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It is with great pride that the Exum family of Elon and staff of Exum Photography release our 2014 Christmas card photo to our friends, family and clients. This card features a classic Christmas scene with our kids discovering Santa Claus (yes, that’s me, Steve) kissing Molly under the mistletoe. After so many years carrying our Christmas card production and Photoshop skills in unusual directions – i.e. the underwater Christmas tree card, the sky diving Christmas and last year’s Christmas Family Vacation inspired electrocution of yours truly, we all felt it was time to get back to something more basic and nostalgic. We hope you find a bit of magic this holiday season and joy, peace and great prosperity in the coming new year. Our blog post prior to this features all of our Christmas cards since 2002. Enjoy!

2014 Christmas Card Story by Molly Exum …

“I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night.” When I was a little girl I, like most children, took the words to this song literally and quite frankly, thought it was pretty creepy. I mean, who wants to believe your mom is kissing Santa? Not me. Now, I appreciate the song, or at least my interpretation of it. You see, in my version, mommy and daddy have just hosted a lovely Christmas party where daddy plays the part of Santa for all the children. The women wear gorgeous dresses with ridiculous undergarments like hoop skirts and set their hair in curlers the night before (this is not as easy as it looks–trust me!). The children play nicely, don’t run through the house chasing each other with candy canes, and speak with their inside voices until it’s time for bed. Then, when they’re tucked up in their bedrooms fast asleep, mommy and daddy steal a kiss by the light of the fire and the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. It’s a magical moment. Thanks to the crew at Exum Photography for bringing this vision to life and capturing this magical moment. And many thanks to Charlie Sellers for allowing us to use his lovely home. We didn’t break anything–promise! Mimi, Alison, Kelsey, and Griffin did a great job styling and lighting the set, Bella and Sawyer had a great time hanging out in PJs and eating cookies (and chasing each other and not using their inside voices), and I got to kiss Santa Claus!

May your holiday season be full of surprises and magical moments!

The Exums: Molly, Steve, Bella, Sawyer and Murphy

Our Team: Steve Exum – Santa Claus, Director • Molly Exum – Mommy, Story Author •Bella Exum – Daughter • Sawyer Exum – Son • Murphy Exum – Dog • Griffin Davis – Photographer, Lighting • Kelsey Morgan – Graphic Designer, Photoshop •Alison Greene – Assistant • Charlie Sellers’ Home – Location

For Bella’s 13^th birthday we celebrated with a photo shoot at the beach. Together Bella and I chose the locations and styled the shoot to show off her incredible talents as a dancer. Bella’s passion for dancing has grown every year since she was 2 and a half years old. Bella you amaze me more and more every day. You are intelligent, beautiful and gifted beyond measure. You have so many great talents. I love you. Dad.

The team at Exum Photography has had the privilege of capturing summer camp fun with both still photography and video at the Vineyard Camp for the past 3 summers. The Vineyard Camp is a Christian sports camp with an international draw nestled in the picturesque countryside of Brown Mountain, North Carolina. Children at the Vineyard learn to play and deepen their faith all while being exposed to new cultures and languages creating a network of global friendships. The Vineyard is a ministry dedicated to relationships and discipleship. Our goal is to share God’s love and demonstrate holy living through the stewardship of their staff. Photography by Steve Exum, Peyton Lea and Griffin Davis

For a twist on the expected, send handcrafted paper blooms  to family and friends for any occasion. While Bloomatinis are perfect for celebrating traditional occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, don’t forget to celebrate Bloomatini™ occasions: First dates, bravery, break-ups, bad bosses, new puppies, or even a Martini kind of day. Available in dozens of designs and sent in a French market bucket, the floral arrangement can be upcycled as embellishments on gifts. Our latest Exum Photography blog post celebrates the creative efforts of paper flower entrepreneurs Jen Cilley and Molly Exum who have officially launched Bloomatini.com. Bloomatinis are one part flowers, one part card, and a splash of style. The next time you celebrate an occasion, consider sending flowers with a twist and send a Bloomatini™.  Photography by Steve Exum of exumphoto.com

This blog entry is about a very special client that in just over one calendar year has commissioned Steve Exum to photograph her line of hand crafted jewelry, her engagement, her bridal portrait, her wedding, and most recently her new born, Jacob. Grayson Gant Hampson is an artist, an entrepreneur, a newly wed (in my book) and now a new mom. She is is extraordinarily beautiful from her core to her exterior. She is intelligent, spiritually grounded in a way few people are and she is a joy to be around.  We are sharing a few photos from each of the assignments to that tell a visual story of Grayson Gant Hampson. Photography by Steve Exum

Elizabeth Bradley Home’s Botanical Collection is available now as a hand made, finished needlework pillow that can be ordered online in addition to their tapestry kits. The team at Exum Photography and Ink Photography Productions worked in collaboration with the creative team at Elizabeth Bradley Home to create a beautiful group of lifestyle imagery surrounding the collection. Many thanks to the creative team at EBH: Mary Beth DeLoach, Lizzy Hardy and Vicki Callaway for their trust in our studio. Elizabeth Bradley Designs was founded in 1986. They have been designing and manufacturing quality tapestry kits and continue to add new designs each year. With a desire to provide needle workers with quality heirloom designs combined with an inspiration of historical needlework, their kits are crafted to provide customers with hours of stitching enjoyment and delight in the finished work. Elizabeth Bradley Designs’ offices are located in Oxford, England and Raleigh, NC in the USA. Photography by Steve Exum of exumphoto.com

Robeson County is NC’s poorest county where more than 34% of the residents live in poverty, according to the 2012 US census. Business North Carolina Magazine commissioned Steve Exum to illustrate a cover story about the county’s struggle to innovate and emerge from its economic challenges. Robeson has a diverse and colorful history of ethnic cultures including black, white, Lumbee Indian and Hispanic. Many of the county’s residents blame international trade agreements like NAFTA and “globalization” as the root cause of economic decline which caused thriving textile industries to shut their doors around the county and move manufacturing jobs outside the US. Thanks to folks like community advocate, Mac Legerton, who directs the Robeson County Center for Community Action and the Director of Economic Development, Greg Cummings, opportunities are emerging for the county. To read Business North Carolina’s full story click here. Photography by Steve Exum

Every assignment is an honor and a privilege. Cover assignments come with that extra pressure to make something special. As a creative, I am guilty (at times) of trying to show my photographers muscle and pull out all the stops. I’ll bring every imaginable prop or lighting technique to a shoot to give it a 110%. I always want to surpass my client’s expectation. This project, however, benefited from simplicity and great art direction from Katherine Kershaw who is the artist behind the layout of the Carolina Law School magazine. Our goal was to illustrate how research done by the school’s faculty and students has a nationwide reach. We dry mounted a giant map of United States and pinned down cities impacted by Carolina Law with tacks. Voila!sometimes less is more. I won’t even begin to paraphrase the article but it is an impressive read authored by multiple faculty. Click on the following link to see a digital copy of this Carolina Law issue.

Solair awnings create a comfortable outside living space anytime of day protecting you from the sun and rain at the click of a button. Want a lot of shade? Just push the remote button on a Solair PS500 awning and you can cast a shadow up to 25 feet wide and 12 feet deep over your deck or terrace. The marketing team for Solair awnings recruited Exum Photography to photograph an awning in Woodstook, Georgia at the home of Jane and Roger (the friendliest folks I know in GA). It was important to choose our weather as you need mid day sun to appreciate what an awning can do. As predicted we got our sun, AND just to challenge us, mother nature sent wind … lots of wind. Solair awnings are designed with a sensor that automatically retracts the awning under high winds … protects the awning, protects the house. So we disconnected the awning power source. Problem solved, right? Not exactly, the wind only increased as our mid day light closed in. Postponing the shoot was a last resort. The awning swelled and moved like a giant sail. It just would not sit still. We needed to tame the awning long enough to get our shot. Rope! Let’s tie it down and Photoshop the rope out later. We had rope and homeowner, Roger, brought more rope. We tied the structural pieces down and tamed our awning. However, the small overhanging valance kept flapping in the wind. It would not lay down. What now? Fishing line! We tied down the valance flapping material with fishing line.  Our team of 9 pitched in and scrambled to tie down the valance, literally sewing it down. Voila! The awning sat still in the whipping wind and from our perch on the man lift we got our shot. Thank you Solair Shade Solutions team members, David Heiman and Madison Owen, for your willingness to let us experiment taming the awning. Thank you homeowners, Roger and Jane, for pitching in too and for the wonderful dinner we shared after the shoot. Many thanks to the Exum Photo team Griffin, Jenna and Eric and to our stylist Amy Matthews from Crews Inc production company out of Atlanta.  Photography by Steve Exum