Andrew Niesen

I confess, I'm a four-bars-of-service kind of girl. If my phone dips below three bars, I start to get very nervous.

So, my jaw dropped when our GPS told us to turn down an "Unnamed Road" in Oregon and my phone started beeping loudly, warning me that I had ventured beyond connectedness, 2,588 miles from home.

It was a good experience for me to be disconnected for an entire weekend. It was surprisingly refreshing to toss my phone into a drawer and leave it there.

Thanks Joe and Marilyn for hosting us in your home, peacefully perched off the beaten path! We can see why you guys chose to live here. After two visits this Fall, we've fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest. I'm dreaming about starting a winery in the Willamette Valley. LaCour wine sounds pretty cool!

Today was the ShootQ Set-Up Party in Portland. Thanks Kevin Meyers for getting everyone together. Darcie Radtke let us use her beautiful new studio for the party! Thanks guys for reaching out to your fellow photographers to make the ShootQ set-up so successful.

Rachel and I can't remember what time zone we're in. We were in St. Louis for my sister's wedding, then we did a ShootQ setup party on Tuesday there, and returned to Atlanta that night to sleep in our own bed for about 3 hours, and then left for the airport at 6:45 to catch an early flight to Seattle, where we are doing a 3-day commercial shoot.

The flight attendant asked me if I had drugged Rachel because she slept for the first 3 hours of the flight. I think she misses our Tempur-pedic bed!

I realized that we are going to be in all four US time zones twice this month!

I'm a proud older brother! My sister, Katie, and her fiance Mike were married on Saturday in St. Louis. For the first time in recent memory, Rachel and I were on the other side of the camera! It was a surreal and fun experience. I actually got to be a "bridesman" and stand on Katie's side of the aisle with Rachel and our youngest sister Sudie. Mark and Erin did a fantastic job photographing the wedding and shared a sneak peak with us this morning.

Congratulations Katie and Mike! We love you both and are excited for you to continue your life together as partners and best friends.

We had a great whirlwind trip to New York for PPE. Check out these photos from Leica and Livebooks. Thanks everyone for stopping by and catching up with us. I don't have much time to write, because we're off to St. Louis for my sister's wedding!

The LaCour team will be in New York City this week attending the Photo Plus Expo. Here's the schedule, including where we're speaking. Come by and see us!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18th

• Leica Booth, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. : Andrew will be at the Leica booth. Come see some of his recent photos that he's made with his Leica M8.

• LiveBooks Booth, 10:30 a.m. : Mark will give a presentation entitled Accelerating Buzz

• Photoshelter Party, 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. : Join at Lotus Studio for the party! Click Here to Register.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19th

• Panel Discussion, 3:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m., How to Get Started in Multimedia : Mark will join a panel of multimedia experts who will explore the basics of multimedia storytelling and production and how to apply storytelling skills as photojournalists or wedding photographers to the mediums of audio and video.

Additional Fun:
Ron Dawson of Cinematic Studios interviewed Erin and Mark last month and just posted the podcast on his new site: F-Stop Beyond : A Journey Into the Heart of the Visual Artist. Ron has interviewed some great photographers on his new site, so be sure to check it out. Look for Andrew and Rachel's interview soon.

*Click Here for Mark & Erin's interview.