Baseball and Softball Portraits

The month of May was great because the weather finally warmed up and athletes were breaking out the bats, gloves and were practicing on the freshly cut grass. I worked with the baseball and softball teams from Wallace Elementary School to capture their individual and team portraits. I also recently worked with the boys and girls of the Dixie Youth Baseball and Softball Leagues. The players looked sharp in their uniforms as they took the field in Faison, North Carolina . There is a beautiful park for baseball and softball located next to the Faison Recreation and Wellness center. About a week later I took portraits of girls softball in Calypso, North Carolina. I have years of experience working with baseball and softball players of all ages, including high school. I can also create photos in my studio that aren't quite real but look spectacular! If you look at the last 2 images in this blog post, they were captured in my studio. I photographed them separately against a gray background and went out later and shot the rest of the scene at sunset without them evening being there. My photography studio is located in Mount Olive, North Carolina if you are interested in sports portraits.

Not Your Ordinary Senior Portrait Session

Congratulations to Anna Huffman who will be graduating with the class of 2018! When Anna contacted me about doing her senior portraits, she told me she wanted the standard cap and gown photos but she also wanted to use flour in a dance action photo sequence. I have worked with dancers for years now, but I have never worked with flour during a photo session. I was happy to accept the challenge and intrigued by the  possibilities of making some unique images! When you work with flour, it goes everywhere and you had better prepare beforehand, covering up anything that you don't want messy. During the two hour session, we had such a good time trying different movements with the flour! Anna's mother also participated in throwing some flour on the background and Anna during the session. Anna had some nice things to say about her experience with Kirk Pullen Photography. On her social media page she said, "18 years of dance pictures and i have never had this much fun during a shoot & this guy is AWESOME! #kirkpullenphotography

2018 Mount Olive Pickle Festival

One of the highlights of the Mount Olive Pickle Festival this past weekend was Circus Stella. They performed death defying tricks and included the audience in the fun! I was hired by the Mount Olive Pickle Company to photograph all the events at the festival. There were so many family friendly events to attend and participate in. Some of my favorites to photograph were the pickle eating contest, mascot races, bicycle racing and the various musical performances.trucks#circusstella #kirkpullenphotography #mountolivepickles #mountolivepicklefestival #mountolivephotographer

Kirk Pullen Photography in the January/February issue of Wildlife in NC magazine

I was notified a few weeks ago that I came in first place in the bird category of the Wildlife in NC photo contest. I also placed third in the invertebrates category. I received a package in the mail today from them, so I wanted to give the viewers of my blog a sense of what you receive when win the contest. The winning photos from the magazine will be in the science museum in Raleigh, NC for the remainder of the year. I also received four copies of the magazine, a check and a printed copy of each of the winning photographs. 

Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine Photo Contest Winner

Every year the Wildlife in NC magazine holds a photo contest. This year I came in first place In the bird category and third place in the invertebrates category. HERE is the link for my picture on the NC Wildlife Resource Commission Facebook page. Ten years ago I also came in first place for the bird category, with a black crowned night heron coming in for a landing on a branch.

Here is the description I gave in the magazine. "I was near a pond that had several birds perched on sunken tree branches. I made sure to walk slowly and take a few steps at a time so as to not startle them. My technique wasn’t quite good enough because all the birds except one flew away. Lucky for me, this egret hung around for portraits. I took a few shots and noticed that if I changed my angle the lighthouse would be in the background. I got some good shots of the bird with the lighthouse before moving again, a few more steps around. I noticed that the calm water and unique branches would frame the bird even better. The lesson I learned is always search for different angles because it can take a good photo and turn it into an extraordinary one." 

(Nikon D750, Sigma 150–600mm lens at 280mm, f/8, 1/800 of a second, ISO 1,600)

A Happy New Year at the Mount Olive Pickle Drop 2018

 I was bundled up to my eyeballs as I photographed the Mount Olive new years eve pickle drop at the Mount Olive Pickle company. This is the second time I have photographed the event but this was definitely the coldest event I have ever photographed. It isn't all that easy to work a camera with gloves on. The pickle drop is very festive event, with live music, dancing, shopping, a food drive and best of all free pickles! The cold weather did not keep the participants away from the event. There were several hundred people attending who watched the 3 foot glowing green pickle slowly descend into a giant pickle barrel. To the surprise of the crowd, the barrel sprayed water into the air at the stroke of midnight. If you donated canned food at the food drive, they give a raffle ticket away for prizes. The most coveted prize being the 3 foot plastic pickle that was dropped into the barrel. 

The Kirk Pullen Photography Experience

Here is a short video on what its like to work with Kirk Pullen Photography! Luke wanted something more than just a standard boring football school portrait. So, when I talked to Luke about taking pictures with lasers, fog and possibly water, it was needless to say he was pretty excited! We did his laser and fog images in the studio and then I saved his water images for the last part of his session for obvious reasons.  Luke was sitting on a chair in a kiddie pool to catch all the water we were spraying behind him, while his mom threw cups of water in his face. As you can see we had a blast capturing these images and I have submitted several of them to a national photo contest. If you have an athlete that would like dynamic portraits then give me a call at 910-590-7761 to set up your Kirk Pullen Photography studio photo session today. You can find my photo studio in Mount Olive, North Carolina.

PDN Adrenaline Photo Contest

I spent most of my day editing this photo for the PDN Adrenaline photo contest. You can check out my entries here: https://www.pdnadrenaline.com/entries.shtml I have three entries in the contest and they are both of a local high school football player playing a night game in the rain. I took the photo of the player running in my garage and completed the composite photo in Photoshop. I had to create mud effects, grass effects, lighting, and shadows to make the photo seem realistic.
#pdnadrenaline #football #rain #photocontest #mountolivephotographer #kirkpullenphotography

North Duplin High School Cheerleader

I photographed Savannah this weekend on the North Duplin High School campus. She was the winner of the North Duplin Fall Festival silent auction for a Kirk Pullen Photography prize pack. We started out on the football field and I didn't realize it until I knelt down that the sprinklers had been on just before we arrived for the photo session. I ended up getting quite damp from laying on the grass but Savannah had a blanket which kept her dry and we ended up creating some great images. The North Duplin High School football team is undefeated in the regular season this year and will have home field advantage for the playoffs. There will be several more weeks for her to cheer her team on to victory. Savannah is also a cheerleader during basketball season and wanted images in the gym.

Dance Photography Mount Olive

I've had the privilege of photographing Karli for several years. Today, she had the honor of being the first person photographed in my new studio in Mount Olive. She was willing to try out some longer exposures as she jumped over and over again until we got the look we were trying to achieve.  #portraits #headshots #dancephotography