michael norwood photography

The Last Post.

2008-06-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

The new blog is live!

CLICK HERE!

WWW.MNPBLOG.COM

Wendy and Marshall

2008-06-12T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well I've debated on whether or not to blog so close to the "launch." But I was working on these images today and wanted to share a few of my favorites. I promise I'll get back in the swing of things next week!

Wedding Chicks

2008-06-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from my clients Kari and Steve that their engagement session was featured on the super-rad-wedding-blog, Wedding Chicks. Wedding Chicks is another awesome resource for brides looking for inspiration. Check it out!

Uh oh...

2008-06-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

So I've been busy, really busy... and I haven't been blogging too much but I promise it will all be worth it. Its coming, and its awesome.

Michael and Brianna

2008-05-25T03:41:00.000-07:00

I'm doing something I haven't done in a really long time... I'm blogging a wedding the night of the wedding. Well technically its the next morning but it still counts. I just shot an awesome wedding here in Houston. My good friend Akil Bennett came along to second shoot with me. Aside from the 100+ degree heat and the 97% humidity today, it was a beautiful day. I really love this area, the weather is just awful though. Makes me thankful for our incredible weather in Orange County.

Here are a few favorites from today!

Off to Texas

2008-05-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving this morning to head to Houston to shoot a wedding this weekend. I'll be out of the office for about a week but should have access to email and internet. If you need anything send us an email and we'll get back with you as soon as we can. We might not be able to respond as quickly as we usually do but we will definitely get back with you.

I'll actually be in Houston for about a week and will have some personal time while I'm there. If anyone would like to set up a portrait or engagement session or if you're a photographer and would like to grab lunch leave me a comment or shoot me an email.

The After Party

2008-05-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

After our party last week we had a little poker tournament. Here are a few images from the tourney.
Becker's poker face...

Jessica staring me down...

Masen...

Apparently I look mad when I play poker...

Regis guarding his stack...

The ghetto fab Mark and Candice...

The Brooke's, Brian and Helen (who recently got engaged), and Aaron Dieppa.

Blog Features

2008-05-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've been featured on some really great wedding related blogs. The first was Elizabeth Anne Designs, which featured Kathy and Sam's beautiful wedding at the Turnip Rose. Elizabeth Anne's blog is an awesome place to go get ideas and inspiration for your own wedding. If you haven't checked it out already, what are you waiting for!?

The second was the blog of Southern Wedding Style Magazine, a magazine which, surprisingly, focuses on southern weddings. They stumbled upon images of Elizabeth and Chris' wedding shot last year in Nashville. Not only was it an INCREDIBLE wedding, it was overflowing with southern charm and style. They contacted me to not only feature it on their blog but they will also be featuring it in an upcoming issue of their magazine! Nice!

I'm Back... Again

2008-05-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

So I've been out for a while... I know. I've had many, many things keeping me away but 2 weeks is out of control. One of the things that kept me occupied for the past two weeks was my party. Ever since we moved into our new place we've been meaning to have a party. Just to get all of our friends over and have a good time. We've been in the house 2 months to the day and I've been out of town AT LEAST half of that. So its taken a little longer to actually get settled in than we thought. Well last night we finally did it. We had about 50 guests, mostly photographers, over and had the best time. We brought in a couple of sushi chefs to make fresh sushi for our guests, hired an awesome bartender to handle the beverages and had our friends (Karli, Gabby and Angie) over at Simply Mumtaz helping us out making sure everything went smoothly.

The sushi was incredible, the weather was perfect and the company couldn't have been better. After things started settling down my boy Becker broke out the poker chips and we got a little game going. About 10 of us played and after about 3 or 4 hours it ended with me and Becker splitting the pot and calling it a tie. I can't complain though... anytime I walk away from the table with more than I started with I'm happy.

I'm going to post some images I took tomorrow but Lan put together this rad video of the night so I thought I'd share it first. In order of appearance... Michael Norwood, (that's right... I linked myself) Candice Brooke, Bonny Pierzina, Brian Khang, Jasmine Star, Jessica Claire, Ryel J, Justin Lyon, Amelia Lyon, JD "Star" (haha), Ma5en, Tony Bisson, Aaron Dieppa, Regis Chen and Natalie Williams. Whoa... that was a lot of links.

There were a bunch more people there. Like I said, more to come tomorrow.

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Free Music

2008-05-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of music. I also love to buy music. That's right, I love to BUY music, downloading crappy copies from high schoolers just doesn't do it for me. But when a band gives it away for free I'm not going to complain. Check out the first single from Coldplay's upcoming album... you can download it here.

Cyndie's Birthday!

2008-05-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today is my lovely, amazing, wonderful and supportive wife, Cyndie's, birthday! She's just getting over being sick and most likely doens't feel like being photographed so here's a picture from our trip to New York a few months ago. Everyone say, "Happy Birthday!"

theLAB day 3

2008-05-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

On Day 3 we had our bride from day 2 come out to shoot a bridal session. We don't shoot many of these in California but in the south everyone does. It was awesome and Hannah was an incredible model. Here are a few of my favorites from that afternoon. Tomorrow I'll put up a little wrap up of the workshop.

theLAB day 2

2008-04-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been gone! After the workshop I went out to a friend's lake house in Oklahoma for a few days to recoup from the LONG, LONG days of the workshop and flew back late Saturday night to shoot a wedding on Sunday. I'm back now though and have plenty to show. We'll start with some images from the workshop we held last week in Texas.

Day two was all about couples. We had an engagement couple and a bride and groom to shoot as well. Both couples were awesome to work with and the location was just amazing. I'm going to go through everyone that attended later on but I can't say enough how great a group we had. Wonderful photographers, amazing people. It was such a great experience.

I took a few more pictures this day but still not too many. I guess I was talking too much. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tomorrow I'll put up some images from our shoot on day 3. Check back for that!

theLAB day one

2008-04-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome day today and had an incredible shoot with some really great models. It was the Egan show at the shoot today with him showing how he works with his clients during a shoot. Check his blog for some images. I hardly shot because I was helping out and answering questions, but I did take a model and a group at the end to work with and snapped a few.

Here's Fred working hard.

The group shooting our models.

Like I said, I didn't take too many shots but here's a few of one of our models, Mandy, who was just amazing to work with.

theLAB is here

2008-04-20T00:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight begins theLAB. We have a great group of photographers coming from across the country and Canada and I can't wait to get started. I'm going to try to post every day during the workshop to show what's going on and hopefully also highlight some of the awesome photographers attending. Should be a fun week!

Jacqui and Bryan

2008-04-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots from a shoot I had last week. I love California in the spring.

My baby's back.

2008-04-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

I got a call from Canon yesterday and today I went to pick up my camera. I'm so impressed with Canon. I've heard that they really take care of their pros but fixing a camera in 2 days (when they estimated 10) is awesome. So tonight I thought I'd give it a test drive and shoot a few pics of my beautiful bassets, Copper and Penny. Aside from the shutter sounding totally different it seems to be back to normal.

Steve and Kari

2008-04-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I met Steve and Kari in Solvang, an incredible town in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. We spent a couple hours hitting their favorite wineries and even stopped by the spot where Steve proposed. I had a great time guys and can't wait for the wedding!

Bummer

2008-04-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is not what a shutter is supposed to look like.

I had a shoot in LA yesterday and about half an hour into it my camera made the worst noise and quit working. I opened it up to see that my shutter was blown. Thank God I brought backup equipment. Well, I'm off to Canon to get my shutter replaced.

Edited to add:
Well the good news is the folks at Canon were super nice and helpful and even put a rush on it so I can have it before I leave for Texas next week. The bad news is it cost over $600. Wow.

McCain

2008-04-09T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ok here's the first of many posts to come. Last week I shot an event where John McCain, the GOP candidate, spoke. He was actually very engaging and pretty interesting... something I wasn't really expecting. The event was planned by my good friends over at Simply Mumtaz.

I got there about 45 minutes before the event was supposed to start and took my place among the rest of the photographers. A few minutes later I got permission to go to the second floor and shoot from there which was awesome because I wouldn't have to jockey for position, trying to get a good shot. So I went upstairs and set up.

I sat there alone for about 20 minutes when five LAPD officers came up and immediately started harassing me, searching me, searching my equipment, threatening to take my cards, asking for ID that proved I had permission to be there. Instead of finding out if there was a problem they assumed there was one. Once I proved to them (several times in several different ways) that I was allowed to be there they told me they needed my seat for surveillance and put me over in the corner where most of my view was blocked by columns. Look, I know you have to protect politicians but, come on, let's be professional officers.

I hope this doesn't get me on their bad list.

Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain.

There was tons of press there... here's CNN's setup.

And here's how channel 14 rolls. Bringin' the heat!

I'll be back.

2008-04-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

I know its been a long time. I was in Texas all week getting things taken care of for the workshop coming up and since I've been home I've been going non-stop. Shooting, meetings, and the best part of all... doing taxes. I'm on my way to Solvang here in a couple minutes for an engagement shoot and I promise to get those up quick. Things are going to settle down somewhat over the next few weeks so I promise to blog a lot more.

I'll leave you with a picture. What could it mean?

Susan and Patrick's Engagement

2008-03-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon I met Susan and Patrick in Newport Beach. We had a great time shooting in some sweet locations. Here are a few of my favorites from the day!

Makenzie's Birthday

2008-03-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

Makenzie turns 4 tomorrow but I leave for Texas tomorrow afternoon so we celebrated today. We took her to see Horton Hears A Who, then to dinner and we ended the night with letting her blow out the candles on her "birthday cake," which was actually a Sprinkles Cupcake... way better than anything we could have whipped up. We like to torment our daughter though so we aren't letting her open up her presents until tomorrow. ;)

Here's the birthday girl with her new 'do.

It had to happen sometime right?

2008-03-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

Makenzie decided that she needed a haircut so she went and found her scissors and cut herself some bangs. We're not too thrilled about it but the funny thing is it doesn't look half bad. I guess it could have been a lot worse.

Jenny and Esmond's Engagement

2008-03-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Monday I drove down to La Jolla to shoot Jenny and Esmond's engagement pictures. We started at UCSD where they met and then headed down to the beach for sunset. We had an awesome time and afterwards they took me out to their favorite restaurant, Tadashi, for some of the best sushi I've had in ages! Thanks so much guys, I can't wait for the wedding!

These first two are somewhat of a departure from the way I usually process images but the second I looked through the viewfinder I knew what I wanted the images to look like... and this was it.

Back to "normal."

Kathy and Sam's Wedding

2008-03-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. What an amazing wedding. They got married in Costa Mesa at the Turnip Rose at Grand Newport Plaza. I could not stop picking images so get ready for a long post.

While the girls were getting ready the guys were busy too... smoking cigars.

Flower Allie did an incredible job on the florals.

The beautiful bride.

The groom was looking pretty good too.

Probably my favorite image of the day.

A couple fun moments during the slideshow.

A sweet ring shot to finish it off.

Published Again!

2008-03-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last year I shot a bunch of tabletops in Beverly Hills for a company called Girari and it seems like the images are finally making their way around. They're in a couple magazines this month and even made the cover of one. I'll post that when I get my hands on a copy but here's the other one this month. Its in Bridal Guide Magazine. I'd never heard of it before but since hearing of it I see it everywhere. Its a nationally distributed magazine and its actually really good... good design, good photography, good writing.

I'm really excited for this year. Its already started out so well with some amazing weddings and engagements and this makes 6 magazines since the first of the year that I've been featured in.

Here's the magazine. The article was on "green weddings," a very popular subject right now. The table design was courtesy of the extremely talented and creative Alice Charlier.

Yari and Edgar

2008-03-24T03:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some more images from my session with them on Friday. We had a great time shooting around Olivera Street in LA and as you can see Yari is really bored when she's around Edgar. Haha. Just kidding, she didn't stop laughing the whole time.

I'm Back

2008-03-21T23:42:00.001-07:00

So blogging in Vegas didn't really happen. We didn't have internet at the hotel and I wasn't about to blog from my phone all week just to keep my streak alive. But I'm back and I've got lots to blog. I shot an awesome event last night, had an engagement tonight, I have a wedding tomorrow and more shoots next week. There will be plenty of images coming your way.

I'm going to have a full blog post dedicated to my WPPI experience but I'm going to wait a few days so I can steal images from my friends' blogs.

To tide you over here's an image from tonight. Yari and Edgar are planning an incredible wedding and I can't wait to be a part of it. More images will come in the next few days.

Made it.

2008-03-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

Got here about midnight after a great shoot with Nick Onken today and a long drive tonight. Already got to see some old friends. Super excited about the week. Tomorrow should be fun.

Off To Vegas

2008-03-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

In the morning I'm heading off on my annual trip to Vegas for WPPI. I'll still have access to email so we should still be able to get back in touch with you. It could take a little longer than usual though so be patient with us. I'll be blogging during the week so come back to see what's going on there. If you're a photographer and are going, flag me down if you see me. I'd love to meet you.

Moving Day

2008-03-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

Can't post any images tonight. All my hard drives are in boxes because tomorrow (Friday) we're moving to idyllic Ladera Ranch. (AKA "Mayberry") The new place is so great and we'll finally have a dedicated meeting space. It's a really exciting time and we're looking forward to finally being able to do things the way we've always wanted. Since I've been shooting weddings I've always wanted to have clients over... for the initial meeting, to go over their images, to show them their albums or even just for dinner. We just haven't had the space... until now!

We've got some exciting things planned for the coming months including a couple parties at the new casa. I'll put out the word here when invites are going out.

theLAB Workshop Website

2008-03-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

The website just went live... check it out. We'd love to see you there!

Firefox

2008-03-12T11:11:00.001-07:00

I've spent a lot of time and money making sure my images look right across a wide range of monitors and mediums. How is it that a different Web Browser screws that up?

The images look perfect in Safari but Firefox makes them look all brown. I'm not sure how they translate on PCs.

Check this out. I took a screen shot of the image in Firefox and put it next to the Safari image. What the heck?

So I guess what I'm saying is if you have a Mac, look at my blog in Safari. Haha.

Makenzie's Turning 4!

2008-03-11T01:52:00.000-07:00

Makenzie's birthday in in a couple weeks so we needed some new pictures. Here she is!

Todd and Katie

2008-03-10T04:03:00.000-07:00

So here it is. I finally got around to giving this awesome couple a proper post. I love these images. Man, I want to shoot in Nebraska all the time. Next time I'll find a corn field to shoot in. No such luck this time. Apparently no corn grows in the winter... who knew?

Tony Blair

2008-03-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

I work a lot with Simply Mumtaz Events. Usually when I work with them I'm shooting weddings but they have a corporate division as well and its nice to mix it up. Yesterday I went to LA and shot an event where Tony Blair was the keynote speaker.

The night was amazing but my favorite part of the day was when I told Cyndie about the event. I told her Tony Blair was speaking and she said, "The skateboarder?"

Rock For Water

2008-03-08T02:51:00.000-08:00

I had a shoot tonight in LA and afterwards Cyndie, Makenzie and I headed up to Studio City to hang out with our friends the Aicklens. Travis put together a tour called Rock For Water. The plan is to raise enough money to dig three wells in Sudan and bring clean water to hundreds of families. They're playing 10 nights and hope to raise $20, 000. Tonight alone they raised over $6000. Wow.

So not only did we get to be a part of bringing water to people in need, we also got to hear some incredible music. Since I just came from a shoot I had my camera. Here are a few images from the concert.

Travis Aicklen

You can see Tiffany singing some BGVs there.

Aaron Strumpel

John Mark McMillan

It was an amazing night. Click here for more information about the tour and to see where you can catch it.

House Party

2008-03-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago I went over to my buddy, Victor Sizemore's, place. He was hosting a networking party and invited a ton of photographers to come hang out. I went over there expecting to see 20 or 25 people and I thought i'd probably know 2/3s of them. We have a pretty close knit photography community here in Orange County and even if we don't know each other we usually know of each other. When I walked in his door I squeezed my way past all of the people in to the kitchen and finally saw a familiar face. I'm just estimating but there were probably 75-100 photographers there and I might have known 15. It was awesome though. I got to meet a ton of people and put some faces to some names.

I stole these images off of my homeboy Becker's Blog. I brought my point and shoot to take some pictures but when I walked in and saw Becker with the new D3 I just decided to steal some "real" photos off of his blog.

The host, Victor and Becker.

Ohhhh yeah. That's me. That's right.

Becker was testing out the D3 and was putting it through its paces. This was shot at ISO 6400 on AWB with nothing but porch light. Pretty impressive. Here's my boy MA5EN.

The lovely Jessica Claire, who bounced me out of the poker game later that night.

And a big group of new friends. I'm gonna post links to everyone I can. If I miss yours leave me a comment and I'll stick it in.
Christine Farah, Jonilyn Brown, Sarah Chen, Katy Regnier, Kim Le, Serena Grace, Kristi Klemens, Susan Yee, Hannah Suh.

I got to know a ton more people but the only people who gave me cards so I could link them were Marlin Munoz and his lovely wife Marlene, Mark Brooke, and Ellice Schwartz.

It was awesome meeting you guys. Hopefully we'll run into each other in Vegas next week!

Recovery Software

2008-03-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

This image is brought to you by Data Recovery II.

I had a card get corrupted at my wedding last weekend. This is one of the ones I recovered today. Thank God for good recovery software.

I promise some more substantial blogs soon. Its super late and I just got home from my good friend Victor's house where he had a "little" get together. I hung out with old friends and met a bunch of new ones too. I'll tell you guys more about that later.

Justin Lyon

2008-03-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

When we arrived in Mammoth we saw a HUGE snow drift in front of our cabin. The second Justin saw the massive pile of snow he said, " I want to jump off the roof into that". The last day he said it again but just figured he'd just jump backwards off the banister. Check out the video I shot of his jump.

Good thing he didn't find a way up to the roof.

Tagged Again

2008-03-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite planners, Kerri Underhill, tagged me on her blog. So I'm supposed to answer these questions and tag a few more friends.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was in my Sophomore year of college, playing volleyball tournaments and music on the weekends. I also started dating my wife almost 10 years ago.

Things On My To Do list:
Today... blog. Its been over a month of consecutive days blogging. I'm really enjoying keeping it going and strangely enough I'm not having too hard of a time finding things to blog.

This Month... WPPI. Its one of my favorite times of year. I get to connect with old friends, meet new ones, and see tons of great new products to offer my clients.

This Year... New branding, new blog, new website.

Sometime In Life... Live in New York

Bad Habits: I read way too many blogs. Well that's probably not totally true, I check the ones I read way too many times a day. I know, I know, I should RSS. But I like to look at the actual blogs.

Places I've lived: Texas, British Columbia, Canada, South Carolina, California

Things most people don't know about me: click here for those answers

I'm tagging:
Amy Coffey
Tiffany Aicklen
Karli Tanner
David Burke
Melissa Rich

Omaha

2008-03-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on the images from the wedding but I wanted to put up a picture of Makenzie. This wasn't the first time she'd seen snow but it was the first time she'd seen it fall. She was so excited.

I just can't believe how lucky we were with weather. It was beautiful yesterday, 65 degrees and perfect and today it snowed. Thank God the wedding was yesterday.

This is Matt. He's the one that took my picture the other day and he's complained for a while that he's never made the blog... well here you go Matt. Everyone say, "Hi Matt!"

Omaha Wedding

2008-03-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Here's one of my favorite images from today. I'll put a few more up tomorrow!

In Case You Were Wondering...

2008-02-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

...this is what AWESOME looks like.

Image taken by one of my best friends in the whole world, Matt Paddack.

Somewhere in middle America.

2008-02-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

I just got into Omaha. I'm shooting a wedding here this weekend which should be really cool. Today was a long one. I woke up this morning, packed up the car and headed back home only to re-pack, get in the car and go to the airport. We then had a layover in Denver which lasted a bit longer than it should have because our flight was delayed. But we made it.

I'm excited to go scope out some locations tomorrow. I figure since I shoot at the beach all the time in California I need to find a corn field to shoot in here. How sweet would that be? The only bummer is its FREEZING here. Not the Orange County, "its-so-cold-I'm-gonna-wear-Uggs-with-my-shorts-instead-of-sandals" freezing. Its actually freezing, like 32 degrees, freezing. The good news is its supposed to get up to a balmy 50 degrees on Saturday.

Check back Sunday for some images from the wedding.

I realized that the only one not pictured from our trip in my last post was Sean Flannigan. So I dug up a picture of him taken by the one and only Nate Kaiser from The Image Is Found.

Mammoth Man Trip

2008-02-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Fred Egan and Nick Onken and I were eating apple pie at a cafe in Beverly Hills and we decided we needed to get out of town and head up to the mountains for some Man time and snowboarding. So we called up some of our friends, rented a dope cabin and put together the trip. Roll call...

Nick Onken
Fred Egan
Justin Lyon
Kyle Barnes
Sean Flannigan
Nate Kaiser
Matt Sloan
Kenny Brady
and Me

I'm sure I'll be snagging images from everyone else's blogs in the coming week but here are a few to get us started. We all just gave every one the images we took of each other so these images were taken by me, Nate, Justin or Fred.
Someone commented and asked for a picture of the wall of snow next to our driveway... its huge.

Me and Justin

Matt, me and Justin

Justin, Nick, me, Fred, Kenny

A sweet pic of Nate through my goggles.

Me.

Me again.

A couple of Justin.

Kyle killing it.

Boring

2008-02-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

We're having a blast up here and I have plenty to blog about but the internet is sketchy so I can't upload anything. I promise more interesting stuff will come.

Almost there.

2008-02-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

We're about 90 miles from Mammoth and it already looks like this and we just heard that they've got 6 feet of fresh snow in the past week. I can't wait to get on the mountain.

Edited to add: Wow! The last leg of the trip was insane. The mountains are covered in snow. Its a pretty amazing sight. So freaking amazing. They really did get 6 feet of snow, and it shows... the snow is seriously 15 feet high on either side of the driveway.

We spent the afternoon, killing it on the mountain. The snow was incredible but man, was it work. My legs were on FIRE at the end of every run. Tomorrow should be a little easier. We'll probably take a group picture at some time during the trip. I'll introduce the guys then. Its kind of funny how many MacBook Pros are laying around the cabin.

Mammoth Man Trip '08

2008-02-24T23:40:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Mammoth for four days of much needed R&R with me and 8 other photographers to be named later. Its kind of a joke how much camera gear is in my house right now. I'm sure we'll have a few images to show for our time on the mountain but for now here's an image Justin took on our last pic up to Mammoth.

Danielle and Paul

2008-02-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

The info for the workshop is just below this post. Check it out!

I don't know why I've never blogged this wedding. Probably the same reason I haven't blogged 30 weddings from last year. Anyway, Danielle and Paul had a great wedding with tons of awesome details and one of my favorite planners... Angel Swanson! Anyone who's worked with Angel has fallen in love with her. She's amazing. Here are a few favorites from the day!

I love this bridesmaids shot.

A sweet ring shot:

And here are a few I blogged a while back... I shot some high speed black and white film that night and these are my favorites from that roll. How amazing is black and white film?!

Workshop Update

2008-02-22T23:10:00.000-08:00

We released the seats for the April 20-23 workshop this afternoon and have had a bunch of signups already. If you're interested in the workshop send us an email at info (at) thelabworkshop.com and we'll send you an email with the link to register.

Another exciting thing is that we have several awesome companies coming on board to sponsor the workshop. This means not only are you getting a sweet workshop but there will also be some rad give-aways from these amazing companies and some exclusive discounts on products that make our lives easier and our businesses more successful and profitable. I can't give specifics just yet but you'll be hearing about these very soon!

I promise a "real" blog with pictures tomorrow.

theLAB

2008-02-22T00:25:00.000-08:00

For the next few day this will stay on top. Future posts will go beneath it.

Fred Egan: Portraits
Amy Coffey: Kids
Michael Norwood: Weddings

We're three photographers who love what we do and want to share it with others. Come hang out with us and learn how we work, how we shoot, how we interact with clients. Come be stretched technically and inspired creatively. Change the way you think and look at your photography and leave with the knowledge you need to continue growing and some killer images to add to your portfolio.

WHEN: April 20-23, 2008
We'll get together Sunday night to meet, eat and get to know each other. Monday morning everything begins with some classroom time covering marketing and the technical side of shooting. After lunch we'll head out for a live shoot and then to dinner. Tuesday we'll cover post-processing and the artistic side of shooting. After lunch we'll head out for another live shoot and then to dinner. Wednesday's schedule looks the same... classroom time, lunch and the workshop concludes with the last live shoot.

WHERE: Glen Rose, TX... a little town outside Dallas with a lot of charm and a million places to shoot. You'll stay at a charming lodge on the bank of the Brazos River.

COST: $1500

Tuition includes 3 days of in-depth training with Fred, Amy and Michael, lodging and all meals, 3 live shoots, one on one portfolio critique.

We'll cover the technical and artistic aspects of shooting (camera settings, composition, seeing the light, being inspired, working with clients during the shoot), workflow (from raw files to finished product), post-processing, marketing, getting published.

Space is limited so reserve your spot soon! Email info (at) thelabworkshop.com

(photos by Nick Onken, Curt Coffey and Trever Hoehne respectively.)

Kathy and Sam

2008-02-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some of my engagement shoots from last fall. It was kind of rainy here today so I thought I'd post a nice sunny beach shoot. Here are a couple favorites from the shoot.

Something Different

2008-02-20T23:52:00.001-08:00

Every now and then I'll get a call about shooting something totally different. Monday I went and shot some images for a sweet little preschool owned by a friend of one of my brides. She needed some images for some new marketing pieces. These aren't terribly exciting but it was fun to shoot something different.

Patriotism and Capitolism

2008-02-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

Isn't that what President's Day is all about? Remembering those who've served our country and furniture sales? Well, being that it's President's Day, I thought I'd put up a few pictures in the spirit of the day from a recent trip to New York.

Patriotism:

Capitolism: Pier 17 is a big mall on the bank of the East River in Manhattan.

Hope you guys have a good day off!

Scott Tennant

2008-02-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

Scott is one of the guitarists the make up the LA Guitar Quartet. Scott is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists (if not the greatest) in the world. He would never tell you that but others would. A few weeks ago he called me and asked if I would shoot some images for him. He has a book coming out and is working on a solo project and needed some images. Here are a few images from his shoot.

Juno

2008-02-16T14:41:00.001-08:00

I don't get to watch many movies in the theater. Before we had Makenzie, Cyndie and I went to the movies all the time. Now... not so much. So when I go I want to make it count. This one counted. Not since "Garden State" have I so wholeheartedly loved a movie. It was hysterical and even touching at times. I can't overstate how wonderful this film was. Go see it! And if you have any pull with the Academy, pull some strings and make sure it gets the Oscar for Best Picture.

Cort and Ashley

2008-02-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Here are a few favorites from their engagement session last week! I can't wait for their wedding this summer at the St. Regis.

Happy Valentines Day

2008-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Cyndie and Makenzie went out of town today so I'm spending Valentines Day alone. I was up in Newport and I decided to get out and watch the sun set over the ocean. The beach was littered with couples and I just saw two proposals!

If you know anyone that got engaged today send 'em my way!

Malibu

2008-02-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

I'm in Malibu thus afternoon for a shoot. Its kind of cloudy but I'm
digging it. Its hard to beat the Bu!

Friends.

2008-02-12T23:36:00.000-08:00

I made it on time. 11 blogging days in a row. I was actually gone all day today doing something secret. I'll fill you in on it very soon!

Trever is one of my closest friends. We got started shooting at about the same time, what seems like forever ago, and though we've taken different paths in photography, I think both of us would credit the other with pushing us to be better. I definitely wouldn't be who I am as a photographer without him. So here he is. Go check his stuff out. He's so good. If you're just starting out, find someone who you can shoot with and learn with. You'll progress so much faster than if you go it alone!

Love ya Trev!

Here are a few pics I took of him from our Road Trip last fall.

Here's a pic he took of a pic I took of him.

And a couple pics he took of me.

Album Cover

2008-02-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Last year I shot some promo shots for a group called the L.A. Guitar Quartet. Then a few months later they brought me up to Marin County, north of San Francisco to shoot them recording their latest album at Skywalker Sound.

Well, a few months ago I got a package from their record label in the mail and it was their finished album, literally covered in my images. And while this isn't quite as exciting as being in Vogue, it is another way that you can run into my photography in bookstores and music stores across the country... and the world, I guess.

I even got a shout out in the Thank Yous!

Stefanie and Roy

2008-02-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

First of all I need to thank Michael and Emi from Evoke Photography for sending Stefanie and Roy to me when they were booked. You might remember Stefanie and Roy from their awesome Manhattan engagement shoot last year. They got married at Descanso Garden in Pasadena last year. It was coordinated by one of my favorite people, Michelle Sharp of Annie M. Events. Here are a bunch of images from the day.

I don't know why but I love taking pictures of the chairs.

Descanso Gardens is a pretty sweet place for an outdoor wedding.

Some sweet late afternoon light!

Right after the ceremony Stefanie and Roy took off for a few minutes alone. I was hiding in the bushes.
Then they saw me.

I've put up so many that I wasn't going to show any from the reception but I had to give you guys a look at the sweet cake they had. I know you can do some awesome stuff with Fondant icing but let's face it, it doesn't taste that great... and when it comes to cake design, its pretty much cheating. That said, take a look at this ridiculous cake made with butter cream icing. Amazing. I have no idea how you would begin to make something like this.

Tivian and Sam

2008-02-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

If you're counting, this is 8 days in a row. I believe that's called a streak.

Tivian and Sam were my last wedding of 2007. Their wedding was on December 29th and I was so excited because I'd finally convinced a couple to shoot at the Upper Newport Bay. We were still somewhat stifled though because it had rained earlier in the week and there was some mud. I can't wait to go back there with another couple. Anyone want to do a Trash The Dress or Day After shoot?

Here are a few of my favorite from the Bay!

Snowboarding Trip

2008-02-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

I'm hesitant to post again and cover up my BIG news from yesterday, but I want to keep my blogging streak alive. So if you didn't come here yesterday, keep reading after todays post.

This time of year, while not full of shoots, is still great. I've got tons of meetings with new clients. I get to catch up with other vendors, and I get a little break for some snowboarding! A few weeks ago Justin Lyon invited me up to Mammoth to go snowboarding. Of course! The Lyons just put up some images from the trip so I jacked them.

A sweet self potrait of Justin... who, as I mentioned before is the producer of the hit kids tv show Yo Gabba Gabba!

Me and Justin trying to contain our excitement.

Supposedly he's gonna send me some pics from last week when we went up to Big Bear with super-star photographer and semi-pro snowboarder, Mike Colon.

In a few weeks a bunch of us are gonna take over Mammoth for a few days. Can't wait!

Oh Snap! I'm in Vogue!

2008-02-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

I'm probably supposed to play it cool when stuff like this happens but this is way too big. Vibiana, the venue where we held the Table Top Shoot that was recently featured in Grace Ormonde, has become quite the spot to hold Hollywood parties. Because of this Vogue put a little blurb in their most recent issue about the venue and one of the Golden Globe parties and when they contacted Vibiana for an image to go with it they sent them one of my images from the shoot! And I got credit for it. How 'bout that? My name is in Vogue next to one of my images!

JD and Kat

2008-02-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

Back in November I shot a wedding with my good friend, Tiffany Aicklen. It was such a fun wedding with an awesome couple that had tons of personality... and a sweet car. JD and Kat had already been legally married so that day we were just shooting some fun portraits of the couple and their reception. Here are a few favorites from the day. Thanks so much for letting me come along Tif!

They had a great rockabilly band at their reception. So sweet.

Theo Jansen

2008-02-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Trever sent this to me today. This has nothing to do with photography but I think you'll be inspired.

Day After Shoot

2008-02-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

I guess one of the good things about me getting SO behind in blogging shoots last year is that now I have lots to blog during the off season. Here is a shoot from right before Christmas. Its kind of like a Trash The Dress Shoot only you don't trash the dress. Its more about getting images you couldn't have on the wedding day. I love these kinds of shoots. Here are a few of my many favorites from SaeJin and Ben's shoot.

California or Colorado?

2008-02-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

I took this a few minutes ago for my boy, Fred Egan, who recently laughed when I said we had ski mountains in Southern California. Who's up for some snowboarding?

Green

2008-02-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

It seems like everywhere you turn things are going green. Traditional light bulbs are being replaced with "Compact Fluorescent Bulbs," cars are are going from gasoline, to hybrid or even electric. You can even buy "green" household cleaners to replace your old favorites.

Today I went to the grand opening of the Green Event Studio. One of my favorite planners, Kerrie Underhill invited me to come check out what they are doing and to see their new green showroom. The Spiraled Stem and Foscari Events have combined forces to put together resources for couples and event planners to use in creating green, sustainable events. From sustainable decor to organic foods, nothing goes overlooked at these events and honestly you're not compromising on quality or aesthetics either.

Another one of the planning companies I work with and for quite often also has a "green events" division. Simply Mumtaz is one of the pioneers in the green events arena and is often called upon to speak to event planners about creating earth friendly events. I know a lot of people that do everything they can to help our environment but until now no one was addressing that in our industry. I'm happy to know some awesome vendors that are now.

The Indestructible iPhone

2008-02-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I got a call from my buddy Mike Colon asking if I wanted to go snowboarding. So we went up to the mountains with a couple other friends to take advantage of the incredible snow conditions up in Big Bear.

Late in the day we were boarding through the trees and ravines and I got into some super deep powder. I fell end over end. After I got up I caught up to Mike and Justin who'd sat down to wait for me. We went back down to the bottom of the mountain to see if we could find our other friend Travis that we had lost along the way.

After a while we jumped back on the lift and Mike says, "oh no, I lost my phone". After a couple minutes he realized that he just put it in a different pocket. At that point I thought I'd check just to make sure my phone was still in its place. Nope. After we got off the the lift I searched through all my pockets only confirming my fears, my beloved iPhone was gone. Mike was optimistic. He said we'd just retrace our steps and find it. I was a not so sure. On one hand we went off the trails so it was less likely that someone else had found it and pocketed it but on the other hand we went through the trees, with tons and tons of powder... there was next to no chance that we'd find it.

We set off going through the forest, retracing our tracks. About halfway down I'd all but given up but we kept going. We stopped where I fell earlier only to see just how deep the powder really was. A little ways down we stopped where they'd initially waited for me. I stopped and knelt down knowing that I'd never see my phone again... just then a tiny black spot in the snow caught my eye. I reached deep into the snow pulling out MY iPHONE! If I'd stopped 6 inches in any direction other than where I did I wouldn't have seen it. And the even better news, it still worked! After about 45 minutes buried in the snow it kept going like a champ. After I pulled it out of the snow Mike asked me if I was praying on the way down, "all the way," I said!

Life was good again. Good friends, incredible snowboarding and I was reunited with my precious iPhone. Let's do it again guys!

Published Again!

2008-01-30T16:25:00.000-08:00

This one probably only counts in my mom's book. Haha.

I got an email from a Michelle Sharp of Annie M. Events last night telling me that she was featured in Bride And Bloom Magazine. She sent over a PDF of the page and I noticed that one of my pictures made it in... kind of. Last year I did some headshots for Michelle and she used one for her picture in the magazine. So should I count it or not? Haha.

By the way, the rest of the photography on the page was done by a friend of mine, Lauren Hillary. She's great.

Hope, Coffee and Melody

2008-01-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a musician I was recording an album and I had a guy produce it named Robbie Seay. He became a friend and in the past few years I've gotten to watch as his career has taken off. He recently had one of his songs featured on the American Idol commercials which was pretty cool. Anyway, most of his songs, in some way or another, have the theme of hope woven throughout them. He's even got the word "hope" tattooed on his arm.

A few weeks ago I blogged about finding out that Cyndie and I were expecting another child. We were thrilled to say the least, and the amazing friends and family around us made that even sweeter by celebrating along with us. A few days ago we realized things weren't going well with the pregnancy and shortly after Cyndie miscarried. Needless to say, we were and are devastated and again the people around us shared in our disappointment and have showered us with love.

After we learned of the miscarriage I was in the car driving to a shoot and put on Robbie's new album to listen to. One song in particular stood out to me, New Day. There's a part in it that says:

" I know it might seem that the world is crumbling, but it's me and you dancing in the kitchen at 2am, and we're still alive. And it might not be the prettiest thing that you've ever seen but its a new day. And it might not look like a beautiful sunrise, but its a new day."

It might be cheesy to gain solace from a song but I did. We're surrounded by amazing friends and family and there's always hope for tomorrow.
The first and last line of that song is:

"I'm gonna sing this song, to let you know that you're not alone. And if you're like me you need hope, coffee and melody."

That pretty much sums it up.
Hit the backwards play button to start the song. (2nd from the left)

It crackled!

2008-01-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

(edited because Kenny's post is way better than mine)

I got a call tonight from my friend Mike Colon asking if I wanted to come over and play poker with some of the people who attended his workshop this week. I'm always down for poker so I was definitely in. Well I wasn't prepared for what I witnessed. My buddy Kenny Kim has done a way better job of detailing the event so I hijacked his post about it from his blog... hope you don't mind Kenny! Check out his site and blog too. He's an awesome photographer from the Chicago area.

Here's Kenny's account:

I just witnessed something unbelievable. I'm not even sure if I should blog about it but I think the whole world needs to know what just happened. We all know that Mike Colón's Experience Workshop has made an impact on so many photographers. We just finished with his 8th workshop and this one was no different. But for one person, that impact will last for lifetime...literally.

Disclaimer: What you are about to witness was not, in any way, condoned by Mike Colón. It was voluntarily done by one of his workshop attendees, Phillip Glickman from Envisionography.

Synopsis: During the second day of our workshop, one of the attendees, Nathan, noticed that Mike had his logo branded on his belt. Mike explained to us that he has a branding iron made of his logo. Phillip told us that he also has a brand of the Christian fish on his left thigh. He then told us that he would brand Mike's logo on his other leg if someone dared him. Obviously no one took him seriously. So we thought..."

On the last night of our workshop, Phillip decided to put his money where his mouth is and decided to BRAND Mike's logo on his thigh. I'll let the photos tell you the rest of the story...

It was so hot that we actually heard the skin 'pop' and smelled the burning flesh!

Gnarly! David Escalante videoed the whole thing and will have it online pretty soon! I'll let you know when.

I came in second in poker tonight. I played good and won a little bit of money but got called in some crazy situations in the final hands to lose the heads up match.

Ceremony Magazine

2008-01-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

Last night Cyndie, Makenzie and I went out to dinner with our friends Travis and Hayley. After dinner they all went to get some ice cream and I split off and went to get some coffee. The closest place for coffee was Barnes and Noble so while I was in there I decided to look through the magazines. I saw the new Ceremony Magazine was out so I picked a couple up. I'm so excited to have another wedding in there this year. I was also happy to see my name in there a few more times. A few of the vendors I've worked with advertise in the magazine and used some of my images for their ads. Sweet!

Here is the wedding:

And here is Annie M. Event's ad featuring one of my favorite brides of the year, Bina.

And lastly the Ebell of Los Angeles used one of my images as well. Its the room shot in the top left corner. If you're looking for a venue, that place is incredible.

Indoor Shoot Setup

2008-01-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

I've had several people ask what the setup was for the lifestyle shoot I shot last week so I thought I'd tell you guys in case you wanted to try it out.

For the shoot I had 2 Profoto Acute 2 1200 packs and 2 strobes. It was a very simple setup. One light was outside at a 45 degree angle to the window. It was set pretty hot so that it would blow out the window and look like direct sunlight beaming in. For the other one, I didn't want it to look like artificial light so it was never in a direct line with the couple. It was always around walls, through doors, with the light bouncing around before it got to the couple. It took a little playing around to get the right amount of fill from the inside strobe. We just played with the positioning and the ratios and after a little experimentation we liked what we had. Both the strobes were triggered wirelessly by pocket wizards. I also had a few white foam core reflectors that I used for fill if needed. You can get foam core at pretty much any pro-photography store, its super cheap and the quality of the light off of them is way better than those silver or gold 5-in-1 reflectors.

That was it. Once you get it right you can just shoot away and you have awesome, consistent light. Let me know if you have any other questions.

San Francisco Engagement

2008-01-22T02:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday I met Pat and Patty in the city for their engagement shoot. We started by the famous Palace of Fine Arts and ended the night at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. We had a great time and even figured out that Patty went to junior high with Jennifer whose engagement I shot in New York last month. Here are a few favorites from the day.

Lifestyle Shoot

2008-01-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

I got a call from a magazine a couple of weeks ago asking for a very specific lifestyle kind of image. I called some friends to model for me and we planned the shoot. Well it turned out that the only time we could get together was at night and the images I had in my mind were daytime images. So I decided to try to create daylight. I rented some studio lights and this is what we came up with. I'm super excited about the results. These were taken between 10:30pm and 1:00am.

Engagement

2008-01-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

I was going through some images tonight and came across an engagement I shot a few months ago. One series of pictures in particular stood out to me so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Technorati

2008-01-13T12:43:00.001-08:00

I know I'm way behind the curve on this but if you read my blog and have one as well... I'll be happy to return the favor!

Poker Video

2008-01-13T02:14:00.000-08:00

My boy Lan Bui made a video of the poker game from Becker's the other night showing, among other things me "sucking out" on Lan to put him out of the game. Haha.

Just pick which format you'd like to watch the video in (flash or quicktime) and it'll start playing.

Flash
| QuickTime

by: vPIP	Embed (copy & paste):	close

iPhone Friday

2008-01-11T02:30:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some of the pictures I took with my iPhone and thought I'd share a few with you. None of them alone would merit their own post but I figured I'd start something new and put up my random photos from the week on Fridays to let you in on my thrilling daily life.

Photo #1: While we were in New York we saw these posters EVERYWHERE and I had to get a picture. That's not all that exciting, I know, but what is exciting is that my friend Brent plays bass/cello for One Republic. Its been fun watching them explode over the past months. About a year ago I was bowling with Brent and he was telling me about "this new band" that he joined. He said they were really good and had a huge following on myspace. What a difference a year makes. The craziest thing recently was watching them play on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Photo #2: A couple of days ago I had to drive over to Costa Mesa to drop of some prints at Leather Craftsmen for one of my client's albums. It was about 4pm and I knew I'd get stuck in ridiculous traffic coming home so I did what any crafty photographer would do... I took my child with me so I could use the carpool lane. Makenzie had just woken up from her nap and was watching TV and wanted nothing to do with a trip in the car so I bribed her with dinner at Chic-fil-a. It was kids night and the cow was there so she couldn't have been happier. Kids eat free on Tuesday nights. How sweet is that?

Photo #3: Poker is fast becoming my favorite pastime. Whether its on TV, online or a live game, I'm down. At least once a month my buddy Becker has a poker night at his house. I've finished in the money a few times but the last 2 times I've gotten put out on ridiculously bad beats. Last time by Jessica Claire(I went all in on the turn with a full house, 10s full of Jacks, she called and had Queen 10. Only a queen could save her... of course she caught it on the river) and tonight by Becker (I was the big time short stack, I went all in with pocket tens, he called with Ace 8 and caught an Ace on the river.)

The one thing that makes me feel okay tonight is that I got some sweet revenge on Jessica. She raised pre-flop, I re-raised her and she went all in. I called and she flipped over Ace 3. I had pocket kings and after a WAY to stressful flop, turn and river I took her out.

This is a super bad picture but check out the sweet [b] logo chips Jessica got Becker for Christmas.

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for Mammoth. I'm going snowboarding with my good friend Justin Lyon, producer of the hit kids show on Nickelodeon, Yo Gabba Gabba and husband to another one of my photographer friends Amelia Lyon. Last week it snowed 10 feet up there! It should be epic boarding. I can't wait. Check back on Sunday and I'll let you know if I made it back in one piece.

This concludes the inaugural edition of iPhone Friday.

Kids

2008-01-10T01:08:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I got the chance to shoot some kids portraits. I had such a great time and I'm looking forward to shooting kids more. If you're looking for kids or family portraits shoot me an email. With weddings slowing down for the next few months, now's the time to book your session!

On Newsstands Now...

2008-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Just saw the new Grace Ormonde Wedding Style at Borders. Sweet.

mnp|2.0

2008-01-07T22:06:00.000-08:00

Grace Ormonde

2008-01-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not dead. There were a couple of days over the holidays when I was so sick I wanted to be, and one when I thought I was going to die but I'm here... alive and kicking.

Sorry for the blog drought.

A few months ago Grace Ormonde contacted me asking if I had any detail pictures I wanted to submit to them for editorial. I happened to be having lunch with my good friend, wedding-coordinator-extraordinaire, Karli Tanner that day and I mentioned that they had contacted me. I guess that got Karli's wheels turning and in about a week she put together the most insane display of table designs I've ever seen. I shot about 15 tables that day designed by Karli and a few other of LA's top designers and the next week sent the images into Grace.

I heard from the photo editor a few times regarding the images but they would never say whether the images were actually going to make the magazine... only that, "there is a good chance they will be in there".

When we arrived home from San Antonio from the holidays there was a package sitting on our porch. I wasn't expecting anything so I had no idea what it was. I opened it up to see that it was 2 advance copies of the new Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine. I flipped through it to find that not only did they make the magazine but it was the opening spread of the tabletop section. A full 2 page spread.

Pretty exciting. I have a LOT of stuff to blog so I promise not to take so long between posts. In fact one of my resolutions is to blog 15 times a month. So here's 1 down... 14 to go.

Up late.

2007-12-13T23:49:00.000-08:00

My good friend Travis and I are at the midnight showing of I Am Legend. I haven't been to a midnight movie since college. I hope I can stay awake.

Last Day

2007-12-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

Our last full day in New York was great. We woke up and got a great breakfast at George's, a restaurant that opened in 1950 and was completely destroyed on 9.11. They decided to rebuild and even made it bigger than before. I love how everything has such history in New York. After that we went shopping in SoHo and got some coffee over by NYU. Then we took a train over to Brooklyn and walked the Brooklyn bridge back over to Manhattan. Here are a few pictures from the bridge:

We then hopped on another train and went for a walk in Central Park, swung by the famous Macy's store on 34th st, and then got some more coffee on the way back to the apartment. I can't begin to describe how many Starbucks there are on Manhattan. And its a good thing too, it was freezing. I know Starbucks does well everywhere but I never saw one without a line the entire time we were there.

That night we had reservations another celebrity chef's restaurant, Craftsteak, owned by Tom Colicchio. Oh my gosh, it was incredible. Without a doubt the best meal we had on our trip, which is saying a lot considering the restaurants we visited. Definitely a place to check out if you're ever in New York or Las Vegas. After dinner we headed over to Rockefeller Center to end the night with a little ice skating.

We went there on Saturday with Jennifer and Andrew during their engagement shoot and it was so crowded you couldn't move. Luckily it was a lot less crowded on Tuesday.
Wednesday we had lunch in Chinatown at a great little restaurant we found earlier in the week and then walked up to SoHo again for a little more shopping an coffee. That afternoon we flew home and had a wonderful experience similar to our last time leaving New York, complete with 3 hours on the runway before takeoff, engine problems, missed connections and having to land at LAX instead of Orange County.

Oh well it was still a great trip. Check back Monday for some images from tomorrow's wedding... should be good!

Rockefeller Center

2007-12-04T21:56:00.001-08:00

Subway fare: $6
Skate Rink Admission: $31
Skate Rental: $18

Ice skating in Rockefeller Center at Christmastime and not falling and looking like an idiot: Priceless

We come home tomorrow night so look for a real blog post then to recap today and the rest of the trip.

More from NY

2007-12-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight Cyndie and I went to dinner in Greenwich Village at Perilla, Harold Dieterle's retaurant. Harold was the winner of the first season of Top Chef and when I found out he'd opened a restaurant here in the city I made sure we had reservations during our trip. Top Chef is one of my favorite shows and Harold has been my favorite contestant so far. It was a really awesome meal.

Hung, the winner of this season's Top Chef was also one of my favorites and I've been trying to keep tabs on him, seeing if he's going to open a restaurant as well. Before he won Top Chef he was the Executive Sous Chef at a restaurant in Las Vegas so I've been hoping he'd open one there that I could visit on one of my trips there.

Well, as we were eating Cyndie looked up and said, "Is that Harold?" Sure enough it was. He was talking to the people a table over from us. So I looked over to see who was so important that the Chef would come out of the kitchen to greet them. It was Hung! 1 table over from us. I fought the urge to make small talk with celebrities knowing how annoying it must be to not be able to eat a meal in peace. It was fun enough just to see them.

After dinner we walked around for a while and found ourselves in Washington Square, the site of the huge arch that they show on Friends all the time. So Cyndie and I took some pictures there. I just had our point and shoot so the quality is kind of eh.

I've been reminded many times that Cyndie's never been on the blog. Well, here she is in all of her glory!

After we got back to the apartment we jumped on iChat and said goodnight to Makenzie before she went to bed. I know video chat has been around for a while but how how freaking cool is it? Its an awesome way to keep in touch and help Makenzie feel ok with us being gone.

Not sure why this one makes her look like she has no teeth but its funny anyway.

Check back tomorrow for more fun in Manhattan!

The View

2007-12-03T14:19:00.001-08:00

Cyndie and I rented an apartment for the week instead of getting a room at a hotel. I'm so glad we did it this way. I don't have to worry about a maid stealing my gear, it's way nicer than a hotel room and it was so much cheaper too. We're in a great building downtown by Battery Park and we have an incredible view.

These were taken from our window this afternoon. The weather here is getting pretty crazy. Its super cold and windy and we're supposed to get some more snow tonight and tomorrow. I love it!

Guggenheim

2007-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Wow!

New York Engagement

2007-12-03T02:43:00.001-08:00

Its soooooo late so I'm not going to write much now. I'll fill you in on our trip later. Yesterday I shot Jennifer and Andrew's engagement pictures. We travelled all over Manhattan and even took a little trip over to Brooklyn too. We had a blast and got some really fun images. Here you go!

And finally a sweet picture of the Manhattan Bridge I took while we were in Brooklyn.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

2007-11-30T02:59:00.000-08:00

We leave today for NYC. We have an INCREDIBLE engagement shoot tomorrow in Manhattan and I just can't wait. I'll try to have images up Sunday or Monday at the latest. Cyndie and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary in a couple of weeks so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and stay a few extra days to celebrate. So after the shoot we have 4 days of bumming around the city which will be just amazing. The next Saturday I'm shooting the New York couple's wedding so be looking for that soon too!

Well I gotta go find a coat to take. Its supposed to snow this week!

Aughhhh!

2007-11-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

I was putting one of Makenzie's Christmas presents in the garage and when I opened it up this was what I was greeted by! I hate spiders especially black widows.

Date Night

2007-11-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

I took Makenzie out a few nights ago for coffee. She's so much fun. This picture shows a few things: #1. my beautiful daughter and #2. Starbucks brought out the Holiday Cups! Sad as it seems, here in southern California where we have no seasons, the holiday cups are one of the things that make it feel like Christmas time... atleast for me. After the holiday I promise to get back to regular posting (weddings, engagements... etc.) Also next week Cyndie and I leave for New York again for a spectacular "Christmas in New York" engagement session. Look for that soon!

Cyndie, Makenzie and I are having our first solo holiday tomorrow... just the three of us. I'm actually really excited. We don't really care that much for traditional Thanksgiving fare so we're gonna start our own tradition and make some really great steaks. A good filet beats turkey any day.

Hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Travel Prints

2007-11-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

Last month I took a trip up the coast to unwind as wedding season was coming to a close. Now that its officially over (I've got a couple weddings in December but that's it for the year) in addition to the mountain of albums we're working on I'll be getting all of the images from the trip finished up and I'll be creating a gallery online to look through and order prints.

I'm still working out the details but the prints will most likely be "Giclee Prints", a printing technique that offers stunning reproductions on fine art paper. These are not your typical photographic prints. I'm super excited about this. Keep checking back. I hope to have everything taken care of and ready to go in the next month or so.

Back Home

2007-11-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well I'm home. I have a shoot in L.A. tonight so Cyndie, Makenzie and I went out to get some Chinese for lunch before I take off. Like I've said here before we love Chinese but we've had a rough time finding a restaurant that compares to our old favorite back in Texas. So we keep searching. While Cyndie and I have yet to be thrilled Makenzie just loves every place we go. All she cares about is whether they have steamed rice. Here she is polishing off the rest of the bowl. I wish I could show you the mess she made eating that whole thing (you can see some of it in front of her plate there) but the busboy just cleaned the table. Haha.