We realize that we are three months into a new year by now, but we want to share with you a few of our favorite images from 2009. We’ll continue the “Best of 2009″ theme and over the next few weeks we’ll share more of our very favorite 2009 images in a few different categories.

Here are some of our favorite portraits from all the beautiful weddings we photographed last year. The idea was to keep it down to only ten of our very favorites, but we just liked too many of them, and to avoid the dilemma we decided to show many more… :)

We’ll shortly be posting our favorite Engagement Photos and Bridal Portraits, so stay tuned!

Wow! What an amazing experience it was to participate in this year’s Wedding and Portrait Photographer’s International (WPPI) convention in Las Vegas. This year we attended the full program, which means that we didn’t really see the light of day for 7 days straight. This was the 30th anniversary of the convention and it was full of workshops, seminars, a humongous trade show and 14,000 wedding and portrait photographers from all over the world!

Natasha and I had such a great time trying to attend as many of the educational programs as possible. To be honest, it was really exhausting because most days had classes starting at 8am and we typically wouldn’t be back in our hotel room until it was time to go to sleep. Here are some of the stats on what actually took place:

WPPI – “RECAP”!

2 full workshop days spent with one instructor for each of us (Greg Gibson for Mike and David Williams for Natasha)
18+ Class educational programs (about 2 hours each)
7 hours spent walking the enormous trade show floor
7 days & nights spent entirely inside of a hotel (literally! we went out to pick up some groceries one time)
6 Hours or less for sleep each night
14,000+ photographers attending the convention!!

We made a few photo collages from our snaps during the time in Vegas:

It was fun to participate in a few hands-on photography sessions:

A few more images summarizing the experience:

It was awesome to see one of our friends giving a presentation about the Kubota Image Tools (Michael Corsentino, above).

Lastly, here are a couple of great quotes we heard from some of the inspiring speakers:

“Better to fail at something you love, then succeed at something you hate.” – Jasmine Star

“Is what you’re doing worth giving up your life for? Well, it should be, because that’s what you’re doing.” – David Jay

Have a great week, everybody!

I’ll let you in on a secret: when we go to the weddings we cover we take many, many pictures. Shots of the wedding, of course, but once in a while we’ll also grab a quick shot or two of each other. We just can’t resist taking a photo if one of us looks particularly cute. Or especially funny. Or just plain ridiculous! :)

So here are some photos of us in action and behind-the-scene shots from last year. The good, the bad, and the funny:

The hardest thing during this shoot was not not to get my gear completely soaked:

Mike showing our couple exactly how he wants them to walk:

Getting in my way :)

It’s not a proper Mexico wedding without a sombrero, isn’t it?

I loove photographing babies, it’s the best workout ever! :)

Sometimes I get carried away with all the wedding details:

Trash the Dress session in the Mexican ruins:

I never can get enough of photographing pretty shoes:

Mike, making sure he properly documents all the reception details and food­­:

Covering the preparations in Hawaii:

Getting eaten alive by mosquitoes during a trash-the-dress shoot in the Hawaiian jungles:

MIke sporting his beloved crocs:

Testing the light at the De Young Museum:

Hope you enjoyed it :) We are currently still at WPPI, enjoying classes, inspiration, and great networking with our photo friends. The trade show with all the new albums, canvas prints, and more opens tomorrow and we look forward to checking it out.

Happy Monday everybody!