For the past three years I've been attending this event in Philadelphia which is part sheer madness and part overwhelming brilliance called, The Philadelphia Geek Awards. It's put on by the good folks over at Geekadelphia and graciously hosted by the Academy of Natural Sciences and the list of sponsors is long and prestigious. Let's just say that there is a lot of free food, beer, and swag to be had for all. Overall it's an evening of fun and overwhelming geek-ness for those of us who are passionate and strive for excellence in any hobby or job we dig our noses into. These are the 21st century geeks and there's nothing nerdy about them.

From a photographic aspect it is a fairly challenging event to shoot with a healthy mix of outdoor light spilling into the main dinosaur exhibit (yes! I said "dinosaur exhibit"--they've got skeletons and paleontologist stuff all over the place), dark hallways, a foggy butterfly room, and excited people milling about in all directions. I didn't use a hot shoe flash this year, but rather opted for a 50mm prime and shot at f2.0 all night long. I also shot in the RAW format to ensure I could pull detail from my shadows even if it killed off some of the contrast of the overall image. We can live with a slight "VSCO" filtered look.

Big congratulations to all the winners past and present and also the nominees, wow, oh wow, were there some amazing nominations and projects and people who I thought would surely win! There are great things happening in Philadelphia.

After the awards wrap up we all jump into swanky Uber cars, Taxis, or our own rides and hightail it over to North Bowl, located in Northern Liberties, where the drinks are a'plenty, the bowling and billiards are free, and the entire after party continues long into the night. This year, 2014, went off amazingly well and it was a job well done for all those involved. I love being a part of this each and every year and learning as a photographer and being inspired as a geek. Kudos, Philly Geek Awards!