May 5, 2011

Raleigh Event Photographer: Downtown Raleigh Alliance Farmer’s Market Spring Fling

Last Wednesday was a beautiful day for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and co. to put on the first Farmer’s Market of the year in City Plaza! I was there to photograph the event for them and had a great time, as usual. :) So many great vendors and people there! It’s held every Wednesday from 10am-2pm in City Plaza through October. The vendors come from all over North Carolina and not only have vegetables and fruit, but also fish, flowers, jewelry, crafts, cookies and cakes. :) Check it out!

Mayor Meeker ringing the Farmer’s Market opening bell of the year. The mayor recently announced that he will not be running for re-election, which made me pretty sad as I’ve been photographing him in various locations doing all sorts of things for a while now. He’s always polite, kind, and has done incredible things for the city of Raleigh.

Shaw University was holding an awards ceremony for its athletes which had to be held inside the Marriot lobby due to the brief rain we experienced. Shaw University was badly damaged during the tornadoes a few weeks ago, with them having to cancel classes for the rest of the year and their student union destroyed. They are holding strong and receiving donations from the community to help rebuild, with this ceremony discussing their hopes and plans for the future.

Guys, these are cupcakes!! Adorable cupcakes! Tammy Calaway of Sweet-T cakery made these little guys in honor of opening day at the market. And if I could eat gluten, I’d totally have eaten like ten of these. The peas in the pod are my favorite.

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February 25, 2011

Raleigh Event Photographer: Downtown Raleigh Alliance Annual Meeting and Award Ceremony

I was so so excited when I received the invitation to photograph the Downtown Raleigh Alliance Annual Meeting and Award Ceremony. :) This year’s theme was Breaking Ground with the Creative Class and focused on bringing entrepreneurs and creative visionaries into downtown. Not that they’re not there already – downtown Raleigh is one of the most artsy, beautiful cities I’ve been in with very few chain anything, relying more on indie restaurants, shops, and boutiques that bring back their regulars again and again. Nonetheless, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, which sponsors downtown activities such as Winterfest, the downtown Farmer’s Market, First Friday, and other fantastic events centered their annual meeting around Raleigh’s business owners and drawing more people to live and work downtown.

It was held at the Raleigh Convention Center which is a really modern and stunning venue. The decor was awesome (sequined purple tablecloths? yes, please!) and I had the opportunity to photograph Carol Colleta, President of CEOs for Cities. She was the guest speaker that evening, being interviewed round-table discussion style by Steve Daniels of ABC Channel 11 News.

Downtown Raleigh Alliance Annual Meeting

Downtown Raleigh Alliance Annual Meeting and Award Ceremony

Raleigh Convention Center Award Ceremony

Downtown Raleigh Alliance Award Ceremony

What was extra special cool about this evening for me was seeing the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s Annual Report, a printed booklet summary of all the awesome things the DRA and Raleigh has accomplished in the past year. This year I was happy to find out see that the front cover, as well as a ton of pictures inside the Annual Report, were taken by yours truly. :) It never gets old to see your work in print, and I was very proud and thankful for the DRA for all the opportunities they gave me in 2010.

Downtown Raleigh Alliance Annual Report 2010

Downtown Raleigh Alliance 2010 Annual Report

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February 1, 2011

Raleigh event photographer: NHL All-Star Weekend for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance

I had the opportunity to photograph the events of Friday evening at the 2011 NHL All-Star Wide Open in Raleigh, NC for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance! It was packed and chock-full of goodness and eccentricities. Best of all, it was full of a lot of Pittsburgh fans. ;) Kids and adults alike sporting Pens jerseys. Even the buildings downtown had big posters of Crosby. I’m not a big hockey fan, but I do love the hometown so it was nice to see. :) And Raleigh, my second hometown, is such a genuinely beautiful city. I always adore photographing down there at night.

Ms. Deborah Morgan and I meet again! I had the opportunity to photography and meet the WRAL anchor through the DRA last year. She’s such a nice lady!

Below: Representin’ the ‘Burgh in the south commercially…

And representin’ the ‘Burgh in the south with fashion. You go, kid!

Shot down Fayetteville St. of the Capitol Building in Raleigh. Raleigh does a lot of awesome things here throughout the year where they shut down Fayetteville and surrounding streets to cars in order to have festivals, markets, and other activities.

So this is where things get creepy. Before now there was a cupcake eating contest, people were ice skating and watching WRAL’s broadcast, just generally hanging out and exploring the city. I’m not quite sure when and how this happened, all I know is that the Carolina Roller girls came out with some sort of drumline behind them… followed by GIANT PUPPETS. And I mean giant. They were huge. People were holding said giant puppets, others were in them and on stilts. Still others just had on giant puppet heads and were walking around.

Woah. This is all getting very Pan’s Labyrinth here.

Giant scary monster puppet on stilts… bringing down her wrath on this innocent videographer.

…And before you knew it, it was back to your regular programming. Ice hockey, everyone!

Local cheerleaders from the high schools held a pep rally and I was super fond of this Jaguar. Giant animal mascots crack me up – especially when they’re stuck in a perpetual roar.

Goodnight, Raleigh!

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