Case IH Quad Trac Tractor

Stoney Hargett has been my best friend for a LONG time!  I worked for his father farming during the summers while in college and several months after graduating, but got to be friends while in high school.  He grew up on a farm and started driving tractors / trucks at a very early age, his son Austin followed in his footsteps in the same way.  I go back to Tennessee to visit whenever I have the chance and had that chance last week.  I always carry my bare essentials camera equipment just in case.  This time I saw this Case IH Quad Trac tractor sitting in the shop, the cleanest I’ve seen it (but still not completely, but I’m ok with that) and asked if I could photograph it.

One evening, the conditions were almost perfect, but after the sprinkling stopped and I saw the clouds forming just before sunset, I started creating photographs of this beast of a tractor but wanted to make sure I included Austin and Stoney in one, they are not only father/son and work together, but partners in several farms.  The image was taken in front of their shop and photographed in a way to focus the attention on the tractor and subdue the other items in the background that could be distracting.

I’m very proud of the results and hope to photograph more large equipment in the future and maybe some other awesome hardworking farmers.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

  

 

Rogers Chamber Annual Banquet ’17

Photographing the Rogers Chamber of Commerce Annual Event was ‘business as usual’ throughout the evening, little did I know what a great keynote was waiting.  Nick Hobbs did an excellent job interviewing John Roberts, it was very informative, entertaining and motivational.  Nick announced he had a surprise speaker, it was Johnelle Hunt, widow of Johnnie Hunt (JB Hunt).  You immediately love her, she’s so down to earth, sweet, caring and approachable.

After a couple of minutes Nick asked Johnelle about how she and Johnnie got started, she immediately had my full attention.  She gave their history of how they got started with the rice hulls business which I didn’t know about.  She went on to talk about their struggles and how optimistic Johnnie was, and very humble about her role even though we know she as a great support and very hard worker, just as she is today.  I was inspired and motivated by the story she shared and how persistent optimism can pay off.  I was further enriched by how they both always show gratitude for everyone that works with them, and that’s a lot, and also their morality with professional values.

The day after the banquet, I was watching the movie “Founder” about McDonald’s ‘founder’ Ray Kroc, and thought they really should make a movie about Johnnie and Johnelle Hunt, it would make a much better inspirational movie!  There is a book “J.B. Hunt: The Long Haul to Success” that I am looking forward to reading more.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Walton Arts Center Interior Renovation

This week I’ll feature some of the interior photos of the Walton Arts Center Renovation.  The new facility is incredible to say the least, I know I bragged about it previously, but it’s worth saying again.  The lobby is jaw dropping when you walk in.  The JB Hunt staircase is encased in beautiful wood and frames the East side of the lobby and can be viewed from outside at any angle.  The spacious area gives so much room for many events or extra space for performances.  The center piece of the room is the gorgeous chandelier the demands your attention, even if you’re driving down Dickson St.

The Walmart Lobby entrance, on West St, showcases a lighting system that transitions to several colors, always giving the interior a different feel.  They can program the lights to show colors based on the performance.

Just like all commercial photography I create, I take them personal.  By personal I mean I put myself in my client’s shoes and take on the role of owner and look at it from my perspective as a potential client.  First, how would I want my architectural photography to look or be perceived.  Secondly, I look at it from a client’s point of view and what would it take to get my attention if I were to see it in advertising.  According to my activity on my phone/watch, I walked about 5 miles photographing the interior.  You may think, ‘how did you walk so much inside a building just taking pictures?’.  To give you a brief idea, I’ve made “progression” photos that show a sampling of what goes into creating some of the interior photos, the Youtube link is below some of the photos below, please take a few seconds to watch, like and subscribe.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Walton Arts Center Exterior Renovation

It may seem I’ve spent a lot of time at the Walton Arts Center lately, well, you’d be right, but every minute was a pleasure.  To be a part, in my small way, of something so great for NWA and Fayetteville, was such an honor.  Part of being a photographer is the privilege to go and see things that I would normally not have the opportunity.  The Walton Arts Center took on a huge task in 2016 of renovating the facility to give more people the opportunity to be a part of it’s shows and events.  One way they did this was to expand the front ‘lobby’ considerably with large window walls so that not only could the people inside enjoy the view but that the people enjoying Dickson St could be a part of the events by simply passing by.

Twilight photography is my favorite for architecture.  It takes considerable more time but so worth it and rewarding with the results for the client and myself.  The building pops and gives a surreal feel through transforming the reality of what is normally scene.   The colors are more vivid the contrast of the interior against a dark sky gives for a very inviting feel.  This accomplishes the goal of making the viewer want to visit the location and be a part.

Now for the technical side.  This particular twilight photo of the exterior was one of my favorites but also the most time consuming.  I have included below a “normal” view (what it looks like in normal view) compared to my finished image compiled of several photographs and eliminating distractions, how ever minor they may be.  Remember those pictures in the paper that challenged you to find how man differences you could find?  Just to name a few things, reflections on glass walls, proper color temperature of building and sidewalk, replacing bare trees and grass, images showing proper exposure of interior, cleaning shadows and marks on sidewalk and sky background properly exposed.  To say those things in one sentence is easy, but many hours of dedication were put into the final image. I enjoyed the process because I knew what the final image would represent and be viewed and enjoyed by thousands of people across the country.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Celebrate Arkansas magazine – Walton Arts Center

I have had the honor to photograph many covers for Celebrate Arkansas over the past several years, one of my favorite shoots is for the February issue featuring Walton Arts Center and their upcoming Masquerade Ball.  This was my fourth year to create the cover/content images for this event.  This year was especially great since the new renovation has been completed.   It was particularly hard for me to keep it quite on showing the images this year since the shoot was in December and the photo wasn’t being released until February issue.  Fayetteville and NWA has always been proud of the Walton Arts Center, it’s shows and great work and now NWA is boasting of a beautiful facility that can be interactive with the thousands of people visiting Dickson St.   NWA is proud of it’s many philanthropist who graciously give to the arts and the city of Fayetteville.

You can see below the cover for 2016 in construction vs the completed venue in 2017.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Voted Very Best Commercial Photographer by Celebrate Magazine

Branch Photography has been voted Very Best Commercial Photographer in Arkansas and NW Arkansas by the readers of Celebrate Arkansas magazine again for 2016!  This is the third year we have received this award from the readers of Celebrate Arkansas and just as proud to be recognized.  Thank you to all who voted and value quality photographic creations, specifically the images Branch creates!

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

 

Beaver Water District

Beaver Water District is responsible for distributing water to Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Bentonville and all surrounding cities in NW Arkansas.   Having had the opportunity to work closely with BWD in their marketing over the past year, I’ve been privileged to see ‘behind the scenes’ at how much work & dedication goes in to making the water clean.  Drawing from the vast supply of water from Beaver Lake, they are consistent and relentless in attaining clean pure drinking water.  The Beaver Water District facility is more massive and impressive than you can imagine, I encourage you to visit to see the scale model and map in their lobby to get a better understanding of what goes into providing you the cleanest water possible.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Tyson World HQ – Discovery Building

I have always admired the architecture of the Tyson World Headquarters Discovery Building, located in Springdale Arkansas.  I commend the contractors and architects for the building and design, I know Tyson is very proud of this addition to their world headquarters campus.  That being said, I’ve been wanting to photograph it for some time.  While I have photographed it during the day for Celebrate Arkansas Magazine, I wanted to get an image at night where the building really stands out.  After a few emails to the right people, I managed to get permission and notify security what I would be doing.  I would never attempt to photograph such a property at suspicious times of day without their knowledge.

I’m thrilled with the final image, all areas of the image are properly displayed with correct colors.  I’m looking forward to seeing Tyson use this image world wide.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Hunt Tower

The Hunt Tower in Rogers Arkansas was recently completed and, as the tallest building in NWA it is very impressive.  It stands at 10 stories with 230,000 sf and has many tenants quickly wanting in to enjoy this space.

As impressive as it is, I wanted to photograph it as soon as possible.  I went one night and it couldn’t have been a more perfect an evening (except for the one car I had to remove from the image, but that’s ok).   After that night, I spent some considerable time making sure every element was taken care of with no distractions.

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.

Courtyard by Marriott – Front View

A month ago, I posted the previous blog about the photos created for the Marriott, except for the exterior.  Since the hotel is so busy it took some time to get a night where they could block off the appropriate parking spaces so cars would not be in the way.  I couple of weeks ago I got to finish the project.  At first I wondered how we would take out the cones and still keep people from parking there while I was taking the images for over an hour.  Then I figured, why try, just do it in photoshop.  As you can see the images turned out great!  The parking lot was cleaned up, obstructions and distractions removed to make the hotel shine!

For more Professional Commercial Photography, visit Branch Commercial Photography.