A Search : For Emerging Portrait and Wedding photographers
And a Giveaway

Backstory
Just yesterday I wrote a post about the apparent low percentage of wedding photographers on Google+ at the moment. The article can be read here. https://plus.google.com/100962871525684315897/posts/6T5DrS3wrNk

Developing our community
Here's the thing... even though there are many not on Google+ I recognize there are indeed plenty that are here. Sometimes they don't speak up... sometimes they're really new to Google+ and we just haven't discovered them.

Solutions
So I was talking to +Katherine Cheng at +SmugMug and we'd like to encourage Portrait and Wedding photographers to get onto Google+ ... AND more importantly to be known.

Tell us NAMES of the Wedding and Portrait photographers you know
Tag a name or multiple names of Wedding or Portrait photographers in the comments. Photographers that you are familiar with on Google+ (or tell them to join up, then tag them) Or speak up for yourself!

WPPI=YOU?
Are you an emerging wedding or portrait photographer and have thought about the WPPI Convention in Las Vegas. It's the biggest show for our peoples with great classes great fun times. And a huge huge tradeshow to boot!

Maybe you've been wanting to go but just don't have the funds (because we know how expensive lenses can be).
Perhaps us getting you a free Pass to the convention will make things easier (Usually they're more than $300 a ticket)

GIVEAWAY
Tell us you're interested in going and we'll give away a couple of free WPPI passes to interested and deserving people. You'll still need to get there and support yourself while you're there but you won't have to worry about that one very large expense of a ticket.

Learn more on their site: http://www.wppionline.com/wppi-show.shtml

+SmugMug has given me these tickets to do with as I choose so I think it'd be wise to follow them on Google+

Rules - Basically I just want to find a couple deserving people that want to go and can go and don't already have tickets to go. Just speak up! And I'll talk with those interested to get a better idea of who I should give the passes to.

We will meetup
As another prize you'll get to hangout with me when we're there! haha
BTW - If you're already planning on going with pass in hand and everything. Tell me... I'm making a CIRCLE!

Write the Names anyway
Seriously just tag wedding photographers here even if they aren't able to go to WPPI
And share the post so other wedding/portrait photographers see it!

Culan mountain (Diablerets) on a sunny winter-day
From my blog: http://www.niophoto.com/culan-mountain-diablerets-on-a-sunny-winter-day/

I captured this image during a recent hike in the Swiss Alps. As you can see, it was a beautiful bright and sunny winter-day! I am dedicating this one to +shirley lo and +Folletto Folletto for being good sports!

The image features Culan mountain, with an altitude of 2,789 meters (9,150 ft). It is located in the Swiss Alps, near Ollon, and is part of the Diablerets massif. As most mountains in the Diablerets massif, it has a very characteristic and impressive appearance. I included a snowy meadow and pine trees in the frame to emphasize the beauty of the surroundings I was hiking in.

I am a bit late for #MountainMonday by +Michael Russell, so let's try #MyTownTuesday by +Melanie Kintz and +Eric Leslie for a first time, as this is actually just around the corner where I live :-)

#PlusPhotoExtract by +Jarek Klimek

Austria. Salzburg.
A good view of the baroque architecture on a super rainy day in Salzburg. Even though one of the towers is under construction, it's still got one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps.

#PlusPhotoExtract

Beamed Up

Grandma & Grandson

Not really. :) They are the talents we hired for a shooting. But hey, see that? Even when taking a break, they just played like they were truly grandma & grandson. She just loved to play with the kid so much. And somehow, this kid liked to play with her as well even ignoring her own mother the whole day. :D

#PortraitTuesday by +Laura Balc
#WomenWednesday by +Niki Aguirre +Athena Carey +Lee Daniels +Christina Lawrie +Teresa Stover

Lowlands Around Cowle Mountain at Sunset

I thought I was done with this session, but when I let autopano pro stitch this one, I realized my mistake in overlooking possibly the best image of the actual sunset. It is a big monster -- almost 37 Mpixels!

Full res version in case you are curious:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnk/6798561591/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Playing in the Fog

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some of those images that just keep you coming back. Images that you made but that have a special connection or meaning for you. Beside the image I posted on that day, here is another one of my earliest images (it remains probably my best seller – though that is a very relative term). It was a really warm early spring day. A day that brought some of the thickest fog I have ever seen. You could barely see 20 feet ahead of you. For certainly makes for one of my favourite shooting conditions, the dark, mysterious and atmospheric conditions are great to create some fantastic imagery. The ordinary turns into the extraordinary, the beautiful into the sublime. It’s the perfect condition for simple, streamlined compositions that are half real, half dream.

I headed to my favourite spot back then, a short walk from my place, by the Ottawa river. Remember that at the time, I am almost exclusively a landscape photographer. That said, as I arrived on the scene, I couldn’t help but notice a boy have the time of his life with his father. The scene was touching and beautiful. I knew right there and then that it would make for a compelling image. The only problem was that I didn’t have a clue how to photograph people, and my legendary shyness would very much get in the way. The very thought of mustering the courage to start thinking about approaching them to let me take their photo was too much to bear. So I moved on.

For a while at least. As I was heading back home, I couldn’t help but take some side glances hoping they would start the conversation (yeah, right). For some unknown reason however, I though those trees would also make for a pretty image. Given that I was using my wide-angle, our two friends would hardly feature in the image and I was fine with (yeah, right). Anyhow, I set up, I make an image or two, and miracle, the two decide they have had enough and head out for their car. That meant they were going to walk right into my frame. In the best possible spot. Click. Better to be lucky than good I guess. I’ll take it :).

#plusphotoextract

#oregoncoast #capeperpetua #thorswell
#PlusPhotoExtract #photography

I photographed Thor's Well at Cape Perpetua near Yachats last October with a friend. It's such an exciting place to photograph, but scary too :)

EDIT: Ok, this is more of the story for +Mike Spinak :)

+Tracy Fawns and I went together on this photo excursion together. I had been wanting to go for awhile. We had to wait it out to get the best spout action from the hole. All the time there are waves coming in front and from the sides of us. Watching our backs, dodging the spays and trying to be safe makes it very exciting. We were a bit giggly and scared at the same time :)

emergent

for #TreeTuesday, curated by +Christina Lawrie

Near surface experience...

Onondaga Lake Park