So, tomorrow is the (spring) Vernal Equinox... what does that mean for you and I?  This is when the sun is directly above the equator (around 11:47pm tonight) and we celebrate the first official day of spring.   I am completely stoked for Spring!  It has been a long and uninspiring winter for me to say the least.  I spent the winter making music (which is my other passion) and playing the hell out of my new Larrivee D-40 that I picked up last fall.

In other news I am taking most of the season off from shooting weddings (due to my own upcoming nuptials!) - I have a very limited number of dates for late summer / early fall, please give me a buzz to check availability.  That being said I do have some personal projects in mind and I'm planning to focus on building my stock portfolio - I say this a lot, but this time I am following through with it!

What else is new... well, I finally got around to adding a portfolio section to this site.  You can check out my work by clicking "portfolio" in the navigation bar above.  It's a jumble of a lot of photographic genres -  I'm not into the idea of labelling and classifying all of my work.  Maybe that will change, but for now it's all in one pot.  I will be adding a section specifically for new work as I get out shooting, so check back for updates. 

I wanted to share some links to photographer portfolios that I check frequently.  These photographers are all over the map in terms of subjects and genres but I find inspiration in all of their work. 

Micah Diamond - he has a very unique eye and a style that is distinctly his own.  Great projects that contain images strong enough to stand on their own.  His style is minimalistic and gritty, and is really about the moment more so than the technical merits we get caught up in.

Pio Fortuno - this guy walks the streets of NY looking for the "decisive moment".  If you're not familiar with the decisive moment do yourself a favor and look up Henri Cartier Bresson.  Great use of juxtaposition - I really have to visit NY.

Bobby Earle - fantastic wedding photographer out of San Francisco with a great eye and sense of style.  Bobby makes me wants to rock primes wide open all the time!  He's a constant blogger so there's always lots of reasons to go back to his site.

Lloyd Yoon - Great fellow canuck wedding photographer.  I've bumped into Lloyd on some camera forums, he's incredibly knowledgable and is disgustingly consistent as a photog.  Seriously, every wedding Lloyd churns out better images than his last.  Great use of wide angle and off camera flash.

Emin Kuliyev - Emin is pretty far from traditional wedding photography.  I'm a sucker for wide angle and he uses it to great effect.  I find his work to be really creative.  Check him out if you're in the mood for something different.

Roman Voegtli - Roman is a fantastic abstract photographer.  He can create art of things we wouldn't normally give a second glance.  Check out his concept and panorama work.

Tom Kaszuba - Tom is an amateur photog out of CT.  There's nothing amatuer about his work - his portfolio is pretty broad so there is something for any taste. Todd Klassy is another photog that has a great eye and I always find his work to be refreshing.

Maciej Dakowicz - I first stumbled upon his work a few years ago.  Maciej had done a photo story on the workers of a garbage dump in Cambodia and had captured incredible character.  He is a great travel photographer and has recently published a book of his work spanning over 16 countries.

Karl Grobl - a humanitarian and pretty much the quintessential photojournalist when it comes to travel.  Karl's work is focused on humanitarion and relief stories.  Chances are you've seen his work but didn't know who photographed it.

Tim Flach - amazing commercial work mostly involving animal portraits.  Really his work is like nothing I've ever seen before.

Joel Sartore - national geographic photographer extraordinaire!  He has my dream job, and he's damn good at it.  His is a contributing photographer to nat geo magazine and runs a busy stock photo business as well. 

Dimitri Vasiliou - Dimitri is a landscape photographer based in Scotland.  He does photo tours and cranks out some of the best landscapes imaginable.  Browsing through his portfolio is a lesson in the golden hour & composition, and will pretty much make you book a trip to Scotland. 

Brian (LordV) - hands down the best macro photography I've ever seen.  'Nuff said!

Tom England - I've written about working with Tom in previous posts.  What can I say, he's a good friend and a great photog.  Check out his daily photojournal for 2009.  Tom has been going strong and hasn't missed a day yet.

This wouldn't be a post without some sort of photo, so I'll leave you with a quick grab shot of my Larrivee D-40 that occupied my time all winter.  Cheers!