2008-2009 UCP Annual Report
My friends at United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Birmingham (follow them on Twitter) asked me to do specific portraits for their annual report using some of the participants in their program along with some of their contributors. Jennifer Ellison wanted something in black and white which we did and they turned out very nicely. Another goal was to try and get some natural and fun interactions between everyone in the subjects and at least one group was having a lot of fun dancing and showing off but they didn’t make the cut for obvious reasons….but there was fun in all these shots. In the shot on the right Daniel is an obvious Auburn fan (who knows why right?) and we had fun picking back and forth about Alabama vs Auburn and shouting “Roll Tide!”
One of the challenges of getting all the shots together of everyone was organizing everyone to be ready on the same day which didn’t happen. The shoot took place on 3 different days with the first day done by bring my mobile studio to their beautiful headquarters and the next two days were shot at my studio. There was one girl program participant who just wouldn’t smile for the camera – until I left to check out one of my lights that had stopped working when I heard everyone yelling at me, “Alan! She’s smiling get over here!” Thankfully we got the shot!
I will post one shot that didn’t make the Annual Report cut but gives some idea of the fun time we all had together.
Ok so it’s not Rolling Stone but it’s a start. I was called by someone out of Jacksonville, Fl which I remember answering when my cell phone rang. I typically do not answer many numbers I do not recognize. The gentleman was very nice as he explain precisely what he was looking for to go on the cover of The Successful Contractor trade periodical.
I had never heard of the Adkins brothers before that day but I enjoyed meeting them. My assignment was to shoot the owners of the local company Adkins Ontime Electric for the cover and inside spread. Both brothers were gracious as I took them out to the middle of a parking lot (at high noon) and set their van in the background shooting with a large octagon softbox and a silver relector. I won’t post the shots where I sent pain through their eyes with the sun reflector. I’ve learned better not to do that with subjects.
Since that day I hear Kerry Adkins on the radio advertising the business (not saying I had anything to do with their success because I know better) and sharing some scripture. It reminds me that this business is not about just taking great pictures but it’s about a fabric that is being weaved and created out of the stories and experiences of meeting people involved in creating great pictures.
It was a really great time shooting with this group. Their office is located on 3rd Ave N and had very beautiful places inside to shoot and get various environmental corporate shots. They needed new portraits for advertising and website photos. Thanks guys for a fun time shooting.
Erby Fischer, Dana Dachelet, Dennis Goldasich, Victoria Dye