Ok, I'm a little embarrassed to be asking this.  Some nice person out there has nominated me for Evening Magazine's Best of Western Washington contest under the Wedding Photographer category.  There are a TON of other talented photogs up for it and I don't expect anything except exposure to a some folks that otherwise wouldn't have found photojj.com. 
 
If you are happy with the work we've done together and have a moment to share that thought, please hop on over to the Best of Western Washington website (try saying that with peanut butter in your mouth) and cast your vote.  They require a valid email address to prove you're human but promise not to spam you.  
 
If you're feeling super generous, you can find me on Yelp.com too:  http://tinyurl.com/4dj2ro.   If you have to choose one or the other, choose Yelp (choosey moms - choose Jif).
 
 
Thank you!!!

I'm buying a new lens tomorrow. I feel like I'm bringing home a baby!

One Light Seattle was two days ago (well, actually one day if you count our 2am Tuesday end time) and my head is still buzzing with inverse square law, bright white pops of light, grids and Sunpak 120Js. I was already familiar with a lot of what Zack spoke about but it was great to see him in action and it's always good to have a refresher. I highly recommended it for anyone looking to take their on location shoots a step further or if you need a nudge taking your flash off camera. Here's Zack, just before taking our group photo on the Bell St. Pier. Seconds after I took this image Zack moved his hand and the wind blew the stand to the ground, breaking the flash's plastic housing in half.. Luckily the umbrella cushioned the tube's fall and he was able to put the housing on gaffer tape life support.

My buddy Amy Stevens is showing her photographs of the crazy colorful homemade cakes she makes, set on various patterned backgrounds at the PCNW this month. They're like Martha Stewart on mushrooms. Seriously - you have to click that link.

These days she's living in Philadelphia (they give her grant money to do this!) but she's here tonight for the opening reception from 6-8pm. Come early and you'll be treated to a firsthand explanation of her methods.

Alex Prager and Susan Anderson are also showing, as part of the "Sugar & Spice" theme.

NY Times Mag fawns over Flickr. (Thanks for the link Jess!)

Strobist in USA Today. I'm sure to have that "work, rest and play" lyric in my head the rest of the day.

I cut and sleeved negatives all weekend. Placing Robin's negs from Christmas 2006 on the lightbox to re-sleeve, the kitsch of their current home caught my eye; "Memories Enclosed....Handle With Care". It's so cute I don't know if I can take them out. They're still on the lightbox.

One of my goals this year is to beef up my strobe lighting bag of tricks. I've been doing more strobe/ambient balancing in my wedding work and am looking for ways to make it more accessible and easier to use on location, on the fly, in fast paced situations.

Enter Zack Arias. Zack is seemingly ubiquitious online. He has a website for headshots, another for music photography, one for his wedding work with Marc Climie, a separate url for his blog, a myspace and One Light, which is how I found him. One Light is an affodable (seriously. so many photogs charge thousands of bucks and make you fly somewhere for 3 days of marketing their products) workshop for intermediate and advanced photographers covering how to get the most photographic flexibility out of one light. Zack travels the country, stopping for a few days to meet with small groups of photogs in most major metropolitan cities along the way. He spends a full day (it's not uncommon to go up until or past midnight) teaching hands-on through a variety of set-ups with minimal gear.

His worshops are very, very popular. Registration for the 2008 Seattle date was never opened to the public because the waiting list grew so huge. There are 12 photogs per workshop and our waiting list held 80. Meghan, the registrar, gave us a 24 hour heads up that we could start sending payment / registering at 11am pacific yesterday, first come/first served style. I started to stress. The way I combat stress isn't through deep breathing and exercise. I prepare. I over prepare. I lined up the emails and counted down the seconds. My registration was sent at 11:00:01. Yes, I'm a total dork, but 42 others also managed to send theirs in the first 2 minutes.

This morning I get an email from Meghan with the subject "YOU MADE IT!!!!" Sweet baby jesus! Happy dances for everyone!

Just a link before I go, a lesson to be learned. Photoshopping twice the speed of sound, it's easy to get burned.

I'm taking a little trip and won't be able to post for the next week or so. While I'm gone you should have a look at the Photojojo Newsletter archives. Photojojo sends emails twice a week with fun tricks, projects and tidbits for photo lovers.

I'll have a handful of new photos for you when I return and maybe an announcement if all goes as planned.

The Boston Globe has a piece on Autumn de Wilde up. Autumn has been an inspiration to me since coming across her photographs in an Eleni Mandell album 8 years ago. I've had the opportunity to assist her a handful of times on shoots in the Seattle and Portland area. We met backstage at a Death Cab for Cutie show in 2004 and two years later I got a call from Barsuk to assist with a Long Winters, followed by a Jesse Sykes shoot. Since then, I've been part of the crew for a shoot with the Decemberists and recently, the UK band Switches. Coming full circle, I was asked to assist on a Death Cab shoot this week but sadly couldn't switch my schedule in time to make it work.

Jesse Sykes & Phil Wandscher by Autumn de Wilde:

the Long Wingers by Autumn de Wilde:

the Decemberists by Autumn de Wilde:

Makeup by Erin Skipley of Bellatrix Studio and styling assistance by Anna Lange of Pretty Parlor for all of the above. Shirley Kurata and Eden Batki (Autumn's team from LA) were first stylist and assistant for the Decemberists shoot.