Erin and I decided at the last minute to go to the workshop and also check out the Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center in Manhattan.  We got plane tickets and a hotel reservation just a couple days before we left. (!!) Jason recommended the Belvedere Hotel and it was perfect, just 3 blocks from Times Square, we walked to lots of cool sights.  Manhattan is another world, even the short buildings are 10 stories, the taxi drivers really are crazy, the sights, sounds and smells are intense!  We got in Monday afternoon and took a taxi into town from JFK - had dinner at an Italian place in Hells Kitchen and then headed to Jason’s studio for a pre-workshop meet and greet.

At the workshop on Tuesday we spent half the day talking business and then headed out to shoot.  Jason had lined up two sets of bridal models (they were great to work with!).  We did two shoots, one in the afternoon where I was carrying the cameras and Erin was working the lights and one after the sun went down in Times Square where we traded off and I worked the lights while Erin shot.  It’s always a little crazy shooting with a large group of photographers but we got some fun stuff - check it out:

These are from the night shoot with Erin shooting, the first one is down in the subway with one of the subway cops.

I love this one! Great job honey.

Here’s a shot of the instructors and the models - great job and a huge thanks from both of us!

We spent all day Wednesday seeing the sights and doing SO MUCH walking! It’s such an amazing city. We started with a bus tour through Times Square heading south, we got off at Macy’s and did some shopping (we both needed warm hats, it was cold on top of that bus!). Macy’s is more than 2 million square feet of shopping (ya, I said million)… Then we got back on the bus and rode it to Greenwich Village. We had lunch and walked through the campus of NYU and then walked 40+ blocks back up to Times Square for a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe. After that we walked to the Rockefeller Center, rode the elevator up the tower and took in the view from 68 stories up. After that we took a horse drawn buggy ride through Central Park and back to the hotel. After all that we headed to Jason’s famous yearly party. He had over 200 photographers from all over the country at his studio - it was packed - we got there a little late (about 10pm) so it wasn’t super crammed but there were still lots of people there - it was fun to catch up with people I’ve met before, meet new people and get to introduce Erin ( ).

Here are a few pictures from our sight seeing:

Times Square from the top of the bus

The Bus Tour Guide - a character for sure

It’s good to be home. But we didn’t even come close to seeing everything, we’ll just have to go back.

scroll down for the slideshow and gallery link

I’d like to thank my good friend Trevor Meeks, (Napa Ca wedding photographer) for referring Jon and Rina to me. He’s a long time friend of Jon’s and if he wasn’t already booked he would have flown up and taken their pictures (lucky for me he was!) Here’s the slideshow:

Wanna see more? Click here for the complete gallery The password is Jon’s last name, all lower case.

Jon and Rina, thank you very much for including me in your beautiful day! ~Bill

The biggest ingredient wasn’t the money they spent, but the love they shared. I wish them the best and I’m happy to call them my friends now.

~Bill

(**note if you’re new to my blog: I’m not a videographer and this is not reflective of my work as a photographer, LOL)

I stole this picture from Erwin’s blog, it’s the whole group taken by the friendly water (that’s me front and center) :

Here is the view looking the other way (I took this one):

And here’s one of me I stole from Gerald’s blog (click for the full set):

Ron Storer also posted a bunch of cool shots on his blog.

Tis the season for holiday parties

Here are a few pictures I took after I put down my cheesy little video camera and picked up the real camera…

Thanks for watching, there’ll be more high quality content like this to come! (lol)

~Bill