This blog train keeps rolling. Get on board or get left behind!

Last week we went to Philly to shoot for Dan, who runs Love City DJs. He needed some work for a new website, promo materials, ect. We wanted to get something that felt urban and dark, but that showed that Dan is fun and normal (unlike most DJ photos)

Last week we had the opportunity to shoot for two fantastic businesses that some of our friends are involved in and we wanted to share with the world.

First is our friend Steph, who I've known for a long time now. You might recognize her from HERE or HERE. In the one post, I describe Steph as the most giving person I know. Well it stands to reason that she donates her time working for Hand&Cloth to sell these blankets. The blankets are handmade by women in India and Bangladesh from Saris and the process of making (and of course selling) these blankets can keep many of them and their daughters free from sex trafficking. The blankets are beautiful and if you're interested, you can see the entire collection and buy one HERE. Here's a few of the photos we grabbed for their promo materials...

The second business we shot for (same outdoor location, pretty cool, huh?) is Phanadelphia. My friend Ben (you might recognize him from HERE, HERE, or HERE) started Phanadelphia because he's one of those slightly insane people that we refer to as Philly fans. Some cool and unique shirts for the Phils and the Birds. Check em out, makes a great Easter gift! Big thanks to Shoshana, Carly, Dan, Lindsay and Owen for volunteering to model for us!

Quick post today, so not much chatter from me :) Last year we did some work for Arcadia University and really loved spending some time on their beautiful campus. We got to go back this week to shoot for them again. Here's a few of our favorites!

We got a chance to get out and shoot some commercial work this week. First at Living Branches, a place we do a lot of work for. Then at Advantage Chiropractic in Coopersburg. Here's a few shots we liked, with a little bonus at the end for you :)

This is what happens when an exercise class fails to show up for their photos...

This past summer, we shot a wedding and were honored to work with 3 Rivers Entertainment. They're based out of Pittsburgh and are one of the best bands we've worked with! A few weeks ago, they called us with a pretty cool opportunity, and this week we got to shoot it.

We were privileged to shoot the Governor's Ball for the new incoming Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett. The Ball was amazing. It was HUGE and absolutely beautiful. Our task was mostly covering the decor, the band and the crowd. There was very little programming and absolutely no politics, just a good old fashioned party (with a lot of security). Here's a few of our favorite shots from the night...

This is one of the posts I look the most forward to every year... and quite a year it was for us! In 2010, we officially had 147 shoots and took approximately 120,000 photos. This marks our 174th blog post of the year. Over the course of the past year, we've had roughly 370,000 visits to our site from 180,000 different people in 172 different countries! We've put 20,000 miles on our work car, and a bunch more on our frequent flier card (ok, we don't have a frequent flier card). In the process, we made some great friends, got reacquainted with some old ones and learned a whole lot more about people, photography and of course ourselves. We've been incredibly fortunate to have been blessed to do so many great things with so many great people.

Over the past year we've nearly frozen to death, nearly overheated to death and nearly fallen to our death... all in the name of cool photos. We've swam in oceans, rivers and streams, climbed mountains, hay bail piles and reservoir walls. We've shot cliff-jumpers, newborns, elderly, newlyweds, sports teams, bands, 'D' list celebrities and karate experts. We've shot in fields, forests and campgrounds and on ice-skates, canoes and the Empire State Building. We even had a few photos go viral! We've just been so privileged to experience so much with so many people.

On a more personal level, we had some big milestones as well. We welcomed a new niece in the summer, visited a place (Hawaii) that we've always dreamed of going to, taught our first major workshop and a bunch more. And especially important (to me at least), Amy finally was able to join me as a full-time employee/boss :).

Thinking through all these things really floods me with emotions. But more than anything, the emotion I feel is gratitude. Gratitude towards God for keeping us healthy and inexplicably giving us these chances... and gratitude towards YOU, the readers of this blog. To repeat a story I've said before on here: When I started this blog, I was getting 2 hits a day, one from my parents and one from Amy's parents. Throughout the years, we've been able to rely on word of mouth referrals because we have so many incredible people that read this and pass it along to other people. The fact that you guys are willing to invest even a few minutes of your life into our work means so much to us. I'm still amazed at the fact that anyone would care to look at, comment about, or share our work.

More than that, now that Amy and I have both made this our entire living, I can truly say that without YOU we wouldn't have a business, our home, or many of the experiences I mentioned above. I hope I come across as sincere when I tell you that EVERY SINGLE ONE of you has a huge impact on our lives. From those of you who just visit and increase our Google ranking, to those of you who comment and help our clients feel special, to those of you who share our work with friends, relatives and others. We owe a huge and tremendous THANK YOU to every single visitor of this blog. We love you guys and we love that you allow us to do what we love. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

So, with all that said, here's a collection of some of our favorite photos from 2010. We're taking the next week off, so feel free to come back often. There's at least one shot from every one of our 147 shoots in here and some extras that we just had to include. I whittled this video down from nearly 900 photos to the 236 that made the cut. Thank you to all the people who appear in this and have shared their lives with us... Oh, and I'm sorry if it goes quickly, but the original was 24 minutes long, so we had to cut it to 9 to keep things moving :)

So, finally, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you faithful and first time blog stalkers. If you missed any of those 120,000 photos, here's a brief summary of what you missed... (P.S. If you want to watch in HD, click on the HD button in the video frame).

Hoffer Photography's Best of 2010 from Tony Hoffer on Vimeo.

Last week we got the opportunity to do some work for Valley Forge Christian College. Back in the day, I (Tony) got the chance to play basketball against VFCC. I didn't remember much about the school, but WOW have they done some great things there! It's a beautiful campus with some top notch facilities. Most of all, I was really impressed with their Digital Media department. If you're looking for a photography, video, audio type career, definitely check them out. Here's a few shots we liked from last week :)...