Tricky Travel Tips

Ok so I reached DEEP into my bag of travel tips this weekend.

It's often cheaper to fly THROUGH your destination than it is to fly TO your destination.

It makes no sense so let me explain. If you are flying to a hub the price of your ticket might be $400 but if you're flying to another remote city with a layover at the hub the price of the complete ticket (2 segments) can often be $250! CRAZY I KNOW! So yesterday I wanted to fly from New Hampshire to Washington DC and the flight was almost $500 and so I booked a flight all the way to Orlando for $289 that changed planes in DC and then I just got off the plane and went to my hotel. :)

The 2nd tip is that you can often get a better flight slot by showing up and asking BUT you can only get on it if you didn't check your bags. Unless I have a lot of connections I always try and "Gate Check" my bags and that way I don't have to deal with them taking up my legroom and I get them instantly as I get off the plane instead having to wait, sometimes for an hour, at baggage claim. Flights are often priced by the time of day and the ideal time for me to fly to Orlando today was at 5:30 but apparently the airline knew that so that ticket was close to $300 so I booked the next flight out at 7:30 for $189 and then came to the airport for the 5:30 flight and they put me on that flight for free.

...and the best part of this is that I am telling you all these tricks from United's Red Carpet Club which is their premier lounge. I love these places because they are a quiet little sanctuary outside of the intercoms and chaos of the terminal. They have free drinks and healthy snacks and so if you travel much get access to the clubs. Chris Humphreys just shared on his blog about an AMEX card that can get you in a bunch of the clubs so go check that out too!

I was reading in the USA today that 25% of US flights last year were late! Wow! It was the 2nd poorest annual performance ever. Also, nearly a million seats were sold by US airlines that didn't exist! Resulting in "Oversold" situations. Can you believe we let airlines get away with this rubbish. In what other industry can people sell things that don't exist? Delta and Continental (sorry Mrs. Beckstead) were the worst...and the article said it's just going to get worse.

Ok...later everyone...I've got a flight to catch.

The White House

The White House, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Guess where I am! :)

I pulled a tricky travel move in order to spend one day in DC! Yea!
Allie is flying in tonight to work here through the weekend so it's
gonna be so fun to be able to see her on this side of the country for
one day before I have to head to Orlando tomorrow for a quick 3 hr gig
at the Props convention. Then I'm flying out the same day for a big
wedding this weekend in SB!

:)

Encouragement is great! Thank you all so much!

From time to time I like to go around on Technorati or other tools and search for conversations about me. I dunno... sometimes I find people saying mean things and sometimes they say nice things and of course both types of feedback can be used to improve but positive posts do so much more than that. So thank you thank you thank you to all of you! It means so much to read posts like these and I love all of you and I hope our paths cross (again) soon.

Reading things like what Keri Schimpf just posted last night really drives me and motivates me to keep doing what I'm doing even when I'm exhausted and don't feel the passion that I really have inside of me.


Click here to read the post.

And Alli Gaulin post as well and I always love collecting the pictures from everyone off their blogs!

And you guys can see that I'm sporting a Tom Brady jersey which was a gift from Christine and Richard McGarry!

I wore it all day but now I have my Giants Jersey on...lol...just kidding!






I even found this funny post from my friend Anna Costa saying she feels tongue-tied when she talks to me! lol... I don't think she does but it was funny to read that. Her and Michael always have the coolest things going and I love getting together with them because Michael and I always harass each other about Film/Digital and other photo things and then Anna and I talk business!

And my new friend Andre Valenzuala who came out to the Freedom and Slumber Party a couple of weeks ago! ...and who's Giants just pulled out a great win in the Superbowl so props to them!

...and it was super cool to hear from Corey Hage who was also at the Freedom and Slumber Party and how he immediately went home and went part time at his job and booked three weddings! So awesome! I think the wedding inquires actually came in while he was at the Freedom and Slumber Party but it proves how when we commit ourselves to things we always get results!

And I found this post from a photographer Dror Eyal in South Africa who came across my videos on YouTube.
Thank you again!

Yours,
DJ

Cool friends

Cool friends, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

David Jay VS. Tom Brady

Today I am proud to announce that a couple hundred people will choose ME over Tom Brady and the Superbowl at New Hampshire's PPA Winter Seminar. :) ... I won't bring up the fact that 90 million people will choose him...

It's gonna be a great day and I have 6 hours to rock through as much as I can and meet some wonderful folks.

Special Feature

Special Feature, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

The other day we filmed a special feature for the Freedom Club! I'll
post a little clip up here in the next week to show you guys. :)

Right now I'm in Washington DC on my way to New Hamphsire to hang with
their PPA group! Should be really fun and then I'm headed to Orlando
for the ProPs convention on Thursday. I have to speak in the morning
and catch a flight out the same day to get back to SB for a big
wedding this Saturday.

With Freedom and Slumber last week and then two gigs and a shoot this
week I'm starting the year off strong. I think this is going to be an
incredible year!

Sharing and Scaling....

Selling digital products is crazy fascinating. It's 10am and to think that already this morning two photographers have ordered from the U.K. and two orders from Singapore and photographers from the Virgin Islands, Michigan, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas have all ordered Showit apps and I was having breakfast!

The thing that I love the most about this is that it all started with years and years of sharing knowledge and now my software company allows me to do what I'm really passionate about and that is sharing knowledge and encouraging photographers to find more ways to create freedom in their life. Many of you know that most of the speaking gigs I do are done completely for free. Not all of them of course but over 80% of the gigs I do I get paid zippo for and the reason is because I really believe that these principles will help people. Knowledge scales so well and by sharing it we elevate others and ourselves and my software company helps provide a way for me to do that.

Try it out today - if you haven't already - go out and share something that you've learned with somebody. You can do it on a blog or a forum or over email. You can call somebody or even better get together with someone and start sharing your knowledge...I think you'll find that by doing this you can grow your network and as Tim Sanders says, "Your Network is Your Networth" - Also, read on Tim Sanders blog about Comparing notes with a Competitor.

Rock on!
DJ

Kenny Kim Rocking Showit Show!

Kenny Kim rocked out an awesome Showit Web show from the Freedom and Slumber Party!

Thank you Everyone!

Last night was the completion of 60 hours of intense Freedom training....and a little bit of sleeping and eating. The first night was mostly a party which was super fun. My buddies Tim Halberg, Ricky Mia and Michael Costa dropped in guns drawn ready for war! They put the target on my bed but that got boring and so we started shooting Tim and that was way more fun!


Then Saturday morning it began - quite possibly the most intense day of training I've ever done and it shows the commitment this group has to develop and grow because they stayed with me and we went over so much! It was 8 hours before dinner and then we went out after dinner and did a night shoot in the pouring rain. We only lasted 40 minutes because Santa Barbara was angry and so we retreated back to the Freedom House where a symphony of snoring was only slightly muted by the howling wind. lol ... Good thing I had my Bose noise canceling headphones and we will provide ear plugs for the next slumber party. :)

Then on Sunday we had another great day talking through some new techniques for a "Hands-Free" workflow and we also talked a little bit about how to "Get-FIT" and create more FLEXIBILTY, INCOME, & TIME in our lives and then how to use those things to create more meaning in others lives. I am so excited at the questions and the commitment of this group to bring purpose into their business.

We also had the special guest Mike Larson drop in and share with the group some awesome ideas of ways to validate the bride and groom and create community with his clients. He said something which is so true and that is "Be First or Be Forgotten" - so true! Mike is a firm believer in the on-site, online, and now he's adapting an in-studio slideshow as well which is great! Super smart dude and he even showed us his ridiculously crazy camera toss RIGHT INSIDE the Freedom House!


Because everyone was staying at my house I'm limiting these to 10 people and one person couldn't make it so we had 9 plus Kenny Kim who is an awesome photographer friend of mine from Chicago who came to snap the pictures you see here and if you want to see the pictures bigger go to his blog...and then my videographer Paul Rogers, the beautiful Brittany who we didn't actually get to shoot because of the nasty weather.

...and saving the best for last my unbelievably magnificent Crystal! Wow! Nearly every person at the workshop came to me and told me how incredible she is 3 or 4 times and none of this would have been able to happen without her. Those of you that were here now realize how vital she is to my life. Crystal thank you thank you thank you!

In this image we have the amazing crew!
Front (left), Mark Barnes, Crystal Hutchinson, Amy Jett, me, Penny Sylvia, Melanie Merkling, Mery Donald,
Back (left) Corey Hage, Kenny Kim, Gustavo Fernandez, Regas Chefas, Andres Valenzuela,
Far back - the rest of Santa Barbara :) ...and this awesome shot was taken by Miss Brittany Leigh.

Thank you again for the incredible weekend. I feel worn out in a good way and totally stoked to do this again.

Drive Down

We had a drive fail on our server and that is why all of our sites are down...sorry for the inconvenience and they are working on it. In the digital world this is kind of like an "Act of God" meaning that we can't control this but we are working to fix it asap. Thanks for your patience.

Freedom and Slumber Party

The party last night was so fun and then afterwards just the 9 of us gathered for a quick chat about why we are here....all of you know I am obsessed with asking why questions and sometimes I feel like a 4 year old saying why, why, why, why, why? :) ... but I think it helps us get to the core reason behind our actions.

My new friends are from all over the country and here's a cool picture that my buddy Kenny Kim snapped and be sure to go to his blog to see more and to follow the action! :)

Today looks beautiful and sunny so I'm stoked because it's been cold and rainy all week.

Freedom and Slumber has started

No other workshop has ever been this much fun!

I just heard somebody get shot with the airsoft guns....check it out!

Make a widget out of me!

Nathan Holritz from Photographers Edit put up a really cool thing on OSP! He shows this video of how you can turn my Ustream live video into a widget! So cool!

Look mom - I am eating healthy

I've been eating really healthy lately. I've been eating three meals a day and I used to only eat one and I've been staying home a lot and not eating out. The other day I made myself the healthiest meal I've ever made.


It was a ham and cheese sandwich which is my favorite (I like Italian sandwiches too but they aren't very healthy) and then I had carrots and celery with hummus dip and an orange that I picked from my orange tree.

The oranges from my tree are super good and it's pretty funny having fruit trees right in the backyard. I also have a lemon tree and a lime tree. I feel like a farmer.

Deyl hunting me

So we were gonna checkout how bad the airsoft guns hurt but I wanted to start with the pistol b/c it doesn't really shoot very fast...but then Deyl got blood thirsty and... watch the video....

Mark you Calendars

Freedom Party!

Next Friday January 25th from 6-10pm come hang at the Freedom House!

Freedom and Slumber starts that night so there will be photographers from all over the country here!

Post up your email or send crystal (@) davidjay.com an email to get put on the evite list!

Checkout my new gun!

Go to davidjay.TV and watch me try out my new gun!

If you missed it here it is....ok...I'm off to dinner....

Back in Action

Hey Everyone - sorry OSP went down but it's back rocking! :)

In my (completely unbiased) opinion OpenSourcePhoto is THE BEST community available to photographers for several reasons:


1. IT'S FREE - OSP has always been 100% FREE and doesn't have advertisements! There is no other place like this!

2. Super active - With over 6300 members and hundreds of people online all the time there is always someone around to help or simply listen.

3. Full of LOVECATS - OSP welcomes newcomers of ALL levels and everyone shares knowledge, their networks, and compassion with each other!

All this being said OSP does cost a lot of money to host and it takes a lot of time just to maintain it. Matt Antonino has been a huge help over the years as well as my team of programmers.

OpenPhotoContest - we got some of the bugs in voting (and display) worked out and don't worry the bugs don't affect the rating system which is an incredibly complicated algorithm. The contests are cruising and another added value to OpenPhotoContest is that you have the ability to see which of your photos people liked the most.

So if you're looking for people's opinion on what image to use for an advertisement or which images to put on your website you can submit them to a contest and get 1000's of people's input as to what your best images are! So keep rocking and I just added a new contest about Grooms so if you have cool groom shots you can start submitting them today...and look for some more contests popping up in the next day or two.

Over 40,000 votes TODAY!

This absolutely blew our mind! In one day the OpenPhotoContest had over 40,000 votes from 598 different people!!! INCREDIBLE! This is a huge success and I can't wait to see how it grows. Tons of companies are already writing offering their stellar goods as prizes so that is super cool as well.

Sorry about the forum going down...they've been working on it and I've been emailing back and forth trying to get things resolved but forums are a complicated beast and especially one the size of OSP.

You be the judge!

WOW! Over 1000 votes in 10 minutes!!!

***update....it's 6am now and I just checked and over 7500 votes came in over night!***

OpenPhotoContest is going to be the end of me...not only because I'm already addicted to voting but because the bloody thing keeps crashing our server! lol...oh well....we're doing the best we can but with all the pictures being uploaded and voting algorithms happening it's bound to happen again...but go vote! OPC is seriously the best contest out there (I am biased) but seriously no where else can the community pick the winner!

It's so fun to see all the images - there are some incredible shots and it's free to vote so go check out the pics and get inspired!

Imaging USA

Earlier this week I was at the PPA tradeshow - Imaging USA - in Tampa and I did something I hadn't done before and that was I crammed everything I needed to do into a 4 hour time slot. First I had my platform presentation, then a meeting with folks from Germany where I'll be headed in March to do a gig for a group there and then a meeting with Al Hopper and Joan Sherwood from the PPA organization and Professional Photographer Magazine b/c we're teaming up on a really cool new way to share knowledge in the wedding industry. Stay tuned!

I was speaking at 7am in the biggest room I've ever seen in my life! My friend Liana Lehman warned me about how big the rooms are but I had no idea.

I think they held just under 1000 people and during the presentation the spot lights were on so I couldn't really see how many people where there but judging by this photo that Allie snapped it looks like it was pretty full so that totally stokes me out!

I got to meet some absolutely wonderful people and one of my favorites was my new friend Cindy who Allie and I met at the coffee shop at 6am before my speech. She recognized us and said "I love you guys" and then bought us breakfast! It was the nicest thing ever and we both are still talking about how much that meant to us so thank you Cindy. You are such a sweet soul and I hope we cross paths again!

The [b] Flow

Checkout Beckers "cliff notes" video on his workflow...his new [b] school blog is super cool and he's putting up these videos as he gets ready to launch his [b] school in March. The site is looking awesome!

I'm back!

I just made it back to SB and I am soooo amped to be here! This week I'm gonna be getting lots of stuff ready for the Freedom and Slumber event later this month! Woohooo!

Also, don't forget today is the deadline to save big money on joining OPC and it's also the deadline for submitting work in this first round of contests so get your work in fast. Voting will start in a day or two. We need to go in and verify the photos and then release it for voting. I think there are almost 1000 photos currently uploaded so this is gonna be so fun!

Rock on!

OpenPhotoContest DEADLINE

I'm in Tampa right now and yesterday I gave a presentation at the Imagine USA convention. The whole convention was awesome and I am loving what the PPA is doing with their organization. I'll talk more about my trips once I get back to SB b/c I'm still in vacation mode...

...but I wanted to remind you to SIGN UP and submit your photos for the Open Photo Contest TODAY!!! You only have one more day to save 50% on the sign up fee and to submit photos for the contests before voting starts so do it now because once voting starts no more photos can be submitted and you will miss your chance to win awesome prizes like an 85mm f/1.2 lens as wells as Shootsacs and Lensbabies!

*** CLICK HERE *** AND SIGN UP.

Gasping for breath

I can still hardly breath after seeing the pics Jasmine Star took! WOW WOW WOW! Can anybody deny that Jasmine is freaking off the hook good!

CLICK HERE to see others BUT be warned - THEY ARE HOT!

What a trip!

Wow - Words will never do justice to the past week!

...and it's 4am and I have my PPA gig in a few hours but I just couldn't help passing along this photo and if you wanna see more go to Jasmine's blog!

:) I'll post more soon and I can't wait to see some of you in a few hours!

Whirlwind

Just letting everyone know that after a myriad of travel changes we made it to Nicaragua safely. In a few minutes we'll be headed out on our last little flight and short boat ride and then we'll be there! Sooooo excited!!! Thank you to all the AMAZING people who helped us get here!

Off we go!

In a few hours Allie and I will be headed off on the most insane island adventure you could imagine! Deyl and Paige know this incredibly inspiring entrepreneur Martin Thomas and lined up this getaway a few months ago and 8 of us are headed out today for 10 days of rest and relaxation on this private island off the coast of Nicaragua without phones or internet and I've been needing this escape!!!

We are also flying in two world renowned chefs from New Zealand as well as a masseuse!

You can read more about the Thomas family (pic below) and their wonderfully untraditional way of living on their website - aFamilyOnTheMove.com - and see more about the island in the video below or on the Little-Eden-Cay.com website.



and watch a video of the island here!



I won't be returning emails or phone calls until I get back to Florida for the PPA show so have a wonderful New Year and I'll be excited to see all of you in 2008!!! Yea!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Only a few travelers today and I am so happy that it is Christmas even
though I don't get to spend the day with my family. Today I am flying
up to be with Allie and then tomorrow eight of us are heading out on
an incredible adventure in Nicaragua for New Years!

I'll post more about the trip tomorrow but I hope everyone has an
incredible Christmas!

Checkout Syphone

Hey Everyone! If you are an iPhone user checkout Syphone! It's a free app that lets you save your text messages! Very cool! I'm kind of sentimental so I like to save everything.

Enjoy the Santa Barbara Sunset with me!

Becker's Christmas Greeting

I've never gotten my act together enough to send out Christmas cards but I just saw that Becker sent out a Christmas video which is WAY BETTER than a card! Becker and David Beckstead where the first photographers who's websites I saw and who's work I studied when I first got in the industry and it's still surreal to me to now have them as friends.

This year I got the chance to a shoot a wedding with Becker and it was an absolute riot! ... Midway through the reception somebody stole my computer and I blamed it on Paul (my videographer) but it was actually Becker. So then I stole, what I thought was, his camera and took it upstairs to take some "special" pictures on it for him to enjoy later but when I came downstairs he was laughing and told me that Sarah Barlow would like her camera back! Ahhhh!

Battle for the Top Spot

I've always kept my top spots on MySpace for my boys! ...but as I was getting to know Allison she crept up into my Top 8 and when she came up next to Deyl's raised fist and clever smirk she also threw her dukes up ready for battle.

At what point will she knock Deyl from the coveted top spot!?!

Haha! Oh MY!

My friend Melissa Jill is an amazing photographer in AZ. I'm so proud of her because it was just a few years ago that she decided to dive into wedding photography and I've seen her life change so much since she decided to step out in faith and many of you know her and have seen her business boom!

One of the things that I believe has helped her succeed so fast is her blog. She blogs the way everyone should blog. I know for a lot of photographers the temptation is to use their blog as a quick way to blast their photos out there and that is nice but we want to see more of YOU! Post up your life! Post up WHO YOU ARE - AND - What you do! Both are important.

Melissa has a cool thing she does where she made this big long list of things she wants to do and then she checks them off as she accomplishes them and it's fun to track with her as she reaches her goals and experiences her dreams!

Melissa has been a friend of mine since I was really little and she found this awesome picture of us, probably from a Thanksgiving dinner, when I was only 10 years old and she was 14! Looks like I had a huge bowl of soup or something. No donuts though :(

Click here and go see more on her blog!

I NEED this!

Ok...seriously.... I just read about this thing called the "Kindle" on Tim Sanders blog and I need it....I am a simple man and I don't need many things but I really really need this and they are all sold out.

I sometimes have 4 or 5 books to carry with me in my carry on and my bag gets so heavy. So much for my cool library now that books are going digital. I am seriously so excited though because it's so hard to search paper books and when I want to find something it would be so awesome to have it searchable.

Here is more info on it.

Please please please Santa make me a Kindle.

So Cool

Last night Colon made the nicest comment and it totally made my day! ....and it reminded me of the story of the little boy who wished that everything he touched would turn to gold and the wish was granted and then he died because when he would try and eat his food would turn to gold. bummer. :)

Also! the OpenPhotoContest has been rocking! Sign up AND SUBMIT A PHOTO fast to take advantage of the 1/2 off special and for your chance to win an 85mm f1.2 lens (or equivalent) worth $1,800!!! We're giving that away to the winner of the "Stellar Brides" contest and what is so cool is that YOU choose the winner! 162 people are already registered on the site and we've been receiving thousands of votes EACH DAY! Checkout how fun it is to pick your favorite images by clicking here.

Stock up

Stock up, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've never had such a full fridge! This is great! I've been bunkering
down and working and I actually went two full days in my PJ's and
slippers. I even went out to Thai food with Deyl and picked up Chinese
last night in them. I don't know why we wear anything but PJ's.

Master Your Craft

There is no debating that Bob Davis and Mike Colon are heros in our industry. Mike has been an incredibly generous mentor of mine for years and I've just gotten to know Bob over the past year and I am equally impressed with his style and grace. You can see video of Bob and I doing a workshop shoot together in Paris earlier this year! Very fun!

All of you know that I am very very careful about who I promote and you also know that I am an Adobe Lightroom fan so my first instinct was to not mention this because it is sponsored by Aperture but regardless I think this is worth going to because Bob and Mike are two revolutionaries and I have learned so much from each of them.

Go to MasterYourCraft.net and see more about their tour! I'm going to try and make it to the LA show.

Freedom and Slumber BOOKED

Thanks everyone! I am super amped about this! Within a matter of hours the Freedom and Slumber event was filled up! It's going to be an incredible experience and I'll be sending out an email to all my new friends today or tomorrow so we can get things rocking! Sweet!

Live Chat was AWESOME!

It is absolutely incredible to me that I could be sitting in my Pj's here in Santa Barbara with the raining pounding down around and participate in a live video Q&A session with 130 people from all over the world. We had folks in Sweden, Lithuania, Spain, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and all over the U.S. and Canada. Wow! How is that for freedom - for everyone! :)

Also, I am super stoked about the "Freedom and Slumber" event in January because I just launched it this afternoon and there is only one spot left! I am honestly flattered b/c I have never launched an event like this before and so I was wondering how it would go.

I had several couples write to me and ask about doing an event where spouses could come and I think that is fantastic!

Whoa! cool!

So the "Freedom ...and slumber" event will probably be full by tonight. I am blown away and super excited. Within an hour of sending out the email it was half full so get your reservation in asap. 6 spots are filled and that means only 4 left. Gnarly!

Click here to see the schedule and to register!

I'm getting ready for my Freedom Club LIVE chat too! Super fun! I love these! There are 55 people online and ready for the 6 o'clock start from all over the world! This is cool!

I guess 12,000 was too much

I sent out my monthly newsletter to the 12,000 of you that signed up for it and within 2 minutes it pushed us over quota.....Ughhhhhhhh....I'm so pissed! We will of course extend the discounted signup and this site is so cool so I'm amped for you guys to get to check it out.

Stay tuned!

HUGE ANNOUNCMENT TODAY

I'm announcing a couple of REALLY cool things today so if you are not already on my newsletter be sure to sign up FAST so you don't miss out! You can sign up on my webpage - davidjay.com

Also, TONIGHT I'm doing another LIVE Q&A on the Freedom Club so if you want to see some sweet videos, great deals, and be part of that be sure to go sign up.

Don't let Christmas get cracked!

Don't let Christmas get cracked!, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've gotta admit that this past week was one of the worst weeks of my
year. :( ... I dunno what it is but it seems that so many things come
to a head at the end of the year and everyone is under extra stress
and extra pressure and I've seen a change in myself and in nearly
every one of my friends.

I'm sure we are not the only ones going through this and I want to
encourage everyone to be aware and extra sensitive to others in this
time because I know personally when I suffer from what Tim Sanders
calls "the scarcity of time disease" I'm miserable and I have a
tendency to only think about myself and that has a spiralling effect.

Also, set expectations and get to the heart of issues instead of just
putting bandaids on them. This requires openness and honesty AND
vulnerability which isn't comfortable at the time but is a necessity
for any lasting relationship.

Happy Sunday!