Thursday, May 14, 2009

May 21st PUG meeting!

Hello Atlanta PUG photographers!

We are SO sorry that everything is topsy turvy this month! We have decided we will still have our May PUG no matter what! Wedding Season can't get us down! It can simply delay us a little and make us a little nutty thats all! I'm sure you guys are all busy too but hope that you will carve out a little time to spend with us! Lets get together to refocus, share and take a deep breath!

Shari will be speaking about....

"Marketing to Vendors: Making Contacts, Making Friends, Getting Business"

PRODUCT UPDATES -

Review order pricing for Wholesale Products prior to checkout

• Know how much you’re spending before you submit your order. A preview

for your order’s price is now available for wholesale products.

Album Designer: Larger Editing View

• The Pictage Album Designer can now scale to the size of your monitor.
The larger view makes it easier to see the details!

The NEW Pictage Upload Tool

• Now you can create an event, upload the images, and have it auto-release
to your clients without ever visiting the website. We guarantee this is the
easiest way to manage an event on Pictage. Download it now.

Make an Event ‘Not-Searchable’ - New Privacy Feature for Events

• Under event settings you can now mark an event ‘not searchable’ so that

the ONLY way to find it is for the photographer or owner to share the

event url.

Update your Credit Card Online

• Update the credit card you have on file at Pictage under the Billing
Preferences page of your account. (Billing Preferences can be found from
the Studio Preferences page.)

How did you get into photography?

Photography has been a part of me since childhood! I was given my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, for my 7th birthday and it went everywhere with me. My first photography course was in elementary school and then I pursued more advanced courses during high school when I also got my first job at a local photo lab processing and printing B&W.

Yet when it came time to go college, I chose to study Illustration and Graphic Design. While studying at the Atlanta College of Art, a freelance photographic opportunity convinced me that I was much happier behind a camera lens than sitting at the drawing table!

So, I changed majors and found myself traveling to Greece and Turkey to study alternative forms of photography and of course, to photograph the beautiful landscape!

When did wedding photography become your passion?

I had started shooting weddings for friends and family around 1994 and eventually discovered a desire to pursue wedding photography full-time. I received a BFA in Fine Art Photography from ACA and in January of 2002, I left the photo lab industry and now enjoy providing wedding photography services full-time. I also enjoy the photo opportunities I encounter after the wedding - like maternity, children's, and family portraits!

In April of 2002, the special events industry in Atlanta awarded me the 2002 Allie Award for Best Event Photography for my wedding photography of Joy and Eric Orme. It was an honor to be acknowledged by my peers for work that I am so passionate about. March 2003, I was given the same award againfor my photography of the wedding of Lisa and Anthony Czech!

What makes you a good wedding photographer?

Did I say I was passionate about wedding photography? I am a hopeful romantic - a necessity for capturing those intimate moments and creating the best images of your wedding. I realize that as your wedding photographer, we will have the longest relationship of any of your wedding professionals. You will want someone who LOVES wedding photography, to work with not only on that special day, but for sometime after the wedding to order prints and design your album.

VISIT SHARI'S WEBSITE

Jim Collins - Pictage CEO

Jim Collins, the new CEO of Pictage is coming to our PUG!! He is planning on coming to our PUG on WEDNESDAY, June 3rd?

We hope you will plan on joining us to hear what all he has in store! We hear rave reviews and look forward to extending a warm welcome to Jim!

JAVA VINO

579 North Highland Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30307

A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!

Do some networking - buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thursday April 2nd, 2009 PUG with Denis Reggie

A warm welcome, a fantastic new venue and a legendary speaker! This month's PUG is going to be one to remember!

This very special PUG gathering features Denis Reggie up close and personal as he shares favorite images and stories from behind the scenes. He will detail his techniques, offer industry insights, and answer questions in a casual, living room style format. This is a Canon Explorer of Light event and is open to all working and aspiring wedding photographers.

This event is FREE and open to all professional photographers we just ask that you RSVP

RSVP HERE

Welcome

We will be starting off the evening a little earlier than usual with a wine and cheese welcome reception sponsored by ShootQ! Please join us to take a few minutes to relax, unwind and catch up with fellow photographers that you may know or may meet!

An Evening With Denis Reggie

Hailed by Town & Country as “the great wedding photographer of our day” and by Oprah Winfrey as “the best in the business,” Denis Reggie and his impact on wedding photography have become legend. Sensing the frustration of many brides with the posed look of traditional and pseudo-fashion wedding photography, he set out in the early 1980’s to refine and popularize the truly natural, editorial style he termed “wedding photojournalism.” The wedding photography industry has never been the same.

In the American PHOTO cover feature naming “The 10 Best Wedding Photographers in the World,” Denis Reggie was listed first.

At the request of the Smithsonian Institute this year, several Reggie photographs will become part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington.

His images have been featured on the cover of LIFE, and named in “Photographs of the Year” by People, LIFE, People, and Newsweek among other publications. He has been interviewed at various times as a guest on NBC’s Today show as well as Oprah! A Denis Reggie photograph of Oprah Winfrey and Jackie Onassis was featured on a program highlighting “Oprah’s favorite things.”

He has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, VH-1, E! Entertainment Television, CNN, and Fox in national broadcasts. He has also been the subject of feature stories in each of the major wedding and photography magazines, and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications. His photographs are frequently used in books on weddings, etiquette, and photography including titles by Vera Wang, Letitia Baldridge and Town & Country.

Denis Reggie’s celebrity client list reads like a Who’s Who among America’s elite and includes Vera Wang, John Kennedy, Jr., Susan Lucci, James Taylor, Mariah Carey, Rudy Giuliani, Peter Jennings, James Garner, television anchor Campbell Brown, Alan Greenspan, Ted Turner, and Don Henley to name a few.

We will be meeting at the fabulous new
Samuel L. Golden Retreat at...

Callanwolde Fine Art Center

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
980 Briarcliff Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30306

Callanwolde is one of the most photographed locations in Atlanta. Built in 1920 as the home of Charles Howard Candler, eldest son of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, the 27,000 square-feet Gothic-Tudor style mansion has been featured in books, television and motion pictures, and has hosted hundreds of weddings, galas and private events over the years.

Directions

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center is located between the Virginia-Highland and Druid Hills neighborhoods of Atlanta, approximately 2 miles east of Midtown. Situated on 12 acres of lush, landscaped grounds on Briarcliff Road, Callanwolde is only 1 mile from Emory University and approximately 3 miles west of Decatur.

Monday, March 2, 2009

YES! There is a PUG this Thursday March 5th 2009!

Hello PUG members! Sorry for the delay in posting this week's meeting - WE ARE MEETING! - 7pm at Java Vino on Thursday! It should be a GREAT meeting! We are speaking about

MARKETING IN A RECESSION
How have you changed your approach?
Should we as an industry be making changes?
How can we offer our clients some relief without taking it from our bottom line?
How can we save money by marketing in creative ways that help our budgets!

I hope you will join us this week and share your experience with us! The greatest tool in meeting is to share our variety of ideas and perspectives!

I will be speaking a little about SHOOT Q 2.0 and how it has been an awesome tool for The Decisive Moment during this recession!

I will do a brief demo and attempt to answer any questions you may have about the program! I can't wait to see you there!

JAVA VINO
579 North Highland Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!
Do some networking - buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

PUG! Thursday, February 5th at 7pm!

Hey guys!

Its PUG time again and we are starting off with a bang! Anna and Spencer of Anna and Spencer Photography are speaking about online optimization! Getting the word out there and not keeping your studio a secret!

Liana Lehman will also be there covering the latest PUG news from Pictage! I will miss you as I am traveling but can't wait to hear all about it in March!

We are back at Java Vino

579 N Highland Ave

Aatlanta GA 30307

A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!
Do some networking - buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!

** Photo courtesy of Anna and Spencer's Blog! Aren't they cute!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mike Larsen December 5th!!

WHAT A FANTASTIC PUG! I enjoyed Mike's talk SO much! He hit home for many of us a we are planing and setting our own goals for 09! I know I was inspired - hope you were too!

Topic: Leadership & Influence: Lead Your Clients to You
Whether you run a big photography studio or a home photography business, leadership is a key part, yet all-too-often underrated element of success. Leading is 100% about your character, and on the surface will get you farther than your image quality. Most photographers spend more time, on average, color correcting or editing images, than they do with their leadership skills, growth and application of them. This session will help you in your day-to-day business decisions with tasks and people; it will help you to be a better leader during your shoots, thus resulting in better images, and a more interactive group of people who will appreciate you and refer you.

Guest Bio:
Mike is an international photographer who began his career traveling the globe in search of exotic locations, amazing surf, and beautiful other cultures to photograph. Since then, he discovered his passion for photographing people who are in love and enjoying life. Mike resides in Southern California, when not traveling. He is honored to be sought after to photograph spectacular weddings around the world. Mike's travels and exposure to diversity continue to inspire him to keep a fresh, fun and outside the box approach to wedding photography.

Visit Mike Larson's website.

Thanks to Mark Sorrow for taking the pic!