Adena and Andy, my new neighbors and good friends in Denver. We got engaged on the same day!

Erin and Robby, married in July!

Mark and Gina, married in an art gallery!

Lindsey and Corey a great couple I got to photograph while second shooting for my awesome photographer friend Leo Druker

The gorgeous and sexy Amanda, in a stunning boudoir shoot!

Andrea and Bob, a super sweet DC couple.

My friend and fellow past coworker at PBS, Jasmine and her hubby Vince, married this spring!

Amy and Dan engaged….

and then married!

Tiffany and John, firefighter and nurse, soon to be married this September!

The super cool senior Brett, and his big sister Cara

The man who will marry Stefan and I, the amazing Reverend Nate and his beautiful family, taken in Maine!

Alex and Nicole, a super cool DC couple who have their own wedding biz!

And last but not least, punky and spunky Lily and Tony…getting married this month!

In a decision a long time coming, Stefan and I are packing up our belongings, him from CA and me from DC and we are meeting in the middle: Colorado! Say what!? Yes that’s right….we have decided to move to Denver, Colorado and we couldn’t be more excited to start a new phase of our life! A new home, a new state and new possibilities! What’s super exciting about this move is that it will also mark my transition from working part-time on my business over the last 3 years, to making year 4 a full-time endeavor!  I am SO stoked to have more time to focus on my passion, to service all my current and future wonderful clients, and to explore avenues that have been previously stinted due to time limitations.

One thing I would really like to say is how so very thankful I am for all the wonderful clients I have had the chance to work with over the last three years here in DC, and I am esepcially grateful to those of you who have been supporters and clients from year one and have seen me through to today!

While I am moving many miles across the country in June, I will still be spending a considerable amount of time in DC throughout the remainder of 2011, and even in 2012, so I look forward to still being able to schedule sessions in DC with anyone who wants one! I have spent time over the last week notifying all my 2011 and 2012 wedding clients, but for any prospective DC clients, or for those of you who look to me for family portrait sessions or other photography needs, please don’t hesitate to ask any questions you might have, and of course I am always happy to travel for a session or a wedding.

And because no post -even one with such big news as this one- would be complete without photos I give you Gwyn and John, my first Denver couple! Gwyn and John got engaged just 2 weeks ago, and in a stroke of fate Gwyn contacted me just in time for us to have a session last weekend when Stefan and I were in Denver house hunting. She suggested the GORGEOUS Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, and it was a killer location for an early morning engagement session. So here are Gwyn, John and their two adorable pups Dakota and Denali! Congrats guys!

One of my absolute favorite wedding blogs, the fab Grey Likes Weddings co-hosted a shoot with the talented Victor Sizemore, Photographer, to give us fellow wedding photographers a chance to learn and photograph a stylized shoot. Best part, it was themed in the style of Mad Men…that classic sixties style! You know I was signed up as soon as I found out about it. Aside from the gorgeous penthouse at the Palms we shot in and the stunning and super nice models with the gorgeous retro dresses and hairstyles, the shoot  also allowed me to meet the beautiful and uber sweet face behind Grey Likes Weddings; Summer Watkins, who was just as lovely in person as she has been to me in countless email exchanges.

Well I have to say I am super excited about what I took away from the shoot and I can’t wait for you to scroll down and see, but before you go too far, please take a second to awcknowledge the hard work it took by a few key people to make this shoot happen:

- Mentor Photographer: Victor Sizemore
- Stylist: Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings
- Hair and Make Up: Amelia C

Carly wanted to have a bit of that retro hollywood vibe in her engagement photos, but without going so retro and vintage that it felt like a magazine shoot instead of a session to celebrate what an amazing couple her and Ryan are. Well, if I can be so bold, I think we achieved the goal! Just take a look at this gorgeous couple (Scarlett Johansson doppelganger, no?!)

It. Was. Gorgeous.

They have a beautiful little downtown called Wilemstad that looks like a mini tropical version of Copenhagen, and a floating bridge across the canal that connects one side of the town, Punda, to the other side, Otrobanda. Most of the tourists were Dutch, and the radio stations were of course Dutch too, so it was interesting to hear Dutch spoken pretty much everywhere, in addition to a native language that mixes something of a portugese variety with Dutch. All I know is I had no clue what anyone was saying.

We planned a mix of relaxing and adventure, and boy did we have both! We relaxed at our gorgeous resort on white sands in front of blue waters, drank tropical drinks and watched lizards and iguanas skitter by. (One even tried to steal my lunch) We snorkeled and saw hundreds of fish, and we even got to swim with two dolphins where we rode on their dorsal fins (and boy they can MOVE). We went on a rather terrifying horse back riding tour.. my horse Pearl was determined to be in front the entire time, even in front of the tour guide, and was itching to go fast at any opportunity. On more than one occasion I thought my horse was going to prance me right into the road with cars going at 50mph, and then when a dog came nipping at the horses heels I thought for sure it was all over, I was going to get thrown right off the back of her…but, I survived!

We also took a two hour boat ride out to a little island off of Curacao, where the water was even more blue and the sand more white, if that were even possible. What I didn’t know is how sea sick I would get…but luckily that didn’t ruin the whole day and this is where we had the best meal of our whole trip, grilled by the staff of the boat. We even saw sea turtles!

It was over too soon, and I am already counting the days until I can go somewhere tropical and warm again! There’s a lot of pictures, some even from our underwater point and shoot. Hopefully you may be headed somewhere tropical soon yourself, and if not, feel free to live vicariously through these photos!

No, no….I didn’t just learn how to lose money..(though I did learn that too, and not by gambling but MAN…eating in Vegas is PRICEY)

Anyway… I spent last week attending the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) annual conference. It definitely can be said that its one of the industries best gatherings of photography  masters and novices alike, totalling about 14,000 photographers in attendance! You spend your days walking around the trade show, going on shooting excursions, attending classes led by top wedding and portrait photographers around the globe, and even squeezing in some partying in here and there!! ( I didn’t get to go do any shooting myself, but check out local photographer Leo Druker who has some amazing shots up from the 4 shooting workshops he attended)

My brain is so full of info that I have 22 pages of notes, and about 14 different ‘What Erin should do in the next year’ lists regarding this lil ole business of mine. But I have to say, the best thing about my time at WPPI was that I didn’t just learn facts and figures and how to be a better photographer….(but of course I did) more so…I feel like I learned a little bit more about how I can be a better person, a better asset to my community, a better ME.

And that is priceless!

Here’s a little bit about my time in Vegas at WPPI………….Welcome to WPPI!

A great part of the trip was getting to meet and talk to a bunch of the photographers I admire and follow, some who i already knew and some who I was anxiosu to meet! I can’t possibly write about even sinle highlight of the conference, but here’s just a few!

If any bride, wedding photographer, or female photographer period. hasn’t heard of Jessica Claire, well….you are living under a rock! Not only is she one of Orange Counties most sought after wedding photographers, but she’s also the co-creator of one of the best camera/lens bags on the market (and most stylish of course too!). I got to stop and say hi to her for a few minutes at her ShootSac booth:

And Here’s Jessica herself (shes the one smiling):

Then I got to stop over at Kelly Moore‘s booth. Again Not only is Kelly an amazing photographer but she too has taken the common complaint of us girl photographers ‘Why aren’t their any cute camera bags that are actually functional but don’t make me look like a total NERD’ and turned it into a wonderful and stylish product: The Kelly Moore Bag. And did I mention she’s also super nice? Here she is showing people the bags and all their features:

Next I went over to say hi to Tony Bisson from Laguna Albums. I actually used to freelance some album design work for Laguna Albums…and Tony and I know each other from a few years back. He too is a Delaware Native. Thankfully we’ve both moved to better ground though (Sorry Delaware!) I got a picture of the two of us, and then a picture of Tony giving his good adivce on excellent album design. (It’s not as easy as it looks!)

Last but not least by any means is when I got to talk for a minute with the ever amazing Jesh De Rox. Jesh is truly an inspiration. His photography of course is stunning, but more so even than that he himself is just about one of the most geniune people you will ever meet. He makes you think about things you would never think about, and pushes people to grow their business out of love, not money….nor the love of money haha….but he really is a phenominal asset to the photography community. I also had had the pleasure of attending his jam packed 8am 2 hour long class the night after a party (yeesh) and I have to say I am SO glad I dragged myself out of bed. I truly enjoyed every person I heard speak throughout the week, but if I had to choose a favorite it would be Jesh! I was excited to get a picture with him!

I’ll close this post with a precursor to the next posts….as I have a lot to share from my trip! I closed out the week in Southern California where Stefan lives, only a 3.5 hour drive from glitzy Vegas. Stefan had been my companion throughout WPPI, and so reluctant as I was to leave the convention Wednesday afternoon…we got out in time to catch the sun setting over the desert and I got this image which I was pretty excited about (and Stefan was jealous of…snicker)

So stay tuned for more posts on the rest of my trip, including California Fields and some new portraits of me and Stefan, as well as the San Diego Zoo!!