Just got back from the Pictage Partner Conference in Los Angeles. What a cool group of photographers! I'm convinced that Pictage photographers are a different breed. They are loving, sharing, generous, warm, open, honest, and so eager to help others succeed! I must give a big shout out to Pictage because without this wonderful company providing the venue building such an awesome community of photographers, I would not have a tenth of the friends I have today! Thanks to all of you who attended my seminar on Wednesday! I'm waiting on some photos from Kristin so I can post them for those who were unable to attend.

As a bonus, I was able to stay an extra day and I got to see several great programs from some great photographers! I am so proud because 8 of the speakers at the conference were recent students at my workshops! One of the things I try to pound in at my seminars and workshops is to become an expert in your field, get involved in your industry, and share share share! I wish I could take credit for these superstars, but they're the ones who deserve 100% for working so hard and going after it!

I caught the end of David Jay's lecture just in time to see the slide with my picture and some weird sumo dude he found on the internet named Mike Colon. DJ has become a close friend of mine and I'm so excited for all of the success that has been coming his way. He is a genuinely great guy with so much to offer others. If you are one of the few who do not own Showit Effects and Showit Web, you MUST go buy them immediately. They are a key component in successful word of mouth marketing and an awesome way to exceed your client's expectations. Click here for the Showit Website!

I caught most of Me Ra and Brian's lecture. I loved the sincere and humble delivery of how they took a once mere creative outlet and hobby to a thriving multi-photographer business. Watching Me Ra and Brian always makes me laugh because they are so cute together! They have this hilarious chemistry and you just sit there waiting for one of them to get mad at each other for something the other says and it never happens! Really Me Ra just constantly picks on Brian and he seems to like it. It's so funny! Me Ra picked on me a bit too and strange enough, I couldn't get mad at her either :)

Liana Lehman and Jessica Claire were awesome as usual! They always make me realize how boring my own powerpoint presentations are and remind me of how far behind I am in getting out samples to vendors. I'm a big fan of these two because they are always thinking outside of the box and doing things you never thought of. I've been a fan of Jessica since she helped me with a wedding and I saw first hand how awesome her work is. I don't think she took a bad shot! They are also so funny when they do their little telephone skit where one acts like a bride calling her photographer.

I missed Dane Sanders because his slot was too close to my lecture but I heard great things about it! Dane's another one of those thinkers who always blows me away! He's doing so well with Simple Photo Minute and already has a huge following after just a few months of podcasting. Don't know if I ever gave him a formal welcome yet so I'll do it now... Welcome to the OC Dane! Still haven't gone surfing with the guy, so I'm starting to wonder if he really surfs. Kinda like he says he's so great at chess and poker but never shows up to the party. Oh well, even if he's not a surfer or poker player he still made SPM and I love him for that :)

Ok... ran out of time cuz Julie is meeting me at a restaurant so I gotta run! I'll have to finish this tomorrow.