The GraphiStudio education center

Last evening I had an outstanding time with Maureen and Mike and 30-plus photographers who came out to the brand new education center at the GraphiStudio US office in Oakdale, Minnesota. It's so exciting to see GraphiStudio continue to collectively raise the bar among the photographic industry.

Maureen kicked off the program sharing some of the incredibly exciting changes that are talking place at GraphiStudio. Dario sent a few AV presentations from Italy that really gave new insight to the excellence and standards that they put into crafting each book.

And then I spent the next couple hours talking with the photographers about photographic style, marketing and customer service. We also spent a bit of time talking about our new studio gallery that should be opening within the next couple weeks.












Following the presentation several of us went to dinner and spent the evening visiting at Champs.

Thanks so much, everyone, for coming out and spending the afternoon with us. And a special thanks to Maureen and her amazing team for inviting us up. We're already looking forward to the next time.

Minneapolis, The Dark Knight...random thoughts

Garrett is in Minneapolis, MN invited to speak for a group of photographers in GraphiStudio's new Training Center. We are honored to be the first studio to visit and present :)

So we saw The Dark Knight last week on our anniversary and I realized I hadn't reviewed it on Twitter and/or Facebook, so I thought it deserved a blog post.

I am not a big comic book fan or sci-fi fan, but for some odd reason, I have been a big Batman fan ever since Michael Keaton took on the bat role. And of course, I had to see the new one, with Heath Ledger as one of my favorite actors and knew it would be phenomenal. It was amazing, disturbing, amazing, surreal, the last-20-minutes edge-of-my-seat entertaining movie. I was really sad when it was over knowing that it was Heath's last full acting performance. He definitely should win an Oscar.

Why am I even blogging about this?...not that they need me to promote the movie, (in just 10 days since its release, its made $315 million). I could blog about so many other things...but afterall this is a journal and it's very much a big part of my life...I want to remember Heath Ledger and his performance. I also have converted Garrett into a fan, (this was the first time he saw a Batman movie!)



Other random postings...we will be posting studio photos and updates soon!

Announcement from Graycen!!!

Yes, its true. Its our 8th Anniversary today and we are celebrating it by announcing the news of our pregnancy :) Finally, right?? Its been a little hard to keep this a secret!! I am 12 weeks and due on January 24th. Stay tuned for baby 3D photos soon.

At this point we have no preference with gender. Boy or girl, it will be awesome, no matter what. We will find out in a month or so what it is going to be to be more prepared :)

Now for names. We have had a list of baby names 3 years before Graycen was born, but somehow lost it, since it was in our very old PC and copied on some floppy disk somewhere. We do have a list of favorite names in our heads.

So, we would love to see comments on combination of names, first and middle for both girl and boy. What do you suggest? If it matches what we have in mind, there will be a prize :) :)

Singing in the rain

Lately we've had rainstorms every single afternoon, so yesterday we thought we'd take advantage of it. Our friends, Annette and Jared, gave Graycen this great rain gear for her birthday, and didn't it turn out to be the best prop for a shoot! I'm pretty sure that's the reason they gave it to her. :-)


On the new studio front, things are coming along quite well. We should be hanging pictures next week and moving in the week following. We can't wait to have everyone over!

Down the Aisle at the Ritz Carlton Denver

Last week we were part of a wedding show unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was absolutely outstanding.

Introducing the national team of vendors:

Lisa Konecny of E-Events coordinated the spectacular event.
And her amazing assistants, including Brittany Sobering of Tickled Pink, and Jessy Rivers, were on hand to help.

Our friend and fellow photographer, the incomparable Ryan Joseph was on hand as well.

Providing video was the amazing Jeffrey Stoner. I'm telling you, this guy can produce video magic like no one I've seen.

Ian Prosser and his team from Botanica provided the florals...and the pictures below speak for themselves.

Austin Scarlett of Kenneth Pool bridal gowns displayed 25 of his latest creations in a spectacular runway show.

Lindsey Luxa of Dragonfly Custom Design did the programs, invitations and other collateral. Her work is simply amazing.

DJ Carl celebrity DJ, provided the music for the evening. Without a doubt, he is one of the best around.

The chic furniture and decor was provided from Awny Khashoggi of Unique Option. What an amazingly kind and generous person Awny is.

And finally, our dear friend Kristy Chenell and the fine folks at the Ritz Carlton are such absolutely amazing hosts.

(I'm afraid I may have missed someone....if so, I'm sorry. Please let me know if I have!)

Please enjoy the pics...there are many.








The show opened with the uber-cool video that Anton did for us...


The incomparable Lisa Konecny, who has often been a guest speaker at our elevate workshops for photographers.


The talented Kristy Chenell, who guest spoke at our last elevate workshop in Denver.


















Concluding the runway portion of the show, designer Austin Scarlett escorted one of the girls down the runway in what many considered the most beautiful dress of the evening. The guests congratulated Austin on his amazing work.


What inspires you?





Ian and his team dazzled the runway with some of the most beautiful bouquets.










Ian sported the threads of his homeland. Fortunately I wasn't fast enough to catch his quick turn at the end of the runway. :-)


At the conclusion of the show, Lisa's daughters raced up on stage to congratulate her. Her talented husband, Marc, was also on hand for the show. We always enjoy visiting with Marc whenever we have the chance. (And Marc, I haven't forgotten that I still owe you dinner after the surprise meal you prepared for all of us late one evening after a client meeting at your home!)


Tables displays










After everything was over, Joy found these two "brides" in the back looking through our wedding albums.


And finally, the team photograph at the end of the evening. Unfortunately a handful of folks were missing at this point (no Joy).


A special thanks to everyone involved for giving of themselves and putting on such an amazing show. We were proud and honored to be a part of the national team and we're already looking forward to the next time.

Elevate 4: Chattanooga (Date Change)

We are excited to announce our fourth intensive workshop, elevate4, coming to Chattanooga on October 14-15. Please note the date change from our previous announcement as it conflicted with a number of other photography events and commitments.



Each workshop that we've hosted has been special and exciting, but this one is even more so because it will be held at our storefront studio gallery (due to open in August) in Chattanooga. We'll also be having everyone over to our home for dinner one one of the evenings.

For more information, please check out the workshop site at www.garrettnuddworkshops.com. Also, check out the early bird rates. Space is limited.

Brittany and Sam's bridal session: a closer look

After posting our new video last week from Down the Aisle, we thought it would be nice to include a couple of the pics from Brittany and Sam's post-wedding bridal session that was featured in the video.

















These two are great! Really, one of our favorite couples ever. If you haven't checked out Brittany's wedding blog, Tickled Pink, have a look! It's a great resource for inspiration.

And finally, a special thanks to Anton Lorimer for putting together the video for us. He is absolutely fantastic to work with.

Christina and Albert, married in Chattanooga

The rain threatened all morning long, but the showers passed just in time and the clouds parted to a perfectly beautiful afternoon for Christina and Albert.

The bride getting ready...I love the effect of beveled mirrors.


The first meeting of the bride and groom, on the grand staircase of the Hunter Museum of American Art.











Ready to meet her husband











Beautiful florals





Check out this guy on the trumpet! I singled him out from the jazz band at the reception. His face had so much character, I could photograph him all day long.



A few lovely portraits of the newlyweds






Congratulations Christina and Albert. We were absolutely honored to be a part of your special day. We wish you God's richest blessings as you begin your new life together.

And a special thanks to our friend Alan Darmody for sending Christina and Albert to us since he was already booked.