You don’t have to wait for thanksgiving to be thankful for all that’s around you.. Be thankful and enjoy and appreciate your family, your health and the fact that you woke up today and can start all over and make another run towards your life ambitions.

One of the things I absolutely love about weddings is the constant new ideas regarding decor.  I love decor around my house (when my wife let’s me) and one of the cool things about showing up to the reception is that I’m usually one of the first people to see the decor in a pristine condition.

Take a look at some of the inspiring shots done by me and my team at some of our weddings in the past year to get some inspiration.  Below the images you’ll find links to some of the top decorators around the Dallas area…

Here are some AMAZING decorators around the Dallas/Fort Worth Area that we have worked with in the past:

Donnie Brown Weddings

Jordan Payne Events

Wildflowers

Lagniappe Weddings

Timeless Elegance Weddings

Freesia Dallas

Affair to Remember

Elegant Affairs

It is always nice when you are recognized for your work and effort.  It’s feels even nicer when you are recognized from within your own industry.  A few months ago I was invited by London based publishing company Oliver Cameron Publishing to submit photos for their upcoming book Wedding Photography – A Guide To Posing.

The purpose of the book is to help up and coming and established pros ease their struggles and also provide inspiration for relaxed and contemporary posing.  Little did I know that I would end up getting 17 photos selected for inclusion in the book along side some of the top photographers in the world.

I should call this post “How Time Flies…” simply because it feels like yesterday I was photographing her parents Binish and Shaayan’s wedding.. Here are some photos from the session we photographed a few weeks ago in Fort Worth.

So let’s see…   what has changed since the last time I blogged?  Wel…

1. Lost is off the air
2. 24 is off the air
3. We have a new American Idol

and quite a few other things have gone on, but rest assured, during this time i’ve been working on creating a whole slew of new work to share with you guys.   Starting with a fabulous wedding I photographed for Nikki and Tony in Fort Worth.   Nikki and Tony are both Veterinarians and really put together a fabulous event with the reception taking place at the Fort Worth Club in downtown Fort Worth.

Here are some of my favorites from their big day.

A few days ago I had the pleasure of photographing my good friend Johnny and his family. I’ve known Johnny now some 15+ years and gotten to know his kiddos since they were little ones. We had a great time photographing the session in Irving, and I think we came away with some pretty cool portraits.

Every now and then a new device comes out that changes the landscape of the computing industry and other industries associated with computers. The GUI, Windows, The MAC, IPhone were all game changers and truly affected how people managed and utilized their information. The IPhone was more of a game changer than anything before it, simply because of the open source nature of it’s apps. Now anyone, as long as they adhered to the API could create, publish and sell apps for whatever they wanted. This made the IPhone much more useful than just a smart phone with e-mail capabilities.

Now you could have e-mail right along with an app that let’s you figure out the correct price to charge for an 8X10 (It’s telling me to price mine at $65 dollars), chat with friends on Yahoo Messenger network, while taking in a round of Vegas slots and setting your goals for the following day. Now I think Apple is gonna change the landscape once again with the IPAD and I think this device will be revolutionary and we’ll probably see it incorporated in a lot of other devices that now would be controlled with the IPAD. I for one cannot wait to get my hands on one and I think with the shortage of supply it will be post tax time before I can sit in my yard, sipping a cup of coffee and read books on the IPAD or surf the web while laying in bed and not have to haul my laptop around..

IPAD from Apple Computers

You know i’m a firm believer that if you let negativity dwell in your mind, there just won’t be any place left in there for creativity… Having said that, lately I’ve been dwelling on a rather negative issue and I think it’s about time I disclose it to the followers of my art and life. This past year I was approached by several local studios in the South Asian community to help them attract higher end clients. Each approached me to introduce them into my market and even offered their services for free (usually video) just so I could entice my clients to hire them.

Now I am a firm believer in the fact that “Good is never cheap and cheap is NEVER good”, that is why I hold myself to a higher standard in all things surrounding my business. I have taken the time to create albums that clients love, even if it has taken a few days or a week longer than expected. In the end the product delivered was of high quality. If a client ever had an issue with me, it was dealt with me personally. I don’t have a front end girl answering the phones and college students shooting the events for me and editing them. When my clients have booked me, I have shown up to shoot the event and delivered the final product.

For one reason or another I didn’t get a good warm fuzzy from these studios.. therefore I declined to help them because I didn’t feel that my clients had anything to gain by me introducing these studios to them. I turned them down and went on my merry way only to discover something later on. Each one of these studios had gone out of their way to copy my work, even go as far as to copy the images from my website and blog and use them in their marketing. A few were confronted and profusely apologized but I don’t believe that the practice has stopped. I was recently approached by a few clients who had booked these studios for their events only to tell me how they were not happy with the images or the product delivered was nothing compared to what was shown to them in the consult.

So back to the point and case in hand… I urge, no implore people to really do their homework when hiring vendors and hire quality vendors and spend a bit more for quality. This is your big day, the day you start your married life and the only thing you will keep will be your husband and your photos and video. I strongly urge you to spend the extra and hire quality and not cheap out in this area. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had a client get married at the Ritz or on a cruise ship and went with a cheaper photographer, only to turn around and wished they had hired me for their event.

Also, as a personal favor, if you have seen my work on this site and see it anywhere else, please do me a favor and let me know.

Ok this session was very special for me and one i’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Dewain and Angela are long time friends of mine from back in the days of my job in corporate America. Dewain and I used to work for the same company, but since then we both went very different career paths.

Dewain and I had been talking about this session for a few months on and off and then this past Sunday, well it just clicked. The weather was gorgeous, the location just so happened to be Highland Parks and it was so much fun to hang out with old friends and take some photos too.

Here are some of the many photos we took…. Hope you enjoy them, please feel free to leave comments as I love to hear from those that visit my blog…

In the trifecta of weddings that I did towards the end of the year with my good friend Kim Kinney of Timeless Elegance Weddings one was of AJ and Priya who I had photographed before twice for portrait session in Fort Worth and Dallas.

The event was small as compared to some of the events I am used to photographing and the pace was fairly relaxed and the atmosphere was very intimate. Lots of special moments that we captured including Priya’s dance with her brothers during the reception that brought everyone, including yours truly to tears..

The reception was at the amazing Four Seasons resort in Dallas and Timeless Elegance Weddings provided the decor and Melissa Lehman of Four Seasons helped take the event to the next level with her special touches. Here are the photos from the event…

Wedding Coordinator: Kim Kinney with Timeless Elegance Weddings
Reception Coordinator : Melissa Lehman with Four Seasons
Ceremony Location: All Saints Catholic Church