I had so much fun attending Justin & Mary’s “Walk Through a Wedding” workshop last Thursday.   It was a great experience to literally walk through the entire wedding process with the talent and brains behind the Marantz machine.  And… these guys truly must be superhuman.  They just returned from their nationwide “Spread the Love” tour, spoke at WPPI in Vegas and are remodeling their new home from the ground up.  Both Mary and Justin give back to the photography community on so many levels.   Did I mention that they also head our Pictage user group meetings monthly?  It was an awesome day networking and sharing with other photographers.  I learned a few things that will change how I approach my shoot days and can’t wait to start implementing my new tools!    Our models were one of Justin & Mary’s totally adorable couples getting married later this Summer as well as some fellow photographers who stepped up.  The reception part of our day was held at The Guilford Yacht Club.  I had never shot there and the view is lovely!

I’m a huge fan of The New Haven Lawn Club.  It’s an elegant venue from a by gone era and a lovely place to have a wedding reception.  It has recently undergone a renovation and the ballroom is even more lovely than I had remembered.  My friend Aurora Onorato hosted a workshop there recently and invited me to come along.   Aurora is a natural teacher and she talked about all different kinds of lighting situations while we had a beautifully styled shoot and many models in wedding attire.  Definitely my idea of an inspiring fun day.  Our host, Christine Perusse will take fantastic care of you if you plan your wedding at the club.  Many thanks to Aurora Photography for including me and sharing her knowledge with us,  The Wedding Embassy for providing our wardrobe, Stylish Blooms did all of our flowers, Brazen Betties for providing us with all of our accessories and our hair and makeup was done by Kimberly Bordeaux and Samantha and Erin of Shine Salon.  I could create an entire album from the days shoot , so this is just a taste.

Who says that the Winter months are slow.  I’m a “Type A” personality so keeping busy is natural for me.  When I am not working, I’m dreaming up a personal project or attending a workshop to further my education and networking with other wedding professionals.   I started the New Year at Mystic 5 a fantastic event that has been put on for 5 years by Walter Van Dusen .  The line up of speakers is just amazing and it’s such a fabulous way to start out the New Year.  I left feeling as though I might implode, silly terminology for “majorly inspired”.  2010 is going to be a fantastic year.  During one of the presentations, I got to be a part of Joe Mc Nally’s hands on approach to lighting on the fly with small strobes.  Joe’s career has spanned 30 years and his work is simply remarkable.  I would highly recommend this workshop to anyone looking to step up their game in an intensive learning enviroment.  The photo below shows Walter in the foreground and me and my new friend Ritchie (who traveled all the way from Germany) gawking at his laptop.  Fun to be a part of.