Software Solution - Highrise

When I find a good piece of software that makes my life simple, I love to tell everyone! Well, I recently found another piece of software (web based) that is my new favorite. Highrise. Highrise is from 37signals, which is a small group of guys that have the philosophy of less is more. Keep it simple. All of their offerings are so intuitive and most of all USEFUL! Highrise is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, to help with managing your contacts.

Being a photographer, my photo tools are priceless, but the biggest part of my business is managing relationships. Before Highrise, we had a mish-mash of emails, address books, blackbooks, etc... It was really hard to manage and to find things because they were so spread out. Now, everything is in one place! Easy to find and manage. It makes it fun!!!

It was so easy to export our Mac Address Book and other contacts from email accounts, etc... It is also easy to export from Highrise and bring them in the other way.

Keeping track of tasks per client, notes, emails and schedules is a breeze. I HIGHLY Recommend trying this out. 37signals always offers a free plan for starters and upgraded plans for when your business grows. So if you are looking for a fantastic way to manage your relationships, be sure to give Highrise a try.

Image borrowed from 37signals

Live In Model

I never get tired of Photographing Bray Bray. He gets bored, but he does work it. I was practicing shooting my favorite Portrait Lens (Nikon 85 f/1.4 D Nikkor) wide open at 1.4. Check him out.

Fun with Film

Every once in a while I get the urge to shoot some film and go Old School. It is fun when you shoot and just send off the film to the lab. You don't know what is going to come back. You actually have to wait! Yikes!! haha. As much as I love film and think that it is so beautiful, I could never go back to shooting it full time. Digital is just so flexible and incredible. Embracing technology is such a wonderful feeling. At any rate here are two recent film shots of the two little guys. These were taken with Kodak T-Max 3200, 85mm, 1.4, 1/125 (Techie stuff for other photographers!)

I love the grain!

Photo Mechanic - Workflow Tools

I am always looking to improve my workflow. Part of this process, includes finding tools that can help me perform all of the tasks necessary, very efficiently. I also believe that Less is More. I like simple software solutions. I do not really want to load up my machines with a ton of software that will not get used.

Staples in my workflow, that I can never do without are Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3. Photoshop is a standard among professionals. Lightroom is really picking up steam to be the preferred image adjustment tool. (Apple Aperture is still out there too, but does not fit my workflow as well as Lightroom.)

Recently, I found a new piece of software that is worth a look. I was reading another photographer friend's blog Becker's Blog, when he posted about Photo Mechanic. He has been using iView for years but is now using Photo Mechanic for shear speed. He suggested downloading the demo, so I did. Holy Cow!!! Talk about Fast!! The last thing I really wanted to do was to add another software component to my flow, but I have no choice. This software ROCKS!!! I am basically using it to flag keepers, blog worthy or portfolio images. Once I have them flagged, I copy them to a new folder and then open in Lightroom for additional proof tweaking. It works just as fast with Jpeg or Raw files. I was using Lightroom totally for picking keepers, but Photo Mechanic makes it so much faster! I like to sit in front of the computer as little as possible.



I am sure this tool can do other cool things as well, but for now it is by far the fastest way to plow through thousands of images. This will also come in very handy when flagging images for slideshows at wedding receptions. Both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Bridge have worked OK for this, but I am looking forward to using Photo Mechanic this weekend's wedding in Daytona Beach, FL!! Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Andy Peterson and Studio 563

I would like to introduce my good friend, Andy Peterson. We met at the Mike Colon workshop in February and then hooked up again in Las Vegas at WPPI. Andy and his wife, Andi have 4 lovely children and reside in Austin, TX. Andy has a business partner, Craig Davis (who deserves his own blog post) in Houston. Their studio is Rockin (They are NIKON shooters too!)! They are two wonderful people, photographers and businessmen. Andy has been inspirational to me and is already giving me advice on having 4 children and running the family and business. It is great to have friends in similar situations. Check him out!

Nice Headshot


If you look closely at the next image of Mr. Corey McNabb and myself, you can see Andy's hand as well. :-)

WPPI and GREAT NEWS for our family!

First off Great News (pt. 1), I just want to let you all know that Bray Bray is doing wonderfully! He is all better and happier than ever. He laughs more than any child I know. Everytime he giggles, it just makes me happy to be alive!

Secondly, I was away in Las Vegas for the WPPI Convention. I hooked up with some old friends and made a lot of new friends as well. We had such a blast and very little sleep. I am still trying to catch up! The funny thing about the trip is that, I had my camera, but NEVER used it!!! I only have memories and my friends' blogs to check. I was having too much fun to take any pictures... Thanks to all of my friends for making it such a great time, I feel truly blessed to know you all.

*Edited to Add* My friend Tiffany Aicklen was kind enough to send us all this hilarious shot from the SimplePhoto Booth. We broke the record for the most people in one shot. It was quite a squeeze!



We have been busy the past few weeks, I am really behind on blogging, but will catch up over the next week, I promise! Tomorrow kicks off our 2007 wedding season! We are so pumped to get rockin! It is going to be a beautiful day, so please stay tuned.

Lastly, but certainly not least.... The drumroll please.......

GREAT NEWS!!!



Check back in the Fall of 2007 for a new Baby Burke!!!

Tomas Flint

Today's featured photographer and new friend is Tomas Flint of Rochester, New York! Tomas is a very cool cat that has a brand spanking new website and Blog. After the workshop in Newport Beach, Tomas had the opportunity to take another trip to the Bahamas for some R&R. Tough Life!!! See you soon Buddy :-).

Meet Tomas:
Formal:


Relaxed:

Priscilla O'Sullivan

Today's featured Photographer is Chicago's Priscilla O'Sullivan. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. She also just started a blog! Check it out here. She also just made the switch to Mac!! As you know we adore Apple Products! Now if she would only switch to Nikon Equipment, she would be set! haha As you can see she is well on her way to success, building her business!

Meet Priscilla:

Corey McNabb

Slowly but surely I am posting about all of my new friends I made at the Mike Colón workshop.
Meet Corey McNabb! He is a great guy and a fabulous photographer. He resides in Asheville, NC. Corey and I met online through Mike's blog before the workshop. It was great to exchange some emails before we got there. It gave us both a chance to know someone before we arrived. hahaha

Corey recently won a bunch of awards with the WPJA. He is now a Gold Medallion Winner! Congratulations Corey!!

Check him out at Corey's Blog .

A serious pose:


The REAL Corey: :-)

Mike Colòn Workshop Pics

Hey all stop over to Mike Colòn's Blog to see some wonderful photographs captured by the attendees.

If you are a photographer, I cannot stress enough how important it is to invest into education and experiences. Workshops like this really open up many new doors and get you thinking like you never thought you could. The people you meet, learning , teaching (helping others), group interaction, fun, challenges, etc... are all priceless. You should make it a goal to attend 1 - 2 workshops a year. I would like to attend 1 per quarter. I LOVE to learn! I think when you get to a point where you think you know it all, you may as well hang it up and find something else to do. Always be open to learning. Another very rewarding aspect of workshops is that you may find in yourself that you can teach/help as well. As individuals, we all have strengths and weaknesses. It is a great feeling when you can help somebody else in an area where they may be struggling, but you may have it under control. Helping others brings me more joy than anything.

So, make it a priority to find a workshop that is a good fit for you and commit to it. You will not be disappointed.

I hope this advice helps you!

Element of Love!

Hello People... Thank you Heather and Joanne for a wonderful and creative learning experience! I had a blast and enjoyed my time with you and everyone else!! Thanks to Maria for being an awesome model!! Love, Bridget!!

Today, Bridget attended a wonderful workshop, thrown by two of our good friends, Heather Lahtinen and Joanne Bartone. Together, they created an experience called 'Element of Love'. EOL is a workshop that combines the talents of both of these wonderful artists, business savy, photographers. Bridget came home very energized and ready for wedding season. We are getting ready to kick off the season on March 31!! We are really looking forward to the many weddings we have scheduled.

Bridget met some great people and made some new friends. She said the workshop was filled with extremely valuable information, for the beginner, intermediate and professional. She HIGHLY recommends taking the Element of Love workshop the next time around. Joanne and Heather are very professional and passionate about what they do. They really want to elevate all photographers in all aspects of the business. I think that what they are doing is awesome! It is so nice to have a group of photographers together, sharing information and helping each other out. Gone are the days of keeping secrets from each other and being stingy with knowledge. Life is too short! Share what you know and you will end up learning a lot more than you ever imagined.

Bridget was working the Nikon like a Pro today! Didn't she do great??:










The Dynamic Duo Joanne and Heather

Poll - Photographer's Preferred Processing Tool

Hi all! If you are a photographer or a photo enthusiast, I am curious as to which post processing tool is your favorite. In all honesty, I am just curious as to what everyone likes. After talking to many photographers, workflow seems to be such a roadblock for many. We are so lucky to be in the digital photography age right now, because there are so many wonderful tools out there to use!

I personally use Photoshop Lightroom 1.0, however I am learning Apple Aperture. There are Pros and Cons to each one. Lightroom has speed, speed and speed, but is not ideal for file management. Aperture is AWESOME at file management and also has some very cool UI (User Interface) features. The jury is still out on which application will fit my flow the best.

So, if you use either of these tools or something else, please take the poll (over there on the right, in my sidebar ---->).

Thanks!

Friends

Last week I met fabulous people/photographers at the Workshop. I am going to do my best to post everyone on my blog so that you can meet them too. Today I have selected Mike Steelman and Kristin Shaparenko, both of which are in California.

Mike Steelman has businesses based around photography. One is ScriPics.com and the other is mikesteelman.com. ScriPics is what got him started. He creates images that speak to his heart and adds Bible scripture to the images that fit perfectly with the image. He is extremely talented in this area. When he first showed Bridget and I, we were blown away at the beauty and simplicity of the images. There was one in particular that really spoke to us. I told him that when we got home we were going to order the print. Being the giver that he is, on Monday a package arrived at our home with a gift from Mike. The gift was the image that we really loved, Matted and ready for framing. He also included a custom card with another fabulous image on it and very beautiful handwritten words to our family. Thank you Mike! It was great meeting you and I look forward to seeing you soon! Check out ScriPics.com to add some Light in your Lives!
Here is Mike:


Kristin Shaparenko is one of Mike Colón's assistants. She was crucial to the structure of the workshop and helped in so many ways. Kristin is also a photographer. Her site is Kristin Renee. Kristin is a wonderful person and photographer (see her site and you will know what I mean). Thank you so much for your hospitality, guidance, willingness to share and just being fun! It was great hanging with you all week. I'll see you in Vegas!
Kristin

More Workshop Images

I have a lot of things to catch up on but wanted to quickly post a few images from our beach session the other day. This model is Jasmine Star. She is a photographer too! She is awesome behind the camera and in front of it! (I like to be behind the camera!! haha) Check out her blog Here.

It was awesome working with All the models! Jasmine also brought her husband along on day two for some modeling. Jasmine and JD are two of the warmest people I have met. They are so great to be around! Great to photograph as well. Check them out!

I will be posting as much as I can this week, while I catch up with all of the important things to keep the ball rolling!

*TECHNICAL JARGON FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS*
I am now a JPEG Shooter! I have been going back and forth for quite a while and finally took the plunge last week. I can still see myself capturing RAW when needed, but for the majority of my shooting, I am shooting JPEG. Turns out that I LOVE the straight out of the camera files I am getting with JPEG. I setup 3 of my Custom Setting Banks on the Nikon D200 and started using the K scale for White Balance. I am loving the results. It sure beats fiddling with the Raw files on the computer! I would rather be shooting! Give it a try!!

All of these are straight out of the camera.

Mike Colon Workshop

We returned from Orange County last night. I am still on West Coast time, so I cannot fall asleep! Actually, I worked a charity event for the American Heart Association this evening. It was an awesome event and the images will be published in Whirl Magazine shortly. I will keep you posted when they are published. (This is exciting news!)

Anyways, I can't even begin to tell you all how great the workshop was. I met so many great people and made friends with them all! This experience was incredible and if you are a photographer or know one, TAKE THE COLÓN EXPERIENCE! It was fulfilling on so many levels. Making friends, networking, talking shop, learning, sharing, dining, laughing, etc... We even had a Texas Hold Em Tourney the last night. (I came in second :) ).

Mike is a genuine person. If I could sum him up in one word, it would be selfless (this is also true about his wife Julie). They opened up their home and lives to 13 strangers and made us feel as if we were old friends. It was incredible. The amount of knowledge & inspiration I gained, on the first day, was worth every penny. Getting to know Mike and learning from his experience was better than I could have imagined. What even made it better was the quality of people that attended the shop!

Over the next few days I will be posting about all of the wonderful people I met and hope to continue to work with in the future. I will link to all of their sites to give you a little insight into who they are. We are all in this together. We have many things in common, but two that stand out are that we love people and love weddings!

I will also post more images from the workshop in the next few days. I am going to try and get to bed so that we can go to the early church service tomorrow morning!

Meet Mike Colón


Here are the models:




I have many more of Brittany, but this was awesome! She jumped in the pool with her dress on for us. We had a blast!


Even Bridget Modeled a bit!


A headshot of me:


My headshot was taken by Melissa Rich. She is my first introduction! Melissa is a photographer in Colorado. She started in Las Vegas but picked up and moved to Colorado and is continuing to grow her business. She does fabulous work and expect to see her teaching workshops someday! Be sure to check out her site at:Lotus Photo

Here she is!