As do most triple-digit days, 11/11/11 gave couples around the country a reason to celebrate – their wedding that is!  Rob and I were excited to be involved in one such wedding, that of our clients Victoria and Michael.

Leaving our newest little photographer (our newborn 9 week old daughter!), for the first time, we traveled up to Key Largo for their wedding, arriving mid-afternoon to a beautiful private residence with a fun “Miami Vice” kind of flair.

The property was amazing, featuring a lush hidden driveway leading back to a grand home on its own private peninsula jutting out into the ocean.

The bride wore a fun feathery skirted A-line strapless dress with a fun black sash.  The guys were handsome yet casual in their tan suits, and the girls looked amazing in their shimmery tropical green knee-length bridesmaids dresses.

Despite some unexpected delays, we managed to make the most of the long walk to the ceremony site by stopping en route several times to capture shots of the bride and her bridesmaids, integrating the beautiful furniture and architecture of the home.

Since the ceremony was taking place right at sunset, it was dark immediately after, so Rob and I did some fancy footwork capturing timed-exposure images of the bridal party with the water in the background, using a remote flash to fill in each person in the frame.

The reception was a lot of fun and gave us great opportunities to get some photography of the girls making a grand entrance dance, the bride doing her famous backbends, and the newly wed couple schmoozing in the glow of a flood light.

Finally, the night ended with sending up “wish balloons”.  This miniature hot-air balloons are completely biodegradable and environmentally safe, are made of a thin paper-like material over a thin frame to provide support, and when the base is lit, it fills the space up with warmed air….and….LIFTOFF!  Sure there were some duds that ended up skidding to a stop in the top of the mangroves, but those that went airborne made a beautiful site floating away over the Atlantic ocean, carrying the dreams and hopes for this new couple on the wind!

Lazy Way Lane near Key West Bight, where the Fury, Sebago, and several other charters leave from every day. Come by and rent a GoPro underwater camera for the day! (Image courtesy of www.conchscooter.blogspot.com) We are located in the fine art gallery for our friend Alicia of AER Photography.

Summer is in full swing, and it’s time to rent a GoPro HD camera!  Down at the Key West Bight near Schooner Wharf Bar is a little road affectionately referred to by the locals as Lazy Way Lane, and there you’ll find things like jewelry stores, an amazing pretzel place (ask for our good friends Jan and Dave), and our friend Alicia of AER Photography.  We are helping her with her shop while she’s out of town (shooting in Mexico…lucky dog), so we will be operating the GoPro rentals from there for the time being.  If you would like to rent an underwater camera, call us up (305-517-3051) to reserve one, and then stop by before your snorkel trip, scuba diving trip, fishing or spearfishing charter, to pick it up.  These are high definition cameras that do underwater photo and video.  The cameras are compact and easy to use, and prevent you from risking your own expensive camera to the salt air and moisture. 

For more information on how to rent an underwater camera for your day in Key West, go to www.rentgopros.com, or email us at rent@bondfirestudio.com.

We are also booking photography tours on the island of Key West from this location.  If you are interested in exploring the island with a professional guide and photography instructor who can help you get the best shots, show the best locations, and answer any technical photography questions, call us at 305-809-8500, go to www.keywestphototours.com, or email us at tours@bondfirestudio.com.

waterproof and underwater camera, the highly popular GoPro HD Hero, for your trip. You can rent one for the day, several days, or an entire week. If you’ve been thinking about purchasing a GoPro, but aren’t sure if it’s right for you and want to demo the camera first and try it out before you buy, we offer that luxury as well. Brand new, the GoPro set goes for about $300 and can be purchased downtown at Diver’s Direct at the corner of Greene and Simonton. But if you just want to use it for the day to capture your dive trips, snorkeling adventures, jet ski rides, kayak tour, or kiteboarding lesson, this is a great option. The basic rental starts at just under 30 bucks if you have your own SD card and don’t want the insurance waiver. With a 16GB SD card (more than enough space to capture everything you could possibly want to do), a chest, head, or wrist mount, a lanyard, and the damage waiver, you’re looking at about 20 dollars more.

We will gladly deliver and pick up to your hotel, charter boat, or other location of your choice. Go to www.rentgopros.com for more info and booking.

Rob Bond and Chris Dacy heading up the Scrub n Grub beach cleanup sponsored by Divers Direct Key West.

A few weekends ago we took part in the Diver’s Direct Key West beach cleanup, called the “Scrub n Grub.” 

 This event was headed up by our very own Rob Bond, and to help with promotion of the event and to provide a good cause with some photos to commemorate it, Karrie spent the morning shooting candids on Smathers Beach while the crew

Volunteer Kate from the Mote Marine research lab in the Florida Keys came down to help out.

Pulling up old rope from the beach during the Divers Direct cleanup.

of volunteers picked up random articles of trash, clothing, bottles, cans, bags, and even a sleeping bag, some aluminum trim, and other objects harmful to the wildlife and the environment on the island.  A special thanks to Diver’s Direct for their efforts in picking up over 300 pounds of garbage from the beaches of Key West, another thanks to all the sponsors for their donations of prizes for the top cleaner-uppers, and a thanks to Karrie Porter Photography for their beach photography services.

Loading the truck with the over-300-pounds of garbage pulled from Smathers Beach and the surrounding mangroves.

Group photo of the first annual Scrub n Grub beach cleanup crew. (missing about 5 people who had already left before the bags were totaled and the photo taken...we appreciate your efforts as well!)

Getting to your Fury Catamaran trip date is easier than ever! (1) Click "View FURY Images" (2) See the Month sub-heading appear above the menu. (3) Click the Month of your trip.

To give you a little background, the Bond Fire website is built completely separate of the proofing site.  When you go to www.bondfirestudio.com to find out about Fury Catamaran images in Key West, or to find out about other services such as our Key West Photo Tours around the island, you get our actual website.  Just like any other website you’d visit, it has our Contact info, a selection of our favorite images, and links to businesses we like.  From there, if you want to view images from your Fury trip, that’s when the site jumps you over to proofing site.  That’s where all those hundreds of thousands of photos “live.”  (Thanks to our friends at Zenfolio.com, the proofing site is getting slicker and sexier all the time.  In fact, one of my next posts is going to be about their new Checkout interface, which is even more streamlined than the previous one.)

Once the month is selected, customers need only to select the date of their trip to be taken to that day's trips. This simplifies the navigation so that less customers will feel like they are navigating in the dark.

Before, in order to search for the date of your Fury trip, you had to jump to the proofing site, then start navigating to the right date.  Computer-savvy customers had no problems, but the jump scared some of our less-adventurous patrons.It is for them that we have now implemented Fury Trip Date Navigation directly onto the main site.  So, instead of jumping to the proofing site before navigating to the date of your trip and getting possibly lost along the way, you now remain on the main Bond Fire site, choose the date, and THEN it takes you to the proofing site, from which point you need only to click on “Ultimate Adventure,” “Morning Snorkel,” “Sunset Cruise,” etc.  Super duper easy!

I hope this change helps you guys out!  Check back often for more upgrades to the site and the service.  Hope everyone had a happy holiday.  We are looking forward to an excellent 2011!

See the island in a whole new way. Capture amazing travel images to take home with you from your journey to Key West.

So, what is a Photo Tour, anyway?  So glad you asked!  A photo tour, or photography tour, or photography excursion, as some call it, is basically a mini photography session that takes place in a unique location, and headed by a professional photographer “slash” tour guide.  They are available in many cities around the world, and range from a few hours to a few weeks.  Here at Key West Photo Tours, we are focusing on offering photography instruction, professional critique, pointers for improving your travel images, and beginner-level camera operation for anyone visiting Key West.  With my former experience as a college photography instructor, and my team of brilliant photography staff, we strive to give people a unique way to see the island.  The tour also provides seasoned photographers with a way to discover some of the best photography locations, without having to wander aimlessly wasting time.

Tours are booking daily Monday through Sunday, and range in price from $35 to $55.  We do occasionally run online specials, so check the website, www.keywestphototours.com for full details, topics covered, locations visited, and booking information.  You can also read bios for the photography guides, including myself (Karrie).  Or you can call us at 305-809-8500, or email us at tours@bonfirestudio.com.

Fury Catamarans sails across the sunset in Key West, Florida.

In a nutshell…here’s what we’ve been up to.  Our other division of our company, Bond Fire Studio, is the official on-board photography company for The Fury Catamarans in Key West, Florida.  Rob, myself, and our associate Megan have been shooting snorkeling and water adventure excursions for them, which go out several times per day.  We are very excited to be involved in this, and are really enjoying our relationships with the people in Key West.  Don’t worry Nashville clients…I am currently in Music City attending to some teaching, horse shows, and weddings we have on the books, and will be here until the middle of June.  Rob and Megan are back and forth between here and KW as bookings demand. 

Fury Catamarans is the largest snorkeling and water adventure charter in Key West.

Here is one slideshow from one of the galleries from our website.   The Fury has at least one, and sometimes two, of these “Ultimate Adventure” trips that go out daily.  Shots are mainly candid: getting guests as they enjoy the many activities, including snorkeling with them and getting underwater photography of their time at the reef.  So many more where this came from: www.bondfirestudio.com.  But enjoy!

Several songwriters share their talents and stories at Billups Art in East Nashville.

To be held, as the name implies, the first friday of each month, it is a gathering of local artists and songwriters for an intimate evening sharing their work with the well-turned-out audience that was in attendance.

……………………….. The talent this past Friday consisted of Stephen Salyers, Mattina Scarpino, Mason Douglas, Tyler McCollum, Lance Kotara, Tyler Flowers, Leigh Brandon Houison, and Danny Salazar.

I was impressed by the variety and talent, as well as the quality of the show. The cozy venue was comfortable with a variety of standard and high-top tables, as well as a comfy sectional sofa in one corner, and during the intermission one has the pleasure of taking in the artwork that adorns the walls of what is technically an art gallery by day. 

Stephen Salyers, who helped coordinate the event along with Clint and Anthony, performs one of his songs.

The bar was well stocked and well staffed, and there were light hors d’ouvres available as well. For more information about this and other events at Billups Art, contact them at 615-489-5100. They are located at 1008-C Woodland St in Nashville, just past 10th Avenue, and only about a five minute drive from our studio on Third. 

To see the rest of the images from this gig, go to their web gallery.

Keep in mind, we are available to photograph events such as this throughout Nashville.  If you have a venue and have an event coming up, let us know!  Call Rob or Karrie at 615-829-8304 or email info@bondfirestudio.com.