Greg Gibson Photography – Washington, DC’s Top Rated Wedding Photojournalist »

Stacey & Scott
September 5, 2009
Ceremony – Providence Presbyterian Church, Fairfax, Va.
Reception – Fairfax Old City Hall, Fairfax, Va.
Second Shooter – Richard Ellis

I am currently enroute for a return trip to Brazil. I am meeting my good friends, Australian photographer Marcus Bell and National Grographic Brasil photographer Izan Petterle in the city of Cuiaba tomorrow to continue my Cowboys & Crocodiles project.

We’ll spend a day at Izan’s ranch in Chapada dos Guimaraes. We’ll need a day to catch our breath after 24 hours of travel. Then we’ll head out into the Pantanal to visit ranches and photograph Brasilian cowboys for 5 days.

On Sunday we return to Sao Paulo where both Marcus and I will be speaking at PhotoImage Brasil on the 11th and 12th.

I’ll try to post a few pictures along the way. Here are a couple from my iPhone:

Storm clouds enroute from Washington to JFK.

My oldest son Zach graduation from high school last week. They even gave him his diploma! In August he will be taking off for the art school at Virginia Commonwealth University. As much as I have tried to talk him out of it, he still thinks he wants to be a photographer!

[caption id="attachment_1973" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Those that know Zach will notice two things - 1) He cut his hair really short and 2) being a true comedian he is wearing a fake moustache."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1972" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="A mere 780 graduates file into the Patriot Center at George Mason University."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1970" align="aligncenter" width="649" caption="The students had fun annoying the administrators by sneaking in beach balls to bat around."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1974" align="aligncenter" width="603" caption="Maybe not such a good idea to actually catch one."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1971" align="aligncenter" width="602" caption="Tossing the caps - of course Zach forgot to remove his tassel and he tossed that too!"][/caption]

The Roots Workshop is just around the corner and there are still a few spots available. I get email all the time from photographers asking about workshops and this is a great opportunity to come and learn with me.

Roots has a similar format to the Foundation Workshop, the Eddie Adams Barnstorm or the Mountain People’s workshop if you’re from the photojournalism world.

The idea behind workshops like Roots is to teach photographers to think like photojournalists. In the case of Roots, it is specifically to teach wedding photographers to become better documentary storytellers. While targeted towards wedding photographers, there is very little talk about wedding photography. This workshop is about becoming better overall in ways that will help you in any type of photographic situation.

Each student gets an individual editorial assignment and is placed on a team with a team leader and mentors. The students have two days to complete a picture story from their assignment. Each day the team leader critiques the shoot and offers suggestions for improvement. The mentors work with the students out in the field to help problem solve and provide onsite feedback during the actual shoot.

All of the staff have extensive experience working as news photographers.

This is the absolute best type of learning experience a photographer can have.

Plus it’s in CAPE COD and we have a lobster-bake on the final night!

Here are the details – the workshop is less than a month away so you need to register NOW.

Dates – July 19-24
Location – South Yarmouth – Cape Cod, MA
Website – www.rootsworkshop.com
Cost – $3200
Includes 5 days of personalized instruction, five nights lodging and most meals. Students must provide their own gear, travel and vehicle.

Staff
Emilie Sommer – Founder

Team Leaders
Greg Gibson – greggibson.com
Tyler Wirken – Wirken Photography
Arnold Miller (multi-media editor at Newsday)

Mentors
Jennifer Domenick – Love Life Images
Mark Adams – LaCour
Rachel LaCour Nieson – LaCour

Volunteers
J Sandifer
Eric Laurits