DVD Special for WPPI Only

If you've been waiting for the right time to pick up my DVDs, you should come to WPPI and hit up Gary Fong's booth (#110). I authorized him to sell a limited number of my DVDs at a ridiculous price that is the lowest you'll find anywhere. He'll only have about 25 sets on hand each day so get to his booth early if you plan on picking one up!

More Thirst Auction Winners

I want to give a special shout out to Bryan Johnson for his generous donation to Thirst Relief International in the amount of $1450.00! That was the amount of his winning bid on my exclusive 90 minute mentoring session at WPPI next week. I can't wait to meet you Bryan! Julie and I love the t-shirts you sent!



I also want to thanks to Sean McLellan for his winning bid in the amount of $770.00 to win a mentoring session with me next week. Proceeds from your generous donation will also go to Thirst Relief International to save children in third world countries from water-borne diseases.

WPPI Schedule

WPPI is next week already! I'm getting excited because I know that this is my time to meet so many new faces and connect with so many friends from past seminars and workshops. I hope I get a chance to see and talk to everyone. I'm posting my schedule below so those of you who want to catch up with me can find me. I'll be speaking at many booths on the tradeshow floor and I'll be hitting some of the parties throughout the week. You might also find me in the poker room with some friends playing Hold'em. Hope to see you there!

WPPI SCHEDULE

Monday 3/26/07

12:00 - La-vie Album Booth (tradeshow floor)
2:15 - Nikon Live Shoot (tradeshow floor)
9:00 - Champagne Shootout (Bally's event center)
12:00 - BluDomain Bowling Party

Tuesday 3/27/07

12:00 - Nikon Live Shoot (tradeshow floor)
1:00 - Pictage Booth (tradeshow floor)
2:30 - La-vie Album Booth (tradeshow floor)
6:00 - Pictage Party (Napoleon's at Paris)
9:00 - 7th Annual [b] Party

Wednesday 3/28/07

10:30 - Lexar Booth Talk (tradeshow floor)
11:30 - Lexar Booth Talk (tradeshow floor)
12:00 - Apple Booth Talk (tradeshow floor)
1:00 - Lexar Booth Talk (tradeshow floor)
2:15 - Nikon Live Shoot (tradeshow floor)

Apple Aperture Lecture in LA

I had the opportunity to to speak for Apple at the Aperture Demo in Los Angeles last week. I'm so excited about what Apple is doing with Aperture to make our lives as wedding photographers SO MUCH easier! They've really listened to pros in our industry and have implemented tons of improvements to Aperture in the new version 1.5. Martin Gisborne gave the tutorial on Aperture and did a fabulous job! He's amazing and geared the entire lecture to wedding pros.

Aperture is saving me hours of time on each job and has also added a refreshing element of simplicity and style to my workflow. I love how it integrates with so many other Apple programs like Keynote and iDVD. I'm making proof DVDs for clients now in a matter of minutes.

Thanks to all of you who came out to see me speak! If we didn't get to talk after my presentation, hopefully I'll catch up with you at WPPI. Special thanks to Shaun Austin for coming out and shooting some pics from the talk!

Alaska Snowboarding

This clip makes me want to ditch WPPI and go to Alaska for some riding :)

The Colón Experience Newport Beach

My first 4-Day Intensive of 2007 kicked off on Monday Feb 19 right here in Newport Beach. It was an amazing group of talented photographers who knew how to have fun. I don't know how I get so lucky, but it seems like I always get photographers coming to my workshops who have good hearts and are full of joy and life. Thanks guys for making it a week I will never forget!



Each day starts with an in-depth training session on a specific subject. The image above (captured by Kristin) is from Tuesday's discussion on digital techniques.



I plan three seperate location shoots with models. It's a great time for students to put aside old habits and apply some of the concepts we discussed in the classroom. I am there to answer each individual's technical and creative questions.

We gather in my studio meeting space to discuss selling strategies and walk through a mock client presentation.


We ended the week with a poker party at my house with guests appearances by baby Logan, and Becker and Jessica Claire, two of OC's best photogs/poker hustlers.

Below are some of the amazing photographs taken by my workshop attendees. Enjoy!

Bob Stender

Kristin Shaparenko

Andy Peterson

Corey McNabb

Craig Davis
David Burke

José Gonzalez

Melissa Rich

Priscilla O'Sullivan

Mike Steelman

Tiffany Aicklen

Tomas Flint

Michael Norwood

Private Mentoring Session at WPPI to Benefit Thirst Relief Intl.

Thirst Relief International is auctioning off a private mentoring session with me at WPPI. 100% of the proceeds will pay for water filters for families in need all over the world. I am so proud of our industry for all of the support it has given to this awesome charity!

To boost the donation for Thirst, I will throw in both of my DVD's (value of $900.00) to any winning bidder who bids $500 or more.

Please CLICK HERE NOW to bid!

Spoiled

I'm sitting here on my balcony on the 28th floor of the Rainbow Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu, Hawaii. The view is breathtaking. The sounds of waves crashing into the shoreline is so relaxing. It's late, about 3am, and I really should be sleeping but I wanted to blog about this wonderful place. I love it here. I use to think that there was no better place to live on earth than Newport Beach but now I know how wrong I was. This is where I'll retire. Maybe I'll just go home, get my family, and move here right now. I had a couple days off in between my Apple lectures so I drove up to the North Shore with my friends Ben Lee and Mike Larson (took photo above). Mike is good friends with famed surfing photographer, Jim Russi (check out Jim's featured portfolio on Surfline.com), who met us with a spirit of Aloha and put us up in his vacation rental just steps from the beach and a short walk to Pipeline (one of the best surf spots in the world). We spent 3 days surfing, spearfishing, eating, and hanging out on Jims deck soaking in the Hawaiian sun and scenery. What a blessing it has been to hang out with these guys!

I can't wait to see my family tomorrow. I've been spoiled this week, but I'll be even more spoiled tomorrow when I see my wife and two little guys at the airport waiting for me.