Fine Art: Larissa

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Photographer (7)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Photographer (7)

For a photographer it is incredibly important to challenge yourself. Give yourself something to think through and plan out from scratch. Personal work gives me a chance to work through ideas and challenge myself with lighting. I generally do not use harsher, direct light, but tend to lean towards the softer, all illuminating light so this shoot was a bit more stretching. It was great to get out of the usual thought process and give myself more options to work with. I am also very pleased to say that I burned through several rolls of Kodak Portra 400 with my Mamiya 645 AFD and hope to get those developed and up on here as soon as possible. A huge thanks to Larissa for working with that direct sunlight in her eyes and giving me such grand photos.

-Nathan

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Impromptu Session: Erin

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Woman standing by silos at the Urban Barn in Charlotte NC

Wednesday I was just in the mood to shoot. I have my new Mamiya 645 and I wanted to run the first roll through it (I’ll post those after I get them developed). Erin kindly obliged and met me up at the Urban Barn in Charlotte. It could not have gone better.

-Nate

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Community Spotlight: Phud Chambers

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

A pastor sitting in his office in rock hill sc

We are delighted to introduce our community spotlight for July! Meet Remedy Church and it’s pastor, John “Phud” Chambers. We have been attending Remedy Church in Rock Hill, SC for the past year. We aren’t quite sure where the nickname of “Phud” came from, that is the only way anyone knows who you are referring to at church!

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

Remedy Church is only two and a half years old, but Phud and his wife, Christie, have been dreaming about it for much longer. Phud was called to be a pastor in 2006, but he felt that God wanted him to do more than to lead at an existing church. He knew that he was meant to plant a church. That’s a lot of work, if you haven’t guessed! Planting a church requires people, open hearts, cooperation, money, space, planning, praying—a lot of faith. Phud and Christie began holding services in their own home in 2008 and the next year, Remedy was launched in the Baptist Ministry building on Winthrop campus. For nine months the fledgling congregation met at Winthrop, after which it finally moved to a place of its own. They now meet in downtown Rock Hill, in a renovated space devoted to the arts.

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding PhotographerNathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

More interesting than the history of this young church is what they have become in their surrounding Rock Hill. The name Remedy references the healing of Christ for all people; that is what this church shows the people around them. They volunteer at local schools and gather school supplies for children who don’t have paper and pencils and backpacks. Members have created a community garden as well! There are different groups within the church who help in ways around the city as they feel called.

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

In addition to their busy schedules running a church, Phud and Christie have four beautiful and energetic children, Jaycie, Charis, Aiden and Mackalla.

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding PhotographerNathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

Remedy is a young church, thrumming with life and passion. Simeon said, “I am waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The consolation is the healing of God’s chosen people and Remedy Church is doing God’s work.

www.remedychurch.org

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer

Contributions: S. E. Pohlig

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Portraits: Amie

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (6)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (6)

We’ve decided to do a series of portraits during this summer to work on various techniques, accomplish artistic goals and capture some beautiful faces! This is our first session with our awesome friend, Amie. She shines from the inside out and totally embraced the field of freshly rolled hay bales – after viewing the photos, everyone will wish they could see her scale a hay bale!

Our goal in this session was to use only 36 exposures (similar to a roll 35mm film), shoot in 4×5 aspect ratio, use only a hand held light meter, no previewing photos – also, similar to film and use the Brenizer method. All goals were accomplish and we all had so much fun – enjoy!

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Spotlight: David Wimbish

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (8)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (8)

This is David Wimbish. He is a musician who lives in the Greensboro area in North Carolina and is a good friend. It always seems to take too long before Rachel and I are able to spend a day with them. Several weeks ago though we were able to do just that. David is one of those guys that just oozes talent, his humble demeanor will never let you on to how talented he is. Every time we hang out I see more and more how deeply music runs in his soul. His music is all his own but the thing that astounds me about David is the fact that he will readily welcome someone into it. His band is called “The Collection” and it truly is that. A collection of people who all form together to create this work of art that is David’s music.

David & The Collection on Facebook

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Portraits: Paige

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (5)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (5)
Paige and I met back in the Spring of 2005. She is one of my sweetest friends who would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. Our memories over the years are filled with Chick-fil-a, Starbucks, and endless road trip throughout the Carolinas. I think one of my favorite trips was to Myrtle Beach for a show I was to play at and, of course, we ended up at the beach where we met an old man fishing. He was kind enough to let us take turns attempting to fish – we used it more for a photo prop.

Paige now lives in the District of Columbia as an eight grade teacher at a local middle school. She sings for the Capitol Hill Choir as an alto-one and is about to publish her first book of poetry. She came to visit us on her Spring break and we couldn’t pass up the chance to dress her up, do her and make-up, and let Nate work his magic. Enjoy our sweet friend, Paige.

-Rachel

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Portraits: Annie

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (7)

Little girl walking in Waxhaw, NC

Annie is one of the sweetest babies. I met her mom, Sarah, a few months before Annie was born and they’ve both been incredibly dear to me ever since. She loves to crawl up onto your lap and look through photo albums, discovering various family members, over and over again. She loves other babies and children, baby dolls, dogs, being outside, and eating. Recently, Sarah and Annie came down from Chapel Hill to visit their family in Waxhaw, NC and Nate was able to capture Annie at her best! We hope you adorable these moments as much as we adore Annie!
-Rachel

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Spotlight: Jim Pohlig

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (5)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (5)

Yesterday, Rachel and I visited with our friends, the Pohligs, in Waxhaw, NC. They live in a beautiful house tucked away in the woods. Recently they built a chapel to house Jim’s organ and Steinway piano. The piano dates back to 1913 and was rebuilt in Richmond, Virginia by Henry Dorflein around 1965. According to Jim, “Rebuilding in this case would mean a new soundboard and probably new action, and certainly a new pinblock–the very heavy, enormous beam of wood that holds all the tuning pins. Oh, and new strings, of course.”

The piano has much meaning for Jim beyond it’s aesthetic appeal. It has been in the family for over 40 years and still sounds and looks beautiful.

Jim Pohlig from Nathan Abplanalp on Vimeo.

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My Amazing Rachel

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (9)

Nathan Abplanalp - Charlotte Wedding Photographer (9)
The love of my life!

This is my fiancee, Rachel. We met almost a year ago to the day and I don’t think I can ever fully describe how much joy and wide-eyed wonderment I have felt from just having her at my side over this past year. Seriously, I know that it has been said a thousand times, but I never expected a gal like her to ever pick a guy like me. Go figure! We began dating in late March 2010 and I proposed on the 29th of January this year. There will be time to tell that story later though or if you must know now just contact me! If I am honest, I am a bit ashamed that it has taken me so long to do a real photo shoot with her!

It was very rainy last Saturday but I was bound and determined to get some great shots of my fabulous woman! Now it didn’t all go as planned believe me. I was very very picky about where I wanted to shoot it and as we drove around she would say, “How about here?” and I would respond, “No, it’s not right”. I may be silly, but when a place catches my eye and I feel right about it, it is time to shoot. What seemed like a year and about a hundred miles, lead us to a neighborhood with a plot of woods that had not been stripped away. Here is the result of great light, some rain drops, 10 minutes of shooting, and a gorgeous woman in a furry coat!

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