Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania…

In October, Nelle and I decided to celebrate our “Monthaversary” by taking
off on a whirlwind tour… First, to San Antonio, Texas for the Pat O’Bryan’s
venerable “Unseminar 7″ — I got to speak on an area of marketing that I’ve
never shared before and had an absolute BLAST doing so.

The attendees at Unseminar are always my favorite; and the other speakers
are some of my very best friends in the industry… Here’s a couple shots
from our time in Texas:

Dr. Joe Vitale & Dr. Pat O’Bryan

Just Plain Ol’ Pat:

I LOVE his hat… Been dying to pick up a nice Panama Fedora for a while.

Joe, ripping it up on the harmonica during one of the many after parties…

We departed late on Monday after an amazing stay at Rodney’s
B&B cabin’s up in the Texas Mountains just outside of Wimberly.
*You may remember Rodney’s Wedding from earlier this year…

Flying into NYC is always such an adventure… Made a bit more so,
by being the only Angels fan on the plane, while they’re in the final
game of the playoffs vs. the Yankees

I was upset… They were cheering… It was fun.

My Bride in The Big City…

(Doesn’t she look just smashing??)
This was Nelle’s first time in the NYC, we had a BLAST!!
We spent almost a week, exploring the city, hanging out with
new and old friends; and ironically enough, sitting on our butts.

(Let me explain)

That’s Dane Sanders, there on the left. He’s a friend of mine from
Southern California, a Pastor, and an incredible photographer.

A few months earlier, he’d asked if I’d be interested in coming up to
check out his workshop which the esteemed Ira Lippke was hosting in
his small Manhattan studio. Of course, we said yes; and here we were!

If you’re an up and coming photographer (or even an established one)
I can’t encourage you enough to go and check out Dane’s “Fast Track
Roadshow Workshop” series. It’s not so much about photography,
as it is about building a real business; and building YOURSELF
to be ready to move forward.

We spent two days there, sitting on the floor (did I mention that it was
a SMALL studio?;)) listening intently.

Of course; because there was a group of photographers gathered together,
we simply HAD to have a photo shoot… T’was fun

And yes, that is Nelle in the foreground
She makes a killer, interim model… No matter how long you have to wait
for the “regular” models to arrive

Ahhh, there they are:

Such a gorgeous couple

Dane did a great job of pointing out little ways each of us could excel…
Everyone was constantly growing in unexpected ways.

After the workshop, it was back to see our wonderful new friends,
and hosts for our New York stay Jason, Christy, and Max…

Christy and Max

They’re pretty much the awesome… Thanks again!!

Later in the week, we made some time to stop by Brooklynn Brewery
for their weekly open house… “Drink Up Buttercup” took the stage first:

Followed by some epic strings, accordians, and vocals from the next band:

Nelle and I had made the trip to Brooklyn, but we weren’t alone…
Our new friends (introduced to us by another old friend from the xanga
world, Kenny Kim) were an amazing couple Matt & Stevi Savage.

They’re DEFINITELY some of our new favorite people.


Here’s the girls:

And we fellows…
(In a sudden “rare” fit of tomfoolery we swapped hats):

He has a MONDO sized noggin’

Like I said… Tomfoolery is rare in our clan…
Stevi wearing ALL the hats, on the Subway back to Manhattan:

Back on the Island, the rain was coming down more and more…
So we decided to hoof it to Times Square, of course

On The Way:

And then, we were there

(Photo by Matt Savage)

Let me tell you, Times Square should ONLY be seen in the rain,
after midnight, on a weeknight… Hardly any people were out; it
was cold, it was beautiful… And the reflections were to DIE for.

Matt & Stevi

All in all, it was an AMAZING trip to the City…
We took off the next afternoon for Jersey, and then across the border into
Pennsylvania… But, this post has gone on long enough!!

Besides, there are only so many pictures you guys can stand looking at, I’m sure.

So, thanks for stopping by… Oh, and which photo was your favorite??

I still need to share our wedding, celebration, more travels, and gosh…
Even MORE photos with y’all… I’ll get to it asap

Long Overdue…

But it’ll have to wait a bit longer
See, I have a surprise for those of you who only know me through my blogging…

Something tells me it’ll be worth the wait though
Oh, and I’m going to make up for it in the mean time!

I’ve missed writing so, so, so much.
This past year has been such a whirlwind, there is MUCH I need to share,
so many epiphanies, so much joy, so much challenge. You’re all going to
dig it, I’m pretty darn sure

But let me just do what I do best… Share a little bit of true beauty with you

Rodney & Melodie (Are Amazing)….

Oh, did I forget to mention?
NORMALLY, Rodney’s not a videographer… NORMALLY he’s a photographer
and lighting expert. Basically? He’s the MAN

See his work here:
http://RodneyBursiel.com

Rodney asked me to shoot he and his beautiful Bride’s private wedding on their
property in Wimberly, TX. I had a truly incredible time photographing and spending
time with friends… Oh, and I kind of fell in love with the area too

Let’s get started though, I think you deserve to see some pictures

Hard at Work…

Did I mention Rodney was a photographer?
Did I also mention that he lives in the middle of no where, Texas?
OF COURSE he has his own giant photo printer, haha… He was working
hard and fast, just hours before the ceremony to print off some of the engagement
photos I’d taken of ‘em

The Bride However?

Had The RIGHT Idea

Sometimes, if you’re crazy enough to hire me to shoot your wedding,
I’ll bring champagne so you never have to be nervous about anything

Pretty soon though, she was getting primped as could be

The make up artist was extraordinary, and fun too!

(Her name is Carol Wagener if you’re looking for a MUA in the East TX area)

I just love the dynamics of this one

SO Cute!!

And this? This just SMITES me with it’s ’70s style awesomeness

The Groom was off getting ready on his own; but I popped over to
quickly to snap a photo of the uber sweet boutonnieres.

Their ride arrived in style

Joe Vitale (aka “Mr. Fire”) is a dear friend who was oh so kind
as to offer the car and his time to the happy couple

I love this next one… Melodie’s sweet son walked her down the aisle
and their expressions are absolutely PERFECT to me

Rodney cleans up pretty well too

Married!

Snagged a fun one of the little guy’s devious personality

Now onto the portraits…
Leave it to a fellow photographer to have a vintage sofa in a field of
wildflowers, just STEPS from the cedar grove they held their wedding in…


Getting Ready…

Talk about PERFECT!!

I simply adore this

Soon though, our time was up… In 15 minutes I’d shot nearly 300 images though
so I figured that was okay

We hopped in the Rolls with Joe and hit the road to the reception site.

They didn’t stop being cute though

“Mr. Fire” was having fun too

We made it!
(But let me tell you, Off-Roading in a Rolls Royce Phantom IS possible, haha)

As we arrived, an incredible thunderstorm was just beginning.
Many of the next shots were back lit by lightning, WAY cool

Beautiful details were abundant… The Guest Book for instance:

Her Flowers:

Even the chandeliers in the open pavilion.

Just to remind you this is Texas

(GREAT Fajitas were served)

A First Dance:

And a special moment between Mother and her son.

See the clouds in the background?!
LIGHTNING Packed

After the (Awesome) party, they were about to depart
when everyone realized they hadn’t set up a place to pelt them with
bird seed. I made the slight mistake of saying they should do it right
then, right there… While standing a bit too close to them

We had FUN

And then it was over… After 8 amazing days in Texas, I flew home
to Florida and into an even better time!!

But I’ll tell you more about that later

This post really is LONG overdue… And yet, I can’t even take the time to write about it too much now as it is.

BUT, if you’ve been wondering what I’ve been up to for the last 8 months or so… Or if you just want to know just what the heck it is I do for a living, you should see my new site… It goes live on Tuesday!

www.CheatersGuidetoMarketing.com