Aerial Drone Photography – Ashley Woods Surf Team

At Exum Photography we continue to find subjects that are so much fun to shoot aerial drone photography. This weekend it has been surfing. Sawyer and 4 of his best buddies from our Ashley Woods neighborhood, Joseph, Brooks, Zach & John, spent Labor Day weekend in Holden Beach at the Martin house. The surfing conditions post Harvey Hurricane rain have been pretty good. Flying the drone just above the waves created amazing aerial photographs and video clips that were simply not possible a few years ago. Maximize your screen to watch this fun little aerial movie. You won’t be disappointed. If you’re wondering where Sawyer learn to surf … it was not from me … I’m not a bad windsurfer but when it comes to raw surfing Sawyer has be beat by a mile. I’m better at documenting.

Exum Photography Client Spotlight: Margaret Spellings

Spellings is the President of the University of North Carolina, overseeing the seventeen campus system since March of 2016. President Spellings is the former US Secretary of Education under the Bush Administration. It was with great honor that Exum Photography was commissioned to produce a series of portraits President Spellings could use for media requests. A compelling portrait is something every working professional should update every 5 years. Whether you need a professional studio headshot or an environmental portrait Steve Exum and his team work to find your best look and they excel at building the kind of rapport with their subjects that makes the photographic portrait process fun and successful. Contact our studio and let us update your look or that of your team of professionals.

To view similar work, check out our Environmental Portraits
Portfolio under Commercial Services. http://www.exumphoto.com/commercial-services/

Exum Photography Client Spotlight: Carolina Eye Prosthetics

Our Commercial Photography team at Exum Photography is privileged to serve a wide range of clients each with a unique story. Our mission with each client we serve is to find the most compelling way to visually tell their story with marketing photography or video. Welcome to the first in a series of client focused spotlights in which we share a small portfolio of imagery about one of our clients.

Carolina Eye Prosthetics based in Burlington, North Carolina does more than just make prosthetic eyes; they restore self-confidence in their patients. Their team shares a passion for the artistry behind making a custom prosthetic eye. Their craft is nuanced, detailed and comes with the challenge of helping make their patients feel whole again. Carolina Eye does this with grace, compassion and a warm connection to the patients they serve. Exum Photography tells their story with a combination of great commercial photography on their website and a brand video narrated by the CEP staff and their patients. 

 

Women’s March on Washington DC -Jan 21, 2017

On assignment for Getty Images photographer Steve Exum documented crowds of American citizens demonstrating their concerns over President Trump’s ability to lead with homemade signs, speeches, and chants during the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. Crowd estimates for the march where over 500,000 just one day after Trump’s inauguration.

2016 Exum Christmas Card – Star of Wonder

We all loved this year’s Christmas card idea – partially because each of us contributed something to the overall design but mostly because we were all super excited to feature our newest family member, Suheila Peña, our exchange student from Mexico!

Going into the shoot, we were pretty sure of ourselves. Shooting each person individually and then Photoshopping us onto the tree sounded like a breeze. We could work around everyone’s schedules and it wouldn’t take up an entire Saturday. Perfect! But the thing is, we are not perfect, we can’t pose like action figures.

You see, Steve shot the tree with little G.I. Joe action figures positioned exactly where he wanted them. They were our body doubles. All we had to do was get into our action figure pose from head to toe to finger alignment, smile, look natural, pretend we were climbing and then hold that pose…indefinitely.

Well, we are a loud and fidgety bunch with lots of ideas and very strong opinions and egos. And apparently, we’re just not good at listening or taking direction. I’m working on it. I’m sure it’ll be a new year’s resolution again. So, instead of the easy peasy shoot I had envisioned, it went something like this …

Exasperated photographer: “None of my clients behave this way!” Photographer’s children and wife: “Well, surely you don’t treat  your clients this way?!”  Oh, and believe you me, there were moments when we said things like, “maybe we should just cancel the card this year?!” Gasp! “Maybe we should just take a picture in front of the Christmas tree?!” Gasp! “Maybe we should just take a picture of Murphy – he will cooperate!” Not the worst idea.

We knew we had to remain civil and positive though. You see, we wanted to convince Suheila that being in an Exum family Christmas card is lots of fun and super cool. We weren’t fooling anyone. Just ask Kelsey or Alex. On second thought, don’t.

We got through it though because the bigger picture (the one we had all agreed on!) was more important. I mean, we all wanted the same darn thing! Also, we didn’t want to let anyone down or abandon tradition, and we absolutely had to pull it together and make good on our promise to Suheila – this is her first Christmas in the states!

So we dropped our egos and our individual ideas of “perfection.” We remembered our guiding light and we agreed to proceed and work together to hoist our star.

May we all find common ground and work together to see the Light in the new year.

Merry Christmas – Molly, Steve, Bella, Sawyer, Suheila and Murphy 

 

Steve Exum – Photographer & Heavy Lifter | Molly Exum – Storyteller & Star Support

Bella Exum – Tree-hugger | Sawyer Exum – Peak Climber | Suheila Peña – Guest of Honor

Murphy Exum – Furry Ladder | Kelsey Morgan – Graphic Designer, Creative Director & Film Editor  

Alex Tricoli – Behind the Scenes Photographer 

 

 

UNC Arts & Science Human Heart Issue

UNC Assistant Professor of music and filmmaker Cherie Rivers Nadalko worked with photographer Steve Exum to create the cover of the UNC Arts and Science Carolina’s Human Heart issue. Spoken word poet Will McInerney was the subject of our inside spread for this issue. The fall issue of the magazine kicked off an initiative celebrating “living the arts and humanities” throughout the 2016-2017 year featuring events, lectures, speaker series, academic courses, new initiatives, performances, exhibitions and more. This initiative will highlight and augment the great work being done on UNC’s Chapel Hill campus and beyond, and the synergies that are already happening among faculty, staff, students and alumni. For more information please check out a digitral copy of hte magazine at this link … http://magazine.college.unc.edu/2016/09/heart-photo-shoot/