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Newsie bits
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Last months winner of the "Guess which three images Robert took contest" (March Issue) Was none other than my own kin-folk from Tenessee, Michael Provencher. Yes, he's my cousin, and this stinks of nepotism, but you gotta trust me on this one. Many ventured a guess, but all failed, except Mike, who incidentally was the very first guesser, which scared me since I thought "oh no, don't tell it was that easy", but those fears were quickly allayed, since every guesser that followed were way off. Way ta go 'cuz! You win the big prize, the No Bs Photo Success 'Big Kahuna' digital success system. Your prize is in the mail.

Only my friends really understand me. You see my wife doesn't get it, this passion and love of photography. The best times for me are when I am at a convention surrounded by a zillion photogs, or when our photographer friends come over and visit such as Kevin and Anna, and guess what we talk about?? You got it. Photography. It's a disease I tell you. And incurable. My wife just rolls her eyes. It's like when I see a bunch of guys watching sports (which I don't understand, but know they do, and are really living it up when the big games' on...), they're doing something they love doing. And it's a passion. That's the reason why at any time during the week, or at a seminar, or wherever, you may bump into James and I as we're off running errands or, like we did last week, went car shopping (is that allowed? car shopping with another guy??...). When we're between car lots we're talking bout, well, you know, the "big game", photography. And buying cars. Which we did. My brother-in-law thinks it's very gay. Well, whatever. He likes fishing with his buddies, we buy cars. He thinks we bought matching cars. I know he has matching tackle boxes with his buds. So there. But matching cars?? Well, no, that's where I draw the line. But we did get the same car, different models and colors, and James' is faster 'cuz he had to get a spoiler on his. Looks cooler. Mines like black, tinted windows, leather interior, and a huge kick *ss stereo. This is important to me. For the last 10 years I've been in a van, with the wimpiest stereo you've ever heard. Enough already..

Let me tell about Richard, the guy who sold us the cars at the Nissan dealership. My wife and I bought a new X Trail from this guy last fall so I already knew him. He's good. Real good. Honest and very, very informative. I find so many sales people are full of it. Inside they likely are hurting and their top priority is getting the sale so they can make it through the month. They all too often live day to day, hand to mouth. Richard on the other hand made an impression. He wasn't drooling and frothing at the mouth. And he had good manners. These things are very important. Especially to my wife Tina. You can't fool her for one second. If she encounters any saleperson who is full of it or has bad manners, that's it!! Game over. No way. Ain't gonna happen. We're moving on. And you can't fool her. She knows. I don't know how she knows, but she does.

So Richard does a great job, we're very happy, and now he gets to sell us two more cars. Cool uh? Now I did convert Richard into a client. He came in last week with his wife and their second born little 3 month old girl and had some portraits done. When I met up with him to finalyze the details on the new Altima (wanted the Maxima, but didn't want Tina stealing it from me..eheh) a few days after the shoot, he was full of praise. He couldn't say enough. It was great to hear him ramble on about how he liked the fact that we were so organized and regimented in our studio. Not to mention the great portraits. But he really appreciated the way we did things. Nice to know that the details you put into your day-to-day operations get noticed. Not that they should in a sense notice them, because their job (the details) is to create an efficient operation and make clients feel great about your studio. And pay you. And do it again, and again. And tell aaaallllll their friends about you.

Oh, one more thing about buying cars. When James and I popped into the huge GM dealer, (I kept thinking "Tina wouldn't like, nor would she buy from this guy...I smell cigarettes..she hates that...") I noticed a huge wall filled with black and white photos of everyone that works there. These photos were bad. Everyone looked criminal and lacked any expression, good lighting or professionalism. Shame shame. So, what'd I do? Hey, I'm real bold. Always selling. I whipped out my biz card and handed to the rep and looked him in the eye and said "You guys need new portraits. These are bad. Your image is at stake here. If you tell your boss, and tell him I will give him a "package deal", you'll see a huge difference". He agreed. Will they call?? Who knows. Do they need pics?? Oh yea!

What's with all the ribbons anyhoo? I just got all my prints back from WPPI. Here is am with all 5, and 5 big ribbons. Only three hung, but I guess you get a ribbon just for entering anyhoo. At the PPOC I hung 2 out of 4. After ranting about never entering another competetion again I calmly concluded that competitions requires several things to increase your odds. First: dedication. Well, you do need some really outstanding images that judges like. And second: luck. It is a crap shoot sometimes. I sat with that old guy Richard Bell at the PPOC awards banquet and asked him if he ever won the biggest prize of all, photog of the year. "nope, but came in runner up more times than I can remember" he tells me. Rick also told me that at times he'd work his butt off and get nothing. Other times he'd grab prints from the wall and send 'em anyway and score real big. There's really no figuring it. Just like the academy awards. Is there really a "Best Picture"? Okay, I am jealous and would like to win it someday. I mean who wouldn't?? But I know I gotta get off my lazy butt and apply more effort to the prints I enter. Or do I?

James and I (the other guy from No Bs Photo Success, with the car almost as nice as mine) been talking about and planning to create a wedding system for photogs at all levels of shooting, and who want to have it all. Including everything needed to start from scratch, to manage, market, shoot etc etc etc, and do it successfully. This includes the creation of a great product too. Which is what we believe we got: The Digital Freestyle Wedding. Many photogs around the world already shoot this way, but many, many still don't get it. So, if you would like to get first notice on our Grand Opening Sale when it comes out this summer, send us an email and we will contact you for a limited time offer. But only if you send us an email. HERE

"Everyone I Know Has a Big But" is the Pee Wee Herman title inspired name of booklet I am writting. This booklet is all about getting motivated and in the infamous words of Larry the Cable Guy "get 'er done". It's a small carry around book that you read while waiting for the doc or your next session.It's filled with stories, lessons, tips and success strategies on getting 'er done..namely..success. If you have any contributions I would love to hear any story you have. I really like stories about overcoming adversity and come-back tales, especially related to our field. So send 'em to me and let's get er done!! There's no cash in it for you but I may send you a nice gift. EMAIL ME HERE WITH YOUR STORY. Make it short if you can

This thing, much to everyone's pleasant surprise, is filling up rather quickly:

Image Explorations- Five Day Intensive James Hodgins (the othe NO BS digital photography guy) and I are part of the week long courses being taught next August 21-25, 2005 at Brock University, St Catherines Ontario. We anticipate a sell out as class room size is limited and demand is big. If you are serious about learning and taking your digital photography for portraits and weddings up a notch or two you should really consider this program. It is your best bang for your buck..... Tuition $615.00 Cdn. plus 7%GST ($CDN 43.05) (US residents are entitled to claim the GST back at the border).

Henrys, the biggest camera store chain (http://www.henrys.com) in Ontario is having a huge Photographic and Digital Imaging Show on May 13,14 and 15th. James and yours truly will be speaking throughout this event. Come say hi. Maybe we can all get together for chinese.

Have you ever wanted to attend a 5 day workshop with one of the greats? There's still room because of some last minute cancellations. I know this is last minute but this is an opportunity of a lifetime! Monte Zucker will be in Phoenix from April 25 to April 29th. This 5 day workshop is going to be BIG. Why?? The class size is limited to ONLY 8 ATTENDEES. Subject matter includes portraits- couples, seniors, families etc etc etc and weddings with live models. You will not find a workshop of this calibre with Monte Zucker ever again. Okay, so the cost is more, but consider what you are getting. In a nutshell QUALITY. Monte has been responsible for affecting, mentoring, teaching and inspiring more super successful photographers than any other master around.

If you are dead serious about your career as a portrait and wedding photographer you cannot afford to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Forget the costs. It cannot be measured in terms of hard dollars when you consider the long term, big picture results that could happen to your business.........
Call Kerri at 480-314-2348
(P.S. Read my blurb down below about education in the success corner)

"A non-doer is very often a critic-that is, someone who sits back and watches doers, and then waxes philosophically about how the doers are doing. It's easy to be a critic, but being a doer requires effort, risk, and change."
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

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Photography Marketing Strategies
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I just bought the recent version of Photodex's Pro Show Gold (www.photodex.com) version 2.5. It has some great new features that I really like. I used pic2exe (www.wnsoft.com) so far, never giving Pro Show much of a chance because it always bogged my computer way down. But now that I have a newer, faster, meaner, leaner one I am giving it a try and really liking it.

Here's a quick sample I made.
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It's a big file...35MB's. Rick click/Save as....exe file. Use PC only. Download, then click on file. It auto runs. This file available for a few days only
It's two recent weddings combined. I grabbed a bunch of shots from each so I could experiment with some of the new effects in Pro Show Gold

Many of the photoshop actions I used in these images can be found at our digital photography site. Check 'em out!

Let's talk about music and copyright issues. I recently bought a CD from a guy who creates some amazing music. Last year I also bought another CD from a separate company. Do I use this licensed music for all my slide shows?? No. Here's my take on it. If I am showing images in my studio, I will use any music. If I am selling the slide show outright, I use the licensed music. There are big name photogs who stand at both ends of the field on this issue. Some would never ever use pop music under any circumstance. Others, and were talking big names here, don't care. Me? Well, I guess I'm in the middle on this one. The fact is were very small fish in a big pond when it comes to whole illegal use of music. I mean we're actually promoting certain artists, aren't we?. I've looked into it and discovered this so far: You can get a performance license (In Canada from SOCAN) for about $100.00 a year. But, technically, you cannot "imbed" the songs with your show. You can however play it on a separate player, while the slides are running. Silly, ain't it? One photog put it this way. When a client walks in, and if they do the actual "imbedding" themselves, it gets you off the hook. Because they pressed the "record" button. Just a big technicality issue and in time I believe there will be an affordable "usage for image viewing" license made available, as soon as the big gigormous corporate wheels and committees figure out there is enough demand and some money to be made.

Here's a really cool idea. And something that I've been working on for the last while.Video testimonials, just like they use on those real estate info-mercials. I was at my friend Kerri's studio in Tempe, AZ, sitting at his workflow computer in one office, while he was in the other office delivering wedding photos to one of his clients. I wasn't really listening in or anything until I overheard her say a few things that really got my attention...so, I bolted from my chair, reached for my trusted little Canon A75 point & shoot, which is always by my side, and flew into his office saying "Hi!, can you do us a favor? Can you repeat exactly what you just said and let me record you on my little video camera?". Needless to say I made everyone feel uncomfortable and awkward, but that's me. Anyhoo, I got what I wanted and here it is. My guess is this is a great way to promote your business, especially online, using real live video recorded testimonials. I have several already that I've captured at my own studio and plan to use them several ways. In my own studio I look for clients who are repeat, excited, have something powerful or unique to say, and I offer them a little bribe such as a highly desirable item like a slide show. It works!

VIDEO TESTIMONIAL
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Success Corner
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When at WPPI I spent $500.00 on educational materials. Why? Why not!! There is so much great info out there. I am a self-admitted information junkie. I buy it all. And have all my life. Seminars, workshops, CD's, manuals, binders, systems, books, online memberships, magazines, associations, one-on-one and group consulting etc etc etc,......on and on and on. Last year likely spent over $5,000.00. Some years more, way more. I have an insatiable appetite for info. When I run out of tapes to play in my van I start to go into dry heaves, heavy sweating and uncontrollable twitching, not to mention the voices in my head. These sources of info have helped shape who've I've become. We can learn so much from others who are willing to share. Even if they sell it at a profit. I fully expect to pay for quality information. If there was a 12 step for information addicts I wouldn't go. Why? Because it doesn't affect me adversely. Quite the opposite is true. Others on the other hand are info maniacs, YET DO NOTHING. They just dream, hope and wish and stay stuck in indecision. They need help....and motivation.