So the flu is gone. I'm feeling better which I'm thankful for.
Yesterday the ladies who clean my house were over and while reaching to clean a window, one of them put her weight on my desk and broke it causing my 21" monitor to fall and break along with a few other things. Ahhh!!!!! Why does everything happen all at once!?!
I took my monitor in to the friendly guys at the Apple store and they are hooking me up with a new foot for it (basically a plastic part that helps it stand up) for $100. Thankfully the monitor itself is alright. But the desk is being held up temporarily by some album boxes and now I'm in Flagstaff for the weekend :).
I'm here with my friends Sarah and Ryan who are getting hitched in August. Sarah's dad lives up here and we thought it would be a fun place to do their engagement shoot.
So hopefully bad things really do happen in threes and my grandpa's heart attack, the flu and the destruction of my office are it for me this week :).
So...the website is back up and so is the blog. Let me know if you click on any links that don't work somewhere or find any photos missing where they should appear--just leave a comment here so I can get all my bases covered.
But email is still down. No telling when that will be fixed. Feel free to email me at melissajill@mac.com in the meantime or communicate through the comments on my blog.
Tomorrow I'm heading out of town AGAIN to take care of #55 on my list -- Go camping! I'm excited to get out of the heat and head up to northern Arizona once again. It's going to be weird, though, going a full 3 days without any contact with the outer world via email or the internet. I'm sure I'll go through some hard core withdrawals. I guess if my email is going to be down, this is a good time since I won't be able to check it the next couple days anyways. But I'm very sorry to those of you who I haven't gotten back to. Please be patient with me! Things are going to slow down and I'll be able to get on top of everything again soon.
Right now I'm going through every small business owner's nightmare--my website is down, and I can't receive email! Ahhhh!!!
I'm in the process of transferring my domain to a new hosting company and it's quite an arduous process because my original domain registrar is basically out of business and is taking his time getting everything straightened out. I don't fully understand all this stuff but realized late last night that I wasn't receiving emails and then checked my website to find out it was down. So I've been scrambling ever since.
Please be patient with me as I get all this sorted out and feel free to call instead of email if you want to get through to me today.
Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, guys. I've been scrambling to get everything wrapped up at the office and then today spent the day traveling up to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where I'm shooting my cousin Laura's wedding on Friday. I made it even though I feared for my life a bit in this small plane I took from Minneapolis to Duluth in the midst of a rain storm. It was pretty turbulent.
It's been nice to see family today and breathe in some cool tree-scented air. My aunt and uncle live in a log house they built near a swamp and the noise from the frogs that live there is unbelievably loud. I'll have to post some photos of how beautiful it is here soon.
In other news, I sent out my May newsletter yesterday. So if you didn't receive it and are interested, just put your email address in the box to the right and you'll receive fun news from me every month.
I'm so excited! My friend, Dane Sanders, a wedding photographer in OC that started his business up around the same time as me and helped found OSP (Open Source Forum) has this great thing for photographers called "Simple Photo Minute." He puts together short videos that are educational and seek to help wedding photographers simplify their lives and businesses. It's great and I've been watching the weekly podcasts for over a year now.
When I made my list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days, I put this one on there. About a month ago, I filmed a segment of myself walking through how I run my client meetings and Dane used it! Click here to view my 1st Simple Photo Minute!
Today I went to lunch with Gino Lucadamo of Story by Photo. Gino has been in the wedding photography business a lot longer than I have and is doing very well for himself specializing in destination weddings. Not only is he talented but he's a fun guy to hang out with. We've gone to lunch a number of times over the past couple years and it's always fun.
I really enjoy hanging out with other wedding photographers. We have a great industry of people who enjoy networking and helping each other out.
"Nestled at the base of South Mountain, Secret Garden Event Center is the perfect place for a romantic wedding. The 1929 historic home has been lovingly restored to provide the backdrop for brides and grooms to have the weddings of their dreams. And to this beautiful place Elizabeth and Nathan traveled from their home in Minnesota to become husband and wife. Elizabeth spent several years as an on-site coordinator for other venues in Phoenix, but she chose this place for her own wedding."
"With lots of attention to detail, bright, bright colors and many handmade favors for the guests who traveled from the Midwest to be with them, Elizabeth and Nathan planned a party to be remembered for years to come."
"Their minister took a moment during the ceremony to read letters written by the bride and groom to each other. These letters were filled with moments shared and many words of love and concern as the couple lived through Nathan's deployment in Iraq and his safe return home to Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth's advice to other brides would be to start planning early and concentrate your money in the areas you think are most important. For the bride it was photographer, DJ and florist."
Thanks for the shout-out Elizabeth! What a beautiful wedding! It's been fun to re-live it!
Last night I had the opportunity to speak at our monthly Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) meeting. I've been a part of this networking group for two years now and it's been a blessing to my business. I've met a number of consultants that I've gotten to know and work with as well as many other vendors within the wedding industry. We meet at a different wedding venue each month and enjoy a fully catered meal. There are always new people to meet and now that I've been going for awhile, I have some good friends who I get to touch base with as well.
Last night I was able to share a little about my business and then I talked about blogging! Out of 30 people who were there, only 3 had blogs. I was a little surprised! The two main reasons people gave for not blogging were that it takes too much time and that they don't know if they would have anything to say. I can relate to these because this is exactly how I felt a little over a year ago before I started my blog. But I jumped in and quickly came to enjoy blogging and see that there are also huge benefits for my business! If you'd like to take a look at the handout that I passed out last night that lists a number of those benefits as well as ideas for blogging topics and tips, click here. And, by the way, I'm not sure what happened with the font. I used a very readable font on my handout but for some reason when it was converted to a pdf it got all funktified.
Yesterday I spent some time at Bright Event Gallery shooting some images for their website. Bright was started this year by fabulous wedding coordinators, Victoria Canada and Kelly Gill, as a high-end "one-stop-shop" for planning extraordinary events. I am honored to be one of their select vendors that they feature at the gallery.
Bright's Old Town Scottsdale location is so fun and beautiful and every time I stop by there are new things to look at. The girls do a great job.
They've got lots of fun favor ideas:
Purses in every size and color:
Cute wedding planning binders:
Fun quotes on the walls:
Table settings that are updated and changed frequently. I love this one:
Look at these fun, colorful glasses:
I loved how Kelly from Kelly Ashworth Design used characters' names from one of my favorite TV shows, "The Office" as place markers (this one says "Jim Halpert" in case you can't read it):
Fun T-shirts:
Colorful wraps:
They've got everything displayed so beautifully. Check out these cubicles:
Scented candles:
Stationary:
This is a great idea -- packets to keep the children busy at receptions:
These are great too. They're etch-it cups and stickers that you can use to personalize your drinks:
They even sell custom made jewelry:
And Victoria always amazes me with her creative ideas. These are inexpensive candles she bought from a grocery story and stuck letters onto. You could spell out anything (happy Cinco De Mayo, by the way!):
Finally, one of my favorite things about stopping by the store--the candy bar:
The girls were nice enough to model the wraps for me. From left to right --Ashley--an associate planner, Victoria, Kelly and Mary with My Wedding Film who was there to meet a client:
I finally got all of my new equipment that I was inspired to get after the One Light Workshop. So last night Jamie, Shannon & I went out to Old Town Gilbert to play with it. It was fun! I was so thankful to have both of them because the light stand kept wanting to blow over and it was so dark that I needed someone to shine a flashlight in order to focus my camera. I would definitely recommend bringing an assistant for this kind of shoot.
I found out about this cool blog tool on David Jay's blog and thought it would be fun to try on my own. Now I can see where all my friends are logging on from. It looks like I have some all around the world, which is fun.
If you click on the map, you can see current and past visitors and even zoom into different areas of the globe. The dark parts of the map are where people are sleeping; or are supposed to be sleeping, I guess. It's dark where I live right now but yet here I am, blogging. What a crazy workaholic blogger I am :).
I'm still working away on my list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days. It's going pretty well but I'm working on some bigger goals that are taking me a little longer to complete. For instance--running 3 consecutive 10 minute miles--I'm realizing that is a BIT of a stretch for me. But I'm going to eventually get there.
When I was at WPPI in March I came across Triple Scoop Music -- a new company that is working to bring musicians and photographers together. For photographers, finding good music that is legal to use is tough. Everything is copyrighted and we could be sued hundreds of thousands of dollars for using a song without permission. But large music labels and famous artists don't tend to respond to our emails about wanting to use their songs on our small business websites. They're selling the rights to the songs to people who are making movies for thousands of dollars. We're chump change. So it's a dilemma. We want good music but it's nearly impossible to get the permission to use it legally.
So I made a goal to find some good legal music to use. There's a lot of royalty free music sites but the songs are generally pretty cheesy. But thankfully I found Triple Scoop Music at WPPI and had them put together a custom CD for me with 10 songs I picked off their website. They have some decent stuff. I still think there's a ways to go in bridging the gap between musicians and photographers but this is a good start.
Check back on my website soon to see some fresh intro slideshows with some of the new music. I will also be using the new songs on my upcoming wedding slideshows that I link to on my blog. I'm sure you're all getting tired of the old stuff :).
I'm excited to announce that I am now offering $20 gift certificates that can be used toward the purchase of prints on Pictage, my online lab, for ALL GUESTS who pre-register on Pictage to view photos of an upcoming wedding. All you have to do is go to pictage.com and search for the upcoming wedding you will be attending, then log in using your email address and a password of your choice. Then, when the photos are posted on Pictage, you will receive an email letting you know that they are available and giving you a special code to redeem your gift certificate online. It's easy!
If you're a bride whose wedding is coming up, you can send an email out to all of your family and friends, encouraging them to pre-register. Also, at your reception, I always collect the names and email addresses of guests interested in viewing all of the photos online after the wedding. Then I send them an email with a link to see the slideshow and instructions for pre-registering. So either way, whether they hear it from you or me and take the time to pre-register, they will receive a complimentary gift of $20! Exicting, huh!?
Last night we had our monthly Phoenix PUG meeting. This group of local photographers that I lead has been meeting for over a year now and I love it! It's such a great time each month getting together and networking and talking photography. We always go out to dinner afterwards too.
Last night we had around 35 photographers which is a new record. We've had over 100 photographers come through at our meetings but never all at once. So the meeting had a lot of energy. Leo Garcia, a training specialist from Pictage, flew out from California to train us on the Album Designer and Album Design Service that Pictage offers. We also debriefed WPPI and Mandy Hank, a local photographer, did a studio spotlight where she shared some of her work and a little about herself and her business. It was a great meeting!
Community is such an important element that blesses me and my business. Owning a small business can definitely make you feel isolated and like you're on your own under an immense amount of pressure to succeed. But getting together and building relationships with other people who are in the same boat and who want to support and help each other makes all the difference.
Yesterday I was in the One Light Workshop in San Diego from 9:30 am to after midnight. It was a very full day but I learned a ton that I am really jazzed about taking home with me and applying to my photography. Above is our talented professor, Zack Arias, who really has a great handle on how to use light. His work is amazing.
We basically learned how to turn a descent photo like this:
Into a more dramatic and powerful photo like this:
By using a set-up like this:
I love how Zack was willing to lie on the ground and in puddles to get the best shot. It makes me question my own dedication :).
We hit the streets of San Diego and ran into a cool local artist who let us use his rooftop to shoot on. I took some time to shoot some photos just for fun (no workshop application here--I already know this stuff :))
Then he sent us out on our own in groups to see if we cold figure this stuff out ourselves. This is what I came up with using the very modelesque, Sara France as my model:
Pretty cool huh!?
At midnight when we were all wiped out we decided we needed to take a group photo out on Sara's front lawn. It started out all cute and normal:
Then....the sprinklers came on:
The perfect ending to a great day.
Thanks so much to Zack and all the fun photographers who attended who made this workshop one of the best I've been to yet!
In the business world, you hear a lot about "outsourcing." I definitely have embraced this idea of paying other people or companies to do some of the stuff I don't have to do or don't want to do in order to free me up to focus on the things I have to do or want to do. As business grows, there's no way I can do it all. So in order to continue to grow and provide quality service, I need to outsource some parts of my business and life.
Some of the things I outsource are:
Pictage --- Back-end print and order fullfillment and shipping Jamie --- Color correction and editing Fox Peterson --- Accounting Sarah Marsh --- Web design and implementation
And my personal favorite thing to outsource --- housecleaning! I just started outsourcing this about 6 months ago. And just this week I found some great new ladies to clean my house. They do a great job and only charge $50 per time. I have them coming every 2 weeks. What a steal! This is a no-brainer for me. There's no way I could clean my house myself for that value. I make way more focusing on my business for those few hours every other week. And I love when my house is all clean at once.
I encourage you to think about your business and life and what you can outsource in order to free you up to grow and expand. It's definitely the way to go!
Tonight I finally had my friends Matt, Angie & Maddux over. We've been trying to set up a time to hang out for what seems like forever and finally we gott'er done. Matt and Angie are local wedding photographers as well, who I met through the Phoenix PUG (Pictage User Group) and we hit it off right away. Together they make up Sloan Photographers.
Their son, Maddux, is the most angelic child I think I've met to date. I don't think I heard a peep out of him all night and there were no toys in sight. He even sat quietly watching "American Idol" with us. We had chocolate for desert and he got his hands on two mini Twix bars and just hung on all night. Too bad he doesn't know the yumminess hidden underneath the cool, shiny wrappers :).
I'm so thankful for my friendship with Matt & Angie. Not only is it great to have photographers who are friends as we can talk shop and help each other out, but they are just darn good people who make me happy whenever they're around.
Our custom designed guest books are a hot product this season. Everyone seems to love the idea of using their engagement photos to create a unique guest book that their wedding guests can write notes to them in at the wedding. We just finished another design for Eric and Melanie who are getting married in Sedona in May. They are a gorgeous couple and I'm really looking forward to their wedding. We shot their engagement photos in the Papago Park area which made for a unique look. Check out their guest book design by clicking here.
Last night I had Liene Stevens of Blue Orchid Designs over. I've gotten to know her a little and we are becoming fast friends. She brought Philippino food and I gave her a little crochet lesson. Here's Liene starting a baby blanket:
She's going to be done with that in no time :).
We also watched the movie "Born into Brothels." I first heard about this movie by reading Liene's blog and it peaked my interest. So I put it on my list to make sure I didn't forget I wanted to watch it. I know it's an easy goal to complete, but I wanted to make sure I was intentional.
The movie was about a young photographer, Zana Briski, who spent a few years living in the red light district of Calcutta, India. She got to know many of the women who make their living through prostitution as well as their children who live in some of the worst conditions I've ever seen. She got all of the children cameras and film and began to teach them about photography. It's amazing everything she poured into them -- even working tirelessly to get many of them accepted into boarding schools so they could escape their bleak fate in the brothels. This movie is definitely a "must see." I'm going to watch it one more time before returning it to the video store just to try to take more of it in.
Thanks Liene for a fun night! Can't wait to do it again!
So, at WPPI I'm eating dinner with some of my closest photographer friends. I've known these guys for over a year now. And all of a sudden they start talking passionately about literature and Shakespeare and stuff and I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. These guys are fun-loving and passionate about photography and I know they're smart and stuff but I was a little stunned by the fact that they were all so impassioned by this topic.
I started video taping them about 10 minutes into the conversation so by now they'd already covered a lot of ground. And a warning to those of you who don't know Isaac Bailey, Stuart Thurkill or Jared Platt or who aren't fascinated by literature--you might find this video extremely boring. But if you do know them, I hope you'll find it as entertaining as I did.
I finally got to take Jamie to dinner for her birthday tonight. We went to Mexican and I of course had fajitas :). Above Jamie is enjoying her flan.
Jamie has stuck with me for a year and a half so far and tells me that she is going to work for me forever. I keep telling her I'm going to need her to sign a legal document stating that :).
It was fun filling her in on WPPI and hearing everything she is up to with her growing portrait business. She has evolved into an amazing photographer! I'm so proud that I can take a little credit for her.
Thanks for the fun night Jamie! And for being the fun, great person you are.
I'm sitting at the Las Vegas airport waiting for my delayed flight to board so I thought I'd post real quick. Above is a photo of me with my buddies Todd Watson and David Jay, the superstar masterminds behind ShowIt Web software that any photographer who is even slightly cool uses to post slideshows on their websites. I was glad to run into them on the tradeshow floor and connect for a minute since there are thousands of people here and it's pure craziness.
I'm coming home a little tired out but with some great ideas I'm going to pursue as well as a few new products and I'm a little closer to checking off a few more business goals on my 101 list. I'll have to post on those a little more in the future.
I'm having a blast in Las Vegas at WPPI. This is my second year here and it's definitely different than the first year but still just as great. Last year everything was new and I soaked everything in like a sponge. This year, I feel more relaxed and ok with not doing EVERYTHING, which is impossible anyway, and I'm mostly just enjoying hanging out with friends and meeting new people. That's definitely the best thing about these type of conferences. It's always great to learn and be inspired but the networking and relationship-building is the most valuable.
My friend, Jared Platt, who is a great Phoenix photographer, just shot a wedding for a couple who is now on their honeymoon in Vegas. So he contacted them to do a fun shoot while he was here. I tagged along as did two other photographer friends, Isaac Bailey and Andy Andrews. I mostly had fun shooting the other photographers.
Here's Andy shooting Jared laying on the ground as he shot the couple:
Isaac shooting Jared as the couple stood ignored in the background:
The always goofy Isaac Bailey:
And the cute couple:
I'm sure everyone wondered what kind of celebrities these guys were having four photographers following them around the streets of Vegas :). It was fun.
I've got one more day here and then I'll be headed home. I'll have to share more with you on what I've gotten out of WPPI once I get back and have had a chance to reflect more on it all. Till then...
So here it is--my first TV appearance. And I say "first" because I'm sure this appearance on a little-watched local Arizona channel will lead to my career in network television and major motion pictures. It's just a matter of time :).
Thanks to Ken, my favorite DJ, for hooking me up with Pat. And to Owen, my video guy for getting the footage converted. And I'd also like to thank my parents, God and the academy :).
This morning I was interviewed by Pat McMahon on his show on our local AZ channel. I tivo-ed it and it was pretty crazy seeing myself on TV. It was fun and I'm working at getting the footage converted so I can share my segment with you. So stay tuned for that...
Other than that, today is a pretty lazy rainy day. It's pouring like crazy outside! I love when it rains.
Oh--I sent out my March newsletter yesterday so hopefully you got that. If not, type your email into the box on the right side of my blog and you will receive my monthly newsletters.
This is one of those things I've had on my list of things to do FOREVER--something that would be good to do but is easy to put off and never get around to. So I put it on my 101 in 1001 list and I got it done! I feel so official now having pens with my logo on them :).
At receptions I put out little forms for people to write their email addresses on if they want to be able to view all the photos online. So it's great to have these pens to put out with them. And if people take one home with them--great! I have 500. :)
I just got a copy of the March issue of the Wedding Chronicle and two of my weddings are featured in it! Paula and Brian got married in November at The Wrigly Mansion and Kim and John got married in November at Grayhawk Golf Club. Both were amazing weddings. Each spread in the publication features numerous photos telling the story of the event as well as a few paragraphs on how the couple met and how their wedding day was unique. You can pick up a copy to see for yourself at any AJ's fine foods.
I also want to send out a congrats to my fellow photographer friends who were also featured in this issue -- Michelle Meyer, Jennifer Bowen, Gino with Story by Photo, and Anne McCarthy with One Fine Day -- way to go guys!
The wedding on Saturday was fabulous. I'm working on getting some photos edited to share with you. But...I'm also kinda on vacation visiting with my friend Michelle in Charlotte, NC. More to share on that later.
Today I met up with Sara and Melanie with Whitebox Weddings who are located here in NC. They are two super-cool girls who have a great thing going here in North Carolina. They somehow found my website and subscribed to my newsletter. So that's how I found out about them. Since I knew I would be coming here, we set up lunch and talked about the industry and all the stuff photographers enjoy talking about.
Some people wonder why I would want to meet up with other photographers who are my "competition" but I really don't view other photographers that way. I love networking every chance I get and sharing ideas and learning from one another. It's great to have friends to call on in times of need. And also, the reality is, I can only do one wedding a day. So when I'm booked, I want to be able to send brides to another photographer who I think is fabulous and will do a great job for them. When I do that, other photographers generally return the favor. So networking with photographers is one of the best things you can do marketing-wise. Plus it's just fun to have a good excuse to go to lunch!
Sara & Melanie--thanks for making the drive to meet up with me and I look forward to teaming up with you guys in referrals and hanging out with you in the future when the opportunity arises! You guys are great!
Today is my lovely assistant, Jamie's birthday. She has been working with me for a year and a half and I appreciate her as a person and everything she does for me SO much. She shoots most all my weddings with me and is very talented. She also takes care of most of my color correction and editing so that I can focus on other parts of the business which is a HUGE help.
You are awesome Jamie! And per the usual, your belated gift has been ordered but not delivered yet :). We'll celebrate when I get back!
It feels good to check this one off my list because it's a big one. I can't believe I did it! Every single day since February 6th I have blogged. When I started my blog last April I couldn't imagine coming up with something worthwhile to say a couple times a week let alone every day. But this last month has stretched me and helped me to think outside the box with blogging. I think it will help me going forward to make my blog interersting and keep it consistent--even if I'm not posting every day.
Tomorrow I'm leaving on a jet plane for the Carolinas. I will be shooting a wedding in SC on Saturday and visiting friends in both the Carolinas the rest of the time I'm there--a week total. So it should be fun! I will be available by email and phone but it's hard to say what internet connection will be like so I'll try to blog a couple times. Hope you have a great week!
The last couple of days my 17" laptop has been acting a bit weird and today it really frustrated me so I went to the Apple store and replaced it. My old one is 3 years old and I sent it in for a check-up. It's still going to be a great computer for someone but with the demands I put on my computers, I need to update them every three years anyhow. So it was time and today I was just pushed over the edge.
I'm excited about my new toy. I need something reliable because I'm going out of town next week to shoot a wedding in SC. I'm a loyal Mac user and I love the 17" screen because I use my laptop to show a slideshow at each wedding reception of some of my favorite shots from that day. So the bigger the display the better!
If anyone is in the market for a 17" 1.5GHz Powerbook G4 for cheap, let me know. My old baby will be out of the shop soon and looking for a caring home :).
Liene Stevens, a cool wedding consultant that I've gotten to know recently, just let me know that I was mentioned on The Wedding Bee site as having a good blog. I checked out the post and they talk about reasons why wedding photographer blogs are great and list a bunch of great ones to check out. Many of the blogs listed are those I look at often myself and I'm honored to be listed there. I'm not sure how I ended up on the list but I'm excited! It's amazing how word-of-mouse spreads. Check out the post here and feel free to leave a quick plug in the comments about how much you adore my blog :).
Today I covered a short check receiving ceremony where the Phoenix Fire Department was given a grant. It's not something I usually do but I enjoy covering any type of event where I am just free to be creative and shoot what is happening. Here's a few images.
We were setting up for a group shot at the end and everyone thought it would be great to have two ambulances in the back. But then they noticed they were a little dirty so all the firefighters started washing them. It was a fun scene that reminded me of fund-raising car washes I've been a part of in the past:
Short and sweet. I didn't know what to do with myself after shooting for just under 2 hours :).
I just sent out my February newsletter! I've been sending out monthly newsletters using Constant Contact since September. It's been a great thing for my business--a vehicle to stay in touch with past clients and other vendors in the industy. If you read my blog regularly, there won't be anything new in the newsletter--it basically reiterates what is in my blog and links to it to keep everyone in the loop who doesn't look at my blog regularly. But if you are interested in receiving my monthly newsletters, just type your email address into the box on the right side of my blog and you will be added to the list!
I wanted to share with you the fun design of a custom guest book that we recently finished. Josh and Molly are getting married in April and I shot their engagement shoot about a month ago. They are a great couple.
This custom guest book is a great product that we offer. We use 30-40 of the couples' favorite photos from their engagement shoot and design a guest book that they can use at their wedding. So the pages are designed with plenty of open space for their wedding guests to write personal notes to them. This has been a favorite product of my clients recently and it's easy to see why. It makes the guest book something to be cherished -- not just a book of names to be filed away in a closet somewhere. This is a great book to display on your coffee table and read through occasionally.
Click here to see the design of Josh and Molly's book. Keep in mind that the finished book is 11x8 inches in size.
Last night we had our monthly Phoenix PUG (Pictage User Group) meeting. It was a great one! Davide Greene, who is based out of Toronto but flies around the world shooting international weddings, came out to share with us about his Simple approach to his business. Davide is a friend of mine and it was great to see him again.
I also shared real briefly about my 101 in 1001 list and challenged everyone to join in. So we'll see who jumps on board!
Also, today I pre-ordered my copy of Lightroom, a new software out by Adobe that will revolutionalize digital workflow. It's discounted $100 if you order it this month. So if you're a photograher, make sure to order your copy soon!
Yesterday I went to LA for the day to attend Joe Buissink & Marcus Bell's Photo Conference. It was awesome! These two are amazing photographers and I was so inspired. Joe is a celebrity wedding photographer but is very genuine and down to earth. I found out that he has a 13 year-old son who has autism so I definitely felt a connection to him in that since I have two nephews with autism. Marcus is from Australia and so I enjoyed listening to his accent all day. I wanted to get a photo with the two of them to share with you. Here's Joe saying, "do we need a reflector?" as he acts like his bald head would work well for that:
So then I'm cracking up and look like a total goofball for the photo:
I went to this conference on my own but ran into two friends (top photo). Michell Jonas is a Phoenix photographer who showed up and it's funny cause we're running into each other EVERYWHERE lately. And then Jen Disney (on right) is a girl I went to college with back in the day. We didn't know each other too well then but were in a girls' choir together and I ran into her in the bathroom at the conference and we immediately recognized each other. So the three of us girls went to a little hole in the wall Mexican Restaraunt for lunch and it was delicious.
The conference was inpiring mostly because of Joe and Marcus' images which just made me want to be a better photographer and get out there and shoot. Marcus also shared about his workflow using Lightroom, a new software that is out there that I will be buying and incorporating in our workflow soon (one of my 101 goals!). So it was good to learn a little more about that. I was also inspired to get some fine art canvas prints made and enter a print competition. So those goals will be going on my list.
At the LAX airport as I was waiting for my plane, I saw these adorable boys playing and had fun taking some photos of them. Check out these mugs:
I nearly missed my plane because I was having so much fun shooting them and didn't hear the boarding call. But I made it and had fun taking a few pics on the plane. LA by night:
My gift to myself this year is a photography conference with Joe Buissink and Marcus Bell. So I'm heading to LA for the day and it should be great fun!
I am still working on my 101 in 1001 list - only 13 goals left to make it to 101. I'm purposefully waiting until after the conference today to finish the list because I know I'm going to come back inspired and will be able to finish writing my list in no time. In the meantime I've been working on some of my goals, including blogging every day for a month. I'm going strong at just over a week now, so I'm feeling good. Stay tuned to see if I make it!
If you haven't created your 101 in 1001 list yet, I encourage you to do so! It has definitely stretched and motivated me in just the last week alone! Three people have emailed me with their lists and if you'd like to read them for inspiration, check out this post.
Hope you have a great Valentine's Day and remember to give your single friends some love today :).
So I get a lot of people asking me who designed my website. The answer is -- I had a team of two people working on it. Sarah Marsh, my friend who is also an AMAZING graphic designer, designed the look of the site. She is so creative and fun to work with as well. I had total confidence in her and she came through for me. She does a lot of freelance design work and is in the process of getting her business "off the ground" in a more official way. The other day I helped her shoot some of her pieces for her portfolio. So I thought I'd give her a little plug on my blog. If any of you are interested in using her, just send me an email and I'll give you her contact info.
Last night I met up with a bunch of fun photographers at Garduno's Mexican Restaurant in Scottsdale. It was a great night of networking and you can't go wrong with Mexican food!
So I'm making some progress on completing my list of 101 in 1001 - not actually checking off goals yet, but just finishing LISTING them. Mandy Hank, another local photographer, emailed me and said she was motivated by my post to do her own list of goals. I was excited for her and then found out that she thought of 101 things before me! She ripped some of my ideas off and then I ripped some of hers off, it's been great.
So if you're reading this and feel prompted to try to come up with a list of 101 goals for yourself, I would love to hear about it! And you don't have to be a photographer to do this - Marisa, Julie, Shannon - I know you're reading this :). If you have a way to post your list, send me the link and I'll post it here for others to be inspired by. If you don't have a way to post it, just email me your list and I'll post it for you. Fun!
Here's a few lists to help inspire you and get you going on your own:
So I mentioned in my last post about the Debbie Allen seminar I went to last night. She encouraged us to write down our goals. This isn't the first time I've heard that. Jessica Claire, a photographer I love, shared her list of 101 things she wants to do in the next 1001 days on her blog. It was fun to read through. I guess I'm not that ambitious of a person. I used to be much more so. I used to be much more goal oriented. Don't know what happened to that.
But for some reason, this time, I was motivated to try it. So I started writing things down last night. I like lists. I like to check them off. But this is overwhelming. Debbie Allen said that if you write down your goals, they seep into your subconscious. So I'm just going to see what happens. I'm not going to be primarily motivated by my list. I like to live life, listen to God, and see what happens - be open to opportunities that present themselves.
I've only gotten to 51 goals. I am stuck! I guess I'm pretty content and don't want too much. And some things I want most don't really fit on a list like this - like getting married to the man of my dreams who likely doesn't exist. But it's not like I can work toward that goal. Another reason I'm stuck at 51 is because I've already accomplished a lot of goals in life so far. I've done so many things I've wanted to do so far. So I need your help. Post a comment if you think something else should be added to the list and I'll consider it. And I'm going to keep brainstorming and adding as things come to mind.
Oh - here's the list and I'll update it on this same post as things progress:
101 goals in 1001 days
1. Print & hang photos in my upstairs living space 2. Learn to grill meat 3. Blog every day for a month - completed 3.6.07 4. Get a dog - completed 5.10.07 5. Invent something 6. Flatten my tummy 7. Take a road trip and stop along the way at cool places to take photos 8. 2nd shoot at a wedding with Jessica Claire 9. Shoot a wedding on another continent 10. Take a cruise 11. Order pens for my business - completed 3.19.07 12. Get a wedding into Grace Ormonde 13. Enter some photos in a print competition 14. Speak at PartnerCon 15. Read one book per month for 3 months to benefit my business 16. Research a well – known photographer of old 17. Travel to Europe 18. Visit the Mibu tribe in Papua New Guinea 19. Take a dance class 20. Write down the systems of my business – create a manual of what I do 21. Win another WPJA award 22. Join Toastmasters 23. Develop a business exit plan 24. Visit Andy & Shannon in NH once a year 25. Market myself in Portland for summer weddings 26. Update my wardrobe – needs help! 27. Practice the guitar each day for a month 28. Throw a party 29. Get my office TV hooked up so you can see the internet on it 30. Get my phone set up so I can access the internet anywhere on my laptop 31. Organize my office closet 32. Do the splits 33. Visit Becky in San Diego while David is in Iraq 34. Visit my grandparents on the farm in Nebraska 35. Babysit for the Swansons 36. Buy out my parents' investment in my house 37. Create a photo book of my nephews for my sis 38. Spend a whole day with Jess out at her place - completed 2.24.07 39. Tape record my grandma telling stories 40. Improve the packaging of my products 41. Learn how to make sticky rice (Thailand style) 42. Stay at a luxury resort & go to the spa 43. Develop a menu of favorite dishes to make on an ongoing basis 44. Get Michelle Neese to visit me 45. See Brian Regan, the comedian, live - completed 4.1.07 46. Take a painting class 47. Visit Australia 48. Learn Lightroom software 49. Go skiing again 50. Solve the Rubik's Cube - completed 2.25.07 51. See a musical on Broadway 52. Shoot the cover of another national magazine besides Destination I Do 53. Figure out how to get video on my blog and then post videos - completed 3.24.07 54. Take a story-telling class – I'm horrible at this 55. Go camping - completed 6.3.07 56. Put up window treatments in my house 57. Book 20-25 weddings each year 58. Begin sending out anniversary cards to past clients 59. Take a carriage ride in Central Park 60. Go on a picnic 61. Become CPR certified 62. Go to an APU Chrismas Choir concert 63. Babysit my nephews once a month for a year 64. Be on "Simple Photo Minute" - completed 5.16.07 65. Get a wedding published in Arizona Bride Magazine 66. Post on OSP once a week for 3 months 67. Find good legal music to use on slideshows - completed 5.2.07 68. Go to Serrano's with Shannon at least once a month between now and Aug. 69. Do something to help raise awareness for autism or help find a cure 70. Finish crocheting the blanket I started years ago - completed 2.16.07 71. Add 7 more intro slideshows to my website 72. Update the "press" page on my website 73. Take more photos for Portico (my church) and add them to the website 74. Read a classic literature book I haven't read before 75. Upgrade my 17" laptop - completed 2.28.07 76. Look into a health savings account 77. Visit Shannon after she's married and living in Chicago 78. Take photos of my parents - completed 2.28.07 79. Do a photo shoot with Josh & Natie without the kids 80. Visit one of the 15 states I haven't been to yet 81. Donate blood 82. Have a neighbor over for dinner 83. Watch a sunrise 84. Write a letter to the child I sponsor in Niger 85. Go apple picking 86. Run a 10 minute mile for 3 consecutive miles 87. Clean out the packaging material in my garage that needs to be recycled - completed 3.20.07 88. Watch the movie "Born into Brothels" - completed 3.30.07 89. Go to a photography gallery 90. Get some canvas prints made 91. Try an in-studio viewing after the wedding 92. Refine workflow to get album designs done 2 weeks after weddings 93. 2nd shoot weddings with 3 local photographers 94. Improve my website search optimization 95. Upgrade my custom blog to use larger photos - completed 6.13.07 96. Implement surveys & gather client feedback at numerous points throughout the customer experience 97. Look into hiring a publicist 98. Partner with Sarah to begin a signature line of print products that incorporate my photography 99. Upgrade the proof books I offer 100. 101.
Tonight I went to a marketing seminar for professional photographers. Debbie Allen, the author of a number of books including "Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters" was the speaker. I always find these types of seminars helpful and motivational. Even if I hear some of the same things, it helps me to actually eventually ACT on them. Anyhow, I'll share something I got out of the seminar in the near future. But I just wanted to write real quick about something that happened to me for the first time in my life.
I showed up a little after 6 for the seminar that was supposed to run from 6-9 and sat down in an open chair on the isle. Two seats away from me sat a friendly-looking girl. Usually I introduce myself right away but for some reason I didn't. About 15 seconds after I sat down she asked, "Are you Melissa Jill?" I responded affirmatively and we proceeded to talk for the next hour until the seminar ACTUALLY started (I learned my lesson about PPA meetings :)). She turned out to be a good friend of a bride whose wedding I am shooting in December. She will be a bridesmaid in the wedding. And she is also very interested in getting into photography herself. It was fun getting to know her. But it was such a strange experience being recognized by someone I have never met. She had seen my photo on my website and recognized me purely by that. It also showed me the advantage of having my face on my website. But that was a first for me. I've never been the type of girl to crave fame or want to be in the public eye. And I'm not saying I'm the LEAST bit famous. But it made me think about people who are recognized daily by those they don't know. What a weird thing. I don't envy them. Not that I minded tonight but I don't think I would enjoy that on a larger scale.
Well, off to implement some new things I'm motivated to do...
So I know Christmas is long gone for this year but I was taking down some of my cards and decided I wanted to share with you some of my favorites I received this year. Every year I receive cards from people with their family picture on them and it's fun because I shot them! I love to see the creative cards that people come up with using my photos. So if you have a card with one of my photos on it--make sure to include me on your mailing list--I would love to receive one and add it to my collection!
Here's the four I received this year (all very poorly scanned in):
The January/February issue of "The Wedding Chronicle" is out and I had another wedding featured in it! It's a full page spread and I'm excited because they picked some good photos to use.
I also enjoyed reading the story they featured with the photos. It reads: "Soon after meeting, Erik and Jenny knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. After a whirlwind romance and courtship, Erik proposed on a beautiful beach in Cabo San Lucas."
"Upon hearing of the engagement the most excited people were Jenny's three sisters who plunged right in. There were many plans to be made and even more details to be looked after, but Jenny and Erik had an army of loving, excited people to help them along."
"On a gorgeous day in April surrounded by families and friends from as far away as Brazil, the wedding party was led down the aisle by six little flower girls under the age of seven. Jenny and Erik said their vows encircled by love."
"Shortly after the wedding the couple left for a cruise on the Mediterranean. Everyone agrees it doesn't get any better than this."
If you'd like to see more photos from Erik & Jenny's wedding, click here to view their album.
A new issue of Elegant Bride just showed up on newstands and some of my photos are featured in it! The photos appear in the "Party Scene" section that features "faulous celebrations -- rehearsal dinners, welcome parties and more." Dana & Brad's rehearsal dinner had a western theme to it and took place at Reata Pass in Scottsdale. It was a fun hoe-down and I'm excited that their beautiful event was chronicled in Elegant Bride!
Thursday night we had our first annual PUG (Pictage User Group) Christmas Party. I lead this network of local professional photographers here in Phoenix. We have been meeting monthly for a year now to network and learn from one another. I've made so many great friends through this group as well. It's truly such a blessing in my life. This month we all got together and brought our families and just celebrated. We had great food, Santa showed up, and we did a fun gift exchange.
Here's fellow photographer, Jefferson Todd taking his self-portrait with Santa:
Thanks to everyone involved in the PUG for a great 1st year!
The November/December issue of the Wedding Chronicle, a local publication, has been out for about a month now but I just got my hands on a few issues. The issue focused on "The Most Beautiful Weddings of 2006" and two of my weddings were featured!!
Dana and Brad got married on April 1st at The Sanctuary and Jenna & Frank wed on May 20th at The Silverleaf Club. They were both amazingly beautiful and seeing them featured in the Wedding Chronicle brings back a lot of memories.
It was fun to look through the other weddings chosen in the publication and see many of my friends who are amazing photographers featured as well. Congratuations Michelle Meyer, Tracy Kreck, Michell Jonas, Rebecca Bouck, Stuart Thurlkill, Byron Medina & Jared Platt!
Tuesday evening I had the unique opportunity to shoot the local Hospitality Industry Professionals (HIP) holiday bash. Victoria Canada, one of my favorite wedding consultants asked me to cover the event and I was excited to do so. Since some of the valley's most experienced and accomplished event planners were the masterminds behind this party, it was sure to be amazing.
The party took place at Casa delle Viste, a beautiful private home in north Scottsdale that the owners rent out for special events like this. It was the perfect setting :
Check out the view from their backyard:
There were so many vendors who donated their time and services to make this event possible. Right inside the door was a cute tree with ornaments covering it--one for each of the contributers:
Even Santa showed up to donate his time and collect toys for a local charity:
Guests were invited to purchase raffle tickets for prizes that included a trip to Puerto Vallarta! Even Santa got into the raffle fun:
There were a number of fun things to do at the party including a photo booth for take-home photos like these:
And a create-your-own smores experience that I tried for myself:
The food and drinks were both tasty and beautiful:
And entertainment was provided by The Shammys:
Here's a few of the party-goers--the clan from The Four Seasons:
There are SO many more photos from this event. To see a slideshow, click here. But make sure to turn your volume down a bit--the music is a little crazy :).
Thanks to all the amazing vendors and consultants who made this event a huge success!
I am SO excited to announce the launch of my brand new website! My last website was designed by me over three years ago and has served me well but I was definitely overdue for an upgrade. This time I payed someone else the big bucks to do the work and I think it turned out great! This website has all updated photos in slideshow format, video testimonials of some of my clients and even a dorky video of me welcoming you to my site (so embarassing). So check it out by clicking here. And I would love to hear what you think!
This week has been a tough week for me. I've been in the process of getting a new website designed for months now and the whole thing has been a tough experience. This week it's come to a head so I've been a bit stressed out.
But God is good. He's also sent some encouragement my way in the form of emails from past clients who received my newsletter this week. I always love to hear from each of you even years after the wedding. You each have a special place in my memory and heart. Here's part of an email from Miranda whose wedding I shot in North Carolina in February 2005:
I'm excited to report that one of my weddings from last Spring got selected for publication in the September/October 2006 issue of The Wedding Chronicle, a local wedding newspaper in Arizona! Chris & Courtney got married last March at the Royal Palms and it was such a beautiful wedding. To see a few of the photos featured in this full page spread click here and you will be taken to the slideshow of their wedding.
I'm excited to report that I just sent out my first issue of my monthly e-newsletter! I think this will be a great way to keep in touch with clients, vendors, photographers and family and friends. If you would like to subscribe just enter your email address into the box on the sidebar and you'll be added to the list! Then make sure to add melissa@melissajill.com to your address book to ensure the newsletter doesn't get stuck in your spam filter. Hope you enjoy the newsletter!
Today was another great day at PartnerCon. We heard from a panel of photographers, including one of my mentors David Jay, who talked about community.
For the most part, the wedding photography industry is very unique in that we have a mentality of abundance and seek to help each other out with our businesses rather than compete with one another. It's such a great thing, I think, and has blessed me greatly in my business. The idea is that community and giving to one another only helps us and makes us stronger. We all gain knowledge from one another and when you give you find out that you get a lot back in return.
I also went to 3 classes given by 4 great photographers: Davina Fear, Nathan & Amber Holritz and Me Ra Koh. Davina is a really genuine, fun mom from Utah who talked about being who you are and getting to know your clients:
I came away from her talk inspired with some new fun ideas for engagement shoots. So if you have an engagement shoot coming up soon, we should definitely talk.
Nathan & Amber talked about how to make working from home work for you and I was definitely challenged in the area of setting and sticking to a schedule. I think I could accomplish a lot more on a day to day basis if I thought through and was more intentional about how I spend my time.
And Me Ra Koh was so refreshing in that she shared a lot about her life--the good and the bad--in her journey to where she is today--a nationally known photographer who charges 10-15k per wedding. Some well-known photographers who I look up to are really great and share a lot about their success but they have this "bigger than life" mystique and seem to have it all together. I appreciated so much Me Ra's vulnerability in sharing the struggles as well as successes.
So now I'm back home and have time to reflect on and process everything. Even more than the knowledge I gained this year at the conference, I am so thankful for the networking and relationship building that took place. Building a community with other photographers, both on a local and national level, makes my job so fun, inspires me and infuses me with even more passion for what I get to do for a living. Thanks guys!
Today has been great. I love hanging out with photographers--what a fun bunch of people. We had some fun with the fish eye in the morning session. Here's a shot of Stuart Thurlkill, me and my new friend Mark who wins the award for facial hair:
A weird cartoon-distortion phenomenon happens when you take a photo of someone with the fish eye lens only inches from their face. Let me demonstrate:
Mark reminds me here of Yosemite Sam:
And on the bus tonight I got this cute photo of a little girl a couple seats in front of me:
No distortion there--just pure cute-ness.
You might think from seeing these photos that all we do is get together in LA and goof off for a few days and call it a "conference" but we like to call it "networking" and we do listen to speakers and sometimes take notes. One more day to go...I'll try to retain something productive to share with you tomorrow :).
Today I headed with some other photographer friends to LA for a photography conference. I'm really excited to see some friends from all over the country and I always come away from these conferences inspired and challenged. They're great! I'll post some other fun photos in the next couple days. Here's one of Jen, Kim and I on the plane:
The new issue of the national bridal magazine Destination I Do is out and they used another photo of mine for the cover! This makes 3 covers since they started in the fall of 2004. I'm so honored because the magazine is top quality and I think this one is the best one yet. I think they used around 20 photos of mine throughout the inside pages as well. Check out a few of my favorite spreads:
If you're planning a destination wedding or just want to check out a cool bridal magazine, pick up a copy at your local Barnes & Noble.
Thanks Jen & Carolyn! As always, it's wonderful to work with you! Congrats on a great issue!
I got a new camera yesterday! Yay! It's a Canon 5D--12.8 megapixels, full-frame sensor and bright and shiney new. The full-frame sensor means that my fish-eye lens is even fishier. I realized I haven't put some photos of important stuff up on my blog, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to have fun with my new camera. Above is my office where I spend a lot of my time. It's also where I meet with clients and boss Jamie around. This is Jamie:
Cute, huh? She's going to hate me for posting this. Ok, so I don't really boss her around. We work together and she mostly just gives me a hard time usually. And then I threaten to fire her and then the cycle repeats itself :). It's great to be able to have fun while working.
Today for lunch, my friend Marisa invited me over. She and Erik and their three kids live really close by and I love hanging out with them whenever I can. I even feel free to invite myself over sometimes. Their kids are so cute and have been my models for years.
Here's Keith eating what he refers to as a "po-ca-ca":
Along with my new camera, I also got a new lens--an 85mm 1.8. It's like Christmas in the summer :). I love my new lens too. It's got a great wide-open aperture so I can get shots like this where the whole background is out of focus:
I caught a picture of Marisa:
And then Marisa and Karina having a sweet moment:
Gotta love baby parts:
Keith is sure to be a genius one day, starting on the phonics so early:
Thanks for letting me try out my new stuff on you guys! You're great!
Thursday we had another PUG meeting--our local network of photographers that get together once a month to talk business. Mostly we just have a lot of fun. David Jay--my mentor and long-time friend--was back in town to share all the secrets to his success. He is awesome and I owe so much of my own success to him. A bunch of us went out for dinner after our meeting--David's on the left, Shannon Rice, and Rebecca Bouck.
Here's Davide Greene from Canada and Megan Resch of Tempe:
JT ordered the Nachos Grande and it was the grande-est nachos I've ever seen:
Here's me and David. I'm not sure what that face was about....I wasn't pinching his butt I swear. There were witnesses who can confirm.
JT again and Bruce Steffine who is taking the major step of going full-time in photography like next week. Yay Bruce!
And here's Isaac Bailey--well loved but sometimes has trouble posing for photos:
I love our community of photographers here in the valley and am so inspired and spurred on by them. Can't wait to get together again soon!
A couple days ago, I got a call from Jennifer Ellis, the florist I worked with for the Frank & Jenna's wedding on May 20th. She is from an amazing flower shop in Scottsdale called White House Interiors & Flowers. Frank & Jenna's reception was one of the most beautiful I've seen and I have to give a lot of the credit to White House Flowers because they did an incredible job. Anyhow, Jennifer said they were being featured on a local television show, Shopping A to Z, and asked if she could use some of our shots to show off their work. The half hour show just aired this morning and it was fun to see some of my photos on TV! Click here to see the show. White House Flowers is featured at the beginning and end, so fast-forward the middle part unless you have a half hour to kill and like info-mercials :).
Father's day is coming up Sunday, so make sure you get a card and think about something nice to do for your dad. Yesterday, the Arizona Republic ran an article with creative ideas for Father's Day gifts. My sister and I recently put together a framed collage of some of the photos I've taken of my nephew's over the years and put it up in my brother-in-law's office. Josh was super-excited because he gets to look at his cute boys instead of a blank wall now at work. It turned out pretty good. And it ended up being featured in the article! Thanks, Brooke, for the plug! I love doing children's portraits, so give me a call if you've got some cute kids you want to capture before they grow up too much.
We've started to handle our album design a little differently. We've found that it has been really difficult on brides & grooms to pick out their favorite photos for their album. So we are now pre-designing albums. Which means that we go ahead and design the album with the photos we believe the couple will like and create a beautiful design with about 3 times as many photos and pages than what they originally ordered. Then we place the design online for the client to view. They can either narrow down the pages to the size they originally ordered, or approve the album as is and pay per-page for the additional pages. We are also happy to change out a few images in the design to meet the clients needs. This way the couple gets to see what their album design could look like instead of having to make choices on whether or not to include certain photos up front. Click here to see our most recent album design.
A few months ago, I did a model shoot for the magazine, "Destination I Do" at Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale. Even though the shoot was primarily for the magazine, the hotel requested a CD of the photos from the shoot. And I found out today that they're going to use one of my photos in their ad they're running in two local wedding magazines. Here's what the ad will look like:
The hotel has a unique retro feel and would be a great venue for weddings, so check it out if a wedding is in your future :).
We've offered these fun books to a few clients now but just got our studio sample in and I'm excited to share with you this great option for a guest book.
I really enjoy engagement shoots--they give me a chance to get to know a bride and groom before the wedding and we always come away with some great shots of the two of them having fun together. Instead of using a traditional guest book at the wedding with lines down the page for guests to sign, why not use a custom designed book with photos from your engagement shoot? Guests will enjoy looking through it and you will have a keepsake book to cherish the memories from that day as well as the thoughtful words your loved ones write.
Click here to see the pages of the inside of Kim & Michael's book. The book is 8x11 inches and covered in your choice of color linen with a photo on the front. Notice all of the space around and on top of the photos where guests can leave a note. Fun!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to shoot another model shoot for a fabulous national bridal magazine - "Destination I Do." They have used two of my photos for different covers and I just love working with Jennifer & Carolyn--the Publisher and Owner who are both friends of mine.
This shoot was at Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale--a historic hotel that has recently been renovated. It has a unique retro style and I can't wait to shoot some weddings there. If you're looking to get married definitely check it out.
Here are a few of my favorite photos from the shoot:
I have the honor of being able to lead a local network of photographers who use Pictage -- my awesome online lab and business service provider. Pictage is like having another employee--they handle so much for me and it frees me up to do what I love - shoot and work with people. Anyhow, our group that meets here in Phoenix monthly is called a "PUG" - Pictage User Group. We meet on a monthly basis and network, get to know one another and learn from each other. It's amazing what a community is forming among us. And it's so great for me to have a group of photographers to call on if I ever need anything as well as to refer weddings to if I'm already booked. They are amazing and I learn so much from them. We just had a meeting last night and took this group shot.
I just got back from WPPI - an annual national photography conference in Las Vegas - and decided that it is time for me to start a blog. So I'm excited but also think it's a little crazy--who has time to keep one of these up? :) But I'll give it my best.
WPPI was amazing--I learned so much and was so inspired by other photographers. Here's a couple pics of some of my friends I hung out with:
