The Orlando Museum of Art generally picks a theme to go with other exhibits that they are hosting. This year’s theme was Hip Holiday! which was gave it a early 1960′s feel.

Even though there were hundreds of decorated trees to choose from, I focused more on the amazing tiny ornaments hung from the trees. I hope that you enjoy these collages and check out the Festival of Trees next year at the Orlando Museum of Art!

I’ve been all around town to do these photos. I did a family photo session this past weekend at Cypress Grove Park. Before that, I had a couples portrait session in Winter Garden along the West Orange Trail.

I also did several portrait sessions this year at Walt Disney World. I had two different family portrait sessions at Disney’s Boardwalk resort. I also did a portrait session at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Osborne Spectacle of Lights made for an amazing backdrop for some great images!

I also had a home portrait session with my two dogs. Every year, our Christmas cards feature them, and it’s an annual challenge to top the previous year’s card. (I’ll be posting those pictures later).

I’ve attached a collage of some of my recent photos. I hope you enjoy them!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend two days with legendary wedding photographer, David Ziser. David has been shooting weddings in the Cincinnati, Ohio area for over 40 years. His lectures at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International pull in over 800 attendees.

This Saturday, I had the honor being his assistant at a wedding in Tampa, Florida. It was a smaller size wedding of about 70 guests held at the Heritage United Methodist Church in Clearwater, Florida with a reception immediately following at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.

Working with David was a fantastic learning experience for me. It was also the first time I’ve been an assistant at a wedding, so the responsibilities were a little different than I was used to.

The bride (Becky) and groom (Paul) wanted to have a “first look” before the ceremony. So, we photographed the couple when they first saw each other on their wedding day. We then visited different locations around the sanctuary at Heritage United Methodist Church. It’s a beautiful modern church with many angles and leading lines that make for great photographs.

From there, David found a great area on the grounds of the church where we took all of the family and bridal party portraits. We also had some fun taking photos with the bridal party at the pumpkin patch that the church had going on. A wedding day is generally on a tight schedule, so it was nice to have all of these portraits complete before the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we headed across town to the Florida Aquarium at Channelside in Tampa, Florida. David does some amazing environmental portraits and being able to take photographs in this gorgeous room (complete with sharks and sea turtles swimming by) offered some fantastic photo opportunities. I assisted David with the lighting as not only did we have to light up the bride and groom; we also had to light up the room which was very dark and we had to light the fish in the aquarium! It was a very tricky photo, but David pulled it off. You can see a photo from before the reception on David’s blog (here).

It was a fun reception complete with a visit by two ADORABLE penguins. The guests all seemed to have had a great time in a very cool venue.

Being able to work for David was an amazing learning experience, something I’ll never forget. I learned many new technical techniques from him during the day. I also witnessed how he worked the event with the utmost in class and professionalism. David is famous for his amazing images. But, David Ziser’s 30 years of success in the wedding photography industry is because of the level of service he provides his clients.

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Two days later, I headed back to Tampa to attend a workshop that David was teaching. The class is part of the Dave Cross Workshops held at Studio 3 in Oldsmar, Florida. It was an intimate class that allowed us to ask a lot of questions and to be involved in the class. It was nice to see Tony, a fellow photographer, who was a participant in my photo walk, in attendance at David Ziser’s class.

We spent the morning reviewing different lighting techniques and how to make lighting exciting. We also had some informal portfolio reviews by LaDawn Ziser, which were great.

In the afternoon, we headed over to Phillipe Park in Oldsmar, Florida. Our beautiful model, Liz, was a great sport as we hiked around the park.

I took some pictures throughout the day, but my focus was more on the directions given to the model. It was very interesting how a simple gesture change could turn a good pose in to a great pose.

We headed back to the studio to review the pictures taken at the park and we had some additional time to touch on various topics.

Between the wedding on Saturday and the class on Monday, I feel great right now about all that I have learned. I also can’t wait until my next event to use some of these new found techniques. David and LaDawn Ziser are two amazing individuals and it humbles me to have had the opportunity to work with both of them.

Also, this is my second time heading to the Dave Cross Workshops. Dave has brought hosted workshops with some of the biggest names in the photography industry. It’s a rare opportunity that someone can have access like that. If you are looking to excel your photography or design skills, I strongly recommend you check out his workshops.

In closure, I wanted to include some of the photos I took at the workshop. It shows what a great job David does at finding an ideal backdrop and posing the model in a way that is very beautiful. I also included a quick photo of David in action with some of the students photographing as well.

I hope you enjoy.

I chose to lead a walk at EPCOT because of all of the photo diversity. There’s no where else where you can see so much in just a mile long walk.

We started with a group photo in front of Spaceship Earth, and then headed slowly back through Future World. It was first weekend of the Food and Wine festival, and Ocean Spray had a cranberry bog which was a big hit with the photographers.

We then walked around the countries of World Showcase ending at Nine Dragons at the China pavilion for a great lunch. Lunch also gave everyone a chance to share the photos they took and to talk photography.

After getting home, I was very impressed with all of the participant’s photos. I created a flickr group for everyone to post their photos from the day. I encourage you to check it out here. I was a little disappointed with my own photos. But, it was to be expected as I spent more time talking to the participants and getting to know one another than I did on my personal photos.

One thing you’ll notice is that many the photos aren’t the typical theme park photos. One of the honors of leading a walk is that I had the responsibility of picking the best photo of the day. I gave the group an assignment of staying away from the “post card” photographs.

Curiously though, the winning picture was of Spaceship Earth, the quintessential post card subject. The image by William Beem is the most beautiful photo I have ever seen of Spaceship Earth. Mostly, because he took something that is so large (18 stories) and overwhelming and made it feel small and delicate to me. The photo looked more like a Christmas ornament than park icon.

You can see William’s photo and all of the other submissions for the contest at my official photo walk page at www.worldwidephotowalk.com.

Overall, it was a great day, and I was so proud to have led my own Photo Walk! There’s already talk about doing another one in the not so distant future. I can’t wait!

Below is the image we took to start the day of the great group of photographers that joined us!

Four years later, this photo walk has grown immensely. This year, there were over 1100 walks worldwide, with over 28,000 participants! It’s fun to think that while we’re walking, there are other groups doing the same thing in such far reaches of the globe as Iran, Mongolia, and Nigeria.

This year, I participated in two walks. In addition to leading my own walk (more details on that in a subsequent post), I had the pleasure to join Scott Kelby through the streets of downtown Tampa, where he led his own walk.

We met at Curtis Hixon park and strolled passed the Glazer Children’s Museum and the Tampa Museum of Art. We then headed through some of the side streets of downtown Tampa, ending at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for a fantastic lunch.

Here are some of my pictures of the day. The first picture is the group shot that Scott grabbed of our group before we headed out. The University of Tampa serves as a backdrop.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scott Kelby Announces the Fourth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk
The Largest Global Social Event for Photographers

TAMPA, FL – August 24, 2011 – On Saturday, October 1 and Sunday, October 2, the whole world will be walking again with Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and #1 bestselling computer and technology book author, in his Fourth Annual Worldwide Photo Walk™ — the world’s largest global social photography event in the history of photography.

This year, the Photo Walk will take place over two days in October giving more photographers from around the world a chance to participate. In 2010, more than 30,000 photographers walked in over 1,000 locations taking 6 million images in just one day. We anticipate that this year’s Photo Walk will be one of our biggest events.

DSWfoto is helping Orlando take part in this worldwide event by organizing a Photo Walk at Epcot at Walt Disney World on October 2, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.. For more information, visit http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/orlando-fl-united-states-2/, where you can also sign up to participate in the Photo Walk.

The Photo Walk is free and open to anyone who owns a camera. More Photo Walk details are available at: http://worldwidephotowalk.com/ or visit the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk Facebook page.

The 2011 Photo Walk is co-sponsored by Adobe. Additional sponsors include Wescott, KelbyTraining.com, NAPP, Peachpit, Mpix, Wacom, Manfrotto, onOne Software, Tamron, Tiffen and B&H.

About NAPP

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is a dynamic trade association and the world’s leading resource for Adobe® Photoshop® and Photoshop® Lightroom® training, news, and education. An award-winning team of Photoshop and photography experts, authors, consultants, and trainers lead the association – keeping its members on the cutting edge of Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography techniques and technology. With 72,000 members in 106 countries, NAPP is the largest digital imaging and graphics association worldwide. Visit http://www.photoshopuser.com for more information.

# # #
Media Contact:
Mary Laurinaitis
NAPP/Media Manager
813-433-5005, ext. 162
MaryL@KelbyMediaGroup.com

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.

Although it is great that there are so many resources, it’s sometimes hard to separate the good opportunities from the bad. Based on my experiences, I wanted to share a list of some of my preferred methods for education, along with some specific recommendations.

Blogs

Blogs are a great source for free information. While they may be difficult to keep up with on a regular basis, blogs can also be good places to search for specific topics. For example, there was some buzz last week about the “Supermoon.” I’ve photographed the moon in the past, but it’s not something I do routinely. So, it was nice to quickly search some of my favorite blogs to find articles on “taking pictures of the moon.”

Another favorite aspect to blogs is being able to look at images posted by other photographers that I greatly admire. Just like an actor learns by watching other movies, there is so much to learn by looking at other photographers’ work.

Although I regularly read about 20 different blog sites, there are three that I strongly recommend to others:

Scott Kelby is the president of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). More than anything, he is one of the best educators out there on all things related to imagery. His three part book series on digital photography is an industry standard. His daily blog is always a quick and fun read, supplying lots of little nuggets of information. Every Wednesday, he has a guest blogger that leads to some of the more interesting and talked about posts.

David Ziser is one of the more recognized names in the wedding photography industry. He runs a blog dedicated to wedding and event photography with two posts a day. David writes in a conversational, casual tone that sounds like he is talking directly to you. The text posts are full of great tips and pointers and the image posts contain samples of his most recent work, which are great for inspiration.

Jasmine Star is one of the top 10 wedding photographers right now. Her work is fantastic. But, more importantly, it’s her personality that shines on this blog. I can’t imagine how many weddings she has booked purely on her candidness, charm and style.

Workshops

Workshops are another great way of learning. Generally, there is a lecture/demonstration followed by some hands-on opportunity. I’m definitely a hands-on person and I find it much easier to learn by doing than listening.

However, it is very important to make sure that workshops that include an opportunity to take pictures have a cap on the number of students. It can be frustrating being elbow to elbow with 50+ other photographers in a small space trying to take a photo of a single model.

That’s not to say there aren’t some very good workshops out there:

A couple years ago, Gray Photography presented their In Camera Workshop in Jacksonville Beach, and I was extremely impressed. While, at the time, Zack and Jody only had a couple years of experience, they definitely knew their craft and had some great vision. I was also sold on the class because it was limited to only 10 students. Since then, their business has grown immensely, and unfortunately so has their prices. Even so, it is still worth it, as it was some of the best education I’ve ever received.

John and Susan from the Harmon School of Photography operate their photography school out of Harmon Photo in downtown Orlando. They teach a wide range of classes from how to use your camera to studio lighting to HDR (High Dynamic Range). Many of their classes are quite affordable, and they are very helpful to people of all skill sets. Having them in town is a perk limited to us in Orlando, but I’m sure there are similar educational opportunities out there. So don’t discount your local camera stores!

If you want to know how to take a picture and use a flash, this is THE workshop to attend. Joe is one of the best photographers on this planet, and he’s also one heck of an educator. He has taught several workshops under different titles. He is currently touring the country as part of The Flash Bus tour with another great photographer, David Hobby. If this tour comes near your town, I would strongly recommend you attend.

Podcasts

Podcasts have essentially replaced radio for me these days. I’m constantly listening to a diverse group of podcasts, many of which are geared towards photography. Some of these podcasts have been around for years, and thus have accumulated quite a library of episodes in the archives. That makes podcasts, like blogs, a wonderful source for searching topics. I should also mention that each of these podcasts also have associated websites with a wealth of additional knowledge.

There are three different podcasts that jump out to me:

This weekly podcast is a great mixture of photo industry news, interviews, tips, and Q&A. It is generally hosted by a panel of 3-5 different photographers.

Scott Bourne runs this Q&A based podcast that comes out the 5th, 15th, and 25th of every month. The episodes can run the full gamut of photography topics as the listeners ask the questions. Many of the lessons learned can be applied to all disciplines. Scott generally has another photographer on as a co-host and he’s fantastic at explaining complicated issues in a way that is easy to understand. If you are frugal minded, you might want to close your ears sometimes as Scott has no qualms in recommending a $6000 lens.

Chris Marquardt is based out of Tübingen, Germany and recently crossed the 500 episode mark. He is also a regular contributor to The Tech Guy nationwide radio show. I do strongly recommend this show, but some episodes can be hit or miss based on the subject matter. For example lately he is focused more on the use of film photography.

Books

In trying to narrow down my favorites, books were by far the hardest. There are so many fantastic books out there on photography. I’m constantly finding great new books on Amazon. The diagrams and explanations of a setup are especially useful in the books, along with some of the behind the scenes stories of the images.

There are three books that are a must-have for any photographer:

Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 – Okay, I cheated a little as it’s a three book set. I previously discussed Scott Kelby’s phenomenal ability to educate, and this book series does not disappoint. This three part series is fantastic; covering almost all aspects photography from “What is an f-stop” to “How do I photograph lightning.” I have read each book in the series so many times that the bindings are starting to fray.

Captured by the Light by David Ziser – David took many of his lessons from Digital Pro Talk and his workshops and put out the ultimate wedding photography book. While it is more specific to wedding photography, I’d recommend it for non-wedding photographers too due to so many great lessons on lighting, posing, and choice of equipment.

The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally – This is one book that perfectly balances amazing photos with amazing stories. Joe has photographed many fascinating people and places over the years, and in The Moment It Clicks, he shares the stories behind the images. This book is more about the emotion of the image than the technical aspects.

Video Training

With video training, I tend to shy away from conventional DVDs as there is limited re-watch value. I prefer video training that has an ever growing collection of material. In other words, I prefer the Netflix membership model as opposed to picking and choosing specific video training opportunities.

This is the third time Scott Kelby’s name has appeared in this article (I said he was the best educator out there). His group runs a site that has many different training videos, generally about an hour in length. There are constant updates as new videos are added. For an annual fee, you have access to the entire library — Photoshop, design, photography and web development are a few of the topics covered. It should be noted that the videos need to be watched over the Internet (no offline option) and they don’t work on the iPhone or iPad (Adobe Flash). Regardless, Kelby Training is a great value.

When the concept for free education was introduced, I was curious as to how this business would sustain. They have periodic in-depth workshops (2, 3 or more days). The content is very similar to what you’d find on higher priced DVDs, but it is broadcast live on the Internet completely free! If you enjoy the courses, you can also buy them for about $100 each. The advantages of buying the courses is that you don’t have to be glued to the website all weekend long and the download quality is much better than the live streaming version. Also, once you download these videos, you are able to copy them to an iPad or smartphone and watch them anytime, anywhere.

Photo Vision is essentially a video magazine. For a very affordable subscription, you receive a DVD four times a year. The DVD consists of about 8 segments (ranging from 10-30 minutes) of small training exercises by great photographers. One disappointment I find is that sometimes the training content may be in areas that I may not be as interested in. That’s one of the advantage of CreativeLive or Kelby Training, as you can pick to choose what areas you are most interested in seeing.

Conferences

I posted about the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographer International) Road Show last year. It’s a well organized presentation by photographers and industry leaders, but it is a bit heavy on the sales and marketing side.

Photoshop World is held twice a year (generally in Orlando and Las Vegas) and is by far my favorite educational resource. Three days of small workshops, lectures, presentations by some of the leading photographers and designers in the industry, and amazing network opportunities with other photographers make this an annual must do. Unlike WPPI, which is a mix of photography and business, Photoshop World is purely about delivering the best image possible by using the tools available today.

Photoshop World 2011 kicks off next week at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. I’ll be attending the event and will try to post daily blog entries about what’s happening. So, please come back for updates!

Liana Lehman Hall, a wedding and portrait photographer, out of Atlanta, Georgia was the host for the event. After a brief presentation, Liana introduced each of the many fantastic presenters.

Doug Gordon, a wedding photographer from New York, was the first speaker. Impressively, he was able to get the crowd of over 200 up on their feet dancing to Y-M-C-A at 8:30 in the morning. His presentation was half motivational / half posing, and jam packed with great humor and energy. There were two model participants who were on hand as Doug worked through his posing work-flow.

Following Doug was Bruce Dorn, a Canon explorer of light (essentially a legend in the industry as selected by Canon). His presentation was on HD Video Capture using the DSLR camera. Even though I have the capabilities of shooting video, it’s something I have only dabbled with. He showed some fabulous examples of how he has embraced the video capabilities of today’s cameras to create amazing portrait sessions, particularly with high school seniors.

One thing WPPI was great at, was feeding us. Between each break there was another assortment of food. And, lunch was no exception. Personally, my favorites were the soft pretzels they had. Those went quick!

After lunch, Amber Holritz, a lifestyle baby photographer from Chattanooga, Tennessee did a presentation on the philosophy and practice of lifestyle baby photography. She told many fantastic stories from over her years, and explained lifestyle photography in more detail. I think in the coming years, lifestyle photography as it applied to children will grow tremendously, similar to how photojournalism changed wedding photography. Although a picture of a baby in a funny hat next to some fake props in a studio are very “cute”. These pictures can become very generic and don’t reflect who we are. Almost all of her photographs are taken at the baby’s home, in areas where the family gathers.

Following Amber was Garrett Nudd, a wedding and portrait photographer based out of Chattanooga. Garrett started out as an Orlando wedding photographer, and still has some roots to the city. His presentation was more on the business side of wedding and portrait photography with many inspirational messages mixed in. We were also fortunate that he brought with him Rebecca Grinnals, founder of Disney’s Fairy Tale weddings, and founder and owner of Engaging Concepts, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the wedding industry. Some of her clients include Disney, Sandals, Harley-Davidson, Graceland, and the Kessler Collection. She spoke about the state of the wedding industry and particularly how it pertains to wedding photographers. She discussed a lot of statistics. But, one that stood out to me was, that on average, 43 different businesses are involved in every wedding (bakeries, florists, caterers, planners, etc.). And who says that planning a wedding isn’t stressful?

The final presenter of the day was Bambi Cantrell. She is a wedding and portrait photographer from San Francisco. She is one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world, and has been for some time. She’s known for creating the most beautiful portraits of brides. Having the opportunity to see her present was the highlight of the day. Even though her presentation was on boudoir photography, many of the posing and lighting techniques translate directly to wedding photography. My only complaint about the day was that Bambi’s presentation started 50 minutes late, and thus, she was rushed for time, and wasn’t able to do her full presentation.

I’ve attached a collage of some of my quick takes from the day (Top Left: Bruce Dorn; Bottom Left: Bambi Cantrell; Center: Doug Gordon; Top Right: Garrett Nudd; Bottom Right: Rebecca Grinnals)

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!!