More contest wins

There's a relatively new group of wedding photographers I joined a couple of months ago called the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers or ISPWP. The ISPWP has a rigorous approval process. You need to be sponsored to gain entrance. I was sponsored by one of my favorite photographers in the world, Sergio Lopez. If you've never seen his work, grab a box of tissues and check out his website.

The organization holds quarterly contests for members. It's another very competitive contests with photographers from all over the world.

I placed 14th overall for the quarter. You can see the photos below.

My workshop - I love Charleston.

There are defining moments in everyone's lives. Usually, they are centered around a big event. Others come along quietly and when least expected. When Juliet Elizabeth offered her family's beach house as a location for a workshop, I took a leap of faith and just answered immediately, "Sure." Fast forward a couple of months and you would have found me losing a lot of sleep during the days leading up to the workshop.

A dozen different artists invested time, money and faith in me. I didn't take it lightly and truly tried to pour my heart and soul into the workshop.

It went beautifully. People were enthusiastic and excited to learn. Punam Bean really evened things out talking about her style of blog marketing. I spent a great deal of time discussing my belief that the real value of a wedding photographer should be found in the pictures, not just the stuff we sell. I think I made my case.

Then we moved on to shoot at two gorgeous locations. I really wanted the attendees to get outside of the box and have fun with the shoots... trying things they may not normally try. We had some spectacular results. As you'll see below.

Here's me, flapping my gums. Thanks for the photos, Juliet:





The incredible Punam Bean teaching us how to crack the destination wedding market:



And my good friend Joe Bunn, who talked about vendor relations:



Some of the pics I took at Lowndes Grove Plantation and The American Theater in downtown Charleston:











From The American Theater









I will post student photos soon!

Here's my great crew of attendees:

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[AG]WPJA makes me happy...

Well, 2008 is going to be hard to top, professionally. I had a lot of luck with contest results and some really fantastic weddings. I found out today that I placed 4th overall in the [AG]WPJA's third quarter competition. Check out the list of countries of the top 30 winners. Poland is taking over! Seriously, there were awesome entries from all around the globe. Congrats to all the other winners. And congrats to my clients in the pics as well.

Here are the winners: