Dustin Grau Photography

I confess, as an OTP resident there are some sights I have yet to see within Atlanta. The Millennium Gate Museum at Atlantic Station is one such location I had yet to visit. Obviously that has changed, as I was recently able to view not only the museum itself but go to the very top and view the skyline of the city. There was no tripod involved (otherwise I would have tried for traffic trails) but hand-holding a VR lens got me some shots I was very happy with.

That’s another year down in the books, and ending on a high note as a covered the big event for the city of Duluth. This was a bit more high-profile than last year with local country radio station Kicks sponsoring, and an up-and-coming solo artist Chase Bryant headlining. And usually I try to pick a good image for my posts here, something that really represents the event or theme of the shot. In fact I actually liked several straight-on shots of the band but decided to go with a lesser image, though it has a bit more of a behind-the-scenes […]

This was the 36th annual lighting of the Duluth city tree, and despite going to the event most of the years we’ve lived here I can’t find a single decent photo. I thought this would be a good time to finally change that, so I set up my tripod and framed the iconic city hall with the tree and crowd. It took me a while to edit the photo in the style I wanted–specifically to change the sky from a muddy red to a more bluish twilight. I also grabbed a few shots of the street a few days before […]

Despite living in the Atlanta area for over 2 decades I don’t recall visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden for their annual holiday light display. Now that our daughter is 7 and we’ve done the Lights of Life and Lanier’s Magical Nights of Lights, we thought it was time to try something new.

I had some time to kill while in downtown Marietta so I took a stroll in the cold to grab a few shots at sunset. It didn’t end up being all that much of a shoot, but I liked how the fountain shots turned out.

I love this park near Lawrenceville, mainly because it’s such a quaint little piece of history amid all the strip malls and civilization. We took a quick family trip at the end of the peak leaf season, and despite missing a good bit of the true leaves of fall it was still a good chance to get out and enjoy it. I primarily stuck near the old dam, that provided the water to the mill race.

This was the 2nd year that the city of Duluth hosted a live performance event for Halloween, and I was honored to be their exclusive photographer. This year it actually fell on the holiday, and despite some unexpected rain there was still quite a turnout. Some acts from the previous year returned along with a few new stunts such as the setting on fire of a werewolf and a different aerialist with varied acts. As always the fun part is getting to see the talent do their thing, while I attempt to capture everything sans-flash. I managed to sling 2 […]

Ever since I met my wife-to-be and her family in Duluth, we’ve been going to the Fall Festival there every year. It has been the unofficial start of fall for us for nearly 10 years, even if the Georgia weather and leaves on the trees would disagree slightly with the timing. This year our daughter was in the parade (a 2nd time for her) and despite the rain that loomed over most of the weekend, we managed to get in a fun time during the 2 day event. Though of course my fun was had in trying out a new […]

Back in 2013 the city of Duluth started having food trucks come down to the town green and set up each Friday in August. It was so popular that they extended it through October (though the weather decided to put a damper on that most weeks). This year, they obviously banked on it as a continual draw and set up a June-October timeframe for a new Food Truck Friday event. This time with music acts and entertainment (like movies on the green after dark) to get people to come down. Needless to say, it has worked. Every week people show […]

Typically, the city of Duluth does their celebrations for the 4th a day early and at a local park. But if things were typical then we would’ve also been rained out like last year (and possibly the year before, if I recall correctly). Instead, the weather graciously cooperated and multiple events occurred simultaneously down on the town green. With the 3rd being a Thursday, the usual Parsons Farmers Market was moved but still went on as usual. There were also a few food trucks and carts like they’ve been doing on Fridays. For the celebration at hand they had military […]

In the fall of 2014, Jamestown Properties should be ready to open the first phase of the largest live/work/play redevelopment since Atlantic Station. The site of Ponce City Market is the old Sears & Roebuck building on Ponce de Leon, aka the old City Hall East. Many of the changes already made include removal of much of the old parking deck, and an installation of a “cap” over the old ground-level parking lot to bring it up to grade with North Avenue in the rear of the property. The rooftop will include a boardwalk, restaurant/pub, and entertainment such as a […]

This year I made it for the annual car show hosted by the Duluth Rotary Club. I decided to focus more on specific aspects of the vehicles rather than just the bodies. Mostly it was the engines that were the heart (literally) of the restorations as that was where each person made their unique mark on the vehicle. So to that end I present a collection of shiny chrome and aluminum, with just a touch of environmental shots.

At this point Atlanta is probably most well-known for zombies, thanks to shows like The Walking Dead. I met up with some local photographers to continue that generalization at a zombie-themed photoshoot at none other than a location used for filming and at least 1 model who was a cast member of the show. We had some odd props (yes, those are baby dolls on the ground in one shot) and used whatever we could to make an interesting scene. The models were all awesome, accommodating, and were a pleasure to work with.

To kick off a family staycation during spring break this year we started at the MLK Center in downtown Atlanta. From there we took a stroll through the gardens of Oakland Cemetery to see what was blooming. I didn’t walk away with much as I really should’ve brought a better macro lens, but I still managed to find some interesting subjects and isolated flowers.

Alter Ego is a cover band from Montreal that is noted for their many costume changes during a performance. They performed hit songs from various decades, with each of their outfits corresponding to the singers/groups. This was a private concert given for attendees of the Progress Exchange event in Boston from October of 2013.

I always bring my camera with me on business trips as I never know what will happen. This event took place in Boston, MA in October of 2013, though I just recently finished picking and processing the photos. It’s really just a few candids from around the conference but it was enough to make me happy. I really do think that if I had to pick a specific niche market for my work it would be event photography. It combines my true love of not having to interact with people directly, yet still lets me silently document the world around […]

As a child with a heritage from the steel city of Pittsburgh, I lived well after the years when coal smoke turned the skies black and rained cinders on the towns surrounding the old steel mills. Most stories of the mills came from my grandparents, but I have to assume they were similar to other states with a large steel-production impact. To learn more, a band of explorers loaded up on a foggy winter morning and made the trek across state lines to such a place. This particular site was similar in that it was the lifeblood of the nearby […]

Perhaps one of the best-known, infamous, and historic hospitals in the state of Georgia, Central State sits in the former capital city of Milledgeville. Its history spans over 100 years from opening in 1842 and has been known as “Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum”, “Georgia State Sanitarium”, and “Midgeville State Hospital”. It once housed nearly 12,000 patients in the 1960’s, dwindling to only about 9,000 by 2005. In 2010 the hospital was closed and has sat deteriorating ever since, causing a significant economic impact to both the city and county. As part of redevelopment efforts on the campus, […]

Bostick was a state prison adjacent to the campus of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia. Constructed in the 1950’s it served as a dormitory through the late ’80s when it was converted to a medium security prison for special-needs criminals. Closed in 2010 it has sat abandoned until being recently purchased in 2013, with intents to convert the building into a nursing home for inmates. Due to its impending remodeling this was a must-see location during a permissioned visit to the hospital.

It had been a while since I’ve been out on my own to explore, but an unexpected visit from an out-of-town friend prompted me to show some southern hospitality. We toured a few common spots which proved to be quite depressing. Many locations had been freshly boarded-up, repurposed by new owners, or demolished completely. Of about 6 sites we visited or tried to visit, only 1 was available for us to photograph. Even that location had its share of disappointment, with most of the artifacts and equipment removed since my last visit in 2011. On the plus side, I had […]