Photo of the Month - June 2010

Fireworks illuminate the night sky at the American Tobacco District in Durham, NC.

Hello Rooster Fans,
Happy July 4th to everyone, yes we know this is the June photo of the month but we just get so excited about the cookouts, beer, summer and fireworks that we couldn't wait to share this image with you! This photo, as well as previous Photos of the month, can be easily obtained via our smugmug page.

Thanks for your support!
Team FlyingRooster

Adam Hajnos
James Fay

Kickin' Back Hour

What we Photogs call the Golden Hour is that time of day when the sun has just come up or is just setting. I prefer the latter as I tend to be a bit bah humbug in the wee hours. I got an opportunity to catch a Golden Hour view from the porch of one of the Blue Ridge Vacation Cabins overlooking the Watauga River. Pretty sweet place to kick back and watch the sun settle itself behind the mountains for the evening.

Moooo!

Recently Vacation Cabins have been the forefront of the client photo work, which brings the opportunity to see a little countryside each week. This scene is on Brownwood Rd in the Deep Gap area, about 15 minutes from Boone. It certainly boasts some of the prettiest pasture I have seen in awhile. Keep checking back for more beautiful outtakes!

May Greetings, Rooster Friends!

Sunshine and warm weather are well under way, and this month’s Photo of the Month comes from a collection of spring-themed photos taken in Chapel Hill. If you think this flower POTM is impressive, check out the hungry baby bird from the same set.



A recent portrait session involved the help of the youngest Fay Family member, Pat, who has been a drummer in the East Carolina University Marching Pirates band during his freshman and sophomore years. The shoot allowed James and Adam a chance to try some techniques which would be too difficult for a lone photographer to pull off: blacklights, strobe lighting with gels, and use of a fish eye lens. They succeeded in making Pat appear both intimidating and cool at the same time. He is, indeed, a multi-faceted subject.

Other highlights from the past month: Adam went backstage at a Carolina Chocolate Drops show to catch some behind-the-scenes shots of the band and got to meet Dolph Ramseur, the founder of Ramseur Records, which features bands like the Avett Brothers, Bombadil and Everybodyfields (in pictures: the guy with gray hair). Adam had always heard Dolph was a nice guy, and the stories proved true as he said, “You must be Adam Hajnos. You know, one of my favorite pictures is the one you took of Stuart from Bombadil.” Talk about a confidence booster!

James can now count himself among the many who have witnessed the over 300-year-old mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights, a supposedly supernatural phenomenon manifested by floating orbs of light around Brown Mountain. There are many myths surrounding the lights; perhaps they are lanterns held by the spirits of Cherokee women searching for their husbands, who died in the battle between Cherokee and Catawba. The most famous is the legend of the ghost of a devoted slave, looking for his master in the night. There is even a bluegrass tune about it. James was able to capture the haunted feel of the region in his ethereal photos, though there’s no rational explanation for the floating orbs he and his friends saw. Check out an old video of the orbs here.

That's it for this month. Thank you for your support!


-The FR guys

Hello again, friends!

James and Adam here, with the latest photos and news from FlyingRooster. We’ve noticed lately that it seems to be getting more difficult to have this newsletter sent out on time each month, so in order to help fix this problem, FlyingRooster would like to welcome out newest member: Greensboro's very own Laura DeMaria. Laura has been a friend of ours since middle school and has been a strong supporter of the work we do. We are excited to have her on board as our copywriter--her expertise is already apparent in this newsletter!

Last month, we experienced a few fun photo shoots, one of which featured Holy Ghost Tent Revival, an alternative band based in Greensboro. For the shoot, furniture was transported from the HGTR house to a field in Hagan Stone Park. Not surprisingly, the band’s house is exactly what you would expect from a rocking group like HGTR: filled with a mixture of vintage-cool furniture, instruments, art and of course, a fridge well-stocked with beer. The photo shoot started off on a great note (pun intended) when a passerby recognized the band, and came over to tell them how much he enjoyed their music. After that, Holy Ghost was all smiles. The photo shoot lasted about two hours to use all of the light from the sunset.



February’s photo of the month came from this session. As the sun went down, Patrick lifted up his guitar in a moment of happy spontaneity. Check out the rest of the shoot on our flickr page.

With all the snow North Carolina has received this year, the Rooster Boys have had plenty of opportunity to catch some beautiful shots of nature at its finest, and most sparkly. Adam particularly loves winter (the best time to drink spiced rum by the fire), and you can see his snowy explorations in Chapel Hill flickr page.

James has been keeping busy in Boone, contributing photos to the February issue of High Country Press Magazine. The coffee story (p. 70) is a profile on coffee shops and distributors in the High Country area. He spent time learning about how beans are roasted for different flavors and aromas (dispelling the myth that darker means better, as you can actually cook flavor and aroma out), as well as how to participate in coffee cupping. After scouting out the local brews, James suggests ordering beans from Bald Guy Brew.

The Special Olympics story (p. 44) covers the two-day events during the North Carolina Special Olympics Winter Games, held at Appalachian Ski Mtn. The games have been held since 1978. Several hundred athletes from NC, as well as a few from SC, come to town to compete this year.

Do you like the pics you see, and want a copy of your own? FlyingRooster’s February Photo of the Month is available for purchase via our Smugmug page, along with those from past months. And keep up with us in our photographic travels through our Flickr Map, where you can track where we’ve been and see photos from our trips.

With spring fast approaching, there will be no shortage of photos and stories in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Until next time,

Team FlyingRooster
www.flyingrooster.net

Elk Knob Hike

The temperature, finally rose above freezing for the first time this month over the Holiday weekend so we figured we would take advantage and thaw out a little in the sun. We set out to hike Snake Mountain but the land owner has recently posted No Trespassing signs. Pretty disappointing but I'm sure there is a good reason for it... We went over to nearby Elk Knob State Park instead and climbed the 1.3 mile, 1000 ft elevation gain to the snow covered peak. The summit offered an amazing view from both sides of the peak, looking towards Boone and towards West Jefferson. The climb back down was fun, as we skied down more-so than walked. Good hiking with good friends is always nice...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Hienz Foosball

In between the Christmas festivities and New Years joy, I found myself working on a rather large side project. I decided to give the foosball table from my childhood a facelift. All the foosball men where painted to match the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers superbowl starting line. There are even a few videos in the flickr set, With beerpong and foosball, this table is now the center of the party!

Bad Sweater Party

Well finally, the holiday rush has come to an end, and we have plenty of photographs to show from the last month. First on the list, the bad sweater party round 2. This was a great little project to try out on a few unsuspecting friends. A tripod was set up in a room with 3 lights (2 AB800s and 1 SB600) on a black backdrop. The camera was then triggered via wireless remote. The results were much better than expected. I would like to be able to market this to potential wedding clients, with a few extra tweaks of course.

Jeep Trails

We finally got our second snow of the year this past weekend. Stan and I checked out some nearby trails that we had been eyeballing for quite some time. They were well worth the wait, especially in the freshly falling snow. We'll be heading back there soon I presume.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Jeff and Brandy's Engagement Shoot

Last weekend Adam and I had the pleasure of shooting engagement photos with a couple in Chapel Hill, Jeff and Brandy. We responded to an ad on Craigslist as we often do and they selected us for the shoot. While on the shoot we were amazed to find out that they had received over 100 responses to their ad!!! That info made us very thankful to have been selected! We are very happy with the results, a few of which you can see below. Jeff and Brandy were a very friendly, kind and gentle couple, making the afternoon of shooting truly enjoyable. We wish Jeff and Brandy the very best of luck!