Like finding money in your pockets

A local restaurant group contacted us recently about buying prints of photographs we had taken on our various trips abroad, so I located a disk of unedited work that I had done while in Berlin last fall on an assignment. As I began looking through these images, I found photographs that were taken on a day dedicated to seeing Berlin. While wandering around the Brandenburg Gate, I discovered the newly-completed Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The site had literally popped up from nowhere, because I had been there not twenty months earlier and the space was a parking lot.

Monuments to remember those who died in the Holocaust, which are all over Germany, always put me into a daze. The magnitude of what they represent is overwhelming to the point that it is difficult to feel anything. My reactions to them are always delayed; they impact me days and weeks later in more powerful ways than the original experience ever did.

I was excited to see this image on the DVD, because I frankly didn't remember making it while I was there. It was like finding money in the pocket of a pair of pants that you haven't worn in months. Yet, moments later, looking more closely at the woman in the photograph, I found myself sitting at my desk staring at it, my hand subconsciously placed over my mouth (just as she did), as I re-experienced the architecture of that monument in Berlin.

What I love about photography is that it can allow a viewer to experience and re-experience a seemingly insignificant and fleeting moment in time. And make it powerful.

LaCour takes "Top Knots"

Photo District News, the largest trade publication for photographers, awarded LaCour photographer Andrew Niesen's photo, "Black Tie," in its "Reception" Category in the 2006 "Top Knots" competition for wedding photographers.

Additionally, Photo District News contracted LaCour's Mark Adams to design the Flash-based website to showcase the winning images.

WPPI Recap

We have returned from the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention in Las Vegas with great news! LaCour received WPPI's Buzz Award, an award given for a studio's creative and innovative marketing approach. Our entry focused on LaCour Magazine, our mini-magazine we publish twice a year to all our former and current clients, as well as other vendors and wedding industry professionals. This was the first year WPPI has offered the Buzz Award.

Thousands of entries were submitted from all across the world, so needless to say we feel extremely honored to be recognized. The award was sponsored by WPPI and Blossom Publishing.

This year's WPPI was so inspirational for the four of us. Many of the seminars focused on putting your heart and soul into your photography, constantly renewing your passion, and discovering refreshing ideas and approaches to wedding photography. We left feeling very excited about our upcoming weddings!

WPPI

We all fly out Saturday to Las Vegas for WPPI! We can't wait to spend some time with all of our friends and colleagues throughout the world who are going to be there. If you're going to be in Vegas for this conference, please say Hi if you see us!

Meet Andrew DeLassus

Rachel and I were in St. Louis this week on business, and we finally had a chance to meet Andrew DeLassus, the son of our dear friends, Greg and Liz DeLassus. He's only two months old, but he is already wide-eyed and curious about the world around him. He's also already fluent in German, so he must take after his Godfather :)

It was so much fun to see Greg, the best man in our wedding, in the role of happy father.