A Beautiful Group!

The Freedom and Slumber party this week was just incredible. I'm still buzzing from it. There is something really special about having everyone here in my home - it creates a unique bond with all of us b/c it's like we become roommates for a few days!

Here's a shot of all of us that we took down by the beach during our "You are the Couple" shoot. I miss all of you and I hope our paths cross again soon!

After this we did a night shoot which is by far my favorite thing! Learning to shoot downtown at night with no flash is a great way to understand the different controllable variables in photography. This is one of my favorite shots and there are more in this facebook gallery.

Two spots opened up for another one of these workshops this coming weekend so if you're interested go here and reserve your spot.

A special thanks to Kristin Renee and Kenny Kim for being such a huge help! You both are amazing!

Now I have a mellow week and I'm gonna spend a lot of time reading and preparing for WPPI.

Freedom and Slumber - Deuce!

So we're right in the thick of things with the second ever Freedom and Slumber party and we're having such a blast! We jammed all day today and just got back from our night shoot which was sooooooo much fun. I haven't had that much fun shooting in years and I'm excited to show you some pictures tomorrow.

The weather has been gorgeous and here are a few pictures that the infamous Kenny Kim snapped last night.


We're just getting ready to hop in the hot tub! Good times! Oh yea...sorry about the server crashing this morning. I sent out an email blast with a free link to my Vamos video but that was kind of dumb because it's 200 meg video and everyone hit it at the same time. It's been a fascinating thing learning email marketing and one thing that is crazy is how immediately people act on email and it's fun to see all the graphs of everything. Almost 5,000 people opened the email within minutes of sending it out and that's about 1/5 of our list...and then the long tail affect takes place over the next couple of days.

o

Widget Wonderland!

Widget Wonderland!, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

It's a gorgeous day here in SB but what I'm really doing is testing
out a new widget we just made for Showit Sites that allows you to
automatically pull in your blog posts right to your website!

I'm actually making this post from my phone and it should automatically
update my blog and my Showit Site! Sweet! I think it takes a couple minutes for it to go through the feed though...we'll see. :)

Tonight a bunch of photographers are coming to the Freedom House from
all over the U.S. for the 2nd Freedom and Slumber party! We are gonna
have a blast!

Today was Interesting

I have a really heavy heart about some stuff that was shared with me last night. It came as part of a normal conversation and it wasn't until today that it rocked me and it was so right on and I'm really thankful that she shared it with me.

I realize that people are looking for an example and in so many ways I fail to be a good example. It's humbling and heart breaking to see and hear the results of that but it's important that I do. It probably won't be until I have kids that I really understand the urgency of living and modeling a holy life but I want to and am so thankful for a glimpse into the seriousness of it.

Breakfast @ Sharkeez

Deyl has managed to find the greatest places for breakfast. Sometimes we go out to the pier and get breakfast for $2 or we used to go to the Whaletail for burritos for 3.75 but then they raised their prices to 4.75 so we never go back. :) on the weekends there is this deal at Sharkeez that is a full breakfast and unlimited Mimosas for a few dollars. It's a filthy meal but super fun!

Breaking and Entering

When I was younger I used to break into anything and everything. I even bought a lock picking kit and studied and practiced on every lock I could find...but usually what I found was that picking the lock was too much of a hassle if all I wanted to do was get in b/c there's almost always an easier way than picking the lock.

So at my old apartment I used to get locked out all the time and I didn't want to leave a key outside the apartment so I figured out that I could get in by using a butter knife so I used to leave a butter knife in my mailbox or in the planter outside so I could always get back in. :)

So yesterday I ordered some more Nespresso pods and upon checkout realized I shipped to my old address so I called them literally less than 5 minutes after the order and it had already shipped! WOW! I couldn't believe it but they were super nice and tried to reroute the order but couldn't so it arrived today and the coffee company (top class by the way) called me to let me know that they would send me a new order if I couldn't get the original one but I was up for the challenge.

Watch the video!

Speachless!

I know many of you have already seen this but I just saw it for the first time on my friend Tanner's blog! I am speachless! You must watch this!

SmugMug Meetup

So on Tuesday the owners of SmugMug came down to hang at the Freedom House and we had a bunch of my friends (who just happen to be insane photographers:) come up for 6 hours of hard core discussion about some of the big needs in the wedding market. SmugMug has been doing an incredible job in the pro-sumer space and when my buddy Rodrigo from CoutureBook introduced me to them a year ago I was baffled because I noticed right away that the level of service they offer to their 100,000 clients is better than anything I saw professionals getting and they were doing it at a fraction of the cost.

So we started throwing ideas around and getting groups together to brainstorm how we could meet some of these needs and I've been beyond impressed. Expect some incredible things from them in the months to come and be sure to find them at WPPI. I think they will be in the booth of the new pro lab they are partnering with. Some of you know who that lab is!

As I get ready for their new PRO release I've already started putting my weddings up there AS WELL as all my personal photos AND video! SmugMug is one of the only solutions that will store an unlimited amount of full resolution photos and video with no compression which I love b/c now I never even keep it on my hard drive. I just store it there and then when I need it I can just download it.

I got hit by a bus

Live video by Ustream

Not literally :) .... but it feels that way! After our meeting yesterday which I'll tell you more about in a little bit a bunch of us decided to fight. Fighting is so fun. I don't know why but it's one of the most addicting things I've ever done. I used to study Ninjitsu in high school and so I have a little training but my buddy Bobby Earle is getting me back into it. He's a Jujitsu guy and kicks all of our butts.

So my first fight I got choked out by Josh Newton. That dude is like the leg master. I think his legs are more dangerous than his hands which is tricky and in my second fight I had a long battle with JD and eventually got him in an armbar. The armbars are what I usually end up submitting people with. Then I fought josh again and got him in an armbar but a different kind of one. I don't know what the specific names are but Bobby does...and my last fight was against Regis Chen who surprised us all. I outweigh him by a good 40 pounds and he got me in this nasty headlock and squeezed so freaking hard. Luckily I had Bobby there coaching me on how to keep my head from popping off and I think eventually Regis just got tired and gave up b/c nobody really won that fight although with the way I feel today I think Regis won in the long run! :)

You can watch the fights here!

J*

So today I was sitting on the chair chatting with someone and all of a sudden I hear the fingers of fire going on the laptop next to me and sure enough it's Jasmine going to town. I don't know how this girl does it - she's amazing. She just launched her first workshop and she was telling me how nervous she was wondering if anybody would sign up and I just rolled my eyes because there is nobody in this industry who I'd rather learn from than her and it seems that a lot of other people thought the same thing because her workshop sold out in a few hours and it's gonna be amazing.

I've gotten the chance to spend a lot of time with her over the past couple of years and every time I'm around her I feel challenged - loved - and just flat out thankful that her and JD are in my life. It takes a lot to wow me but I really can say with all my heart that I am in awe at what she's done...and I think her husband's pearly white smile has something to do with her success but I dunno. ;)

Watch us Fight

Watch the video above!

A Lil behind

If you have emailed me or sent me a message on Facebook in the last couple of months I just wanted to say thank you. I've read it but there is just no way I can respond.

I have 612 emails that I flagged because I wanted to respond and there are another 600+ messages in facebook that I've read and appreciate very much but I just can't respond to them. So just know that it's not personal.

Also, I've been largely moving away from email and getting together with people in person and I enjoy that much more. It goes against some of my previous thoughts regarding email and forum communication being ideal because of the amount of people it reaches but I'm less concerned with that now and more concerned with making a meaningful impact with the people I'm with.

Give it a shot and see if you like it too. Email and online communities aren't bad but if we're spending more time there then we are in person I think it's out of whack and will probably not be very fulfilling in the long run.

The Longest Day

Wow I've been outta the loop with all the fun stuff Ron Dawson has been doing but you've gotta checkout these videos. A couple of months ago we shot these and we were supposed to do it all at my house but it was the week of the fires!

Anyway - checkout this video.

Flying is Fun

Today Todd called up one of his buddies to take us flying and wow was it fun. I wasn't sure if it was gonna make me more sick but it actually made me feel better. Matt was our pilot and he even let me fly the plan a little bit!



and then he did this gnarly turn where he turns the wheel but also hits the gas or something at the same time so it turns a lot sharper and it almost feels like the plane is flying sideways...I suggest clicking here and watching it in HD
Todd and I both want to get our pilots license and this totally got us stoked. I think I'm gonna let Todd get his first so he has to fly me around. lol

I'm glad today is over...goodnight.

Phew...what a day...

I woke up this morning at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't feel very good but I just thought I was tired so I rolled around for a few hours and then read some. At 9:00 Todd and I did a light workout and after that I was shattered. Something hit me and I couldn't even stand up. I was freezing cold and I remember just laying on the bathroom floor thinking I was gonna die. Ya see I never get sick but when I do it's dramatic and short lived. :) I still feel a little dizzy but am better for the most part.

The other thing that got me today was just a total bummer situation. Over the past couple of months I've been helping someone get their business going and they more or less just spit in my face, and those of you who know me understand that I do take business personally and I invest a lot into my business and into helping others with theirs and so this was like I just got slapped in the face with both hands. I really can't believe it and it got me really angry today but one thing I'm pretty good at is forgetting about things the next day and moving on.

On the bright side SmugMug continues to blow me away. I talked with them for a couple of hours and I'm excited about a lot of things for these next couple of years but certainly partnering with them is near the top of the list. They are a top class crew and some of you will get to meet them at my house next week which will be awesome!

Go Vote! Site of the Year Contest!

Hey Everyone! The voting for the 2008 Site of the Year contest has just started so if you are an OSP member be sure to login and make your pick!

Click here to VOTE!

Also, there were lots and lots of entries so the listing you see was selected by a group of photographers, normal folks and possibly even some super heros ;) ...if you think a certain site should've made the cut then the chances are it wasn't submitted so be sure to encourage them to submit their site next year!

Have fun!
DJ

Imaging USA

Imaging USA, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Imaging USA was a blast! I can't believe how fast it went! Yesterday I
went to the Costa's rocking presentation and connected with some
friends but I didn't have much time to shoot photos so if you have
cool photos or videos you want to share from the show upload them to
SmugMug using this account info...

Username: ppa@davidjay.com
Password: (email me and I'll give it to you)

Imaging USA! Yea!

I'm out in AZ for the Imaging USA show. Professional Photographer sent me a 5d Mark II to do a review on so I'll be doing lots of shooting and uploading all the pictures and video for everyone to download. I haven't uploaded any yet but they will be at this link.

imagingusa.smugmug.com

Sweet! Can't wait to see you all!
DJ

Another incredible morning

Another incredible morning, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've been getting up for all the sunrises and they just keep getting
better and better. There has been this layer of fog in SB and I love
it because it totally covers the city so it feels like heaven and is
so peaceful.

I'm getting ready to head to AZ for the imaging confernce and I'm
super excited to see my parents and old friends while I'm there!

Here's a quote for you from the Minute of Margin book I posted about
below.

"An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold"

- Chinese Proverb

I wrote a poem

2008 was great!

I had so much fun
and got so much done
it's all on the blog
so the memories will never be gone. :P

I traveled here - there - everywhere!
On the little bus I rode
Having the time of my life
in my typical mode

Adventure after adventure
Always more to be had
I needed a fix
really really bad

I never foresaw the pain
I would see in my own eyes
because I made progress the goal
and results the prize

It's hard to let go
so much was lost
my idea of success
came at too high of a cost

I've learned so many lessons
through my usual route
trial and error - then prayer
seriously devout!

Now I have another chance
as I start the new year
to create something real
another type of career

Lots of work to be done
it's of a new kind
I'm leaving behind the gold
it's now my soul to be mined.

Get Margin!

This past year will probably go down as one of the most transforming years of my life but like most transformations there was a good amount of struggle and pain involved.

It's easy to look at other people's lives and think that because they have this or that they must live this blissful life and I've found myself believing this lie at times. It's never the case and what I've found is that the more I have (of anything) the more problems I have. I'm not scared of these problems. My career is built on creating solutions to problems and that's one of the gifts I've been given.

One of the biggest problems I face and see many people struggling with is the increasing pace of life and the increasing amount of things to do and things to do them with! The temptation is to think that if I just had this or that I'd have more time to enjoy life or be with the people I love but if you were on the Free to Succeed tour you heard me say that the fastest way to create more freedom and fulfillment in our life is actually ELIMINATION!

I'm seeing this truth play out in my business and life right now and how desperately I had been needing this all along. My life was crammed full. There was no space - no true flexibility - no margin and so as more got squeezed in the tension increased exponentially.

My business partner Todd just gave me a book called Margin (Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives) and wow I am so excited about this book. We are giving a version of it "One Minute of Margin" to all of our employees. It takes about ONE minute per day to read the daily thoughts and wow are they right on!

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Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful celebration tonight.

I admit that I'm very excited to wrap up 2008 and God gave me the most beautiful sunset of the year to close it out on. I will show it to you tomorrow but until then I just want to leave off saying thank you for being part of my life in big ways and small ways. Your comments have caused me laughter and at times even tears. This world of the blogosphere is a funny one but I don't need to understand it to appreciate you.

Thank you again and much love and many blessings in 2009.

Cheers,
DJ