Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

One of the things I love to do is travel. And well, if I can throw in a seminar in there as a tax benefit, all the better. Add to that my mom and sister live in the ATL and I can borrow my sisters Black Mustang Convertible to drive around in...well, you get the picture.

During the quieter wedding months besides actually getting caught up on things like reading all those photo magazines I subscribe to, I'm always looking for seminars to help replenish the creative muse. And strangely enough, none of them have a thing to do with the big white dress. Though I love shooting weddings, when I want to revive my photo soul, I always turn to hard core photojournalism seminars. I'm especially always moved by War Photographers or journalists who are out in the field risking their lives to make photos. Documentary photographers, who dedicate their lives to telling a life story through photographs.

One of the reasons I wanted to go to this seminar was the work of an amazing photographer Todd Heisler who is with the Rocky Mountain News. I first saw his work a few years ago when I was in Denver, and it blew my mind. When I saw he was going to be at this seminar, it sealed the deal for me. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the series Final Salute. It's a raw, moving piece about the role of a Marine Officer and his role informing military families that their loved one has died. It also chronicals the thoughts and feelings of a young pregnant woman who's husband has been killed overseas and what she goes through. Watching these images and hearing the commentary on them by the photographer reduced the entire room to tears. Take some time to look through this series if you can. It's very powerful.

And, of course, where there are photographers, there will be a little fun, too. Maybe an Appeltini or two, maybe a Newcastle or three, who's counting? We had a great party at the amazing studio of Zach Arias and Marc Climie. Along their cyc wall (the area where they photograph in the studio) they had set up a self portrait station where we could all take pictures of ourselves with a remote system. As you can imagine, the photographs got progressively more embarassing as the night wore on, so I won't bore you with those :) I will share a group photo of some of the most kick ass wedding photographers on the planet, and I am totally not biased. These folks are from all over the country, and I count them as some of my best friends. Brooks Whittington, Karen and Co, La Cour Photography, Almasy Visual Arts, Tim Harmann and yours truly. Notice how the crafty Marc Climie got us all to don his "Climie and Co" T-shirts for the photos. If you can't beat your competition, make them advertise for you when they are drunk :)