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:

Been super busy these days but I wanted to post some images from a fun, vibrant portrait session with Alaina in Uptown Park:

I recently photographed a private party held for (fairly) newlyweds Brian and Dana. They were married in New Jersey but have family and friends in the area. My good friends over at A Fare Extraordinaire were handling the event production and they set up a massive air-conditioned tent as well as decor and scrumptious catering. It's always a pleasure to work with them and they are consummate professionals!

Here are a few...

Brian

Dana

Of course, any A Fare Extraordinaire produced event means excellent presentation of delicious food...

Here are some images from Miranda and Michael's wedding. Since I first met them at Chloe's birthday party last year I've been looking forward to their wedding day.

Here are a few of my favorites. A huge thanks once again to Owen for providing the assist.

Last month I photographed the birthday party of Houston Texans football player Amobi Okoye. The event was held at the Westin Galleria Hotel and featured hundreds of guests.

The beautiful Sanaa Lathan hosted the party and Hip-hop artist Juelz Santana performed live. In addition to the aforementioned, several of his teammates and other athletes and celebrities came to wish Amobi a happy birthday.

I had a great time and Amobi and his friends were refreshingly down-to-earth. Maybe it didn't hurt that we are both of Igbo descent. ;)

From left to right: Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants, Amobi Okoye, Sanaa Lathan, Wale Ogunleye of the Chicago Bears

Juelz Santana performs

This post has been a long time coming (as I shot the event over 2 months ago)! I've had the opportunity to photograph a few of the top-tier alcohol companies' night life events including Hennessy, Belvedere, Moët, and Courvoisier. I always like to forge new relationships and I must say this party was a great way to start one with Absolut.

Kanye West was on the Houston leg of his Glow in the Dark Tour and Absolut, who is sponsoring a series of after parties, held a corresponding one in Houston at Zeppelin.

Kanye didn't show (I think he was on a media boycott at the time) but I have a few photos of the party goers enjoying themselves!

A big thanks to Carmen (pictured here) who put me in the door for this event!

I'm only just now starting to get over the jet lag that comes with the difference in time zones between Houston and Nigeria (6 hours) so I haven't updated things as quickly as I would have liked.

As I mentioned earlier, I was there to photograph a wedding and while I was there I visited Abuja, the capitol city of Nigeria for the first time. Here are a few that I took while I was there.

I'll be posting some more images from the wedding I photographed there soon!

I'm writing this entry from a hotel in Lagos, Nigeria (where I will be photographing a wedding this weekend). I'm excited because it's my first wedding outside of the US and plus...I'm Nigerian!

I'll also get a chance to do some sight seeing and I'll be taking plenty of photos--and I'll definitely be adding some of those images here.

Once I get back into the country I have some images to share from other recent shoots. Have a great week everyone!