Friday, March 21, 2008

Seeing the Light


The city lights here in Vegas represent the light at the end of the tunnel for me...and the end to a 3 month whirlwind that was more exhilarating and exhausting then anything I've ever experienced. I just did the math and figured out that I've been flying an average of 310 miles a day every day for the past two years. Yikes. I've already flown over 27,000 miles this year and the funny thing is that even though right now I'm feeling spent I am beyond excited for what's coming next.

The next two weeks I'll be catching up on things that I've been wanting to get to like the Freedom Club as well as planning some small get togethers across the country. The Freedom and Slumber party was such a blast so I want to go out and meet more of you in settings like that.

My buddy Rudy shot the image of me above at the Adobe booth and I must say that meeting so many of you at WPPI made this a wonderful way to close out this chapter of the year.

Thank you all for your love and support (and patience) through this chaotic season. I wouldn't have gotten through it without you.

Yours,
DJ


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Recap of the past 3 months:
lol
Nicaragua - Little Eden Cay
Tampa, FL - PPA Nationals
Jacksonville, FL - Visting Allie's fam
Santa Barbara - Freedom and Slumber Party
New Hampshire - PPA State Convention
Washington DC - stopover visit with Allie
Orlando, FL - Props Convention
Wedding at Firestone Winery
Showit Retreat
Orange Country - Wedding with Jasmine Star
Hosting Westmont's Business Club
Dayton, Ohio - PPA Regional Convention
London - Getaway
Germany - FotoWerkstatt Convention
Las Vegas, NV - WPPI

10 comments:

Scott Hayne Photography said...

DJ,
Though you don't know me, I want to thank you for being such an inspiration to us. We started our business just 10 mos. ago and have really looked to you as a mentor even though you have done it without knowing. We have been growing our business quickly which is exciting and at moments overwhelming. We have prayed for it and God has sent it!

Now we have just returned home from WPPI. What an amazing experience. Listening to you and many others has really confirmed that we are heading in the right direction. It has also given us many ideas and opened our eyes to many more opportunities for 2008. Some things just rang through loud and clear, be passionate and be unique. WPPI will serve as a guide for our business this year. What we heard from you and other speakers is priceless.

Thanks again for all you do.

Adina Hayne, wife of Scott Hayne, Scott Hayne Photography
www.scotthaynephotography.com

Rodolfo Arpia said...

Hey DJ, you were so close I couldn't resist to shoot... I promise I was listening too ;-) I'm so loving LightRoom, I'm even enjoying my editing!

Toronto Wedding&Portrait Photographer, Andreas. said...

With that said DJ, have you calculated how carbon heavy your tours are? Perhaps you may consider a personal project to plant some trees for every mile you fly?

Jasmine said...

miss you guys already!! have fun eating the skittles and MnM's without me! ;)

jamiedelaine said...

Wow. I do not think I could do that much travel. You are absolutely amazing!! Enjoy your rest and slightly less busy schedule for the rest of this year.

megan said...

wanted to pass along a wonderful company:

http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/

you can offset your carbon footprint with them & not feel guilty for your fast paced, crazy & exciting lifestyle.

Familee said...

David,
I happened to pass by the Adobe booth when you were speaking and so appeciated the tutorial on Lightroom. One thing that really helped me was when you showed what your image was like right out of the camera! I wanted to hug you for being so humble. It did make me feel better about what my images look like out of the camera, like you said. I am amazed at what Lightroom can do.

There is one question that I need to ask. You said that you put your camera on safety shift. Could you explain what that does and how it works? I went over to the Canon booth but they really didn't give me too much info on it. If I am consistantly worry more about the technical stuff and getting my camera setting right for each image, would safety shift help so I can focus more on getting the image and the emotion of the moment?

Kristi @ KLK Photography said...

David!!!
YOU ROCK. Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom and talent at WPPI, you are such an inspiration! Wow, that is alot of miles, hope you're getting them back and RELAX!!! :)

Ginger Murray said...

Holy smokes, that is a lot of miles! Hopefully the airline will be giving you a nice vacay sometime. Hopefully this next month will be restful for you. Flying home on a red eye did me in for 2 days--can't imagine how you do it!

Was your crepe as good as mine? I had a Nutella crepe with bananas. It was pretty much heaven.

Super great to finally meet you in person. So many people (including me) appreciate all you do. Thank you so much.

Blessings~

Family said...

DJ - Let me know when the next Westmont Business Club meeting is. I'd love to attend.