One of the highlights this summer for me was learning the tintype process. This process was one of the earliest photographic processes invented, pre-dating film and was widely used during the Civil War.

Several photographers and assistants have died while working on this kind of photography. The chemistry involves highly flammable chemicals and deadly potassium cyanide is used as a fixer. Keeps one on his toes that's for sure.

The Fischoff Competition is the largest national chamber ensemble competition held annually at the Notre Dame DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Groups come from all over the world to compete. For the past three years, I've been able to meet and photograph the contestants and work with the great Fischoff staff.

Congratulations to the Calidore String Quartet on winning the 2011 competition! The greatest thing for me about the competition are the new friendships made. To all my Fischoff friends, thanks for sharing your talent. I hope to see you again next year!

This year, my cousin and I visited Newton Park to shoot some photos and attempt to do a video. We actually tried going to a fair on the 3rd, but they were sold out of tickets. We tried to pay them, but because they didn't have the tickets, we weren't allowed in.

Anyway, we missed out on the 3rd but got a 30 minute show on the 4th. Shooting video and photos simultaneously was a nice challenge. Here are my results from that night.

After months of planning and preparation, the X/Stop Project -a group of local Michiana photographers that I help with- was able to host a summer event called Jazz in the Night. It's main purpose was to raise awareness for several charities and we were excited to have them come and present their causes to our guests.

Arequipa, Peru is known as the Ciudad Blanca, or White City, because all the early buildings were built with white volcanic rocks. There are still buildings being built with these white rocks today.

The huge volcano, Misti, is a trademark icon of the city of Arequipa.

After weeks of development, I'm excited to announce the launching of my new mobile device website. I implemented a script that will detect certain mobile devices and give users the option to view the full website or redirect to the optimized website.

This new platform showcases a full-screen gallery as well as give directions and contact info if a client is on the road and needs to find the studio or contact me.

I'm excited to announce that progress on the new studio is coming along very well. After wrapping up my 2010 wedding season, I've been very busy with remodeling and building it from the ground up to be an ideal photographic studio as well as laying the plans for some new projects.

I'll be launching several of these new ideas that have been in the works for the past several months in the near future. Be sure to stay tuned!

On May 9, I photographed a national and worldwide competition for chamber ensembles held at the University of Notre Dame, the Fischoff Competition.

It was a great experience hanging out with these talented musicians, and as a classically trained guitarist myself, I was able to appreciate their dedication to their craft as well as the complex pieces they performed. Congratulations to the gold medal winner, Old City String Quartet!

This afternoon, Frank called me up and said, "Joe, we're in the New York Times!".

Frank and Megan were married yesterday at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame and I photographed their wedding day. The photo at the top of the article was taken at a mansion in Mishawaka, Indiana during their engagement session.

I'm getting the final details worked out for my South America trip. I'll be leaving on Dec. 21, 2009 and return on March 1, 2010. There's a lot planned, and although email access will be limited, I'll do my best to reply as soon as possible.