Last year, you may remember that I traveled all the way to Vancouver to study with Steve + Jen Bebb – who were named one of the best wedding photographers in the world for that year. Well, this year, I decided to continue my education by attending a seminar given by yet another “top 10″ photographer. Jerry Ghionis is based out of Australia, but is world-renowned for his amazing portraits, as well as his desire to share what he knows with others.

This was truly one of the best, most informative seminars I have been a part of. One of Jerry’s main points is to “get it right in camera”. This means, that if you find the right light, and you use the right settings on the camera, there is very little need to do much, if any, work in Photoshop afterwards. With that being said, the images below are basically straight out of the camera and have only had very slight adjustments to them.

No matter how long I have been a photographer, I will always take time out to learn from someone else. He or she doesn’t have to be a “top 10″ photographer, as I’m sure I will always learn something new to bring to my art.

Here are a few of my images from the seminar – we had some pretty great models to work with!

I recently had the honor of photographing the first birthday party/ Tol of Lucas. A Tol is a special celebration held when a Korean baby turns one year old because in the past, due to a lack of medical information, diseases, and harsh temperatures, the death rate for children was quite high. However, once they reached the age of one, the survival rate went up steeply.

Lucas’ Tol was brimming with color and life, and was quite fun to photograph given that he was surrounded by friends and family who travelled quite far to be there with him.

Such a cool cake

Okay, this isn’t Lucas, but I just love this one… the kid’s got style!

Part of the tradition of a Tol is that the child is presented with a few different options in front of him. Whichever items he chooses dictates his course in life. Lucas chose a book of shakespeare, and a doctor’s stethoscope… Seems like good choices to me.

The post below is password protected so that only those who wish to see something a bit more on the sexy side will see it. There’s nothing in this post that is any more risque than you might see on the cover of a men’s magazine such as Maxim or Stuff…

Lastly, this was my first attempt at a session like this. As such, I’d love to know what you think by commenting!

If you’d like to see P’s session that she did with me for her fiance for Valentine’s Day, the password is: bemine.

Today was the first day of the Brideworld Expo here in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and I met a ton of wonderful new brides and grooms! I’ll be there again tomorrow from 10am – 4pm, so if you’re going, please stop by and say hello!

While going through some images from 2008, I ran across this one from Michelle’s bridal session. Although I imagined the image one way earlier in the year, now I see it differently.

Here is the image as I saw it earlier this year:

And here is the image as I see it now:

What do you think? Do you like the new one or the old one?

Q: What is an Art Book?
A: In short: The most kick a$$ way to display your photos – period.

I just received an amazing studio sample Art Book, and wanted to show it off. This album is a panoramic flush-mount album with brown leather and a blue acrylic cover upgrade.

Take a look –

I had the greatest time shooting engagement photos for Kristen + Aaron in New York! Kristen and I have so much to relate to as well. Like me, she’s from Georgia and she also went to the University of Georgia ( edit: or was it Georgia State? Hmmmm… )!

Both of them are just great fun to spend the day with. We walked around New York and ended up shooting in Grand Central Station, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art! It sounds a bit cliche I’m sure, but man, I love New York!

I can’t wait to shoot your wedding next year guys!

Venue: Bucuti Beach Resort Aruba
Dress: Watters

When Lily sent me a link to a video of a trash the dress session a week before her wedding and called it “inspiration”, I knew this shoot was going to be amazing. For the record, I think “Trash the Dress” has gotten a bad rap by some – Lily’s dress was definitely not trashed at the end of the session (just a bit wet and dirty). Nothing a little elbow grease can’t get out.

I had seen photos of brides and grooms rolling around in the surf or wading into the water a bit from other photographers. However, I wanted to take that concept a bit farther and go UNDER the water. So, that’s what we did!

I’d love to hear what you think – leave comments below.