Thanksgiving 2009 - What are you most thankful for??

With Thanksgiving just days away, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of things that I am most thankful for.  Now it is always easy to use Thanksgiving as your "one time" to really focus on what you are most thankful for, however many times that focus ends minutes or hours after you have stuffed yourself with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, biscuits, pie, etc and spent another Thanksgiving holiday around the dinner table with those that mean the most to you.

Here are a few things that I am most thankful for (this year in particular)... and they are not in any specific order of significance.

• My Family and my new extended family
• My Wife (Melissa) and our new puppy (Mika)
• Our jobs
• Our new home (purchased in April 2009)
• Our friends (co workers, church friends, etc)
  
• Our relationship with God and learning to know him better
• Witnessing the moment of putting smiles back on the faces of those affected by Hurricane Katrina at the Pictage Charity Portrait Session earlier this month
• Making new friends
• Having an open mind for learning, creativity, communication, and dreaming
• Being inspired by all of our friends and family
• The gift of life
  

Think about it for a second, this list could go on and on and on...take a moment and think about it, but dont do it just because it is Thanksgiving!  We should always be thinking about it every day and being thankful for what we have, except in our busy lives these days we often forget to take a moment and think about the other 364 days in the year.  I know I am guilty of this, as I am sure many of you reading this would agree. 

Time yourself and find out how long it actually takes you to say "thank you" whether it is to a friend, your husband/wife, your girlfriend/boyfriend, a family member, the server at your table in the restaurant, the clerk at the register, or your mailman.

Thank you for taking a few moments out of your busy schedule to read this.  Thank you for taking the time to bookmark my blog.  Thank you for your interest in my photography.  Thank you for being a friend to me.

See...that wasn't too hard. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!  Be safe and enjoy your time with those that mean the most to you.

SOLD: Canon 1D Mark IIn DSLR and Pocket Wizards (TT1 and TT5)

Happy Saturday to everyone out there.

Can anyone believe that Thanksgiving is only 4 days away??? Where has 2009 gone? Have well all been "that" busy that we didn't even realize there are only 40 days left in 2009? 40 Days!! Can you believe that? Wow, what an amazing year it has been for me (personally) and I am sure many of you can say the same thing if we all took a moment to stop and look back at some of the memories we have from 2009. What are you thankful for this year? While the list is long and could go on until next Thanksgiving...please do not forget to take a moment and say thank you to someone, or remind yourself how special all of our family and friends are and be thankful for all of them for being in our lives.

I still have so many photos from New Orleans and that magical week of the Pictage Partner Conference, I am going to step aside from posting pictures from New Orleans today, I am actually posting a bit of a classified ad instead.

I am now selling my Canon 1D Mark IIn DSLR camera body along with my Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and 2 Flex TT5 units. If you are interested, please email me and we can discuss it further. If you know of anyone in the market, please be sure to pass along the message to them as well.

First Up - my Canon 1D Mark IIn.  SOLD

* Original Owner
* Purchased brand new from an authorized US Canon dealer in Oct '06
* Less than 21,000 actuations on the shutter
* Complete with original box, packaging, strap, manuals, discs, charger, cables, etc.
* Excellent condition, no major scratches, dents, marks, etc
* Owned and Stored in a smoke free environment

I am asking $1,500 shipped via UPS Ground to anywhere in the US. Canada and International shipping requires additional cost. All serious/reasonable offers will be accepted.

Second Up - Pocket Wizards:  SOLD

I have decided to sell my 3 Pocket Wizards because I have never used them. I purchased these shortly after they were released (April-May 2009) anticipating using them but ended up never actually using them. They have since sat in my roller bag unused.

Each Pocket Wizard comes complete with it original factory packaging, including all manuals and CD information. I am passing the opportunity to own these along to you at my loss. The Mini TT1 retails for $199 and the Flex TT5 retails for $219 each.

I will accept all serious and reasonable offers for these Pocket Wizards. I prefer to sell all 3 at once, however if you only need 1 or 2 of them, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

A Gallery - Pictage Partner Conference - 11.3.09 - New Orleans, LA

On Tuesday night, The Contrast Show displayed pieces of photography by fellow Pictage members at the A Gallery for Fine Photography in the French Quarter presented by Pictage and ShootQ

Here are a few pictures from the evening fun.

Friends of Pictage Partner Conference 2009 - New Orleans, LA

Happy Monday everyone, can anyone believe that we are just over 1 week away from Thanksgiving already? Where has this year gone?

On to the fun stuff, here is a collection of photos from Partner Con - NOLA of a bunch of Pictage friends doing what we all do best...Have a great time!!

Enjoy.

Shari Zellers and Alex Abercrombie


Jim Collins and Rene Tate


Pictage's Danny Faccini and Michael Caro


Shawn Reeder, Sarah Hodzic, Monty Jessop, Danny Faccini, and Nitin Somalwar


Chris Williams and Alex Abercrombie


Alex Abercrombie, Debra Gerson, and Jessica Del Vecchio


Kip, Laura, Shawn Reeder, and Sarah Hodzic


Pictage's Paul Manke with lots of lanyards

Pictage Partner Conference - Day 3 - 11.5.09 - New Orleans, LA

Not be outdone by the previous 2 days of seminar learning, Day 3 began Thursday with the highly anticipated off site shooting workshops. Pictage hosted 8 off site shooting workshops for the conference attendees that registered. These 2-hour workshops were held at various locations within the French Quarter and within walking distance of the Astor Crowne Plaza. The sessions were led by some of the best photographers in the country, including David Beckstead, Mike Colon, Joe Buissink, Sara France, Kurt Gerber, Scott Bourne, and Grant Oakes.

The second half of Thursday was the event that nearly everyone has been talking about and eagerly waiting for the past 9 months and was extremely excited to be a part of. Pictage coordinated with a local charity to host nearly 200 families for a free portrait session. These families were the unfortunate victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that lost virtually everything they owned including all of their family photos. Many of these families have never gotten a chance to have their family pictures taken again because of the painful recovery process and costs involved.

Myself, to be a witness and participant to this event was truly touching. I thought to myself, what better way could we "give back" to these families by using our talents and skills and providing them with "new" family portraits as a small step in helping them rebuild their lives.

One lady that came to have her portraits taken stated to us: "We thought everyone had forgotten about us..." Another stated "this is just the beginning, my children will never have pictures of their grandparents again" To me personally, this was the "icing on the cake," the "satisfaction," the "joy and happiness" of all our hard work this entire week. To see the smiles on these people's faces said it all, they didn't care what they were wearing, they didn't mind at all because they were having their pictures taken again, not by the media as victims showing their anguish and loss, but as people, as American Citizens.

Enjoy...



Mike Colon (center), Jeff Youngren (far right)










Joe Buissink (left) and Denis Reggie (right)












On the bus back to the hotel from the portrait shoot. Downtown New Orleans at night.

Pictage Partner Conference - Day 2 - 11.4.09 - New Orleans, LA

With Day 1 in the books, and Partner Conference off to an unbelievable start...Day 2 was sure to be even better with so much positive energy, inspiration, dreaming, and creativity in the air it was easy to look past the early AM start to the day.

The day began with a powerful lineup of speakers ready to go featuring Steve DePino, Kevin Meyers, and Grant Oakes...and that lineup would only get stronger throughout the day with featured speakers including Joe Buissink, Zach and Jody Gray of Gray Photography, Skip Cohen, Dane Sanders, Jay Goldman, Roberto Valenzuela, and Shari Zellers to name a few.

Once the speaking sessions concluded, all of the attendees gathered in the Grand Ballroom for closing remarks by Pictage CEO, Jim Collins which included a few surprises, also produced many tears of happiness, awe, and joy, and not to mention - a few standing ovations. This was truly a sight to see, and experience and will not be forgotten for quite some time.

Celebrity Wedding Photographer Joe Buissink addressing the question "Are You In A Rut?"



Zach and Jody Gray of Gray Photography discuss "Executing The Dream"




Dane Sanders about "How To Rule Your Photo Business (before your business rules you)


The Grand Ballroom during the Closing Remarks


Pictage CEO, Jim Collins presenting his Closing Remarks


Jim Collins acknowledging the 3 main people that organized the ENTIRE event - Scott Anderson, Lisa Allen and Emily Engle - BRAVO!!!


Jim Collins introducing the "surprise" guest during the closing remarks.




Enjoy!!!

Pictage Partner Conference 2009 - Day 1 - New Orleans, LA

The Pictage Partner Conference Day 1 got off to a rockin' start on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 to the wonderful sound of live jazz music. With Pictage staff ready to kick the event off this was surely to be the event we all envisioned that would soon become reality.

The event got its official start with Pictage CEO, Jim Collins, kicking off the event with an invigorating Keynote that was sure to energize everyone and get their creative minds clicking without a second to spare. The schedule was jam packed with a lineup of speakers sharing their insight, leaving everyone trying to figure out just where they were going to finally sit down and begin their furious note taking.

Here are a few images from Day 1 to show exactly what Partner Conference was all about....





Jim Collins presenting his Keynote to open Partner Conference Day 1


The Youngrens with their presentation, "Keepin' It Real In A Rockstar World"


Jared Bauman - "Your Business – On Auto Pilot for Six Figure Income"


Phil Thornton was gracious enough to review SEO - "SEO for Photographers - Google Ranking Demystified"


Denis Reggie had an all new presentation, conveniently titled, "A debut presentation – never seen before"


During the lunch intermission, the Sponsor Hall was well visited by all of the attendees. Sponsors included: Canon, Simply Canvas, Livebooks, KISS Albums, Tafota Designs, Leather Craftsmen, and Asukabook to name a few (in no particular order)

Pictage Partner Conference 2009 Welcome Reception - New Orleans, LA

The Pictage Partner Conference got its unofficial start by hosting an evening welcome reception at the Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans, LA on Monday, November 2, 2009.  Complete with live jazz music playing, fellow Pictage members and non-members attending the conference got a chance to meet/greet with the Pictage Staff and many other photographers that had arrived from all over the country for this very special week.

For many (including myself), this was an opportunity to put a face to a name, put a face to a voice from phone conversations, put a real face to a forum avatar, or put a face to an email address...or to simply catch up with friends from all over the country that we rarely get to see and have fun together.

Here are a few images from the evening reception just to give you an idea of the fun and what was shaping up to be an incredibly inspiring week to come...

Monty, Chelsea, Jayse, and Jessica


Live Jazz music in the reception - NOLA Style


An overhead of the many who attended


Night time view of Canal Street from the balcony of the reception