I have some awesome memories shared with Dylan from playing with sling shots and machetes in Panama on a mission trip to wake boarding and chilling with a bunch of other friends up at his lake house.
Good luck with everything next year at Auburn Dylan!

This personal project is called MARKED. The concept is this: We experience joy, anger, love, bitterness, loss, remorse, beauty, grace, and a truck load of other emotions. As a result, we are left MARKED by life and for some, we choose to be MARKED by ink to remember those things. They serve as reminders, memorials, tributes, achievements. But they also serve as beautiful pieces of art that walk past us every single day. We don’t always get to appreciate the art and hear their stories. So, this project seeks to do just that – share stories and reveal beautiful art that often goes unnoticed.

If nothing else, hopefully it encourages you to take a minute and ask that stranger whose sliver of ink you see sneaking out past their sleeve what the meaning of their art is. Sometimes you will find “that guy” or “that girl” who was just drunk and thought that a shamrock, Elmo, unicorn, or barbed wire fence around their bicep was super awesome and unique – and who knows, maybe the person with that tattoo actually does have a story attached to it with actual meaning. But, a lot of the time you will find a grateful person honored that someone took the time to notice, listen, and appreciate.

The tricky part with this project is that I am seeking to shoot all of them on a white seamless – so, that means I am either waiting on studio time, having people come to my house, or driving around with a white sheet of paper in my car I can tape up on a wall somewhere indoors. It would be too easy to just shoot the tattoo wherever I met the person. I desire to have a meaningful encounter with each person where I give them the time and attention that their tattoo and story deserves. Plus, I desire to light each one uniquely, which is proving to be a challenge.

Here are a few of the 35 I have so far to start. Hope you enjoy the project and hope even more that you pass it along to your friends who have tattoo’s with meaningful stories behind them.

I first met Cindy back in 2009 when I took the head shots of the Star 94 DJ’s. After that experience, Cindy would always say that I would one day shoot her wedding – I had no idea she was actually serious!
At around the same time that Cindy asked me to shoot her wedding, my wife and I had been dreaming up a way in which I could use wedding photography to help bring restoration and awareness to an issue that is heavy on our hearts and currently gripping Atlanta, and that’s the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Atlanta is one of the top cities for sexual trafficking of adolescent girls, and we believe that couples who are celebrating their love to each other have a huge platform to impact lives from whom love has been stolen and distorted.

So, as we began to think up this idea that’s now Love Gives Way, I called up Cindy to see if she would be on board and if she thought it was a good idea. She and Eric were shocked to learn that this was true of Atlanta, and they immediately wanted to do their part.

In a brief summary, Love Gives Way is this: metro Atlanta brides and grooms choosing that their Love Gives Way to the recovery and restoration of girls who have been exploited as a result of CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). Through this campaign, I am partnering with Wellspring Living who works directly with the girls and women. I can’t thank Cindy and Eric enough for being the very first couple to go for this idea and become a Love Gives Way couple. Their wedding day will impact these girls’ everyday as a result of their efforts. Thank you both so much!

Cindy and Eric shared a small, intimate ceremony at the Log Cabin Community Church and then it was off to the The Pace House for the reception. Every detail, from wearing her mother’s wedding dress to the polaroid picture wall and the creative dinner setup consisting of miniature sized portions of hamburgers, tater tots and chicken wings, made for a wedding that was unique and reflective of Cindy and Eric’s personality. The sweetest moment of the day though came when Eric not only presented his vows to Cindy, but also to her daughter, Lily, as the three of them begin this new chapter together.

I’m beyond excited for these three and can’t wait to see how they continue to grow together and impact the lives of those they come across.
Thanks Cindy and Eric for everything – love that you are in my life and I was able to capture your special day!

Here are a few of the frames from this past conference here in Atlanta.

Katelyn is another student I’ve known for a long, long time but never have been able to see this side of her life. Thanks Katelyn for such a fun shoot – loved getting to see you do something you are so gifted at and thanks to your mom, Stacy, for helping keep those horses busy so we could get the shots we needed and keeping me from being trampled at the same time!

Shelby has one of those contagious personalities where everyone feels welcome around her and she loves being able to make you laugh.

We headed downtown Atlanta for her senior shoot and then ended it with a little different set up. I knew that Shelby was a great dancer, but since I’ve already taken pictures of people dancing before we were thinking of a way to mix it up some. So, we hooked up a hose and her mom sprayed it straight in the air to give a sense of it raining. I love being able to do these little things that add so much to the images.

Here are some of the images from the shoot!

And just as an update, with the shoots we have done so far and the extra donations made by clients, we have already been able to purchase about 9 bikes for families in Cambodia! Thanks so much for your partnership in bringing restoration to others!

One Nine Images Announcement from Stuart Atkins on Vimeo.

Chris and his family moved up to Lake Lanier a couple years back and there isn’t a week that goes by you won’t find Chris and his buddies out there wake boarding – except for the dead of winter maybe. We started off the first part of his shoot down the road at a park but we made sure to save plenty of time to head out on the water and capture what Chris does best. For most of the shoot I was in the back of his family’s boat and shooting straight at him as well as taking a few portraits, but for the last few shots of the night I got in his friends’ boat and we just ran along side of Chris’ runs while his brother held the strobe for me.

It’s so refreshing to try new things and capture images unlike anything I have before. Thanks Chris for a great time and letting me capture your senior pictures!

Anyway, Forrest and I headed downtown Atlanta last week for his senior photos. We first shot around town a bit but since Forrest is a great tennis player we were also trying to incorporate that somehow. Thankfully the Hilton Hotel in Midtown was extremely generous and told his mom we could have access to their outside court located on the 4th floor.

I had a blast on this shoot and I think captured some of my favorite senior photos so far.

As a reminder, here is the video with the new announcement in regards to senior photos I launched a couple weeks ago. Use your senior shoot as a platform to bring restoration!

One Nine Images Announcement from Stuart Atkins on Vimeo.

These two are one of those couples where you are in love with every picture you take of them – they love each other so well and that expresses itself in how they treat each other. But what I find most often with my clients is that the better they love each other, the bigger the impact it seems they have on those around them. Chelsea and Jesse are so great at loving each other in every moment because it’s all they know – a selfless approach to caring for others. I was blown away by the support and care that their whole wedding party showed that day, and you will find out why that was so important as the day went on.

The first example came at the rehearsal dinner when a special handkerchief she would have at the wedding went missing – but here is the story directly from Chelsea so I don’t mess it up:
“The handkerchief was a gift from my Grandma Duttweiler (my Dad’s mom). She sewed it into a bonnet that I wore home from the hospital, and then we undid the stitching and I used it when I was baptized.
When we noticed it was missing after the rehearsal dinner, we sent the kitchen staff to look for it for about half an hour. When they couldn’t find it, we (me, some bridesmaids, and Mr. Edwards – who is Jesse’s dad) all gloved up and searched through the trash for about another half hour. We took all the trash out to the parking lot/loading zone in the back and spilled them out all over the ground and sifted through everything. Mr. Edwards was the one who finally found it.”

You will see a picture taken right before the girls would dive in to the dumpster to search for the handkerchief It’s right above the photo of Chelsea holding it in her lap.

Then, came the wedding day. It was an incredibly beautiful that day, as well as hot. However, that didn’t really seem to matter as the whole day was just one big celebration. Chelsea and Jesse decided to do a first look which we had at the Pinebloom Mansion which was an unbelievable place, especially because not just anyone is allowed to shoot there so it was an honor. After finishing up there, we headed over to The Frazer Center where the ceremony and reception would be held. As family and wedding party put the finishing touches on all the decorations, we took the time to fit in a few more portraits on the property. Shortly after this is when the day would take a slightly different course then planned.

The loom of dark clouds had pretty much been around us all day but thankfully it looked as though everything would hold off. But as guests arrived and we were 10 minutes out from starting the ceremony outside, the wind began gusting and the skies opened up. The only great part about this was the timing – thankfully this had not happened in the middle of the ceremony! During this time, guests all hunkered down under the reception tent while the wedding party, family, and Chelsea and Jesse hid out in another building as it all blew over. It was during these moments that I came to realize that Chelsea and Jesse were already living out the commitment that they were moments away from verbalizing to each other and in front of all those closest to them.

As I was standing outside the building under the small canopy and trying to communicate through the storm to my assistant who was 30 yards away with all the wedding guests under the tent, I was tapped on the shoulder by one of the bridesmaids to come back inside quickly. As I came in and turned the corner, I found what was one of the most intimate moments I have seen during a wedding day – Chelsea and Jesse were dancing. And yeah while every couple dances on their wedding day, this was different.
This was a moment.
This was a moment that no one would forget.
This was a moment that would turn what some would call a ruined ceremony in to a beautiful delay.

That moment was a picture that Chelsea and Jesse were already living the commitments they would soon verbalize to each other. They were already standing by each other through the good and the bad, the planned and the unplanned, the “as we desired it to be” and the “as it came to actually be.” Yeah there were tears and heartbreak as we sat there waiting for over an hour for it to stop raining so we could make our way up to backup indoor facility, but it’s a moment that will never be forgotten and will always be part of their story.

Finally the rain stopped, the clouds rolled by, and another moment would happen. Rather than complaining and being annoyed for waiting this whole time, all of the wedding guests sprang in to action and became joyful servants. There was a line of cars ready to transport everyone up the large hill to the indoor facility, people with umbrellas shielding the slight drizzle and dripping trees as people went from the tent to the cars, and others waiting at the top to direct traffic and get everyone inside. In no time, we were finally ready for what would be my favorite ceremony ever.
This day had changed from guests being the witnesses of the marriage between Chelsea and Jesse to a phenomenal celebration of what it looks like for people to commit to one another in marriage and the large community it takes for that marriage to flourish. And in my honest opinion, that was way more beautiful than any outdoor wedding on a bright, sunny day could ever offer.

Chelsea and Jesse – You two and your surrounding community are incredible! I loved every moment of your day and even though it may not have gone as planned, it sort of did. In my honest opinion, your day was perfect in a way that only it could be. Thank you so much for inviting me in to your lives and to capture a glimpse of your story that I know will be a representation of your entire life together. Thanks!