Valley of Fire

I've never been so tired in my life. After the conference ended yesterday, Ellen and I went out to the desert for a Trash the Dress session. We went to Valley of Fire National Park north east of Las Vegas. It was a spiritual experience. I've never been to a place with such natural beauty in my life. I've posted some photos from the shoot below. After the Valley of Fire we went to the airport for our trip home, consisting of a midnight flight to Cincinatti and a 9 a.m. flight to Rochester. I got home at 12:30 p.m. and took a two hour nap before heading to the studio. That has been the only sleep I've had in 39 hours. It's amazing how altered the world seems on such little sleep. Going to bed before I do a face plant on the keyboard.

Viva Las Vegas!

My sister Ellen and I are just wrapping up our trip to Las Vegas for the annual WPPI photo conference. It was awesome as usual to absorb so much information and to meet so many great people. I have come away with some great connections as I advance my speaking career to other photographers and embark on the destination wedding adventure. Tomorrow we are headed in to the desert for some very unique wedding photos. Here are some images from the trip so far.

Attention Class of 2008

We are finalizing our Senior Portrait program for the Class of 2008. Our referral program is taking shape nicely with a host of cool items you can earn such as a Laptop, iPod Video, iPod Nano, and other photographic products from your session. Here's how it will work. When you refer a friend and they book and photograph their session by September 1, 2007, you'll receive 1 credit for that referral. To earn a laptop you will need just 30 booked and photographed referrals. For an iPod Video it's just 20, and iPod Nano is 15. An 8x8 20 page Illuma Memory Book is just 10 and a set of 50 double sided personality cards is just 5 referrals. We are also looking for a few students from each school to join our ambassador program to help spread the word in your school. We are looking for a few students to have their photos done by the end of April and in exhange they will receive their session for free and also receive a set of personality cards for free. This will also give them a huge head start on referring their friends before school lets out in June. If you are interested in becoming an ambassador, contact the studio at 585-393-9242. For more information visit our senior page at Cheslerphoto.com. Click here to view our Class of 2007 slideshow.

Success

I returned from the Professional Photographer's Society of New York annual conference in Niagara Falls this morning at 2 a.m. It was great to hang out with my colleagues and come away with some new friends, as well as inspiration from some great speakers. I had the honor of being one of the speakers at this years conference as well. I was sponsored by Apollo Imagizing, so make sure you visit their website for some great photography products and make sure you tell them I sent you. www.apollo-imagizing.com

The print competition was especially rewarding this convention. All four of my prints received blue ribbons and one of them received a prestigious Court of Honor award chosen by the panel of judges. The Court of Honor was that much more special since the winning print was of my son Cade who is my "Li'l Bad Ass".

It's off to Vegas in four days for the WPPI conference. What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas because I will be coming home with some amazing ideas.

A Mentor and a Friend

As I head into the photo conference season it is done so with a heavy heart. One of the greatest photographers and educators to have ever graced the photography industry has passed away on Thursday. Monte Zucker will forever be remembered not only for his knowledge on posing and lighting, but more for his willingness to share his knowledge with you like you were his close personal friend no matter who you are. He would take the time to personally respond to e-mails and phone calls instead of acting like the celebrity that he was. What I learned most from Monte was how to treat people and build relationships. I will be headed to Vegas next week for the WPPI conference that Monte was supposed to be a part of. There will definitely be a void there without him.

Monte Zucker
1929-2007

New Website

Our new website is up and running. The content has not changed, just a new cleaner, more streamlined look to it. Some new content will be added soon on Destination Weddings and Trash the Dress Sessions as well as updates of the photo galleries. Any feedback on the new site is welcome.
Cheslerphoto.com

Thanks to Ellen from Lake Effects Web Design for her brilliant work on the new site.

Lake Effects Website

Kate Lee with No Strings Attached

Last Friday I had the pleasure of shooting Kate Lee with No Strings Attached as she had her first big break, opening for Nashville recording artist Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. If you haven't seen Kate Lee live or on the local news, you owe it to yourself to watch the slideshow I made with photos from our studio shoot and the concert, set to Kate Lee's song "Are We There Yet?". At just 14-years-old, Kate Lee is an amazingly mature musician and vocalist. It's an honor to have had the opportunity to not only photograph her in concert, but also to have done the photos for her first CD which just came out. You can learn more about Kate Lee at KateLeeMusic.com.

Click here to view the slideshow...http:cheslerphoto.net/KateLee

Trash the Dress Session

I did a session yesterday for Nicole Abatello, one of my brides from 2006. We did a post bridal session in the snow with her draft horse. The wind was blowing about 30 mph, but it was a beautiful day otherwise. It was one of those Trash the Dress Sessions where we do photos that would not be done the day of the wedding. Check out my previous post for Model Brides Wanted. Here are some of the images from the shoot.

Philadelphia Style

I spent part of this past week down in Philadelphia photographing the first annual City Style Fashion Show and fundraiser for the Gershman Y. Philadelphia is a beautiful city. All I knew of Philly was from movies, mostly in South Philadelphia, which doesn't represent the downtown area. The city is rich in American history, which I knew well from the history books, but to see it first hand was amazing. The amount of buildings dating back to colonial times was amazing. The obvious ones were cool, like Independence Hall and such, but the ones that I loved were the historic houses and apartments that are just part of everyday life there. I will definitely be back to visit. Here are a few photos from the fashion show as well as a link to the slideshow from the event.

City Style Slideshow