Engage!08 in Celebration, Florida

June 2, 2008 | Filed Under Wedding Photography, Workshops | 1 Comment 

I’ll be out of the office and have only limited access to the phone and email for the next 48 hours or so. I’m in Celebration, Florida for the Engage!08 Wedding Business Symposium. Such an awesome concept, I’m really excited to be a part of it! As Rebecca Grinnals pointed out in an email to me a few months ago when I contacted her about it, wedding photographers are great about networking … with other wedding photographers. The same goes for many of the other vendors in the wedding industry. The goal of Engage!08 is to bring vendors from all different areas together so that we can work together, helping one another grow, exchanging ideas, and making weddings as a whole fabulous! Personally, I’m especially excited about having the chance to meet Liene of Blue Orchid Designs, a luxury wedding and event planning firm based in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona, in person at last! I’ve been reading her blog for some time now, and it is always full of great tips and information!

As industry leader Preston Bailey pointed out, “I believe it is the first of its kind, a business to business consulting for the wedding industry on a global scale. They say it best so I am going to steal their quote: “Quite simply – no one understands the “ins and outs” of this lucrative but constantly changing and super competitive market better than we do.” Which is absolutely the truth; just take a look at who the founder is! Rebecca Grinnals! That woman is a genius!”

From their own email a few weeks ago (I was already signed up by then!):

This is the final opportunity to sign up for engage!08: the wedding industry’s most exclusive and intimate networking, educational and inspirational event. Join some of the most respected names in the luxury wedding business for a jam-packed day on June 3rd, 2008 at the Celebration Hotel in Celebration Florida!

Speakers include Preston Bailey, Marcy Blum, Susan Moynihan, Simon T. Bailey, Harmony Walton, Christine Boulton, Liene Stevens and host Rebecca Grinnals of Engaging Concepts!

Connect with over 60 attendees coming from 8 countries and 13 states including:

Five-star Resorts and Hotels in Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Antigua and throughout Florida.

High-end wedding planners and designers from New York, LA, Chicago, Grand Cayman, St Kitts, Seattle, Arizona, Savannah, Tennessee, Virginia, the Bahamas and throughout Florida.

Award-winning Video and Photojournalists from Texas, Maine, Savannah and throughout Florida.
(That is me! I’m the one from Texas! *grin*)

Expert wedding PR, Marketing, Advertising and Travel executives and more! See all the information on the website and the blog!

It all kicks off with a mix & mingle happy hour in the lobby in about 2 hours, and then a jam-packed full day tomorrow. On Wednesday, I’ll be getting together with some of my local photographer friends, including Robyn of Buttons and Bows Photography, and Jen of Soltren Photography. It is going to be an action packed week - and I’m so excited about it all!

Getting on Track

March 21, 2008 | Filed Under Fun Stuff!, Workshops | 2 Comments 

WPPI was AWESOME!!! I spent last Friday evening & all day Saturday at the Business Institute, where I learned a TON of new things. It was just incredible - I filled up about 1/3rd of my moleskin with notes from all of the Business Institute panels. This could have been a problem, as I only brought one notebook! But it worked out ok in the end. I think I most enjoyed hearing Robert T. Williams speak, which was ironic because I was so tired I almost didn’t return after dinner for his panel. Instead, at least initially, I think I got the most out of it. Interesting how that happens. Added bonus, he is an Aggie! So I made sure to get a photo so that we can send a press release to A&M about us.

On Friday night, I met up with Gustavo, who I knew already through the Fast Track Photographer forums (more on that below), and Danielle from Flickr. After the Friday panel with Jerry Ghionis (fascinating!), I went to introduce myself to the other people sitting on the other side of Gustavo — only to discover that Rachel & Jamie are the Girls With Pearls from right down the road here in Houston! I also met Nicole, who is such a beautiful woman. We went to the lounge afterwards for the special treat of the piano singer and her wee short dress. Good times with new friends! Elaine finally made it to Vegas well after 1am, instead of her scheduled flight time. We stayed up so late on Friday, I decided to stay in on Saturday after the Business Institute ended.

I spent Sunday at Dane Sander’s workshop for Fast Track Photographer. We talked about a lot of really great things, and then we did our pDNA - a personality test to help you learn about what type of person you are, how it ties into what sort of photographer you are, and how to make the most of your talents. It was a wonderful, intimate day with 20 or so other photographers, and I am so grateful for how everyone opened their hearts and minds and shared so much. So very, very moving.

Sunday night I got to meet up with Elizabeth Sullivan, another Houston photographer, and her now fiance, Gary! He proposed while in Vegas at the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel & Casino later in the week. We had fun chatting and catching up - it seems we’ve been too busy to get together back here in Houston, so we took advantage of talking there! Jennifer Wilson came and joined us for a bit. Eventually, we all went our separate ways, and as I was about to head up for the end of the Young Guns panel, I ran into the Tri-Coast guys and finally got to meet Suzy!

I eventually made my way up to the Young Guns session and met up with Regina, and had a whirlwind meet & great with a bunch of people while there. What a rush! Gene Higa was one of the featured Young Guns, and Ann Hamilton was there at the stage when I went to say hello. Regina, Corey Cagle & I headed out and went to the Pixel2Canvas Risque party and then over to the Sara France party. It was so great to catch up with people I already knew, and meet some brand new people - Jesse of Photographik.org, Steve DePino, Rachel & Andrew Niesen, [b]ecker, Tomas Flint, TimCo, Matthew, Anne Ruthmann … I’m sure I’m leaving people off the list, but I can’t think of everyone!

That is a good place to stop for now … more of an update to come!

The McWorkshop Begins!

October 29, 2007 | Filed Under Wedding Photography, Workshops | 2 Comments 

With a fabulous party to begin things right, the Rockstar Wedding Photography: Your Backstage Pass to all Things Weddingy workshop (whew!) has officially begun! Hosted by Corey McNabb, and therefore earning a nickname of McWorkshop, we spent the evening at his fabulous studio in Asheville, NC. The decor is beautiful and reinforces his branding all over the place, down the the bright green appletinis that they were serving! (None for me, as I don’t get along with vodka at all.) Corey’s wife surprised him with the fantastic ice sculpture pictured above. Amber Holritz, being the hottie hottie that she is, demonstrated for me just what it takes to be a Rockstar, with her Rockstar Juiced in hand. Of course the cameras made it out as the evening went on, and Corey is in the photo below taking in the events.

I had a great photo of Amber looking completely confused about the weird black thing that I was holding and pointing at her, but I promised I wouldn’t share it online. Trust me though, it was awesome.

Tri-Coast and Travel

October 23, 2007 | Filed Under Seniors, Travel Notes, Workshops | Leave a Comment 

This past weekend, I attended a workshop with the amazing talent behind Tri-Coast Photography and learned things about my own equipment that I didn’t even think was possible. Getting together with other photographers is always such and AMAZING experience, especially nice when it is a number of photographers that live right in the greater Houston area so we can get together again and again.

I am a big believer in learning all that I can so that I have even more “tools” in my mental toolkit to use when confronted with different photography situations - especially when it comes to lighting. You never know when a venue might be less than ideal to lending itself to the shot you want to get. Knowledge is power, because it gives you options and therefore control.

I left Houston just 12 hours after I got home from the workshop to head up here to New York City. I love New York! I have a newborn shoot today, and then I’ll spend the rest of the day out and about exploring the city. I’ll only be here for 48 hours total, so I’m trying to make the most of it!

I’ll return to Houston on Wednesday, only to leave 20 hours later to assist with shooting a wedding in Asheville, North Carolina with Regina Holder and then attending a workshop hosted by Corey McNabb. The next two weeks are going to a be a whirlwind!

I am receiving phone calls and answering emails via my BlackBerry, so feel free to contact me! For now I have internet access, but I’m trying to keep my online time down because there is too much to see and do out there!

Both of these photos are from the workshop; it was truly a good time!