Thankful

This past week of celebrating Gary and Missy's wedding was one of the best weeks of my life. I love them so much and seeing them so in love and with all of their friends around them was an incredible experience that I wish I could live every day.

One of the reasons it was such an incredible week is because Crystal Hutchinson has been devoting her life to it and I feel like the luckiest man alive because in a few weeks she's moving from Ohio and into my guest apt and is going to essentially be in charge of my life and so a lot of you will get to meet her and see for yourself how wonderful she is.

Last night we stayed up almost all night because nobody wanted to say goodbye and I only got one hour of sleep so when I got home today I crashed out and slept for 7 hours this afternoon. When I woke up I didn't know where I was. I was expecting to see Gary's staircase above my head but once I realized I was back home I became so grateful for my friends and for all the people who have brought meaning to my life.

I also wanted to thank all of you for the wonderful birthday wishes and gifts. I haven't opened the mail yet but I'm excited to go through it.

Below is a little highlight video that Elysium Productions put together and it's really fantastic so be sure to click and watch it. There's a fun shot of me jumping into the pool with Bob Davis' son on my shoulders! :)

---

Gary and Missy!

*** Be sure to look at the new pictures I added and Jessica Claire's slideshow below***

So I have a few images for you from Jessica Claire's blog! She did an amazing job and if you thought "Uncle Bob's" were difficult to deal with try having the Reverend Joe Buissink jumping in for shots along with Master Colon and his monster 200mm f/2.0 and the legendary Denis Reggie letting loose 10fps with each trigger pull.

I don't know how Jessica Claire even got a shot in and how she kept her sanity through it all.

See her blog for more AMAZING pictures and some of the pictures below are also from Jen Bebb who is an incredible photographer here in Canada. :)

...and watch Jessica Claire's slideshow! AMAZING!!!

Fun day

Fun day, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Yesterday was beautiful beyond words so I'm waiting for the slideshow
and a few videos to get uploaded and then I'll share them. Right now
we are just enjoying the gorgeous day.

Special Moment with Mike Colon

Nathan Holritz shot this video of a special moment between me and Mike Colon and you won't want to miss it!

OSP is AMAZING

Our dear friend and OSPer Leann Wrightsman had her gear stolen at a wedding and I've been hearing about that happening more and more which is really sad but what's amazing is how all of you came to the rescue!

CLICK HERE to read more about it.

Golf and Fun!

Today was so awesome! We headed straight out for golf and it was so fun! We're a bit unorthodox in our style of and etiquette on the course which makes it way more fun. We're going again tomorrow and I'm so excited!

I actually had a decent round but I'm not very consistent but I did have one birdie on this par three and a couple of pars which was cool.



and checkout Gary's putting style



and Mark Strickland had a rough time with this distance marker but I also hit three balls backwards on this hole so we're claiming this hole was cursed.

Champions

Today was quite a day.

It's impossible to completely share the emotions I felt today but I will try.

This sort of experience was new to me and I was amazed at how powerful it was and I admit I'm not completely sure of all the reasons why but seeing my friends set out to do something and then hearing about the discipline they've had training for this for months and months and then getting the opportunity to witness their accomplishment was incredible.

At the start they all took off in this sea of hats and it was impossible to see who was who but knowing the challenge they had ahead of them and the crazy cold water they were diving into I certainly didn't envy them at that point.



Then watching them charge out of the water, exhausted but determined gave me such a rush and so much respect for each one of them.

At this point I left to get packed because I'm gonna be in Canada this week but I came back down to see the finish and to stand in awe of what all of them had just accomplished.



I cried as they approached the finish line because I was so proud - inspired - full of admiration and wonderfully jealous while at the same time being so grateful to have these people in my life.


It was a funny and instense mix of feelings and I'm starting to cry again and I have to stop b/c I'm in the Seattle airport and people are gonne think I'm weird.

So thank you.

They rocked!

I got up at 6am this morning and went down to see my friends compete in the Santa Barbara Triathalon! Wow! I am so impressed! It was so fun and as soon as I got there the announcer announced Paige, Vanessa and Amy and he has some nickname for them like the training divas or something - I forgot but it was funny.

Amy is not too thrilled about the shark

(I totally made that up! lol - that article is from two years ago and I just changed the date and put a scary shark picture on it in Photoshop)

...Checkout this video! haha!

More pictures to come! ... right now they're on the 34 mile bike ride and then a 10 mile run! Amazing!

I hope my friends didn't read this!

I don't know if my friends saw this before they nodded off for the big race and I'm certainly not going to tell them because Amy would freak but can you believe that the day before the big Triathalon there was a gnarly shark sighting! LOL ...wow!

I'm gonna go chear them on at 7am tomorrow morning and the first thing is the swim so I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled because this shark was spotted just a few miles from where they're swimming!

Amy has been so scared of this and I'm thinking they're all sleeping because they have to be there at 5am but how hilarious - I had to post it.

...and when I read this I decided to search around some more and found some sweet pictures of sharks.

Telescope

Despite Brett's overwhelming confidence the gift is actually a telescope! So awesome! We've been spying on all of Santa Barbara today! hahaha! It's so fun we can see people walking on the pier and riding on their boats way out in the ocean! Gnarly crazy!

Deep down I had hoped that it was Regis and RSJ riding on a pony but the telescope rocks! and congrats to Jeannie Cochran who guessed it!

Another crazy thing happened and that is that someone bought Showit Web from Austria and Iceland! Whoa! Showit Web is now being used in 37 countries!

oh yea...what do you think of the new music on my music player to the right ----->

What is this!

So tonight Deyl, Paige and Vanessa surprised me with an early birthday gift. I can't believe how wonderful my friends are.

Can you guess what is under the cloth?

:)

Go in your closet

Couple of things...

FIRST - it's totally hot when chicks speak multiple languages. I can't even speak one language so I get stoked when people can speak more than one. So my friend Vanessa from NJ who you remember from this post leaves me messages in other languages so please translate them for me. I think this one is in French and I have a lot of French friends so thanks for telling me what she is saying.

Secondly. I posted below about what you were doing that is different and my buddy Damian from SB is the only one who shared and what he is doing is totally sick. He does these fashion photo/video shoots and they rock.


CLICK HERE and watch the video!

...so if you're not doing something cool and different start today! Go sit in your closet until you think of something cool you can do. There are a million ideas out there so stop reading my dumb blog and go think of something cool!

New PPR Video

I know many of you have already checked out this month's FREE PPR video but if not be sure to go watch! I talk about thinking through the real reason we're in business and how important it is to step out of the norm and do something unique and different.

I also know that so many of you have been challenging yourself this year and have been pushing yourself to the next level and bringing others with you by trying new things and sharing those ideas with others.

So what's something new that you've tried this year that has worked! Many of you have tried doing slideshows for the first time - awesome! I'm sure you've been amazed by the result! Others have possibly tried a night shoot or maybe a "Trash the Dress" session. Whatever it is post up a link so others can see what you're up to and be inspired!

CLICK HERE to watch the video!

Beauty Defined

The wedding last night was beyond perfect. It was miraculous ... and hopefully you'll get to hear more of the story behind this unbelievable celebration sometime in the future but until then watch this show.

CLICK HERE

Enjoy!
DJ

p.s. I'll share my love answers in the thread below and thanks for all your responses. It's been so neat reading them and hearing everyone's thoughts. :)

Love is on my mind

I was out for Sushi last night at an amazing sushi place in Montecito called Sakana. So good! I've heard it's one of the best in the U.S. so next time Nathan Holritz is in town I'll have to have him verify that since he is the authentic master sushi tester. A lot of the conversations I've been having lately have been about love and relationships and I'm reading this book called "A Year with C.S. Lewis" and he's been talking a lot about love too and he says,

"Love as distinct from "being in love" - is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit."

I got asked an interesting question and I often get asked questions about being single and it kinda cracks me up. Actually earlier this week my buddy Deyl asked me if I wanted to get married *not to him* and I kinda laughed and he scolded me because he said I always laugh when he asks stuff like that and I guess it makes him think that I don't put time into that part of my life which is kinda true but I think I've been giving it more thought lately and realizing that Love will probably come after a commitment, through maintaining it and strengthening it which is what has been so difficult for me to commit to.

Anyway, last night I was asked,

"On a scale from 1 to 10 how content are you being single?" 1 being not content at all - and 10 being totally content.

What do you think I answered and what do you think about this?

War Zone!

It's madness at my house right now. The first project was to smooth out the interior walls and wow. First they come in and strip everything off the walls and doors including the door frames and then they put on three different coats of stuff and then the last stage which is where they're at now they sand it down to make it really smooth. .... these guys are really great and they don't charge extra for the entertainment they bring! :)



Next week they'll dig up the floors and get it ready to put bamboo flooring in. Once that is done I can finally buy furniture which I love to do and start living in the main house. I will probably wait until later this year to start on the big exterior project.

I also have to give props to my friend Kristen Leigh who showed me the music player I have on the blog. She's an awesome photographer and is out in Chicago at Hotel Barlow right now so she's bound to have lots of fun things to post! :)

Babies are pretty cool

Last night Todd and Elisa had their 2nd baby and he's so cute! They did a home birth and you can see a slideshow on Todd's blog!

You all know Todd as the guy who built my website and then I didn't have any money to pay him for it and I still needed a tool to make slideshows so I convinced him to make Showit Web and I was totally shocked that he actually made it b/c he told me later he didn't think we'd sell more than 50 but he did it for me and that was so cool. We've sold over 4000 now. hehe and I still owe him for the website.

He's been one of my best friends since I was in elementary school. He was really the guy that got me into all this media stuff. He gave me my first stolen version of Photoshop 5.0 and a $150 scanner when we were both in high school! .... and then stayed on my case till I finally bought a legit version of Photoshop. He had started a video business and used to make the craziest videos morphing people's faces together.

I'm so blessed to have friends like Todd and without my friends I would be nowhere. The faith they've put in me and the risks they've taken have been incredible.

Anyway, I'm so excited for him and his family and the life they are creating.

Thank You

Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer the short survey I sent out. There were over 1800 responses so I'm taking some time going through everything and just FYI - the survey was anonymous so I can't really respond to people who wrote in "call me" or

or

Thank you
lol....I still answer my emails personally but sometimes it just takes a little while.

Regis is that you?
:)

-----------
As all of you know I have never put on a workshop myself even though I've been speaking on behalf of other companies for several years now. I guess there was always something that rubbed me wrong about putting myself "on-stage" and saying "come listen to me."

Anyway, next year I'm going to cut back on the workshops I do for other companies and just do 4 or 5 myself. I really want to choose where I invest my time and who I invest that time and energy with. If you didn't get the survey here is a sample of what I'm considering going over. Click the picture for a bigger view.

Definitely time to celebrate!

It was 4 years ago that I started building OSP and at the time I had no idea what it would turn into or how it would end up affecting so many people.

This place has become like a 2nd home for a lot of us and there have been so many incredible relationships that have started here and I still think we're just seeing the beginning of what this crew is going to do in the industry ... and in life in general.

A huge thanks to all of you for making this industry better and for sharing the love with everyone around you.

Last night OSP welcomed our 5,000 member. Incredible! ... and so we are certainly going to celebrate. For those of you coming to PartnerCon or those of you in the LA area stay tuned for more details!

In honor of this I'd also like to make an OSP book of some of our favorite memories. There are so many so I'm definitely gonna need your help so start thinking of crazy things that happened and collect some pictures and we'll get it put together!

500 more meters

I swam another 500 meters today. I knew you would want to know so that's why I'm telling you. The thing I don't like about swimming is getting in the water but other than that it's better than running

I heard that board shorts make it tougher to swim so I didn't wear them today but I don't think it helped that much. I dunno. Swimming is great though and it's been really beautiful here so I even shot a bunch of videos for ProPhotoResource and the Freedom Club outside yesterday.

Also, I went for 24 hours only having a few handfuls of Joe's O's and some coffee. I don't really need to eat I don't think. It's just mental. Sometimes on wedding days I look over and my 2nd shooters are slumped over b/c they're so hungry.

Yea - No more Spam!

Ok this is really great! I haven't had one bit of spam mail since I signed up so if you opened up your inbox and had to sift through a bunch of crapmail then sign up here. I think this is the future of email b/c now every email I get is qualified.

I used it for a couple of days and saw that it was brilliant before I told you guys about it and my friend Melissa Jill already signed up and if you sign up through my link which is the same price as if you sign up straight away I can show how to become a referrer yourself so when your friends sign up it credits your account and you get the service for free.

Cheers to the end of spam!

Hungry

Yesterday I swam 500 meters in my pool. I'm amazed because I don't really like to swim but I like swimming way more than running. My body feels so good after swimming and it feels terrible after running.

I swam in a new swimsuit that Keats and Jessica sent to me! They sent me a whole gift basket with swimming stuff so when I have guests they don't have to use my bath towels. lol How cool is this!

I also got a sweet picture from Jason Groupp! He shot it when he came out for the wedding in Maine and it's such an incredible picture. I hung it right inside the entry way of the apt.

I am so hungry right now. I don't have any food up here and I think I might die.

All I have is Joe's O's and no milk. My milk expired 4 months ago back in April so it's kinda funny that it still got moved to my new house. Oh well. I really might die and I want to put honey on the O's but without milk I can't.








I also started using this company to protect my email. There was a massive spam attack over the weekend and I started getting 400+ spam messages a day so I had to put an end to it. I haven't gotten a single piece of spam since and it feels so good. If you decide to do it sign up through my link because it's a referral link.

Let the fun begin!

So this week my friend Shane, who's managing the construction, brought in the troops and they've been going to town on this place! The first project is to smooth out the walls inside the house. It's a crazy project because of all the different angles and super high walls.

After they get all this stuff painted and sprayed on then they have to sand it off which I hear is gnarly because it fills the house with dust so I'm glad I can hide out in the apartment while all the work goes on.

So DUMB!

So I go online to make my mortgage payment today and to set it up as autopay and here are the steps:

1. Go online and type in your Loan number
- error "The account number you provided is incorrect"
2. Type it in again super carefully
- error "The account number you provided is incorrect"
3. Wow - I must have made a mistake - type it in again...
- error "The account number you provided is incorrect"

***This is madness so I called the company***

4. Apologize thinking I must've been doing something wrong but he informs me that in order to setup an online payment you have to go online and try to set it up and get the error message which says your account number is wrong (even though it isn't) and then eventually call in and they set it up manually. WOW! ...It gets better....

Then he also informed me that there is a $15 charge everytime to pay online. UH....are you serious? I asked the guy.

There is no charge for me to mail a check which requires somebody to receive the check, match it with my account and then go and deposit it....but there is a charge for all of that to happen automatically online with nobody involved.

I can't believe how dumb some systems are. Anyway, Wells Fargo has automatic bill pay where they will chop down trees and then print a check and then chop down more trees and put it in an envelope with a stamp and then have the mailman drive around in there little gas powered cars and smog up the world and deliver a check for me free of charge so I could set it up that way but I feel bad and it pisses me off that this system is so backwards.

Fire is getting close

Thanks for all the funny posts about Tiny. I'm happy to help the animals that come to the Freedom house and according to my neighbor lots will come. She said deer come through her yard and lay in the grass sometimes and so I'm excited to see a deer sometime!


On another note they had a big meeting in Montecito because the town might burn up and so everyone wanted to talk about it.

I didn't go but California is in a state of emergency because of this fire called the Zaca fire and it's crazy because it's super close and if the winds change my house will probably burn up which is kind of a bummer.

...but actually I'll get a totally new one then so I'd be amped and I don't really have much stuff anyway so I don't care if it burns up. I'll find out in the next day or two.

I saved Tiny!

The PPA meeting went great! There are lots of awesome photographers here in SB and I was stoked to meet so many of you! Let's all hang out again soon!

I also have some good video from the presentation that Kristin helped me capture and I'll be putting it up on the Freedom Club! Rock on!

...but the real highlight of today was when I saved Tiny. Watch the video once YouTube releases it. It will be ready soon but I'm going to bed because I'm going to LA tomorrow so I have to sleep.

Tonight!

I'm speaking tonight for Professional Photographers of Santa Barbara County (PPSBC).

I've never given a presentation in Santa Barbara before other than small workshops for Brooks so this is kinda cool. In a town of so many awesome photographers it's always difficult to get noticed and I actually found it was easier to get recognized outside of SB but I guess that makes sense.

It's just a few blocks from my house on APS so come by at 7pm! If people want we can come up and hang out at my place for bit afterwards.

Here is the flyer they just sent out yesterday so I'm sure there will be room.
(click to see it bigger)

Great weekend!

This weekend was so great! I had so many friends in town and I love Santa Barbara all the time but especially when I have visitors.

Gary was around all week which is always a riot and then Joy and Garrett Nudd came all the way out here from Chattanooga, TN to shoot a wedding and Regis Chen came up from OC so it was awesome!

On Sunday my friend Josh Stichter who handles the insurance on my house so if you hurt yourself jumping off the balcony he pays you and not me invited us to a Polo match. Santa Barbara has one of the best polo facilities in the U.S. and it was such a perfect Sunday afternoon activity.

Regis asked why the referrees in Polo don't ride on Zebras? lol That would be awesome.