LIBERTY MOUNTAIN PENNSYLVANIA WEDDING: LAURA & KEVIN

Laura and Kevin are from Pittsburgh but live in DC, so Liberty Mountain was a great central choice for friends and family from both areas to make it to the wedding. I had known about Liberty as a winter destination—it's one of the closest places to DC to go snowboarding—but I didn't know how beautiful it is in the summer. There are lots of big trees, lots of wild flowers, and of course, mountains. The ceremony was held right against the base of the back side of the mountain and the reception was in the Boulder Ridge lodge, with massive windows looking out on nature.

With the idyllic backgrounds, slowly setting sun and beautiful wedding couple I knew we were going to get some great photos. But when they agreed that going up the climbing wall in formal clothing was a good idea, I knew we really had something special. Laura and Kevin have something special in each other and it was an honor to be there to capture it on their wedding day.

OCCOQUAN ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS: KATE & JASON

Right on the Occoquan River is a sleepy little town with a long history. Originally inhabited by native Americans, it was also home to some of the first British colonists, and later it's post office served an important function during the Civil War, intermediating mail between north and south.

Kate and I tossed ideas back and forth about where to shoot these photos, narrowing it down to places near water, and Kate suggested Occoquan. Neither of us had spent much time there so we weren't sure what we were getting into but Kate, Jason and I found some cool little spots along the river to do this engagement session. There's a footbridge over the river and a small waterfall, rocks, docks, and a few quaint parks.

The wedding is going to be legendary—any gathering of so many O'Malleys has to be—and we're cooking up a super secret post-wedding shoot that should be off the charts if we can pull it off.

INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS IN WASHINGTON DC

The fireworks over Washington DC were amazing, as usual. I staked out a favorite spot with some friends early in the evening at the Marine Corps memorial in Arlington.

OK, I know this is a day late (I didn't feel like working yesterday!) but I'm going to lay out some tips for shooting fireworks for next year. First, you must use a tripod. I've found that shutter speeds between 1/2 second and 4 seconds seem to work best and hand holding your camera at those speeds means that every shot will be blurry. Second, unless your tripod is incredibly stable, use a remote shutter release or the timer because just the act of pressing the shutter is enough to shake the camera and cause bluriness. Third, include a static item (like the Lincoln Memorial) in the frame to show scale. Set your focus to that item and then turn off the autofocus. The autofocus will be super confused by all the flashing lights and will cause you to miss your shot. Fourth, use your aperture control to expose for the buildings and to control how bright the fireworks look. Most of these shots were 2-3 seconds at f20 or f22. The small aperture allowed me to use a longer shutter speed and to keep the fireworks from being too bright to see any detail. Fifth, is to shoot as many frames as you can because there is an element of luck to getting the money shot. It's impossible to predict when each firework will burst and how bright it's going to be, so you just have to use your best guess on the settings and hope for the best!