Best of 2009

I’m so excited for this blog post. I feel like I’ve been looking forward to it for months. Truth is, 2009 was an incredible year. We got to meet so many people, go so many places and eat so much good food. I’m a little older, a little wiser and a little fatter because of it all.

More than anything, I owe some humongous thank you’s to a few people. First of all, I just want to thank you personally if you’re reading this. There were over 150,000 visits to my site and blog this year, nearly 55,000 of which were people visiting for the first time. It’s really an overwhelming number for me. I first started my blog just over 2 years ago. In the first month or two, I was getting less than 10 hits a day, and I could tell from my map that most of them were from our families. The fact that people enjoy coming here and tell others about my/our work still boggles my mind. Thank you all so much.

Next, I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me on shoots this year. Some of you were paid, some weren’t. Some were abused or hurt, and most of you made fun of me. So, here’s an official thanks to all my assistants and 2nd shooters this year. Thank you to: Sam Hassas, Alan M., Mom and Dad, Ed Pingol, Mike Landis, Bob, Jason Prezant, Mike, Aleks, Valerie, Allison, Rachel, Michaela, Sergio Mottola, June, Stephanie Osborne, Alan Abrams, Chris, Tom, Ryan Estes, Evan Baines, Matt Bailly and of course my wonderfully supportive and beautiful wife Amy. I think I got you all (went back through my schedule to double-check).

Lastly I want to thank those of you who were clients of mine this year. Many of you have become friends, some have become assistants, and you’ve all been permanently etched into my brain over the course of endless hours of editing. Thank you all for being so willing to deal with my weird ideas, or just for being willing to spend a few hours with me. You’re the reason I love this job and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Soooooooooooooooooo…. With all that said, after 44 weddings, lots of engagements, families and other shoots, I’ve compiled some of my favorite shots of the year. I can’t promise that this is comprehensive (I feel like I missed dozens), nor can I promise that everyone is in here (it’s hard to choose 100 photos from hundreds of thousands). What I can promise is that I tried my best to get better every day and that I’m going to do the same in 2010. Thank you blog stalkers. You’re awesome.

Here’s the best 118 photos we took this year (in my opinion; 2nd shooters not included), in chronological order…