I recently attended Pictage’s Conference for professional photographers held in New Orleans where I was able to meet and learn from some of the country’s finest photographers. It was an amazing conference full of workshops and lots of opportunities. Below are a few of my favorite shots of a couple of models I caught in the street. I wasn’t officially a part of this workshop and at first thought I just happened to catch a couple of beautiful girls walking down the street, until I noticed following behind them was a swarm of photographers. Luckily I’m small enough to hide between a doorway and was able to quickly grab a few shots right before the workshop ended.

Below are pictures from Nathan Holritz’s shooting workshop where he taught us some tips for working during the worst time of the day – in the harsh noon sunlight! He found a couple from the conference to volunteer and since they were actually photographers themselves it really helped them to know how to pose for the camera.

Here is a shot of the hundreds of photographers cramming the main room for the closing ceremony.

Above is a shot of dozens of photographers ready to volunteer their skills for families of Katrina. I was so thankful and happy to hear that Pictage organized free family portrait sessions for local families.  Even though I was fortunate to have all my scrapbooks, yearbooks, and digital images saved from the storm, a lot of my family and friends were not so lucky. When I evacuated New Orleans for the hurricane my photo albums where the first thing I packed into my car. However, so many people forgot to take with them their photos or just assumed it was a false alarm (like so many ones before) and thought they would soon be back home.  Compared to all other material possessions, your pictures are really the only things that are not replaceable, making their value truly priceless. I can not imagine the thought of loosing all my photos, much less those that have been passed down from previous generations.  We may not have been able to replace those pictures lost in the storm, but at least we could create new memories for many very appreciating families.