Home again!

Six days after leaving Roanoke for the 2008 VPPA convention in Portsmouth, we have returned to find that no major disasters occurred during our absence! Things are pretty much the same as they were when we left....cold! Overall, we had a good time in Portsmouth, had some good food, some bad food, some good coffee from Prince Books, some bad coffee, and not nearly enough sleep! The new Gold's Gym in Norfolk was awesome, and The Baker's Crust wins my vote for the best food outing! We had a great time catching up with everyone that we only get to see a few times per year, and met some new people along the way as well! The speakers were all really friendly, and hung out with us quite a bit! We spent some time with a few of the speakers, and found that not only is Carl Caylor a great photographer, he is hilarious as well! Thanks for the laughs when we needed them Carl! Again, we did well in print competition, with Kevin and I both receiving 2 blue ribbons for the images that I have posted here! We would like to send out a big "Thank You!" to this year's judges, which included Michael and Tina Timmons, Carl Caylor, and John Woodward. Finally, Vicki Taufer was kind enough to snap the group photo of everyone who attended this year's convention, and no, she doesn't sell her jpegs! Just a little inside joke! Anyway, until next year, we'll carry on with all of the inspiration from this year's convention, and hopefully, bring home even more next year!

Gettin' our learn on...

Another day in Portsmouth brought with it loads of information care of the talented Vicki Taufer! She brought the energy, the wisdom, and the common sense that we, as photographers, often miss! Vicki broke it down in a way that everyone could understand, and I think that the one tidbit of information that speaks volumes was this....in a nutshell...don't copy the competition! In an industry where everyone is trying to keep up with the latest trends, we should take the information that we find, and utilize it as inspiration to help our work progress, while staying true to our signature styles...does that make sense, because when she said it, it was pretty easy to understand! Speak on it, Vicki! Can I get an Amen?!?!?! Anyway, after an inspirational, information packed 7 hours with the owner of V-Gallery, we all gathered for the official VPPA group photo, set up by Kevin Hurley himself...shutter release by the one and only Vicki Taufer! Thanks for the help, inspiration, and plethora of info that you so willingly shared with us Vicki! Hopefully our work can have the same impact on others that yours has! Follwing the photo, we all enjoyed a great dinner, and the awards were handed out...congrats on your PPA merit Kevin! Tomorrow, another session with the master of posing, Hanson Fong, who shared some of his secrets Monday night, and PPA President, Jack Reznicki! I'll fill you in on that tomorrow, and more about Carl Caylor, and the Timmons' fine art presentation, but I'm a bit worn out at this point, so until tomorrow.....ciao!

and the winner is....

The 2008 print competition has come to an end, and Kevin Hurley walked away with some great scores! Kevin earned 2 blue ribbons from a tough group of judges, and all of his other prints scored just under the 80 mark, which is really good...for those of you who are unfamiliar with the scoring process. I'll try to post a few of the images, if I can grab the files from the judges! If not, I'll do that for the faithful followers upon our return to Roanoke! Well, it's about time for dinner, and the much anticipated toga party, so there should be some great pics to post from that....or not!

safe and sound!

After a weather report that looked to provide a less than enjoyable drive to Portsmouth, we arrived safely, and only ran into a bit of rain in Richmond! Luck of the Irish...thanks, Kevin! We're all settled in, and we got right to work organizing, and preparing the prints for tomorrow's competition. Stay tuned, we'll give you an update on how we all did in competition, so keep your fingers crossed for us! Enjoy Jeff's pic of the day, entitled "Breathtaking"...it's my shot of the Portsmouth skyline! Gotta do something with a little bit of downtime!

on the road again...

One more day until the "burb" departs for the luxurious Renaissance Portsmouth, where we will be attending the 2008 VPPA convention! Just a reminder that the studio will be closed from Friday, February 22, 2008 until Thursday, February 28, 2008. During that time, we will try to keep the blogstalkers from experiencing withdrawal symptoms by posting from the road! We wouldn't dare deprive all of our faithful readers of a daily update! So, here is your mission, if you wish to accept it...keep checking in throughout the week, because you never know when the answer to a future trivia question may be included in your daily dose of "YaddaYaddaYadda", if you know what I mean...

VPPA 2008

Once again, we're off to the Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth for the Virginia Professional Photographer's Association state conference! This year we're going to be joined by photographers such as Randy Davis, John Woodward, Chris Wunder, Michael and Tina Timmons, Judy Horn, Carl Caylor, Dave Carlson, Hanson Fong, Vicki Tauffer, and Jack Reznicki, who is the current president of the Professional Photographer's of America. Needless to say, it's no vacation, as we try to soak up as much of the information that our compadres have to offer so that we can bring it back, and apply it to our daily lives! The studio will be closed from Friday, February 22, 2008 until Thursday, February 28, 2008, but we'll try to keep you up to date on what we're doing through the blog...if we can borrow a wireless signal from the Portsmouth area!

VPPA 2008

Next Friday, Team Hurley is off to Portsmouth for the 2008 VPPA state convention. Last year, we were unable to attend the first 2 days due to a wedding in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Since we didn't fly south for the winter this year, we'll be in Portsmouth for the whole shabang! A big part of the convention is the print competition, and this year, the judges won't be able to escape the steely stare of Kevin "Sharpshooter" Hurley, as they critique each image with their little fine toothed combs! Keep checking out the blog, as we will try to update it daily from the convention, and find out if Kevin was able to shoot, or stare, his way to a blue ribbon! In the meantime, do you think this look will do it?

hitting the wall

Sometimes, during the creative process, an artist hits what some refer to as a "wall". We hit the wall yesterday...a few times...but after putting our heads together, I think that our new wall is really coming together! Kevin felt as if we needed something new, a new backdrop of sorts, so he literally built a wall in the shooting room! After he did all of the hard work, Tamee and I got to join in for a bit of fun with some paint! We went through a couple different combinations, light, dark, distressed, stained, feathered, red...no red...cover the red...it looks like a wine stain..., add some more white, is that stop light yellow?, do we have stop light green, too?, are you making fun of me? stop lights aren't green. Anyway, after a few hours of playing in the paint, and actually keeping it on the wall instead of all over us, we finally agreed that we could work with what we had! With a feeling of accomplishment, the disaster area was cleaned up, and the wall awaited it's introduction to the world! So without further ado, Kevin Hurley Photography presents, for the first time....the wall! (drum roll, please!)

ice, ice, baby...

Although the weather today has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride...rain, clouds, sun...rain, clouds, sun..., etc., it sure beats the heck out of Friday! Who would have ever thought that we would make a statement as ludicrous as "Monday sure beats the heck out of Friday!". Let's rewind. Friday, we woke up to what could have been a much nastier blanket of ice covering everything! Ice isn't kind at 5:30 in the morning, especially when your dogs want to play in it, and you don't...they tend to forget that I am not covered in fur, and therfore, get cold alot faster than they do! By the time I was off to work, the temperature was at a point that turned everything into a big slush, but was kind enough to leave an icy reminder all over the trees, and my windshield! With the bottoms of my jeans soaking wet...for most of the day, and numerous layers of clothes to keep me warm, I sat down at my desk, with my always loyal cup of coffee, and awaited the arrival of my compadres, who were kind of stuck for a while due to the ice at higher altitudes! With that memory in mind, and the fact that today's temperatures allowed for me to wear a T-Shirt...and not freeze...I am going out on a "non-icy" limb, and saying that today is better than Friday! No soaking wet jeans, no soaking wet paws, and no need for a fur coat to stay comfortably warm....but we also had none of the great photo ops that we had on Friday, as exhibited by Kevin's great shot of winter's grip on Maple Ave. Enjoy!