It seems so strange to say it… My little brother is MARRIED. Yet on a beautiful day back in February, our family’s came together and at the end of the day, they were married!
Joseph and Alexandra have been friends (and romantically interested) since they were 7 or 8 years old. It may sound crazy, but these two literally grew up in love.
11 years later, they were finally in a position where they could make it official between God and man… And I got to capture it all
Here’s highlight reel
Shooting my Brother’s wedding was a really interesting experience for me as a photographer… I wanted to be there for him as a groomsman, to experience the joy’s of the day AND I wanted to be sure to capture it all as well as possible.
My wonderful assistants for the day really helped make that happen. Say hello to my darling wife Danielle, and her sister’s boyfriend (up and coming photographer) Michael Flores:
The Wedding was held at the restaurant and country inn my family has owned here in Central Florida for nearly 80 years; The Chalet Suzanne.
I’m REALLY excited to be living close enough to shoot here more often, it truly is one of the best wedding and event venues in the Orlando / Tampa area.
Their wedding was at 1:00PM so we were graced with BEAUTIFUL morning light as the girls got ready…
Snacks were eaten:
It truly was a family affair… Here, two girls from each of our families help get each other ready
The Bride was the first one ready for the ceremony; she and I slipped away from the crowds to take a couple quick portraits and so she could catch her breath before walking down the aisle.
(She was quite happy ) One last photo before we were off to become siblings-in-law
Ahh yes, so fun! But then I was off to my parent’s home just in time to catch a shot of my little brother going over his vows:
And then it was time!
Being in the wedding party gave me the coolest perspective to capture the day.
See?!
The Maid of Honor, and all the Bride’s Sisters:
My Mom & Dad
Time for the rings:
Then a special kiss
And a high five between Father and Son
As everyone filed out, I made my way around the corner to see this preciously private sight.
After a few minutes alone, the couple were announced and a beautiful little reception ensued:
There was great rejoicing:
And Toasts!
And then a family portrait (or 20):
There are SO many more I’d love to share, but this post already has a plethora more photos than I’d normally post; so I’m going to let it draw to a close.
I’m so, so blessed to be able to share these with you, and to be able to share my gifts with my family… I hope that someday I’m able to do the same for YOUR family, dear reader.
May your day be Blessed!
P.S. Leave me a comment so I know you stopped by? Would love to know which photo was your favorite!
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
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