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Client Raves
"Thank you for my beautiful pictures!" - Stephanie
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"Andrew you made my day!!! Thank you so much. Phil and I love all of them." - Angie
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"Thank you so much. I am so, so happy to have had you as our photographer, and these shots are really beautiful. Thanks again for your time and your obvious concern for capturing our day beautifully. " - Katie
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"The pictures are amazing!!! You did such a great job! I love how you 'captured the moment!' We really enjoyed working with you." - Darah
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"WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE PICTURES!!! Everyone thinks the sunset pictures are a backdrop because they are so beautiful!! We happily reassured them it was a TRUE Panama City Sunset!!!" - Lisa
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"You did a phenomenal job on our pictures! Thank you so much for your time and making us feel very comfortable and important during our special time." - Casey
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"If you want to have fun taking pictures hire Andrew! I've hired him on several occasions and he's a true professional. He's sensitive, kind, considerate, and enjoys life. He cares about his work and his clients." - Shirstie
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"You're the masterpiece man." - Kendra
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"I cannot tell you enough how great a photographer you are. Thank you for taking my pictures for SUP Wheels. They turned out Amazing!" - Colette
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"Thank you so much for our photos!! They turned out beautifully! We will definitely recommend you to our friends :-)" - Maria
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"Our wedding photography session with Andrew was easy and fun...with fantastic results! We are still getting compliments on how absolutely beautiful and unique the pictures are. Andrew has a great work ethic and creative eye. We would definitely recommend him for any event!" - Kenya & Kyle
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"I have spent a significant amount of time looking at web pages and seem to find myself back at your page. Your pictures have an artistic flair and just seem to be a bit different and stand out from the rest." - Mendy
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"I’ve known Andrew for well over fifteen years, and he’s always pushed the limits with his photography. It’s so easy to work with him and he consistently brings depth, stories, and character to whatever he’s shooting. His photos appear as art to me; strategically-arranged compositions. When I look at his photographs, I always feel like I’m a part of the story; not just a bystander. It’s that talent he sees through the lens that has established Andrew Wardlow’s style." - Brian
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"Andrew did our wedding photos and they turned out great! He's professional and very creative. He truly has an artistic eye and found some unique locations for our pre-wedding pictures, and was also able to capture the moments candidly during the ceremony and reception. I'd definitely recommend him for any event. Always great work!" - Jessica & Drew
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"I have known Andrew more than 20 years. Since we were kids I could see his visual talent. You could say I was one of his first guinea pigs. He would take wonderful pictures at an early age. I can honestly say when he started photography it was before digital. He captured the beauty of images and worked in a dark room whereas most photographers of recent days only know digital. He is a very good person and very dependable and his work gets better each day because he is humble and always studies his craft - his work proves it." - Mike
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Tag Archives: surf pictures
SUP Wheels – Panama City Commercial Photographer
I got a bit sandy on this Panama City commercial photography shoot, but that comes with the territory.
Being a Panama City photographer is a funny thing. One day I am wearing my wedding photographer hat and the next I’m running up and down the beach on a beautiful Saturday morning photographing Colette for SUP Wheels. I love the diversity of this job!
When Colette asked me to photograph her for SUP Wheels I jumped at the opportunity. I photograph Panama City portraits and surfing all the time, but this was an opportunity to blend the two together in a fun way. When I was thinking of the perfect place for the photo shoot, I immediately thought of St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach. There are boardwalks, rocks, dunes, sea oats, and a nice beach. I wanted to get out there early in the morning before the crowds showed up, so we started our photo shoot around 7:30 in the morning.
It was a perfect day! Hardly a cloud in the sky, not too hot and a deserted beach. We started the photo session at one of the boardwalks as I wanted to get a nice, clean horizontal shot with Colette showing how easy it was to use the SUP Wheels product with her board. That shot proved to be fairly easy to get and we moved on down to another part of the boardwalk. As I stood precariously balanced on the railing, Colette made a couple passes by and we nailed another cool shot. This one was vertical and had some strong leading lines. I would not recommend standing on the railing, but for a photograph I think it’s OK. I did try and avoid being seen by the park rangers just in case. Haha! The last thing I wanted was to get a stern talking to by the rangers. (I’m sure they would understand, though.)
Standing on the railing isn't really the safest thing to do, but I do whatever it takes to get the shot.
Now to the beach we went. The water was beautiful! Words cannot express how nice of a day it was. We started off at the top of the dune and then I had the idea to try and get a silhouette. There is just something cool about silhouettes. Many photographers think they are cliché, but I disagree. I try not to do them all the time, but when I get a chance to get a cool one I always take it. I got a couple different angles and poses and then we were done with our Panama City Beach photo session.
Colette was great to work with. She was game for any idea that I came up with and her personality really added to the photos.
I can’t wait for my next Panama City commercial photographer shoot. I am always ready for the next photography challenge. It’s a lot of fun photographing different things all the time and it really helps to make me more of a well-rounded photographer. See you on the beach!
Colette is a great model and a joy to work with.
Tropical Storm Debby – Panama City Surf Photographer
A bodyboarder catches air while dropping in on a wave during Tropical Strom Debby in Panama City Beach, Fl. (Andrew Wardlow Photography)
When Tropical Storm Debby hit Panama City Beach and the surf was up, I had to go out and get photos. There was only one problem, though. Rain….and lots of it! Cameras don’t like rain. At least my trusty Nikons don’t like rain.
Tropical storms can be good and they can be not so good. The good kind (in my opinion) skirt across the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico sending Panama City Beach fun waves for days on end. The not so good kind send Panama City Beach fun waves, but also hover just south of the beach bombarding us with rain for days on end. Debby was the not so good kind of storm. What’s a photographer to do you ask? Get out the umbrella and hope for the best!
A surfer gets tubed up at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach during Tropical Storm Debby. (Andrew Wardlow Photography)
I woke up at 5:15 on Sunday morning to make sure I was at the beach to photograph the sunrise surf session. After dragging myself out of bed, I grabbed my camera gear and hustled down to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach. I should have stayed in bed with my lovely wife because the surf was awful. There were waves to be had, but you had to be at the right place at the right time. The surf was a bit out of control and no one was really paddling out. Bummer.
I got back home just in time to hear my son saying, “Ma Ma, Ma Ma, Ma Ma.” (hopefully one day he’ll say Da Da, but I’m not going to hold my breath) I went and grabbed the boy, gave him a big hug and a kiss and we got back in bed with Ma Ma.
As the day progressed I kept thinking of the surf. How was it now? Was it cleaning up? Was anyone out? What kind of cool pictures am I missing out on? My wife decided we needed some food so when she and my son made a quick run to the store, I grabbed the camera and went to check the surf.
The surf was on fire. Dozens of surfers were out catching some pretty epic rides. The wind was howling out of the north and the rain was pelting my legs like shots from a BB gun, but I was determined to document the Tropical Storm Debby swell. With my new golf umbrella in my left hand and my camera on a monopod in my right, I was doing my best to get sharp photos against the will of mother nature.
It was a struggle to stay dry, I tell ya. My left arm was hurting pretty bad from holding the umbrella against wind gusts of 30mph and my lens kept getting little droplets of rain on it. I stuck it out as long as I could and wound up getting some decent Panama City Beach surf photos out of it.
Maybe next time I’ll wait until it stops raining. That would make tropical storm surf photography much easier, but where’s the fun in that?
Alex gets a nice ride during Tropical Storm Debby in Panama City Beach, Florida. (Andrew Wardlow Photography)
Panama City Surfing on The Weather Channel
Here is a screen shot of my photo from The Weather Channel's website.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, we photographers at the Panama City News Herald are sending as many photos to the Associated Press as possible. One of the results of that is that sometimes our photos wind up in kinda cool places. This time around The Weather Channel picked up a surfing picture that I took at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach last week. I would have never known about it if a fellow surfer had not posted the photo on Facebook and asked if it was shot in Panama City. I saw her post and recognized it as my own. It always makes me happy when our little part of the world gets recognized for something good, rather than just Spring Break chaos. Most surfers I talk to on my travels don’t even realize that we have any surf in the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe this will bring a little awareness that the Gulf is a credible surfing spot. Although, maybe I should stop sending this stuff to the AP, because we really don’t want too many people flocking here and taking all the waves. 
Justin Buxton enjoys a wave at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andrew Wardlow/Panama City News Herald)
