[b]rooklyn's Got A Winning Team

(Team of photographers, that is!)

Monday night, after finishing an afternoon shoot, I hopped in my (mostly) reliable Honda and headed down to New York City. My purpose? Besides getting to see my good friends Dan & Melissa (you might remember them from the aquarium wedding), I was going to have lunch with [b]ecker, a crazy amazing photographer based out of Southern California. A ton of photographers were in town for the PhotoPlus Expo and [b]ecker had a free afternoon. He generously offered, via his blog, to meet up with other area photographers and talk shop and walk around and take pictures. It sounded like an amazing experience to me, and NYC isn't that far away. I wasn't sure what to expect of the whole thing, except that, at the very least, I'd get to explore part of Brooklyn and photograph it. Well, I got a lot more out of it than that. I met some really cool photographers, ate some delicious pizza, and learned a lot from some people who are more seasoned than I am. It doesn't get much better than that. Here are some of the fruits of our expedition.

As an added bonus to the Brooklyn trip, we all got Shootsacs, or Shootsac covers. This is Steve DePino. He's not only a photographer and suspected international spy, but also a male model.


Since Tuesday, I've been able to see photographs on some of the other photographers' blogs; it's really interesting to see how different we all shoot. Sure, there are some similar photos, but at the same time, there's tons of variety. For instance, most people shot the word "Brooklyn;" I chose the word "Throw." Go figure.



If you look closely, you can see the Statue of Liberty in this shot.


This is Allan Zepeda, modeling, shooting, and all-around looking cool.


Steve , again. This mural was awesome. It's so much fun to shoot in urban settings because there's always so much to see. You can create art from anything.




This is Melissa Bitter, photographer and blogger extraordinaire! She got to model while [b]ecker taught us a little bit about lighting. I love the way the lens dips into the frame.


Look at the way the light hits this star. You can even glimpse a mini-rainbow in the sky. This was taken on Coney Island. I lived in NYC from 1999-2000 and this was my first time on Coney Island. I was so excited to have the chance to get down there, even if it was just to walk around. Granted, we did make a stop for Nathan's hot dogs on the boardwalk.


Another lesson on using light. This time we had a faux engagement shoot. Can you believe these two had only met a few hours earlier? Melissa modeled again and photographer Dan Speicher was her lucky man.


Photographer Kelly Vasami and her Shootsac. Do you think Scary Rotter is like Harry Potter?


As much as I love the colors on these murals, I also love the creepy carousel horse in the window.


[b]ecker was a great sport all day, answering all our questions and traipsing around the city with a bunch of his blog-stalkers. To top it off, it was his birthday!


Thanks so much to [b] and his partner-in-crime for the day, Marissa, for a wonderful day. It was well worth the drive down, and thanks to all the other participating photographers, for their patience, generosity, and for supplying me with enough inspiration to last a long time! And hey, if anyone makes it up to Boston, let me know! Also, once I learn how to insert links into my blog posts, I can go back and link you all to your blogs/websites. Sorry 'bout that!