One of the best things about this industry is the people. Not just the brides or the grooms, but our peers. The ones we talk shop with, go to happy hour with, and the ones who push us the most.

A few months ago, I was invited to attend a photographer shootout organized by Jared Rey. He invited a handful of us to share techniques, push each other creatively, and just hang out while we photographed Ashley and Tod. Here are a few photos from the shoot.

I think this is just about everyone at the beginning. From L-R: Catie Ronquillo, Amy Karp (kneeling), Magaly Abbott, Stephen Brown, Celina Gomez, Andrea Crosswhite (kneeling), Jared Rey, and Stacy Reeves.

This is who they were photographing.

Here’s Stacy showing Tod how he should pose LIKE A BOSS.

Here he is. LIKE A BOSS.

Here’s another picture of everyone, including Jason Anderson, Josh Littrell, and Allison Davis.

After the shoot, we went over to Babe’s Chicken for some dinner and conversation. Cesar and Tanya showed up and what a coincidence! It was Cesar’s fake 22nd birthday!

Back in October, we attended a marketing workshop hosted by Lawrence Chan of Tofurious. His marketing wisdom, which has helped us finely tune our efforts for long term growth, was held at the fancy smancy Hotel Zaza in uptown Dallas. Here’s a photo of the man himself (and the woman behind him who probably does all the hard work, Julie, lol) during a light test.

Again, this was a great opportunity for Andrew and I to meet other photographers and expand our network of peers. Catie (from above!) is a California transplant. She saw the light at the end of the tunnel and came running. Meegan Weaver from Wichita Falls came here to do some big mall shopping and thought she’d stop by the workshop as well. Scott Pickering was probably the smartest one of us there, with at least a decade of IT experience, but wanted to build his photography business. It’s normal people like these that make the wedding photography industry so diverse and fresh.

At the beginning of March, we’re thinking of heading back to Las Vegas for WPPI, a huge conference of at least 10,000 photographers from around the world. Sure, it’s about education, but with 10,000+ people from different backgrounds and settings coming together, the real value is adding them as Facebook friends creating new connections. If you’re planning on going, add us on facebook let us know!

Lastly, if you’re looking to build your business, I would highly recommend attending Stacy’s Mind Your Business workshop. It’s a 100% business class geared towards photographers. Had this been around when we first started, I think it would have saved us a lot of trial and error. Stacy is a smart Aggie (irony, I know), who’s been in the business of photography for years. As a wedding photographer, your success depends not only on how good your pictures are, but in your ability to run and grow a business. Stacy’s workshop is designed to teach you how to do exactly that, and I’m sure anyone from any industry can benefit from the knowledge she’ll be sharing.

I hope this post will explain why we love our jobs so much. We love what we do, who we get to do it with, and the people who walk in front, behind and alongside of us as we do it.

Oh, and happy new year!

While we were in NYC for Yuri and Kee’s wedding, we took some time off to meet up with Kim and Adam (you may remember them from our preview post). They treated us to a delicious dinner at Buddakan in the Meat Packing District and then took us around town for a mini engagement photo session. We especially love meetings like this because it’s an easy way for us to get to know the couple on a more informal level and, to allow them to get more comfortable with us pointing our cameras at them making out. Hope you enjoy looking at these two because we’ll be posting their gorgeous wedding photos soon too!

We were looking for some posing inspiration so we went to the pros. Not bad, huh?

These two must be taken in small doses. This is all we could handle posting right now.

If you want to learn what krumping is, you need not go further than this blog post.  Amy and Scott Put. On. A. Clinic at their wedding earlier this year and we were there to capture it all!

Let’s start off with their rehearsal dinner that combined Amy’s Vietnamese culture with Scott’s western background.

Scott stuffs his face with marshmallows while Amy looks on…

Amy’s mom walked her out and lead her to Scott

The traditional Vietnamese Tea Ceremony. Instead of hot tea, they served ice cold southern sweet tea.  My kind of tea ceremony!!

Scott’s side set up the Texas themed side after the tea ceremony. This included BBQ, salads, sauce, and plenty of tea!

Scott’s parents even taught a line dance to everyone. (Not krumping though)

Amy and Scott’s first look!

Amy and Scott’s beautiful ceremony was held on the front lawn of the Canyon Creek Country Club in Richardson, TX. The weather was perfect the trees provided a nice even cover for Amy and Scott to worship and get married under.

The cakes were designed by Romano’s Bakery here in Dallas. Janice and her staff are a joy to work with and their cakes are soooo goooood.

Presenting: Amy & Scott’s Krumping 101.
Step 1: Show them a traditional first dance.

Step 2: Krump.

It was great seeing our old clients, Lacey and Darnell, again!

Congrats again Amy and Scott!  You guys are a gorgeous couple and we were so honored to be part of your big day.  :)

Here’s a little clip from Community describing pretty accurately what Amy and Scott were teaching…

Meet two of the sexiest people in Dallas!  Juliet and Derek, the inventors of sexy, know how to turn up the heat despite being camera shy.  Ok, only Derek is camera shy, but you can’t tell, can you?  (I’m gonna go ahead and credit that to my irresistible charm and funny jokes. don’t ask him about it.)  They’re getting married next  year in the Cayman Islands and we are thrilled to be joining them. Check out their engagement photos for a preview of their wedding day chemistry!

We started their engagement session in the upscale Victory Park right by the American Airlines Center (Go Mavs!)  This place is so upscale, they even put out modable furniture in the park for you to sit on….and lie on!

The terrace outside the American Airlines Center has these fountains coming out of the ground, but on most days, they’re not on. I guess we were pretty lucky to shoot their engagement session on a boring ‘ol weekday huh?

After Victory Park, we headed to one of my favorite spots in Dallas, Space Off the Grid. Bruce (the owner) and I have gotten to know each other over the past year and he’s been so accommodating to me and my crazy shoots.  Whenever I shoot there, he’s always engaging himself with the couple and the session, which just speaks to the kind of person he is.  Space Off the Grid is this personality filled old building he renovated into a modern event space and private loft.  If you want to host an urban and trendy event in Dallas, you need to check it out.  But, the real reason I love going there is for the view.

Juliet and Derek, we can’t wait to photograph your Cayman Island wedding!  Thanks for being so sexy together