Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sharing and Scaling....

Selling digital products is crazy fascinating. It's 10am and to think that already this morning two photographers have ordered from the U.K. and two orders from Singapore and photographers from the Virgin Islands, Michigan, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas have all ordered Showit apps and I was having breakfast!

The thing that I love the most about this is that it all started with years and years of sharing knowledge and now my software company allows me to do what I'm really passionate about and that is sharing knowledge and encouraging photographers to find more ways to create freedom in their life. Many of you know that most of the speaking gigs I do are done completely for free. Not all of them of course but over 80% of the gigs I do I get paid zippo for and the reason is because I really believe that these principles will help people. Knowledge scales so well and by sharing it we elevate others and ourselves and my software company helps provide a way for me to do that.

Try it out today - if you haven't already - go out and share something that you've learned with somebody. You can do it on a blog or a forum or over email. You can call somebody or even better get together with someone and start sharing your knowledge...I think you'll find that by doing this you can grow your network and as Tim Sanders says, "Your Network is Your Networth" - Also, read on Tim Sanders blog about Comparing notes with a Competitor.

Rock on!
DJ

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Kenny Kim Rocking Showit Show!

Kenny Kim rocked out an awesome Showit Web show from the Freedom and Slumber Party!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Thank you Everyone!

Last night was the completion of 60 hours of intense Freedom training....and a little bit of sleeping and eating. The first night was mostly a party which was super fun. My buddies Tim Halberg, Ricky Mia and Michael Costa dropped in guns drawn ready for war! They put the target on my bed but that got boring and so we started shooting Tim and that was way more fun!


Then Saturday morning it began - quite possibly the most intense day of training I've ever done and it shows the commitment this group has to develop and grow because they stayed with me and we went over so much! It was 8 hours before dinner and then we went out after dinner and did a night shoot in the pouring rain. We only lasted 40 minutes because Santa Barbara was angry and so we retreated back to the Freedom House where a symphony of snoring was only slightly muted by the howling wind. lol ... Good thing I had my Bose noise canceling headphones and we will provide ear plugs for the next slumber party. :)

Then on Sunday we had another great day talking through some new techniques for a "Hands-Free" workflow and we also talked a little bit about how to "Get-FIT" and create more FLEXIBILTY, INCOME, & TIME in our lives and then how to use those things to create more meaning in others lives. I am so excited at the questions and the commitment of this group to bring purpose into their business.

We also had the special guest Mike Larson drop in and share with the group some awesome ideas of ways to validate the bride and groom and create community with his clients. He said something which is so true and that is "Be First or Be Forgotten" - so true! Mike is a firm believer in the on-site, online, and now he's adapting an in-studio slideshow as well which is great! Super smart dude and he even showed us his ridiculously crazy camera toss RIGHT INSIDE the Freedom House!


Because everyone was staying at my house I'm limiting these to 10 people and one person couldn't make it so we had 9 plus Kenny Kim who is an awesome photographer friend of mine from Chicago who came to snap the pictures you see here and if you want to see the pictures bigger go to his blog...and then my videographer Paul Rogers, the beautiful Brittany who we didn't actually get to shoot because of the nasty weather.

...and saving the best for last my unbelievably magnificent Crystal! Wow! Nearly every person at the workshop came to me and told me how incredible she is 3 or 4 times and none of this would have been able to happen without her. Those of you that were here now realize how vital she is to my life. Crystal thank you thank you thank you!

In this image we have the amazing crew!
Front (left), Mark Barnes, Crystal Hutchinson, Amy Jett, me, Penny Sylvia, Melanie Merkling, Mery Donald,
Back (left) Corey Hage, Kenny Kim, Gustavo Fernandez, Regas Chefas, Andres Valenzuela,
Far back - the rest of Santa Barbara :) ...and this awesome shot was taken by Miss Brittany Leigh.

Thank you again for the incredible weekend. I feel worn out in a good way and totally stoked to do this again.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Drive Down

We had a drive fail on our server and that is why all of our sites are down...sorry for the inconvenience and they are working on it. In the digital world this is kind of like an "Act of God" meaning that we can't control this but we are working to fix it asap. Thanks for your patience.

Freedom and Slumber Party


The party last night was so fun and then afterwards just the 9 of us gathered for a quick chat about why we are here....all of you know I am obsessed with asking why questions and sometimes I feel like a 4 year old saying why, why, why, why, why? :) ... but I think it helps us get to the core reason behind our actions.

My new friends are from all over the country and here's a cool picture that my buddy Kenny Kim snapped and be sure to go to his blog to see more and to follow the action! :)

Today looks beautiful and sunny so I'm stoked because it's been cold and rainy all week.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Freedom and Slumber has started

No other workshop has ever been this much fun!

I just heard somebody get shot with the airsoft guns....check it out!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Make a widget out of me!

Nathan Holritz from Photographers Edit put up a really cool thing on OSP! He shows this video of how you can turn my Ustream live video into a widget! So cool!






Sunday, January 20, 2008

Look mom - I am eating healthy

I've been eating really healthy lately. I've been eating three meals a day and I used to only eat one and I've been staying home a lot and not eating out. The other day I made myself the healthiest meal I've ever made.


It was a ham and cheese sandwich which is my favorite (I like Italian sandwiches too but they aren't very healthy) and then I had carrots and celery with hummus dip and an orange that I picked from my orange tree.

The oranges from my tree are super good and it's pretty funny having fruit trees right in the backyard. I also have a lemon tree and a lime tree. I feel like a farmer.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Deyl hunting me

So we were gonna checkout how bad the airsoft guns hurt but I wanted to start with the pistol b/c it doesn't really shoot very fast...but then Deyl got blood thirsty and... watch the video....

Mark you Calendars


Freedom Party!

Next Friday January 25th from 6-10pm come hang at the Freedom House!

Freedom and Slumber starts that night so there will be photographers from all over the country here!

Post up your email or send crystal (@) davidjay.com an email to get put on the evite list!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Checkout my new gun!

Go to davidjay.TV and watch me try out my new gun!

If you missed it here it is....ok...I'm off to dinner....



Back in Action

Hey Everyone - sorry OSP went down but it's back rocking! :)

In my (completely unbiased) opinion OpenSourcePhoto is THE BEST community available to photographers for several reasons:


1. IT'S FREE - OSP has always been 100% FREE and doesn't have advertisements! There is no other place like this!

2. Super active - With over 6300 members and hundreds of people online all the time there is always someone around to help or simply listen.

3. Full of LOVECATS - OSP welcomes newcomers of ALL levels and everyone shares knowledge, their networks, and compassion with each other!

All this being said OSP does cost a lot of money to host and it takes a lot of time just to maintain it. Matt Antonino has been a huge help over the years as well as my team of programmers.

OpenPhotoContest - we got some of the bugs in voting (and display) worked out and don't worry the bugs don't affect the rating system which is an incredibly complicated algorithm. The contests are cruising and another added value to OpenPhotoContest is that you have the ability to see which of your photos people liked the most.

So if you're looking for people's opinion on what image to use for an advertisement or which images to put on your website you can submit them to a contest and get 1000's of people's input as to what your best images are! So keep rocking and I just added a new contest about Grooms so if you have cool groom shots you can start submitting them today...and look for some more contests popping up in the next day or two.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Over 40,000 votes TODAY!

This absolutely blew our mind! In one day the OpenPhotoContest had over 40,000 votes from 598 different people!!! INCREDIBLE! This is a huge success and I can't wait to see how it grows. Tons of companies are already writing offering their stellar goods as prizes so that is super cool as well.

Sorry about the forum going down...they've been working on it and I've been emailing back and forth trying to get things resolved but forums are a complicated beast and especially one the size of OSP.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

You be the judge!

WOW! Over 1000 votes in 10 minutes!!!

***update....it's 6am now and I just checked and over 7500 votes came in over night!***

OpenPhotoContest is going to be the end of me...not only because I'm already addicted to voting but because the bloody thing keeps crashing our server! lol...oh well....we're doing the best we can but with all the pictures being uploaded and voting algorithms happening it's bound to happen again...but go vote! OPC is seriously the best contest out there (I am biased) but seriously no where else can the community pick the winner!

It's so fun to see all the images - there are some incredible shots and it's free to vote so go check out the pics and get inspired!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Imaging USA

Earlier this week I was at the PPA tradeshow - Imaging USA - in Tampa and I did something I hadn't done before and that was I crammed everything I needed to do into a 4 hour time slot. First I had my platform presentation, then a meeting with folks from Germany where I'll be headed in March to do a gig for a group there and then a meeting with Al Hopper and Joan Sherwood from the PPA organization and Professional Photographer Magazine b/c we're teaming up on a really cool new way to share knowledge in the wedding industry. Stay tuned!

I was speaking at 7am in the biggest room I've ever seen in my life! My friend Liana Lehman warned me about how big the rooms are but I had no idea.

I think they held just under 1000 people and during the presentation the spot lights were on so I couldn't really see how many people where there but judging by this photo that Allie snapped it looks like it was pretty full so that totally stokes me out!

I got to meet some absolutely wonderful people and one of my favorites was my new friend Cindy who Allie and I met at the coffee shop at 6am before my speech. She recognized us and said "I love you guys" and then bought us breakfast! It was the nicest thing ever and we both are still talking about how much that meant to us so thank you Cindy. You are such a sweet soul and I hope we cross paths again!

The [b] Flow


Checkout Beckers "cliff notes" video on his workflow...his new [b] school blog is super cool and he's putting up these videos as he gets ready to launch his [b] school in March. The site is looking awesome!

Friday, January 11, 2008

I'm back!

I just made it back to SB and I am soooo amped to be here! This week I'm gonna be getting lots of stuff ready for the Freedom and Slumber event later this month! Woohooo!

Also, don't forget today is the deadline to save big money on joining OPC and it's also the deadline for submitting work in this first round of contests so get your work in fast. Voting will start in a day or two. We need to go in and verify the photos and then release it for voting. I think there are almost 1000 photos currently uploaded so this is gonna be so fun!

Rock on!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

OpenPhotoContest DEADLINE

I'm in Tampa right now and yesterday I gave a presentation at the Imagine USA convention. The whole convention was awesome and I am loving what the PPA is doing with their organization. I'll talk more about my trips once I get back to SB b/c I'm still in vacation mode...

...but I wanted to remind you to SIGN UP and submit your photos for the Open Photo Contest TODAY!!! You only have one more day to save 50% on the sign up fee and to submit photos for the contests before voting starts so do it now because once voting starts no more photos can be submitted and you will miss your chance to win awesome prizes like an 85mm f/1.2 lens as wells as Shootsacs and Lensbabies!

*** CLICK HERE ***
AND SIGN UP.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Gasping for breath

I can still hardly breath after seeing the pics Jasmine Star took! WOW WOW WOW! Can anybody deny that Jasmine is freaking off the hook good!

CLICK HERE to see others BUT be warned - THEY ARE HOT!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

What a trip!


Wow - Words will never do justice to the past week!

...and it's 4am and I have my PPA gig in a few hours but I just couldn't help passing along this photo and if you wanna see more go to Jasmine's blog!

:) I'll post more soon and I can't wait to see some of you in a few hours!