I just found a GEM of a DIGITAL CAMERA!! It’s the CANON POWERSHOT SD1000!! I LOVE IT!!! I have gone through MANY digital point and shoots! I get bored with them…or they break…or they get dropped! I don’t EVER invest more than $250 in a point and shoot because I KNOW how it will end up! Soo, I heard rumors that this little cutie was a good point & shoot…and I read a few reviews…and I was sold!

THEN, I checked B&H, where the camera is only $214 AND THEN…they have a $50 REBATE! So, this awesome little guy is a GREAT deal….and super easy to use! It even has this awesome “face recognition” feature where it actually finds the face in an image and focuses on it. So, you don’t have the blurred point and shoot images…like all my other cameras would take!! There are two other BIG features that I LOVE about this camera….it has video mode and the videos are SUPER!! THEN….a battery wall charger COMES WITH it…so you don’t have those RIDICULOUS docking station deals…OH, I HATE THOSE things..they just take up space!! SO, you just take the battery out, throw it on the wall charger and it’s FULLY CHARGED in an hour! LOVE THAT!!! THEN…GET THIS…I got the SD cards that have a BUILT IN USB…so you pull the SD card right out of the camera, throw it into the usb and you have your pictures!! YAY! I’m throwing all those stupid docking stations with their 50 cords IN THE TRASH!! YAY!!

Ok, here are the first two pictures I took with the camera….Mark and I were headed to dinner and I did a few of my famous “self portrait in the car” shots!

Our great friend, DANE SANDERS needs HELP spreading the WORD that SIMPLEPHOTOMINUTE.com is CHANGING!!! He experienced some trouble with his hosting and basically, SIMPLEPHOTOMINUTE.com will be totally MIA any day now….and so he wants everyone to know, before the site that everyone has bookmarked DISAPPEARS…… that they can now go to DANESANDERS.NET for all SIMPLE PHOTO MINUTES!!!!

We all know and LOVE Simple Photo Minutes…and Dane is SERIOUSLY a ROCKSTAR in this industry for creating this AMAZING concept and sharing his wisdom, knowledge and helpful spirit with others VIA THE SIMPLEPHOTOMINUTE!! CLICK HERE to get the whole story on the situation, PLUS get all the NEW links, including DANESANDERS.NET!! SO…BOOKMARK WWW.DANESANDERS.NET

WE LOVE YOU DANE!!!

THAT JOSE VILLA (our FILM HERO!!!) is doing a hands on shooting seminar/workshop in MEXICO!!??? Oh…I WANT TO GO!!! I heard about it…and saw a blurp from the one he JUST did in SINGAPORE on his blog and the shots the “students” got were AMAZING!! Go to his blog to check them out!! Honestly, though…seeing the shots from that recent workshop AND THEN watching the video of another of his workshops, on his site REALLY made me want to be a part of the UPCOMING experience in Mexico, but the timing is bad and I can’t make it!! I’m soo sad because I honestly think it would be great learning experience in soo many ways…AND in an AWESOME environment!!! It’s taking place in November, over the days of the 11th to the 14th AND as if seeing Jose and learning from his ISN’T ENOUGH….the AMAZING Mr. Jesh De Rox is ALSO going to be there, as is Mr. Dennis Orchard!!! CHECK IT OUT…and if you go, you HAVE to tell us ALL about it!!!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!!!

I know I’ve been talking about albums alot…but I guess in all of that, I’ve somehow missed mentioning my actual album company…because I’ve been getting lots of emails about it!! LEATHER CRAFTSMEN!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Leather Craftsmen! They are truly wonderful, produce fantastic products, have quick turn around time and awesome customer service!

On a side note, I know alot of you think I just LOVE everything and everyone because I’m always talking about how much I love everything, but I assure you, that is NOT the case!

My last album company was an absolute NIGHTMARE to work with and I’ll openly tell you about it if you like…so please trust that my words are credible and I’m basing what I tell you off of the experiences I’ve had!

Ok, so anyway, I use the 3500 flush mount series albums! They are great albums because they are very classic & clean with simple lines, yet are modern and stylish!! I’ve mentioned how I don’t like alot of FLUFF on anything or excessive “pretty” stuff….I think timeless, simple stuff is best and the 3500 series is EXACTLY that!!!

They also have GREAT cover treatment options!!! I recently discovered that I LOVE the cowhide leather options!! I was reeeeeally into the suede for a while!! I LOVE the suede…especially in the celadon, apricot, mushroom, & solar yellow…but I’m on a cowhide kick right now!! I got an album in the cowhide and it was GREAT!!! Shiney and modern…and SLICK!! The font looked perfect with the sleekness of the album!! LOVED IT!!! Check it out!! And if you aren’t a huge fan of your album company, CALL LEATHER CRAFTSMEN!!!!

I have been meaning to do this post for a long time, but just haven’t had the chance!! If you recall, I did a post about my new editing company, LAVALU, a while back! CLICK HERE to read the post! I know I’m a pretty passionate person, but my passion is real and not just to blow smoke…so when I say that I LOVE something, I MEAN IT! Well, it would be safe to say that HIRING LAVALU has CHANGED MY LIFE!!!! I genuinely mean that!! They have taken over the editing on ALL of my weddings!! I will do my blog selections and edit those, then send the wedding to Lavalu for editing! They do my rough editing (determining the keepers and deleters) and then my RAW processing. As I mentioned in the previous post, you give them your preferences on everything from preferred color temps to saturation levels, to cropping preferences and they edit for you, with those preferences applied! They also like to get feedback as you go along, so that after a few jobs, they really have your preferences and personal image style nailed down to the point that you don’t have to worry about a thing!! As much as I hate to admit it, I was roughly 6-8 weeks behind at any given point during the past few wedding seasons and that was just because I didn’t have enough hours in the day to keep up with the editing…and all the other stuff…album designs, album edits, accounting, emails, voicemails, meetings, portrait & commercial work, portrait & commercial session editing, etc, etc, etc…was all in line behind that editing!! It was the worst feeling that, although I worked 7 days a week, without a single day off, I was still soo behind that I couldn’t ever see the light at the end of the tunnel!! This wedding season is like a HUGE BREATH OF FRESH AIR and I feel like a NEW PERSON!!!! My life has changed because I now have LAVALU to help me!! The work is not TOTALLY gone, I still do a quick rough edit on the wedding, then do blog selections and then edit those, then when I get the wedding back from Lavalu, I pull it onto my computer, review it, make a final edit on any images that i felt needed a little adjusting, then DVD archive it and ftp it over and finally harddrive archive it at the end! It’s just that the DAUNTING part of the job is GONE and so the rest of it seems like a BREEZE now!!!! The BEST thing about LAVALU is the staff!! I work directly with Mike & Leon and they are genuinely the nicest, easy going guys EVER!!!! They always call if they are concerned or have questions, they keep in touch with me regarding status of the jobs, they welcome my calls and are always happy to help me! They are also constantly working to ensure my happiness, always working to perfect my images to “my look”…..offering input on helpful stuff like updates on Bridge or ACR! They even cross reference my blog to ensure that the images are looking like I will expect!! I CANNNNOT say enough good things about them!! They make me feel like I am their only customer, yet I know that countless other photographers use and love them…and who they are providing the same AWESOME service to! In fact, after doing my last post, I got THANK YOU emails from photogs who joined Lavalu per my advice and said it had CHANGED THEIR LIFE!!! NEEDLESS TO SAY, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LAVALU!!!!!! The service they provide, both technically and customer service wise is INVALUABLE to me!! I never knew how AMAZING outsourcing could be…but I do now and I’ll never go back!!! This wedding season, I have no more than about two weeks worth of work on my plate at any given moment and it’s all very managable (albums, portrait & engagement editing, accounting, emails & voicemails, etc)!!! I LOVE IT!! I feels GREAT!!! Pretty soon, I’m going to actually start taking DAYS OFF!!! Oh, I can’t wait!!!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW LAVALU’S WEBSITE, PRICING & CONTACT INFO!!! Be sure to tell Mike that JESS SENT YOU!!

(HERE is a sampling of a few recent images that lavalu processed for me!)

I found this cute little site with custom camera straps!! They are fun and I’m a girl who loves fun stuff….it just makes life better! I also love color (if you haven’t noticed!)…so I thought these were great!! I also heard that she adds more all the time! I guess she had some super fun damask patterns and is adding more dots & stripes in soon!! I also heard that she will use any custom ribbon that you find to create your custom strap! Fun stuff!!! Check them out! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=102997

Soo, I’ve had a few people write me lately requesting some REAL feedback on the SHOOTSAC!! I appreciate that people want to know the facts on a product before investing in it!!

Ok, so here is my HONEST feedback!

I LOVE THE SHOOTSAC! I’m not just saying that because I know that Jess will read this, I’m saying it because it is TRUE!!! I have been searching for a product like this for 5 years! I really have! I was about to invest in a Crumpler or Timbuk2 bag or something similar because I needed a bag oriented towards the LENS CHANGING kind of photographer and I just couldn’t find a real camera bag that would do that, that was comfy and without tons of flaps or zippers!

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE SHOOTSAC:

1.The material of the shootsac is SOFT and makes the bag form to your hip and doesn’t bruise you!!
2. It’s comfortable to wear!!
3. It CONVENIENT and holds lots of lenses, plus other stuff! For me… 4 lenses, batteries, cf cards, a bottle of water, gum & business cards.
4. It looks great!!
5. It’s super functional and allows you to QUICKLY access lenses while shooting!! (the WHOLE point for ME!)
6. It can get fully wet and still be really functional and look good after it dries! (I recently learned that while shooting in the pouring rain!)
7. When full of lenses, the bad can sit up! So, when you finally get to eat dinner at a wedding, you can set the bag next to you on the floor, it will sit upright and it doesn’t look messy or dump all the stuff out!
8. That it has a cover that you can use and also take OFF! At times, I want the priority to be quick access and at other times, I want the priority to be looking professional and not having my lenses hang out…so I can have both!
9. You can have a standard black cover or a fancy cool cover! Again, at times, I want to look schmancy and at times, I don’t even want to be seen…so I can have the best of both worlds!

THINGS I HAVE YET TO LEARN TO LOVE ABOUT THE SHOOTSAC:

1. The lens slots are pretty tight and sometimes the lenses get stuck in them. This really isn’t a bad thing, though because I think it needs to be tight now because it could potentially stretch out after lots of use & wear and tear! So, I’ll probably add that to the “things I love” list after a year of the crazy wear & tearn that I manage to I put on my stuff!!
2. Not soo sure that it’s super functional for things beyond lenses and the stuff I put in it! I DID HEAR that you could fit a bare 5D Camera body in one of the slots but I haven’t tried it. I am also pretty sure that standard flash could fit in one of the slots…just haven’t tried that. After I try those things, I’ll probably add to the “things I love” list, too!!!
3. I fear that my 70-200 will stretch out the bag. I know Neoprene (the fabric it’s made of) is what wet suits are made of, so it would be tough to really stretch it out…but the lens is pretty big and I’m already noticing that it’s stretching it’s “home pouch” out a little bit. Again, that’s a contradiction to item 1 on this list, so I’m sure that with time, I’ll find a happy combo between the two. Maybe I just need to have a good rotation of lenses & pouches going and all will be fine!

I really do love this bag and would HIGHLY recommend it IF YOU ARE A LENS CHANGING kind of photographer OR like to have QUICK access to your stuff, while remaining COMFORTABLE AND FASHIONABLE!

Hope this helps!

So, I found this GREAT new product and I just had to share it with you! It’s a PICTAGE product, so SORRY if you aren’t with Pictage and go ahead and TUNE OUT now! It’s their new product, the COMPANION BOOK! I just sort of noticed it for the first time when placing an album order the other day! Then, I ordered some to just give them a try and turns out that THEY ARE GREAT!!! They are these little 4×5 (if you had a rectangular album) or 5×5 (if you had a square album) soft cover albums that are just a perfect duplicate of your original album! They have this awesome, modern pearlescent silver cover with a clean modern font with the names on the cover. I find that it’s very challenging to find products that are just very simple and clean without alot of fluffy or pretty stuff…and I love that this is just super simple, but VERY COOL! The pages are actually SUPER impressive!! They are cmyk, but they look REALLY good! You also buy these albums in lots of 10, 20 or more! I think they are GREAT!! CHECK THEM OUT!!!! How convenient that I happened to do the sample of these in the same album I featured on the album design post!!