Once again this month, Atlanta will host 150 photo exhibitions and numerous seminars and lectures that are free and open to the public. It’s all part of the Atlanta Celebrates Photography festival, which every October takes over schools, museums and galleries across the city, highlighting the city’s rich photo community.

Atlanta’s vibrant fine-art community has long existed side-by-side with a commercial photo community shaped in part by the many corporate headquarters located here. There is a bustling, businesslike vibe to this diverse city, but those seeking southern charm don’t have to go far to find it. Though the number of photographers isn’t large, many say that they have experienced a level of cooperation and camaraderie not found in larger markets. The relatively low overhead costs and the proximity to a variety of natural and urban locations have made it appealing to photographers who visit or are based here.

Favorite Places To Shoot?

One of the great things about a big city in the south is the variety of scenery available. Editorial and commercial photographer David Walter Banks comments, “The area has everything from downtown city settings to lush green forests and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the north.” Just a few hours from Atlanta in any direction the scenery is there for anyone seeking mountains, lakes, islands and sea.

Because of this diversity, many local photographers agree that the best places to shoot in Atlanta depend entirely on what one wants. “I recently shot a men’s fashion editorial for Seven Magazine and they wanted it to look European. We found great locations ranging from the old Federal Courthouse with cobblestone streets downtown to the Amtrak station in midtown and the Swan House Mansion in Buckhead,” says editorial and advertising photographer Harold Daniels. Mali Azima, who specializes in film and digital photography, notes, “The city is very scenic with its overgrown greenery, and old southern buildings, and industrial wasteland.” For more international flavor, Bryan Meltz, a commercial and editorial photographer, advises going to Clarkston, Georgia. “Over the past 20 years nearly 50,000 refugees have settled in and around Clarkston, a small town ten miles east of Atlanta. The majority of the people resettled there have come from the African nations of Sudan and Somalia.”

Best Clients
Commercial:
22 Squared AT&T Carters Chick-Fil-A Coca Cola Delta Airlines in Atlanta BBDO Atlanta Eric Mower Federal Home Loan Bank Fitzgerald Georgia Pacific Georgia Power Grey iconologic jwt Kimberly Clark Corporation Macy’s Mindpower Momentum	Newell/Rubbermaid Philips Electronics Plaid Corporation Vanity Fair Intimates Publix in Lakeland Russell Athletic Siemens Corporation SkyGolf SunTrust TBS The Home Depot The Vera Company Three Time Warner / Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System unboundary UPS
Editorial:
Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Atlanta Journal Constitution Atlanta Magazine Emmis in Atlanta Emory University Garden & Gun (Charlotte, but covers Atlanta)	Penton Media—Homecare, American City & County Southern Living Southern Progress in Alabama The Atlantan

If Someone Only Had 48 Hours to Spend in Atlanta, Where Would You Send Them?

Piedmont and Centennial Parks are very popular among the photographers we surveyed. Piedmont offers every park activity imaginable and Centennial has free concerts every day. For touristy attractions, head to an Atlanta Braves Game, the High Museum of Art and “the Georgia Aquarium for sure,” says David Smith. Lara Rossignol recommends Kudzu Antiques. Documentary photographer Bryan Meltz recommends “the diverse neighborhoods that surround Downtown that make Atlanta so unique.” She suggests visits to Cabbagetown, Castleberry Hill and Old Fourth Ward at the very least. If you just want to relax and check out Atlanta, the rotating bar at the top of the Peachtree Plaza Hotel is what Chris Hamilton recommends. If history is what you’re into, two truly American museums are in town: Coca-Cola World and the Martin Luther King Junior Center.

And don’t forget, “Our food scene is amazing,” says Chris Stanford. The Clermont Lounge is highly recommended by our respondents—but David Walter Banks warns you, the interior looks like “David Lynch and Hunter Thompson hand-crafted the most f***ed up place they could imagine.”

Where to Eat

Bonheads Brickstore Pub Buddha Buford Highway Busy Bee Carrol street café Chamblee Cheesecake Factory Dynamic Dish Ecco Elmyr Fat Matt’s Fat Matt’s ribshack Five Seasons Brewery Flip Burger Boutique Fox Brothers Barbeque French American Brasserie Gato Bizco Green Sprout Harry and son’s sushi Himalaya Holy Taco Houstons JCT Joel Krog bar La Pietra Cucina Los Hermanos Manuel’s Tavern Manuel’s Matthew’s cafeteria in tucker MF Sushi Mojito Restaurant & Lounge Murphy’s Nam Nan Thai Fine Dining Nancy Portaleo (catering) No Mas Cantina Nuevo Loredo Cantina Pasta da Plucinella

Penang Pietra Cucina Pozole Rathbun’s Sahun’s Savage or Felini’s Pizza South City Kitchen Midtown Spoon Spice Market in the W Star Provisions Star Provisions Sun in My Belly Surin thai Tamarind Seed Taqueria del Sol Thai by Jean-Georges Vongerichten The Earl The Flying Biscuit The Oceanaire Seafood Room The Varsity Trader Vics at the Hilton downtown TROIS Two Urban Licks Veni Vidi Vici Viceroy Vortex Bar & Grille in Little Five Points West Egg Wisteria “Virginia Highland’s restaurants to walk around and find a wide variety of spots from Indian to Spanish cuisine and a good handful of bars.” (David Walter Banks)

Advantages and Disadvantages to Working/Living in Chicago:

“The cost of living and ease of travel” as well as the “wide variety of shooting areas and situations, resources, and assistants” make Atlanta a great place in which to live, Harold Daniels and David Walter Banks explain respectively. However, Daniels feels that many Atlanta corporations think New York- and Los Angeles-based photographers are better simply because they live in larger cities. “Atlanta ad agencies in particular have the attitude that if they have a budget at all, then why not go to New York or L.A.? I can’t tell you how many times I have seen an out of town photographer and crew flown in to shoot a really basic image.”

Because of the strength of the photography community in the area, Jon Kownacki finds researching clients much easier than in a larger city. “It’s a big city with a smaller town feel. If you need to find information about a client, you generally know someone who has had experience with them.” Jerry Burns notes that the photography community has “an atmosphere of camaraderie and cooperation” when the markets are good. And though the community is small, Lara Rossignol says, “I have met and become friends with a lot more photographers since moving here six years ago, than all my years (16) in New York City.”

Places to View Photography
Monthly Art Strolls (Fridays, 18 galleries) Art Station Barbara Archer Gallery Composition Gallery Get This! Gallery Jackson Fine Art Kiang Gallery	King Plow Arts Center Marcia Wood Gallery Solomon Projects The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center The High Museum of Art The Opal Gallery Whitespace

Recommended Places to Stay
Atlanta Marriott Marquis Clermont Embassy Suites Four Seasons Four Seasons hotel Georgian Terrace Grand Hyatt Atlanta InterContinental Buckhead Hotel JW Marriott Hotel Palomar Atlanta Midtown The Ellis Hotel The Glenn	The Highland Inn Virginia Highlands The Hilton Downtown The Omni Hotel The Ritz in Buckhead TWELVE Hotels W Hotels downtown and midtown Westin “Buckhead has the best range of hotels.” (Iain Bagwell)

Local Resources
Photographers we interviewed recommended the following from the city's many resources:
Equipment Rental and Retail Capture Integration Day-1 Production Services Morel Studio Support KEH Peachtree Camera & Video Repair Production Consultants & Equipment Professional Photo Resources Showcase Photo & Video Wings Camera Processing (labs) Burn Photo Camera Repair Japan E-6 Lab of Atlanta Moakler Photographic Services Professional Photo Resources Showcase Photo & Video Spitfire Studio	Scanning/Printing Professional Photo Resources Studios Ambient Plus Studio Big Studio Iain Bagwell/Scott Lowden Production Consultants &   Equipment Studio NineHundred Prop Rental Morel Studio Support More The Atlanta Celebrates Photography Web site has links to several local companies providing services to photographers year-round.