I have other things I need to write about but I want to get this out before I finally move to older posts. Aaron and I agreed to go to the Digital Wedding Forum Convention in January. It was something new for both of us, me especially since I had only been a member of DWF for a month. We went in with moderate expectations and were pleasantly surprised.

The speakers were amazing. It was inspiring and invigorating to listen to the likes of Kevin Kubota, Cliff Mautner, Amy Deputy and Jerry Ghionis. Each brought their unique perspective on the wedding photography business but each maintained the common goal to help all of us reach no heights in our business. I don't think I line up with any one style of business each presented but I'll take from them each something that will help my business grow.

One of the most enjoyable parts of going to a convention was all the new friends and colleagues I met at the convention. Truly, it was a terrific experience to connect and talk with other wedding photographers from all over the globe. Below are just a few of the photographers I had the pleasure of meeting. You should give their websites a visit!

• Aly Medina of of la Luz Photography


• Hillary Craft of ARC Imagery


• Dana Harris of Dana Harris Photography


• LeAnn Overbeek of Studio 64 Photography


• Jacobo of Jacobo Pictures


• Brandy Travers of Modern Toile


• Danny of r+k events


• Kim Shokouhi of Kim Shokouhi Photography


• Charlotte Geary of Charlotte Geary Photography


• Amie Otto of Aune Otto Photography


• Allison Britton of Allison Britton Photography


• Melissa Welsh of Melissa Welsh Photography


• Don Mears of Don Mears Photography


• Lynn Michelle Renken of Lynn Michelle Renken Photography


• Paige Buchbinder of Pictures by Paige


• Brian Hargreaves of BH Photography


• Ivanette Hargreaves of BH Photography


• Brian Tao of Luxography

It was a tiring experience with late nights and even earlier mornings. But that all goes with attending any kind of convention and I wasn't going to let myself down not participating as much as I could.

Yup, that's right. I'm nuts. I must be absolutely insane to be doing another picture a day. Didn't I learn my lesson the first time?

Apparently not.

This time however I have one rule and one guideline.

The rule: All pictures must be taken with my new 50mm f/1.4 lens.

The guideline: Focus on taking portraits. Making this a rule would be ridiculous so I'll try to take more portraits but I'm not about to try a portrait a day like Bill Wadman.

So, those are the rules. We'll see how it goes. Here are a few of the shots so far:

The last wedding of 2009 for Aaron and I was an immense pleasure. Aric and Jen are lawyers in D.C. had planned a small but intimate wedding for themselves. First we started at St. Matthew's Cathedral which is unassuming from the outside is exactly the opposite once you enter. Stunning to put it mildly.



Next, the couple had their guests join them for dinner at Charlie Palmer's which is right beside the U.S. Capitol. Besides superb food, Charlie Palmer's also allows it's guests roof access which has an amazing view of the Capitol and the National Mall. This allowed me to create this panorama.

I first met Erin when signing up for my gym membership at American Family Fitness. Erin was one of those people who after meeting I knew I would love to photograph. Despite wanting to take their picture, I don't usually don't have the courage to ask a stranger to take their portrait let alone if that person even wants to have their picture taken. It's the age old dating problem, balancing the fear of rejection over the possibility of success. Thankfully I have courage to spare (not really) so about a year after our first meeting, I asked Erin if she would be interested in having her portrait taken.

To my relief, she said yes, in fact she was eager about the idea. Now, I always add that I'm not a talent scount, I can't make anyone a super model. I'm just asking for a little bit of time to take some pictures which we both will be happy with. That's it. Erin understood that and so we had a great shoot together.

Part of asking (relative) strangers to take their portrait is to develop my skills in interacting with nonmodels. Models are great and once you've worked with a model, you understand that modeling is indeed a skill not just looking pretty. But not every situation you find yourself in will allow you to rely on a models expertise. So while you may lose that modeling acumen, you gain genuine interaction between photographer and client. It's something every photographer can use more of.

It was great to work with Erin and I'm sure we'll work together again in the future.

Much has been written about The Highline project in New York City. All I know is that I love it. Simple yet complex, it's a great place to just take a stroll, do some unique sightseeing and just have a relaxing time in the city that never sleeps. If I lived in NYC, I'd be there all the time.