DC Shoot Off Crew. Photo by Johnny Bivera

Well we made it to the Navy League Building without incident, and were immeadiatly greeted by lots of familiar faces, the first of which was Brien Aho, who was one of the event organizers.

Brien is an great military photographer, and has been spending a lot of time as of late mentoring young photographers.

Greg and military photo legend Ken Hackman

One of the photographers that I was excited to see was Todd Frantom.  Todd is an amazing combat photographer whose images really strike me.  We also got to catch up with our Coast Guard friends Tom Sperduto, Etta Smith, Annie Berlin, as well as lots of other old as well as new friends.

Mark and Mark from Nikon

Just as at the DINFOS workshop, the Nikon crew was in attendance.  I got to hand it to Nikon for their participation.  Both Mark and Mark kept busy handing out rental gear for the competitors to experiment with.  Thanks Nikon!

I also got to meet my sales rep Jeff from Adorama.  We got to play with a 200-400 f4, which I must say that I will now have to order….

Jeff from Adorama sporting a 200-400 f4

One of the things I love the most about workshops is getting the chance to review young photographers portfolios.  I love to see what they are doing, and where they are going.  Often times, the work gets me inspired and re-energizes my passion for the art.  (so thanks guys!)

Portfolio review...

Checking out some of Tom's Sperduto latest work

Finally, it was time for the speakers, and there were some good ones.  We were fortunate enough to get to see Chip Maury speak again.  It was great to catch up.

Chip Maury

After lunch, it was my turn to get up in front of the crowd.  It is always really rewarding to give a presentation to military folk, and I am truely grateful for being included.  Thanks Brien!

We hung out for a while after the lecture to answer questions, but sadly, we were on a tight schedule.  Shortly after dinner we had to hit the road and make a break for the train station.

Elevator down into the subway

Exhausted...

The trip home was just as nutty as the trip down.  We caught the subway to the Amatrak station, had a nice dinner at the station, and then settled in for a long 10 hour trip home.

Running to catch the train

Dinner at the station

Fortunately for Rabbit, his girlfriend (who lives in NYC) decided to hop on the train somewhere around 3am as we rolled through Manhattan to come up for the weekend.  Rolling into Boston, I grabbed what I thought was an amusing photo of the two of them.  It wasn’t till I got back to the studio that I realized Rabbit had shot a similar photo of me…

In the end, the trip down south to the Shoot Off was a sucess.  Thanks so much to the staff for inviting us down.  We are very greatful for the experience!

I will try to post the winners when I get some photos from Brien and crew!