Frank DiMeo Rocks!

I must admit that over the last few years I have been fortunate to develop such an awesome group of peers I can also call my friends. On the plane ride back from Vegas, I was thinking about when Elizabeth and I were planning our wedding and that I would have given anything to know even one of the talented photographers I met out at WPPI.

While Frank wasn't in Vegas, he is one of those people I am lucky to call my friend. He was nice enough to refer me to Laura and Joel for their engagement shoot last Saturday. Thanks man, you rock. Make sure to check out his tasty new blog, maybe I'll have one someday too. ;)

Laura and Joel are getting married in Kansas City this coming summer, but really wanted some fun shots of them enjoying the city they love so much. It was early, and pretty cold, but we rallied. :)

Click here for the slideshow!

Monsta' post!

Hey there! OK - gonna apologize in advance for the HUGE post. :)

I'm back from Vegas, along with the 10,000 other photographers who descended upon Sin City for a week of fun, networking and, well, lots of partying. This was my second trip out there for WPPI, and it did not disappoint. Last year I found most of the photographers were from the western part of the country, but this year the east coast represented!

Here's a few fun shots from my trip I wanted to share with my friends. I wish I had taken a picture with every person I met for the first time and those I've known for years, but that would just make me look like a dork. OK - a bigger dork. :)


Clockwise from me, Mary Beth Tyson, Aimee Cooper, TimmyCo, Amy Martin, and my roomie Colin Michael.




Always entertaining Fred Egan



Rockstar road-trip producers on a layover for WPPI - Amber Holritz and Corey McNabb. They'll be hitting NYC in a few weeks, make sure NOT to miss it!




Always "ON" John Griffin. :)



Jonathan Rubin, and Roberto Falck



Add the fabulous Dasha Wright, and Phil Mantas



The lovely Shannon Sewell and Kathy Carlisle



...a little fun with Punam Bean and Julia Newman



Shannon returning while texting with her warm cup of foam. :)



Saving the best for last. The one the only - B



Last and never least my good friend Regis Chen.




Fun stuff aside, I also was fortunate to be asked by the GraphiStudio team to speak at their booth during the convention. Being my first speaking gig at a tradeshow I must admit I was super nervous. I have newfound respect for those friends of mine who get up in front of 200+ crowds on regular basis with such ease. I want to thank my friends for coming to support me, it meant more than you can imagine to see your friendly faces. Here's a few pics....

These taken by Kim Craven from Brian Dorsey Studios. Thanks Kim - You rock!







Big time thanks to my friend Scarlett for grabbing these shots of me too!




This will also be one of my last posts on this blog! :( As I approach my 300th post, it's time to say goodbye. I've been working with Ross at Flosites and am so excited at the progress he's made. He's worked super hard on this one and I'll be posting some shots from a shoot I did last week out at the Valley of Fire.

Here's one Riley grabbed of me shooting - thanks to Aimee and Riley for all your help!!

Meet me in Vegas!

I am headed out Vegas and it will be my longest stay in Sin City. While I love the bright lights and energy Vegas has to offer, 3 days there is usually my max. This time I'll be there for 6 days -- yikes!



Every year thousands of photographers descend upon Nevada's gem for the WPPI tradeshow and convention. This will be my second trip to WPPI, but my first time speaking. I was honored to be asked by the folks at Graphi Studio to speak at their booth during the show. I haven't done 'public speaking' for quite some time, so I must admit I'm a little nervous. :) Speaking between such an awesome lineup of photographers is quite an honor.

I'll be speaking on Monday and Wednesday, so if you're in the neighborhood I'd love to see you! Also if you're a photographer who reads my blog and you see me out there, please come up and introduce yourself. I LOVE meeting new people!

Looking forward to seeing all my friends out there!

Monday, March 17th 2008
11:00-11:30 Terrell Lloyd
11:30-12:00 Bob Davis
12:00-12:30 Yervant
12:30-1:00 Jason Groupp
1:30-2:00 Carlos Baez
2:00-2:30 Garrett Nudd

Tuesday, March 18th 2008
11:30-12:30 Bob and Dawn Davis
12:00-12:30 Yervant
12:30-1:00 Garrett Nudd
1:15-1:45 Joe Buissink
2:00-2:30 Carlos Baez

Wednesday, March 19th 2008
11:00-11:30 Carlos Baez
11:30-12:00 Terrell Lloyd
12:15-12:45 Joe Buissink
1:00-1:30 Jason Groupp
1:30-2:00 Bob and Dawn Davis
2:00-2:30 Yervant


I have also been asked to join my friends on Thursday for a fun day of shooting and learning. It's called Leavin' Las Vegas, and should be an awesome way to close out the week!

....as on my last trip, I posted some videos so check back soon for updates from the week! :)

Amy and Joe

Click on image below for slideshow!



Towards the end of the evening, I love to run a slideshow on my laptop. It's such a fun way to share my images with everyone and always a big hit.

After seeing the photo above, one of the guests pulled me over and said, "That photo of Amy and Joe is so beautiful, did you notice their bodies form a heart?" This guest then went on to say, "That is a THE best picture you could have taken of Amy & Joe as they start their marriage together!" I have to say, I never noticed the heart and was thinking of getting my shot right before they kissed.

Thanks Amy and Joe for a wonderful evening. I also must thank my buddy TJ, for flying out from Portland, OR -- especially this time of year. It's always fun to listen to him complain about how cold it is in the Northeast. :)

Thank you Rowena and Christian!

You never know what to expect from a February wedding in New York. When I first met with Rowena, she expressed how much she wanted to take time shooting pics around town. I grinned and said, "You know it will be February right?" Sheepishly she smiled and said "I know, I'm really hoping for a warm day." :)

Rowena and Christian were in luck, 45 degrees is pretty balmy for February. Fortunately, my good friend Jennifer Davis joined me, and we had so much fun running around and grabbing shots with them in the city. Make sure to check Jennifer's blog for some of her awesome shots and more of the details from the wedding. Thanks again Jen!

It's always a beautiful evening at the Bryant Park Grill, with the twinkle of the city lights filtering in and warm candles aglow. These guys rocked the night away....the end of the evening ended in rain, but was the perfect backdrop for our final pictures together.

Rowena and Christian, thanks for everything - I hope you like the slideshow, click the image below.

Death Valley Day 4 (wrap up)

....back to weddings tomorrow! Just a few more photos for now. I still have a ton of film I shot with my pinhole camera which hasn't seen the light of day in quite some time. I'm looking forward to seeing those shots but, with a full week of shooting next week and then off to WPPI the week after that.....I think it'll be a while.

Here's the last couple of shots from the morning before we returned home.


Colin waiting for some sweet light. :)


I have to say despite all the "difficulties" I had - this was a fantastic trip! :) A perfect getaway to recharge my soul and give me some time think about things I wish to accomplish in the upcoming year. I came away from this trip with one valuable lesson - and that was the importance of the getting the shot framed up, nailing the exposure and taking the time to THINK about what I was photographing. While being so deliberate is what landscape photography is about, wedding photography can be quite the opposite. Growing as an artist is always a process and I am so lucky to have such awesome friends to share it with!

Death Valley Day 3

OK - so the videos kind of stink, but they make me laugh. On day 3 we got up before dawn to go shoot Zabriskie point. Fortunately, the sun was able to peak under the horizon of clouds for just long to capture these shots....



Watching the sun rise and illuminate the landscape in front of me was surreal. In between shivers and blowing on my hands to warm myself up after a frigid night I leaned over and said to Colin, "Dude, I'm checking into the hotel tonight. I can't do another night like last night." He responded, "Cool, I'll join you." :)

(disclaimer) I know I am making fun of myself for being a wuss but, honestly, Colin and I were both getting over colds. Our better halves were gracious enough to allow us to go on this trip and coming home needing a week to recover would not be so nice. :)

We headed back to the campsite and packed up our stuff, checked into the hotel, and grabbed a quick shower before heading out again for the day. Armed with a bag of beef jerky, 1/2 dozen granola bars, and 4 bottles of water we piled into Colin's monsta' truck for a 4x4 ride out to the Race Track. Thirty miles of unpaved, super bumpy roads later, we arrived at this awesome location. Make sure to read THIS about the moving rocks. Weird.




TJ


With one more morning of shooting left, things were looking up!