Tuesday, December 30, 2008

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

Saturday, December 27, 2008

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.

Friday, December 26, 2008

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.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

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!

Monday, December 22, 2008

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!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

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!

Friday, December 19, 2008

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

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

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. :)

Monday, December 15, 2008

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.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

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.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

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!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008


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.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

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!

:)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

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!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

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. :)

Monday, November 24, 2008

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.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

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.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

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!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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.

Monday, November 17, 2008

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!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

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.




Saturday, November 15, 2008

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.

Friday, November 14, 2008

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

Thursday, November 13, 2008

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. :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Showit Sites Design

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

Monday, November 10, 2008

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!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

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

Friday, November 07, 2008

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.

Monday, November 03, 2008

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!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween Everyone!

This is Spooky!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I'm having some friends over for a murder mystery tonight which I'm really excited about and my Friend Deyl is crazy with his latest blog post! He'll donate $10 for EVERY blog comment if you watch the video about this organization!!! So go to his blog right now and watch the video and comment about it!

He's involved in this incredible organization called Opportunity International which does microcredit stuff. They are a heavy hitter across the world lending out millions and millions to small entrepreneurs. Most of you who read my blog are entrepreneurs and so you can understand what these other small businesses go through and having an organization like Opportunity International helping them out is literally the difference between life and death a lot of times.

Spooky!
DJ

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Photographers needed

My buddy Brad Person has an awesome business shooting newborns right at the hospital. He has also maximized the use of Showit Web! He put up 2500 shows last year! No wonder his business is booming! ;)

He is a great guy and gives a lot of time to NILMDTS and was featured on MSNBC for his work there. I can't watch this video without crying and I know many of you shoot for NILMDTS as well. What a wonderful organization.

CLICK HERE if you're in the Phoenix, Minneapolis or the San Francisco/Mountain View CA area and want to work with some great folks.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Earthquake!

I just experienced my first earthquake and it was pretty cool. There have been a few while I lived here but I've never felt them b/c I've been driving or something... it was a 2.8 and my house was shaking like crazy for just like two seconds and then it stopped and I went back to sleep.

If there was a really big earthquake my car would probably fall and crush me in my sleep b/c my garage is right above me.

You can see on the map A is where the center of the earthquake was and B is my house.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

OSP SOUTH!

Hey Everyone!

I'll post up about PhotoPlus tomorrow but first I'm super excited about OSP South! I can't believe it's just two weeks away! I even went and found some pics from 2006 and it got me even more amped to see all of you!


I was talking to my friend Markham from SmugMug and he is hooking up 5 of the contest winners with a FREE account for a year and is hooking up [b]everyone[/b] who comes to OSP South with these really nice camera straps and a 50% discount on the first year of SmugMug! He'll pop onto OSP and share more and feel free to ask him anything you'd like.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce all of you to him b/c they are gonna be making some big announcements soon regarding a new pro-lab offering as well as some killer customization options that you've all been waiting for.

See you all soon!
DJ

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

FREE Showit Web Update!


Come see me tomorrow at the Adobe Booth. I'll be presenting at 11:45 and sandwiched between some pretty amazing speakers.

I think I'm the intermission. :)

I'll try and get there early to hang with all of you coming out b/c after that I'm gonna be buzzing around a good bit since I only have one day here.












FREE Showit Web Upgrade!


- Two brand NEW and awesome songs by TJ Hill!
- Two sweet NEW timing templates to go along with them!
- Make Money NOW with Showit Books!

Totally free to offer these books! It's another new feature in Showit Web!
Watch this video to get started offering custom made books in five minutes!
Order books before December 1st to take advantage of the insane low starting price of $29 per book!

Click here to download the FREE UPDATE!

If you haven't bought it yet SAVE $60!!! on a new version of Showit Web if you order in the next 48 hours by using the code "48HOURS" during checkout. Click here to order!


Freedom and Slumber Workshops selling out FAST!

Last year this all inclusive SB workshop event filled up in 6 hours so act fast!!! Space is extremely limited and 7 spots are already gone!

Click here and reserve your spot today!


I can't wait to see many of you in NY!

Bird at the Freedom House

Monday, October 20, 2008

The last week will certainly go down as one of the most difficult weeks in my life. I can't even list out all the things that have happened but it really shows truth to the old saying "when it rains it pours"

Boy oh boy is it pouring.

Those of you who know me have seen that I live kind of an extreme life. I'm an "ALL-IN" sorta person. The good side to that is that when I'm committed to something I won't let anything get in the way of a successful outcome. As Tony Robbins (and Jasmine) point out - there is no "TRY" you are either doing something or you are not. This year I have done many things and I have also not done some things. For each their is a reward to be reaped and a price to pay.

I've realized that I have some wonderful gifts and talents but also some massive shortcomings.

I don't know why I've been given this life or why I'm going through this time of pain leading to a lot of soul searching but what I do know is that there will be an end and at the end of it I will be better and more equipped than I am now.

As I mentioned a few months ago my life has a tendency to mirror itself after my names' sake and so I'll leave you with a quote from him.

"I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God."

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Please help me find this guy

* I'm pulling Andre's email from this post but does anybody know who Andre Vandermonde is or where he lives? I think he's from Canada.

Thanks for your help,
DJ

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Yesterday's Video Chat was awesome!

Thanks to everyone who logged on and for those of you that missed it you can watch the recording of it here!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Showit Sites LIVE VIDEO CHAT starting at 4pm (pst)

****SEE RECORDING OF THE VIDEO ABOVE****

Check it out here and post your questions below or click here to watch it on uStream.TV. It may also help to click on the button on the bottom right to watch it FULL SCREEN.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Portland is Awesome


I had a great weekend in Portland. I went out there to meet with OnOne Software which has some really cool pieces of software and we are looking into some ways to collaborate. My friends Dan and Whitney Harlacher hosted me in their beautiful home and we played some vicious games of Xbox and there is a game where you race cows! I was pretty good at that one (although Whitney waxed Dan and I both) and I was really bad at racing actual cars.

Dan is OnOne's Senior Product Manager and Whitney runs Bliss Studios there in Portland. I also got to see my old friend Kevin Meyers and one of my first assistant's ever Lindsay Beall! It was such a good trip!

Right before I left I got to hang with the Boudiour Divas here at the Freedom House! I think they are gonna do one of their workshops here so stay tuned for that!


This is gonna be a great week! We're planning another LIVE cast so stay tuned for details on that. We'll probably do it on Tuesday evening this time.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Exciting new updates!

We just added in another Style Group as well as a bunch of killer new features!

INCLUDING the much requested FORMS! YEA!

Click here to see the new "Slimline" Style Group and checkout the forms too! You can click here and go directly to the contact form with Showit Sites "deep linking" technology.

Don't forget to add the ShowitFast Blog to your list so you get all the updates first:

Checkout the new "add pages" functionality which makes adding pages super easy.


We also added in:

- Lock a layer in place! Woohoo!
- Stand alone video options for finish by fading, looping or jumping to a page
- Auto save and recovery of the auto save file after an unexpected quit
- Add Page Layout Wizard for easily adding single pages
- Option for background image to fit inside the height or width of a page
- Option to tile a background graphic
- Home page indicator and right click to set home page in the pages list
- Improved combo boxes and numeric sliders
- Text background and border color
- Single line text
- Import Showit Web

I'm headed up to Portland today just for a quick two day trip. I'm really really tempted to go see the Bebbs up in Canada but I don't think I can. They are unreal photographers up there and if you're looking for an awesome workshop to go to signup for their fast. It's in less than a month and you can get more info here.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Joan Sherwood Bike Commuting!

My friend Joan Sherwood from Professional Photographer magazine has been doing the amazing thing of bike commuting! She's done over 1000 miles since she started and I love this! We all can do something to help the earth and to help ourselves.

Joan accomplished a bunch of things by biking:

1. Saved the Earth
2. Saved money on Gas
3. Helped cut down on crazy Atlanta traffic
4. Got her day started right with some exercise
5. Tested out her new camera!

So CLICK HERE and go to her blog and give her some props for doing this!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Mike Colon


Mike Colon, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I'm here at the Mike Colon talk in Santa Barbara and its been awesome!
I'm really excited because they just opened up Lightroom so I think
he's getting ready to do a software demo and talk through some
workflow stuff.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Great weekend

Yesterday was homecoming for Westmont and it was fun to go out and watch the guys pull out another victory in the last ten minutes. This time they won on a penalty and the last game I watched they won with three minutes left after a ball deflected of one of the other teams defenders resulting in an own goal! Seems like luck is on their side! At the game I saw 7 couples who's weddings I had shot! Crazy!

I even got out there and kicked it around a bit with the alumni which was fun.
Then last night I had a bunch of friends over for another game of Cashflow. This game is so good for gaining a better understanding of money and how to get out of the "Rat Race" so if you've never played it find somebody who has it or buy a copy and starting moving towards financial literacy.

Right now I see lots of finger pointing about the economy and this and that but what we all need to do is to take responsibility over our future and there is no way we are gonna get out of this mess if we don't start educating ourselves in this area.

Friday, October 03, 2008

WARNING FOR ADULT EYES ONLY



So after seeing these I'm thinking we need to make a 2009 calendar and sell it on the e-store. This is my buddy Brett who is one of the smokin' hot developers for Showit. So yesterday when Jasmine Star was up here she took some pictures of him and dang.

Feel free to use these as the background on your computer.

CLICK HERE to see more on Jasmine Star's blog!


Ladies...sorry to disappoint but this hunk is taken