Jackie and Serenity
Posted in Community, Office News, Tennessee, events
So on Tuesday our VP, Julie, came in with a horror story of how her eight-year-old son, Jared, cracked his head on the edge of the sidewalk the night before while playing tackle football in the neighborhood. Doing what head-wounds do, blood was pouring down his head and back while a neighborhood dad tried to stop it with a handful of gauze. Julie took Jared to the emergency room where he received five staples to close it up. And um, yeah, with no local anesthesia. He later said that the first two didn’t hurt too bad, but he cried during the last three. It’s OK though, he’s a tough little guy.
Of course, being the creative photographers that we are, we couldn’t pass up a photo-op. When Julie picked Jared up from school the next day we did a nice close-up shot of the staples – gore and all.
To make him feel better we decided to make him a special present. We thought he could use a motivational poster to commemorate the event. You know, just in case the scar wasn’t going to be enough of a memory.
We heard he liked it so much that he took it around with him and showed all his friends and neighbors. Go Jared!!!
Posted in Family, Florida, Life, Office News, Photography, Tampa, events
Pinnacle Building, Nashville, TN
Driving into Nashville after the Memorial Day weekend…as our skyline came into view, there was a missing structure. The last tower crane had come down. For the six years we have been in Nashville, I don’t think we have been without at least one tower crane in downtown or the Gulch or even Vanderbilt. As we continue to service and fly for the construction industry, we will been on the lookout for the next tower crane…hopefully soon! If this is a sign of the times, then it can only be good for our skyline shots (although we think the skyline is prettier with those graceful cranes!)
Wendy Whittemore
Co Owner/Photographer
Aerial Innovations of TN, Inc.
Posted in Community, Economy, Life, Photography, Tennessee
On Tuesday, Aerial Innovations Tampa celebrated its 22nd anniversary! In the past, Colette has taken all of us to a nice restaurant to celebrate anniversaries. But this year, to celebrate in an economically friendly way, Colette organized a “Recession Lunch” at the office for the A.I. crew. For a week no one knew what exactly was going on – she was being very sneaky. We knew there was going to be a big group lunch; we had to bring in one place-setting from our homes for the table and 12 placemats were made at Kinko’s of the spring photo-contest winners’ images. Monday afternoon, the day before the lunch, Colette asked us all to bring in fresh flowers from our gardens for the table. Aside from that, we were kept in the dark.
Tuesday morning the conference room was magically transformed into a colorful and eclectic banquet hall. Each place-setting was different, the cloth napkins were folded and arranged, flowers lined the center of the table. Oh, yeah, and the professional chefs were setting up in the back office.
Greg and Michelle Baker of Cooks & Company created a gourmet meal with arugula salad, steak or salmon with asparagus and gnocchi, and a special chocolate cinnamon mousse with a toffee bar and strawberry. Champagne and fruit-infused iced tea was also on the table.
Greg and Michelle prepared everything in our tiny back office while stepping over the all-too-curious office dogs, Leica and Sky. Greg grilled everything on our ancient Webber grill that has been in the backyard forever and Michelle served everyone in the conference/banquet room while, of course, stepping over dogs. Working in close-quarters with only a charcoal grill, they prepared the most amazing meal.
Aside from being gourmet chefs, Greg and Michelle are also food critics. They were so impressed with how everything came together that they are going to feature our little “Recession Lunch” in their next article for the local newspaper. Congratulations Aerial Innovations!!!
Posted in Dogs, Florida, Office News, above it all, events
It’s that time of year again. The weather is heating up, birds are singing, flowers are blooming, college students from around the country are flocking to our beaches . . . It’s Springtime!!! And, for those of us in the Tampa office, it’s also a perfect reason for another photo contest! We had a springtime theme and a month to create spring-ish images.
Jenny B. got first place with her macro series of three flowers shot on a light box. Laura’s photos from the North Georgia mountains near the Chattahoochee River came in second and third. The next contest has already been announced. The theme is “Red”. This should be fun!
Posted in above it all, events
Spring Fever is here in Tennessee, which usually means allergies! To help with that cabin fever, we have been hitting the road, getting out to meet clients, going bowling and flying, flying , flying. It is so nice to see green again (in the trees at least!) Below are a few of our adventures, some spring shots, Lindsay and Wendy in Knoxville and the Fly Girls at the NAIOP First Annual Bowling Challenge (hey, we can’t golf, fish or shoot but we can drink beer and bowl…enjoy!)
Posted by Wendy Whittemore
Aerial Innovations of Tennessee, Inc.
Posted in Life, Office News, Photography, Tennessee, events | Tags: Bowling, Knoxville, Spring
We found some old photos of my grandfather, Herbert Whittemore, after he passed away several years ago. In one of the photos, he is seen standing on the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier in Providence, Rhode Island which he helped to design. From 1936 – 1970 he was with the Army Corps of Engineers, his final title was the Chief of the Structural Section.
The images are amazing to me as they show part of a major construction project that he was involved in as well as show the progress of the barrier as it moves from open (during most of the year) to closed (when hurricanes would threaten the harbor.) Construction just must be in my blood! And the art of photography has always held a scientific element…using the physics of light, color and spacial relationships to create an image.
Within my family are several other engineers including my cousin Scott Whittemore who is a safety engineer at the Federal Highway Administration…wondering how he’s handling the stimulus package?
Engineering has always been a mystery to me, one that the men in my family spoke a similar language about. In documenting construction, the arts of architecture, engineering and construction meet to form our subject…thankfully I only have to capture it!
Enjoy the photos!
Wendy Whittemore, Aerial Innovations of Tennessee, Inc.
Posted in Family, Life, Photography, Tennessee | Tags: Engineering, Family, Wendy
Well, I’ve been with Aerial Innovations for almost 4 1/2 crazy years now. I got this great opportunity just a year out of college and let me tell you, this is a dream job for a person in my field! However, amidst all the fun of flying around in airplanes and helicopters and gradually taking on more responsiblity around the office, not to mention buying a house, holding down various bartending positions, training all the new people here (haha), and trying to keep up with the constant advancements in digital photography, some things have fallen by the wayside. Most importantly my personal artwork. So I am happy to announce that while I did not make any official New Years resolutions I have been very productive here in 2009. I finally have a website set up after over a year of talking about it! Check it out at www.thelightatnight.com but bear with me, getting it going was the big hurdle, and I’ll be adding a lot more images soon!
You can also see both my and Wendy’s images in the Untitled Nashville group show this Friday night at the Icon in the Gulch from 6-10 pm.
So I’m looking forward to getting out there and shooting all those images I’m always seeing but not having (or taking) the time to photograph and hopefully seeing them on the walls in galleries soon.
Douglas to Downtown
Coral Smith
Photographer/Production Manager
Posted in Life, Photography | Tags: Coral, fine art, Nashville, night photography, Photography, Tennessee
Sweet baby Jaylyn
Recently I visited Cumberland, KY located in the famous Harlan County. I had never seen anything so eye-opening in my life. I, born and raised in Nashville, kept replaying Patty Loveless singing the ghostly “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” as I tried imaging how it would look. When we arrived 9 hours later (about 2 hours later than expected) it was pitch black and a bit daunting.
The next morning we drove through town to our destination, Club 180. Our task was to work with the Club by helping some teenage mothers with a scrapbooking project. As we sorted out the materials and got prepared the director told us that in Harlan time was very lenient, meaning that time wasn’t really an issue especially when your main client, of sorts, are teenage mothers.
The mothers and children arrived and soon enough I had adopted a little girl named Jaylyn. While her mother pieced together pictures of her high school years and senior trip, Jaylyn and I hung out and played on every toy possible. I couldn’t help but wonder where she would be in 18 years, hopefully not here in Cumberland where unemployment is 70% (before the national recession).
When we drove back to the house we were staying I thanked God for my many blessings and put away the worry about the bills that were waiting for me when I got home. Remember to thank God for dirty dishes.
Club 180 is a Christian ministry that was founded to help local teenagers. They offer teens a safe place to hang out, fitness activities, education assistance and spiritual direction. One finger of their program, Ester’s Closet, is strictly to help teenage mothers in their uphill battle. God Bless the Burkeens and others who continue to praise the Lord. On the Club 180 website you will find this quote: Isaiah 61:1-4 is the passage of scripture that encompasses Club 180 Ministry. It states, “The Spirit of the Sorvereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
God Bless you and America (whether you like it or not)!
Deanna James
Account Executive
Posted in Community, Economy, Family, Life, Office News, Tennessee, events | Tags: Community, Kentucky, Volunteering
