29 Years Old

So I am now 29 years old. Yesterday was my birthday and thank you all so much for all your sweet notes on my facebook page. I tried to read them all as they came in and it really made my day so thank you! ...and a super huge thank you to Armin DeFiesta for working with Allie on my suprise party that ended up not happening but I love all of you for trying and working so hard on this! Next year! :)


Also, my parents are so sweet! They sent out a birthday gift for me and Allie had some other gifts and cards all sitting on my bed for me...and she made me breakfast in bed! :) We went out to an awesome dinner downtown Alexandria and Becker treated us!!! I think he was expecting to win the money back in our late night poker game but Kenny Kim got some monster hands and took us all down!

The only weird thing that happend was that Pictage decided they were going to ban me which I think is very sad. As you all know I've done so much to help them as a company and help the wonderful photographers who use them. I've been talking to SmugMug b/c I think they offer some cool stuff but never expected that Pictage would do this and to ban me from their community on my birthday just seems lame :( .... anyway....I know a lot of you ask me questions on their forum and so I just wanted you to know that I am not ignoring you and I'd love to help you out but you'll need to email me or talk to me on OSP now.

Today we are headed downtown to see some more sites and to hangout a bit more and then we're going to make a sneaky getaway somewhere tonight and then on to North Carolina! Yea! I can't wait!

We will also be hiding our little character downtown today so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Thanks Boston!

The group in Boston was incredible as I mentioned before and I must say that all the groups have been great but Boston had a special energy to them and I really enjoyed them. It was a very special show and it was supposed to be Jasmine's last show but I'm begging her to come out for a couple of the last ones and I think she's gonna do it!


When the tour got moved from July to August b/c Adobe postponed the release of Lightroom it really messed up Jasmine's schedule b/c she had booked weddings for all of August already so she's been speaking all week and then flying home to shoot and flying back out to meetup with the tour! I don't know how she does it!

Special thanks to everyone who brought and sent gifts! For some reason Maybe that's the reason I liked Boston so much - everyone came with gifts! lol - all of you are so sweet! Thank you thank you thank you! Also, super special thanks to my buddy and cofounder of ShowitFast Todd Watson who braved the middle part of the tour (which is always the grind) b/c it was his last show too and so now he's back home with his family. :)

...and go find Shyla and post a video of it to win $500 Showit Bucks! Yea! We didn't hide anybody in NY b/c we were scared for our lives and just needed to get outta dodge :) ... so we're gonna do a riddle for the NYers to win!

Wow! Sweet!

Sweet! Erik Spring found us in Denver!!!! So cool! It had been a week and a half and we were still there!

p.s. For some reason the blog is locking me out so send me a link if you have an open blog. You rock!

Beautiful Boston

Beautiful Boston, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Tonights group in Boston was amazing! It was a rush getting out of NY
so I'll post about that later but I really can't say enough about
tonight. It's 11:40 and are just sitting down for dinner!

photo.jpg

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

JD wasn't wasting anytime devouring this novelty frozen hot chocolate!

Freeeeeedom!

If you haven't seen my new profile pic on Facebook you must check it out! It's hilarious!

Molly Yarchin created it and it's truly brilliant. For some reason when you make someone elses picture your profile picture it pulls it out their catalog and into your own so now you know who the mastermind is behind it.

p.s. Photographers out there - I talk a lot about putting images on Facebook for our clients and enabling them to spread the word about us which is great ...but make sure if you want credit for an image that you put your name on it.

the Big apple!

the Big apple!, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

We got into NY today and slept all day so we are headed out tonight
and decided to take the train and it's packed. I guess there was a
ball game tonight.

Yea for Indi! FIND ME!

We had such a blast in Indi and we had another packed house.

We went out to dinner afterwards and it was wonderful to catchup with some old friends and make some new ones as well!

Also, if you haven't already checkout out all of Kenny Kim's photos from the Chicago show be sure to do that on his facebook page!

Now we are headed to NY for some fun before the meeting there on Monday!




...AND watch this video to find me and win $500 FREE Showit bucks!

Find Kenny in Chi-Town

Kenny Kim is freaking cool so if you can find him you'll win $500 FREE Showit bucks!

Find Paul in KC ... his hair got trimmed too!

Find the Bus in Denver...good luck...lol

It's right up the street from the hotel but it might be gone! So if you're the first to get there and it's not there then you win! but you have to still post up the video before anyone else! :)

Thank You Chicago!

It's 2:30 and before I went to bed I wanted to say a very special thank you to all of you that came to the Chicago show! It was incredible and I really do feel like Chicago is a 2nd home to me! So many dear friends here and thank you all so much for coming out tonight.

It was jam packed and thanks for squeezing in! I also wanted to apologize if I felt a bit disconnected. There were two people in the front that talked quite loudly and completely through the 4 hour show and I just kept losing my train of thought so I apologize if they were a distraction to you or if I seemed distracted at all. I know you all sacrificed your evening to be here and I hope you were able to take home something valuable!

Lastly, a big shout out to Kenny Kim for all his help making Chicago the biggest show! Kenny has blown me away with his generosity and friendship and I really can't tell you how blessed I am to have him in my life. He's doing wonderful things to unite the photo community and so if you ever have the chance to meet him don't miss it! ...and another big thanks to Kenny and Bob Davis who snapped pictures tonight. These guys are wizards with lighting and if you ever have the chance to learn from Bob jump on it! He did a workshop in Paris that I was at and everything I know about lighting and flash manipulation came from that.

Off to bed! :)

Kansas City was Rockin!

Just under 100 people showed up for the Free To Succeed Tour in Kansas City and what an awesome crew! I was really sore that day from the vicious table tennis match the night before but the night still rocked!














Checkout some of the latest blog posts about it!

Click here to read what Erica May wrote!

Click here to read what Kevin Keith wrote!

Click here to read what Stefanie Burt wrote!

Click here to see what Jill Fleming wrote!

Click here to read what Lindsey wrote! ... and I stole all these pictures from her blog.

Busted

Busted, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I just caught Jasmine shooting a family portrait!

Wow!

Speedy Service ROCKS!!!

This is unreal. I ordered 1000 prints yesterday (Saturday afternoon) and got an email confirmation TODAY - SUNDAY! That all 1000 had been printed and shipped already! Also...if you click through and are interested in signing up they are offering a discount for OSP members so click into the forum and check it out!

My friend Mike Larson says you have to "Be First or Be Forgotten" - so true! Delivering things quickly is key!

We also just got an order for Showit Web in Lithuania! That expands us into 42 different countries without ever advertising! ...and be on the lookout for our new Showit Books coming in the next couple of weeks. It's a FREE upgrade to Showit Web and it will allow your clients to order fine art books straight from your Showit Web show! Sweet!

Brett got KISSED!

The wonderful Brittney tracked down Brett who had fallen down in the fountain and nearly drowned but through a little magical kiss he has been revived!

...and I've gotta point out that the video earlier mentioned that Brett is athletic and he is very athletic but he totally wasted his athleticism playing baseball! Can you believe that! Baseball is a game (like Chess) and my buddy Todd told me today that he used to video baseball games for his brother and the whole FOUR HOUR GAME could always be condensed in less than 2 minutes of action! LOL! Wow!

Soccer rules!

Find Brett in Utah and win $500 Showit Bucks

Here is the video! Yea!!!

Yea Gustavo!

My man Gustavo found me in SF and won $500 free Showit Bucks! Checkout this video! He says he's gonna join the ranks of the Showit Sites users with his gift! We just launched Showit Sites a month ago and already have 139 subscribers not including the Lifers so we know we're on to something and I'm gonna be on OSP tomorrow answering questions in this thread!

We had to delay the video for Salt Lake but if you're watching the Olympics you might be able to guess where it is. ;)

Salt Lake is so great and I really enjoyed meeting everyone there! It's a beautiful city and when we went to the mall we saw a huge group of kids playing in this fountain that is set to music and it was like something you'd see in a movie! Is that something that happens all the time? :)

Colorado is so great!

UPDATE - the video below is the 2nd video and I just updated it because I had accidently put in the first video before.

I seriously fall in love with this place more and more every time I come here! Last night's show was incredible and it was so fun having Becker here! Becker was a riot and gave so much great info. I don't think I'd ever heard him speak before and he is so good! So real and so fun! He gave a sneak peak of the B-School which will be THE place to hangout on the web for us photographers and I'm so excited to have one place to go. It's sweet!

I should also mention that after the show finished at 10:30 last night I felt like it should've been 2pm. I was so jazzed and pumped up! There is so much energy in this group and so a bunch of us went out for a late dinner and then we stayed up till 3am so it's noon and sweet Shyla just brought me breakfast in bed! Life doesn't get much better than this!

Also Be sure to checkout Ron Dawson's second F-Stop beyond interview below. This one deals a lot more with my personal life, my faith, my relationships. Ron does an incredible job so check it out!

I feel good

The Utah show was great and the people there are so wonderful. I gave them a hard time for not interacting that much (and groups under 50 are usually that way) so I told them to drink some coffee at the break but then I remembered that many people in Salt Lake are Mormon and so they don't drink coffee and I felt bad....but they were more lively during the marketing section which is more fun for me too.

Now we are in Denver and I'm not sure if everyone got the updates about our location but I hope so. On one of the websites promoting the tour we still had the old location but we updated it a few days ago and emailed everyone to let them know so I hope it turns out.

I just got done walking around this beautiful park behind the hotel and then I did 50 pushups. I haven't been keeping to my strict workout routine on the tour because I don't have my workout socks but I feel good after my walk and pushups.

I took this pretty picture on my iPhone while I was out on my walk.

DENVER LOCATION UPDATE ...Find me in SF to win BIG!

Win $500 Showit bucks if you find me in SF!!!!



...also....surprise GUEST IN DENVER! [b] there to find out who it is! ;)

Sweeeeeeet! and hitup our tour website to double check you have the right location for Denver! Rock on! Show starts in 30 minutes here in Utah so I gotta blast! Late!

Not winners

Not winners, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Todd and I spent our evening gambling at the Winners Casino with a
bunch of miners here in...I have no idea where we are actually.

See you in Utah!

Woohoo! The LA video is up!

LA was such a rocking show!!! 150 super cool people and I have to give major props to my man JD who saved a potential disaster. An hour before the show I realized that I had lost my hair product! YIKES!!! But here came JD to save the day! Yea!

The Bus is Found!

Megan and Josh and Kristi and Jeremiah (who need a blog) :) .... hopped outta bed and found the bus...and for their vailant team effort which I love we are giving each couple $500 worth of Showit Stuff! ...even though I don't think Jeremy really knew what was going on. :)

Watch the video! So fun!!!

The Big Idea! ... and FIND THE BUS TO WIN!

I'm watching the only TV show that I like "The Big Idea" and they are interviewing Donald Trump and he said the biggest mistakes he ever made were not doing deals. Wow! Isn't that true! We all to often let fear keep us from action and with action we never fail because we always get results!

So speaking of action! Take action right now and have the chance to get $500 Showit Bucks!!!

We left Santa Barbara this morning and as we snuck out of town we hid our bus! So find our bus and YOU WIN! You must make a video of you finding the bus and post it up to redeem your prize!

WATCH THE VIDEO!!!

The J* is found

Yea! My man Troy Grover was the first one on the scene and found our mini J* and won $500 in Showit ki$ash. Sweeeeeet! He made this great video of his adventure!





We just finished the Santa Barbara show and wow! It's great to be home. It's 2:42am and after doing 7 shows in 10 days I'm amped up but definitely ready for a few days off! Phewwww. We're gonna spend tomorrow resting (or at least I am) Jasmine is shooting a wedding! She's gnarly tough and I'm old "ancient" so I need to recoup.




Tonight after the presentation everyone cruised up to my place for a good old Freedom House party! Yea!

You can WIN a date with Paul!!!

.... OR ....

$500 worth of FREE Showit Stuff!

Watch this video!!!



In order to claim your reward be the first to find "Jasmine" and take a picture with her and post it on your blog!

Yea!
DJ

Headed to LA!

We are just pulling out of San Diego right now and the group in LA is the biggest one yet! I'm amped! Also, checkout this video from the AZ stop! I'll be putting them up on the FreeToSucceedTour.com website later and I'll put up the video from SD as well!

Here is a picture of me and my sweet Boudoir Divas! Checkout Kimberlee's nice post about the tour!

Read what Anna wrote!
Read what Jason and Julia said!
Thao said - he's already setting up a group of photographers to get together and meet and help each other! Awesome!

Becker - KIR

In Jasmine's presention she encourages people to KIR - Keep It Real and not be phonys and those of you who know Becker you know that he totally does that and when he likes something he lets us know and when he doesn't like something he lets us know. There's no [b][S] with Becker and so when I saw he posted up a review of the Free to Succeed Tour I was a bit nervous to hear what he had to say!

Click here... check it out!

...and read everyone elses review on his B school blog in the comments section.

Rock on!
DJ

Beautiful morning

Beautiful morning, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

When I woke up this morning this was the view outside! Wow! It's so
beautiful outside and I'm super happy to be back by the ocean! There
is something so energizing about the crisp air and the water!

Also Allie came in today! Yea! It felt like forever since we'd been
together and she's gonna head up the coast with us. She just hops on
for the coastal cities!!!! :P

We don't have Kenny Kim anymore so please send in your photos from the
show in AZ and we'll add'em!

Chillin ... errrr... melting in AZ

It's a crisp 107 today. It was funny b/c I saw a billboard touting a local weather man as the most accurate weatherman in America and I was thinking that's pretty funny because how hard is it to tell the weather in the desert. :)

Anyway, Many of you know this is my home town and I'm amped to see some old friends tonight! The show starts in three hours and so we're getting last minute things together and I wanted to be sure to post up a quick video from the last three stops!

Click here to check it out!



Click here to read how Christian is already implementing a faster workflow based on the Free to Succeed Tour!

Click here to read what Josh wrote!

Click here to read what Amy wrote about the tour!

Free to Succeed Tour Santa Barbara

If you are planning on attending the show in Los Angeles or Santa Barbara you have 48 hours to signup and then we are going to close the registration.

Rock on!
DJ

Now we're in AZ!

We are back in the U.S. now after visiting Texas which was awesome! Our last stop was Dallas and it was so much fun and thanks everyone for packing in. We thought 100 people were coming but then tons signed up that day so there was standing room only which was cool.


To see more pics and videos go to the Free To Succeed Tour website! ...and one of the sweet things about Showit Sites is that I can send you a link directly to any page on the site so if you want to go directly to the Dallas pictures click here!

Then we spent a day in some really small town where we just hungout on the bus mostly. Jasmine and I tried going to a mall but it was really weird and depressing in there so we left and walked home. I did buy some connectors at Radio Shack for my new mic which I'm super stoked about.

Now we're in my hometown of AZ! ...and we're going to one of my favorite restaurants tonight that Todd and I used to go to all the time when we were in high school. They have the best french fries and tortilla soup (on certain days) and a cool clock but that's all the hints I'm giving you. These are not good things for my low cholesterol diet but I've been doing pretty good.

Don't melt,
DJ

Surgery

My wonderful assistant Crystal is heading in to surgery right now so please keep her in your prayers. We miss her so much. She is hoping for a McDreamy sort of doctor!

She just made a post about all the things I like on her blog so be sure to read that too!