I was up at 4am this morning for the third time this week. For those of you who get up at that time every morning, I don’t know how you do it! We’ve packed this little family up, and we are in flight to NYC for a BIG week! It’s PDN’s International Photo Plus Expo this week at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center!

I love this photography conference because every type of photography is represented here from editorial to fashion to wedding to National Geographic to portrait, you name it! AND, if your looking to buy new gear or accessories, these expos always have some of the BEST deals!

I’ll be doing a handful of different things, so it would be GREAT to meet you if you can make it. On Saturday, I’m doing a two hour session for ALL levels. The title is Keep the Memories Alive with Visual Storytelling. I’m really looking forward to this talk b/c I’ll be sharing a lot of Thailand images and talking about working with kids, whether your a parent or portrait photographer. I’ve purposely made this session open to ALL LEVELS. Even if you only own a Point and Shoot, come and be inspired! Good News: The cost is minimal, and you can sign up online or at the door.

Title: Keep the Memories Alive with Visual Storytelling

Date: Saturday: 1:15pm-3:15pm

Location: Jacob Javitz Convention Center, Room SB2

REGISTER HERE!

I’ll also be doing four 1 hour long sessions on the trade show floor at the Sony Booth #618 with a live model shoot. I would LOVE to meet you if you can make it to the trade show floor.

Here are the times I’ll be speaking on the trade show floor;

Friday: 9:45am, 12:45pm, and 3:45pm

Saturday: 11am

I encourage you whole heartedly to also see the other Sony Artisans of Imagery. All six of us will be presenting at the Sony booth, including Matthew Jordan Smith talking about his celebrity fashion shoots! A couple of the Artisans are also National Geographic photographers and FASCINATING to listen to. Christina Mittermier shoots all over the world with a focus on environment projects. She will be wonderful to hear. Seriously, you could just camp out at the Sony booth all day. I won’t be speaking on Thursday, but we’ll be there to hang out and meet some of you if can make it.

As you walk up the cement steps that lead into the Jacob Javitz Convention Center, see if you spot a Sony banner of Blaze with his slingshot. 🙂

But the week doesn’t end with speaking.

Thursday night, Sony is hosting a huge event with American Photo. They are throwing an invitation only party for 800 people at the Aperture Gallery. PDN’s International Photo Plus Expo is one of the main annual events where new cameras, lenses, accessories (you name it) are announced to the market. This year Sony has decided to do something different, and they are going ALL out with Sony Style! First, they are hosting the Sony World Photography Awards Global Tour.

Two, Photo Plus Expo marks the one year anniversary for the Sony Artisans of Imagery program. Instead of making the hype only around products, they are highlighting the six of us Artisans!

We were invited to send them six images that had a theme from a personal project we’ve worked on this year, specifically using the Alpha 900. All our photography projects are different and going to be on exhibit for two weeks at the prestigious Aperture Gallery. They will be revealed to the press and 800 guests Thursday night. My stomach is FULL of butterflies over this event. I’m so excited to see our images on exhibit. My project is called Dreaming. It’s based on the gifts I learned from our Thailand trip. I even got to include an essay with it that will be posted alongside the images. After the event, I’ll post the images and essay up so you can all experience it.

Sony has also made behind the scenes videos of each Artisan, so they’ll be revealing those to the public too. Brian and I are so excited! And did I mention that Brian is the best husband in the world. He bought me a beautiful, black, sparkly necklace and matching bracelet to wear Thursday night with my dress.

As I type this on the plane, guess who is sitting next to me? You’d never guess, so I’ll just tell you. My lawyer! 🙂 Jennifer Wing has been the most phenomenal lawyer for our business the last several years. And in the midst of all our work together, she has also become a dear friend. We invited her to come join us Thursday night to see what her hard work helps us do. I feel like a little slice of home is coming with us.

If you can make it, post a comment, ping me on Facebook or shoot us an email. I would love to meet!

Wish us luck! We will keep you posted!

Me Ra

p.s. As I race the clock with my laptop battery, I’m working a blog for tomorrow that answers ALL your questions regarding the Unexpected Image from yesterday and how I captured it. Great questions. I think we need to talk about Depth of Field, and then how I got the image will make much more sense. So hopefully I have enough juice in this battery to make it happen for tomorrow. 🙂

p.s.s. For those of you who have been following the blog for a few years, remember when I did the post about flying to NY on a whim to meet Sony? Isn’t it crazy how much has happened?! Thanks for supporting me all the way. I bring you all in my hearts to the awards night. xoxoxo

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