Chris Savas Photography Blog

Wait...I know somebody

2010-08-25T15:36:00.004-04:00

This is something that I noticed when I talk to my daughter Britt. If I ever need something she will always say "Wait...I know somebody". Doesn't matter if I need my car washed or a good restaurant, she knows somebody who can help me get it at a good price or better service.

This made me think about our relationship we have with family, friends and yes, the people we do business with. Never before are relationships so important as in today's marketplace.

So the other day when I was on the phone talking to my son Manny helping him buy his first big purchase (HDTV) with the money he made from his first job, Britt overheard the conversation, held up her hand and said "wait...I know somebody who can get you that TV cheaper. She met him at the store and saved him $75.

So when you hear someone say to YOU, I'm looking for a good photographer, you can say, "WAIT...I KNOW SOMEBODY"

Chris Savas Photography
Chris@chrissavas.com
404-386-1033 Mobile
770-579-5347 Main
http://www.chrissavas.com

Thank you,
Chris

Larry King Live - Behind the scenes

2010-03-04T22:02:00.003-05:00

4 years ago I met Larry King when he and his foundation helped me. Since then we have remained friends and I have come to know his family and all the wonderful people that run his foundation. Twice a year the foundation has a Gala Dinner to raise money and I get to shoot it.

The morning after one of the Gala's, I was eating breakfast as Larry was reading one of the many newspapers he reads every morning. I asked him to ask me a couple questions about me and he asked me why did I want him to do it. I told him that I wanted to be interviewed by him. He laughed and not too long after he asked me to come on his show and talk about my experience with his foundation. Honestly, all I could think about was how many famous and infamous people have sat in my chair. Doing the show was a blast and he is the best at what he does. Thanks Larry for a time I will never forget.

This is what it's like behind the scenes at Larry King Live. His son Larry King Jr. met me at the studio in DC to shoot this entry. Since this is his last few months of doing his show, I wanted to do some shots that no one really get to see like shooting from behind him to see his set and crew.

The first thing Larry does is sit down in the make-up chair.

He reads the notes and break times for that nights show.

Larry Jr. is there to watch his Dad do his show.

Larry will watch the preceding program to stay up the current topic

The walk from make-up to the Studio down the hall

His producers and technical team getting him ready to go on the air

Guests sit on the sidelines with earphones to hear the production chatter

Going over the last minute notes

On the air - This interview, the guest is in the studio in another city

Larry has a great sense of humor

I'm going to miss hanging out on the most iconic television set with Larry but he will still have his Cardiac Foundation to continue to help the 40 million working people without health insurance.

Twice the fun in a biplane

2009-07-18T22:37:00.006-04:00

Harry Ballance

When my friend Jeff Jeffares asked me if I wanted to go up to Williamson, Georgia and shoot biplanes from a biplane, I jumped all over it. Flying is one of those experiences I never get tired of. I still get excited when I take off and land in big commercial jets. When we pulled up to the PeachState Aerodrome, Harry Ballance met us to take us to the planes and introduce us to the other pilots.

Buckle up, bring your seat to an up right position and enjoy the ride.

Young and old agree, airplanes are cool

It takes a lot of power to make these planes do what they do

Up up and away with Harry

The mirror that the front person can see the pilot in the back

PeachState Aerodrome

Me having the time of my life doing loops, stalls and shooting the other planes.

When the sun goes down, it's time to head home, sit around the hanger and have a drink with all the new friends we just made. Thanks to all the guys at PeachState Aerodrome for a great weekend.

Foreingner

2009-04-16T23:35:00.002-04:00

Shooting bands has become and almost impossible job unless your the official band photographer. The media photographers are allowed to shoot the first three songs and are then escorted from the venue to make sure they don't shoot any more. When I was shooting a private party and they hired Foreigner as the entertainment, I wasn't sure that I would be able to have access to the band. To my surprise and enjoyment, I was allowed to do shoot and go where ever I wanted as long as I stayed out of the roadie's way. Here are some shots from that party. Thanks to Mick Jones and his band for their cooperation.

Mick Jones

Mick Jones and Jeff Pilson

Jeff Pilson

Michael Bluestein

Tom Gimbel and Mick Jones

Jeff Pilson and ?

Kelly Hanson

Mick greeting the fans

The Final Bow

Robotic Surgery Two Years Later

2008-07-03T14:24:00.008-04:00

When I heard that Larry King Jr.(son of the celebrity broadcaster who founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation) called St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta to accept an invitation to witness a robotic surgery performed at the Hospital, I jumped at the chance to photograph that event. You see, it was just two years earlier that I was a patient whose life (and heart) was in the hands of Dr. Douglas Murphy who used the DaVinci robot to repair my ailing heart. And it was that Foundation that helped with all those expenses associated with that surgery. Yes, I jumped at the chance to photograph Dr. Douglas Murphy and his surgical staff perform the same operation I underwent. I wanted to see that procedure from the perspective of an observer and not a patient. And what a wonderful experience it was.

The Larry Kind Cardiac Foundation has a relationship with Saint Joseph’s Hospital to help patients without health insurance. Larry King realized after his own open heat surgery several years ago that over 40 million working middle class American had no such insurance to help them with such catastrophe health issues. So he started his Foundation to help people like me -- working citizens who could not afford the high cost of health insurance. As far as I know there is no other foundation that addresses this problem.

Two years ago I found myself in need of help when I was diagnosed with a strep infection that destroyed my mitral heart valve. Dr. Nic Chronos and Dr. Douglas Murphy of St. Joseph’s came to my rescue -- along with the Larry King Cardiac Foundation and my Greek Orthodox Church community in Atlanta. After a successful operation and a promising recovery, I have been working closely with these organization to further their philanthropic work to help the people in need.

Dr. Murphy and Larry King Jr.


Surgical staff

Dr. Murphy

Ted Cocian (CST)

Erin Popescu

Dr. Murphy operating the DaVinci robot

Heart/Lung machine

Me in the O R, two years later.

Larry King Jr., Chris Savas, Larry King

I want to thank the Larry King Cardiac Foundation and
Saint Josephs of Atlanta for helping me through a very
difficult time when I needed their help.

Please support these very worth while organizations

in any way you can.

Larry King Cardiac Foundation

Saint Josephs of Atlanta

Lia Savas, The Long Island Cowgirl

2008-06-23T12:13:00.013-04:00

In June I went to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to meet up with two of my cousins that I haven’t seen in a long time. Paul is from Birmingham, Alabama and Lia is from Long Island, New York. Lia is the Cowgirl and I’m sure she’s going to kick my ass for writing this about her. She doesn’t like any attention.

The reason for our get together was to have fun and watch Lia compete in a sport called penning. All I can tell you about penning is it has to do with serious horse riders on specially trained horses whose job it is to let a bunch of cows know who is the boss of them!

The other thing I learned was how to wait around for your turn to compete. Lia would compete in the morning and then go back out hours later maybe even 2 am. to do it again. I personally think this is the hard part of penning. Even the cows had someone to let them know that they were up next. After waiting around for hours, Lia’s program would last about 3-8 min. Now I want you to know that I’m not complaining, I think everyone needs to learn how to stop and smell the roses. Well in this case with all the cows and horses it’s not the roses we were smelling.

All kidding aside, we had a great weekend together and I now know what penning is. We are proud of Lia for all the world class ribbons that she won that weekend.

You go cowgirl !!!

A good meal before you compete is very important

And let us not forget the pre-game pep talk.


I shot because this women always said her husband was a horse’s ass and I think this shot proves it.

When Lia goes to these competitions, she knows a lot of the other riders so
I’ve included some shots of them as well.

Thanks again Lia for a great weekend.