Photo Session Date: March 26, 2010

Photo Session Location: George Washington Hotel, Winchester, VA

Photo Session Details: The community college I serve as photographer for held a dinner event at the George Washington Hotel in Old Town Winchester, VA last week. The purpose of this event was to connect donors with students that have benefited from the donor’s contributions by way of scholarship. I love photographing this event as I am often able to capture the warm emotions and lively conversations held between donor and student. This was the first time this event was held at a location off college grounds, which excited me as I love photographing different venues. The hotel was very classy with some unique architecture…especially several very large mirrors located in the dining hall. The night was capped off with a wonderful musical performance (guitar and harmonica) by two students.

Photo Session Date: January 15, 2010

Photo Session Location: Romney, WV

Photo Session Details: Ashby Embrey, owner and DJ for Part “Ay” Music, requested that I photograph a teenager’s birthday party they were providing DJ services for. The party was a blacklight party, and I knew right away this was going to be a challenge. Any hint of a flash or external lighting would kill the blacklight effect within the photograph, not to mention that there would be a great deal of dancing and motion within the photographs. As a photographer, light is your best friend and for this request I knew I would not have much of it to work with. The resulting photographs turned out fairly well in my opinion and I learned a great deal from this experience (ideas on how to get even better photographs the next time around). I hope to work with Ashby and his DJ services company again in the near future to photograph more of their events.

Testimonial: “Aaron did a great job. Even though a blacklight party is a nightmare for a photographer, Aaron was able to provide us with a tremendous amount of great pictures. We will definitely use him and recommend him in the future.” — Ashby Embrey, Part “Ay” Music Owner

Photo Session Date: November 20, 2009

Photo Session Location: Middletown, VA

Photo Session Details: A local community college recently held a talent show for its students. While I was unable to attend the actual show, I did have the opportunity to take a few photographs of the winners giving repeat performances for the College’s employees as part of a pre-Thanksgiving luncheon. The performers included a hula hoop dancer, a singer/guitarist, a comedic performance by a pretend married couple and a singer/pianist who played a self-composed piece.

Photo Shoot Location: Middletown and Warrenton, Virginia

Photo Shoot Date: May 14 and 15, 2009

Photo Shoot Details: For the past few years, my full-time employer (a Virginia community college) has contracted an external vendor to handle the photo shoot of the two Commencement ceremonies held at both College campuses. It was decided late last year that the College would entrust me to handle all photographic duties for this year’s graduation ceremonies. I must be honest that I was anxious and nervous regarding this wonderful opportunity as these events are the pinnacle of the College’s academic year. With over 2,500 guests attending both ceremonies, the pressure was on me this year to capture the joy, emotion and experience of the event.

I am happy to share that both shoots went better than I could have anticipated. There was some unspoken competition between myself and a few other newspaper photographers who were present (each of us vying to get the best spot possible for several photograph opportunities), so that experience was a welcome challenge. The weather was also quite humid and since I was sporting a shirt and tie, I’m sure I lost a few pounds in sweat. The event however was a great success, filled with happy graduates celebrating a great time of joy with their families.

I took over 1,100 photographs during the two-day span, all of which I processed down into 400 or so album-worthy images. You can see my top picks below.

Testimonial: “Great job, Aaron! You were able to capture so much emotion on the faces of our graduates and their families. You’ve made me extra proud of what we accomplished and what we helped our students accomplish!” – Special Events Coordinator, Virginia Community College

Middletown and Warrenton, Virginia Commencement Ceremonies (click on the thumbnail to view the larger version)

Photo Shoot Location: Middletown, Virginia

Photo Shoot Date: November 2008

Photo Shoot Details: I was asked to photograph the grand opening ceremonies for a newly-built community college science building. The ceremonies included speakers, science and health profession demonstrations and the traditional ribbon cutting.

The building alone lends itself to some unique photograph opportunities due to the corner featuring only windows. The photograph above featuring the reflections of the clouds is a prime example.

While event photography used to be a challenge for me, I have found that one way to be successful is to not be shy as a photographer. You have to insert your self into the situation sometimes to obtain close-up photographs. The participants in the on-going demonstrations were very gracious and did not mind being photographed.

The cloud photograph above and the nighttime building shot below were shot on a whim (I was passing by and happen to have the camera on hand), yet have received the most comments from the intended audience of the photo shoot.