Ley Elliott Photography

Blog has moved!

2010-09-11T18:21:00.000-05:00

New blog here!

Brittany

2010-09-05T15:55:00.001-05:00

Gavin closes July

2010-08-01T12:09:00.000-05:00

Nicole :: Bridal

2010-07-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

New Album Design Gallery

2010-07-19T15:27:00.002-05:00

Click here!

Kyle and Megan...married.

2010-07-12T12:59:00.003-05:00

Nick and Catherine...married

2010-07-12T12:31:00.004-05:00

Weddings...a sport?

2010-07-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite moments of the wedding day is the bouquet/garter toss. Really fun to shoot. It's like a sporting event. Fast paced...full on action. Camera settings are the same as I would use to catch a top fuel dragster coming down the strip at 300mph! Here are some frames from one such occasion :)

...and the people that catch this thing feel as though they just caught a suitcase full of money!...or either they just realized it was a ball of snakes about to bite them :)

Yeah, really fun.

Ben and Brittany...engaged.

2010-07-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

Clay and Mallory

2010-06-05T20:25:00.001-05:00

You rarely see a couple with a spark like Clay and Mallory. They are cool on their on and all, but when you get them together it's like a surge of electricity you can almost feel. When you get them together on the beach...they even produce a perfect storm.

Not sure what's going on here...I wasn't listening. I think they're protesting the BP oil spill or something...

and the calm after the perfect storm...

Here's a Wednesday "check this out..."

2010-05-26T08:32:00.001-05:00

Darron and Nicole

2010-05-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

Darron and Nicole will be married on July 10th. We had a blast shooting their engagement pictures in Mathiston. We got permission (promise) to shoot in the "botanical gardens" of Mathiston....some ladies back yard. When you stepped into this yard, you forgot you were in small town USA. This is the real deal. Bridges, pools, waterfalls, swings, and 50 million other things. Awesome place.

Classic

This was MUCH easier said than done. Hey Darron...hang off that tree over there and give her a kiss.

When we plucked this flower from it's home, we were swarmed by CTU and Jack started yelling "get DOWN!" "NOW" "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" "I WILL shoot you in the FACE" ok, I made that last part up....but everything else is totally true. Ask Freddy Prince.

Alright, this is a little too sweet for my taste...but I saw the vision and it said "make their arms form a heart!" I think I threw up in my mouth a little, but it's all good.

How did this happen? This is what happens when you mix wheelbarrows and photographers. The best part happened 2 seconds after I took this :)

I'm really diggin the seriousness here. Intense.

You guys are great.

Ley's World

2010-05-13T11:18:00.000-05:00

Alright here's the deal. I've got so many eggs in my proverbial basket that I decided to kill all these eggs with one stone. I mean, the bird that laid these eggs with one stone....um....let's start again. Photography...great! www.leyelliottphotography.com and music...great! Um...where's the music? Well, it's in the works. In the future (not yet), you will point your browser to www.leyelliott.com for all things me. It will branch off to photography, music, video, and whatever else that I'm interested in at that moment. Some of you may be surprised that I play music. Well, we go way back. I've been writing, creating, and performing as an artist for over a decade. I released a CD called "Under My Skin" independently (I met my wife Sandy at the CD release party) and some of my songs have been played on local radio stations throughout the Golden Triangle. So, I said all that to say this....music is on the way....and photography will still be the glue that holds us (me and you) together. Thank you for your friendship and fanship....and welcome to Ley's World.

Spare Shots

2010-05-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks for playing.

The Chair

2010-04-28T13:48:00.002-05:00

There's not a whole lot to say about these pictures of Ashley and Dawn. I'm just going to let the photos tell the story. Rock on!

Kyle and Megan

2010-04-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

Kyle and Megan engagement preview...

My Most Prized Possession

2010-04-12T23:53:00.000-05:00

I LOVE this photo. This is the photo I am most proud of taking. Probably because I didn't mean to.

Walking and talking...easter egg hunting. Enjoying my family. The one I'll grow old with and the one who will watch me grow old. On a windy day in April 2010, with the awkward "hold the 10lb camera backwards at arms length, click and pray" method...It's not how I did it, but what I was doing when I took this picture that makes it special to me. Family is everything...all else will come and go. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine. Happy Easter.

Courtney and Lance

2010-04-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

That's Mrs. Dorroh to you!

2010-03-27T21:37:00.000-05:00

Wedding Album Preview

2010-03-18T12:59:00.008-05:00

Here is an example of the standard 10x10 black leather flush mount wedding album that I'm currently offering. The customization gets wild from here...but I've had several requests to show what a "standard" album looks like. Still pretty fly. Click on the picture of the box below to go straight to the video.

Class is in session

2010-03-14T10:52:00.004-05:00

Meet Leigh Ellen and Marsha. They are teachers. Like, real teachers. No, really. Really, really, real teachers. The kind that I always dreamed about having in a classroom. Not, Coach Gregg, the 7ft tall Biology/football coach...or Mrs. Davis with lipstick on her teeth. If we could clone L&M, and distribute them throughout the education system...crime would go down, kids wouldn't drop out of school, they wouldn't fake sickness to stay home...just to name a FEW! We could really learn a lot from L&M.

Grace

2010-03-12T21:51:00.002-06:00

A taste of what's to come...

2010-03-02T20:47:00.002-06:00

So, it's hardly a secret but for those who are not in the know...I will be adding high definition video to my repertoire in the middle of March. This will revolutionize the way media is delivered to clients. Each wedding and portrait session has so much feeling and flavor...it's hard to express in still pictures alone (though I try). Through this new still/video hybrid medium, your mind will be blown out of the back of your head (gently) and you will experience raw emotions like you have never felt before! Wow! Ok, I admit I'm guilty of hyping it up a little.

Fear not, my friends, not a picture will be missed during this epic adventure of visual bliss. I will capture still images of your most important moments just like before with a splash of video that will mix in just right. Videography? NO! This is so much more...this is....this is....Phovidotographicologisticology! I'm not settled on that name yet. We'll see.

At this juncture, I would like to say thank you to my friends who have let me into your lives to photograph your most cherished moments and welcome to my new friends who are about to get their faces melted off....ok, excited again.....nobody will be harmed in the making of my hybrid awesomeness. I will leave you with a couple of clips to give you a taste of what's to come and an idea of what's possible. The first is from Matt and Katie who are photographers in Australia. The second is from another Matt in Minnesota. (oh, and make sure you have your sound turned up :)

Much Love,

Ley

Ben and Sally - a 5D Mark II wedding video - HD from Matt E on Vimeo.

JACK + JENNY // St. Paul, MN from capture studios on Vimeo.

Blakely

2010-02-23T21:32:00.000-06:00

Big thanks to Blakely for putting up with me during this shoot. I guess I really want to challenge people. On this shoot we had broken glass, rusty nails, a scary motel (just like the one in "Identity"), rain, wind, filthy furniture, poison ivy....sounds like a recipe for awesome pictures! Well, Blakely delivered...she looks amazing! Huge thanks goes to Blakely's bf Aaron too. He carried equipment and saved my umbrella from crashing to the pavement multiple times.

Wings

2010-02-21T12:11:00.000-06:00

Here is an HDR of an airplane shot around sunset. It was sitting on the runway at the Monroe County Airport. 3 shots bracketed and converted with Photomatix Pro.

Dawn

2010-02-14T13:07:00.001-06:00

This is Dawn. She is awesome! We had a blast shooting in the city today. Dawn was a real trooper. I know it's not easy being a model for me. I know this because I can remember at one point asking if her shoes were waterproof while we were about 40 feet up on the roof of an old theater. That last sentence explains why Dawn is awesome. Yeah, Ley, my 4 inch heels are waterproof.

A small girl or a big cup of joe?

2010-02-09T23:30:00.000-06:00

This is how much caffeine it takes me in the mornings to get going :) This is Kellie and Joe. I will show you some more of her later. She got married in the Chapel of Memories not to long ago and it was one of my favorite weddings so far. I'll share more from that wedding in a bit as well. I know, promises promises.

Saturday with the Sanders

2010-02-07T13:06:00.000-06:00

Best Camera

2009-10-03T11:13:00.006-05:00

"The best camera is the one that's with you."

How true, Chase, how true. How many times have you said "Man, I wish I had my camera!" I know I have. Everyone know the IPhone has a camera...I mean, what does the IPhone NOT have!
The latest camera app in the App Store is Chase Jarvis' Best Camera. It attempts to be an "all in one" app in which you can take an IPhone picture, edit it by adjusting filters like saturation, contrast, lighten, darken, vignette, and others...THEN send that photo to your favorite social networking site...as long as it's twitter or facebook. I bought the app immediately, and was instantly impressed. Now, this app does have some first run bugs. Photos uploaded to facebook are uploaded into a folder called Best Camera and have a title that says "Taken with Chase Jarvis Best Camera" that you can't change until after you log in to facebook and change it manually. Chase says this was dummy text that was overlooked in final production. It will be fixed in an update. Another problem is that sometimes the comment you add to the photo never makes it to the website. No biggie...add it later. A problem that is user related and not technically a problem is that you can only take one picture at a time from INSIDE the app...I constantly click the "shutter" when I take pictures of my baby boy in order to get a shot without motion blur (he never sits still). You have to take them with the regular IPhone camera, then load the pic you want to edit INTO the app.

All in All, great little app from a world class photographer. Great job Chase and I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for us.

You can download the app directly from your Iphone in the app store...search "Best Camera". It's currently $2.99 which is right on par with other camera apps.

You can find out more about Chase here.

More from Henderson

2009-09-19T21:02:00.004-05:00

So I was in the back alley of some pretty cool shops in Henderson, TN. This particular alley had all kinds of obstacles strategically placed so they looked like the normal landscape of an alley. Now I havn't been in too many alley's, but I assume this would be how a normal alley would appear. So... I was roaming around taking pics as usual when around the corner there arose such a clatter, that I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter (couldn't resist). Little did he know (sorry, it's a habit) some skateboard punks flew by and snagged my camera right out of my hands....ok, kidding, they were really nice kids who just wanted to show off for the camera. They traversed the strategically placed crates and boxes in the alley as they had done hundreds of times before. I set my shutter speed and ISO as high as I could get it and fired away. Next time I'll be more prepared with pen and model releases for istock :)

Gritty

2009-09-18T23:07:00.000-05:00

This is in the nice clean town of Henderson, TN... don't tell anybody.

One from the road...

2009-09-16T21:02:00.001-05:00

Fotoshop Friday

2009-09-11T23:57:00.001-05:00

Swing life away, originally uploaded by Ley Elliott.

Hooray for the first edition of Fotoshop Friday. Whew! Stay tuned for more.

I'm Baack....

2009-09-03T16:26:00.002-05:00

Maybe I was never gone, but it's time to step things up. Look for some changes around these here parts.

Golson Wedding

2009-05-29T23:06:00.003-05:00

Meet Kellie and Wesley. They got married on May 23, 2009. The wedding was held at the Chapel of Memories on the campus of MSU. Everything was decorated to perfection and the ceremony went off with a hitch...This is probably the most fun I've had photographing a wedding thus far in my short time as a photographer. It even rained, which I'm told is good luck...

Photo Restoration

2009-05-12T20:04:00.001-05:00

Here I restored a picture of my grandfather from 1946.

2009-05-01T15:42:00.004-05:00

A train comes around the bend near the Severstall plant. The clouds were very ominous today and the sun would peak through every now and then. This is an HDR image with 3 exposures including -2, 0, +2 exposure readings. Shot with Canon 40D on bracket mode and self timer. Shot at f11 at 1/60th of a second and iso 200. Merged with Photomatix.

Here is the before image of the train. It is just barely "ok". The clouds lacked detail and don't convey the mood that I was experiencing at the time. The grass in front was distracting so it was removed. Also, the buildings had fixtures that look kinda like spickets...I didn't like them so they were removed also...called it creative liberties, whatever.

As you can see, there is much more drama added to the above image. The whole point in photo retouching is to convey the mood that was felt at the time of exposure. Boom! Stormy, gritty factory, train coming around the bend. Ahhh, I can sleep tonight.

Ty Walker

2009-04-25T22:55:00.003-05:00

This morning I had the opportunity to capture a few moments in little Ty Walker's life. He is an amazing baby who loved the camera. We had a great time shooting out in the country and it was a beautiful day for it.

The first of many

2009-04-24T19:53:00.013-05:00

Hello folks, this is the first post of many. Welcome to my blog. Here you will find all things Ley Elliott Photography...and other stories, jokes, tutorials, photos, and anything else I find interesting and deem necessary. So, without further ado...I introduce to you the first photo. This is the ferris wheel at the Amory Railroad Festival last weekend. It is po-dunk, but it's where I grew up so...

This is another ride called Moby Dick aka "Spin and Puke"