Posted in Inspiration, Marketing, Weddings on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One lucky bride will receive $5000 in wedding photography services for $50!!
Campaign for Change
1. Click HERE to enter raffle.
2. Please send this post’s link along to at least 10 friends. Remember, anyone can enter.
3. Be sure to check out the Pink Initiative site here.
Thanks for your support! Happy New Year!
Posted in Uncategorized on January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Tonight I will be in Waltham, MA for their CIPNE event with John Harrington. If you have not seen John speak, it would serve you well to hear what he has to say. These will mainly be commercial shooters, but the topics he will cover will certainly transer to any photographer.
Posted in Business, Inspiration, tagged 1984, j sandifer, mac beginnngs, Steve Jobs demos Apple Macintosh on January 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The birth of Mac…and Mac fans. Crazy to think of how far this company has come and the sensation that their products have created in the marketplace.
Time line of Mac products:
mac timeline
Click on Image to see the rest…
A little over a year ago their stock was at $200, today it sits at $88…which as a long term investment might just be one of the best deals out there in the tech industry.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bel Isle Trio, Belfast Bay Inn, Denise LaCarubba, Dj Deja, emiliinc, flora fauna, Fresh Pulp, From This Day Forward, J Dostie, Jim Heljm, Mary Carpenter, Retreat at French's Point, sandifer wedding photographer, Spoil Me, Stockton Springs ME, wedding photography on January 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This venue just hits it out of the park! The beauty of the seaside setting, the elegant facilities and the amazing staff. We certainly look forward to shooting more Retreat at French’s Point Weddings.
Retreat at French's Point
These terrific vendors make our jobs easier:
venue: Retreat at French’s Point Stockton Springs, ME
accommodations: Belfast Bay Inn Belfast, ME
florist: Judy Bourgeois Flora Fauna
ceremony musicians: Bel Isle Trio
reception dj: Denise LaCarubba Dj Deja
make-up: Mary Carpenter From This Day Forward
dress: Spoil Me Portland, ME (Nicole Miller)
bridesmaids: Jim Heljm
invitations: Fresh Pulp Turner, ME
rings: J Dostie Portland, ME
first dance: “Ice Age” by Pete Yorn
photographers: Emilie and J
videographer: Morgan
We also have started to add video presentations with our images known as photo fusion multimedia. You can see an example from this wedding’s photo fusion and certainly let us know if you have any questions about how to add it to your 2009 package for maine wedding photography.
Posted in Uncategorized on January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
FiftyCrows, a foundation started by entrepreneur Andy Patrick with proceeds from the sale of his company, funds emerging photojournalists. Below is a selection of images from What Matters, a recent collection FiftyCrows helped sponsor chronicling urgent issues around the world.
 |
| Serial entrepreneur Andy Patrick, FiftyCrows’ founder. |
(Fortune Small Business) — According to a Native American myth, crows look back with one eye and into the future with the other. Serial entrepreneur Andy Patrick, 47, applied that philosophy to create FiftyCrows Foundation, a nonprofit that funds photojournalists who document injustices throughout the world.
Patrick’s first venture, a shopping service for his snowbound neighbors, was a success before he turned 11. His biggest triumph was Adjacency Brand New Media, an e-commerce Web site developer that he launched in 1995. Patrick and his partners sold Adjacency in March 1999 for $67 million in stock, which proceeded to triple in value over the next 12 months.
“Being lucky is a big part of success,” he says. “I decided to turn my good fortune into something that could bring about positive change.”
The sale of Adjacency provided the capital for FiftyCrows. In October 2001, Patrick set up the foundation with $740,000 in seed money. Today FiftyCrows uses proceeds from the sale of works by established photographers (think Bruce Davidson, Eve Arnold and Sebastião Salgado) to fund photojournalists whose work shows potential to improve the world.
Over the years, FiftyCrows has raised and distributed roughly $300,000 in grants to young artists such as Stephanie Sinclair, who produced a searing photo essay about child marriage in Aghanistan, and Victor Sira, who documents the hardships of illegal immigrants from Central America and Mexico.
In addition to cash grants, FiftyCrows provides young documentary photographers with media tools to help showcase their work more effectively. Each grantee receives a free Web site hosted by Patrick’s most recent for-profit venture, liveBooks.com, which creates Web-based applications for professional photographers. And the FiftyCrows Foundation – along with National Geographic – recently sponsored the publication of David Elliot Cohen’s book What Matters, in which noted writers and photographers (including Sinclair) zero in on crucial contemporary issues such as genocide, poverty and global warming. 
Posted in Inspiration on January 22, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Photograph by Chuck Kennedy – McClatchy-Tribune News
As a grizzled old, former news photographer, I often think there is nothing new left to be done when it comes to covering Washington. So many smart and creative people have poured over every nook and cranny of this town it seems as if there is always someone ready to jump up and shout “been there, done that”. All too often we are left with images that are just more of the same old, same old.
My friend and colleague, D.C.-based photographer Chuck Kennedy, proved that if you look hard enough and are diligent long enough, new things are indeed always possible. Doing it in the midst of a massively historic Presidential Inauguration makes it all the sweeter. How fitting that an event of this magnitude is documented with a groundbreaking image such as this.
Kennedy, a photographer for the McLatchy-Tribune News Services, finagled his way into placing a remotely fired camera at the foot of the Inaugural podium, providing a never before seen perspective of a Presidential swearing-in. It’s a photograph that will certainly go down in history as an image of record from one of the most significant events in American politics.
The image shows Obama with his hand on the Lincoln bible, held by his wife Michelle as daughters Malia and Sasha proudly look on. The dome of the US Capitol stands magnificently in the background against a beautiful wintery blue sky.
What makes this image special, besides the unique camera position and angle, is that the closeness of the camera conveys an intimacy that no other pictures from the Inauguration captured. The fact that little Sasha is standing on a small riser so that she can be seen from the main camera platform adds a refreshing sense of innocence to a solemn and dignified event. It’s a very personal view into the beaming faces of our new, history defining first family.
It is a moment that personifies a moment so many in our country thought they would never live to see.
Kennedy said he started working on obtaining permission just after Obama made his acceptance speech on election night in Chicago, after “seeing how crazy that event was”.
He began quietly lobbying the Senate Press Photographers Gallery and the Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee, the groups who control media access to the event.
“When the stand was being built, Chuck went out and did test photos to show how dramatic the images could be”, McLatchy -Tribune Photo Service managing editor George Bridges said in an interview with NewsPhotographer Magazine. “He took photos from previous inaugurations showing that there is a lot of equipment there (speakers, mikes, teleprompters) so a camera there would not be a distraction.”
As a final touch Kennedy enlisted the aide of Chief White House photographer Pete Souza, who cleared the idea with the first family and convinced Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to support it.
The now infamous rig. Photograph by Chuck Kennedy
One of the main objections to the camera placement was the possibility of distracting camera noise interfering with the audio of Obama taking the Oath of Office. To counter any noise objections Kennedy fashioned a home-made camera “blimp” out of a Pelican case. The camera was sealed inside the case and the heavily padded foam liner kept any shutter noise contained. A hole was cut into the side of the case to accommodate a 16-35mm lens.
Kennedy chose a Canon 5D Mark II camera for the job. The camera was outfitted with a Canon WFT-E4 transmitter and was hard-wired with ethernet cable to a DSL line at his camera position. This allowed for immediate image transmission back to the McClatchy-Tribune bureau. Kennedy also hard wired the remote trigger to avoid the possiblity of RF interference preventing the camera from firing. The cable run was about 250 feet to Kennedy’s elevated position behind the platform and was done a week in advance.
The camera itself was supposed to be mounted the night before, but due to inclement weather the White House delayed setting up the podium until early the next morning. Kennedy arrived at the event site at 4:15 am and gained access to the stage around 5:30am to begin setup.
Chuck Kennedy installing remote camera at 5:30am.
The camera was mounted via a Bogen Magic Arm to a metal plate that was screwed into the floor. He powered the camera with an AC adapter out of fear the cold weather would sap the batteries before the event began.
Kennedy says he “had no idea the image would receive so much play”. As part of the arrangement for the exclusive access, the image had to be “pooled” or shared with other media outlets, including the international wire services such as the Associated Press, Getty and Reuters.
“My wife went onto the Newseum website this morning and counted 124 newspapers that ran the image on the front page”, he said. “I’ve never made a picture that got this much attention.”
Congratulations Chuck, you’ve done something all photographers strive for, but few actually accomplish. You’ve gained photographic immortality through the eyes of history.
The Newseum is a great resource and includes a section that displays the front page of every major newspaper in the world. I’ve included a few front pages below to show some of the different ways the image was used. All of these front page images came from the Newseum site.
The Midland Daily Times liked the image so much they turned the newspaper on it’s side to run it.
A sampling of front pages from Honolulu to North Carolina:
Some papers chose a rather extreme crop to make the image fit the entire front page from top to bottom:
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 5 Survival Tips for Small Studios, LaCour, rachel lacour niesen, sandifer, ShootQ, wedding photography on January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
5 Survival Tips for Small Studios
Rachel LaCour Niesen of LaCour and ShootQ…who better to get tips from for your studios survival!!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged j sandifer, liveBooks, newsletter on January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
j sandifer at liveBooks
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 2009, 7/19-24, arnold miller, cape cod, Eric Laurits, Greg Gibson, how to be a better photographer, j sandifer, Jennifer Domenick, Mark Adams, partnercon, photography workshop, photojournalism, rachel lacour niesen, roots, Roots Workshop, Tyler Wirken, wedding photography workshop, wedding workshop, workshop on January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Photographers: Roots Workshop returns for another week next summer with more staff and less students for more personalized instruction!
dates: 7/19-24, 2009
location: Cape Cod, MA
website: www.rootsworkshop.com
staff include: Emilie (emilie inc. photography), Greg Gibson (Greg Gibson Photography), Arnold Miller (multi-media editor at Newsday), Jennifer Domenick (Love Life Images), Mark Adams (LaCour), Tyler Wirken (Wirken Photography), Rachel LaCour Niesen (LaCour) and volunteers ME (liveBooks) and Eric Laurits (:e:).
The details:
12 students. 9 staff. 3 teams. 6 life-changing days.
Roots Workshop is an introduction to photojournalism for already-established wedding photographers interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the roots of this chosen genre through hands-on instruction and editorial photo assignments.
While living under the same roof on the water in Cape Cod, students will be divided into three teams of four students, each with a leader and a shooting mentor. Monday is designated as a team building day, with shooting and technical exercises geared toward individual need as assessed by a survey students will take before arriving. Tuesday and Wednesday will be reserved for shooting editorial assignments during the day, each unique to Cape Cod, with group editing sessions at night. Students will be visited by their mentor and/or team leader for a minimum of one hour each day during their assignment. Thursday will be an editing day to prepare for an evening slideshow of the students’ work and a celebratory New England clambake. Friday will be open for students to stay and relax!
While Roots is designed to provide an amazing experience on Cape Cod among a group of passionate, creative minds, it is most definitely not a fluff workshop. Students will work hard and be critiqued hard. The opportunity for personal growth is enormous given our unprecedented small student-to-staff ratio (2-1). Participants who maximize these resources and engage in the experience to the fullest can immediately apply their newly learned storytelling skills to their wedding photography.
I am already looking forward to this week next year like you can’t understand…I wish there were more of these throughout the year 
If you are planning to attend WPPI next month, I’ll be there and would love the chance to talk to you about the most beneficial shooting workshop…you can’t afford to miss! In the meantime, be sure to check out the picture stories from the ’08 students by visiting www.rootsworkshop.com.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blues traveler, sandifer, the big night, vegas, wedding photography, wppi on January 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
WPPI the big night
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Franti, obama, OBAMA SONG OFFICIAL VIDEO - Michael Franti and Spearhead, sandifer, spearhead on January 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I think this song and video really captures the feeling that we take forward into the next 8 years!
I have been seeing Franti for years and this might be the song that takes him to the masses!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged andrea's bridal, baby grand, eddy-taylor salon, emilie inc, Emilie Sommer, kitchen chicks catering, laudholm farm, let them eat cake, maine wedding photography, sandifer, southern maine weddings, the church of the cape on January 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of the best venues in Southern Maine is Laudholm Farm. We look forward to shooting there in 2009!
Laudholm Farm Wedding
There were some terrific vendors at this particular wedding:
church: The Church on the Cape Cape Porpoise, ME
reception: Laudholm Farm Wells, ME
caterer: Kitchen Chicks Catering Kennebunk, ME
florist: Fleurant Flowers & Design, Kennebunk
cake: Let Them Eat Cake Kennebunk, ME
band: Baby Grand
dress: Andrea’s Bridal Portland, ME
hair: Eddy-Taylor Salon Kennebunk, ME
honeymoon: Italy
photographers: Emilie and J
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged boston, cipne, John Harrington, photography, sandifer on January 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If you live in or near Boston, you will want to come to this event! To see more on John check out his blog! I will be on hand to answer any questions about websites…
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged engage 09, j sandifer, Marketing, wedding industry on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged interview, j sandifer, Marketing, Seth Godin on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This interview is pretty good…especially towards the end when he talks about showing up. During the down turn in the economy people will be rewarded for showing up. He also talks about why blogging is important.
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2009/01/14/seth-godin-thinks-youre-boring/
Hope you have a few moments to listen
“You’ve set out to be boring”
Posted in Business, Weddings, tagged liene stephens, rebranding, the brides cafe on January 13, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Liene Stephens the wedding coordinator and blogger extraordinaire posted today about a new look on this blog and I too think Janie has done a terrific job with the new branding.
The Bride's Cafe
Posted in Business, tagged LLC dba Virtual Photo Store LLC v. Pictage Inc, virtual photo store, VPS, wedding photography lawsuit on January 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I know I am arriving to this discussion late…but better late than never. You can see the patent here. This company is actually claiming to have invented the process of uploading images to the internet and selling something from that image.
Here is a little info that I found on it:
| RFC Case Number: | P-V08-5172P |
| Court Case Number: | 1:08-cv-05172 |
| File Date: | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 |
| Plaintiff: | VPS, LLC dba Virtual Photo Store LLC |
| Plaintiff Counsel: | Thomas L. Duston, Jon-Thomas Bloch, Michael R. Weiner of Marshall Gerstein & Borun |
| Defendant: | Pictage Inc. Edward Fox Photographer LLC Artisan Events Inc. Pret-A-Poser Photography Inc. George Street Productions Inc. Thomas M. Slack Photography LLC Glen A. Bog Photography Inc. David Wittig Photography Inc. |
| Cause: | 35:145 Patent Infringement |
| Court: | Illinois Northern District Court |
| Judge: | Honorable Amy J. St. Eve |
Virtual Photo Store LLC doesn’t have a website that I have found(here’s one under construction), they don’t sell anything that I have found and they seem to be an entity set up to sue for profit. These guys have also sued Kodak, Sutterfly and others to get to where they are today. So who is behind this? Who benefits from the lawsuit or the settling of the lawsuit?
I have always been proud that our industry was one of the last cottage industries out there and that a mom and pop could make it with limited resources. It seems that we might have to depend on larger companies to at least host our images and sell them for us OR face Virtual Photo Store LLC and it’s lawyers. This may be a true test of our industry…do we sit on the sidelines or collectively battle for the right to sell what we produce?
I don’t have the answer…but I will continue to follow the developments and let you know what I find out.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged andrea lucich, j sandifer, san francisco food stylist, sf on January 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
So many jobs in the commercial photography industry! One that many may not have thought of before is food stylist…that’s right someone who specializes in making the food in images look like you want to eat it off the screen!
san francisco food stylist
Andrea Lucich is a professional food stylist located in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. She specializes in preparing food for photography.
Posted in Business, liveBooks, Marketing, tagged apa, new york, panel discussion, the art of estimating & bidding on January 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Click on the image to see more about this terrific event in New York. I will not be at this event, but encourage anyone in the commercial photography field to attend!
Posted in Personal, Poker on January 2, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Vegas Tourney will start at 9:00. This year I have set us up at the RIO Poker Room…if you have a better idea let me know though. Buy-in will be $80 and we will have 20 minute blinds to move the action along!
Last year we had just over 60 people and I have told the tournament crew that we will have 100 this year, so feel free to pass this around!
We are also still playing online on Wednesday nights on Full Tilt if you want to practice Email info(at)weddingpokerstars(dot)com to get on the list.
Just sent out the evite…so let me know if you didn’t get it and want in!
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