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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.

LA Party! fun fun fun!

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.

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

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:

July- Santa Barbara PUG

I have to appologize for not added anything to this in so long! Now that I'm almost 4 months pregnant, it's been hard enough staying awake to shoot weddings and have time to run my business :)

...LIFE COACHING PUG...

I asked my friends Sue and Tracy to come speak to our group. Sue and Tracy used to be clients of mine in my fitness Boot Camp a few months back. They are now certified life coaches, and I thought it would be great for the other photographers in our group to get assistance from them in creating more balance between work and everyday life.

It was great hands-on meeting and we all got to know each other a little better while sharing our hopes, dreams and even fears. I had such a great time with all of there fun exercises.

I've already gotten emails from the people that attended saying how this meeting really helped them find direction in their crazy lives...

PUGS not Drugs

Emily found this shirt online and we HAD to share with you all!

Check it out here :)
~Becky & Emily

Michael & Anna Costa at the LA PUG.

We had a GREAT Pictage User Group this month in LA. Thank you to Rudy Arpia for being our Studio Spotlight. I was so impressed by the Spanish Wedding Photography Forum he created, Foro De Fotografia.







Our speakers, Michael & Anna Costa gave a lot of great information! Thanks for coming down from Santa Barbara to speak to our group, guys.





Anna was getting ready to sing for the American Idol auditions, so we asked her to sing for us, and she did!! She has such an amazing voice. Best of luck, Anna!

Long Beach PUG & Michael Costa

First off....we are no longer a Puppy PUG!!! We are a full fledged PUG!! I am VERY happy about that!

The Long Beach PUG wants to thank Michael Costa for stopping by and sharing his work with us! We had an awesome time!

Here are a few photos that Leo Flores, Photographer and Pictage Employee took for us! Thanks Leo!!

PGH PUG info GALORE!

Where do I begin...we have so much going on here!!!

I'm not going to re-post all details to all happenings that are already at our Pictage Forum Pittsburgh PUG page link and at our PGH_PUG Google Group - check the links out for all the detailed info on what we've got going on in Pittsburgh... but here's a snapshot of our progress and events to come:

We've created our Studio Spotlight list for the remainder of 2008 and into the Spring of 2009 - which is so cool for everyone involved! And I've posted the Studio Spotlight Guidelines on our Google Group and at the Pictage Pug Page for all members to have easy access on how to prepare for their "15 minutes of fame."

We have a follow-up event tonight at www.photoforthepeople.com from our June PUG and 2nd Annual Cookout where Justin & Mary Marantz came into town to speak with us!

August brings us Justin Kifer and Jared Bauman with their BookIt / ShootIt Workshops on August 13 and 14 respectively!

And then in September - I know it's a little way off, but I am so excited to have them with us - Michael and Anna Costa will be here with us in Pittsburgh speaking too!

Hey DJ! How can we get you to come back again? We miss you...!

I have a feeling this summer is going to fly by as we are rockin' it out in PGH!

BIG love, Joanne Bartone, Photographer