i'm sooo excited for MANY reasons to introduce to you the xtreme! seminar NYC06.

CHECK OUT THE XTREME SEMINAR



Jessica Claire and I finally decided, after the number of requests we got, to team up and put on an intense three-day seminar this fall in the heart of NYC.

This isn't the kind of seminar where you'll be sitting in lecture and copying powerpoint all day... but rather a get-your-hands-dirty and actually produce some amazing changes and improvements in your photography and business experience.

Spots are filling up fast already so if you're thinking of joining, we'd recommend signing up before WPPI ;)

Can't wait! It's gonna be a wild fun time!

My friend Dane Sanders, an amazing photographer, professor, entrepreneur, and now father of FOUR adorable little-ones (among many other things) had this vision months ago of making our lives simpler and better through sharing ideas and tips for making our lives better, simpler. What became of this vision is now an addiction for all of us photographers (and even non-photographers) to tune into every week..

Back in February, Nam and I were the first guest hosts of the now very popular Simple Photo Minute, which is broadcasted on Simple Photo Life every Wednesday and is also available as an iTunes Vodcast. In my first SPM (OC Motel) we talked about using lighting, composition, and concept to show you that "you don't have to be at the beach to get beautiful pictures."


Last month, while a bunch of us were out in Laguna Beach California, Jessica and I recorded this week's SPM while photographing the sweet and wonderful Nathan and Amber and Anne and Mike. This time, we're showing you how to take people that aren't normally in front of the camera and making them totally FABULOUS vintage icons for a day!



Click here to see this week's episode of Simple Photo Minute
featuring Liana Lehman and Jessica Claire.

I got one of those forwards the other day; one of the cute ones adorned with puppies, babies, and cool quotes.

One of the quotes said:

"The truly blessed do not necessarily have the best of everything; they are the ones who make the most with what they are given."

I've been part of big collaborative photo projects before and witnessed photographers that would refuse to shoot in less-than-ideal scenes (no ocean present or gorgeous landscaped backdrops, etc) and it always baffled me why they were this way. Some of my favorite work is from places that are demolished, deprived, or in need of some serious care and repair. Like Luisa's Bridals and our OC Motel shoot.

Yesterday was another prime testament to this theory that "you don't have to be at the beach to get beautiful pics." (It sure does help when you've got awesome models like she is though!) Check out the other looks we did:

Subway walls


Down the sidewalk at the subway station. LUV the hat!! (and it was chillllly out so she needed it!)


More station walls




Steel Divides


Thank you again Keya and team-Pam for the awesome styling you pulled off last-minute!!

More from our shoot yesterday...





I love Atlanta in March. They've got these gorgeous trees everywhere, in blossom.

Part II of V:

I remember back to when I was plowing thru those 1650 hours of photography school...in the lab, studio, and classroom ...picking up publications like Rangefinder, Professional Photographer Magazine, and other popular pro photographer magazines... wondering how to move into that world of photography.

What's completely AMAZING to me is that now there's an organization and resource dedicated to students specifically: Student Photographic Society (SPS). Looking through this site, I really wish I had a resource available like this back then!! In fact, it's well worth the membership in perks and great info for anyone in photography!




This past month, David Jay, Jessica Claire, and I were featured in a column called Pro Quotes: Top Notch Tips from Practicing Pros on SPS.

In this series, we cull the ranks of the photo world for tidbits of useful advice from well-respected pros. These are folks whose experience speaks volumes. Take a gander and see if you can pick up something to aid you in your upcoming career...

Complete Story

Check her out...



Okay, so it's not ACTUALLY brittney's sister... but when we were shooting Lauren today and the icy breeze blew her hair in her face and the sun was washing it out... that's the first thing that came to mind (for both me AND the make-up artist!!)

MUCH more where this came from... I was just excited to get a preview of little-brit up first...

Pam and I started working together last November - first at OSPS, then for a TON of fashion and fashion-bridals this past January, such as Luisa's Thriller Bridals. She's got a keen eye and we work well together coming up with concepts and seeing them through - this girl can shop (yes, she's a wardrobe stylist!)

Well, today the tables were turned on her. We did a VERY quick last-minute shoot as the sun was setting and the wind picked up, turning Atlanta chilly all over again. H&M is looking to start using her as a catalogue model and needed some swimsuit tests. Nothing like shooting in the half-dark 40-degree weather in a swimsuit! Check it out though ...she's a natural!!

On the last page of Professional Photographer Magazine (March Issue '06) you'll find the story of what happened when Dawn and Brett and two other friends and I ventured to the college pick-up-spot (yes, our closest Publix grocery store) so that I could complete an assignment for the newspaper ....




CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE STORY


What's more...the story of how Dawn and Brett first met is completely adorable and hilarious. We were roomates my first summer of college and our other roomate Molly (also featured in the story) dragged her and her boyfriend out to shoot some pool one night. Dawn REALLY did not want to go but went anyways and about an hour into being there headed towards the ladies room. On her way to the restroom, she spotted Brett sitting up against the wall and in her own words: "I don't know what came over me... I was drawn to him... I went right up and took him by the chin and said 'blue eyes and blond hair like the father of my children is going to have' and then - realizing what I'd just done - walked straight into the mens room on accident!!"

Well, it was meant to be because she and boyfriend-at-the-time parted ways weeks later and Brett and Dawn went out on their first date with Molly and Ross (all pictured in the story). Last April, I was a bridesmaid in Dawn and Brett's wedding. This April, I'm hoping a framed copy of this makes it there in time for their 1-year anniversary. Congrats Dawn & Brett - and thanks for the awesome stories, laughs, and memories!!

Wowser.... things have been COMPLETELY insane this year thus far but I'm super excited that all the craziness is coming to a peak soon with WPPI around the corner and the launch of some new things just on the horizon.

But first, without further adu, I give you the first of FIVE spottings you'll see of lianaPHOTOGRAPHY in the press (well, that we know of...) lol. I'm super excited because the first one I've got uploaded and ready to share features one of my best friends in the whole world and her hubby. It's a cute/funny story that will make the peeeerrrrfect 1-year anniversary gift to hang on the wall in their new home. Fun! Okay... stay tuned...

...okay, so I'm only a smidget Irish (yep, I'm a "european mutt" as we fondly call our lineage that dates back to the Mayflower days...part Irish, and a LOT of other things mixed in... can you guess what else!?!)... but that didn't stop me from hanging with the REAL Irish in honor of St.Patty's day yesterday.

In fact, it's a true Irish gentlemen (dual citizen) that is partially responsible for me living in Atlanta now... long story short, I was able to move here because he and some others hired me to work with them doing business development. He's got some interesting stories but the funniest one has to be about getting arrested once in Ireland because they thought he was a fraud due to his VERY deep southern drawl...how could an Irish man talk like that!?! LOL.

But that isn't the first time the Irish have had an influence in my life. Growing up with parents that traveled for a living gave me the opportunity to experience some REALLY awesome places starting young... and also enjoy the company of nanny Christina when they were away. My mom spoke to Christina before picking her up from the airport the first time and asked "how will we know it's you?" at which Christina replied "I'll be wearing a red berry." My parents were thouroughly confused at that point and asked her to repeat that ...same thing a "red berry." Everything made sense though when the beautiful Christina showed up wearing a red baret!! Years after she parted ways to return home, she mailed us some photos of her - she had been crowned Miss Ireland!! Soooo cool! She kind of reminds me of Princess Diana in this shot.

I also got some tips on the next place I MUST visit in Ireland... if you've never been you MUST go. I've only been to Dublin and the outlying countryside, but the people there are unbelievably friendly and welcoming and they've got some of the best food I've ever eaten. Oh, and my absolute Favorite pair of jeans are from there. Too bad they don't deliver outside the UK. And last, be sure to stay in a B&B. Quite the experience!




Sláinte!

...managed to condense 10 days of FUN from OSPMC into one 7-minute, 17MB video....

I'm soooooo grateful to have all of you in my life and miss you all terribly!! Can't wait for Vegas in a few weeks!!! :)



Note: You must have quicktime downloaded to your computer for this video to work. Please be patient as it loads - this one is a BIG one!!:)

Note#2: It MAY be easier to just download it by right clicking this link and "save as"

Note#3: You can ALSO get this thru iTunes by searching for "liana tv" or "OSPMC" in the music store :)

Wow... this is sooooo cool! In order to easily post photos online and link them to my blog and online forums easily, I've subscribed to Photobucket which allows me to do so without having to FTP anything or write code. It's sooooo easy to use and I actually went over my free account bandwidth limit so I had to get a paid subscription (sooo worth it!). The awesome thing is you can now create all these neat "bucketstamps" and "bucketstrips" by just checking a few boxes of the pics you already have uploaded. Check it out:



Now I'm going to want to make a million of these :)

When looking back to when I first picked up a camera and started shooting professionally over six years ago, I would have been floored to see where the photography industry has come in this short of a time!

Perhaps it was that I lived in Florida where everything is a little slower to catch on... but one thing is for sure... a new age in wedding photography is here for sure!!

People often ask me "how do you do it" ...and among other things, I have to credit Pictage to taking a LOT of my hands so that I am free to do what I love - communications, planning, travel, teaching, learning, and TAKING pics!!

Last fall I was honored to speak at the First Annual Pictage Partner Conference in Los Angeles - it was such an amazing experience meeting so many amazing people and getting inspired by their work and business practices.



So I was SUPER excited last week when the 2nd Conference came to the East Coast. It was a smaller crowd, but it was so great meeting some more local and regional folks and reuniting with friends.

Sara showed us her cool twirly-round-in-circles-with-a-point-and-shoot-camera-trick:


I soooo need to get pics from everyone else...I've been a slacker with my point-and-shoot, but here are a few more:

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW

Okay, am I a lucky gal or what??

I was super excited to join Davide Greene from Canada, David Jay from California, and David Salomone from New York this past Wednesday for a speaking/presenters training right here in Atlanta. It was just the three of us there all day learning from the best of the best in marketing in this business... Jeff Jochum, VP of Marketing for Pictage. WOW - this guy is one smart cookie! I've been to a number of similiar trainings before but he's got some unique insights and experiences that he shared with us. The super cool thing is that he used to be in showbiz and so we could relate with our previous song-and-dance type experiences. LOL. Gosh I miss that stuff sometimes!

And what's a day spent with three Davids without pics??

David Triangle!


David Sandwiches!!

I was super surprised and excited last week when we were sitting in class and Garrett turned his laptop towards me to show me the WPJA Winter 2005 Contest results. Thank you again Leslie for being the subject of one of these and to Stefania and her little cousin for being such dolls!!

Getting Ready


Kids


Light

Wow... the week flew by so fast! Thank you everyone for such an amazing adventure:)

Can u guess where we went on our last day of the 10-day OSPMC adventure??

DISNEYLAND!!!

It was be-au-tiful out that day and had warmed up a bit from earlier that week. It was soooo much fun hanging out with everyone being TOTAL photo-geeks in line taking pics and on the rides too!

Photos mostly copyright everyone else ;)

Part of the group (Mike's got a reeeeeaaallly long arm)


I got to "drive" the jeep thru the Indian Jones ride. They kept yelling for me to drive better for some reason. LOL.


Look, Mike and Shyla chimping while I "drive"


Crystal, Liana, and Jasmine on the Teacup


We had to sneak Sarah and Crystal on some of the rides because they didn't quite reach the height limit (just kiddin'!!)


Finally, we got our trademark MickeyMoney shot in. Do we look 12 or 15 years old there??

We all celebrated in style Thursday of OSPMC week with a soiree at the Mansion. LOTS of our local photographer friends were able to meet up and hang out then too. Good times!

Sadly, I didn't take any pics that night except the shorty ones so these are all compliments of other OSPMCers - thanks ya all!!

Crystal, Sarah, Liana, and Jessica playing "dress up"


Becker, Jessica, Liana, and DJ


Last but certainly not least, Mike determined he was Crystal's height when standing on his knees!! We call this series "get shorty"... how fun are they?!!

Jasmine and Jesus were AWESOME:



Some pics from my point-and-shoot:
Mike and the class posed and ready to shoot...

Last Wednesday, after we did two sunrise photoshoots then three other shoots - all with fellow Photographers as our "models", we headed up to Los Angeles to meet up with the class and shoot some downtown.

Here are some pics from Hollywood:

Lisa and her man:





There were lots of scary goons out to get us on the streets:




Diem and her man:





Mike shooting Amber, Diem, and Lisa: