Year In Review: 2022

Hej hej hello! Welcome back for another year.

2022 wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned for it. It was my first year as a full corporate drone, which meant there was relatively limited opportunity for juicy work outside of that. There was a point in the year around August where I really….didn’t want to do this review because for most of the year I felt super drained and unmotivated. But I think even on the drought years it’s important to still follow through! In my mind, doing this review is one of the most invaluable things I can be doing for my growth as an artist. It was the year of personal work, and trying to lean into the weird abstract photos that I love making. I’m choosing to view this annual task as a release of sorts as opposed to some Ourobourian ritual. A sexy little treat for myself, regardless of my accomplishments or lack thereof. So here we are!

I guess I should really quickly add that while I say this was a “drought” year, I really only mean that in the sense of drive for creative personal work. On paper I did take fewer clients this year but I’m still extremely grateful for the people who I was able to have in front of my camera and the projects I was able to participate in! The idea that you’re lazy if you’re not working on things constantly has been something that’s been a consistent soggy crust in my pie. But with this year being the first time my calendar wasn’t already pre-filled with contracts, I decided to make a bit of a conscious effort towards keeping it that way? This year really felt like a year of introspective growth as opposed to strictly being focused on technical knowledge/money. And looking back, I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

This first section of photos encapsulates my favorite work that happened when I was able to be alone. One of my favorite things is to go for walks with my camera on a quiet day and just watch. Sometimes I get to make photos. Sometimes I come back with nothing. These photos are my favorite little “somethings.”

As always, if you’d like to work with me to make a little something, call me beep me if you wanna reach me.

 

Some things to note in the photos above:
- A revisiting to my Alma Mater on a blistering afternoon to celebrate the PhD of a dear friend.
- Discovering the neighborhood cats that live by my new apartment
- Scenes from my first vacation in many many years
- A beautiful slicer from the incredibly talented Baltimore knifemaker, Henry Hyde (see what’s available on his storefront here).

This next section of photos are an ultra condensed snapshot into the people I was able to photograph this year. Some of these projects were work. Others as “work”. A rolling stone gathers no bridge birds, or whatever. All of these people do incredible things, so I’ll be sure to be highlighting them in the future with more dedicated posts :)

This past year has been restful, draining, mind-numbing, inspiring, and juicy in completely backwards unexpected ways. Making attempts to be more public with my work seems to be an annual declaration (so I see no reason to stop saying it now, haha!) I’ll do my best to share more.

As always, thank you to all the people who continue to grace me with their presence and support. Thank you to my friends who keep me anchored when storms brew. Thank you to my bidet for giving me relief when my stomach brews storms. And thank you (yes, you!) for taking the time to read this! I’m sure this year will bring boundless challenges, but I’m quite optimistic that there will be an equal share of joyous experiences just waiting to be unearthed.

Thanks for sticking around. Let’s make something awesome this year.

Cheers,
WZ

Year-end Review: 2021

 

Hi! Hej! Hello! Are you well? What’s your flavor today?

This year was honestly a whirlwind in almost every possible aspect. I got a job! I was able to commission my friend Charissa to create a logo for me! I launched a print shop! People bought prints! (Thank you 10Q Thank you so much!) I moved 3 times! I turned 25! Truly the most. By the time December was rolling around, my motivation was so fickle, it felt like a coin flip on whether or not I even wanted to complete this review. But after a few days of mulling, I was reminded that the entire purpose of this annual review is so that I have something to act as an anchoring point of reset and reflection. It's nice to be able to share this with you guys, but the primary purpose is in the name. A year end review. What’s the point to make this review, and rush it out if it doesn’t fulfill that base purpose, y’know?

This year was quite different from previous years in that it was also my very first year of stepping away from full time freelance work! For the longest time I thought that if stopped trying to make a living as a full time photographer (/videographer/designer/email monkey) that it'd be the same as giving up on my ambitions. But this year I realized that it’s really…not that simple? And so I’m leaning into the mess, and pivoting! Also I want health insurance. (Maybe I’ll talk on quitting when I have more life under my belt.)

It feels quite ironic, really. To have the year I step away from full time freelance work be the most creatively fulfilling year to date. But I guess that's the way the pajeon flips sometimes ! I really enjoyed the format I used last year, so I'm going to return to that one more time. I love being able to tell stories, and I love being able to give context to what might otherwise be assumed to be a simple recipe. But this time I'll start by sharing some of my personal work and then move into professional work afterwards. As a fun twist from previous years, some of these photos will also be available for purchase as prints via my shop!

ALSO! Click on the actual pictures to tab through so you can see them in their entirety.

As always, if you'd like to work with me on a project, feel free to reach out to me via my contact page.

Let's ride.

This first set of photos is fun! (well, I think all of them are fun)
So something I had the leeway to explore this year was what it'd be like to really put the idea of "gear doesn't matter" to the test by becoming an inverse gear-head. Instead of vying for the newest gear, I'd just use what was available and convenient. (Obviously only for my personal work). And what a ride that's been!

I bought some cheap point and shoot cameras just so that I could have something with me wherever I am. Slowing down, making time to take walks, trying to see the beauty in all the spaces I’m in. Scenes taken on walks, scenes taken around the neighborhood, scenes taken at home. There’s something picturesque wherever you are. A few of these are actually available for purchase as prints! You can find em at my shop over at winston.darkroom.tech.

The photos in this set were taken on a few different cameras.
- Nikon Coolpix S230
- Canon Powershot 180
- Fuji X-M1

It’s incredible what these old cameras can do. It’s not that they’re professionally viable, but it’s inspiring to shoot on these cameras and realize how powerful the cameras on our phones are in comparison. It’s been fun to see the different limits of these cameras and figuring out what quirks on these cameras help me create when I’m not shooting on professional grade gear. Let’s keep going.

ALRIGHT this one is cool. The first two are just scenes from Adorn Vintage Furniture in Baltimore! I love watching how light trickles in to different spaces and how it interacts.
That next one is an image I shot on a Nintendo 3DS! Did you know that those old things have cameras too? Surprisingly they do, and they’re not bad (Also read as: they’re bad cameras, but the novelty of using one for photography just seemed too cool to pass up).
The next 2 abstracts are scenes that I found while sharpening knives. The material left behind on the whetstone looks like sand. Sharpening knives can be such a meditative process, seeing the different patterns go through cycles like waves is really something to behold.
And the last 2 are just spec product images of the new beater camera I bought this year. Getting into photography doesn’t always require having expensive gear, and this camera was a fun manifestation of that. The body and lens were $300 in total. I brought it with me on all the work trips I had to make. It is absolutely not an understatement to say that purchasing this camera helped me reignite my love for taking photos for fun.

Now THESE photos. The first set was when my friend and I took a jaunt down to see JP Brammer talk about his new book, Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in DC. Here he’s being interviewed by Jack Harrison-Quintana from Grindr 4 Equality. A lovely night, with some lovely people.

The next set is unironically some of my favorite photos from the entire year. Taken at the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU. I’ve always had a love for architectural photography, but especially when I’m able to create abstractions from the preexisting forms. When I went there, I realized that the museum staff were just side eyeing this strange man hobbling around, looking at everything except for the actual art on display. (I DID look at the actual work being shown…but I truly wasn’t as entranced with the work as I was the form of the building)

Finally we have some beach! Anyone that knows me well knows that I don’t really enjoy the holidays. I loathe them, in fact. So this year for Thanksgiving I went out to a beach alone, with a little whiskey, some char siu bao, and camera in hand. I spent the day just roaming and walking on the shore. The perfect holiday.

Now then….let’s see some professional work!

 

We’re starting the set off with a bang. The first few images are from a little project I was commissioned to do for a new facility by Kaiser Permanente. Initially I’d thought about just sitting on this until the building was finally opened and official but this feels like as good a time as any. I’ve never shot purely on commission like this before, so it was a fresh experience!

In between is my favorite image from some straggler real estate contracts from last year. Love the work. Could do without the lowball budgets. The other photos in the set are BTS photos from when my friend John of Lofton Films was participating in the 100 Hour Film Racing competition. The competition is exactly as it sounds. Teams are given prompts and have 100 hours to script, cast, plan, film, and edit an entire film. I’d never shot BTS on a film set before, so this was a completely fresh experience for me.

Both of these were super fun experiences, with plenty of room for growth. I’m grateful for these opportunities.
Next up we have some love and stuff.

Ironically, there isn’t much for me to say about these. It’s been really cool to connect with these people after an incredibly lonely previous year. Weddings and stuff are still fun, but I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t a little more cautious to accept them with Miss Covid running rampant. I took on a lot less work than I would in previous years due to Covid + work schedule and I’m really glad I did. If I hadn’t, I don’t think that I’d have had the emotional bandwidth to work on these. That’s growth, baby!

Onto the next.

Whew, I love these portraits. And I love these people. The first set is of NIM / Liam for some general promotional material. I was lucky enough to cross paths with him when we were in college, and it’s been incredible seeing him grow as a person and a musician. Also we totally got yelled at by some Karen while taking these photos, so that adds to the spice too.

The next set of portraits are grad photos for Charissa! She was actually who I commissioned to create this branding I’ve been using! The way that we’ve been cheerleadering for each other from the across the fence for years and then finally had the chance to work together! I drove down to Richmond, VA to shoot these portraits for her because not only is she working full time, she also graduated from GRAD SCHOOL! Insane.

Aaaaand this set is sort of cheating but also there are no rules so who cares. These portraits of Nathan from Crawl Across the Sky were for an upcoming album he was releasing. We actually shot these late 2020 but I didn’t have a chance to edit them until 2021 so :) Like most of my clients, he just said “do whatever you want”, and I did! It’s always so great when clients let me run loose like a rabid fox.

Finally, Rayma. Who needs no introduction at all! We’d been planning this shoot around the concept of “RED” for almost 2 years now. This thing was so funny, I’ll ALWAYS laugh about it because we planned, made inspo boards, booked Sonne Studios in Baltimore, and got the stuff together…but when we actually walked into the studio and took some test photos we IMMEDIATELY scrapped everything.
Honestly, saying “test photos” isn’t even accurate because we took 1 test, realized that it was Not going to work with the stuff we had there, and pivoted away faster than the hairline of a middle aged man rocking the worlds most pallid comb-over.

Anyways, let this be a reminder that no matter how intricate your plans are….sometimes the plans make you. Following these photos is what I’m really trying to do more of: FOOD

A direction I’m trying to move in for 2022 is doing more food work! I don’t know if it’s taboo to admit but these are all actually part of extended studies, so keep those eyeballs peeled to see the completed sets later on. My friends are always giving me shade about saying “I have fun things coming. Can’t wait to share!” and then FORGETTING to share and leaving the work to rot like the last instant ramen noodle you’re too lazy to fish out before throwing the pot in the sink…..and they’re 100% right. Oops! So this year I’ll try to be better about that.
This year I’ve been trying to pay attention to the different textures in foods that we’re eating. Part of that has been investigating what specific aspect of those foods encapsulate their personality the most. I’m not quite sure myself what that means, but it’s been really interesting to explore the way to accent the visual elements of a specific flavor.



This year has been simultaneously one of the most challenging, fulfilling, and refreshing years of work to date. I’m infinitely grateful to the people I’ve been able to meet, and even more grateful for the friends that anchored me through it all.
As always, thank you for continuing to read all the insane things I spew from these fingers of mine. Thank you for supporting my work. Thank you for the encouraging words, loud and quiet. And thank you for continuing to break bread with me. (And thank you for buying my prints!) The days continue to twist and furl, but there isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not grateful for this tailwind.

Thanks for sticking around.

Cheers,
-WZ


 

Comfort + Mitchell // Hampden, Baltimore Wedding - REVAMP

 

Just over 2 years ago, I shot my very first solo wedding!

I decided it would be fun to go back and revisit this wedding and re-edit it with my current skillset and see what we’d get. I narrowed down my original set of culled images to my favorite 100, then 50, and ended up with my favorite 28. (I was gunning for 30 but just decided 2 of them weren’t good enough)

It’s really wild to see how far I’ve come in these 2 years and I’m so incredibly excited to see what the future holds.

If you’re looking for a Maryland or Baltimore wedding photographer, please reach out! I can’t wait to make some magic with you.

 

ZHOU31: #22 - 31

Hey hey hey

WEEK FOUR OF ZHOU31 !!!

For this final blog post in the series, I’ll just be looping in the final two days so that we can smoothly wrap up this reflection. So instead of the usual 7 photos, we’ll be looking at 9!

Hope you guys have enjoyed this brief review on my work this year. Stay tuned for my FULL SIZED year end review, coming out TOMORROW, January 01, 2020!

 
Xanadu Games, Laurel MD

Xanadu Games, Laurel MD

 

This was just an outtake for some footage John (of Lofton Films) was creating for Pound 2019, a Super Smash Brothers tournament being held at Xanadu Games. The goal was rather simple, but the execution was a bit tricky. Matt and Calvin were supposed to walk towards the door, fist bump (as shown by the signature “Pound” logo), and then walk through the doors into the sunlight.

The idea was simple. The reality if the situation was everything but HAHA. First the smoke machine was throwing a fit. And then they couldn’t get the fist bump right (doing it without looking is harder than you think). Needless to say, it took a little while and a few test runs. In frame is Matt and to the right holding the camera is John. Calvin is nowhere to be found. We DID get the shot!!!! The tournament was a huge success! But yeah, I love this frame. There’s so much passion in esports. I can’t wait to do more next year.

Shot on Sony A7iii, 24-70GM

 
 
UMBC, Baltimore MD

UMBC, Baltimore MD

 

This is my friend Tyler. He primarily works in art handling and installation, but his eye for editing and selection is almost as valuable to me as his friendship. Not only did he keep me company when I was making my book, Second Generation Plates, I’ve gotten his help in choosing photos for my website revamp as well as photos to be included in this series.
This photo happened on a random afternoon when he had some collodion plates to prepare and I tagged along to keep him company. Cranked the ISO right up to 12800 (this was a darkroom, after all. Lights were all but off) and managed to take this. I don’t think he’ll ever let me take a proper portrait of him but we’ll see, eh?

Shot on Sony A7iii, 24-70GM

 
 
University of Maryland, Shady Grove, Rockville MD

University of Maryland, Shady Grove, Rockville MD

 

Another portrait of a friend. Rayma hit me up a few months ago asking for some actor headshots but we never nailed down a solid date until a few weeks ago HAHA. We initially planned to shoot in a newly constructed building on the USG campus but when we got there, it was locked. So we changed plans and found new spots. The completed set will be up on the blog soon!
But until then, check out our little BASEGRAY inspired shoot: Comp

Shot on Sony A7iii, 85mm

 
 
1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

 
 
 
1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

 

What a dream wedding! This might have been the quickest booking client I’ve ever had. A colleague I had been working with at the Shriver Center told me one of her best friends was getting married and that they needed a photographer. From the day they called me to their wedding couldn’t have been more than a week or two! Buckwild.

These two had a SUPER intimate wedding, with 15ish of their best friends and family. Along with some beautiful Baltimore afternoon light pouring into the room, it was one of my favorite weddings I’ve ever shot. They were so down to explore the wonderful venue and experiment. The entire portrait session consisted of me seeing something cute and asking “hey do you mind just sitting right over here?” and them happily complying while looking SO cute. Anyways I’ll put this wedding on the blog sometime. It’s cute.

Shot on Sony A7iii, 24-70GM and 85mm

 
 
Pound 2019 at Xanadu Games in Laurel, MD

Pound 2019 at Xanadu Games in Laurel, MD

 

Another frame from Pound 2019.
This was a photo that cemented my love for esports. It’s so much more than people staring at screens. It’s so much more than just video games. The passion people have for the players, for the games. It’s unreal. The atmosphere in a room when Grand Finals hits is like some spicy fried chicken, a bowl of ramen on a winter day. I wanna shoot more in 2020.

Shot on Nikon D810, Sigma 70-200

 
 
Silver Spring, MD

Silver Spring, MD

 

Day 29.
A wonderful wedding I got to shoot in the July heat. Dressed in David’s Bridal , Jimmy Choo and flowers from Park Floral, JiangLing was literally angelic. Also, that dress has POCKETS!

What I had meant to be something else turned into a heavenly shot. A happy accident, if you would.

Shot on Nikon D810, 85mm

 
 
Cover image to Second Generation Plates, by Winston Zhou

Cover image to Second Generation Plates, by Winston Zhou

 

Day 30.
This image is special to me. As many of you know, I graduated from UMBC this past May. For part of my senior thesis, we had to pitch, and bring a concept to life. The reason I said “part” instead of saying it was the entire class was that I had the idea that I wanted to flex a little. I usually try to stay pretty quiet about the things I do, only posting final results, and quietly working in the night. But I’d also spent 3 years working at The Retriever, our school news publication, and had gathered a rudimentary understanding (some might say, average+) of inDesign and I wanted to see fi I could put that to use. So I decided on a book!

What began as a simple 10-15 page endeavor quick evolved into a 60 page marathon. Before I knew it I’d had found 5 friends who were willing to cook and let me just photograph them. Making a book had never been a childhood dream of mine, but I’m so so so thankful for everyone that helped me create this book. Thank you Charissa, Nina, Steven, Nitesh, Tyler for design support and feedback.
Thank you Jess, Biobele, Raghav, Gabriel, Morgan for allowing me into your homes and kitchens.
Thank you professor for roasting all the other kids in class except for me LMAO.

Second Generation Plates is still available for puchase, if you forgot to send a gift to someone. Perfect as a coffee table book, or as a recipe book. Purchase a copy HERE. 30% of profits will be donated to RAICES.

Shot on Sony A7iii, 24-70GM

 
 
Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis MD

Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis MD

 

Day 31. My favorite image of the year.
One of the final double exposures made from a relaxed afternoon spent with Meghan and Chris at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, MD. These past few months I’ve been constantly researching, note taking, and observing other photographers I look up to. Looking at things I like and can implement into my own work, looking for things I’m possibly even better at than them, looking for things I’m lacking in and need to improve upon.

For the past few months I’ve felt my work has stagnated. Not that I’ve been working professionally for a long time (only 3 calendar years, with this being my first 7 months working out of school). But I constantly felt like my work was just constantly repeating itself, singing the same songs, cooking the same dishes. But for the first time in a long time the idea of making a double exposure popped into my head. I’d seen them all over the place and knew how to make them….I just never could figure out how to make them look good with my work????? Anyways, I cobbled together this image and it feels like I hopped over a great plateau of growth. It’s not the most technically advanced or complex image, but it’s growth. And it sure tastes great.

Shot on Sony A7iii, 24-70GM




I’ll be coming out with my full 2019 review on new years day! Or maybe the day after. I think a lot of people will be hungover on new years day. Stay tuned for that, or check out any of the previous weeks in my ZHOU31 series! Week One, Week Two, Week Three

 

ZHOU31: #15 - 21

Hey hey hey

WEEK THREE OF ZHOU31. We’re almost there! Same drill as always, I skip the talking here and do it under the photos. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 
Washington, DC

Washington, DC

 

This was such a cute session! Annie wanted to propose to her girlfriend and had planned to do it with an intimate group of their friends on a DC rooftop. The plan was to propose during golden hour for some extra juicy photos….but some things went off schedule and the proposal ended up happening almost 45 minutes after the planned time. The sun was gone, Annie was getting anxious, and we were starting to get worried that this proposal was going to go south.

Or so we thought! (or maybe just me) As soon as Kiita walked up those stairs, the room was silenced. We didn’t get a sunset, but really, who cares about that. She said yes, and we celebrated. Bopped down to take some photos in an alley and on our way back I caught this tender little kiss.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Glenview Mansion, Rockville MD

Glenview Mansion, Rockville MD

 

This was an incredibly cute, but also incredibly hot summer wedding I got to shoot with my good friend Hawraa of Sweet Charms Photography at Glenview Mansion in Rockville!

If you’re regularly leaving your home to go out into public and engage in activities, you probably noticed that we had a hella intense heatwave this summer…and this wedding fell smack in the middle of that. After we sweated our way through an adorable little portrait session, everyone heads on inside to cool down and prepare for the reception. Once all the ducks were in a line, Ashley and Collin came down the steps, all of their friends gathered up around them and she was SWEPT off her feet.

It’s traditional for photographers to want to be in front of all the family and friends with their phones but when you see a couple surrounded with so many people that are so invested in them….it just feels right to keep them in frame.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Glenview Mansion, Rockville MD

Glenview Mansion, Rockville MD

 

Ashley + Collin wedding (pt. 2)
The photography timeline for this wedding was slightly atypical in that the time we would have to capture details would not happen during the getting ready phase, but instead happened in between the ceremony and the reception. We found these beautiful shadows pooled across the jade toned marble and it only felt right to take advantage of that.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Rockville Maryland Wedding Photographer ZHOU 2.JPG
 

Ashley + Collin wedding (pt. 2)
Near the tail end of our portrait session, one of the flower girls came running down because she wanted to play. Almost IMMEDIATELY after running down one set of stairs, her aunt/sister yelled down to tell her to come inside (we were all hot, sweaty, and trying to get dinner started).

She eventually complied, possibly out of fear of la chancla, but it does make for a pretty sweet moment.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

 

This photo joins the ranks of the few photos on this list that weren’t shot for clients (I’m trying to change that for next year).

With the help of a fun little facebook group called Asian Creative Network, I found myself in DC in the middle of the summer with some complete strangers. As we slowly made our way through the National Gallery of Art we eventually found a cute little staircase tucked into the back. In frame is wonderful DC comedian, Shelley Kim!

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Spirit of Baltimore, Baltimore MD

Spirit of Baltimore, Baltimore MD

 

Just a cute little frame from my wedding with JiangLing and ShuHao! They got married at their home church in Silver Spring and trekked up to Baltimore to take their intimate reception to the inner harbor on the Spirit of Baltimore!

I usually won’t try to bend the timeline for extra portraits because I think it’s important that couples get time to relax and celebrate with their friends but when we saw the sunset over the water….we kind of just had to.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

1840s Plaza, Baltimore MD

 

HANDS down (get it?) one of my favorite photos. Taken during the tail end of Leah and Jesus’ intimate 1840s Plaza ceremony. In total there were maybe 20-30 people in attendance? Super small, super cute. Honestly, some of my favorite weddings have been extremely tight, super intimate weddings. I noticed her holding her sisters hand and exchanging nervous glances and next thing you know: a tender moment like this is born.

It also totally helps that the huge windows washed them in some beautiful fall afternoon light.

Shot on Nikon D810, Sigma 70-200.

Next week we’ll be going through our final 10! Hope you’ll come back around for that.
You can find the other weeks right here:
Week One
Week Two
Week Four

 

ZHOU31: #8 - 14

Hey hey hey

We’re back for week 2! As I was posting this week I was thinking about how strange it was that this might be the first time I have posted SO MANY days in a row! Maybe I should post more in 2020? Do you think it’s important that I squeeze content out every day? Let me know.

Anyways let’s get right into the content.

 
Day 8, Ellicott City, MD

Day 8, Ellicott City, MD

 

Day 8 was a surprise proposal into an engagement session in Historic Ellicott City. I initially had this saturday morning off after 3 straight months of weddings but this seemed so cute, I couldn’t resist. We were able to squeeze it into the one saturday I had free.

Courtney was under the impression that she was getting brunch with her girls and then going shopping….but what she didn’t know was that Phil was waiting right outside the restaurant where she was eating! We took a little walk into the forest and once we were a bit away from the trail path he popped the question, and it was all history from there.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Shot for the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership

Shot for the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership

 

This was part of a marketing series I was shooting for the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership, “Waterfront Wellness”. The series is part of an effort to get city residents to get out and exercise with local fitness professionals.

This was shot during a MidTown Yoga class from on a nice sunday morning at 8am. Everyone else was pretty into it….except for this kid. Me too, dude.

Shot on Nikon D810, Sigma 70-200

 
 
Shot for the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership

Shot for the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership

 

Another image from the Waterfront Wellness series!

Taken near the end of a Hiit Cardio class. Don’t let this posture fool you, this lady was crushing the workout in 90º heat the entire time.

Shot on Nikon D810, Sigma 70-200

 
 
baltimore wedding photographer
 

Ah!

This was a frame from bridal prep at Christina and Johns beautiful Elkridge wedding. At our pre-wedding consult I asked them if there was anything special that they wanted to do before the ceremony, like a first look, or anything like that, and they told me they wanted to pray together!
They were getting ready in houses literally across the street from each other, so as soon as Christina was all dressed and ready, we got John to come over, hide himself around the corner of their kitchen. She would come down, they’d hold hands around that corner, and they prayed.

It took EVERYTHING for them to not have a peek at each other, but this was one of the final frames from that beautiful moment. Christina giggling her way up the stairs. John wiping his eyes with tissues from Christina’s father. One of my favorite images of all time.

Shot on Sony A7III, 24-70GM

 
 
Madison, WI

Madison, WI

 

This was an image taken on my trip to Madison, Wisconsin! After I graduated I pulled together a few of my friends and we decided to road trip it up to Wisconsin! Eating the finest local foods, like Taco Bell, Hot Cheetos and custom olive oils and vinegars from Galena Garlic.
It just so happened that one of the biggest fighting game tournaments of the year, Combo Breaker was also happening that weekend so we also dropped in there for a few hours. If you grew up in the arcades or have any sort of love for fighting games like Tekken/Street Fighter, I’d HIGHLY recommend you check this midwest regional out. Rick and co put on an incredible time every single year.
The next day we decided to just chill out and take a walk through downtown Madison. I thought it’d be fun to toss the drone up and was able to catch a local family taking their boat out for a spin.

Shot on DJI Mavic Pro

 
 
Taken at Genesis 6, Oakland CA

Taken at Genesis 6, Oakland CA

 

An insane experience. To kick the year off I was invited to help work on the live-stream team with VG BootCamp at Genesis 6 in Oakland, CA. While I wasn’t contracted to work on photo coverage, I was put in charge of managing the Smash Ultimate stream on stage, which gave me prime real estate for photographing during the off-moments.

The days were insanely long, running nonstop from 9am-2am, but it was an experience I’d absolutely fight to experience again. If you play Smash Ultimate and have an itch to compete, Genesis is coming back this year for G7. Register on their Smash.gg page: Genesis 7.

Shot on Nikon D810, Sigma 70-200

 
 
Taken at Genesis 6, Oakland CA

Taken at Genesis 6, Oakland CA

 

The final day. Genesis, much like most tournaments, run brackets that span Friday to Sunday. Massive crowds of contestants are eliminated in single/double elimination setups and before you know it, 2000+ contestants have been narrowed down to the top 128, top 64, top 32…and before you know it: the top 8 have been selected at the end of Saturday night. While the bulk of the event happened in the Oakland convention center in downtown Oakland, the top 8 grand finals changed venues to the Paramount Theater.

The room wass dark. With no lights anywhere except for two spotlights highlighting competitors that fought their way up over thousands of others in various games, such as Super Smash Brothers 64, Melee, and Ultimate as well as Rivals of Aether. The atmosphere was absolutely unrivaled, and unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

Thanks for reading this weeks blog! You can find the other weeks right here:
Week One
Week Three
Week Four