This weekend I decided to take off and have a little fun and do a little networking.  I’m just walking in the door now, with just about no sleep, but some amazing memories and stories from this past weekend with my best friends Robert Kaussner and Frank DiMeo.  We had the chance to meet some incredible people last night, most notably Grace Ormonde (editor for both Wedding Style Magazine and Marriage Magazine), among many other wedding professionals who are highly creative and at the top of their field.

I was so inspired last night that I’ve decided to put out some calls and hope to do some bridal fashion here soon.  Some of the photographs, dresses, flowers, hand bags, and overall fashion we’ve seen over the last couple days has sparked a big time desire to get working on a collaborative shoot soon with some of my industry friends.

I need to get some sleep, but I just wanted to share what an amazing weekend it’s been, and how refreshing it was to meet so many talented pros. 

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Monica Shah is a bride
of mine from 2005 who I just adore.  Seriously, Monica is amazing and it’s been
such an incredible experience getting to know her.  Well, I was checked my
webstats today, as I frequently do to see where people are coming to my site
from, and I see a link from weddingsutra.com.  I was curious because it was
landing me some traffic, and when I clicked on the link I see Monica and
Tushar’s wedding was selected by that site as a feature wedding. 
Congratulations you two! 

Here is the link

It really is
quite the story too, it gives some awesome insite to their history together.  If
you are reading this Monica I’m so glad you got to share you’re amazing story
with so many people.

PS- you’ll notice if you read the story that there
is only one vendor that is named, and of course he was "one of her favorites"
while he "captured the three day wedding with
beautiful photojournalistic pictures."  ;-) 

PPS- the 2 and 3 day events
and coverages are hands down my favorites, and I see that is catching on big
time.  2006 will feature the most multiple day wedding coverages I’ve ever
done (almost doubling the previous best of last year). 
 

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There are some amazing opportunities being presented in the photo industry right now, and some of the ideas are incredible.  Right now I’m currently working on making some additions to my product line for 06 and 07.  Newer style digital albums that actually allow printing everywhere, including the cover, along with more page options… proofing that would take place on your iPod instead of the old paper proofs, so you’d get an iPod full of images instead of a box of prints….. digital picture frames that I’d load with retouched images from the wedding that run as a slideshow in your picture frame instead of a static picture on paper…. and more.  Just some really cool stuff. 

Before I offer any of these products though, I’m currently making purchases and trying them out, while also determining which I can put into production easily and effectively.  Once I determine which I can offer I am going to be sending a mass email to people asking what is attractive and what isn’t… so be on the lookout for some very cool product proposals soon!!

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This afternoon I had the pleasure of enjoying an amazing lunch with Robert Kaussner, Frank DiMeo, and Tara Reimer.  Tara is the owner/operator of Terra Rosa, the premier events planning company (among many other things) here in Ithaca.  It was an overdue, but much enjoyed gathering between us that I think resulted in some great ideas about the upcoming season and beyond.  So much so that we actually continued the brainstorming at the studio afterwards actually.  Look for some collaborative efforts by us in combining some of the best wedding vendors in upstate sometime in the near future.

Thanks so much you 3 for an awesome get together, and I’m already looking forward to the next (as is my stomach)….

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This is the first time (but certainly not the last) Nicky has graced the blog, so for those of you who don’t know… DJ Nicky Wood here in Ithaca is the best DJ in CNY.  Nicky is a friend of mine, so myself and Robert Kaussner decided to go out last night and watch him tear the roof off the local club.  In addition to Nicky being a friend, we also get to work together at weddings so it’s always good to stay in touch and see each other (which we don’t do enough of, so hopefully this starts a change in that!). 

I know past couples have used Nicky and there are couples reading this for 06 who are using Nicky, and if you are feel free to leave a comment.  If you aren’t using Nicky and haven’t booked anyone yet…… well you know who I like ;)

The first image is Robert, Nicky, and myself.  The second image is with me and the bouncers.  Of course all of them have arms the size of my head so I had to put a little flex in there for irony.  The guy with his arm around me is my good friend Freeman.  Free and I grew up together and he’s like family to me, it was so good seeing you last night Free!  Enjoy the images… and hopefully some of Nicky’s music in the future!  Thanks for a good time Nicky

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Every winter I try and do something with fashion, some type of conceptual shoot.  I really believe it helps me think outside the box when it comes to weddings, it contributes to the editorial or fun look of my work.  The "off-season" allows me to focus on catching up with albums, dialing in the business for the following year, and helping me gather some inspiration. 

The transformation of the wedding market from traditional imagery to cutting edge creativity is one fueled by other types of photographers entering the market I believe.  As many of you know I originally had fashion photography on my mind when I wanted to enter professional photography (you can see my fashion work at www.lukewalkerfashion.com), and didn’t have much ambition to do weddings.  Once I started getting into it I decided that if I was to do weddings it was not going to be traditional type work, that if someone really wanted to use me I’d be more than happy to work with them to give them amazing photographs, not amazing wedding photographs.  Thus I think going back and doing a couple fashion shoots in the winter is vital to help keep me "fresh" and different.  Here are some images I shot with my friend Megan recently (photographers – contact me if you’re interested in working with her, she’s amazing)….

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I’ve been working with Leonard Assante the last couple weeks tweaking some of my graphic pieces, and one of the tweaks Len recommended was an altered logo.  Len proposed my W be in a box which can be used as a stand alone logo… and I loved the idea.  After some playing we’ve fused our ideas and created something I’m really excited about.  So I have some exciting things coming now that we have the logo finalized :)  Be on the lookout for some new pieces along with a new mailing campaign.

I’m really in love with the new stand alone logo so if you start seeing it around town on some shirts, hats, stickers, heck maybe even some tire covers on the back of people’s cars then you’ll know they are fellow LWP lovers!! ;)  By the way, I never realized how many cool possibilities there are for putting your logo on stuff.  Hit me with any cool ideas if you have them of course!

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48 comments later, along with countless emails and the most blog traffic ever, we have a winner of the first annual photo contest.  Congratulations to Marissa, the owner of cake #2, as the winner with a total of 15 votes!  I made the mistake of capping the votes on the contest to the first one to receive 5 votes wins (I won’t do that again next year!), but Marissa was the first to do that as well… so she won on both levels.

We discussed the prize for her victory, and we decided to do 3 8×10 enlargements instead of one huge print.  I think this will work out better because of the versatility it gives her in displaying them.  When discussing the pictures to have custom printed we got going back and forth on several of the images, and she has some really awesome things to say… so I’ve copied and pasted some of her comments below in a different entry.  Please read them if you get a chance, and you’ll see why I love Marissa so much and have mentioned her repeatedly on the blog :))

Anyway, the 3 images will be sent to the lab and printed on our super chic metallic surface for some awesome prints.  Here are the 3 we went with….

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Favorite BY FAR #82

The first time I saw this picture, when
you posted it to the blog so I could see it when we returned from our honeymoon,
I was seriously taken back!  I must have said, “That can’t be me!  Look how great
that is!” about a million times.  Everyone refers to that picture are our "movie
star" pose!  I had it blown up to an 11 X 14 on pictage and did it in Black
& White and it’s now the focal point of my wall display going up our
staircase.  Just amazing!

Favorite #245

The colors in this one are amazing.  All
of our parents and grandparents chose this picture to put in the sterling silver
frames we gave them as wedding thank-you gifts.  It also happens to be the
picture that will run with our Wedding Announcement both in the Post Standard
here in

New York

and in the Hartford Courant in

Connecticut

(where I am originally from!)

Favorite #88

And, last but not least by any means, the
famous fire truck angle shot.  I think this is such a unique and cool picture. 
The picture captures a sense of love between Donald & I while at the same
time tying in the idea of how important of a role our local Fire Department has
played in our relationship.  Donald and I met through the fire department … he’s
a firefighter and I wanted to do something to help our community out and, so,
joined our Fire Department Ladies’ Auxillary… and the rest is
history!

… On a side note, I just consider myself
SO lucky to have found Luke when we were searching for photographers. I look so
forward to seeing the developments in his career over the next few years because
I just KNOW that he’s going to be super successful.  His success is already
evident in every picture he takes.  I only hope that I might be able to steal
him at some point next year for a possible first year anniversary shoot!!!  Best
Wishes in the future.. you rock!!

Thanks so much Marissa, from the bottom of my heart I have truly loved getting to know you through this whole process :)  Here are the images she’s referring too in order….

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Many of you might remember these faces from the engagement session we did that was posted back in November.  Congrats to Corry and Greg on a beautiful intimate wedding this past Sunday at the Sherwood Inn located in downtown Skaneateles.  I’ve gotten to hang out a little with these two… from here in the studio, to pizza (and Dr. Pepper) in Syracuse, to engagement images, and it was an absolute pleasure getting to be there for their wedding day as well.  Enjoy the images you two and have fun in Jamaica!!

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