Tosca Radigonda!!! My friend, Lauren….send me this link and I checked it out and LOVE her work! I then discovered her again while reading my Real Simple, on a flight the other day!!

So, I’ve had this idea to do SUPPED UP engagement session….combining cool images with a cool MUSIC VIDEO kind of thing! It turned out FUN….(my original plan got cut quite a bit as far as locations and ideas went….but it still worked out great regardless!!) (OH…sorry about the sudden end on the video….can’t figure it out…had it timed perfectly but for some reason, it’s not working! Same with the duplicate images!!)
(PRESS PLAY ON THE BOTTOM TOOLBAR!!!!)

I had the opportunity to speak this past winter at the OSP INDY convention! It was my first time speaking…so it was really fun! During my seminar, I spoke about how I take a very personal, thoughtful approach to my business and in doing so, I often will send a gift to my client, off of their registry! I’ve been getting alot of emails with people asking about that…so I thought I would discuss it a bit on here!

I do this after the wedding, typically…as a “IT WAS AWESOME BEING A PART OF YOUR WEDDING/CONGRATULATIONS” gift!! The key thing, though…is to do it with sincerity and intention, versus just to buy the affection of your clients! I also do it after the wedding because I don’t just want to shower them with gifts just to get their business…but after I have their business and have done the job….I want them to know that I value them, their business and really appreciate them letting me be a part of the most special day in their lives! I often send something that I love personally…and will include on the note how I love it and what my favorite thing about it is…or I will get a cool frame and put a note that it’s reserved for their favorite JRS photo! Again, it’s all about intention and personal touch….and I know that I want to be treated with personal attention and that is the driving force behind how I treat my clients! I have been getting the question “WHERE DO YOU FIND THEIR REGISTRY INFO” alot, since I spoke…so I thought I would share that here! WEDDINGCHANNEL.COM is where I locate registry info! If it’s not there (some common registry places are NOT)…just think about where people shop (Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Linens & Things, Sear’s, etc) and search a few registries! It’s simple (especially considering the investment they have made in me) but means SOO MUCH…and that is exactly how I approach business and LIFE!

My friend, Lauren just shared a GREAT new site with me! LOVE the super fresh design…and her work is KILLER! Check out TARA WHITNEY!!! She has a seriously ROCKIN style!! LOVE HER and her GORGEOUS new site!!

I use this GREAT company for MY LOGO STICKERS! CONTAGIOUS GRAPICS!! They have a CRAZY site cause I think they market mostly to bands…but

ultimately, they do cool stuff…at great prices…and have GREAT customer service!! I put my logo stickers EVERYTHING and I love them!! They come in rolls and so they are easy to keep organized…and very well priced!! You can also do cool shapes (my stickers are round and 5 inches in diameter) and coatings, such as vinyl or plain paper. CHECK THEM OUT!!!

So, I’m stealing this directly from the PHOTOGRAPHERS OFFICE BLOG…but it’s a SUPER cool application that is REALLY helpful for MAC users!! it’s called WHATSIZE and it sorts out each section of your harddrive and tells you how much size is being taken up by each area, the folders within that area and so on! It puts the folder or item using the MOST space, at the top of the list and hilighted, so you can easily see the ranking of where the space is being used! I just cleared a TON of space because I had NO idea that certain areas where using soo MUCH space!! Seriously…I went from using 68Gigs to 28Gigs and it was all just useless stuff that I wasn’t paying attention to!! This thing ROCKS!!!! Thanks to the PHOTOG OFFICE BLOG for the tip!!! You NEED TO CHECK IT OUT!!!

I have seen this commercial countless times and EVERY time I see it, I’m MORE convinced that it’s the BEST COMMERCIAL that I have EVER seen. I’m a TOTAL cinematography NUT and so I’m DRAWN, in bug like fashion, to anything that is filmed beautifully!! I LOVE the processing, scene sequence, cinematography, tonality, perspective, subject matter….and just OVERALL coolness of this commercial!! If only there wasn’t a cheesy diamond ad at the end of it!! HA!!! I also LOVE this song (What are you doing the rest of your life) and have for a long time…but I am more partial to the CHRIS BOTTI version, although props to Dusty Springfield for creating the original version. When I said I look for inspiration in ANYTHING, THIS is what I meant….

Wow…so while doing a quick session of blog stalking the other day, I noticed that Becker mentioned a product that I used to use waaay back when called PHOTO MECHANIC by CAMERA BITS. It’s an image browsing, sorting, tagging and more kind of program…and while it was great when I used it, I just moved onto other programs with the course of time.

So, when Becker mentioned that he rediscovered it and was SUPER impressed, I thought I should maybe check it out again, as well! So, I downloaded the demo and WOW….it’s a GREAT program and I really love it. I use (or should I say, used to use) Bridge for viewing, rough editing, sorting, tagging, color coding, etc….but it was known for being slow at times….and when I opened a folder of raw images with PHOTO MECHANIC, I was blown away at the speed of it!! For rough editing, NOTHING is faster!! TRY IT OUT!!!

They seem to be ALL the rage right now and while I haven’t really found the right opportunity to utilize them, I do think they are COOL!!! I’ve seen them in everything from textures over images to image borders to being used a full patterns for backgrounds of whatever nature! So, I found a GREAT source for TONS of brushes!! SEISHIDO!! http://seishido.biz/seishido.html!! They pretty much have everything from the UBER trendy OLD FASHIONED DAMASK WALL PAPER patterns, to words, to seasonal stuff! It’s cool!! Check it out! (Here are two examples when I used brushes…for a Christmas card!)

Stefano Azario!! He’s a SUPER talented commercial photog and ironically…I was parusing through an In Style the other day and saw this Gap ad and thought, “I NEED to find that photog” and then discovered that image in THIS guys portfolio! He clearly does alot of work for the GAP which says it ALL!!!!

Check him out!!!