Today is blog day!

Tonight at Rocks (right across the street from my place) Dom from Reality is playing and it's gonna be sweet! There's a 5 dollar cover charge but I'll take care of that for anybody who wants to go. He is awesome! Here's a shot of him with Pastor Britt and Pastor G.

Sweet! He's on at 10pm so get there or come to my place beforehand and we'll cruise together!

Love it!

It isn't very often that I'm impressed by video. Video is just incredibly difficult to make it artistic and simple which is how I prefer images to be presented but I just saw this video today that Scarlett from Captivating Studios put on her blog and thought it was fantastic so check it out! I didn't see how much she's charging for this type of engagement video but it should be several thousand dollars because this is awesome!

Ok wow.

I was hoping to post up more fun pics and stuff yesterday but my laptop ran out of power and I didn't have my powercord so I had to wait till today.

Anyway...Janey posted up a fun slideshow here so be sure to check that out! and this picture is from the second night when it was just us photographers...also I think I found out the trick to getting the best presents on your birthday so for all you kids and grownups who love presents the trick is to ask that nobody bring presents. I seriously am so bummed that I didn't figure this out when I was five because this year I asked for no presents and I got the coolest stuff and now I feel like I wasted 26 previous opportunities! Live and learn I guess.

...and then I just had to show you the Barlow-Birthday-In-A-Box! In it there is all sorts of sweet stuff including a whoopie cushion which will be great for times when Gary Fong is not around and all my favorite stuff AND a coupon booklet which is killer!!!



I seriously am so lucky to have the friends that I do and at dinner I thanked everyone for all the love, support, and encouragement and I want to say the same to all of you! Getting to know everyone in person and virtually has been such a gift for me and I'm so amped to meet more of you as we continue on this journey together.

Much love,
DJ

Birthday preview

My birthday was perfect! I was so stoked to see so many of you last night (email me your pics) and then tonight we just had a small sushi night and then the ladies came back to my place for some cake that Amy and Janey made and it was so good! Here they are singing happy birthday.

Amy Nave - thank you so much for putting all of this together! You're amazing!

...and I have more fun stuff to post but I am so so so tired so I have to go to bed but I'll be able to get more stuff up tomorrow.

Here is a video of the cake. :)

...and thanks to everyone for the emails, phone calls, and packages! I got a very special "Barlow-birthday-in-a-box" that I can't wait to show you...and props on Colon's blog. :)

:) 'night!
DJ

Inspired!

I had the chance to work with Scott Corridan and his crew for the first time and they are incredible.



I've honestly never seen a wedding like this one and it was inspiring to see how they managed the day and I heard a saying once that there's no such thing as a perfect wedding but after today I must disagree.

...I would've added more pics to the show but I've gotta be up in a few hours for church and then I'm helping my buddy Dane shoot a wedding so it's double duty for me this weekend!

I'll post more pictures and talk more about today's experience on Monday...until then enjoy the show.

CLICK HERE!

:)
DJ

p.s. Most of the sweet shots were taking by Raya Carlisle.

My baby is back!

When I was in Italy I busted my Mark II and it's been really difficult for me to be without her. Don't laugh. But yesterday I got her back from Canon and she's all better and I wanted to test her out today and I was pleased to see that she was as excited to be back with me as I was to be back with her. I really do think the Canon 1d Mark II is the perfect camera for wedding shooters and over the last month I've shot weddings with the 30d and the 5d and those are great cameras that will get the job done but nothing matches the Mark II.

So another question I have deals with how you all shoot. I've always been a huge fan of shooting all Manual. I don't know why but I just think with digital it really is the easiest and best (most consistent) way to go. So does everyone shoot mostly manual?

Tonight I shot the rehearsal for a wedding I'm shooting tomorrow and I shot it all JPEG but I shot it the same way I'd shoot it if I was shooting RAW and so you can see exactly how all the pics come straight out of camera (despite a little bit of flattening and darkening b/c of the compression) and so this style of shooting combined with some automation settings in post production leaves me with almost zero work to do after the wedding.

Here's a link to the gallery which is almost finished uploading and other than a few shots I deleted while I was shooting they are all there with their meta data.

:) This weddings is gonna be pretty insane so check back for the slideshow!

Ooops

Sorry for all you who tried to make orders or go on OSP tonight. I guess I shouldn't send out my newsletter to everyone at once because it keeps getting bigger and there is just over 4900 people on there so after I sent it this afternoon there was tons of people taking advantage of the good sales and even more on OSP and it maxed out the server.

The situation with forums and e-stores is they run off of server "resources" because it's possible that 1000's of requests are being made of the server at the same time from hundreds of different people and so it's super gnarly on the server and there really isn't much of a way to prepare for a big rush so I think I'll try and send my newsletters out to only 1000 people at a time next month.

Again, sorry for the inconvenience and b/c of the max-out my email has also been stalled but it's starting to come in now...it was kind of nice though because my dad saw that my site was down and so he called and I got to chat with him and mom and they are so busy I don't get to talk to them much so that was something good that came out of the server being down.

:)
DJ

OSP - 100,000 Posts!!!

I wanted to say a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all of you because OSP hit 100,000 posts! This is incredible and the family that we have here is truly one of a kind. Whenever people would ask questions at the PUG groups I would always be so excited to tell them about OSP and how all their questions and all of their life problems would be solved if they'd just get connected in with all of you! :) Thanks for continually growing and giving! It really is the best way to live.

So yesterday I returned home from Kona and I must admit I'm excited to be home for a few weeks. I haven't been home for more than 3 days since the last week in May but it was a total rush and I loved it. There's something eerily peaceful about being on the road. There's almost a sense of security in it that I haven't experienced before. When you're constantly moving it seems like problems have a tendency to fix themselves...which is really nice because I have a lot of problems :)

Anyway...I really just wanted to post up some pictures of the wonderful people I met and I know that so many of you have more pics so please send'em over because I'd love to have them and I'll post'em up.

I can't wait to see you at PartnerCon in just a few weeks!

Brett Golfing

FINALLY made it back to SB! Yea!

Anyway - My video guy Brett is a stud golfer and so instead of being a little girly man like me he decided to go out and golf and then make a video...it's funny (or at least he thinks it is) LOL

CLICK HERE for the VIDEO!

ENJOY!
DJ

Barlows cheer me up!

I don't know how they do it but the Barlow's always cheer me up!

(*DJ being a cry baby*) Today we had a long flight back from Kona and when we got in the flight was 20 minutes late and then we ran to our next flight to SB and they had just closed up and wouldn't let us on...bummer...so we went to the Red Carpet Club to get booked on a flight for tomorrow and the lady at the desk gave me so much attitude I couldn't believe it...she actually made a face at me! Like a little kid!

I almost laughed but I was already bothered from her interrupting me and saying "You really couldn't make it to the gate in time." She made a face like this but without the glasses - it was so weird.

So anyway...they had to find us a room so they put us up in the Westin down the street and we'll be heading home tomorrow but when I checked in I checked Sarah Barlow's blog and saw this picture in her slideshow and it totally made my day all better!



Sorry for whining... :) Thanks for listening! I feel better.

p.s. Another thing that brought my spirits up was watching Gary Fong operate this big machine thing! Oh Wow!

Server Issues

Sorry about the slow and unusable server today. I'm on a limited shared account but I guess one of the other jokers did something that messed it all up. Anyways, here's a little video to entertain you in the meantime.



...Brett's driving is another reason I needed a massage...he must've learned from Sarah Barlow and Liana!

CLICK HERE for the video!

Enjoy!
DJ

Back ache

Well this morning I got my first ever massage and boy did I need it! Wow! I've been lugging these bags through airport after airport and I just figured out why my bags are so heavy - books! Really everything I know has come from real life experience or from reading books and it's amazing how much you can learn from just taking the time to read books and then thinking about how to apply the principles to your life.

Here is a picture of the books that I brought to read on this trip

and then last night I was listening to some word-of-mouth marketing presentations and found some more books to get so I swung over to Borders and picked up some more...and notice that all my books are hard back! I don't like paperback books because I save my books and I write in them and I want them to last a long time so if it's offered in hard back I always buy that.


People always ask me how I have time to read and although I do try and spend a couple of hours reading every morning I also found that I can spend an extra hour or two reading each day by just having a book with me when I'm waiting to eat or waiting for a plane or something...so I know you have time to read and believe me it's so important to read!

...oh yea...and I didn't bring my phone charger out here or on the last leg of my tour last week so if you've called or texted I probably haven't gotten it (sorry) :)

Kona!

Eric and Roz had such an incredible wedding yesterday and they made my job really easy because everything was so beautiful! My buddy Brett got some sweet video which we'll put up later but checkout the slideshow with some new music!

***Click here*** to see the slideshow!

Hawaii - Yea!

So after the final PUG at the Pictage Headquarters Amy Nave brought me back up to SB for a few hours of sleep and then me and Brett took off for Kona! Yea! God must've known exactly what I needed after the tour b/c this is incredible! :) I'm so excited to be here and I have to shoot a little bit today and tomorrow but then I have a couple of days to relax and read.

Here's a shot from the hotel room.

...and here's a couple of fun ones I snapped just after we landed...

A new life...

...a blessed life...

Well 6 months ago I certainly wouldn't have imagined myself staying out until 2 or 3am every night in a new city hanging out with people who I had just met....and most of all I would've never imagined myself enjoying it! haha...

I seriously feel like the most blessed person in the world right now because over the past 4 weeks I've had the chance to travel to 12 different cities and hangout with groups of photographers that have forever changed my life. I'm so indebted to all of you and I can't thank you enough for sharing your lives with me and teaching me so much about what it means to live, work, and serve in our industry.

When I was 16 years old my dad sat me down and said,

"David, if you always focus your business on helping other people - you'll always have plenty of work."

...and he did an incredible job of living that out and I hope to follow his example in my own way and that's really what this tour was about for me - helping people. In Denver my friend Jensen asked me what I had noticed the most from traveling around to these different groups and I said, "that people need help" and I include myself in that statement. We all need help and we all need each other and there really is nothing better than getting together and spurring each other on - celebrating in each other's victories and working through our challenges as friends and as family!

We're so blessed to get to go through this life together and I've been so encouraged by all of you and I hope to one day be able to give back even a small percentage of what you all have given to me.

I cherish all of the relationships I've made and I can't even begin to tell you how priviledged I feel to have gotten to know each one of you.

It's 5 hours till my flight to LA for the final PUG meeting so I had better get some rest but once again - thank you and may God richly bless you in a way that only he can.

yours,
DJ

Funny video

So at the wedding last weekend Brett came flying around as I was trying to park and I didn't know what to say on the video and then I accidently clicked on my windshield wipers and Brett was laughing so hard b/c I don't even know how to work my own car.

Seriously - I'm so retarded and I don't think I've driven my own car in a month b/c I'm constantly in taxis.

Anyway...here's the video. LOL...

Enjoy! I'm here at the Barlows and it's been so fun! Natalie had a big party last night and I got to shoot her with the airsoft gun! Awesome! We're headed off bowling right now! I'm gonna dominate!

Reunion Wedding!

I love shooting my friends weddings because it's like a big reunion of all my college buddies (and I get paid to be there!...although they do get 1/2 off) but anyway tonight was incredible and I was really stoked for Steve and Cait because they really had an incredible wedding and I had blast. I'll have a slideshow up later but I have a flight to Chicago in 6 hours so I gotta get packed now but here is one of my favorite shots! ...and the trick to getting the little star for the sun is to put your aperature really high like f/22...I didn't know this for the longest time but now I know and it's really fun to do.

Yo

Well it was a wild week and I wish I could've posted more but with more cancelled flights



and crazy security issues



I spent most of my extra time thinking of ways to sneak my hair product past security...and I succeeded so even though they got my toothpaste they didn't get my hair stuff!

...and I learned a lot about just accepting situations and rolling with the punches because I see how this "scarcity of time" really does affect people and I don't want my schedule to affect the way I treat people.

I just arrived back in SB and I'm heading out to shoot a rehearsal tonight and the wedding tomorrow and then I'm really excited to head to Chicago at 6am Sunday morning! Getting to hang with the Barlow's is always a highlight for me and then I have the final 3 PUGS next week! Chicago, Detroit and LA and then I head straight from LA to Kona for a wedding out on the Island! Yea! :) I'll also have a few days to wind down out there.

On my way home

Wow! It's 2am and I'm just hitting the bed after a wonderful PUG meeting here in NJ! Such a great group of people and I'll write more later but I have to be up in 3 hours for my flight back to SB! :)

Thanks for all the love and the prayers! I couldn't survive this without all of you!

me

The last two days didn't go very well. I felt like I was in kind of a funk and I didn't have much patience or love for the people around me. I had two days at home inbetween 4 weeks of being gone and so I was really excited about that time. I had been thinking about the things that I wanted to do, the people I wanted to see and the time I would spend just being by myself and it was just this morning as I was reading, thinking, and praying that I realized that I was in a funk because all I had thought about for the past couple of days was what I wanted. I had wasted those days on myself. I'm sorry for those of you who had to be be around me and if you have a minute please pray that I'll be able to stay focused on others because I'm slowly finding that to be a much more fulfilling way to live, but all too often I don't live that way.

Yours,
DJ

New Experience

Well tonight and over the next couple of months I'll be doing lots of filming for new stuff on my website and some tutorials and stuff and so my video guy Brett said ya always have to wear makeup on video and I was like whatever dude...I have AC and I hardly sweat anyway but he forced me to get makeup and I was like in and outta there in 2 minutes but it wasn't so bad.

***Here's the video!***

Hope you enjoy!
DJ

At Home

Well I flew home today and I get to stay in my own bed for two nights which is super nice...but I kinda miss being out and meeting new people each night. That's really weird for me to say but the past two weeks were amazing and I'm excited to head out again on Monday. Joanne Bartone took the cool shot above in Pittsburgh.

Yesterday I got to spend the day in Tennessee and the Holritz's took me out for sushi which is my favorite! :) ...and Alison Bynum gave me my very own TN Pug shirt! Yea! ...and there are some more cool pics on her blog


...and I just got to hang with Tim Halberg who's doing some sweet stuff and I'm stoked because he's totally thinking about his business in the right way and constantly looking for and finding ways to create more freedom for his life.

Shy Show!

I'm so proud of my friend Shyla! She did a slideshow and experienced the amazing power these shows have!



A few weeks ago we were hanging out and she told me that she didn't do a slideshow at one of the weddings she shot and I nearly took her out back and flogged her because not doing a slideshow at a wedding is totally unacceptable!!! So she did one at this last wedding and already booked a wedding from it! These are her awesome shots and I bet she'll do slideshows EVERY TIME now! :)

Read the story on her blog! It's funny.

:)

1000 Showit Web 2.0 users!

Showit Web 2.0 was just offically released in April and yesterday we reached 1000 orders! Wow! That's incredible! .... and I think it says a lot for the quality and effectiveness of this application and a lot of my thanks goes to all of you who shared what you needed for your business and it's always so encouraging to hear how it's helped grow your business. I've been showing some of my favorite emails on the PUG tour from people who's businesses and lives have been changed by Showit Web and here are just a couple of them...

Here's one that a bride sent to Laura Novak (click on it to read it)



...and here's one that Brad Person sent to me showing the amazing power of Showit Web to be spread using the "Word of Mouse" marketing that is so powerful today!

Nashville PUG!

I think I'm a southern boy at heart. I really love the south and how warm and friendly everyone is here. It's no wonder that there are so many OSPers down here and we had the PUG in the coolest little room that Alison Bynum setup for us with a coffee bar and Frappuccino drinks from Starbucks and it was just awesome...and then 15 or so went out to dinner afterwards and I love getting to know everyone - that is seriously my favorite part and I don't get to do it at all of the cities but because I'm staying here an extra day I was able to stay out late and see my wonderful friend Pepper Nix who just happened to be here for a wedding!

My new friend Sara D Harper just sent me this picture and I hope everyone else will send me more pics or post'em on your blog and send me a link so I can see'em and so I can keep up with what ya'll are doing! Blogs are awesome so please post up your links here!

Ok...I'm gonna go read and maybe hit the gym a little bit because this is my first day of not traveling since last Tuesday so I'm very excited to have some FREE time! :)

I <3 NY!

When I arrived at Jason Groupp's huge studio in the art district of NY I almost cried because Frank, Luke, Alisha, and Timco where all there and it was just what I needed! I seriously couldn't believe it and it was the best surprise ever! Thank you guys so much! Wow! I'm still buzzing from seeing you and from how great everything went! So many awesome people here!

There were over 50 people there and it was incredible! A couple of weeks ago after my very first PUG in San Diego I talked with Raquel from Pictage and she basically said, in her very sweet midwestern way, "New York is gonna eat you alive - clean it up"... because we both knew that first one was not great and so I've worked really hard to make sure that each of these talks is relevant to the groups that I'm talking with and I was really stoked at how these first two on the East Coast have gone!

Afterwards 15 of us went down to this little bar called Half King and hung out and chatted a bit and then I snuck off for a few minutes with an old friend from Santa Barbara and ate a Gyro at the famous 53rd and 6th Street stand...sooo good

.... and in a few hours I head to Nashville! I'm so amped...although my first flight got cancelled so my connection will be a little bit tighter but I think it'll all work out!

Brilliant!

Well I just got finished with the Pittsburgh PUG and I'm psyched because this group was awesome and very excited about taking advantage of these new tools that create so much more freedom in our lives.



...and I also just saw the most brilliant thing ever on MySpace! Chris and Tammie Biley from Largo Photography are probably the smartest people ever because checkout the amazing marketing their doing with Showit Web 2.0 on MySpace.

Click here to see their MySpace page!

They are from AZ, and I tend to believe that everyone from AZ is naturally blessed with a few more smarts than everyone else but that has yet to be proven, Anyway they are doing these insanely awesome Senior Portraits and then posting Showit Web 2.0 shows up for the clients to see and using "Word-of-Mouse" marketing to spread the word and they said they are booking jobs like crazy!

Rock on!
DJ

Officer DJ

I arrived in Pittsburgh late last night after a short delay in Chicago and because of the delay my rental car company had closed so I went to all the all the other companies and all they had were either big vans like A-Team vans or Police cars so I went with a police car. :)



...and the car is so funny because it has an analog clock inside! I didn't know they still put those in cars...seems like a hazard to me b/c it takes me awhile of staring at it to figure out what time it is.



Here's a shot from my hotel room - it's beautiful. Because I'm a Starwood Gold Member they always upgrade my room and give me the best one they can find and this one overlooks the river and the city and it's gorgeous.



Tonight is the PUG at Panera Bread! I'm so excited!!! They have these Cinnamon Crunch bagels that are sooooo good! Whenever I visit the Barlows we always go and get them and I think they're a bit healthier than Krispy Kreme's so that's good.

:)