In my last post, I had just wrapped up my seminar with the Peoria Camera Club, which turned out to be a great day. One of the attendees actually wrote a little blog post about the day, including some great shots, and you can see that HERE.

Here’s an awesome image from my Peoria Camera Club talk. This was shot by Stacy Hanna, who wrote a blog post on the seminar, which includes several great shots. Check out her site HERE. 

After the Peoria Camera Club seminar, I flew to New Jersey to spend a few days with Karen’s family. (Karen had flown out before me and was already in NJ when I arrived.) It was the first time I saw them since Karen and I got engaged a few weeks ago, and they are really excited. (and so am I!) I’ve got to say, as far as in-laws go, I couldn’t have gotten luckier. Karen’s parents are just great. They’re extremely fun and laid back… very much like Karen.

While we were in Jersey, we really just hung out for the most part. We got work done and met up with some of Karen’s friends. We also paid a visit to Heritage Vineyards… a place we frequent often when we’re in town. This time, we were very fortunate to have our great friend, Rich Heritage, give us a little tasting of their newest wines. Good stuff! If you’re ever in South Jersey on a weekend, go ahead and take a tour at Heritage. You wont be disappointed!

On Thursday, Karen and I drove down to Washington DC for Photoshop World. What’s interesting is that we drive down in my old Jeep Liberty that had been sitting in front of Karen’s parents’ house for over a year. Ive been meaning to sell it (we have the MINI now) and so we dropped it off at a Carmax right outside of the city. It took about an hour to sort out the details, but they actually bought the car and we headed to our hotel.

The day before Photoshop World officially started, we joined some friends and explored the Tidal Basin, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Here I am with my great friend, Jay Nelson. (Jay was definitely dressed for the day!)

Photoshop World is always a great time to catch up with people, as so many of my photographer/instructor friends converge in one place. The timing of the event turned out to be perfect this year, because it coincided with the annual Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival, and the trees were in full bloom. We spent an entire day walking around the Tidal Basin, which was completely lined with pink trees, and visiting some of the monuments. It was around 80 degrees and sunny, so we couldn’t have asked for a better day. (The crowds were pretty nasty, however.)

Overall, the conference has been going really well. I taught three classes, on adjustment layers, color adjustments and panorama stitching. Aside from teaching, we’ve spent a lot of time catching up with friends and exploring the city a bit. When we leave DC on Tuesday, we’ll be flying back to the bus, which is in Las Vegas. We’ve got to do some minor work on the bus, and then move on to Palm Springs . . . perhaps with a few shooting stops on the way. More to come…

Here’s an iPhone shot from my Adjustment Layer class at Photoshop World.

An iPhone shot overlooking the trade show floor at Photoshop World.