Great September PUG

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

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.

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

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.