Here’s What Happened In Vegas…

Over the years, I’ve been asked if I’d be at WPPI a multitude of times.
Yet, somehow I’ve NEVER been able to make it. There’s always been
SOMETHING going on during the event so I’ve had to skip!!

This year however, everything we’d planned for the week of WPPI
was able to easily be moved… So at the very last minute; I went!

Arriving Saturday, I was able to hook up with a bunch of old friends
from my days in Orange County… Folks like the venerable Becker,
the adorable Keats, and the rockin’ awesome Jeff Norwood.

I also made some awesome NEW friends like Jen Otchy, and finally
connected with internet buddies like Aric Becker…

All in all, Saturday was rockin’… But then Sunday began.

It all began with a little lighting workshop Lan & Vu Bui put on.
They sold it out almost instantly and had a great group of folks
to teach. Sadly though, two of their models failed to show at the
last minute and my dear friends Matt & Stevi offered to step up
(You may remember them from our time in NYC, they’re the best!)

Here’s a few shots from the workshop:

Another friend from our last NYC trip was there as well… Feuza Reis!!

Another one of my very favorite people was there as well;
Mike Larson and I ended up rooming together for the week.

He’s a TRUE rockstar of the industry, and has some of the greatest
character of any man I’ve ever met… If you’re a photographer, or
even just a fan of photography, I encourage you to spend some time
getting to know Mike… It’ll be well worth your while.

That’s his new Canon 1D MkIV — I spent the week playing with it and I’m in LOVE.

The little guy above is the soon-to-be child prodigy of Grace Liu Anderson’s
(He’s really an AWESOME little munchkin!)

Sunday night was a private little Pictage get together at the Mandalay Bay
which soon was carried away by the Go|Bee Party… I made a few new friends
there as well (who promptly shoved me into a photo booth)

The following morning (Monday) I made the rounds of the trade show
(several times) finally finding myself at the Bui Brothers/ Pictage/ Dane Sanders’
“New Media Lounge” complete with comfy couches, Wi-Fi and the all important
iPhone chargers.

Here’s a quick shot of Lan Bui with the 1D MkIV and 85mm F1.2L MkII

As the day drew to a close I started running around like a crazy person
getting ready for Mike Larson’s incredible speech on “Character Marketing”.

Did I mention that this is Vegas, and the conference center is about a mile
from the hotel rooms? Well, it is… And all in the same casino!

Mike’s speech was a great success, despite technical difficulties that would
certainly have thrown off a less passionate speaker.

More shots from the Canon 1D MkIV:

Here, Mike demonstrates his best Jedi mind trick on my dear
friend Ginny Corbett:

Mike’s workshop was an overwhelming success, people walked
away each feeling more inspired to lean on their character as
the foundation of their business… Each inspired.

Many thanks to Mike, and to Kiss Wedding Books for making the workshop
happen… I was honored to be a part of it!

Tuesday dawned a new day… With BIG plans!!
First off was a morning session with legendary wedding guru Grace Ormonde.
She was really working the audience; helping them understand the best ways
to get their work published in magazines like hers.

Lawrence from ToFurious had invited Mike down to do one of his famous
“camera tosses” to record the event. (Mike and I actually MET because of
a camera toss in Times Square a few years ago, but that’s a different story
for a different time

Here’s Mike’s shot:

Pretty cool, eh?!

Next up, we had to run over to the New Media Lounge for Mike
to hop on “AskDane” with Dane Sanders…

Along the way we bumped into Becker and I finally got to subject
him to what I can only call “Beckering” — He’s famous for shooting
hundreds of photos of subjects in a single pose, largely to get them
comfortable, and partly to ensure he’s captured the PERFECT moment.

But, I had the 1D MkIV in my hands which meant I could fire off
10 frames a second for a full minute or so… I only took fourty or fifty
pictures, but darnit, I still feel like I “Beckered” him good

Then, it was off to the ShootQ booth for another quick speech.
(It was actually really fun chasing after Mike all afternoon, I got
to capture all kinds of things

Next on our list was a sprint over to the OTHER tradeshow building
for Mike’s speech at the Pictage Booth… Where my dear old xanga friends
Bob & Dawn Davis were just finishing up:

Jim Collins, the CEO of pictage is the one in focus… That man is a rockstar

Simon from pictage interviewed Mike all about his thoughts
on Character Marketing, etc. He was quick to point out that one
of Mike’s photos hung above us… Which was pretty darn cool

And then in a blur, we were off to our next stop…
Dane Sanders‘ Platform Session… With nearly a thousand other people
crowded into the room!!

Mike, Jesh De Rox, and I ran to the front row right as things
were getting started… Here are a few photos:

You’ve got to see Mike’s pictures from this… They’re awesome!
He doesn’t have them up on his blog yet, but I’m sure they will be soon

That evening was a rapid fire series of rockin’ parties…
First off was Dane’s after party at the Centrifuge Lounge, followed
by the biggest party of the week… Pictage’s VIP Event at Studio 54.

Both Kiss Wedding Books, and ShootQ sponsored shows during
the party, and when my friends Kevin Swan & Shaun Austin from
Kiss asked if we’d shoot their special event, there was no way we
could say no!

So, here are a few shots from that:

And here’s a rockin’ awesome video Lan & Vu Bui put together:

After the Pictage party, a group of us made a dash to the Mandalay Bay for
Becker’s [b]School party… Which ended up being ANOTHER awesome event

No pictures though, I left my camera in the room, that thing gets heavy fast!

Wednesday morning, I was scheduled to fly out at 8:00AM but I skipped
my flight to attend the first ever “Unite” meeting at a WPPI.

Unite is an incredible group of Christian Photographers, led by Mike Larson &
David Jay as well as many other photographers around the country.

We worshipped, prayed, and shared for about 2 hours… And my only wish, is
that it had gone on for 10 times as long… It truly was an immense blessing
(and well worth the cost of booking another flight, haha).

David Jay and Mike asked if I’d shoot a few photos to capture the event;
they’re attached below:

And since that’s about all the vertical ones I took, let me find a few more
landscape style

There are so many more photographs to post, and so many other friends to mention;
but I must let this post end somewhere!

Many thanks to each of you who made the week so wonderful…
I can’t wait until the next time we meet, and I am truly blessed by each of you.

As always, I am here to serve.

P.S. If you were there, would you do me a favor and leave a comment with
YOUR favorite moment from WPPI 2010?

I’d love to hear from you!
(Even if you weren’t there

Blast From the Past…

If you’re a photographer, then I’m certain you can understand this story.
You go out; take amazing photos just for fun; edit a few, and then remember
another shoot you’ve got to get uploaded for a client.

You focus on your clients needs; and the next thing you know, it’s been
nearly a YEAR and your “fun” photos have yet to make it online.

Well, a few nights ago I decided “Enough is enough!” and decided to edit
ALL my photos from Sun-N-Fun fly-in, 2009.

So, here are a few of my favorites

Sean D. Tucker…

Sean is my favorite aerobatic pilot to watch… To shoot…
AND he’s a great guy to get to know as well.

The best part of Sun-N-Fun ‘09 for me though, was getting
to share it with my Mom, Sister, Brother, and the woman who
was soon to become my Bride.

We had SO much fun.
(and gained the dirtiest feet I’ve EVER seen)

We ended up having quite the contest to see who’s were
the grossest… Still not sure who won that one for sure

Becca, Nelle, and Myself

My rockin’ little bro and my Mother with a turkey leg.
(Sorry Mom)

James (my brother) has grown up SO much in the past year!
It’s wild just looking at these.

As the night grew later, the night airshow geared up.
Here’s one of the many shots I was able to capture
as the Aero Shell team prepared for their amazing routine.

Each year around Sun-N-Fun time, my family’s restaurant
Chalet Suzanne throws an epic Aviator’s BBQ… It’s always a
MUST attend event in my world; and hundreds of pilots from
around the world usually show up.

So, here’s a few from that event as well

SO much fun!!
There was one small damper on the festivities of the week though;
one of our over night guests made a mistake on their climb out and
ended up bending his airplane.

Both he, and his passenger were fine; but the accident caused a few
fires that took some work to put out.

Truly amazing that they all walked away… God is good!

And that’s it for me!
I’ve got a plethora of other events to shoot, but this’ll have to
do for now

Next up?
WPPI 2010 Recap, a few weddings, a few photo shoots, and
an epic little road trip across the US with my Bride

Talk Soon!!

P.S. Which was your favorite photo? I hope this post has
inspired you to go finish something you love to do!

Just For Fun…

So, after that amazing wedding in Santa Barbara (complete with
two different receptions, partying ’til the wee hours, and WAY too
much fun).

The Bride, Groom, my assistants and I all met up late the next
afternoon before they took of for their Hawaiian honeymoon.
We’d planned a special “day after session” in the hills of
Santa Barbara… We spent DAYS researching locations and
finally happened upon the PERFECT place.

I’m sure you’ll agree when you see the pictures
Ready?

Beautiful, isn’t it?!
The colors are just so bold, and that sky… Mmmmm gorgeous!

As the afternoon light began to wane; we kept moving, constantly
seeking the last perfect strands of California Sunset.

/\ I almost feel like this one could be in Africa /\

Mmmmm that’s the light I love!!
Here’s some more:

Seriously some of my favorite photographs EVER.
You should have seen me dancing while we captured them!

See what I mean about the location?!
It’s just oh so beautiful… One of my new favorite secrets

The one above, and the next one are just a beautiful example of the light in
Santa Barbara… I love it oh so much!! Are you getting that yet?

Oh, and btw… No editing needed on any of the above photos; barely
tweaked the contrast; other than that they’re pretty much straight out
of the camera.

This next one’s just a little bit WIDER to show you a little more of the
location… I love the light reflecting off the grass

Of course, the groom WAS there, he didn’t dress up though; so
he was enlisted for transportation

A quick “fine art” piece to put on your wall…
The stunning sunset light matched with the Winter colors in Santa Barbara.
Wonderful.

Now for a quick explanation… This was day four of shooting.
And it was directly following 15+ hours on their wedding day.
When I shoot, I’m up and down a LOT… So it’s like 15 hours of
squats and pushups…

Seeing the gorgeous beach below us was wonderful; but seeing
the hundred disjointed steps to get there was SCARY!

We made it down though; even if it took a little while

Sooo wonderful; it was a clear day so you could easily see
the channel islands in the background.

After a little while; Brian couldn’t stay away from his new Bride
any longer… And we were all glad to see it

But THEN, he decided he really WAS being left out a little too much

Cute together, aren’t they?

We had such an amazing time…
Their wedding weekend is definitely one for the record books!!

I’ve got 15 more events to blog; plus our nearly 10,000 mile roadtrip!
This past weekend, my little brother got married… Can’t wait to share
THOSE photos, especially

So, what do you think? Like these photos? Enjoy the blog?
Tell me what you think, I LOVE hearing from you!

P.S. Is there anything I can be praying for you about?

One of My Favorite Places in the World…

I love California… Orange County, San Francisco, Yosemite, EVERYWHERE.
Such an amazing State.

It’s one of the only places in the world I just naturally feel AT HOME.
And yet, each time I go back; I find some new gem, some new cherry on top
of the heaping scoop of awesome that California IS.

This time, it was Santa Barbara… While it wasn’t my first time IN SB
by any means; it sure felt a lot different this time. Maybe it was because
my darling wife was with me, maybe it was because I was shooting another
amazing couple’s wedding…

Who can be sure?!

All I know is that I *love* Santa Barbara (and the rest of the Central Coast,
for that matter)…. Here’s a little taste of WHY:

Beautiful light, isn’t it?!
Mmmmm.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself again (nasty habit, that).

Brian And Mandee’s Wedding Adventure….

I *love* these people.
When they first announced their engagement, I knew I’d be getting a call
soon… And a great one at that

See, I’ve shot three different weddings with this couple in them; from the
first one a few years ago; when they’d just started dating, to the next (Brian’s
sisters) last year where I took the liberty of shooting a few “pre-engagement”
photos… Like this one:

Cute, aren’t they?!

Well, when the call came I started planning our trip cross-country.
Nelle and I decided to make a crazy road trip of it; with no real plans
as to where we’d go, how long we’d be gone, or where we’d even end
up in the end!!

I’ve got about 15 posts worth of photos from our trip (and endless
adventures to share) but I’ll save that for another day.

We were hired to shoot Brian & Mandee’s entire Wedding Adventure;
four VERY full days of fun. In all, we shot WELL over 5,000 images

So, what follows are just a few to give you a little taste of their love,
and of my love for California

Thursday night began with a delicious Italian meal:

Followed by a rousing game of BROOMBALL:

The Bride, Mandee thought it’d be fun to be the best player out
there… ’till she nosedived into the ice about halfway through the game:

Of course, she kept playing and ended up having a TON more fun.
(I love Bride’s with a little adventure in ‘em :))

Friday, we shot the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner… Lots of great details:

And then it was the Wedding Day

Isn’t her bouquet gorgeous?

As for HER, she’s ALWAYS one of the most radiant people
I know; her Wedding day simply increased the brightness

Time for a little boutoniere help.

Mom wants a picture too

Caught in the act!

A Little “Epic” Action

And hey, why not a picture of ME showing them that picture?



(Many thanks to my assistant for the day Carlos Chavez for shooting that one :))

Ahh soooo many fun portraits to share from this wedding!
I’m going to try to limit the number; but here are a few more

/\ That one is one of my new all time favorites /\

And another favorite:

And then; it was time for a wardrobe change… Mandee planned two
separate dresses, receptions, and more

Great times were had by all

The “Big” Portraits aren’t something I post very often; but here are a couple
of my favorites from this group:

And Another:




This one was their idea; not mine… Haha.

I always encourage my Bride’s and Groom’s to take a few minutes
to get away… To recapture themselves; close their eyes…
And just BREATHE on their wedding day.



I make EVERYONE leave them alone… Even if it’s just five minutes.
A bit of time to relax, and be alone is just SO lovely

Cute, aren’t they?

I have a bajillion more photos; I’m going to put just a few more
in this post and then possibly set up the rest for a future one

As we were walking down the street; I spotted this tiny little oasis
off the sidewalk. Brian had to carry his bride across the shrubbery;
but we got the shot!

I really DO get to shoot the most beautiful Brides

SO many more photos I *could* post; but I’ll leave you with their
wonderful ceremony… This is my second in this Church, and I just
LOVE the wood

Now,  as you might have seen by the new logo; I’m *finally*
re-launching myself as a photographer. I’ll be explaining all
of that sometime soon.

Can’t wait to share it all with you!

So tell me; which photo is your favorite?
I’d love to have your feedback

Never Do Too Much At Once….

When we were making our wedding plans, it was SUCH a flurry of decisions.
We wanted a short engagement, but we weren’t expecting to end up with just
3 months!!

Everything we’d planned suddenly was pushed forward. We’d look at wedding
magazines and they kept insisting that the things we were just considering should
have been done 18 months out… It was nuts!

But, we got it all together; primarily by deciding to separate our wedding ceremony,
and our reception; by a week.

See, we REALLY wanted to enjoy them both, but we knew that if we tried to
do too much on the day of, all we’d want to do was get away to the honeymoon!
So we split them up… And boy-oh-boy are we glad we did

I’ll blog images from our wedding as soon as I’m able, but for now; let me share
a few from our fabulous celebration.

Here’s Riley:

Just as my friend Matthew Saville was flown in to photograph our
wedding, Riley Spiller flew in for the Celebration.

It’s really quite special… See, Matt taught me how to take perfect
photos TECHNICALLY; Riley taught me how to capture moments
in the fashion world, and then I convinced both of them to come
capture OUR moments

We had a blast

Nelle and I arrived from our honeymoon, directly into the waiting party.
It was oh so exciting… Just ask Nelle!

The best part of the Celebration (for me) though, was that I actually
got to shoot a LOT of it.

Many of the next photos are mine

There were many fantastic conversations:

We also had simply the BEST helpers in the world:

The Matron of our family (My Grandmother, Vita Hinshaw)
was looking lovely as always:

If you’re wondering just what the heck that pink is in the background;
it’s one of the main buildings of the Chalet Suzanne…  Founded by my
Great-Grandmother in 1931, it’s where I was born and raised.

Some of these photos were taken by my new sister-in-law’s boyfriend
Michael Flores; he’s a real up and comer, and has been growing by
leaps and bounds under my tutelage.

Above is my little brother James… One of my favorite people in the world.
(He is SO friggin’ cool)

A few more of Nelle and I…

Laughing at something… Or someone

As it grew later, sunlight and perfect diffusion gave way to flashes
and moonlight… Oh, and the party began

Just in from Scotland, where he’s been studying for his Doctorate;
here’s Robert… My brother-in-law, and his wife Katie… They were cutting it up!

In attempting to do something a bit different; we gave
away the flowers as favors… And apparently it went quite well!
We heard lots of reports from folks that said they lasted over a month

One more thing we did to be a bit different…
Here comes the toss!!

I told you it was a bit different

We’d assembled 12 roses… 6 loose, and 6 together.
That way, MORE WINNERS

Amazingly (and unplanned) Alexandra my little brother Joseph’s
(then) girlfriend caught them… And as of LAST NIGHT, they’re
engaged as well!!

And THEN the party really got moving

Taking a breather with my older sis…

LOTS of old friends came to join in the fun…
Here’s a rare moment that Cody wasn’t dancing like a madman:

Two of my favorite people of all time… Riley and Emily.

And here’s the PERFECT picture that explains the three
way relationship between Nelle, myself, and her darling sister Emilie.
These girls are pretty much the uber-awesome; I’m so blessed to have them in my life.

My awesome sisters…

And the new sis, once again:

All in all, an amazing night… With loads of incredible moments:

My Dad Rocks

Many thanks to each of you that read this far; many, MANY thanks
once again to all of you who made this possible.

I’m so in love with ALL of you, and so HONORED to have you in my life.
I can’t wait to share each of our next chapters

Saturday, my darling wife and I are heading off for another adventure…
This time, a cross country road trip to California to capture another couple’s
perfect wedding day.

Keep us in your prayers; and let us know if we can do
anything to bless your life!