The Dip

It's been a while since my last post, but sometimes we are so hard at work that there just aren't enough hours in the day. I am sure many of you can relate. Special thanks to everyone who attended our seminar in Columbia, Maryland yesterday. I truly enjoyed giving a full day program and appreciate all of the kind words and experience that I had. I made it home safe this morning by 8am and am excited to get back as I am focused on being the best in the world.

Ok, so what do I mean by that? I picked up new book in the airport that was a very short read, only 80 pages, called "The Dip" by Seth Godin. I had the perfect amount of time to read this book early this morning in full, and it focuses on "when to quit, and when to stick".

The idea that if you aren't excited enough about what you are doing to focus on being the best, then maybe it is time for a change. When creating new companies or projects, we all reach that moment of decision on whether we are in love with what we are creating or not. And, sometimes it can be painful. This painful stage is called The Dip. What separates success of being number one or being in 3rd, 4th, or 5th place is whether or not we, as entrepreneurs, are proud enough of our vision to plow through the painful stages.

Jennifer and I are optomists and most everyone says we have great positive energy. But, optomism truly only goes so far in business. You have to have follow through coupled with the ability to look ahead. A never ending vision for improvements and the willingness not to settle for anything less than the best. It always shocks me when I hear other photographers tells us, "it wouldn ever work in our area". That is the strangest concept I've ever heard. The idea that mediocrity is the safer bet is crazy.

As photographers, we have always been focused on being the very best. We never settle. Whether it is the leathers we choose for our books, or the fact that we purchased the most sophisticated printer money can buy to have our images printed on, or the camera systems we use. We just have never bought into the idea of mediocrity. We believe in being best in class and this simple idea is what has allowed our studio to operate 100% completely by referral. We love being a best kept secret and focusing on the integrity of our product, so I thought this book was a great reminder that when you are focused, not just on quality, but being the best you can be or providing the best in class products, all the rest falls into place.

A Little Break

Jennifer and I spent the last couple of days enjoying Disney World. We have some business to do in Florida this week and didn't have a wedding this weekend, so we decided to take a long weekend and go to Disney just to relax. After sitting in Laguardia for 5 hours with flight delays on Jet Blue, we got into Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge around 3am. The photo was taken from our Macbook Pro camera in the airport as we tried to entertain ourselves for hours. It never matters what airline we fly, as there always seems to be delays or cancellations. I don't know how airlines even make it with customer service as poor as it is. That is a topic for another day I guess, so I'll spare you....

We visited Epcot and MGM and today just did nothing at all which was fantastic. Although we did go to the spa for massages so I can't say we did nothing at all. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is such a cool place. Giraff's, Zebras, Ostrich, Wild Boars, and all sorts of other animals have been hanging out right outside our room balcony the past few days. We've been to Disney so many times over the years, but there is always new things to see and do.

Life gets crazy when we get back, so this was a nice little break in the thick of the busy season. Although a break, we are always in touch with our office, still returning emails, and can be reached by cell. So, we are here if you need anything...

CS3 quick review

Jennifer and I are really excited about the new Adobe Creative suite. We've been using Macromedia software for years and when Adobe acquired Macromedia, we knew that this would be a big leap forward in workflow for the studio. The ability to open Photoshop files in Flash and have all of the layers named and in order saves me a great deal of time. The Bridge has also been improved dramatically over CS2 which I personally wasn't a big fan of. I used CS instead as it simply was faster to work with. However, we are thrilled with the speed of CS3 and it's new features.

While it is worth buying, I was hoping for a few things that I don't see. It would have been great if the Flash video encoder was a two pass encoder. Right now, we are using Sorenson squeeze to achieve the results we need. Also, it would have been great if all of the text effects and modes in Photoshop would open in flash and still be editable. So far, I don't see that as possible. However, all in all, this is a major upgrade with lots of new feature and much improved workflow.

Next, I'll be excited to purchase an upgrade for Apple's Final Cut Studio. Motion is now 3D which looks to be a stunning solution for motion graphics. Apple never seems to disappoint when they come out with new versions. Once I get my copy in, I'll let you all know the scoop.

One of a kind

Up at 4am.. Excited to go to work. Hmmm.. Somedays, I just wake up with creative thoughts and ideas and need to act on them. Whether it is designing a wedding album, working on a web site, or anything else it makes sense to do creative work when it hits you. Yes, we have a very strong work ethic, but I think gettng up early has more to do with passion for creativity.

Yesterday, a good friend of mine John Garner flew up from Raleigh to have lunch. He is actually on a world tour from Australia and stopped in to NYC before heading to San Fransico and finally to home tomorrow. John is a Master Bookmaker, and has some of the finest hands in the world when it comes to artistic integrity for book binding. We have been working with him for many years and he allows us freedom to dream. Anything we sketch out, he will make for us. It allow us unlimited options and creative freedom to design every single book as a one of a kind for each bride and groom. That is why no two books are alike at our studio and we pride ourselves on creating originals.

He is the only true craftsman I am aware of that can, and will build anything we ask. While other companies try to mold photographers around their workflow, John just says, anything you want. Any size, and shape, any leather, any cover, any paper, anything. It is so great work with another artist that cares as much about quality and originality.

Well... let me get to work. I am on a mission today to create and there is only 4 and a half hours before the phone starts ringing.

Speaking in Maryland May 21st

Hey All... Just a note that I have agreed to give a FULL DAY speaking engagement coming up on May 21st in Maryland for MDPPA. I have a lot planned for this full day course which includes everything from lighting and camera techniques to marketing and business strategies, as well as a few powerful slide shows with lots of images. The best part is that since it is through MDPPA, it is very reasonably priced at $49.00 - $99.00 depending on whether you are a member and if you pre-register.

The program will be held at the Sheraton Columbia Maryland Hotel. You can go to the MDPPA website to register at www.mdppa.org.

Hope to see you all there...

Professional Photographer Magazine Article

When Professional Photographer Magazine asked us if we would be interested in writing a review for Aperture, we jumped at the the idea. This software is leap forward in studio management solutions. Many of you know that we have helped pioneer the digital revolution. We've been capturing virtually all of our studio portraits digitally for nearly a decade. I can remember our first digital camera, the Kodak 460. It had no LCD on the back and an ISO rating of 80. That was it! No exposure compensation, and at the time, only a select few labs in the world even had Digital printers. The great part about Pioneering and being on the BLEEDING edge is that it makes you stronger. Having to be a perfectionist with a camera that had no forgiveness forced us to focus and gather an in depth understanding of lighting which lacks with many other of today's younger pros.

Bottom line, we have innovated workflow solutions ourselves for nearly a decade. Now, with Aperture 1.5.2, Apple has created a solution for the most demanding studio that can do it all. We capture terrabytes of data in a one year period, and with Aperture, we have every image available at our fingertips with just a few mouse clicks.

If you are a professional photographer or amateur that is looking for a solution for cataloging, key-wording, archiving, presenting, processing, organizing, printing, and much more, this software is a must have if you are using Pentium based Macs. You do however need a mac with Pentium processors if you are shooting 16+ megapixel cameras, or it will run too slow to be productive. With the dual core Pentium chip set and 4 gigs of RAM, the software is very fast.

In the studio and during lifestyle shoots on location, we often use Canon's WIFI attachment on the camera and a special hot folder script, which can be downloaded from the Apple website, that populates images into Aperture for immediate preview for the art director and stylist. Check out the article in the current issue of Professional Photographer magazine and learn more about the way our studio makes use of this powerful application.

New Portrait Looks for Individuals

We are excited about some new looks in the studio we developed for the summer. While we are most known for weddings, we photograph a lot of lifestyle and portrait photography throughout the year. Summer kicks in a lot of individual photography for teens looking for imagery that has a creative and fashionable edge. Over the past few weeks we photographed several local seniors and created some urban style art with painted brick walls we designed in our indoor studio. We've also captured some creative textures that can be added to portraits to give them a vintage feel as well which is pretty wild. We are already starting to book summer sessions for senior portraits which last through September. Due to demand, our studio can only photograph a limited number of senior portrait sessions per year which allows us to offer each person designer sessions that revolve around their personalities and clothing styles.