I have a few days to recoup from roughly two weeks worth of travel between New York and Seattle. I'll be off for the Dallas area again this weekend but in the meantime, I wanted to blog a session that somehow slipped through the cracks.

I photographed Nicole and Tim's engagement session a while back and when we discussed what she wanted out of her session, she mentiioned she wanted an urban setting. After the success of Celine & Justin's session, I felt it was only right to head back downtown to see what else we could come up with.

Here are a few of my favorite images.

Some of you may remember this wall from Angie & Zach's party at the Alden. I couldn't resist recyling it!

We headed to the Magnolia Hotel next. These two will be exchanging their vows here next spring. I'm already looking forward to it!

I'll be posting some images from my trip to Seattle as well as many images from New York very soon.

I was supposed to post this entry last Friday but again fell behind (going to have to work on that!). So without further ado, there is the wedding I photographed in Arlington (with a reception in Mansfield), the weekend of July 4. I'll be in the DFW area again at the end of the month and also in October so I'll be looking forward to bumping into a lot of familiar faces as all of these couples are friends with each other!

Try as I might, I still managed to fall behind in blogging, but that changes now! :) A few people have been wondering where the photos from the wedding in Nigeria were--the truth is I had to hold on to them as the couple were going to reveal them to the guests at their stateside reception this past weekend.

Now that they've been able to share them with their friends, I can share them with you.

Photographing Nkechi & Amaechi's wedding was a great experience. It was my first international destination wedding and as a Nigerian myself I appreciated the surroundings all the more. Despite all the travelling (and narrowly losing my Nokia E61) I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. These two were definitely worth it and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Here are some images from their day:

The ladies put on their face masks the night before

Riding through the streets of Lagos

Nkechi rushes into the church prior to the ceremony

Nkechi and her younger sister, Ngozi immediately after the ceremony

One of my favorite moments during the father-daughter dance

And Mom came to lend some assistance with the tears

Amaechi and his mom break it down

I tried a different angle during the bouquet toss

A marvelous view of the Lekki area of Lagos in Nigeria. The reception took place on a waterfront garden area.

I kidnapped the couple for a few "just them" photos

A great view part 2

I blogged out of order and have the wedding I photographed the week before Nkechi & Amaechi's to post as well (coincidentally, these two were guests at that wedding). I'll be posting those images tomorrow. Also coming are some engagement photos that are long overdue on the blog. :)

On occasion I make good decisions and one of them was certainly deciding at the eleventh hour to attend the Free To Succeed Tour stop in Houston hosted by David Jay and Jasmine Star.

Truth be told, I had heard of these two on various places on the internet but didn't know much except they were obviously popular photographers. But after getting a feel for the things they planned on sharing I found the $99 price of admission to be fairly paltry.

I now know why they're so popular; in addition to be being successful photographers they are just cool, down-to-earth people, are very passionate about their field, and genuinely want to help others. No hubris, no airs--they just came to give very good ideas to apply towards your business, inspire us, and also get to know us.

And of course the networking with our own local Houston photographers was a great experience as well—in fact, this on its own probably made the evening worthwhile. I met with both new and familiar faces: Dianna, Akil, Christie, Lindsay, Michael, Danny, and Janet, among others.

Without a doubt the best $99 I've spent in some time and I came out feeling invigorated about my business and even more excited about things to come. I am away from home and forgot the memory card with some of my images on them (doh!) but the official photographer of the tour, Kenny Kim, sent me this image so I could at least post one:

I just realized...this may be the first time I'm posting an image of myself on my own blog How sad!

The same day I photographed Alaina in Uptown Park, I also had a session with her friend, Tamika. Here are a few of her portraits: