Here’s a video of our friend Pastor Isaiah Mafu who we stayed and worked with while in South Africa in 2006 and in 2000.  He and his wife Mercy have been in town for a few weeks and they are leaving to head back to Africa to get back to running their ministry (Africa Christian Ministries)

Isaiah’s main language is zulu and it’s a language filled with all sorts of fun clicking and popping noises.   There is a sentence Isaiah tells that always gives people a good laugh.  I’m not sure what it means…something about squirrels.  He let me take a video of him doing it today:

Our last photo contest had a lot of great submissions so we’re going to run another contest.
This contest is called “Dramatic Sky” and I want people to submit photos that they’ve taken where a dramatic sky enhances the photo.  This can be pretty skies, ugly skies, rainy skies, sunset skies, etc.  HOWEVER, the sky should be PART of the photo and not the entire photo.
In other words, if there was just a plain boring blue sky, there should still be some type of other elements in the photo.
If you see an interesting sky, before taking the photo, try to find a unique way to capture some type of foreground elements and eliminate distractions such as power lines or garbage cans or whatever.  In other words, do it right as opposed to just hanging your camera out your car window. Spend a minute to crop or straighten your images before fixing them. This can be done with even the cheapest graphics programs that come with just about any computer.
A quick camera tip…to get rich colors in sunset skies, underexpose your image using either manual settings or your cameras exposure compensation feature.

There is no prize other than a virtual pat on the back and having your photo displayed on our website.

Please email me up to 3 images.
Photos should be submitted by amateurs only and the person submitting the images must have copyrights to the image.

Images should be in jpeg format and should be emailed to: .
In your email, please write:
“Dramatic Sky Contest” in the subject line
In the body of the email, please include your name and the location the photo was taken.  Also write info about the photo and why you like it along with any other information you want to tell me about it.

Please submit your images by October 15th at which point we will post some of the top images for review and voting.

Here are a few pictures to get the juices flowing:

We didn’t have a wedding to shoot this Saturday so Cheridy and I went up and enjoyed the beautiful weather at her parents house up in Metamora.  It was a very relaxing day including a steak dinner on the barbeque, watching the Michigan football game, taking the kayaks out around the lake, playing with Mayz, and watching a movie.   What a great day!!

The first amateur photo contest submission deadline is now past.  I just wanted to thank everyone for all the contest submissions.  There were a lot of images to choose from!  Even if your image was not selected into the top three, I hope you will continue submitting photos to future contests which will be announced soon.  Many of you asked for critiques on your images and I apologize if I did not respond as I just didn’t have the time to provide personal critiques on all the images submitted.
It’s now time to vote for your favorite picture from the “water” contest. These photos are in no particular order.
Voting ends September 15 before midnight.  Feel free to post comments.

Photo 1: Submitted by Sue Dankovich

Photo 2: Submitted by Stephen Arens

Photo 3: Submitted by Chris Belli

You can only vote once.  Voting ends September 15 before midnight.

This past weekend we shot our first wedding in the atrium of the Westin in Southfield. It’s a very unique venue as it’s an indoor garden with lots of foliage, walking paths and running water that form little streams and ponds. One wall of the atrium is a gigantic wall of windows which provides lots of natural light but yet it’s tinted so it’s not blinding when the sun comes through.
We’ve done some work for the Skyline Club which is on the top floor of the same building so we’ve been through the atrium quite a few times but we have never actually shot there before this weekend.
It was a very interesting experience and definitely had a few pros and cons worth talking about for anyone considering getting married there.

From a photography perspective, one of my favorite parts about the location is there are many different levels which all provide a unique vantage points to photograph the wedding ceremony and reception. There are some large rocks to stand on, stairs, a glass elevator, the second floor walkway, etc. etc. We were able to capture the event from many angles.

When it’s time for photos with the bride and groom, there are lots of great areas in and around the atrium. In the atrium, we found lots of fun walls and great colors which provided nice backdrops for some unique wedding photography.

Right nearby is the Southfield library along with some other city buildings that have a nice courtyard and landscaping including some great walls, benches, tables, steps, flowers, etc. etc.  We like to take the bride and groom offsite where we can get more relaxed and fun wedding photos without all the guests around.

We really enjoyed photographing a wedding at the Westin Southfield Atrium because of the uniqueness of the location. It’s completely different than any other place we’ve ever worked before.

However, there are a few cons as well. From a photography perspective, it’s really nice to have the big windows and lots of light…BUT…the windows are tinted with a slight greenish cast so the light that comes through is very green which can make the skin tones very unpleasing. Most of the artificial lighting that lights the atrium is fluorescent which also gives a bit of a greenish cast that is different from the green tinted windows. Things like that can typically be corrected in post-processing, but I had a very difficult time removing the color cast completely without causing other color problems.

I loved the open feeling and the amount of space there was, but that also had it’s drawbacks. Since there was a REALLY high ceiling there was no surface to bounce our flashes off of which is how we like to shoot. Bounced light is always softer and more pleasing than direct flash. That leaves a couple options. Either you are forced to shoot with direct flash, or you have to use some type of off camera flash setup. We did a combination of both. The space is so large that you would probably need 15-20 different flashes to have the whole area covered which would be a total nightmare so we used a strategically placed light along with using a combination of direct flash and the occasional bounced flash when there was a surface to bounce from.

The other issue with the openness and space is that the bathrooms were up on the second floors which weren’t super convenient for guests to get to.
There are some walking paths that weave in and around the garden areas but there aren’t really any direct paths that get from one place to another. If you’re going to have your wedding here, we would suggest having two DJ’s, one to work the equipment and another to roam around the room. Any DJ that comes by himself will be doing a lot of running!

The only other thing that was a little strange at the wedding we did there is that while we were out doing photos with the bride and groom, the food was served before we came back. We got the bride and groom back about 5 minutes before their scheduled time to be back. I guess someone had a different itinerary and everyone went off that one. I still felt it was odd that the staff didn’t make an effort to get a hold of the bride and groom before serving the food.

To learn more about our wedding photography services, please see our wedding website at www.ArisingWeddings.com

This morning Cheridy gave Mayz his third haircut and I have to say…he’s pretty stinkin’ cute!
You can’t see the front of his shirt but he’s wearing the “i still live with my parents” shirt, which is one of our favorites.

We spent a beautiful afternoon with Courtney over at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills.  My favorite thing about Courtney is her smirk.  She has a beautiful smirk and those photos tended to be my favorites.
Here are just a few from today:

Back in August, the Tabert family won our family fun contest.  This afternoon we got to do their photo shoot and their family definitely didn’t disappoint!  We had a beautiful afternoon to play outside.  These type of photo shoots are always a blast because the whole point is to let loose and have fun.  The kids got to run around and play on their trampoline and wrestle with mom and dad.  With four boys in the house, Brian and Kristen will surely be looking forward to the massages that are part of their prize package!!

Here’s a few favorites from the shoot today:

Our latest newsletter can be found here:

http://www.arisingimages.com/miscellaneous/newsletters/newsletter_013

Earlier today, Noah and Dena were married. We spent a great day with them. Poor Noah wasn’t feeling too great which caused him to have a rough morning, but right when he saw Dena early in the day he started to feel better.
The one thing that really stuck out today was joy. Noah and Dena had a crazy amount of fun and laughter which made the day fantastic.
The Atrium at the Westin in Southfield, MI is a very unique place to shoot. It’s very open and provides a lot of unique opportunities to shoot. I will add a venue review to our blog in another post.

Here are some of my favorite pics from today:

I just completed a painted piece from Sam’s photo shoot last week.  I love doing these because they are a super cool and unique way to present a high school senior photo.  Our goal is to stand out from the rest and this is one of our most fun and artistic products.

We have just updated our website with all of our educational opportunites.  This website is a work in progress and will have lots more additional information added as time permits.
The main site can be found at www.ArisingImages.com/learn

There is information posted for our basic photography class, advanced photography and business class, instructional videos and Photoshop actions, private lessons, and shoot tag alongs.

Registration is currently open for the next basic class starting in October.