Well it has been a while since I have had a chance to do an engagement session.  I always love doing them because it gives the couple and I a chance to get to know each other better and gives everyone a feel for what the portrait session on the day of the wedding will go like.  Although I am a photojournalist by trade, for weddings I prefer documentary style, I still believe most couples want at least a small amount of fun portrait style photos on the day of their wedding.  I just try to add a fun and sexy edge to them.  Of course how sexy and edgy is up to the couple, but ti is always a lot of fun.  I also try to let the couples be themselves instead of going through and instructing them on positions and how and when to smile.  Claire was perfect at it.  I love a more natural fun look to my images when we can.  Now of course we will still get the shots your grandmother will love, but it is fun to go out and get some shots you will look back laughing and enjoying in the future. 

I will be documenting Jason and Claire’s wedding in June.  With as beautiful fun loving couple like this I already know it is going to be a great time.    Please come on back and see how it goes.      

Well I am on the road again.  It has been a busy couple of months for me.  I have been traveling a lot.  Between my trips to Knoxville, Tennessee, Denver, Colorado, and now Baltimore, Maryland I have racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles.  I am currently in Baltimore attending a Department of Defense Visual information Conference.  Basically this conference brings all of the senior leadership from around the DoD together to discuss what is going on with our mission and what we can do to improve our processes and improve our mission for all the changes occurring in today’s instant news media world.  As a photojournalist I find the changes that are going on in media fascinating but also scary.  We now live in such an instantaneous world.  I am worried responsible journalism will get lost to people with camera phones on the side of the road.  Pictures tell a story but in the wrong hands and seen with a slanted eye they can tell false stories.  A photojournalist has to hold to his/her ethics and tell the truth in the story that is unfolding in front of them, but someone with a personal camera or camera phone has no ethics to stand by.  They can take pictures that will convey whatever story they want them to.  They are not held to any kind of ethics.  Everyone wants instant info and news sources are giving it to the masses, but is anyone thinking about the consequences if the info is inaccurate?  Everyone always remembers the story, but hardly anyone ever notices the retraction buried on page 8. 

Anyway here area couple shots from the inner harbor here in Baltimore.  Since this was not a real photo trip i only brought my little canon G9 camera so no real exciting shots.  It is a really nice place down here.  There are quite a few things to see and all within walking distance of the hotel.  It has been a really good time so far and I am getting a lot of great information.  I do admit though it will be nice to get home and relax for a little while.  This is my last trip for a couple months so I can actually fully unpack this time instead of just leaving the suitcase ready for my next trip.

Well this post is a little late because of my server issues, but I like some of the shots I got so I still wanted to post it.  After the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Conference here in Las Vegas a bunch of photographers went out near Red Rock and spent the day with a couple models playing around and getting some great shots.  John Micheal Cooper of Alt F Photography was out there to doing one of his patented concept shots.  The guy has just a phenomenal photography mind and is one of the nicest guys you will meet on top of it. 

Anyway the day was about breaking limits and teaching ourselves to see in new ways and not box ourselves in.  We had a great time and this is where I got my first chance to get my hands on the RadioPoppers I told you about in my last post.  I was sold instantly.  Anyway the key to photography is getting out there and playing.  Try all kind of different techniques with lighting to find what really works for you.  There are several rules to good photography.  You need to know them all.  My philosophy though is once you know them go out and learn how to properly break every one of them.  Have fun and create something unique.  Why be like everyone else.  Find a style that is your own.  My three words I try to convey in my imagery is, “Fun, Sexy, and Edgy”.  Those are the three words I have in my mind whenever I am trying to determine how I want to shoot a portrait style session.  If you are a photographer find the words that will motivate your photography and go out there and make it happen.  If you are a potential bride or portrait client when you are talking to photographers find out what their words or philosophy is and make sure it matches what you really want out of the images.  If you find a photographer that you are on the same page with I can guarantee you will be extremely happy with your results.  

Here are a few shots from the day.         

Well I am back from Colorado.  I had a great time at the Tricoast Photography Workshop.  It was great making new friends and learning some great techniques with off camera flash.  I recently ordered a set of new RadioPoppers, in fact I received them yesterday, so I will be able to put all the information I received right to work.  The RadioPoppers are a brand new product that is going to revolutionize wireless flash photography.  I am excited to be one of the first of many many photographers that will be using these flash triggering devices.  If you are a photographer I highly recommend you check out their link, RadioPopper, to learn more about them.  Anyway back to the workshop. 

We went over a variety of lighting techniques using the RadioPoppers, Pocket Wizards, and Canon’s built in wireless TTL system.  We were able to spend most of the first day getting are hands dirty and doing live shoots with three young ladies from the Denver area that were gracious enough to model for us.  Mike, Jordan, and Suzy went around with the groups giving tips and Suzy even stepped in as a model when needed.  Light is one of the most important things to a photographer.  It is great learning new lighting techniques and adding them to your bag so you are ready for just about any situation you come across.  They have set up a blog for the workshop if you want to check out some of the imagery and get a feel for what you might learn if you are a photographer and ever have the opportunity to attend one of their lighting workshops.  I make spot appearence in several of the pics, not that you can really tell.  Here are a few of my images from the workshop.  I am really looking at doing more portraits, so I have tried a couple new processing methods feel free to comment and let me know what you think.   

Well I am off to Denver in the morning for a workshop with Tricoast photography out of Huston Texas.  Mike, Cody, and Jordan are awesome at off camera lighting and I am going to work with them over the next couple days to try and pick up some tips on improving my lighting in this harsh Nevada sun.  It should be a great time.  I will post some of the images when I get back.   

Well now that my blog is functional again let’s get started with a recent wedding.  I had a fun little wedding at Nellis AFB.  A friend, James Tanksley, came out and helped me with it.  Koree and Jason were great.  The ceremony was really nice and it was low key.  We were able to go out before the ceremony and got some great shots and had a lot of fun doing it.  That is my favorie combination.  Here are a few for you to enjoy.     

Well if some of you have been wondering why there have been no posts on here lately it is because iPower, my old web server host, struck again.  When they tried to transition my site again to their new servers it completely locked up my blog.  For several weeks now I have not been able to make any new posts on here, and they were never able to fix it.  Over that time I have been backing everything up off their servers and looking for a new hosting company.  Well I found that new hosting company in Bluehost.  Bluehosthas been incredible.  When I call to ask a question I wait a matter of minuets at the most not like the 1 hour and 31 minutes I had to wait to get someone from iPower.  Trust me if it wasn’t an emergency I wouldn’t have waited so long.  I have never waited less than 30 minutes for iPower to answer when I call when a technical question.  If you are in the market for a new web hosting company I highly recommended Bluehost.  They have answered all my questions, helped me with all my transition issues, most importantly done it all in a super timely manner, and all at a great price.  Check them out you will not regret it.  Please continue to check back in.  Now that my blog is live I have a lot of making up for lost posts to do.     

All of the seminars are incredible.  You have the opportunity to learn from world famous photographers like Jerry Ghionis, Yervant, Joe Buissink, and many many more.  Every year this experience invigorates me and renews my passion to shoot.  I love getting the change to be inspired by my peers and see what is out there and how other photographers are thinking outside the box.  If you are a photographer and you have never gone before I highly recommend you become a member of WPPI and you take the time to attend the conference.  You will not regret it.      

Well the Sprit Cup races came to Las Vegas this past weekend.  It is always crazy when the races come to town.  I personally like it though because I usually get a chance to get out there and take some photos.  Photographing a NASCAR race is a little different than my daily photography at the base and doing wedding or portrait photography.  This year though the Air Force car didn’t make it to the field though so that was disappointing.  I did find other military sponsored cars to cover like the National Guard car driven my Dale Earhardt Jr., the Army car driven by Mark Martin, and the Navy car driven by Brad Keselowski.  It is a lot of fun, but also a lot of walking and work.  For anyone that missed it Mark Martin won the Sam’s Town 300 on Saturday and Carl Edwards won the UAW Dodge 400 on Sunday.  They are off to Atlanta next week.  Here are some shots from the race.

For those of you that have stopped by and found nothing here I am sorry.  My server “iPower” crashed my site when they transferred me to a new control panel recently.  After four days of constant calls and emails, long I mean long 30 minutes + every time waiting on hold, speaking with at least 9 different people, and asking on several occasions for a manager or supervisor and never once being given the chance to speak with one because they were in meetings (apparently they have a lot of meetings but none of them are about customer support) my site is back up.  It finally took a tech named JP that actually cared and spent a couple hours actually working on the site to get it up and running.  If they would have done that 4 days ago they would not have such an irate customer right now.  I applaud JP for his help and only wish the others would have been as helpful.  There are so many more details of hang-ups and being forgotten about but I don’t want to bore you all.  The moral of the story is if you are in need of a web server avoid iPower at all costs.