Pictage Partnercon 2008!

J and I will be presenting at Pictage's Partnercon in LA September 9-10th! We will be giving a joint presentation on brand envy! Other speakers in the conference line-up include Denis Reggie, Robert Evans, Mike Colon, Carlos Baez, Gene Higa, Jules Bianchi and Me Ra Koh, among others.

Photographers: you can only attend this conference if you are a Pictage client. For more information, click here.

WPPI 2009!

As many of you know, the annual WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) convention in Las Vegas is a very special event as it is where I met J in person for the first time in 2006 (he was my account rep at Pictage for the three years prior).

The convention attracts more than 11,000 wedding and portrait photographers from around the globe for a week of workshops, seminars and the biggest tradeshow you've ever seen. Vegas is the perfect setting to network and socialize with all the creative types.

Well, earlier today I received an invitation to lead a master class at next year's convention!! Being a master class instructor is a huge deal and I am beyond honored to be asked (of course I said YES! right away). Participants pay extra to attend a master class in a small group for a 2-hour session.

Photographers: I don't yet know the details of the exact date (sometime between February 14-19, 2009), but I'll be sure to keep you posted of the details if you are interested!

So cool!

F-Stop beyond interview

I had the pleasure of sitting down with the incredible Ron Dawson of Cinematic Studios during WPPI in Las Vegas the other week for as part of his weekly F-Stop Beyond audio interview series (I posted a video he made from the week here). A live, unedited interview was a new experience for me so there are plenty of moments where I mess up what I'm trying to say, repeat something I've already said, and I think just about every response I begin with "um."

I was taken aback when, just a few questions in, he asked if my parents are married (which they aren't) and continued to press questions surrounding my parent's divorce. It's something I don't talk about openly very often because it happened so long ago and my family has moved on made peace with what happened. He also asked about questions I was better prepared to answer... how I got into photography, why weddings, future goals, etc.

It's about 35 minutes long. So if you have a spare half hour, click the green link below and have a listen to episode #30 (you can subscribe to the series on iTunes podcast).

F-Stop Beyond

Spring women's luncheon

Today was our bi-annual gathering of women wedding photographers in Maine that I organize. I think it's really important to network, especially among women, and these luncheons are the perfect time to catch up and swap stories. We dined at the Roma Cafe in Portland which was a great setting to seat our large group (18 women! 24 were supposed to make it, but a few weren't able to come at the last minute) in a private dining room.

Here's a group picture of us all. So, the last time two times we have gotten together, I had the waiter use a point & shoot camera and we always had red eye. So today I brought my professional camera with a wide lens on it, but because of the low available light indoors the people in the back rows aren't tack sharp. You would think a group of photographers could get a good group picture, wouldn't you? ;) (Thanks, Meg, for taking it. I guess we should have gone outside!).


Sam of I Do Click in Farmington surprised me with a birthday/1st anniversary for the group cake! So sweet, Sam! Thank you.



Thanks so much to everyone who was able to carve out the time in our otherwise busy schedules to join us today. I truly appreciate you all. Three hours in, and I think we could have sat there talking for a lot longer! 'Til the fall gathering... have a great wedding season!

Speaking in Charlotte

I'm very happy to be among the blooming trees and blossoming flowers of spring in Charlotte, NC, this weekend as I hear it is snowing today in Maine!

I'm in Charlotte as a faculty member for the Southern Short Course, the oldest photojournalism conference for news photographers (this is the 59th year!). It's my first time attending and I initially thought it was connected with the Northern Short Course (I attended many NSC conferences in my journalism days) and NPPA (National Press Photographers Association, which I have been a member for 10 years) but I have since learned they they are independent of each other. Many people apparently make this mistake, too!

Marc Kawanishi, the conference's CEO, actually found me a few months ago through mutual friends on Facebook of all places. So never underestimate the power of online networking sites! He invited me to come and speak about News Wedding Photographers, my second business, paired with Grover Sanschagrin of SportsShooter.com and Photo Shelter.

I spoke about how popular wedding photojournalism is, the importance of being a wedding photographer (I think many people overlook how important a role we play as historians documenting the beginning a couple's family legacy on their wedding day), how I got started in weddings and why, and later about how to establish your own business. I showed a slideshow of images from members of News Wedding Photographers because I don't think everyone knows about the bold new world of wedding photojournalism and instead, think of how I used to think of wedding photography before I got into it: posed! I'm so thrilled that the journalism approach has trickled into weddings so that the stiff, traditional wedding photographs of our parents' generation will stay in the past.

The feedback I've received so far has been great. And it was especially fun to have former newspaper colleagues and even college classmates in the audience who I haven't seen for a long time.

Tonight, I'm participating in three hours of student portfolio critiques. Tomorrow is a long day of lectures and I'll have a table at a trade show to talk to folks about News Wedding Photographers. And later, I'll be a panelist in a round-table discussion on daily and long-term storytelling projects before another round of portfolio critiques in the evening.

I'll be one tired puppy when I get home on Sunday night, but very excitedly anticipating my studio lease starting on Tuesday!!

Travel recap

What a week! J and I had a wonderful time traveling to photograph the Key West nuptials of Lyndsay and Andrew and exploring the island (we loved Key West so much more than we expected we might). Check back later next week for some of their pictures!

Then we flew to Las Vegas for the annual WPPI convention. Among 11,000 other photographers, I roamed the enormous trade show, talked to folks about Roots, browsed some new products, and listened to some fascinating photographers talk about topics such as their websites, lighting and motivation. It was inspiring, exciting, and exhausting!

After the trade show closed, the nights were spent partying with photographers hosted at parties by Sara France (we had fun with a photo booth and temporary tattoo artist), BluDomain (a spooky house outside town with a tarot card reader, hypnotist and card games), [b]ecker (even tho the a/c was out in his suite from the power outage!), FW6 (such a treat to see these friends- both new and old- just two weeks after the workshop in Texas), Pictage (yummy food and conversation at Tao) and Photo LoveCat (instead of renting a suite or house, Anne rented an entire bar at the Rio for the night! Go Anne!).

You can get a sense of the excitement of the week by checking out the video by Ron Dawson by clicking below.

Ron is a very talented videographer in California who also has created a weekly audio podcast called F-Stop Beyond. I was interviewed for an upcoming podcast where Ron, like Barbara Walters twin, easily guided me to pour out every last bit of my personal and professional life. I'll let you know when that is posted, unless I'm too embarrassed!

Texas- recap

It's been a few days since I've been home from Texas and I am busy catching up on those necessary things like emails, voicemails, and sleep! It's good to be home, but boy, I miss my friends from the workshop.

For those who aren't familiar, the Foundation Workshop is an intense photojournalism experience for wedding photographers (and inspiration for my Roots Workshop!). This year's group included 5 teams of 5 students, each with a team leader, two shooting mentors, a team assistant and a crew of volunteers and support staff. It was a huge group (as you can see from the previous post of our group photo).

It's difficult to put into words what the experience in Texas was like for me. Initially, I was nervous for my presentation on Monday morning so my concentration was making it through that (it was actually quite fun and many of the students told me they got a lot out of it). Then the focus shifted to our individual groups as the students received their assignments. I was a mentor for Brooks Whittington's team, a ridiculously talented wedding photojournalist from Dallas whose pure pj I respect and admire. Allegra and Tem Juarez rounded out the staff for our team. The participants varied in background and ability, but came together to produce an amazing body of work.

This is our fearless leader, Brooks.


And this is me, giving my presentation on Monday (Thanks, Ben).


A shooting exercise at a local carnival with Tina and Bill (Thanks, Joe).


Hard at work compiling our team slideshow for the presentation night (Thanks, Allegra).


Coming up for air!


Aga Agnieszka, from NY, was assigned to cover a dance school. Aga had a frustrating first day, but knocked it out of the park when she gained some confidence to try again on day 2.





Ande Aguilar from Texas was assigned to cover the daily life of a firehouse.



Anil Tohani, from London (!), was assigned to a stable.





Joe Wang, from Maryland, was also assigned to a dance school, this one ballet.





And Kerry Ryan, from Seattle, was assigned to the day in the life of a family.





I am oozing with pride over their accomplishments in such a short amount of time. To be thrown into the documentary world with no prior experience and leave with some killer stories is a testament to the commitment of the staff and students who make this a worthwhile experience. In between all the sweat and tears, friendships have been formed that will last a lifetime! Thanks to Huy and Bill for inviting me to be a part of it!

Hello, from Texas

Having a really great time in Texas! Here's our group picture by Ben Chrisman. This is such a big group compared to last year!


We're busy, busy, so I'll be sure to write more soon about what we've been up to. Hope you're having a great week!

out of town: Texas

I'm heading to Texas on Sunday for a week to teach at the Foundation Workshop just outside Dallas. FW6 is a photojournalism workshop for wedding photographers- much like my Roots Workshop. You may recall I did this last year, too. I can't believe a whole year has already flown by! Wow!

I will be one of three speakers on Monday morning as the workshop kicks off, and the rest of the week I'll be mentoring students while they are out on assignments and at night during the critique session. There's a whole slew of talented folks attending... the workshop has nearly tripled in size! Watch the blog for pictures.

I'll do my best to return phone calls and emails quickly. This workshop packs a lot of work, fun and very little sleep.

Vrai Photography in Chicago

On Thursday, I flew to Chicago to attend the launch party of my dear friend Tina who recently re-branded her photography business from Kristina Carter Photography to Vrai (be sure to check out her new beautiful liveBooks site here). She rented FlatFile Galleries and collaborated with some fantastic vendors to treat industry professionals to a warm evening inside as snow fell outside. Unfortunately, that snow prevented more than half of Tina's guests from coming. But we had a great time regardless!

The girls. (L to R) Friends Rachel and Erin of LaCour flew in from Atlanta to celebrate with Tina.

A shot of the many photographers in attendance including Bob and Dawn Davis, Dave Wittig, Amanda Hein, Kristi and Tasha of Dolce Studios, and Becca Spears of Wirken Photography. Dave Luebke was also there showing Couture Book.


More pictures on Tina's blog here.

After the party, a huge contingency of photographers went to sip raspberry mojitos at Carnivale and then to sing karaoke at Carol's Pub into the wee hours of the morning. I was up for 26 hours on Thursday!

Friday, I awoke to a voicemail from the airline that my flight had be canceled because of the snow. I booked a flight on another airline via DC, only to have my DC connection canceled because of weather in the northeast. My dear friend Margaret (and frequent blog idea material contributer) picked me up at the airport in DC to sleep for a few hours at her place before I hopped an early flight to Boston this morning. After taking a bus to Portland, I finally arrived home after spending more time in airports than in Chicago! Amazingly enough, my bag beat me to the airport in Portland. I was shocked when I stopped in to start the claim process and it was waiting for me!

Congratulations, Tina! I am so proud of you and was so happy to be a part of your big night. Thanks for being such a wonderful host, too, and allowing me to stay in your great home. Can't wait to see you again in Texas later this month!

networking online

Today I reached 300 friends on my Facebook profile. That's nutty! I resisted online networking sites for a while, thinking it was just a space for high school kids to get into trouble. But it's actually been very cool to reconnect with old friends & colleagues and make new ones since I joined a few months ago. If you're a member, let's connect (And if you're a past or current client, I have created an emilie inc. photography group)!

I am also on LinkedIn as well.

Southern Short Course faculty

I have been asked to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to speak to a group of news photographers about my second business, News Wedding Photographers, at the Southern Short Course sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) at the end of March.

I have been a member of NPPA for 11 years and have gone to many of these conferences as an attendee. I am thrilled to participate now as a speaker among industry greats such as Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Rick Loomis, Michael Williamson from the Washington Post, Cathaleen Curtiss from AOL and David Hobby of Strobist.com.

I will conduct an hour and a half session with Grover Sanschagrin from PhotoShelter.com and SportsShooter.com about making extra money (Grover will direct his chat toward selling photos online and I will speak about being a wedding photographer- something many news photographers do on the weekends). I will also take part in eight hours of portfolio reviews on two separate evenings, as well as man a table for News Wedding Photographers in the vendor show. It's going to be a busy few days!

You can check out the full faculty line-up by clicking here and the schedule of events by clicking here.

One Light Workshop

J and I took Zack Arias' super popular One Light Workshop today. Hosted at Melissa Jill's house in a suburb of Phoenix, 12 students had a 12 hour crash course on everything you need to know about using one light in various situations. Half of the day was spent on technical nuts & bolts instruction (I was having college photo class flashbacks!) and the other half was outside implementing those tips. It was a great refresher, and also helpful, fun, and inspiring to spend the day with a handful of wedding and portrait photographers- some of whom I am lucky to already know from other photography workshops and forums.

Zack talking us through how he approaches light at a scene.

Zack is very good at big, expressive gestures.

Have I mentioned yet today how much I love my new 24mm 1.4? Look how sharp Zack is!

Melissa Jill capturing the pocket wizard set-up. All together now: Oooooooh. ;)

This is an example of one of the scenarios he set up. In the background behind the model are palm trees, a parking garage and a busy road. Zack gets down low to shoot up toward the model to eliminate a cluttered background.

First, we took a quick ambient exposure, and then introduced a softbox. Lovely. We repeated this against a wall, among some shrubs, and at night on a park bench changing different variables (light placement, the strength of the light source, the angle of the model, etc).

Chimping

Who's that handsome guy multi-tasking? Making work calls and shooting at the workshop.

A few participants raved about their ShootSac's (Sergio had a sweet Boda Bag I liked, and Zack suggested a ThinkTank shoulder bag). I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to trade in my pj Domke bag for one of these trendy types.

To illustrate one of my favorites points to remember while on a photo assignment, I watched the other workshop participants. Rule 1: Get the shot...

Rule #2: Then make a better shot! Get down low...

Get in close...

And try a different angle...

Earlier at the house, Melissa's miniature schnauzer puppy Dixie settled right in with the workshop participants on the couch.

Foundation Forum friends Sergio (from Tucson) and Gulnara (from NYC).

The Foundation Forum attendees L to R: Sergio, Gulnara, me and Ray (we needed one light on us in this shot!).

Now I'm going to sleep! That was a long day!

Update: This is our group picture!

women's tea

The women wedding photographers group I formed last spring gathered again this morning for tea and sandwiches at Sweet Leaves Teahouse in Brunswick. Our group has grown to nearly 30, and 14 were able to attend today. We come from different backgrounds and styles, but we easily found common ground on plenty of things to chat about- both business and otherwise. I am so thankful for this community and the ability to share and strengthen our industry together.

And while we all might manage to take beautiful pictures, this snapshot (taken by the waitress) doesn't do our formal portrait abilities justice! I giggled when I downloaded this from my point-and-shoot camera to see how terribly aligned we are, and how people's heads are blocked, etc (and my attempt to crouch a little to not block Jennifer resulted in me looking like I have to pee!).

eye sight for insight

I received this excellent thank you gift from liveBooks for speaking at their booth at PPE. What a cool idea, huh? I'm touched. Be sure to check out the Seva Foundation website and see what great things they're up to if you are not familiar with the organization. My pleasure, liveBooks!

(click image to enlarge to read)

NY wrap-up

Wow. What an experience! Many thanks to those of you who came to hear me talk at the liveBooks booth at PPE yesterday! It was so wonderful to share my experiences with you, hear yours and field some questions, too, especially from Susannah Dambmann, Larissa and Ryan of Chace + Smith Photography, Chris and Heather DiPiazza, George Pejoves and Barbara Williams.

I don't have any pictures of me speaking, but this is what the scene looked like (taken w/ my point & shoot- please excuse the poor image quality!). I spoke in front of those chairs on the left side. J has a sweet little video on his blog of the liveBooks booth scene **here**.


We drove home last night (intently listening to the Sox game!!), and are busy catching up on work today. I'm heading up near Bar Harbor tomorrow for another assignment for Ladies' Home Journal.

NY update and Pink Ink blog interview

Having a blast in New York! I have seen so many friends during the last few days- both from the wedding and news world- at the PhotoPlus Expo.

On Wednesday evening we attended a party at Jason Groupp's studio and caught up with Marcus Bell, Becker and Jessica Claire (crazy red eye on the picture of us), LaCour, the Bebb's, Carlos Baez, Ron Dawson, Amber Holritz, Dane Sanders, Phil Mantas, Frank DiMeo, Shari Silk, and Frederick Van.

Thursday was spent walking the trade show with my first boss from the Cape Cod Times, Arnold Miller (now the multimedia editor at NewsDay and Roots Workshop instructor) and photographer Steve Heaslip. I was thrilled to see Ed Kashi, National Geo photog and my photo professor from my study abroad during college nearly 10 years ago. I also caught up with David Jay, Garrett Nudd, Dasha Wright and David Murray.

After a visit with my college roommates Matt and Josh last night, we stopped by the PhotoShelter party before going to 230 5th Avenue- a swanky rooftop lounge (w/ palm trees!) overlooking the Empire State Building. It was a perfectly warm night to spend with Jon Lucich and Corey Miller (J's colleagues from liveBooks), Mark Adams and others. We ended the night at a biker bar in the meat-packing district with Dave Luebke and the Eaton's- craziness. ;)

Today I visited with friends from my newspaper days, and had coffee with a couple whose wedding I am photographing in the Dominican Republic in May. The bride, Machell, is a style editor at Bride's Magazine so I am very much looking forward to the details of their destination wedding.

A quick Q&A with Pink Ink Studios was posted on their blog **here** as part of their Friday "blog mixer" parties. Take a peek at their product line when you have a minute, and not just because they love pink as much as I do. The designers are extremely talented.

I'm now practicing my talk for the liveBooks booth tomorrow. I've had nightmares all week that no one will show, so fingers crossed I can deliver a good talk to those who do! Wish me luck!

PhotoPlus Expo, NYC

We're heading to Boston tomorrow night, and then to NYC through Saturday for the Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center- a huge photography conference and tradeshow. Unlike the wedding photography conference I go to in Las Vegas each winter, this encompasses all areas of photography- fashion, editorial, fine art, weddings, travel, portraiture- you name it! There will be 20,000 photographers and vendors attending.

I am very excited to be speaking at the liveBooks booth at 11:30a on Saturday morning. If you are attending please stop by and introduce yourself!

Here is my talk topic (click image to enlarge):We'll also be attending parties for PhotoShelter, Digital Railroad and GraphiStudio.

I'll have access to email and phone while I am traveling, so don't be afraid to get in touch. Have a great week!

ShootQ

Our dear friends from LaCour in Atlanta have designed an amazing web-based studio management software program for photographers called ShootQ. They have been on the road to educate photographers about their product since June, and will be making a stop at the new studio in Portland on November 14th. Be sure to take a peek at the informative ShootQ website here, and if it looks like something that might benefit you and your business, sign up for the set-up party here (attendance required to purchase the software). I love it, and I'm sure your business will benefit from it, too! ShootQ is also a sponsor of Roots Workshop.

introducing Roots Workshop!

I am so, so, so excited today! After planning since March, I can *finally* announce some big news!!!

Next summer I am hosting a photojournalism workshop for wedding photographers on Cape Cod! I've rented a great house on the water and gathered together a handful of dear friends and talented photographers and photo editors in the industry to teach.

You can learn more by checking out the website which launched today (and yes, that link in the left column is finally active)! If you know any wedding photographers who might benefit from this type of experience, please send 'em my way!

Many thanks to liveBooks for sponsoring the workshop with this great site!