Blog

We have returned from the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention in Las Vegas with great news! LaCour received WPPI's Buzz Award, an award given for a studio's creative and innovative marketing approach. Our entry focused on LaCour Magazine, our mini-magazine we publish twice a year to all our former and current clients, as well as other vendors and wedding industry professionals. This was the first year WPPI has offered the Buzz Award.

Thousands of entries were submitted from all across the world, so needless to say we feel extremely honored to be recognized. The award was sponsored by WPPI and Blossom Publishing.

This year's WPPI was so inspirational for the four of us. Many of the seminars focused on putting your heart and soul into your photography, constantly renewing your passion, and discovering refreshing ideas and approaches to wedding photography. We left feeling very excited about our upcoming weddings!

We all fly out Saturday to Las Vegas for WPPI! We can't wait to spend some time with all of our friends and colleagues throughout the world who are going to be there. If you're going to be in Vegas for this conference, please say Hi if you see us!

Rachel and I were in St. Louis this week on business, and we finally had a chance to meet Andrew DeLassus, the son of our dear friends, Greg and Liz DeLassus. He's only two months old, but he is already wide-eyed and curious about the world around him. He's also already fluent in German, so he must take after his Godfather :)

It was so much fun to see Greg, the best man in our wedding, in the role of happy father.

We just arrived home from a great trip out west. We visited Arizona and New Mexico, and spent a few days hiking in Grand Canyon National Park.

The Southwestern landscape is beautiful, and the photo opportunities seemed unlimited.

When we woke up the first morning, there was snow covering the magnificent red rock formations outside our bedroom window. The next afternoon, it was 70 degrees and sunny in Grand Canyon National Park!

During our visit in Santa Fe, we discovered a fantastic gallery that specializes in photojournalism. Andrew and I enjoyed getting to know the gallery owners, Sidney and Michelle. If you're ever in Santa Fe, stop by and visit them! Their collection is a remarkable assembly of historic photographs and emerging artists.

Check them out: www.monroegallery.com

We receive a lot of questions from other photographers about our reception lighting technique. We actually have quite a few techniques that incorporate a variety of tools from which we choose depending on the type of lighting required. We will often have a reception in an expansive ballroom that requires big strobes, but we also have a lot of situations where our smaller Canon speedlites are more effective.

We're always looking to try new techniques and test new equipment to integrate into our approach anything that refines our images or makes our jobs easier. Over the past year we've been using more and more speedlites for our reception lighting as opposed to bigger strobes. But it really depends on what is the right tool for the job. One of my favorite tools for easily putting speedlites wherever I need them is a custom clamp developed by Bogen and my friend Joe McNally. It allows me to easily attach my speedlites vitually anywhere I need them. The best part about the clamps and Speedlites are their portability.

I assisted Joe on a cover shoot for National Geographic magazine where we used a lot of speedlites and these clamps. Of course we also used about 16 cases of Profoto strobes and other grip equipment for some of the shots. Again, the key is to select the right tools for the job. Check out Joe's site from this project.