Quick write up from the US

I hope you guys are enjoying the blogs our guestbloggers are putting up, I think they do a great job to keep you entertained 🙂
But today a small write up from myself.

At the moment I write this I just finished teaching at B&H and we will leave tomorrow for Boston for the final two workshops. So let’s give you a small overview of what happened during the last few days.

First there was PhotoshopWorld.
PhotoshopWorld is without any doubt one of the highlights of my year, Larry (Becker) hit the nail on the head when he said “there are 3 important things every year, Christmas and two times PhotoshopWorld”. For me (and the other instructors) it’s not only a place/event where we meet up with a lot of students and share what we know, but also a place where we meet each other, and over time the group has become very close. I’m relative new (this was my third PSW) but even I have that feeling of “family and friends”.

Because we fly in, and I really need at least 1-2 days rest for an event like this, we are always a few days earlier on the location, which in this case was Washington DC (normally Orlando). This time we could not be luckier. In DC there are a lot of Cherry Blossoms and they are only in bloom 2 weeks a year, and you maybe already read it on Google+ but this year they were early…. how early ? well exactly when we were walking around there, giving me some amazing images.

And of course (after reading the HDR book by my buddy RC) I also experimented with some HDRs. I have to admit that since RC “infected” me with HDR I’m beginning to like it more and more. Most of my HDRs are shot handheld and thanks to the amazing magic of NIK they are aligned and made “wonderful”. Because I love to include the sun in my images, using HDR is actually not that weird of a choice.

So after a few days of walking around and learning a bit about DC is was time for……. PhotoshopWorld.
For the visitors it was also the first time to see some of the first impressions from CS6, I’ve been playing with CS6 for a few weeks now and can honestly say that there are some great new things like background saving, better content aware fill, rewritten filters and a speed boost. (and much more).
During this PSW it was also time for my first pre-con workshop.

I took a small group to different locations and show them how I approach an impromptu fashion shoot. Two results are shown here.

But of course there were also 2 live shoots on the stages of PSW. One included a small flash setup and the other one was aimed towards making images stand out due to the use of different posing techniques (including jumps and movement). The seminar “being creative and getting the shot” was very popular and the Kelby theater on the expo floor was full (people had to stand). But there were of course also the demos at the Manfrotto booth (Elinchrom) and Expo imaging. Here one shot from the Elinchrom demos.
Oh and by the way…. whenever you’re in DC visit these places :

I’m always interested in local, unique, restaurants, and this one was awesome (quality wise and atmosphere).

Before we leave DC just two of my favorite images I shot during our walks.

Iwo Jima

Great Falls

Now if you think that next to the demos, seminars, workshops, meeting the students, all the parties (the band ROCKED this time even more than other times) etc. we don’t do anything :D, you’re wrong. Just before the closing ceremony I assisted my buddy Jeremy Coward for a photoshoot he did for a new book he is working on containing people that changed the world. In this case I was treated to an experience I will not soon forget, I can’t say too much about it, but this photoshoot really made a deep impression on me. Luckily we made it back just before the closing ceremony and the after party.

Oh and if you think our live is all glitter and glamour on the safe side…. read this hilarious post by Kalebra Kelby:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/107430637753481876221/posts/ciFsg4rJHhV 
But to all good things comes and end, and with sadness in my heart I said goodbye to all our friends (we will be back in a few weeks at Kelby Media Group to film 2 new videos, but we won’t meet all the other people of course), every time it gets a bit harder to say goodbye, Photoshop World has a strange mix of socializing and teaching which means that you’re REALLY building a bond with both the students, but also with the other instructors (this is really the most tight and creative group I’ve ever worked with), however on the positive side, there will be another Photoshop world in just 6 months.

Normally we will fly back home, however this time we had a lot more to do. Right after Photoshop World we stepped in our car for a drive to New York where we arrived on the 28th of March. We had not arranged a motel/hotel and were planning on just picking one…. well that went well (sort off). Because the trip to New York took a lot longer than planned due to a great tip I got about the Philadelphia Penitentiary (and awesome place to shoot) we arrived in New York way after 23:00 and I knew we saw a Holiday in, however we could not find it back, eventually we just pulled in to the first Motel we saw (well we skipped one), and although the room is clean and has a great TV (always a plus) it’s a bit of a weird one, rooms can be rented by 45 minutes (or months), and in our room we found something resembling a smoked joint….. well…… at least everything is clean (except that little thing), and hey it’s only for two days.

Oh yeah, about it taking a bit longer…. here are some images from the Philadelphia Penitentiary and you will understand 😀

Today (the 29th) I taught a two hour seminar at B&H which was a huge success. After the seminar I finally gave into my “feelings” and bought the Fuji X10, let’s be honest you can’t visit B&H and not buy something…. right ?
Here some images from our trip through New York.

Tomorrow morning we will leave for Boston, here I will meet up with our friend Brendan from Symbol Photography who has again arranged my workshops which I will teach in Boston. Of course we hope to find some cool things along the road tomorrow.

More to come.