Category: Personal
*** Thanks to all who emailed us! We have already filled all the spots at this time. Thanks!! ***
Savannah and I try our hardest to stay on our toes creatively. One example is the photo above where we made a panorama shot at very dawn. That’s is not our normal atmosphere but we did it to try something we do not get to do very often. We constantly research photography, new products, our workflow, and many more things to make our clients happy. With this said, we feel like we can still do more and at the same time help some people out. We have been really wanting to stretch our creativity in shooting – have the freedom to practice what we want and to shoot how we want. So we have thought about it and decided to offer free bi-weekly sessions. The idea is you scratch our back by giving us freedom to do what we want, and we scratch your back by giving you some unique images! Here’s how it will go down:
1. These are the dates open for a shoot*: Feb. 3, Feb. 16th, Mar. 2nd, and Mar 17th. Shooting time can be set according to your schedule.
2. If you can do any one of these, email us (info@avagracephotography.com) and let us know. We want to know who you are, why you want pictures taken (just for fun is a valid reason!), and a picture of you and whoever else will be photographed. We have certain looks and ideas we are going for so we need people that fit them.
*For these sessions we will be needing couples this time around. At a later date we might be needing children.*
3. If you fit exactly what we are looking for on a specific shoot, we’ll contact you with details. Please keep in mind we have complete freedom to do what we want with the sessions, but we may ask for any ideas you may have.
4. The session is free and those who participate will receive one complimentary 8×12 print. Any additional art pieces or products that you want will be offered with a 10% discount.
We only have four available spots so hurry to get your name in!
Philip and Savannah
*These session are for those who are not current clients of AGP. Sessions that have been scheduled with AGP already are not eligible for the discounted rate. All who participate will be asked to sign a model release. AGP reserves the right to cancel or reschedule any session.
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The little seaside city of Portrush quickly turned into one of our favorite places in Northern Ireland. It also was the only day we had sun shine while in Ireland. If there was one day to have sun, this was the day that we needed it. This was the one city where Philip and Ben did their own then and I went off to explore on my own. While some might be nervous about exploring a new city all on their own I was excited to get out and see the land and have my own personal adventure. Boy was it an adventure! We got Philip and Ben off to their golf game (more on that in a minute) and I grabbed a cab to go to Dunlace Castle. I had been looking forward to seeing the castle for weeks and figured it would be a fun experience but I had no clue just how amazing this day would be.
When I got to the castle (which was about 3.5 miles from where Philip and Ben were playing golf) my breath was instantly taken away. A quick look around showed that I was the only one at the castle so for a couple hours it was just me and this bad boy that was built in the 13th century. The image above shows the path that I took to walk down to the coast and view the castle from below. This day I took a full backpack of gear with me and the weight of it plus the steep nature of the walk way plus winds gusting at speeds I’ve never felt before made me almost bust several times. It was a little scary but became hysterical and I learned to just roll with it.
A beautiful thing happened while I was at the castle. A gorgeous rainbow appeared as I was taking one look back at the coast and the castle. As you will see below it was perfectly placed between the castle and the cliffs. While Ireland is known for its rainbows you actually don’t see them that much (or so our friends who live there told us). To have one appear at the castle was a perfect end to my adventures there.
Yes perfection. Right after I grabbed this image it started hailing golf ball sized hail. Thankfully it was a short hail storm cause I had no where to really hide from the storm.
So instead of taking a cab back to town I decided to walk back. The road to the castle was right on the coast and on the drive up I knew I had to walk back so I could enjoy the view slowly. Deciding to walk back was one of the best decisions I made. And also one of the worst. The view was the best I had the entire trip and I had some great time alone with my thoughts. What was bad is I thought the whole trip would be down hill since the drive appeared up hill. Yeah I was wrong. Some how the walk turned into an uphill battle of me against the wind. But as you can see, the view was totally worth it!
Headed back into town and looking at the golf course on the coast.
The castle can be seen in the right side of the image. Can you image having this view all the time!
Little did I know that this would be the only sun we saw on this trip. 
The grasses are so lush and soft. You can lay down in the grass and it feels like a soft bed. Trust me I was tempted.
I got to experience an overhead view of the golf course the guys played at and I am so glad I wasn’t trying to play here. It is an amazing course though and one that is played by some of the best golfers.
These little guys were begging to go home with me. Come on aren’t they so cute!!
So while I was experiencing the rainbow at the castle Philip and Ben got to see it from the golf course (The guys played at the Royal Portrush Golf Club , they played the Vally Links course). Not a bad view while golfing.
Cheers,
Savannah and Philip
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Our latest adventure : Belfast, Northern Ireland Part 1
December 20, 2011 9:02 pm Personal
This blog post (ok, it will be multiple post) is one that is dear to our hearts. This October we (along with our best friend Ben) took one of the best adventures we have had yet; we went to Northern Ireland. We absolutely love traveling, seeing the world, and experiencing difference cultures. One of our couples from 2010, Laura and Ricky Graham, currently live in Belfast and extended an invitation to us to come visit. Now when you invite us to go to another country we will most likely take you up on it, as the Graham’s found out
One of the best things about this trip was the chance to see the country from a natives eyes. When we travel we try and immerse ourselves in the culture and not just do the touristy things. Since Laura and Ricky live in Belfast they were able to help us view the country in a way that would have never been possible if we went on our own. As we were on this trip we had to pinch ourselves a couple of times to see if it was even real. We explored Belfast, Portrush, Bangor, Newcastle, the Mourne Mountains, and the Antrim Coast. As much as we loved seeing the country of Northern Ireland some of our best memories were spent in the Graham’s home where Laura and I talked over coffee and the boys all played soccer video games or talked about music, the night we spent in Bangor with Ricky’s family sitting around the fire hearing stories of the Troubles, and the weekend we spent in their cabin in the Mournes playing monopoly by the wood burning stove. The trip became so much more than we thought it would be. It showed us that we have friends all over the world and they are our friends because of the job that we love so much. If we hadn’t photographed the Graham’s wedding we would have never gotten to experience the beauty of being welcomed into an Irish family.
As we journeyed throughout the countryside we couldn’t help but be amazed at the beauty before us. We spent a lot of time on the trains and we personally thought this was the best way to see the country. The country side would roll by as we just sat there and watched the beauty of the Emerald Island. From the moment we landed in Belfast we truly were left speechless by the landscapes that we saw.
We went with the goal to experience the Irish way of life and see the country. We took plenty of cameras with us but there were times were we put them down and just soaked up what we saw and made mental memories. There were times that a camera just couldn’t capture what we were experiencing. Like the day we went to Portrush, stood on the beach, and looked out to the Irish Sea as far as our eye could see. You can’t capture the smell of the salt water or the feeling of the wind against your face. You’ve just got to close your eyes, soak it in, and store it in your memory bank.
But no fears we still took plenty of images. I mean come on, you can’t take the photographer out of us. So we want to share some of our favorite places and memories from Northern Ireland with you. Since we were gone for 10 days we are going to break the trip up into a couple of post. First up is our first days in Belfast and Portrush.
Arrival in Amsterdam. The three of us were pretty worn out from the travel and couldn’t wait to get to Ireland. This image cracks me up, it really shows the personality of all three of us
Day one in Belfast was spent getting acclimated to the town and learning our bearings. The above image on the left is of Philip and Ricky. Laura and Ricky had told us that we would feel tall in Ireland. They weren’t joking! Philip is decently tall in the states but in Ireland he was so easy to find since he was one of the tallest people there! And I’m only 5′ 6″ and felt model tall there. Pretty sure that is a reason to move
Image on the right is City Hall.
Queen’s College, where Laura teaches.
I adore these two images of P. P mostly shoot with a film camera (Olypmus OM-10, the camera he learned on) on this trip and I love seeing him with it. I love that I caught the rain falling on the right, it was a perfect reflection on the trip.
View of Belfast from the Victoria Center. Belfast is in the valley and pretty much every where you look from the city you can see the hills, HEAVEN!
Our first picture on the blog with both us us sporting our short hair
Sheep!!!! Yep they really are every where. One of my lifetime dreams is to have a sheep farm when we retire. I was so excited to see the sheep every where and tried to take one home with us
Train riding. Small note about our outfits for the trip. We knew to pack rain gear but we didn’t know how much we would be using it. We had just one day of sunshine while we were there and spent most of the trip soaking wet. Northface came to our rescue with their jackets though at one point even they couldn’t handle the amount of rain we would encounter More on that later. But for this trip I packed tons of cute clothes… sadly they spent most of their time under two coats and scarves.
One of the little countryside towns on our journey north to Portrush.
The coastal town of Portrush.
Irish Sea
The main reason we went up to Portrush was for Philip and Ben to play golf. One of Philip’s life long dreams was to play golf in Ireland and we made sure that it happened. Ben just happens to be Philip’s golf buddy here in Memphis so it worked out perfectly that he was able to join us on the journey. I’m pretty sure P would not want me playing golf with him on a Links course since all I know how to do is drive
If you will look closely at the image above you can see the classy way in which P carried his golf cleats to the club
My hair spent most of the trip like this. The wind was ridiculous most days and I decided not fight it. I was so thankful that I decided to cut it all off right before the trip. I can’t image trying to control long hair with that wind.
I’ll close out this first part of or trip with this image of Portrush taken on my walk from Dunluce Castle back to town where the boys were playing golf. You can see the course in the middle of the image and see that they really were playing right on the coast.
Tomorrow we will be posting more from Portrush and Dunlace Castle. Those images really and truly deserve their own post and we can’t wait to share them!
Cheers,
Savannah and Philip
(Images shot with Olympus Pen EL-1 and Nikon D700 24-70 and 70-200)
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Happy Father’s Day
June 19, 2011 4:44 pm Personal
On a wedding day we get to capture many moments through out the day that the couple might forget later. On this Father’s Day we wanted to highlight a few of those moments that have been dear to us. The relationship between a father and his daughter is extremely special and on her wedding day we see some of the toughest men brought to tears as they see their little girls all dressed up and ready to start a new chapter of her life. Whether it is the father daughter dance or the last moment before he walks her down the aisle, the moments shared with just the father and daughter have been some of our favorites to capture. Those last glances with her on his arm melt my heart and bring me to tears as I edit.
To all the fathers who have given us the privilege of capturing your daughter’s wedding days, we thank you! We thank you for all the hard work you put in to raise your children and provide for them. Thank you for loving your little girls!
And last but definitely not least, my own dad. Thanks Pop for being such a great father, for encouraging us to always reach for our dreams, teaching us to hold nothing back, to laugh our way through life, and to love with all our hearts! I love you!
Cheers,
Savannah
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Wednesdays with the Kenneys: Sunrise walks
June 15, 2011 5:19 pm Personal
When we were in Hawaii we went on a walk at sunrise. It was one of our favorite memories of the trip. This morning we both were wide awake at 4:30. Why, we aren’t really sure. After realizing we weren’t falling back asleep we decided to take Amydog for a walk. With the crazy heat that Memphis has been having AD hasn’t been getting enough exercise. Well apparently 5:30 is the perfect time to walk her. It is much cooler and it is amazingly peaceful. We saw a few deer prancing through the fields as we walked and it was nice to be the only ones at the dog park.
Philip has been wanting to get a couple good sunrise shots here in Memphis and so we took a camera along. The sunrise was pretty but nothing fantastic. We love morning light and it was perfect for grabbing a couple images of our little family. When shooting weddings we tend to use a lot of artificial lights so it was nice to enjoy the simpleness for the golden sunrise.
AD loves to pose for us. Such a good dog
Apparently I didn’t look in the mirror before leaving… 6 am hair in all its glory. But I love this image of AD and I
Bright eyed and bushy tailed! Can you guess which one of us is the morning person?
And to end, one of my absolute favorites of the three of us! It is simple but it shows us so well! I only wish Troubadour was in it (handy dandy tripod and self timer action going on)
Any other early risers out there? Or insomniacs? What do you do when you can’t sleep?
Cheers,
Savannah and Philip
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