Photo Pro Expo 2013

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Photo Pro Expo in Cincinnati. It was long days and early mornings (I had to be up by 5:50 so I could make it to my first class by 7:30)... but I met so many great photographers and picked up a lot of great tips on lighting, equipment, and posing.

Throughout the 4-day conference, they had a massive photography contest running in the lobby.

Wedding Day Bridal Tour :: Fort Wayne Wedding Photography

Yesterday was the culmination of a lot of time, effort, and... (let's be honest) money. It was my very first bridal show at the Grand Wayne Center downtown Fort Wayne!

It was a super early morning. Ryan and I got up at 6:45, left the house by 7:15, and were unloading our cars at the loading docks by 7:30.

We arrived at my booth, and it pretty much looked like this:

Joining the Wedding Photojournalism Association

I'm excited to announce that yesterday, I received my acceptance into the Wedding Photojournalism Association. The WPJA is an elite group of international wedding photographers whose work focuses on candid and unobtrusive documentation of the wedding day.

So What's In It For You? :: Fort Wayne Photography

First of all, I'd like to welcome new readers brought here from Scott Howard's site. Thanks, Scott!

Now let's get down to business.

A lot of us were raised in families where custom photography wasn't a part of our lives. Milestone portraits were taken at Sears, Christmas card photos were taken using our Dad's point-and-shoot, and none of these were deemed quite fit to blow up and hang above the fireplace.

Coming Full Circle

This time last year, Ryan and I were deep in the throes of wedding planning. It was taking up a lot of my time, a lot of our money, and it was all I could think about.

While designing our wedding invitations, I stumbled across numerous examples of professionally-created wedding maps that I thought were just fabulous. I can draw and use Photoshop, I thought. So why not draw and Photoshop wedding maps? I posted an ad on Weddingbee offering to create 3 free maps to build my portfolio.

This was the first map I ever created...

Humble Beginnings

Back in 1998, I conducted a photo shoot with my two best friends. The horribleness of the resulting images will live in infamy.

And today is your very luckiest of days... because I dug those photos out of my photo box, and have them here for you now. I fully understand that I'm opening myself up to horrendous criticism and mocking, but, ::shrug::, oh well.

Background: We were 13 and bored. So we raided my closet, picked out our best model-esque outfits, and headed out into the neighborhood to conduct our photo shoot. All photos were taken by yours truly, except for the last one.

So here we go. I believe this first one was trying to portray "sexy". I can only infer that based on the fact that she's wearing a bathing suit top. Obviously, the horrendous lighting, posing, and that lovely white sock do nothing for the scene...

Lessons from a Bride :: Fort Wayne Wedding Photography

As you may (or may not) know, I got married 2 months ago to my husband, Ryan. Here is some photographic evidence...