Thursday, December 11, 2008

LA, Long Beach and OC Holiday Party!

Last night instead of having our regular monthly meeting, the Pictage User Groups from Orange County, Long Beach and Los Angeles joined at Life on Wilshire for a Holiday Party!! We had a fantastic turn-out and so much fun. There was a great band, an amazing close-up magician and free food (Thanks, Pictage, for the appetizers!)





Friday, November 21, 2008

Philly November PUG

This month in Philly we talked about second shooters. We talked about whether second shooters should keep the rights to their images or not. Should they be able to use the images for whatever or be restricted. There were definitely two schools of thought. I think most of us fewlt that second shooters are work for hire, they shoot for us, we keep the copyrights, some allow usage on the blog if they plug the studio and make it very clear who they were shooting for. Some photographers felt like they created the image, they should be able to do what they want, whether it goes on their website, they submit to a contest etc. They did agree the main photographer could sell the image to their clients but felt like they shouldn't use it on their website as their own creation.

Personally, the second shooter is a work for hire. They would not have gotten that image if I hadn't advertised, networked, schmoozed and sold myself to the client.

How do the other PUGS feel about second shooters?

We also discussed a second shooter agreement, which I can link to if people are interested. Of course, have your lawyer look at it too.

We also talked about elevating the wedding industry on the East Coast specifically Philadelphia. We have found there are three groups. The ones who have been around, successful, teaching and speaking at conferences that rarely if ever share in the area. They never come to the meetings, they don't really mingle with other photographers except maybe within their own 5 or 6 people group. Then there is a good group of us, successful but are not teaching and speaking nationally and we get together at these PUGS and share, talk, learn and grow. Then there are the weekend warriors who sometimes come to the meetings but don't have a lot of time.

Do other PUGs have these issues. Is there an elitist group among your community that if they shared and hung out could elevate your local market? How have you encouraged these photographers to speak, share or at least be social? How have you educated the weekend warriors that undermine the industry? How do you build local buzz about different photographers?

We would all love to have the fun, comraderie and elevation that California photographers have done for their local industry and the industry at large.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Long Beach PUG for November

Well, due to a bad case of the flu going around our house we had to move our November PUG meeting to Pictage HQ!

We had Dane Sanders and Roberto Valenzuela as our featured speaker and studio spotlight.

Your lovely and talented PUG leader, yours truly!


Roberto and his presentation


We had a great group show up!


Dane Sanders and his presentation


Even Bob Davis showed up for this special event!






Illustrating the idea of breaking barriers, Dane broke some drywall...


I figured he needed to make amends to our owner & CEO Jason Keifer



All in all we had an awesome evening!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

October LA PUG

Hello! greeting from Los Angeles.

This month's Studio Spotlight for the LA PUG was the lovely Meg Perotti. She shared a slideshow of her stunning work and told us that she's quitting her day job TOMORROW to become a full-time photographer.

Our October speaker was switched to November at the last minute, so I stepped up and took the role of speaker for the evening. I brought my computer and gave the Keynote talk that I presented last month at both PartnerCon and Channel Islands Professional Photographers Association. I love my PUG - everyone is so open and willing to participate.

I want to start traveling a lot more, so if you would like to have me speak at your PUG, please let me know!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Dennis Reggie in Chattanooga!

Ok, so I'll admit that this is the first time I've posted to this blog. With so many blogs and forums to be involved in though, I have to say it gets pretty crazy!

Anyway, I thought this was blog-worthy, so we go!

Amber and I have spent time with Dennis Reggie in the past, even away from the crowds, but I have to say that the PUG at our place in Chattanooga a couple of weeks ago was a treat! We had PUG members from the Nashville and Knoxville groups as well, with a total of about 35 people crammed into the bottom level of our home!

Very rarely do photographers have a chance to interact with Dennis in a more relaxed setting, but this was so low-key and up close and personal, and I think we were all excited for the opportunity! I think Dennis felt the freedom to speak with even more passion than he normally does, as well as throwing in jokes here and there - it was brilliant!

The following are a few images from the evening. It got pretty dark in the room as Dennis was showing slides - hence the silhouette images.












Monday, October 13, 2008

0008

nicole and steve
0034

nicole and steve
0099

nicole and steve
0112

nicole and steve
0123

nicole and steve
0143

nicole and steve
0149

nicole and steve
0178

nicole and steve
IMG_5244

sanjay and shereen
IMG_5465

sanjay and shereen
IMG_8186

sanjay and shereen
IMG_5792

sanjay and shereen
IMG_5935

sanjay and shereen
IMG_5998

sanjay and shereen
IMG_6003

sanjay and shereen
0008

nicole and greg
0052

nicole and greg
Posted via Pixelpipe.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Great September PUG

Opps, I posted this in the wrong blog! Sorry!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Dane Sanders at my PUG!!

Hello! This is Jules reporting from sunny Los Angeles about my fabulous PUG.

This week, our Studio Spotlight was the wonderful event photographer, Bill Alexander, of For-Success.com. I love learning about the lives and businesses of the different members of our PUG each month, and Bill, who has been in the business for 20 years, had a lot to share.

Our speaker this month was the articulate Dane Sanders. Dane was one of the Pictage PartnerCon speakers, but his talk last night was new. I could listen to Dane talk for hours. He is so incredibly intuitive and nurturing. Dane wrote a fantastic book, Fast Track Photographer, that is a must read for anyone in the wedding photography industry. He sold a few at our meeting, so we were able to get signed copies!!

Thank you to both Dane and Bill for making the meeting great.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Pictage PartnerCon and the Tacoma PUG Martini Party

It's my first time posting here, and due to time constraints, I thought I'd just copy and paste the post I just finished for our personal blog. I hope that's ok! Airika

A couple of weeks ago, I headed down to the Pictage Partner Conference in Los Angeles for three awesome days of learning and "talking shop" with some of the best and brightest of my peers in the wedding photography industry. A few of my highlights:

1. Shopping in Manhattan Beach with my friend Christy. VERY relavant to photography. ;)
2. Having a heart to with Katie Humphreys and Rachel LaCour Niesen about the blessings & challenges of working with your spouse.
3. Being inspired by Will Jacks to step out of my comfort zone & pursue some personal photographic projects.
4. Being challenged by Dane Sanders and Mike Larson to be even more intentional about letting our business be a reflection of who we are & things that we value the most.
5. Gleaning new ideas from the fabulous Justin & Mary Marantz on how we can better express our love and appreciation for our wonderful clients!
6. In 'N Out with Rachel, Christy & Andrew (who took this photo with his iPhone)



Upon returning from L.A., we started busily preparing for our PUG's annual Martini Garden Party, which ended up being a total and complete blast!



A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all of the amazing people/businesses who donated prizes for our party--Jared Bauman sent a copy of his DVD, Shooting the Perfect Wedding, ShootDotEdit donated a 25% off coupon, Me Ra Koh donated one each of her 101 Kits for Photographers, and Ami Davenport brought two copies of Dane Sander's book, Fast Track Photographer.


Even though Gerald and I (sadly) did not win any of the fabulous prizes, we had an awesome time hanging out with the 50+ photographers from Seattle/Tacoma who came down to celebrate the end of summer together! If you're interested in joining us, our next meeting is on October 29th, at the home of JFK Weddings. All photographers and aspiring photographers are welcome. Email me if you'd like to be added to the mailing list. We look forward to meeting you!

Airika (& Gerald)


Tacoma Pictage PUG Leaders

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

August San Francisco Bay Area PUG: Shoot 2 Send

This month we had a great meeting! Ron Fulmer at Shoot2Send put on an amazing
presentation. For those of you who missed it, Ron and his wife talked about Right Sourcing, which is in a nutshell outsourcing that allows the business owner to still maintain a strong level of control and oversight of the outsourced service. In the case of Shoot 2 Send, the company offers editing and post processing services for your images, but their unique business model allows the photographer to give constant feedback on individual images and events, via an online soft proofing system that they set up. In this way, photographers who are reluctant to give up control over the look of their images can benefit from the outsourcing model, without having to place their trust in the editing company to get it right all on their own.

Shoot 2 Send works closely with each photographer throughout the working relationship (as opposed to some other outsourcing companies where the photographer's profiles are set up only at the beginning, and only adjusted later if the photographer is unhappy with the results), building profiles for each individual photographer's preferences that include both written descriptions (warmer whites, cooler skin tones, etc.) and actual reference images for different types of lighting or different types of events, so you don't have to rely on the editor's interpretation of a written profile.

Shoot2send would like to especially thank the people who
participated in the presentation by giving them a coupon code worth
10% off of their service:
Coupon Code: S2SWPPI01
www.shoot2send.com

For more info on Shoot 2 Send, please check out their website: www.shoot2send.com

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the September 24 meeting! Couture Book's Dave Luebke will be coming to talk about their unique albums and show samples of all of the different book types they offer, including the newest styles such as the "Earth Book", the industry's first 100% recycled, wind powered, carbon-neutral album.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Los Angeles BBQ and Headshot PUG!

This month's LA Pictage User Group marked the Second Annual BBQ/Headshot PUG. I pair photographers up to shoot headshots of each other, and everyone brings food to put on the grill. I try to pair photographers who don't know each other because the idea is to get a new headshot by another professional while getting to know someone new. its really fun, and this year's party was a big success!





THANK YOU to Laura from Beautiful Day Photography who took my headshot this year. I thought she made me look quite glamorous.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Michael & Anna - Raleigh, NC





This past Tuesday's PUG brought in Michael & Anna Costa! We had a great turn out due to a BIG email boost a couple of weeks before along with lots of reminders leading up to the meeting. Our group is growing and we had lots of new faces this week. This was also our first meeting at a member's studio. We have been meeting at a Sports Bar in a private room, a welcome change! I am hoping to meet at studio's more often, I think it lends to a more personal setting than the restaurant. We ordered pizza and drinks for dinner and just enjoyed chatting, people also seemed to enjoy seeing another studio.

I am looking into changing our meeting to another night because a lot of our members have church small groups on Tuesday and are not able to make it. Would anyone care to comment on what night they have found to reach or not reach higher attendance in their group? I am thinking Thursday nights would work well but I am totally open to suggestion!

So far it has been quite a challenge for me to grow the group. I live two hours from Raleigh, so I don't really know a lot of photographers in the area. I have just been focusing on growing relationships with people in the group and counting on them to help me invite, reach out, and tell me who I should call myself to invite... it seems to finally be working! I think we are off to a great start for building a really solid group here!







- Millie Holloman

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Dallas/Ft. Worth PUG-August Test shoot

The DFW area PUG got together for a very laid back shoot for August. No models, no fuss! Although some of our members look like models! We agreed to bring equipment and ideas to test out on each other. We tested a variety of light sources from small bare strobes, using umbrellas, some genius electrical tape snooting, homemade ring flash (less than $1 go Jenna!), various flashlights, mirrors (for bouncing light), video light, and strip-like work light!


members in action:

Here we tested the idea of white balancing with our Fong Lightspheres (idea found on http://cutframetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=68e1840a1324e839230d from Trevor Brucki)

auto:
fong white balanced:

Some off-camera strobe fun:

Some Home Depot work light strip fun: