I’ve been in search of a SIMPLE organizational software for a LONG TIME and recently found one that is GREAT, called BACKPACK!!

It’s basically a software program that allows you to create a main project (i.e…clients, in my case) and connect notes, to do lists, projects, reminders, contact info, events, important dates and MORE with those projects (i.e…clients!)! It’s not specifically for photography, but also can be used for anything….which is ANOTHER feature I like about it!! Click here to see LOTS of examples of it’s use! I know that there are COUNTLESS programs that do things just like this, so you might be wondering why I don’t use one that is made for photographers…but for me, I HATE ultra complicated stuff that has a million features that I will NEVER use! I prefer a program that has JUST what I need, is simple and VERY easy to use and is CHEAP!!! This program is ALL of those things!! It emails me for all of my reminders and allows me to schedule reminders several years out (helpful with weddings that could be more than a year away) and just does TONS of great but SIMPLE stuff!!

CHECK IT OUT!!

CINEMATICBRIDE!!!! I know that lots of people know about this wedding cinematography team, but while visiting their blog recently, I just remembered how incredibly talented they are and thought that I should really share them on a YOU SHOULD KNOW post!! Their video’s are literally like a movie…and their footage is like true cinematography! I’m an absolute NUT for GREAT cinematography….I could watch a beautifully made film over and over…and I really appreciate that wedding videography is turning into real cinematography and making such a special day look soo amazing!! I wish I had them at my wedding!! You have to look at a few of their trailers….they are truly incredible!! CHECK THEM OUT!!!

Soo…I’m a little behind the times right now!! I just figured out that BLUDOMAIN has a NEW blog…AND I haven’t bookmarked the new one yet, so I just stumbled upon the old one while doing a quick blog check from my bookmarks!

So, I happened to end up at the OLD blog…and I DISCOVERED Kailee’s MOST VIEWED BLOGS list…and to MY SURPRISE…I WAS on her LIST!!! SERIOUSLY!!! I was totally stunned and SOOO honored!!! Kailee…YOU ARE THE BEST!!! THANK YOU soo very much!!!! I’m SOO honored!!! (I stole the I love Kailee pic from Fred Egan’s Blog!!It was too cute, I could resist!! Fred is amazing, too!!)

I saw these COOL new flexible books from PICTAGE at WPPI in VEGAS!!! Then, I got an email a month or so ago that they were FINALLY available!! So, being the product obsessed person that I am, I had to order myself a few samples!! I’m a FAN of these books!!! So, they are technically WILLOWBOOK PROOF BOOKS and in the proof product category on Pictage, but you can really make them into whatever kind of book you want, depending on the images you put into them!! I’m going to offer them as parent books or mini books!! The 5×5 comes standard with 100 images! LOVE that! They also do a hard cover book, which is cool! I’m a fan of the flexible soft cover books, though…and I’m offering them in th 5×5 and 7×7!! You can choose different options for the look of the book, such as cover design, page design, font, color and more!! CHECK the new BOOKS out!!

A friend of mine told me about this SUPER cool new service called JOTT!! It’s a free service that allows you to call a number and provide whatever info you want (i.e….to do items, important info to remember, phone or email info to remember, etc) and it takes that info, transcribes it into text and emails it to you!! Isn’t that COOL!?!? I’m TOTALLY the kind of person that makes calls and lists while I’m driving, but I try and jott them on a post it note or even into the voice recorder I carry (because of this issue!!)…but the notes and lists PILE up on my voice recorder and so I don’t get to them all and/or the post it notes go all over the place and I can’t find them! So, I think this is a great, clean, organized way of keeping notes while on the road!! You can also have other people added to your account so they get the notes…i.e…your husband or wife, assistant, etc!? So, it’s also also like an email on the road kind of thing!! LOVE it!!! All you have to do is sign up and get the number! It’s that easy!!!
CLICK HERE TOCHECK IT OUT!!!

A few months ago, I heard about this cool new site called STRATEGY AVENUE. It is a BLOG that is about the BUSINESS SIDE of photography, including the financial aspect and technical stuff that none of us really like but we HAVE TO DO!! It’s done by Laura Novak & John Meyer of Laura Novak Photography! They offer business insight, marketing tips, celebrity interviews with photogs such as Jess Claire and Susan Stripling. It’s pretty cool…CHECK IT OUT!!!

Congrats are due to the FANTASTIC Bob & Dawn Davis of LASTORIAFOTO for being selected to photograph the wedding of EVA LONGORIA & TONY PARKER in Paris, on 07-07-07! Bob and Dawn are dear friends of mine and I am just THRILLED for them!! They are honestly the most wonderful people and they genuinely deserved the incredible honor!! Bob is insanely talented, soo accomplished, so giving and warm, yet soo humble and selfless! His work ranges from photographing world events for the Chicago Sun Times, to photographing for Oprah Winfrey, to offering his photographic talents for Medical Mission Trips and photographing high profile weddings. His work has been featured in People Magazine, Town & Country Magazine, Profression Photographer, O Magazine, Rangefinder and MORE! He’s a Canon Explorer of Light and was recently a featured speaker at WPPI! I could go on and on…..yet, Bob & Dawn are the MOST humble, down to earth people I know!!! I couldn’t say anything until now…but since the big day has passed (and with GREAT SUCCESS, as quoted by BOB & DAWN!) we can now let the cat out of the bag!! It’s soo exciting!!! Bob has the BIG job of choosing the “2 million dollar shot” that OK MAGAZINE has the publishing rights too! They said it was 6 days of intense photographing, with the constant rush of paparazzi and whirlwind that came with the whole event, but that they had the time of their lives and that it all ended FLAWLESSLY and now they are catching up on their sleep and going through the amazing image collection!! Bob & Dawn…we’re all SOOO happy for you and can’t wait to hear all the details!!!

CLICK HERE to view the LASTORIA BLOG and hopefully get a sneak peek of the wedding SOON!

CLICK HERE to view the LASTORIA WEBSITE!

As you may have heard, Canon finally figured out that they needed to UPDATE their MAIN ultra wide L zoom lens, the 16-35 2.8 L Lens!! I was soo glad to hear that they were updating that lens because it’s been a source of frustration in my work for quite some time!! The 16-35 was the very first L lens that I ever owned, now I own nearly every L lens made and I am obsessed with them!!

Anyway, I was always struggled with that lens and it’s softness issues. It’s known that a lens looses sharpness when shot as wide at 16mm, but I was to the point where I almost couldn’t use the lens because my images were soo soft. It also started really giving me the “soft focus” hazy effect on top of the fact that the images were out of focus and it was missing focus and backfocusing!

I sent it to Canon for a good thorough check up and they sent it back to me, saying all was great and what I was experiencing was “standard” for that lens! Well, that really was frustrating to me, especially for a lens that expensive! I do love the wide range of that lens, though…so I hated not being able to use it! So, when I heard that they FINALLY got the message that they needed to update the lens and announced the CANON 16-35 2.8 USM II L LENS, I was SOO HAPPY…and I was first in line to trade in the old lens for the new one!! The point of all of this is to tell you that i LOVE the new 16-35 USM II!! It’s WORLD’s better than the old lens and if you experienced the same issues that I described, go trade your old lens in for the new one!!! It costed me a few hundred bucks but it was WELLLLL worth it!! The lens is faster, TONS sharper and all around more bang for your buck!!!

A very photo savvy client of mine introduced me to this super cool camera site!! It’s shop.lomography.com and they feature LOTS of super cool cameras like Holga’s, swing lenses, Lomo LC-a, Minox camera’s and more!! I’m an old school film girl and during my time at the Ohio Institute of Photography, I got into alot of camera’s like these…and I really grew to love unique cameras. My client is even using the combo 8 pack of colored flash lomolita disposable cameras & 8 lens Octomat cameras that they offer on this site as the table cameras at her wedding! HOW FUN IS THAT!!! This is a GREAT site!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!