Call Me Ed

After checking out of the BIG Folio Casa on Thursday, I had plenty of free time. So, Kenny and I met up with Leigh Miller and Miranda Lievers and took a model out to the Jean Dry Lake Bed. It was a blast and we got some great pics in the late afternoon light.

Definitely check out Leigh's blog and Miranda's blog as they have some stellar pics. I also have a video I'll post soon.

Kenny and I shared my camera, so we've been fighting over who took the good shots. As if ...

The WPPI tradeshow closed today and all I can say is "whoa". I am excited and exhausted at the same time. Our booth was rocking all three days. Every year this conference just gets bigger. I heard a rumor they cleared 10,000 attendees.

This morning I also had the pleasure to speak at DWF on site optimization. It was a blast and I met some great people. Plus I had some great local support from David Pascola, Cameron Ingalls, Jeff Newsom, and Colin Michael.

I met so many great people at the show and, most importantly, have a ton of shout outs and props to deliver. But first, I need to catch up on some work. My unread messages have gone triple digits.

I've come to conclude that exhibiting at a trade show is like having a wedding. You plan as best you can, but unexpected things always happen.

This morning we setup the BIG Folio booth. It looks great. Unfortunately, one of our iMacs arrived with a broken screen. Later today we'll head off to the Apple store to get a new one.

This afternoon we're just relaxing at the BIG Folio casa. We try to avoid the strip and hotels, so for the last two years we've rented a big vacation home. It's very nice.

I'm writing this post on the plane from San Francisco to Las Vegas. As I'm preparing for the WPPI conference I'm reminded of an incident at last year's conference-and the difficulties that followed.

As I was working the booth last year, a gentlemen approached me and began to discuss his need for a website. He was long-winded. Extremely long-winded. Normally, I don't mind people who talk a lot-provided they have something worthwhile to say. He didn't. As the conversation went on, I realized this photographer was not only long-winded, but also arrogant. There is a line between being confident in your photography skills and being foolishly prideful. He leapt over the line.

He asked me to load his current website. "Look at these pictures," he said. "Do you see my style? It's very GQ. Very Ralph Lauren." I looked. I nodded politely. I am neither an art critic nor a print judge. To me, however, the images were average at best.

He went on about his style, his skills, and his upcoming rise to the wedding photography elite. In my 3 years working with some of the best photographers on the planet, I've learned something: really good photographers don't need to tell you they are really good. Their images tell you.

For him, a template would not suffice. Only the most elegant, custom website would do. Of course, we would both benefit. Us especially, as he gained notoriety. After the conference, I handed him off to Mike (as it is with all custom sites). The site was started. But long-winded, arrogant people are hard to work with. The site was never finished. We both lost money.

Looking back, there were so many red flags. I ignored them. At least I learned a lesson or two. Most importantly, that it's necessary to turn down potential customers at times. I love what I do, and I do what I love. Why should I take on a customer that will cost me money and cause me stress? If you are a photographer, I implore you to consider this as well. Don't ignore the red flags.

I am excited about this year's conference. I know most of the photographers I'll meet are kind, humble people who just love to take pictures. I also know I wont make the same mistake.

I'm all packed and heading off to the SLO airport and on my way to Vegas.

I added a twitter account to the side column of my blog. I'll do my best to keep it up.

Here's a quick BIG Show I made with some of our pictures from Oklahoma and St. Louis. Just testing and fine-tuning the new BIG Show features and themes.

After a slight flight delay in Phoenix, we made it home from Oklahoma late last night.

Today I'm putting some finishing touches on the BIG Show updates. Tomorrow I'm off to Vegas for WPPI.

We had a great time in Oklahoma. I'll post more images later, but here's a quick shot of my favorite painting at the Philbrook Museum. Whenever we travel to big city, I always sneak off to a museum (often with a baby in tow). It occurred to me that a photographer can find inspiration in all forms of art–not just photography.

The Entombment of Christ by Luco Girodano

37signals launched their newest product, Highrise, this week. Highrise is billed as a contact management tool that includes task lists, reminders, file storage, and multi-user support.

I'm really curious to see if Highrise would be an effective tool for a full-service photography business/studio. I personally think it would be great for photographers who also employ assistants, 2nd shooters, editors, and/or office managers.

If you fit the description above and are willing to give Highrise a try for a month, please let me know. I would love to publish a review on WedShooter.com.

We're leaving St. Louis today and heading back to Oklahoma. St. Louis is a pretty sweet city, although the baristas here are terrible. The people here are definitely serious about there sports; everyone seems to be wearing Cardinals, Rams, or Blues gear. Last night we met up with some more friends and had dinner. Today is pretty quiet. I'm guessing everyone is recovering from yesterday's festivities.

We're in St. Louis for the weekend and it didn't occur to me until today that tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. St. Louis has a huge run and parade tomorrow and it all starts right in front of our hotel. It should be really fun.

We're staying at the Hyatt and it is actually inside Union Station. The building is spectacular. Believe it or not, I was able to score rooms on Priceline for $50 per night (the lowest published rate I could find was $214). I have a simple method for scoring great hotel deals on Priceline. I posted a rough video overview of it previously, but I should really make a better one.

If you need to travel a lot this year for wedding, conventions, or seminars, check it out. It might save you some dough.

37signals, one of my favorite software companies, has an interesting post on its blog today. In it, they liken outsourcing to shooting a camera in full auto-mode.

I thought it was interesting–not only because of the photographic analogy, but also because there seems to be so much talk about photographers outsourcing lately.

Just an FYI to all my customers, friends, and enemies: today will be my last day in the BIG Folio office this month. You may receive and auto-reply when emailing-don't worry, I'll still be working, checking and replying to email. I'll just be doing it remotely.

Tomorrow morning we head out to Oklahoma for Jessica's spring break. We're also going to visit my sister-in-law at her base and visit St. Louis for a couple days. I've only been to St. Louis once and it seemed like a great city.

As soon as we return, I'm off to Vegas for the WPPI Convention as well as the DWF Convention. I'm actually speaking at the DWF convention on website optimization for photographers. I'm excited to meet a bunch of great photographers and I'm also glad that DWF gave me an easy time slot. Last year I was speaking opposite Jessica Claire and Susan Stripling-how am I supposed to compete with that!?

I'll be on a plane most of tomorrow, but I'll do my best to answer emails while on the tarmac. And I'm wearing an orange wristband to remind me that there's work to do.

According to an eMarketer.com article, 60% of MySpace users are now 25 or older. You know what that means ... it's time for them to get married. Of course, that's assuming they can get away from MySpace long enough to fall in love.

There has been plenty of talk about using MySpace as a marketing tool in photography forums; I think we've reached a point where it might be worth the effort. However, I think there's a right and wrong way to go about it. The process of promoting yourself should be genuine, organic, and gradual. Young people - especially the social networking types - can smell a salesperson a mile away.

If I were to promote my photography business on MySpace, I would NOT:

• Create a separate account/profile for my business
• Use my business name as my profile name
• Use MySpace's blog (it's horrible)
• Try to make friends with strangers simply for the sake of winning their business

If I were to promote my photography business on MySpace, I would:

• Have my spouse or child promote me through their profile if I wasn't already a MySpace user (I'm not)
• Keep my profile as public as possible without inviting too many creeps
• Link to the old blog and website
• Post a ton of great pictures of my family and friends on my profile or my spouse's (see above)
• Make it clear that I'm a photographer in my bio
• Change my default profile picture weekly to spur interest by friends
• Add cool slideshows from Photobucket or BIG Show to my profile on a regular basis
• Periodically send out bulletins to my friends about photography ("Who wants to model for me this weekend?", "Anyone need Christmas portraits?", "Check out this wedding I shot!", "Anyone need pics of their band?")

No, I don't have much evidence to support either list (other than portrait requests through my wife's friends). It's just what I would do.

Saturday I had the pleasure to 2nd shoot at an amazing wedding with Kenneth in Santa Barbara. Andy and Alyssa got married at the Four Seasons Resort in Santa Barbara.

Before the ceremony, I had the task of shooting Andy getting ready as well as his portraits. Not only was the wedding very elegant, but it was also quite unique. There were no wedding attendants, and the wedding guests were seated in a circle around Andy, Alyssa, and the officiant.

During the reception, I had my speedlite up on a lightstand near the dance floor. Consequently, I shot the entire reception (which was very dark) at 1600 and 3200 ISO, which was a first for me. As much as I've heard about the 5D's high-ISO performance, I had never really put it to the test until this weekend. (the B/W image in the collage below was shot at 3200.)

Another quick note: I used several of Doug Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions on these actions. They are quite rad, indeed. I'll have an in-depth review of them on Wed Shooter and AfterCapture soon, so keep an eye out.

Last weekend I finally got my butt in gear and started updating my own website. I was able to complete my entry page and update the info on my Flash page.

I have a new logo, natch.

Now, I just need to get my galleries in there.