Memorial Day with the kids

Sunday we went to the family burial plot in Westerlo to pay our respects and plant new flowers as we do every year. It's hard to believe that my dad has been gone 13 years now - seems like yesterday I turned 30...




Nancy and I decided to completely devote Monday to having fun with the kids, so we let them sleep late and rest up. Once they woke up I made corn fritters and eggs which was a rare treat for all of us. After breakfast we took the kids into Scotia to enjoy the park. Asa and Delaney played on the swings, slides and jungle gyms. We played for a couple of hours and then headed over to Jumpin Jacks for lunch.

After lunch we headed over to the Bow Tie Cinemas and watched the 4th itteration of the Indiana Jones saga. Great movie by the way according to the kids ;-)

Sarah & Jason

So today I met with Sarah & Jason who flew in from San Francisco last night in preparation of their wedding next Saturday. Normally I do a session with my couples about a month in advance not just a week, but since they live on the west coast...

They both spent a LOT of time in Troy so they wanted their signature photo shoot to take place there. What a wonderful couple with such great chemistry! We shot along River Street and in a couple alley ways, plus on the steps of the Bush Memorial at Russell Sage College.

Their wedding will take place at the gorgeous Lake George Club and I can't wait to play!!! They are a fun and energetic couple that will be a blast to photograph next Saturday!

Here are some of the images from todays shoot...
Jeff

Is it May already???

April was an amazingly busy month with Spring Break, a fantastic seminar in Syracuse and the third installation of the Upstate NY DWF get together...

Delaney and I decided to tour New England this year for our daughter father get away which is a slight departure from our usual history trek. We drove to Portland Maine and had a nice lobster dinner. Well OK Delaney wanted lobster so dad had to break it open for her ;-)

We also stopped and saw the Portland Head lighthouse, then the Nubble lighthouse before heading off to see Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. We ended our weeks vacation with our first motorcycle ride of the season. Don't tell Nancy I took the photo while driving :-)



On April 20th I had the pleasure to get together with 17 other NY photographers and 12 fantastic models to continue our Upstate NY DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) self teaching get togethers. We had the pleasure of shooting at St. Mary's RC church in downtown Albany, the Palace Theater and the Empire State Plaza.

Every time we get together we share ideas, techniques and experience with one another in the effort to be better at what we do. We're a very close knit group and are very dynamic - some of us have been shooting for 20 years and some for 6 months but we're all equals here.






After shooting with our models at the Albany DWF get together I had the honor of shooting with Aubrey this past weekend. Aubrey wanted to do some shots for her upcoming anniversary with her boyfriend Stephen, so we did a little urban grunge in downtown Troy. Here are a couple of the images...

Back from WPPI

Well I'm back home safely which is amazing after the heavy winds we landed in last night.  I have to hand it to the crew on the SouthWest Airlines flight for such amazing flying skills.  Nancy called to tell me that the weather service was predicting 45 mph wind gusts and they weren't kidding. To my surprise, my lovely bride met me at the airport at midnight even though I told her that Peter was going to drive me home so she wouldn't be out so late at night. It was a very nice surprise to see her there waiting for me at the terminal..

I didn't have anything planned for the five hours before my flight home so I met up with Regina, Elly and Regina's mom for lunch and then headed out to Red Rock National Park. What a slice of heaven on earth - gorgeous rock formation and mountain ranges.


Regina's boyfriend Nick apparently has always wanted photos of Regina on his bike but none of the photographers they knew were interested in shooting it. So they asked me and a figured what the heck! So off to Red Rock we went for a little shooting... I photographed Regina and Elly with the bike and then Regina and Nick with the bike - lots of fun! It was amazing to see the effect our shoot had on the traffic as it slowed to crawl with two models in wild outfits in the middle of this scenic route.



It was a little dicey doing a couple of the shots as Regina wanted to do an implied nude with Nick covering her "top" with his motorcycle gloves. The traffic really came to a halt then - nothing to see mind you, but a lot of slow traffic ;-) I had a great time with the gang there and the funniest part was having Regina's mom there taking pictures as well. I looked over when I heard the whir of a film camera to see Regina's mom taking a snapshot of her daughter doing an implied nude photo! Wow!


Anyway I hope that you've enjoyed the photos from my WPPI adventure - it's been a learning experience and I've made new friends along the way!
Jeff

WPPI - the last day...

Today (Wednesday the 19th) is the last day for the official WPPI events, so things are winding down and everyone is packing up for home. This morning I didn't see any speakers that tickled my fancy, so I made arrangements to do a shoot with Kaylea. She is a model/photographer from Denver who was working here at the trade expo that I'd conversed with a couple months ago. At the time she wasn't able to work with me because she had already booked some jobs. Apparently one of her jobs cancelled and so she called...

The day started early at 6:00 AM and we decided to shoot at the Tropicana Hotel - what an amazing experience shooting just after sunrise in an east facing room! We had a blast shooting as you can see from the images below. I must say that I've put my Nikon D3 through it's paces this week and am very happy with it's performance.

Below are some photos from our shoot!






WPPI has been a fantastic experience with all of the talented and inspirational speakers, but just being surrounded by literally thousands of other people that share your passion has been humbling. I've met some new friends and rekindled some older ones that will surely will be revisited once I return home.
Enjoy!
Jeff

And the beat goes on...

Well day two of WPPI was not as exciting and action packed as the first. I attended two seminars and to be honest only one delivered what was advertised. In the morning I had attended a presentation by Jerry Ghionis who is an award winning Master Photographer from Australia. This guy is a fireball! full of excitement and personality with every word. His style is energetic and he gets the clients trust by being himself. His techniques are simple but effective. I cannot recommend this presentation enough to people - you WILL WALK OUT INSPIRED!

The second seminar was a complete waste and let down. The seminar was on DAM (Digital Asset Management) and it was so boring I nodded off. The presenter was more interested in getting you consider joining a "society" than in getting to the workflow end of things. This was after thirty minutes of speaking into a two hour seminar. A woman sitting next to me leaned over and asked me what time it was - I responded "time to leave". She was grateful that she wasn't the only one bored to tears as we were in the first row! So we both got up and walked out while the presenter looked on in disbelief...

The day was not a total loss as I had the pleasure of working with Regina Anne and Elly, two local models from Las Vegas that were interested in working with me to enhance their portfolios. I think we had a very productive shoot as they are both interested in shooting with me again. It's great when photographers, models and MUA (Make Up Artists) can get together and collaborate to bolster each other's career.

Here are a few shots from the session...





Only one more day left at WPPI and then back to New York - I hear that jet lag is not a lot of fun, so I can't wait ;-)
Jeff

WPPI Day 2

So today I did some exploring and some seminars at WPPI. This convention is HUGE! I had the pleasure of attending a fantastic seminar on Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop given by Julieanne Kost and a lighting seminar by Doug Box. The variety and scope of information available here is simply mind blowing. Here are some photos of Bally's and Paris.





Here is a view from just a very small portion of the trade show at WPPI - there are literally hundreds of companies here showing off everything from albums, asset management software, gadgets, gizmos and educational products.


As I was coming back from the trade show I decided to stop and take a couple photos in "Paris" and who stops to strike a pose but Cliff Mautner and Susan Stripling. I had the pleasure of attending Cliff's workshop in November of last year. He is a very inspirational instructor and friend. Susan is an amazing photographer and people person who has just made the switch to Nikon after the D3 came out.



More to come tomorrow with some great seminars and another model shoot scheduled for the afternoon...
Jeff