The Winner is...

You guys voted the heck out of this contest. It has been a lot of fun to watch! The winner of my Hawaii Scholarhip Giveaway is...Raquita Henderson!!!

Yay! Way to go! Congratulations:) We'll be seeing you in Honolulu Hawaii on January 25, 2010 for The Seven Workshop Honolulu!

Results for Honolulu Scholarship voting can be seen here:

Poll part 1

Poll part 2

Mike Colon Wedding Photography DVD download

Good news! I just made my Reaching the High-End Bride® wedding photography DVD available for download! This wedding photography DVD download is for aspiring wedding photographers looking to start their wedding photography business off on the right foot. It is also for established wedding photographers who are looking for a new edge to take their wedding photography business to a new level.

I created this wedding photography DVD retailing for $249 several years ago to give wedding photographers who want to target high-end weddings a clear vision for reaching their goals. I made it simple and easy to follow and it's been a hit ever since. If you've waited this long to buy my Reaching the High-End Bride® DVD, you've been missing out! But the good news is, you now get it for less and you get it instantly!

There are a lot of wedding photography DVDs out there, but there is only one Reaching the High-End Bride DVD® and now it's available for download at discounted price for a limited time! This wedding photography DVD, originally available in DVD format shipped via snail mail is now available as a digital download instantly from anywhere in the world!

If you are a wedding photographer looking to successfully Reach the High-End Bride®, you must download this DVD and watch it immediately. Why wait any longer! CLICK HERE NOW TO DOWNLOAD!

Hawaiian Retreat Wrap Up!

This is much overdue but I wanted to post the winners for the best images at The Mike Colón Experience X Hawaiian Retreat and give a few shout outs to the workshop attendees who I now consider friends and to the wonderful people who helped me make this dream a reality!

First I want to thank my dear friend Mike Mijangos of Mangotree Photography. Without him and his very connected wife Me Shell, this workshop in paradise would have never happened! Mike, you went above and beyond and I'm sure all of the attendees will agree with me when I say you did it with style! We lived like kings for a week! You also were a valuable asset to the group with your lighting and photography skills. Thank you for helping out with instruction and being such a giver all week!

Next I want to thank my assistant Rosanna who was equally responsible for making this workshop a success. In addition to her fine modeling skills (see images below of her with her fiance Jared), she managed the details from concept to completion with a fun and positive attitude.

And last but absolutely not least (because without attendees there is no workshop) I want to thank all of the very cool photographers (and husbands/wives) who came out to spend a week with me. You blessed me more than I can speak of and I pray that God richly blesses your business and families in 2009 and beyond!

Below are some of the winning images from each day's contests. I was extremely impressed with the photographs taken by all of the attendees throughout the week. It was a talented group who I expect to see many great things from over the next couple of years. Enjoy!

Scarlett Lillian

Corey Balazowich

Scarlett Lillian

Joanna Tano

Erin Kline

Scarlett Lillian

Scarlett Lillian

Corey Balazowich

The few of us who braved the rain and lava fields for an early morning excursion.
Clockwise starting with me: Mike Colon, Julie Colon, Natalie Norton, Luke Edmonson, Gavin Wade, Erin Kline, Mike Mijangos, Scarlett Lillian

Here are a few more links I found using google. They have more images from the workshop. If you have any other links please comment on this post with the links. Thanks!

Scarlett Lillian - Mike Colon Hawaii
Natalie Norton - Last Images from Maui
Natalie Norton - More Mike Colon
Natalie Norton - Mike Colon Workshop Day 1 Part 2
Natalie Norton - Mike Colon Workshop Day 1 Part 1
Gavin Wade & Erin Kline - Two Tickets to Paradise
Gavin Wade & Erin Kline - Day 3 with Jared & Rosanna
Gavin Wade & Erin Kline - Day 2
Gavin Wade & Erin Kline - Day 1
Joanna Tano - Mike Colon Day 2
Corey Ann - Hawaii Day 3: Rosanna and Jared
Corey Ann - Hawaii Day 2: Chris and Katie
Corey Ann - Hawaii Day 2: The Sights
Corey Ann - Hawaii Day 1: Rosanna and Jared
Corey Ann - Aloha!
Mike Mijangos - More Images from the Mike Colon Experience
Mike Mijangos - Mike Colon Experience X, Maui, Hawaii

Master Your Craft Seminar with Bob Davis & Mike Colón

Hello everyone, this is Kenny Kim updating for Mike. Mike & Bob just finished their second seminar in their 9 city tour. Uncle Ray did a nice job covering the event in Miami. I was able to join them in Charlotte, NC and will be touring with them for the next 5 cities.

Neither one of us have visited Charlotte before but we were surprised by so many friendly folks! Bob & Mike had a great workshop as they tag-teamed together to go over so many things. I was able to observe the crowd and they were soaking in every morsel of information that they had to offer. Apple rep also gave a quick presentation about Aperture and GraphiStudio was there to show some cool sample albums.

Afterwards we raffled away some cool prizes that were provided for us by our sponsors (ipod, software, books, DVD's, shirts, etc.) Then Bob gave a quick lighting demonstration for night shooting. Then a group of us went out to eat at UNO's pizzeria afterwards and had a great time. Thanks to everyone that came out. We had such a blast and look forward to connecting with everyone in the future.

Feel free to let us know how the workshop was for you. Here are some images that highlight the day. Click on the collage to see a bigger version:









Next Stop: Baltimore, MD!

The Colón Experience VIII Student Portfolio

A short display of each student's images ( semi-large file so please be patient )
Each video is also posted to CutFrameTV, so if you have a CutFrame account (it's free to join!), you can bookmark them there.

All in all it was an awesome workshop with a great group of attendees.
Here is what they had to say about The Colón Experience :

"The workshop is awesome, more than I expected. Mike’s discussions on technique and workflow have been extremely helpful. In just two days I’ve completely changed the way I shoot." - Phillip Glickman

"Wow...that's all I can say :) I have learned more in one day at Mike's workshop than I could have ever dreamed of. It's kind of like a light bulb coming on over your head..." - Courtney Fries

"I cannot say how impressed I am with Mike over the course of the workshop. He really has a genuine interest in teaching other photographers and wanting to help them take their work up to the next level." - Steve Goldhaber

In February, Mike Colón and Bob Davis will be partnering together on the 9 city Master Your Craft Tour. If you missed out on attending "The Colón Experience VIII", this is an opportunity you will not want to miss

The Colón Experience VIII Day 3

On day 3, Mike covered marketing strategies and then in the evening we went out on a night shoot. In Orange County it never really rains, however we have had no shortage of rain this week! Kurt from Pictage showed up to drop off some awesome Pictage hat's and Robert De Niro / Tony Blake seemed to like them a lot.

In the marketing session, Mike was covering bridal inquiries and decided to call a couple brides on the spot, so the attendees could observe.

By the time the night shoot rolled around, it was raining pretty hard. We decided to use a parking structure to cover ourselves from the rain and leverage a nice background behind.

The Colón Experience VIII Day 2

We spent the afternoon shooting at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano

The crew (from left to right: John Loyola, Courtney Fries, Phillip Glickman, Justin Wesbrooks, Chris Diset, Steve Goldhaber, Nathan Dang, Dee Dee Dallas, Tony Blake)

(From left to right: Amy Wellenkamp, Tammy Marcelain, Crystal Petersen, Laurie LaRock, Mandy Hanks, David Escalante, Aiden Colón, Mike Colón)

The Colón Experience VIII Day 1

The workshop awesome so far! We have a good mix of photographers from around the globe. Here are just a few images of what the first day was like.

The Colón Experience VIII Prep

The Colón Experience VIII is underway! I've hijacked Mike's blog because he is taking a short break from blogging for this week to focus on the workshop, so I'll be posting photo and video updates giving a short summary of what happens at The Colón Experience. Kenny Kim & I will be handling the blogging here for the remainder of the week & we are excited to share our images with you.

Last night we stayed up late prepping for the workshop and stopped off at Fuji Yama's a little earlier in the evening.