I was very glad to photograph the AFRL Awards 2019 in Albuquerque, New Mexico! I was especially glad because I was the photographer for the 2018 awards, so whenever a client asks you to return and photograph an annual event, it is a source of pride for me. It was quite a different experience this year because of the venue changes for both the awards and the reception. The awards took place in the tech area of the UNM campus and the reception was in Isotopes Stadium! I covered a lot of ground with both my Nikons walking the couple of blocks between the venues and then all over and up and down the baseball stadium! Thank you for choosing me again this year as your event photographer!
I have photographed a lot of high profile governmentevents and officials, like when the U.S. Surgeon General attended a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, this 2-day conference I photographed for the Department of Energy brought together every major political figure in New Mexico and Albuquerque on one stage! It was a great privilege to work for the Department of Energy as the official photographer for their DOE Summer ‘19 New Mexico Small Business Expo. Not only did I get to photograph Mayor Tim Keller for about the 10th time, and Governor Lujan Grisham for about the 5th time, and Senator Heinrich for the second time, and Representative Deb Haaland for the second time, but also many other leaders in the DOE looking to help grow small business in New Mexico by awarding contracts to a wide range of small businesses.
NMACI Diamond Gala 60th Anniversary was the first event I photographed in Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Like many award events I have photographed throughout the past 10 years, it began outside with a social hour and then moved inside to a ballroom for the presentation of the awards. Being a professional photographer in part means being able to change gears going from shooting outside in natural light at 1/500th ISO 100 of a second to dimly lit indoors using external flash and ISO 2000+.
Politicians a plenty
Then it turns out many state Senators and Representatives would be present to receive awards, as well as Lt. Governor Howie Morales. I am very experienced at photographing politicians though, from mayors to governors to Secretary of Labor and the U.S. Surgeon General!
I was glad to be offered the opportunity to photograph CS PD Week at UNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico and see first hand teacher training for teaching coding to students of all ages. These teachers took one week out of their summer to come to Albuquerque from all corners of New Mexico to take classes and learn hands on how to not only teach coding in the classroom, but also start clubs and after school programs. Photographing this event was most unusual for me as there were no speakers. I simply walked between four buildings on the UNM campus making photos of various classes, and then asking everyone to get together for a group photo before everyone congregated for a huge group photo with all participants in an auditorium. Photographing events is one of my favorite things to do because I often get to learn something new, and that certainly was the case at this UNM event as well! Thank you Paige for having me as your (last minute) photographer for this event!
You never know who may attend an Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerceribbon cuttingevent, and I certainly did not know that Congresswoman Deb Haaland would be in attendance, and put to work cutting the cake no less! There was also live music and of course lots of turquoise jewelry to browse. If you want to have fun while networking and growing your business, I recommend becoming a member of the Hispano Chamber today! And support local Native American artists by getting your turquoise jewelry from Turquoise Skies.
On the first Friday of each month downtown Albuquerque becomes an outdoor art exhibit and market, but actually much more than that. You can walk through an interactive light art experience, decorate the streets in chalk, and dance like you are trying to win a contest! Those are just some of the things I witnessed the first Friday in May 2019 in downtown Albuquerque.
While wondering around downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the First Friday Art Walk event, a curious looking space had its door open allowing views of swirling color. To my surprise this visual art event was dog friendly so in we went! As you walk on the floor, color moves. How does it to that? Seemed like magic! Tables flow with changing patterns that react to hand movements, also seemingly by magic! People really loved interacting with light and color and art. This was a fantastic stumble upon experience!
