For those of you who may not know, I was in Las Vegas for WPPI this past Sunday through last night. It was my first time and I wasn’t sure how it would be to be away from Alin and the kids for 5 days, and if I would get my money’s worth of education and networking. Well, in five words: it was worth it all. Before attending WPPI, I was confused about myself as an artist. I liked my own work, but I didn’t love it. I still felt somewhat insecure about the way I processed my images, and so I knew something needed to change but just wasn’t sure what or how. After attending WPPI and listening to some of the speakers, I now have a clear vision for how I want my work to speak to my clients. Up until now, most would look at an image of mine and say “wow! I love the way you processed this!”. I don’t want the processing to be the first thing you notice when you look at an one of my images. I want you, the viewer, to notice the picture. I want to go back to photography basics, and reinvent myself as a reader and artist of light. I want you to look at my images and feel ‘something’. From now on, I will be challenging myself to Photoshop invisibly if at all, meaning -I will refrain from making my images look like they were processed using someone else’s actions. This may ward off some of my future clients who maybe prefer to have their images look “really processed”, and that is completely fine with me. I will recommend them to someone who will make them happy in that aspect. This change may also lose blog readers who liked what I did to my images and may not see a lot of that from me anymore, and that’s fine too. I love my blog readers, but I’m realistic and also know that you won’t be following my work forever. And I’m okay with that. From now on, I just want to be a photographer. Not a good Photo-shopper. I will be going back to some of my original images on my website and re-editing some of them to look less “photo-shopped” & “actioned upon”.

I will also be looking into buying film cameras and doing a lot of personal work with them, as well as some wedding and portrait work. In my gut, I feel that one who can be amazing at shooting film, is more amazing than one who can shoot digital. Think about it. I shoot digital & even though I shoot 100% manually, I have the instant gratification of viewing my images on an LCD screen, which takes the fun out of it all. And if it’s over-exposed I can fix it right there on the spot. Or when I pull it up on the computer, I can “fix it” in Photoshop. I’m not saying anyone can just pick up a camera and just “be” a wedding or portrait photographer, because there’s obviously more to it than just that. But in a world where digital photographers are presented with bigger and better and faster technology all the time, I feel like some of us are losing ourselves as real artists. I am not saying I will be doing film 100% from now on either. But I will be introducing it into my personal work and some wedding and portrait work and see where it goes. And who knows?

On the subject of film, the WPPI class that has changed me most was Jonathan Canlas. This guy shoots all of his weddings, commercial and portrait work 100% film. Before his class started, I looked through some of his albums. And though the albums themselves were beautiful and beautifully printed, the first thing I noticed were his images. I was consistently blown away with each page I turned. These images gripped my heart and soul. No Photoshop. Simply art. And that’s when I knew. This is what I want to give my future clients. Images that make them feel something. Images that are timeless. Where in 20 years, 50, and even a 100 years, their pictures make them and their families ‘feel something’. And by the way, for those of you photographers who are just starting out and would like to learn from the best, Jonathan offers workshops and though I’ve never been, I can tell that he would be an amazing teacher to learn from. And honest to goodness, one of the nicest people you will EVER meet. Here’s a picture of him and I, before the class, and just to warn you, ALL the pictures in this blog post are taken with my little point and shoot, so don’t dog on the quality, k?

One of his many gorgeous albums.

Jonathan speaking.

Another thing is, since family is the most important thing to me, I will be Twittering and Facebooking less. It is apparent that there are some of you who think you know me, and assume “I leave my children in a room all day while I edit, Tweet & Facebook”. Kudos to you for your genius detective work (you know who you are). Not that I owe you an explanation, but when I Twitter and Facebook, it is MOSTLY from my phone. I also edit mostly when my kids are asleep during their naps and bedtime. And yes, I Tweet and Facebook while my actions run and I have dead periods of waiting. But since the appearance of me Facebooking & Twittering often from my phone, leads to incredibly ridiculous and dramatic accusations, I have deleted the Facebook & Twitter apps from my phone. And we’ll leave it at that. Plus it’ll be nice to maintain some level of mystery and might encourage me to enjoy real people and pursue real social relationships in the real world more often. On the same note, I have 2,580-some friends on Facebook AND a Facebook Photography group. I am going to be separating both since they serve different purposes. As mean as this may sound, though not intended, I will be deleting friends from my personal Facebook account whom I have never met. Any photography fans will receive an invitation to my photography group and we can then keep personal and photography separated. The ones who will remain on my personal Facebook page will be my family, friends, and photographers/people I’ve already met and that I care to know about my personal life. I realize this might offend some, however, I feel it is necessary in the steps I am taking towards getting my life back.

Though my social networking will be less frequent, the blog, however, will still be my platform for my creative and personal outlet. I will still post updates from my current work and my personal life and will treat it as if writing my own biography in real-time. I will spend one day a week scheduling Monday-Friday blog posts, and am hoping to have a blog post for you every day. This way, it will be more consistent for myself and my blog-readers.

I also want to note that I will shoot no more than 25 weddings per year. There will be no way around this. I want to make sure that I have all the time I can get with my family and feel this will be a good number to provide that balance between work and family. I currently have 7 slots available for 2010, and so if you are a bride and are wanting me to shoot your 2010 wedding, contact me asap. I will also be raising my wedding & portrait pricing real soon, so that’s another reason for you interested brides to contact me soon. Since more than half of my 2010 weddings are not in the state of North Carolina, I will not be accepting any more destination wedding bookings that require more than one night’s hotel. And another thing. From now on all destination weddings that require 1 or more nights’ stay, will be charged an additional fee on top of actual travel costs. I need to make sure I am not constantly paying out of pocket for miscellaneous expenses and also be compensated for the time spent on traveling back and forth. This includes Phoenix, Chicago, and Houston which previously had discounted travel rates.

Whoo! This feels good to get it all out on the table….

I will also be taking Jonathan Canlas’ advice, and will stop following other photographer and wedding blogs. He is right when he says that you shouldn’t look to other photographer’s or wedding blogs for your own inspiration. And although I wasn’t following blogs looking for inspiration, I found that it can subconsciously inspire your shots when you are out shooting and may not realize that you have seen it done before. I will be getting my inspiration from my crazy thoughts, movies, art, music, books, and non-wedding-related magazines & blogs from now on. Please remember that I do value my blog reader comments and I read every single one and even visit your sites, but I probably won’t be following regularly, in order to maintain some level of originality with my own work.

And on the note of originality, I will be working towards using less and less of other people’s actions and eventually not at all. I LOVE Totally Rad Actions & Nik Software, and think they are amazing for the photographer who wants to achieve a real finished look and save some time. But I think it’s time for me to move on and possibly create my own actions that will serve as part of my invisible Photo-shopping. This way, the pictures have a less processed, more natural look and won’t look like they were photo-shopped as much as they were before. I am really hoping to achieve film-like qualities with my photos from now on.

Let’s see what else…

I will be working on a system to meet my wedding and portrait clients in my home studio for consultations and presentations from now on. This is to make sure they receive the ultimate personal and emotional experience from beginning to end. My job is to provide my clients with the most beautiful pictures they have ever seen and to help them “feel something”, in the words of Tamara Lackey, when they view their images for the first time. It WILL be the ultimate viewing experience.

Although there are a few other small changes to the company, these are the ones I will be sharing right now. I know I may lose potential clients and maybe even some blog readers, but I have to be true to myself and listen to my heart. And this is what has been on my heart.

Now on to some random images from WPPI!

I roomed with Jenny Tarau, who is one of my very best friends and I couldn’t have spent my first time at WPPI with anyone better than her. What I love about her is her ability to be honest with you even if you don’t want to hear it. Some don’t like that quality in people, but it’s one of the two biggest reasons why I have to have her in my life. She consistently holds me accountable and she makes me laugh like no one else can. She is also a budding photographer and I already see GREATNESS in her and cannot wait to see what this year will bring to her. On top of that, she is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G mother, and her twins are lucky to have her in their lives. Here’s Jenny and I.

LOVED meeting Matt & Katie of Matt & Katie Photographers formerly know as Shadowplay. They are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, and uber-cool. You have to check out their work! In the following shots are Matt & Katie, Christine & Vania from Simply Bloom Photography, and myself with Jenny.

We also hung out with Amanda from Ruffled Blog. Amanda, I LOVED watching your outfits change each day. You are one stylish chick!

Again with Miss Christine and Vania of Simply Bloom Photography. We had loads of fun with you girls

Diana Radoi of Absolutely Captivating was a friend of Jenny’s introduced to me and one of the sweetest girls I’ve met there. Would love to keep in touch with her!

Jerry Ghionis talked a lot about album design and shooting for your albums. Funny guy too.

I loved listening to Tamara Lackey. She was witty, funny, and offered a lot of insight to how she does things when it came to photographing families and children.

And instead of attending a WPPI platform class Wednesday morning, God really put it on our hearts (Jenny and mine) to attend this Photographer’s Unite meeting, started by the amazing David Jay.

We listened to a little bit of the Word by Mike Larson.

Then we sang worship songs led by the very talented Brian Wurzell who happens to be married to Promise Tangeman that I just recently found out about at WPPI. The worship time was amazing! I wish I hadn’t lost my voice a couple of days beforeHere’s a teeny tiny video clip from one of the songs.

Jenny and I needed that service that morning, and I thank God for David Jay, Mike Larson, Brian Wurzell and whoever else was involved in putting this together. God bless you for it.

And now, let’s end with the random creepy window-washer at our room on the 17th floor of the MGM Grand.

I will be in Vegas for WPPI 2010, and so any emails/phone calls will be answered when I am back in my studio on Friday March 12th, 2010. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but I promise that when I come back I will be refreshed for you!

Oh Oliver. What are we going to do with you? You are cranking out more and more words and sentences each day, and I am constantly baffled at your ability to act like you’re three when you just turned two. Daddy calls you “booger” (and we can see why). Momo, a.k.a grandpa, calls you “ursule”, because of your hefty size and bear-like stature and walk. You play the air-drums every time a song comes on in the car that has a distinct drum-beat. You stab us with your fork at the dinner table and yell gibberish obscenities when we tell you how to eat your food. And even after you stab us, we should discipline you and put you in time-out. But we don’t. Instead we laugh at how hilarious you look when you’re angry. You make us laugh. And that’s what we love most about you. We love you, “ursule”.