Summer's here...

Well, the busy weekends have stopped... for now. Here's a little peak at what we've been up to...

Heather & Steve in Asheville



Nicole & Stephen


Amy & Michael

Fun stuff...

As a professional photographer/artist "they" say it's important to have a creative outlet. In photography school teachers always used to tell me to treat each assignment - whether I liked the assignment or not -  as a way to be creative. It's the "shoot one for the client and one for yourself" philosophy. This is supposed to keep your creative juices flowing and make every job exciting. Most of the time this is pretty easy to do. For example, we take all the "traditional" pictures the clients want and then say "Just for fun, lets try...." Most of the time the clients don't buy it, but we have fun doing it and the photographs make great samples to show off just how creative we can be :o)

Every now and then though, a "job" arises that allows for complete creativity. Many of you may not be aware of this fact, but I, Christy, am actually a member of the Waxhaw Volunteer Fire Department. Impressive right? Not really because I do not run into burning buildings or rescue people. My membership consists of being on the auxiliary team. Technically, our role is to support the fire fighters when they get really big calls, etc. My role so far has been to take pictures :o) I got involved with the department about a year ago when Dave's oldest son invited me to come photograph one of their training fires. From there I photographed another one a few months later and slowly I became the unofficial photographer (or at least that's what I claim!) for the department. Eventually this lead to me actually joining the department in order to be better informed. 

On June 7, I had one of those purely creative opportunities with the department. They were burning down another house - more like mansion - for training purposes. Because the house was so large they invited other departments in the area to come join them. Once again I got the chance to photograph the event. If you've never experienced a fire that large (which for your sake I hope you never get the chance unless it's one of these types of situations!) just imagine a bonfire multiplied by about 100 if not more! The heat that comes off of a burning building is amazing! I remember last year when they first started the fire and it began to pour out the windows. I was actually frightened even though I was surrounded by fire fighters who had not only started the fire but were monitoring it from every angle.

The most recent training fire was once again amazing. I was able to get creative and photograph the event the way I wanted. There was no one telling me what to shoot or how to shoot it. I didn't have to pose anyone. I just got to walk around and take pictures which is what I love. I also experienced probably the most exciting thing I've ever done before: being inside a burning building! Part way through the morning, the chief allowed me to be escorted inside the house to photograph the fire from the inside. Don't worry, I wasn't in any real danger. As smoke poured out of the room to my right I admit I was a little nervous, but it was more of an adrenaline rush nervous rather than an afraid nervous. It was incredible!! 

Hello!!

Well, it's taken awhile, but we finally have a blog!! Yay......... I think. :o)

Let me start out by introducing myself (for those of you that don't already know) and giving you a brief history of photoEdge. My name is Christy Collins and my business partner is Dave Edge. Both Dave and myself migrated from sunny California to humid North Carolina. Dave and his family moved here about 4 years ago. After 3 years of working for another company Dave decided it was time to follow his dream and start a photography business. This happened about the same time I graduated from photography school in CA and after many months of thinking and praying, I moved out here in January 2007. Thus the birth of photoEdge, LLC. Now both Dave and myself work full time photographing weddings, families, children, high school seniors and sometimes even dogs. I say we work full time photographing, but in all reality only about 10% of our work is actually behind the camera! Most of our days our spent in front of a computer desk wishing we were behind the camera :o)

Now for the good stuff! Or at least I think it's the good stuff. This weekend is the penultimate weekend of our busy wedding season. Tomorrow Dave and I get to drive to Asheville at 7:30am and drive back at 11pm so that we can be up and ready for another wedding in Charlotte on Sunday. After the next 2 weekends we will have photographed a total of 11 weddings in 13 weeks! Talk about busy!

Not only have we been busy with weddings, but we've also been keeping ourselves busy with family portraits. Last weekend we go the chance to travel to Myrtle Beach to photograph a family at their beach house. Minus the wind, it was a beautiful day!

That's about it for now. Keep checking back for more updates and don't forget to call and schedule your session!!