Montana 2010 Series – The Girls

Hello everyone. Meet “The Girls”. This is Savanah, Shay, and their mom Laura. Laura is my friend Brian Bastinelli‘s cousin, which makes Savanah and Shay his nieces I suppose. I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing “the girls” last year during my first trip to Montana and that little session turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. (Here are some shots from last year.)

Well, this year was no different. I was really looking forward to seeing the girls again. Last year I was a stranger to them and had to earn their trust along the way. This year, it was like visiting old friends and we immediately reconnected. I just love these two. They were a year older, more mature, and as fun as ever. They are each so unique, beautiful, and fun to photograph. Last year, Laura really didn’t want to be in the shots but this year she joined in the fun with her girls. She’s also a budding new photographer and took a few shots of her own too.

In terms of the actual shoot, we decided to drive out to a remote farm and of course underestimated the drive time. We ended up in a serious race with time and fleeting light. We really only had 45 minutes or so to shoot but we made the most of it. Brian and I worked together and took turns shooting and coming up with concepts. We ended up running, jumping, climbing, and generally playing all around this one hillside as the shadow line raced up the hill. Savanah, Shay, and Laura, I simply can’t thank you enough for playing with me again. I know we asked you to do some crazy things in the rush of it all. Thanks for your trust, willingness, and playfulness. I can’t wait to see you all again next year! Hopefully, I’ll get to bring along my little girl to meet you guys next year. Until then . . . Enjoy!

Oh, this post by Brian has a few behind the scenes shots from this shoot too.

Montana 2010 Series – Run and Gun

“Run and Gun” . . . perhaps the most fun one can have with a good friend, a beautiful environment, and a camera. This series of shots is from two “run and gun” sessions. My friend, Brian Bastinelli, and I simply jump in the car and drive with no particular destination or subject matter in mind. We let the Universe serve up whatever it sees fit and we are never disappointed. I truly love the creative freedom and mystery of shooting this way. Whatever moves us visually is quickly translated into a cry of “stop the car” and followed up with a flurry of activity that I’m sure passers by find bewildering and humorous. In the final analysis, this approach is simply a form of play. As a visual artists, I continue to find that when I operate from a place of gratitude and with a playful mindset, my results are creatively optimized and emotionally linked to wonderful experiences and feelings. OK, enough already . . . on to the images. Enjoy!

Montana 2010 Series – Indian Days

Here’s another post in the series from my recent Montana trip. One of the highlights of the trip is taking in the North American Indian Days and all of the traditional dances and drumming. This year, I unfortunately missed my flight out of Knoxville by five minutes which (long story) ended up costing me an entire day and the first Grand Entry at the Pow Wow. Sad to be sure but no problem I thought, there’s always the second day. Well, enter mother nature. We were all ready for the festivities when this huge cloud presented itself over head and dumped on the place. The dancing and drumming were pretty much washed out but I made the best of it by photographing some of the surrounding sights and scenes. Enjoy!

By the way, if you want to see some the dancing that I missed the day prior, check out Brian Bastinelli’s images. I’ll not miss this flight next year I can assure you.

Cassie and Caleb – Sneak Peek

Hey Gang, it’s a post from BA’s trusty assistant April B.!  Weddings are always very hard work for everyone involved, but that hard work is easy to forget when everyone is having a blast and yesterday was no exception! SO much fun! I assisted on Cassie and Caleb’s engagement shoot a few months ago and it was clear from the beginning that this couple was totally easy-going and super fun to work with. Moms, dads, friends and family were no different.  From the bridesmaids sipping cold beverages in the 90+ degree shoot or practicing their choreographed dance moves for the reception, to the groomsmen and ushers planning their “ceremony offense” like a football game,  the day was filled with querky fun!

Here’s just a few of the highlights from this fun, yet elegant and beautiful day!


Thank you SO much, Cassie and Caleb for being so fun to shoot and choosing us to be a part of your day! Many more images to come! Our sincere gratitude and congrats to you both!

Montana 2010 Series – Gilman Junkyard

I recently returned from what is quickly becoming one of my favorite annual excursions . . . my trip to the visit my friend Brian Bastinelli in the breathtaking Big Sky country of Montana. Brian has long family ties to the Choteau area. Visiting with him and his family there is a social, cultural, and visual feast and provides a much needed mid-year boost to my creative core. We simply put life on hold, grab our cameras, and head out each day to enjoy the mystery and journey and make some fun images. Again this year, we divided out time between the North American Indian Days pow wow in Browning, “run and gun” photo walks/drives in and around the Choteau area, hiking and driving through Glacier National Park, and a photo session with his cousin and adorable nieces. We also did a longer drive over to Butte this year and spent a day on a photo walk there. Anyway, enough of that on on with the images.

I’ll be posting a series of galleries from the trip. This first gallery is from one of our “run and gun” sessions and is a little different for me. So, I wanted to start with it. I do shoot more than people on occasion;-)In fact, I absolutely love flexing my creative muscles and doing a shoot like this. On our road trip this fine day, I had thrown out the idea of shooting a series on old rusted out trucks and cars . . . that seem to dot the landscape in those parts. Well the Universe answered in a big way when we happened upon this historic old town called Gilman and found a treasure trove of vintage vehicles in someones yard. We knocked on the door and asked permission and once granted spent several hours just shooting away. Here are some of the results. I mostly tried to play with color and line and a bit of abstraction here and there and focused on clean compositions in an otherwise chaotic environment. The last shot in the series is a documentary shot of the junkyard itself to give you a feel for the context.

Something different. Enjoy. More of the series to come . . .

Behind the Scenes at Brooke & Mark’s Wedding

Hey everyone! Here’s a little behind the scenes video from a recent wedding that I thought you might enjoy. The video is intended for potential clients to get an idea of my approach and my work by seeing me in action at a real wedding. Many thanks to Brooke and Mark who were gracious enough to let me have Jamie Abart follow us around all day. Also, a huge thanks to Jamie for a superb job on this project. He was invisible yet everywhere all at the same time. Again, this is intended as a promo piece for for my work not a traditional wedding video.

You can check out more photos of Brooke and Mark here.

Enjoy!

Bryan Allen Photo and The Visage Group Team Up for Success

So I alluded to this in my last post but now it’s time to make the official announcement . . .

Bryan Allen Photo is extremely excited and proud to announce that we have partnered with the Visage Group to completely overhaul their corporate imagery in their facilities and marketing and promotional pieces. A number of exciting projects are in the works including a new website which will launch shortly. We are also busy updating shots of their incredible facilities, capturing corporate events, and photographing their incredible staff (see below).

The Visage Group includes Salon Visage (Downtown West and Market Square), Spa Visage, and The Studio by Salon Visage. The Visage Group is the brainchild of Frank and Belinda Gambuzza, each internationally recognized performers and educators in the hair care industry. Throughout the last decade their motivation, training, commitment to education and responsibility to family, employees and community has helped them grow the Visage Group into one of the nation’s top salon/spa businesses, serving over 50,000 clients. Their businesses are nationally and internationally acclaimed and recipients of numerous industry awards. Salon Visage is also Knoxville’s only Intercoiffure salon.

We could not be more pleased to work with a new client that is is so well respected and regarded and who, more importantly, shares the same commitment to excellence and basic values.

Here’s a quick quote from Frank regarding our partnership . . .

“When choosing a corporate partner, the Visage Group hopes to make the collaboration SIMPLE, but POWERFUL. Most often, this is not an easy task. However, from inception, the Visage Group / Bryan Allen Photo partnership has had the momentum of an UNSTOPABLE freight train. Not only does BA now where it’s at, but better yet, knows where this train needs to go BEFORE it gets there. Every once in a while, a corporate partnership clicks, this is our GEM find for 2010.”

Thanks to Frank, Belinda, and the entire Visage Group family for entrusting us to deliver world class imagery while meshing with the culture of excellence they have established for their brands. It is truly an honor.

So, no blog post wold be complete without a few images right?! One of the first projects we embarked upon was to produce a “year book” of the current staff which we will update annually. These images will be utilized on the new web site. We ended up photographing over 100 employees at 4 locations in 3 days under the concept of “year book photos with attitude”. Here is a compilation of just a few of the shots. What and incredibly fun bunch of folks to shoot and meet. Attitude, energy, and passion was not hard to elicit out of this group. It is clear to see that the Visage Group is what is is largely due to the incredible individuals that make up the team and their collective commitment to the ideals and values established by Frank and Belinda.

Award Winner!

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! Just a quick post today to announce an award winning campaign for Frank’s Barber Shop which is owned and operated by the Frank Gambuzza of The Visage Group. Frank’s Barber Shop is a really cool Knoxville barber shop with a twist! Takara Belmont is one of the leading salon, barber, and spa product companies in the world. Very honored to be a part of this!

I’ll make another post soon formally announcing our exciting new collaborative relationship with Frank and The Visage Group. We’ve got a lot of exciting projects planned and in the works. For now though, I am so happy to say that our first project together was a big success.

If you live here in Knoxville and haven’t checked out the barber shop, I really encourage you to do so. Great cuts, shaves, products, and atmosphere!

Zac Brown Band – Breaking Southern Ground Tour, Atlanta GA

Here’s a few from a recent live show shoot with Zac Brown Band and friends on the Breaking Southern Ground Tour. This stop was at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre in Atlanta, GA. Incredible show, incredible people, incredible fun! What more can you say. Have I mentioned lately that I absolutely love  my job!;-) I want to thank ZBB and their team for the opportunity to work with you again. Stay safe out there on the road and smell the roses along the way. You guys have earned and deserve all the success you are enjoying! Hope to see you all real soon.

Jeana & Alex – Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak peek at Jeana and Alex’s wedding which was held a few weeks ago in Memphis, TN. This is one I’ll certainly never forget! You may have read or heard about all of the flooding in Nashville recently . . . well this wedding was that same day and believe me when I say that Memphis may not have made the news for flooding but they got just as much rain and a few tornados just for kicks. Like and idiot I didn’t even check the weather this trip and we ended up getting somewhere between 13 and 18 inches of rain . . . in one day! A quick trip to Wally-word in the early am and we were outfitted and ready to go though. We even bought toy fishing poles for the bride and groom. Hey when life gives you lemons you gotta make lemonade right!

We started the day at the spa like many weddings but soon found ourselves in an hour and a half lockdown in the spa’s “wet room” (read large shower) with 15 or so of our new, closest friends. After that, the schedule was blown, there was no sun in sight, and the sirens blared off an on all day. But in the end it all worked out just fine. Jeana and Alex didn’t let the water or the tornados dampen their spirits at all and their positive outlook carried the day.

Jean & Alex, thank you for letting me be a part of your remarkable and memorable day. You guys are fantastic and both of your families were a blast. From our New Year’s Day bridal/engagement shoot to the big day and beyond, you guys have been great fun to work with. I wish you all the best as you embark on life’s journey together.

Oh, now here’s a sneak peek at a few shots from the big day. You can check out a bigger sneak peek here . . . and of course many, many more images to come shortly.