Dogs Rule at the Battery Park Book Exchange

One of my favorite businesses near my studio in downtown Asheville is the Battery Park Book Exchange. Not only does it have used books floor to ceiling of all genres that you can peruse, it also has a wine bar with an extensive wine menu and a cappuccino bar. Additionally, they allow four footed humans to accompany their owners on a comfortable sofa or chair as they read or socialize - the servers even bring the dogs water and a treat. To celebrate this fact I created a short stop motion video to advertise the fact that they are so dog friendly and to let people know that they sell wine to go at a big discount. I hope you enjoy watching my video (please share it if you do!).

The Asheville Marathon

Just before the holidays I had a memorable photo shoot for the Asheville Citizen Times upcoming Marathon. My job was to capture the feel of the marathon as it goes through downtown Asheville, specifically by the Lexington Avenue bridge, aka art mural. If you've spent much time in downtown Asheville during the warmer months, you'll surely have seen the "Silver Drummer Girl"who performs on the streets downtown, mesmerizing many with her ability to stand motionless until someone she beats her drum when someone leaves her a tip. We wanted to have a shot that showed her handing out water to the runners on the marathon as they go by the Lexingon bridge and have a blur of runners go past her.

Did I mention that it needed to look like a warm morning in early September, and that it was 25 degrees in December with up to 45 mph wind gusts?  This was a challenge for all involved - the volunteer runners, the client, the assistant holding down the lights, the Silver Lady, and of course yours truly. So, we would have everyone wait in their cars near the shooting location and then I would shout "Okay, out of your cars! Drop your coats. Run! Back in your cars!" and everyone would dash to the relative warmth away from the winds as they waited for the next call to shoot again. My fingers were so numb despite the gloves I wore that I tried to use my knuckles to operate my laptop. Here is the final image from that shoot that will be showing up in billboards soon.