, Georgia, from where I hail. I had seen it a million times, but thought I should shoot it this time. Click, click, snap... captured. The sky helped it out a good bit. I enjoy the silhouette of something against a dramatic sky. Those shots just turn out so strong.
"Windmill" by Wes Aldridge
I am spending the weekend in Dalton, Georgia, visiting my family on Father's Day. I needed a shot, and my parents wanted to go along for the hunt. I told them, get in... lets go! We seemed to have searched one side of Whitfield County to the other. I wanted a windmill shot, and by luck I found one tonight.
"Religious Note" by Wes Aldridge
Well, it doesn't get much better than this one. I think this is one of the best of the blog so far. Hope you enjoy.
"Ringer or a Leaner?" by Wes Aldridge
Now, not everyone will be able to grasp the beauty of what is going on in this shot. If you didn't grow up in a rural area and have family get-togethers that involved Coors Light, badass country cookin' and a game of horseshoes, you really don't have a point of reference for this.
The game of horseshoes involves people "pitching" literal metal horseshoes at metal stakes in the ground from about 20-feet away. The idea is to get the horseshoe to land with the stake in the center of the "U" and make a ringing sound when metal strikes metal... resulting in a "ringer." Another way to score is to throw your horseshoe and it leans against the stake... resulting in a "leaner." That is the general idea of the game. Oh, almost forgot... you also need to toss back a couple of cold ones.
Ah, the memories of childhood. I would watch the adults play horseshoes and have fun at Lake Kathy while Grandma Jean and her army of country cooks made the meal for the evening for at least 30 of us. My brother and cousins and I would play with Star Wars figures in the dirt or skip rocks off the broken old dock when we weren't fishin'. We even played with Micro Machines' cars, or as Aunt Corrine screamed while blood squirted out of my brother's forehead once... "Those little things!" (Sorry the handle broke on that toolbox and it smacked ya in the head bro.)
I loved growing up a poor country kid. I didn't go to Debutante Balls or play cricket or watch while my parents pranced around like yutzees at a cocktail party. My parents worked long, hard hours at jobs where deskwork wasn't a key ingredient... they still do. Then after work, they would always take us to our baseball or football practice, even if we were a couple of minutes late. They were selfless, and gave everything they had to us, even when they were too tired to move. Maybe that's where I get my drive.
We did things like watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Christmas Day while mom cooked an amazing country breakfast. Dad's voice always shook a little, because he meant what he was saying, as he got emotional saying the "blessing" before we would eat Thanksgiving dinner. And Whit and I would always get up early with bed-head and morning breath to eat Cap'N Crunch cereal and watch Saturday morning cartoons.
It was important for me to shoot this shot of that redneck old codger playing horseshoes. These memories are some of the reasons why. It has a lot to do with a person being a product of where you came from, and changing, but never forgetting where everything started.
Ah, now that was refreshing.
"City Limits" by Wes Aldridge
What do you find in Sikeston, Missouri? Cornfields, lots and lots of... cornfields. I was running around with my camera hunting seasonal shots and found myself on the outskirts of the city. I turned around and saw this city limits sign and thought it was priceless. It told the story of where I was on assignment, pretty much summed it all up with one photograph.
The city name "SIKESTON" reads proudly across the center, scarred with a dozen or so bullet holes. I think that told the demographics story of the area. The population was at 16,992, but seemed to have changed because it was a sticker stuck on top of another number. In the background you see the cornfields with an irrigation machine there as well. This is Sikeston. These are the things that make this city. I think I kinda love it, well, let's not go that far. It is neat in its own strange little way.
"Fast Delivery" by Wes Aldridge
I was walking around the Village tonight and thought I would do some motion photography. I thought shooting a pizza delivery person going on a run would look pretty neat. I was in front of Sam's Place and got some great streaking lights in the background while I panned my camera shooting the moving car.
My ISO was set pretty high at 400 and I used a 1/8 of a second exposure at f/3.5 to get a good long exposure to show the movement.
"No Hope For Me" by Wes Aldridge
Tonight it got bad. I woke up from a little resting and just had to shoot. I decided to go buy some fruits and vegetables at Krogers and thought, what the hell, I'll get the blog shot in the supermarket.
I wasn't even able to go to the grocery store without shooting some photos. I am addicted. There is no cure for me. It must be a sad sickness cause I don't want to remedy this disease.
I guess I am blessed.
"On the Fence" by Wes Aldridge
Ah, locked in and on the fence. Sometimes, don't we all just feel like that? Yes, sometimes we do. We feel like we have reached some momentous place in our existence only to have our present reality really start pressing down on us. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
Do you feel the pull? Do you feel that small tug at your conscience? Are you aware of who you are and where you are at this very point in time? Have you realized your Purpose? Do you have a Purpose? Does your Purpose enhance the Purpose of others? Can others see your Purpose? Have you reached nirvana? Do you want to reach nirvana? Does does the prospect of reaching nirvana scare you? Could you embrace it once it finds you, or would you turn and run away? Do you feel The Power? Does The Power feel you? Is it aware of your existence? Does it make your current reality simply an empty void? Are you content standing in that void? Is the void where you belong and are you content standing in it? Should you try to fill it up and make it whole and new again? Could you stare into the void and jump through it?
Or are you locked in to never reaching that point? I think I am embracing it and learning, maybe even feeling my way through it. I hope you are too.
"Here kitty, kitty" by Wes Aldridge
This shot was taken at Bridlewood Farm. I was trying to shoot a cover for the Shelbyville magazine and I was in this barn. I was walking around frantically because the rain was pouring like hell outside and I knew no sunshine was in my future for the night. I didn't exaclty know what to do, but not getting a shot was not an option.
As I walked around this horse stable, I saw something that was interesting. This black cat was sitting up on a wall where the horses were being groomed. When I went by it, it just stared at me. Well, had to shoot it. Thought it was neat and kinda of menacing and dark. Its eyes were cold and hard. I was terrified.
"Rainin' On The Farm" by Wes Aldridge
Another day of shooting in Shelbyville, and for those of you that don't know, it is the walking horse capital of the world or something like that. So, I was on a farm shooting walking horses, well, sort of. It pretty much just rained ferociously the entire time I was there. I did shoot some of the people working in the stable though while they were looking out to see if a break in the rain was near. A little back lit action for ya.
"A Horse of Course" by Wes Aldridge
I have I ever mentioned that I love horses? Such gentle creatures, or at least the last few I have encountered on my photographic adventures. This horse was a baby, not even a year old. He walked around with his mother in the field and came near me because of curiousity. I sat on the ground and let him come to me. He sniffed all over me and tried chewing my camera strap. He was a funny little fella.
"Perfect Eyes" by Wes Aldridge
I was shooting at a recording studio today and wanted a test subject to help me set the perfect lighting before my main subject came for his portrait. A girl from a band that sings this song about that thing on that label... you get the idea, I didin't even grab her name because it was just a junk shot to get the light metered right.
But then, I noticed her eyes. Magical. Perfectly blue. I snapped off a few frames and got the light rig set the way I wanted it and the entire time I couldn't stop looking at her eyes. They captured me, and in return, I captured them to share.
"Just Fishin' " by Wes Aldridge
Fishin'. So many old memories. So many parallels with this old man and me. A great story I wanted to tell you, but things got in the way of the process. I failed at that tonight.
Something needs to change. It all needs to go back to the river side with a fishing pole in hand. Simple.
