The only thing I regret is my business card

So, I just got back from the WPPI Road Trip and am pretty pumped about all the knowledge and inspiration I  witnessed.

For some time now, I'd been looking for a photographic association to join and I knew my friend Ketti, who is also an awesome photographer, was a member. This specific group is primarily devoted to wedding photography, which is a subject I've become a LOT more interested in as I grow my business. Periodically, Ketti will give me her extra Rangefinder magazines; the publication WPPI gives you a subscription to when you join their secret club. haha. I had researched other associations previously, like PPA, ASMP, PSA, and other abbreviated 3-4 letter combos that have P somewhere in them, but they weren't as exciting as what I was seeing in the WPPI community (plus PSA uses comic sans on their website, so they get omitted just for that). Anyways, after some thought and a lil' dough, I decided to join up and see what this shindig was all about. All in all, I found that my money had been well spent and I met some really cool people along the way.

Now, looking back, the only thing I regret is my business card. So, for anyone who was unfortunate enough to receive it, and is reading this, I promise that this is terrible representation of what I stand for, but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do. So again, if you're reading this, here's my explanation and apology. :)

Basically, the story is short and sweet, in that, I was pretty unprepared for the Road Trip because I decided 3 days before that I'd actually be attending. So, seeing as I haven't gotten around to sending my business card off to my lab yet, this was my last minute attempt to salvage my procrastination. I performed the cardinal sin of buying some "business card" paper, nabbing a template offline, and printing them myself. The final product came out super thin and my cutting job was, well, lets just say, shotty at best. I cut those yesterday morning before I left with a dull pair of scissors and razor sharp determination. haha! I thought it was better than nothing. Even though I'm just a soul who's intentions were good, Oh lawd, please don't let me be misunderstood. Basically, if you took the time to read this, thank you, and I'm sorry. haha Next time we see each other at an event, I promise I'll give you a much better example.

Btw, I really liked all of you wonderful people I met. If you're local or ever in the area, lets do lunch!

Downtime

In between sessions and when there is some downtime, I like to take photos for no reason at all, other than to flex my creative muscles. I specialize in portraiture, but periodically I get a primal urge to shoot landscapes and architecture. Recently, I had a really good friend move into town. He just picked up a new lens and he's got a few weeks before he starts his new job up here. I asked him if he wanted to take a photo stroll. He was down, of course. We took a 6 hour journey through Bellevue, Wa; stopping when we felt inspired. Here are some of my favs from the day.

Fond memories

I just came across this photo I took this on my most recent trip to Texas and it reminded me of how much I missed that place. Thought I'd share.

The Simon Family

Atussa is a good friend of mine from the game industry. Her mother and father, Mary and Massood, came in from Australia to visit. I really wanted to do a session before they left, and luckily they had the time. When I first got there, Atussa's son, William, was still asleep. Massood soon came in to hold him so that we could start getting ready for the session. It was apparent throughout the whole session that William loved his grandfather and found comfort and intrigue whenever he was in his arms.

Here are some more of my favorites from the session. 

Light Painting

So, I've been really trying to do some fun and interesting light paintings when Ryan and I find ourselves in the great outdoors in the evening time. It seems that every time I attempt to do one of these things something hinders me from taking anything more than a test shot. The last time I got ambushed by sprinklers which was pretty funny, and this time it was another story. One of these days I'll get it right.

Our most recent excursion was down near Alder Lake. We recently bought some interesting and fun tools for these ideas, the downside being that most of them are flammable, and the places we've been going to just happen to have burn bans. We tried this one attempt and then chickened out because we were near a big bridge that a ranger could have passed at any second. Here's the result. It wasn't late enough yet, but I still liked it.