Big Day in Davidson

Following a packed wedding schedule in October, Saturday was a nice change of pace as I documented the inauguration of Thomas Ross as the 17th president of Davidson College.
I always enjoy working with Davidson's Bill Giduz and Meg Kimmel and it was nice to get the opportunity to work with Leslie Marsicano, who organized the entire event.
I did a portrait of Ross some time back and he is incredibly personable.
For the photographers out there: during the ceremony at Belk Arena I utilized four strobes mounted in the rafters of the arena. I triggered the flashes with Pocket Wizard wireless transceivers.
Please enjoy a few selections from the day. As always, click on the images for better viewing.

Thomas Ross is sworn in as his wife, Susan, looks on

Artistic endeavor at Davidson College

Friday must have been a satisfying day for Brad Thomas and many other folks at Davidson College.
Thomas, gallery director and curator at the college, has spent a great deal of time the past few years overseeing a project to bring some new art pieces to Davidson.
The installation of Antony Gormley's 2005 iron sculpture "You" and another new work by Joel Shapiro was another step in Davidson building a world-class contemporary sculpture collection.
A determined crew from Alward Masonry in Rockwell, N.C., did an excellent job working with Brad on this unique installation.
Meg Kimmel, senior creative associate and college editor, hired me to document the event. I look forward to the chance of working with Meg, Brad and John Syme of the communications department on future projects.
Davidson's news director Bill Giduz, who also happens to be a talented photographer, was out of town at an event so I was happy to step in to help record this important day for the college.
The new sculpture garden is a wonderful addition to an already beautiful campus.

Brad Thomas, left, and Hazen Alward remove the old base

Brad and Hazen line things up

"You" by Antony Gormley

Studio Session

Did a quick studio session today for Dan, a local businessman looking for some promotional photos.
Dan and I hit it off right away as we chatted about our mutual loves of golf and music. (His wife recently gave him an awesome birthday gift as he got to play Pebble Beach Golf Links, one of the best courses in the world.)
My son Sean has been helping me lug equipment as he learns more about photography. (Sean actually had his first photo published in the newspaper at age 13 when he got a great shot while working with me at the Carolina Panther training camp.)
We also had some fun taking some pictures as he helped me adjust the studio lights. I was also trying to show him how you can change the mood of the photos by using one light instead of two.
We did some standard head-and-shoulders photos of Dan and then did a few that were a bit more relaxed.
Dan was great to work with and I'm hoping we can get together for some golf in the near future.

Sean looking serious as we set the lights

The many faces of Sean
We utilized one light for the second shot and two lights for the other two

Standard head shot

More interesting lighting with a relaxed pose