Click here or the image to watch the full photo slideshow

I posted a little preview of my recent NYC trip on my personal blog, but I figured I'd post up the full series of pics here too. More than just capturing New York from my perspective, I haven't gone out just to shoot for the sake of shooting in quite some time. In addition to that, I wanted to challenge myself in a couple ways:

1.) to capture the city that never sleeps using only my Canon 35L f/1.4 lens rather than traveling fully armed with all my gear.

2.) continue to shoot in .jpg rather than RAW to not only be kind to my lack of hard drive space (haha), but also make me increasingly strict towards my exposures right out of the camera.

In the end, I was incredibly happy with not only my photographic pursuits, but the trip as a whole. It was cold as heck, but that wasn't about to stop us from seeing the city top to bottom. It was an amazing amount of fun to finally visit New York, indulge in great food and really embrace the identity of a city so world renowned. I can truly understand why people love New York so much after they visit.

Here are some snaps from the trip, though if you want to check out all the pics from NY, check out the slideshow above. Enjoy!

In lieu of the ever-expanding scope of UMG and what it will become in the near future, I wanted to continue the trend of collaboration that really took off in 2009. That being said, I (along with Bhargav from Channel Awesome and Mark Reyes) linked up with Justin from Mix Media to cover the 2010 Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) 21st Annual Awards Banquet here in Chicago.

The event was flawlessly pieced together - from the food, music and general ambience to the eloquent speeches and professionalism that this organization and its sponsors exude. Huge thanks to Millie Liggins (the event coordinator) for having us out for the event and congratulations to all the award winners and newly elected president - Pamela Sexton!

In typical UMG fashion, I put together a photo and video slideshow and included some snaps below. Enjoy!

BDPA is a global member focused organization that serves the professional well-being of its stakeholders. BDPA remains committed to excellence and providing a wide spectrum of resources to members, corporate sponsors, businesses, educational institutions and the community. The organization is a catalyst for professional growth and technical development for those in the IT industry. [Via BDPA Chicago]

Also, be sure to check out the video edit that Bhargav did using our collective footage here - good stuff!