Go Cardinals

I really don't even like football or the Cardinals but my business partner Todd is a huge Cardinals fan. I've known him since I was 10 years old and he even loved the Cardinals then when they sucked and never won a game. Anyway.

As the Cardinals kept winning I kept feeling worse and worse for him because I knew if they kept winning he would have to keep going to the games. lol. So I was secretly hoping they would lose so he would save him some cash but now that they are in the Superbowl I hope they win.

Here's a picture he just posted from the stadium! :) He's the one with the face paint and that is his older brother who was friends with my brother growing up. Our brothers both played baseball which is an even lousier sport than football. Actually baseball is more of a game than a sport. The only real sport is soccer. :)

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!

David Jay's free monthly newsletter.

Dude! If you want to be kept up to date with all the latest stuff then enter your email address here!

Email:

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

Barefoot Memories New Site!!!

Yea! Have you seen this amazing new website! Carey Schumacher is one of the incredible photographers I've followed over the years and so I was beyond excited to hear that she was using Showit for her new website! She worked with the stellar designer Nick Haskins from Spilled Milk Designs on this wonderfully unique and truly refreshing website - I love it!


As with all websites I always go to learn about who the person is and YOU MUST click here and watch all these videos of Carey! I clicked on the "Get Some Action" link first ;) but be sure to watch them all!

CLICK HERE and see Barefoot Memories new site!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve! Can you believe that! Tomorrow is also the deadline for our Site of the Year contest that is totally free to enter and there are lots of sweet CASH prizes!

------------------------
First Place:
$1000 + Lifetime subscription to Showit Sites

Second Place:
$500 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Third Place:
$300 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Fourth Place:
$200 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Fifth Place:
$100 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Cleaning Day

I had a last minute rental this week so I'm in the apartment for a few days which has been really fun because it's forced me to do things differently than I usually do. It's almost like being in a hotel for a few days. First I went out and got a little space heater b/c it's been cold lately and I'm afraid I'll blow something up if I light the pilot on the heater.

Then today I decided to clean the desk area and I really like it. Everything in the apartment is from my old apartment so it's all dark leather and dark wood where-as the house is lighter wood and a more modern feel.

Then I was gonna go shopping but I decided to try and clean my hat before I left. I didn't really know how to do that so I just filled the sink with some hot water and some fruity smelling soap that Crystal had left over in the shower and when I came back my hat smelled really good! How do you usually clean a hat?

...by the way the brown color is not because the hat was so dirty! :P ... it's the dye that was in the hat coming off. lol. Seriously.

Apples, Oranges and snow

Yesterday morning I woke up and had a wonderful morning reading and praying but then I got really hungry and realized that I didn't have any food in the house so I went to the only place open and got the only thing I like at Starbucks - their breakfast sandwich :) .... as I was waiting for them to cook it up I was reading the newspaper there and it seemed that all that was in it was the depressing news about the low retail sales so I put the paper down and tried not to be affected by what I had read but it wasn't until later that day at the Parsons that I really got my thoughts straight.

The Parsons are some of my dearest friends. I met them just over a year ago and have totally fallen in love with their family. If you've met them then you know what I'm talking about. They've spent most of their life in Russia with an organization called Young Life but now they live here and just travel back and forth to Russia a couple of times each year.

They had invited me over for Christmas dinner and it was incredible and during the meal we all found these little questions hidden underneath our plate, which is totally something my mom would've done so I got a kick out of it, and one of the questions was to recall your favorite Christmas memory. The question had been under their grandfathers plate and as he began to share his story big tears welled up in his eyes. He told us of growing up working on a sugar plantation. I can't even begin to imagine the labor involved in what he did but he said on Christmas day the owner would come around in his truck and give everyone an apple and an orange and he recalled looking forward to that day and those treats the entire year. It brings tears to my eyes just remembering him telling the story.

Then they asked me to answer the same question and I did my best to scan back through all the Christmas memories I could remember and I could recall very few gifts that I had gotten and even fewer that I had given but the one Christmas memory that I really loved was when my family decided to hop in the car and go up and have a white Christmas in northern Arizona instead of celebrating in Chandler. We got cozy in a some small hotel room, played in the snow a bit but best of all we were together and enjoying the simple pleasures that God gives us.

This got me thinking how wonderful it is that if we're honest with ourselves we know that we don't need the economy to be great in order to be happy or to live a life full of love and excitement. Deep down we know that money doesn't equal hope and all it takes to change our current state is to remember back to a time when we were truly happy and to be thankful for all we have learned and experienced in the meantime. No matter what has happened or is happening in our life the choice is ours how we let it affect us. So as we get ready for the new year let's commit to letting go of the things we can't control and taking control of the things we can.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Be blessed today!

Time for long underwear.

Time for long underwear., originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Today I weighed myself again and I was like whoa. That's really low. I
think I need to start eating more now that I'm working out and running
because I have/had a really high metabolism and I think it's starting
to kick in again.

I also busted out the long underwear today. I feel invincible when I
wear long underwear. I feel like i could go anywhere and it's really
cold out so I put them on.

Happy Christmas Eve! I'm going to our church service tonight with my
friends the Parsons and then I'm gonna have Christmas dinner with them
as well. I'm excited! Hopefully I'll see some of you tonight!

I am getting FIT

I haven't been this weight in a long time. I've been running and working out and eating healthier food. I'm seeing more and more how everything is connected and I can't neglect certain areas of my life and expect them not to affect other areas.

With the world in the state that it is in I think we need to be getting into the best shape of our life. We need to be getting more physically fit and that's really the easiest and also more spiritually fit and more emotionally and intellectually fit as well. The end of the year is a good time to think about this past year and how we did in these areas. I know I did really poorly in most of them and I got fat (in a lot of ways) and I got lazy and obviously these weren't what I had hoped for but the important thing is that I can see the results. They weren't the results I wanted but they were results I can learn from and change so that this next year is better.

What is an easy thing that you can start doing today to begin disciplining and developing your mind, body and soul. Might be as simply as committing to reading for few minutes each day....or doing 20 pushups. Don't start HUGE or you'll never stick with it but pick something and commit to doing it every day!

Beating the sun!

Beating the sun!, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've been getting up early in the morning to spend time reading,
praying, and just being silent and the sunrises have just been
incredible. What a great example of God's artistry!

Don't miss this!

Did you all see this! The Bebbs just launched their newest project with a Showit Site! They have been recording some killer videos with their 5d and mixing it with photos and WOW WOW WOW! I just ordered one for me! I can't wait to see this!

Click here to watch this and preorder a DVD because the special they are running is almost done.

Sweeeeeeeet!
DJ

I ate this

I ate this, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

And now I'm waiting for the consequences. :) I get sick after I eat
chicken but I haven't tried it recently and this was a bit healthier
chicken from Trader Joes with less of the steroids and stuff in it so
we will see what happens. :)

Get together

Thank you so much for all your love and support. I've been reading every post, comment, and email and I can't thank you enough for sharing with me in this time.

When we go through rough times it is life saving to know that we have people we can talk to about it. I have the most wonderful friends and people around me who care about me and help me through the crap I go through but I realize that not everybody has that and it scares me to think about what they do when they have drama in their life...because regardless of the degree of our troubles when we're in the midst of drama in our life - it's very real and our hearts hurt deeply.

A couple of years ago I read this article in the USA Today and I still have the actual article but it gave some shocking statistics that have probably gotten worse. 25% of Americans have nobody they can confide in. This is heartbreaking. We need each other. We need close friends and we need to spend more time together and less time typing to each other.

Make it a priority this week to get together with somebody in your life who is having a rough time. We all know of somebody and just love on them. Things escalate this time of year and to be alone and hurting can really crush people and you have no idea how you could change their life by simply being with them and sharing in some of their pain.

Christmas Spirit!

Hey Everyone! I'm sure you noticed that my blog has changed a little bit and the reason is because we just launched an insanely cool feature inside of Showit Sites where you can have your blog or ordering page or anything else pop up right inside of your site! To see how it works click here and go to my website and then click on the "Blog" button in upper right!

When you go to my website you will also see that I made a few additions to show my Christmas spirit! lol...

Lots of others did some cool stuff with their sites as well. Like checkout what Playbox Studio did by using Showit Sites to add some snow fallign onto their homepage! So cool!

...and Nick Haskins from ShowitSitesDesigns added some cool tree ornaments to his site to give it some flair!

...and Studio 190 added a little ornament too. :) I love it.

Max is a stellar photographer

One of my business partners Max is an incredible artist in the music world but has recently started doing rocking photography! Checkout this cover shot he just did! ... and he even explains how he got the image from start to finish and it was really cool to see all the different things he did.

Click here to checkout how he got this cool image!

My friend Mark Davidson is doing something really cool! He's offering FREE photo shoots to anyone who buys a pair of TOMS shoes which inturn will donate a pair to someone in need!

Click here to check it out and watch the video.

Thanksgiving was wonderful

I went home to AZ and spent my first Thanksgiving ever with just my family! Can you believe that. We always go to friends houses and that's fun too but it was really great to just have us there. I got to see my Showit partner Todd and his beautiful family while I was there but I didn't see any other friends b/c my trip was super short.

Then I flew to SF to spend a day with Allie and her family which was wonderful! We went and cut down a Christmas tree! I had never done that before. Here is a picture of me and Allie with the saw that I used to cut down the tree. I am still sore.

On the business front I woke up on Friday after Thanksgiving to a whole bunch of emails for sales and things and thought I should do a sale as well but I hadn't prepared for it so I didn't have a fancy email all designed so my first instinct was to skip it because it takes forever to make those emails all pretty but then I remembered "The path to perfection only leads to procrastination" and so I just typed up some sales and sent'em out like a normal email and WOW! Nearly 500 orders in four days! Showit Web absolutely dominated with over 300 orders. Showit Sites rocked with 58 signups and Showit-DVD pumped out over 100 DVD's!

We had orders from over a dozen countries all from a simple email blast. No big advertising campaign - no big plan - just great products AND an incentive to buy now.

This is mind boggling to me because I almost didn't bother running the sale because I couldn't make the email look pretty. How are you doing this in your business? Are you missing out on revenue because of this *need* to get things perfect? Are you running promotions to your clients right now to help them get gifts for the holidays? Help them out! Especially your grooms! Email every groom you've ever shot and tell them you'll give them a discount if they order something for their bride this week. Guys need this sort of help and will thank you for it!

:)

Jeff Newton and Moka Designs

I'm just getting ready to board my flight but had to hop on OSP real quick and I saw that JT over at MokaDesigns just knocked out another insane Showit Site! Be sure to check this out!

CLICK HERE!

Sweet!

I'm leaving but not yet

My area is getting evacuated again but I can't really leave because I gotta pack. I have a flight at 6:00am tomorrow (which is 7 hours from now). I don't really see my house getting messed up by flooding but they keep reporting on the news from Las Alturas so I guess they are freaked out but I dunno. I'm sick of staying in hotels. I've been in hotels for the past couple of weeks and I want one night in my own bed! Ok....gotta go. :)

Unplug and Connect

Yesterday after church I buzzed up to the house to take a few pictures of what was left of my neighbors homes. I got the chance to chat with some of them and hear about how they were dealing with the loss. There is certainly a lot of sadness and shock going through our community but there is also a lot of support. Times like this cause people to connect in ways that they hadn't been before.

I think our world needs to become more connected in ways that don't involve broadband lines or cell phones. We need to be present with one another. This morning I got reading a book on my Kindle that I have no idea how it got there. It's called "The Only Way to Win the Race of Life" - Maybe my dad snuck it on there but there was a great story that this teacher told.

This teacher had been studying and teaching like crazy at his school as well as speaking to huge crowds reaching hundreds of thousands of people a year and was passing on incredible things to his students as a result. But at the end of each year the graduating students were always allowed 15 seconds to thank whoever had the biggets impact in their life and year after year his name was never mentioned. He came to the realization that influence in people's life had a strong correlation with a personal investment of time. This story came as a huge smack in the face to me. I often fall into the trap of thinking more is better when reaching more people is useless if I'm not connecting with them.

Times like this make me want to unlplug and connect.

I have a new phone number

Just letting everyone know that I changed my phone number. I changed it a couple of weeks ago but had to get another "new number" because the last number had a lot of people calling it looking for somebody else.

Just wanted to let you know that these are my old numbers and are no longer active.

805.452.1470
805.637.2034

I'm off to watch Westmont in the first round of the national tournament. This is their first trip back since I was there *spoken in a very prideful tone* ;P

...but you have to read this article in the LA Times about their win vs. Azusa last week. I cried when I read it - seriously. My coach (and his family with 5 kids) had their house burn to the ground in the fire and the two days later they played this match!

Click here to read it!

Back to the Hotel

Back to the Hotel, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I had to head back to the Canary because for the next couple of days
there is a cleaning crew at the house with these giant fans and
vaccums and all sorts of crazy stuff. They clean every inch of the
house which is crazy but it was impossible to work with all the
commotion so I'm back downtown.

I love it down here. I got up early and ran down along the beach and
now I'm having a quiet morning.

:) the Canary is pretty cool. Last night I hungout in this neat little
lounge area with my buddy Michael and had appetizers and there is also
a sweet rooftop place to go and chill.

Tim Halberg Video

Checkout Tim Halberg's rocking new video! This is so great and my guess is that this will do more for selling him than anything else. Honestly these videos are so powerful. I think Tim edited this himself which is incredible. He's a man of many talents.

If you don't want to edit it yourself hitup my man Paul at PhotographersReel.com if you're looking for something like this! You can see what he's done for me, Jasmine Star, Bobby Earle and has a bunch more coming!

I've missed this

I've missed this, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

It's been a week since I've been able to stay at my house but I'm back!

It's incredible to be home. There is more damage than expected to the
house and the insurance company is actually calling it "extreme
damage" but really I'm incredibly thankful. The majority is in the
yard and the kitchen. The wood floor in the kitchen got warped because
the electricity was out and the refrigerator leaked water.

I'm gonna snap some more pics from my neighborhood tomorrow.

Just starting the craziness

Just starting the craziness, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

We are writing - shooting - editing a short film today. It's divided
into two teams and our team is so stacked I don't even think this will
be a competition. :) let the fun begin!

Pictures of the devastation

Live streaming video by Ustream

Tonight I got my first peak up at my house which was relatively untouched. One side of my yard got torched and the wooden stairs leading down to my house caught fire and it's a pretty amazing story because a guy from my church, Everett, was assigned to turn off all the gas lines up in my neighborhood and so he swung by my house and noticed that my stairs were on fire so he hosed them off and put the fire out! Isn't that incredible!

My neighbors weren't so lucky. 4 out of the 8 houses on my culdesac are completely gone. Here are some pictures I snapped today.

Biltmore Service and the Tea Fire

Hey everyone!

Just a quick video to let you know that I'm alive and kickin. My rocking insurance agent Josh Stichter put me up at the 4 Season until the evacuation is lifted and that has been really nice. This place is a dream and the service is unreal. Gary and Missy Fong always stays here whenever he comes to SB and raves about it and now I know why. It's great to watch and listen to the staff.

I'm excited to see wedding photographers revamp their service. I really believe that will be the key factor to succeeding through the upcoming years - service service service.

Apparently four houses on my culdesac burned! :( I don't know how that could be or what that means but according to this report that is the stat. Five more burned on the street leading up to my house and dozens upon dozens burned on the street going down the hill behind my house.

Update

.
Thanks for all your love and support! What an incredible night. From the news this morning it appears that one of the houses on my little culdesac burned down but I took this picture from a better spot this morning and it shows my house is still standing but probably pretty smoked out.

We're gonna try and get up there today but most of the roads are blocked so I'm not sure if we can get there.

Update:
13 Injured but no deaths reported
Over 100 homes were destroyed
Several buildings at Westmont burned down including a ton of the faculty housing.
Spread to 2500 Acres

Whoa

So after another day of delayed and missed flights I arrived in LAX to tons of messages from friends asking if I was ok and I was like yea dude what happened and they told me about this gnarly fire happening and so instead of waiting out my flight I got a car to bring me up to SB and it's insane.

The fire is all around my house. If you are listening on the news you will hear streets like Las Alturas which is the street that my house is on and Sycamore Canyon. I took this picture from downtown to show you how the smoke has just engulfed my house.

I actually haven't even been able to go up there but Deyl and Allie grabbed all the important stuff which was about a two handfuls of stuff. I really don't have that much stuff so that's good and I talked to my friend and insurance guy Josh and he was actually up at the house guarding it and had already assigned a team to come and put fire retardent stuff all over my house so that is pretty cool.

I was really hungry so I went to McDonalds and Rob Lowe was there. It was like the only place open to eat b/c all the power is out.

Westmont is really jacked. A ton of buildings burned and I guess all the students are in the Gym which is a safe place but please keep everyone in your prayers. Some people are already injured and there are a lot of elderly that live on the Riviera and possibly can't get out as quickly.

Current Stats
800+ Acres burned
70+ houses
4 burn victims

OSP South 3 - Awesome!!!

Wow! What a group this was! I have some pictures and more to post but I just wanted to get up this video and encourage everyone to get together in person! The online communities are great but there is nothing that can replace getting together in person.

***Sorry about that I'll upload the video again later*** Not sure why the audio is weird. :)

Showit Sites Design

We had a great design session with Nate, if you missed it you can watch the replay below:
Free TV : Ustream

My New Website!

Hey Everyone! I have a quick layover here in North Carolina on my way to OSP South :) ...and I'm super excited about seeing everyone! I also just launched my new website and I'd love to know what you think!

I built this site in the last week and as I experimented more and more with Showit Sites I was amazed at what it can do. This tool really allows us to have a unique web presence that will create value in our business.

CLICK HERE to see it!

Morning Chat #1

I'm working on booking a wedding in Mexico for January and I had some thoughts about online video and eliminating fear in prospective clients. Watch the video!

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

Workshop Mania :)

Today David Beckstead is having a workshop at the Freedom House and it's been amazing seeing all of his amazing photos. He's been an inspiration to me ever since I started shooting weddings.

December Workshops
Another workshop happening up here is The Boudour Divas in December!

...and if you're looking for a killer workshop in Hawaii next month be sure to checkout Mike Colon's workshop!

January / February Workshops
Lastly, there is little old me having a couple all inclusive Freedom and Slumber workshops at the Freedom House in January and February. They are already half filled and there are less than 5 spots left for each one! Each one is limited to 10 people.

Another Sweet Showit Site!

I love this website! I saw one of Wayne Toshikazu's original designs and I was like this dude is gonna make a rocking site and he sure did!

Be sure to go check it out! Totally different, totally unique! Killer job!

Click here to see his site!