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  • Welcome to our Blog!

    We are David and Alana Joyner, a husband and wife team that make up ABJ Photography. 

    I hope you get a kick out of our sneak peeks, ramblings, current projects, and so much more!  If you are visiting with a specific goal in mind, please visit the Catagories section.  There you will find a quick link to our work. 

    Thanks for being here, checking us out, and for all your loyal support!  Don't be shy, please leave some BLOG LOVE if you see something you like, I treasure your kind words and comments!  Enjoy!

Fridays LIVE!

Time for a weekly round up of events!  This week has been a hard one.  A lot of hard conversations going on at our house about different topics, but it is all healthy and good.  And, we will be better because of them.  It kinda makes me want to go back to the woods.  And, I only say that because we spent the weekend hiking on the Appalachian Trail…one of our favorite things to do together (MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE).  Last night I picked up a book I’ve not opened in a while, and flipped right to a page that had a section underlined.  It reads, “Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors.” (Ann Lamott, Plan B) I teared up just a little…so I guess I agree with those words. One other thing that I know for a fact is that bears live in the woods.  I know this because I watch shows called I survived a bear attack and Black Bears in the GA Mountains!  Ok…maybe not exactly titled that way…but close.  No matter the statistics, or my faith in God, or the fact that they hibernate in the winter, or that there are so many people (including tons of little boyscouts and dads) hiking the same trail making lots of noise, I still lay in the tent at night thinking about bears.  This weekend was the best night sleep yet (maybe 8 hrs), and we did not, as they say feed the bears. We hiked about 6-ish miles Saturday, and about 4-ish on Sunday.  It was a great weekend together, and with our mountain dog!  Here is a little photo montage I put together of our trip!

“For all that has been, thanks.  For all that shall be, yes.” – Dag Hmmarskjold (prayer)

March 15, 2010 - 11:16 am

Katie and Jeff Barker - What a fun expedition. We love the snowy post.

Fridays LIVE!

Yay for starting a new series for the BLOG called Fridays LIVE!…to be posted each Friday.  I have been waiting until we get closer to our “busy time” to start this little idea I’ve had in my head.  Mainly because I was fearful that I would not have anything to talk about and that’s not fun!  Anyway, the point of the post it to recap our week.  Why?  Because I think it will be fun to document our growth and what we are learning and doing for ourselves.  But, also because maybe there is one or two person out there who can relate or maybe gain something from what we are doing.  I learn something new each day and am sharing it as much here for me as you…you faithful friend and reader!

So, here is the deal.  I recap life as a photographer, wife, and part of my community to share that we are real people, and to maybe give some insight into who we are beyond business as well as in business.  I think that is why I love blogging.  I can showcase our work in the wedding industry but also go a little off course and talk a little bit about who ABJ Photography really is…these posts may or may not include photos.  But, I will link the mess out of it so that you will get a mental picture anyway!  So, here we go!

Let’s be honest…MONDAY and TUESDAY were a wash because of this white mess happening all over GA.  I think I sent out a tweet about it, please view my twitpic HERE.  I called it the icky white stuff for a reason…that is how I feel about snow, I feel icky.  And, I want a tan and not a sweater.  But, it will be fine, I have a warm little office down here at the capitol and a nice abundance of coffee…no fear.

WEDNESDAY we got to attend a really cool dinner for our Young Life area…North Fulton.  This is something that David and I care a lot about, and I have spent a lot of my life involved with both as a volunteer and staff member.  Why do we care?  Because we can support them both financially and physically.  We do not advertise well enough the organizations that we support and I want to start doing that better.  These people affect youth in such positive ways, changing both mine and David’s lives as we were growing up.  We are fortunate to get to welcome new staff and also grow Young Life in Roswell.  One thing that I hope to bring up again is our fundraising race called Rowdy Ralph.  If you are a runner and would like to support youth in our area please visit the site HERE.  We hope to be out there this year running, and needing all the support (to finish) we can get, haha!

Last night was spent networking and learning at the Atlanta PUG through PICTAGE- a company we use here at ABJ Photography.  Last night we were excited to pick the brains of professionals in the wedding planning and event industry.  A special thanks to Michelle Gainey of Lemiga Events, Alyssa Olson of Sashay Creative Events, Janice Blackmon of Janice Blackmon Events, and Stefanie Dunn of The Wedding Box Atlanta for all of your insight!  David and I have not worked hand-in-hand with a wedding coordinator yet, but were encouraged to learn that we are taking the right steps in our business to help that be a smooth process.  It was great to hear that they look for communication – which we consider to be our strong point.  In fact, David and I often email people back instantly.  Maybe because we stalk our inbox, or maybe because we are thorough.  Either way, good word from the ladies.  Also, excited to hear they encourage conversation and teamwork.  David and I base our business on relationships.  We love relationships with clients and families, and we welcome relationships from our peers!  WooHoo!  Let’s go get coffee, or a smoothie, or a meal.  We look forward to running into these ladies again and hopefully working with some of them in the future… or maybe following their work online.  Either way, what a great night of community and learning!

We totally are advocates for getting out there and learning from your peers, and listening to what others have to share from life and business experience.  It is something we wish that we could do more!!  So, be encouraged, if you are a wedding professional, maybe selling your craft on Etsy, or sharing your gifts in your community, get out there and talk to the people around you doing what you do.   I think I am making that more of a goal this year for us as well!

Yay! Blog one…check!  See you all hopefully next week.  We should have  a mountain adventure to share!  And, thank you weather man for a nice forecast!  Hell-oooo Spring!

SHOOTSAC Baby!

I just got my SHOOTSAC in the mail this week!  I cannot wait to strap her up and shoot, shoot, shoot.  I am looking forward to changing lenses with ease, and carrying only what I need to each shoot.

It came in a really great box!  Mad props for cool packaging, that was a great selling point…even though it was already sold!

March 1, 2010 - 10:26 am

carrie leber - love your shots of the shootsac – looks wonderful! The boxes are really amazing :-)

Interior Design Project

A couple weeks ago I was given the opportunity to help out a friend and take some interior design photos.  Lindsey Hene of Lindsey Hene Interior Design let me into her home to document some of her lovely spaces.   They built their Southern Living home recently, and as you will see it is so wonderful.  I love how open the living space is and how she made even the laundry room look cute!  Here are a couple highlights of the session.

February 28, 2010 - 6:32 pm

Jenna Strubhar Photography - Beautiful! I could live in that bathroom!

More of the journey…

Based on the photo above, and the previous post, can you tell we have new Photoshop Actions to play with?  It has been fun to plug in photos we have taken to see how they look.  I am going to state right here, we are by no means trying to work them into our brand.  I like photos straight up, no fuss, the way that they happened, and I hope that is what you take away from our website.  I am not afraid to have a little fun though, and I am always up for learning something new!   One part of our journey has been learning Photoshop.  It is a tricky monster if you go in blind.  Thanks to the Internet, and understanding color correction from previous work in photo labs, I think that I have a good handle on the program.  It ain’t easy though, and we have come a long way…David and I. 

Another part of our journey as ABJ Photography has been building our business debt free!  We buy new equipment when we can, and we rent the stuff we love locally at PPR.  We are excited about our new friend the 50mm 1.2 (used on photo above)!  This is a huge asset to our business, and a wonderful go-to lens.  I use it all the time, so we knew that it would be a great place to start our lens arsenal.  I cannot wait to use it to showcase some of our new photo books!  Check back soon for those….