The previous post showed the start of our portrait session. Molli and Logan recreated a photography session from the 1940s, complete with bright colors, red lips and perfect hair.

We stayed at Rollins College in Winter Park for the second portion of the session. Molli let her hair down, and they both changed in to clothes a lot more common for a portrait session of a couple today.

We revisited a lot of the same locations around Knowles Chapel in Winter Park. We also headed to the old oak tree outside of Rollins Hall. I can’t imagine how old (or heavy) this tree is with two steel beams holding up its’ biggest branches.

We concluded our portrait session the following morning at Cocoa Beach. We met at the Cocoa Beach pier just after sunrise for a swimsuit portrait session. This is also around the same time that Cocoa Beach experienced a huge influx of jellyfish along the coastline. So, needless to say, the photo session was a bit of a challenge, especially because the coast guard was recommending against going in to the water. That still didn’t prevent us from an hour long shoot along the shoreline.

It ended up being like three different photo sessions over two days. We all had a great time during the photo session and Molli and Logan ended up with hundreds of pictures out of it.

Please let me know if you’d be interested in doing a premiere engagement photography session. I have a lot more great ideas and I’m open to yours as well!

You can also see the first half of this portrait session by clicking here: Molli and Logan – A Couples Portrait Session – Winter Park – Part 1

I saw Doug as one of the presenters at last year’s WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) Road Show that came through Orlando. While there were many great speakers that day, I felt that one hour was not enough time for all of the content that Doug was trying to cover. So, I was so glad to hear that he was coming back to Orlando.

Since then, Doug was honored with the United Nations (Yes, THAT United Nations) International Council of Photographs Leadership Award, an amazing and well deserved honor. Having been a wedding photographer for over 20 years, he has definitely made a name for himself, running a business that photographs over 900 weddings every year.

His energy and humor from WPPI came through today as well. Doug Gordon has a great wit that keeps the students very entertained as he goes through a great deal of information.

The four hour wedding workshop was held at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista across the street from Downtown Disney. After a brief introduction and some awfully coordinated “YMCA” dance steps, Doug launched in to a very powerful motivational speech.

We had two models for our class who filled the role of bride and groom. Doug started the class by briefly going over some lighting concepts, demonstrating them on our bride.

After that, we all headed outside for about two hours of shooting. I have to thank Wendy Gunderson who posted a review of the May 24th workshop in Chicago. That blog post gave me a heads up that we may be doing some photography outside. And, yes, it was in the 90s today.

Doug went through his flow posing with the bride and groom on the lawn of the Hilton Lake Buena Vista. Great posing is extremely important to great photography. It’s amazing how Doug goes from pose to pose. That is where the 20+ years of wedding photography experience shows.

Even though I brought my camera for the wedding photography workshop, I knew that there were going to be over 50 people in the class. So, I mostly used my camera for note taking and grabbing pictures to share with everyone on this blog. I’ve always been apprehensive about using workshop photos as part of a portfolio, and all of my portfolio photos are from actual weddings and portrait sessions.

Just like the WPPI road show, I walked away seeing so much great stuff, but out of the over hundred poses he demonstrated, only 5 – 10 will I remember. So, I opted this time to pick up some of his instructional DVDs.

His next workshop will be in Los Angeles on June 26th and I strongly recommend it to anyone in the Southern California area. Doug is a great educator and an extremely nice (and funny!) guy. Visit his site at: Doug Gordon Workshops for more information.

I recently did a premiere couples portrait session with Molli and Logan. The couple met several years ago at the Ohio State University, where they were both attended, and have subsequently graduated from. Molli is currently a graduate student at University of Central Florida in Orlando. While Logan moved out west after graduating from Ohio State.

We chose to do the first part of the portrait session at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Rollins College is the oldest university in Florida, founded in 1885. After checking out the grounds of the university, I know that the portrait session had to take advantage of the amazing architecture at the school.

The couple looked AMAZING in the 1940s style outfits that they wore. Molli, in her red dress, looked as if she had just popped out of a 1943 Coca Cola advertisement. Logan was a natural in front of the camera. The chemistry between these two was fantastic.

We took a lot of the photos around the grounds of the gorgeous Knowles Memorial Chapel. Built in 1932, Knowles Chapel is a beautiful piece of architecture and the grounds around the outsider were gorgeous. I have since put Knowles Chapel on my wish list for wedding ceremony locations that I want to shoot at.

There were so many great pictures over the course of their photo session that I’m going to be breaking up the pictures into three parts. I decided to play around these first photos as well, making them look a little more faded, giving them a classic feel.

I hope that you enjoy these images!

You can also see the second half of this portrait session by clicking here: Molli and Logan – A Couples Portrait Session – Winter Park – Part 2

They were a fantastic couple to work for and the wedding was a fun and relaxing atmosphere. Both the ceremony and reception took place at the River Palm Cottages along the Indian River.

Kelly and Brett’s four dogs were staying in the cottages where the bride and groom got ready. Buster, Kelly’s 10-year-old miniature Pinscher even stopped by the reception for a bit.

The weather was gorgeous that day, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the purple sunset during the bridal portraits.

Kelly and Brett added many cool details, too – from the seashell cake to the personalized wine bottles (with wine made by the groom’s family). Perfect for a wedding on the beach!

Congratulations Kelly and Brett! Thank you for letting me be part of your day!

As long as you book, at a minimum, the standard wedding package before September 1st, 2010, you are eligible for this promotion.

This promotion will take 5% off of your total package price. Please note: The discount applies to packages only. Prints purchased after the event will be at the normal rate.

So, please contact us soon if you want to book your cool winter wedding in Florida!!

I have been approved as a participant photographer of Operation: Love Reunited! This fantastic non-profit organization consisting of professional photographers offers our military service men and women FREE special photo sessions with their families. These sessions intend to serve as great remembrances while our military are deployed overseas.

If you or your loved one is about to be deployed or will be returning soon, as an OpLove photographer, I would like to offer to you a family photography session along with an album of prints and CD of images from that day.

It is my honor to offer this service free of charge to those that fight every day to give me my freedom.

If you are interested in a portrait session, please contact me or visit Operation Love ReUnited for more information.

I had a fabulous time with this gorgeous couple, who will be getting married later this year, and hope that you enjoy these pictures.

They are an adorable couple who will be getting married in a couple weeks. Here are just a few of the images from the morning.

Day 3 was the final day of Photoshop World and things were definitely slowing down.  I attended a small session on the expo floor by glamour and fashion photographer, David Cuerdon, from Chicago. He discussed how to use backgrounds and effects to make senior portraits and fashion photographs more appealing / trendy.

Funny Things Around Photoshop World

As a side note, while walking around Photoshop World, you encounter many funny things.  I found Rick Sammon, author of 34 different photography books, underneath the escalator working on his Podcast, Digital Photography Experience.

Lighting on a Laptop

The first non-expo session I attended this day was by Vincent Versace, a photographer out of Los Angeles.  With several tricks in Photoshop, he was able to do some amazing lighting tricks to turn an otherwise dull image into something more powerful. 

I realized from this class that Photoshop is not something that can be mastered overnight.  He took us through a long series of steps to make an image look amazing.  Unfortunately, his skills left me lost about half way through the presentation.  However, I may consider picking up one of his books to help further my education.

Romancing the Landscape

The final session I attended as part of Photoshop World was Romancing the Landscape by wildlife and nature photographer, Moose Peterson.  Moose, true to the nature of wildlife photography, never uses Photoshop to enhance his images.  However, in this class, he showed how he does use Photoshop in some occasions to enhance his landscape photographs.

And, with that, Photoshop World comes to an end. I had a fabulous time, and will definitely attend it again in the future.

I attended the Lightroom for Wedding Photographers class first thing in the morning and it was definitely time well spent.  It was taught by David Ziser, who also taught the Wedding Photography Workshop on Tuesday.  Not only did he demonstrate some special techniques, he also shared insight into his processes and workflow.

Seeing the Light

The second session of the day was hosted by Jack Reznicki, a commercial photographer out of New York. He spent a great deal of time going through images he has taken explaining how light can affect your images.

Exploring Elements of Digital Photographic Portraits

Helene Glassman taught a class on the basics of digital photographic portraits.  Having done this for some time, I did find that this class was a bit too basic for my taste.  But, it would be great for a beginner.  It covered basic posing techniques using in-class demonstrations.  She also grabbed volunteers from the crowd to assemble for an impromptu group shoot.

Life on Location: Survival Tips for Photographers

This class, hosted by Joe McNally was very similar to his books, Hot Shoe Diaries and From the Moment it Clicks.  Joe would show a photo and then tell how the picture was taken. We heard stories of Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson’s dad standing in a corn field in case she fell from the balance beam held 9 feet in the air.  Stories of travelling to Canada to take pictures of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, with her son, 30 years after the Vietnam Napalm picture made headlines.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, these were just some of those words.  A very great story time with someone who has seen the world.

Bringing Out the Big Guns

This session showed what power a collection of high-end studio strobes can provide. There was a martial artist present who served as a model.  And the instructor, Joe McNally, was able to freeze him in mid air, perfectly lit by the collection of Elinchrom strobes.  If nothing else, it was great seeing just how fast Joe could be on his feet and how close he worked with his assistant in getting everything put together for the ultimate shot.

Stuff You Need to Know to Be a Photographer

With a class title like this, I had to at least check it out.  Not knowing what this class was all about, I just sat back and observed.  I was completely blown away.  Zack Arias spent an hour going through the basics of what is required to be a photographer.  Photography isn’t about F-Stops and what lenses to buy.  It’s about connecting with the moment… Knowing your gear so well, that it’s not part of your thought process when you go to capture that moment.  Photography isn’t about glitzy sales pitches, GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), high SEO, or marketing.  It’s about people.  It’s about life.

By far, this was the best class I attended, and if you ever get a chance to see Zack in action, do it.

The Art of Digital Photography

By the time the final presentation of the day started, my mind was full of the great knowledge I had learned, inspired by the presentation I had just attended, and drained from such a long day.

On stage were seven fantastic artists.  I call them artists, because they weren’t all conventional photographers.  They each took turn showing off their work.  Each photographer / graphic artist was unique, but what they all had in common is that they are all the pinnacle of their craft.

Below is an image of Wildlife and Nature Photographer, Moose Peterson and Street Photographer, Jay Maisel, during the presentation.

Below is an image of Joe McNally, seated with Julianne Kost, Jim DiVitale, and Moose Peterson.  He is illuminated only by the glow of his artwork off of his monitor.  And the smile on his face shows how proud he is of the images that he is showing.