Jazz up your Lightroom panels

Here's a neat little article on how to spruce up your end panels in Lightroom- - -that is if you're so inclined and have nothing else to do...like me.

Eiffel Towers anniversary

There is a plan to 'append' the Eiffel Tower for it's 150th anniversary. I think it looks kind of cool, although - as always - there are those who love it and hate it.

a little Wing for your Sunday pleasure

WINGS website for more hijinks

Cuss-O-Meter

Cuss-O-Meter...are you keeping your Blog clean and rated PG? 

my front door

Really - the LAST thing I need to be thinking about or spending bucks on right now is a new front door...but I came across this site for Crestview Doors  that make cool semi-retro doors an now I can't get the idea out of my head. My front door is fine and all, and it never even gets used since the way the house is arranged you come in te back way anyhow---but I think this would really spruce things up out front.    Just a thought!

todays' photoshoot

I had a fun day today shooting this fella for a modeling portfolio. He's just starting out, but I tell ya, was so comfortable and relaxed it really seemed like he had experience with it. Thanks Luis for a fun day time shooting today!

a message from Gary Fwong

live from WPPPI!

shooting tethered into Lightroom

Scott Kelby has an interesting blog post about how to shoot your camera tethered and import right into Lightroom. Not certain how much use that is to wedding folks, but it's a cool workaround (Apples Aperture has this feature built into the newest version)

some shameless self-promotion

I have a few photos posted here on The Knot Real Weddings contest - so if you have a minute stop by and vote---maybe i'll win something?!

http://realweddingawards.theknot.com/photo/view/BlomshieldLewek

Photo Train - rolling into town

I'm going to try something new and offer one on one photography lessons called PhotoTrain. It's something i've thought about for some time. As cranky as I know I can get at times, I find that I am surprisingly patient when it comes to training people with the camera or with software, and I really like doing it. I had a bride once say "I was thinking of giving my husband a photography lesson with you, but didn't know if you did that or not?" So we'll see what happens. Surely most of the regular readers of this blog don't need any of my help, but perhaps there are some who may---so it's out there now and we'll wait and see the results!

Easter Peeps-GONE WILD

lil' miss plastic leg

I don't care that Heather Mills has a fake leg, i'm glad she got screwed on the settlement - she just seems like such a nasty phony. ..always bitching and moanin'. Shut up, take your 70 million and be quiet.

Thank you for listening.

What Clients Love

I recently finished reading "What Clients Love" by Harry Beckwith, which was actually pretty interesting. I post-it noted a number of pages with some concepts I thought very applicable to our photo-business world. While these may seem like common sense, it's always refreshing to see them right in front of you as a quick reminder...so here are my favorite thoughts:

_____________________________________________________

People pay for what they love - plan around what you can predict: what people love

If everyone feels comfortable with your idea - it’s not an idea, it’s an imitation. Push toward the edge - to something so distinctive it resonated only with a few : avoid ‘nice’

to be heard : say something different, simple, visual 

study everything that can affect people’s perceptions of your quality - and make each excellent

simplify everything

we always weaken what we exaggerate (Extraordinary! World-class! Superior! Award-winning!) - do not describe your business in superlatives

sell yourself FIRST, sell your price LAST

clients prize humility-reason to never go for the hard sell. Go softly and slowly---sell soft

give business relationships time and space to grow. If you wonder if you’re pushing a client too hard---you are. Hard sales lose business

Beware of saying anything that might be perceived as negative-accentuate the positive, avoid the negative

Your office and work space does more than project how special you are - it reminds your clients how special THEY are - watch you space

You business is NOT to perform your job brilliantly - it’s satisfying your clients deeply - Your task is not to perform, it’s to satisfy

8 rules of business manners

1. always wait a split second after a person finishes talking before you speak
   
2. listen with your entire body
   
3. be positive
   
4. speak well of others
   
5. memorize names
   
6. never try to impress
   
7. praise, but never flatter
   
8. always be kind
   

my new highrise condo

I'll be in the Western Green Windmill Wing if you need me.

when ya gotta go---

Sheriff: Woman sat on toilet for 2 years

By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press WriterAuthorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years — so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

piano in a closet

...don't ask me - I saw this at a wedding. Musical coat check? An embarrassed musician? A child learning to play condemned to play here until he improves?

Lost In Space

Check this out - this is the company that actually makes life - size replicas of the Lost In Space robot ( for a mere $24,500...but the work is amazing - you can see production photos and what's involved also on the website) I just want to visit the factory---that would make me happy!

INSOMNIA

last night - for whatever reason - I just sat there watching TV until about 4:00AM. I just wasn't tired. It was awful. You know what's on TV at 4 am? A whole lotta nothing. So I start watching the Discovery Channel special about the human body on TIVO. (which by the way, is really interesting if you have the time or find yourself up and spunky at all hours) So at least I learned something I suppose. The night before I had dreams about being on an empty cruise ship, and was going from room to room looking for something. That progressed into being on a FULL cruise ship, although -since it was a dream - it was unlike any cruise ship i've seen inside.

I need someone to come and read me a bedtime story...only not THAT creepy guy. "So Billy, let me show you another photo of a big rocket...."

yet ANOTHER fake wedding email

This one is REALLY funny though---read it carefully. I haven't changed a thing!:

How are you doing?I just wanna know if you wil be available to take photographers on my wedding day. My name is stephen Howard,I works for an auto company in United kingdom where i'm presently.I will be coming to the state pretty soon,so let me know if you will be available on that day..My company will be taking care of the wedding photographs and they will be happy to send you the first deposit payment.

Let me know how we are going about it as there is not much room again.

Thanks

Here Is New York at Madame Tussaud's

Several years back I was asked to allow Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum  in NYC to use one of my photos I took at ground zero for an exhibit they were having. I had taken some shots of the memorial lights in 2002 and submitted them to 'Here Is New York' , the exhibit. They saw a shot they wanted to use and naturally I gave them permission as the show was going to travel around the country once it left New York City. It was cool because my shot ended up being the final image in the slide presentation that went on behind the wax figures (the one you see in the photo) 

This is old news I know, but just something I came across in my going through old files.

Why am I wearing a denim jumper in that photo, anyway?

Wash & Pray

A shot from a trip to Detroit several years ago

...you happy?

....WE happy!

Old Fart

I found this drawing I did probably 5 years ago that always made me laugh ( very mean, i know!) I was testing doing cartoons on top of actual photos  &  kind of like the result