The Hicks Family /// Jacksonville Family Photographer

There's some people who, just by being around them, you get inspired. Jim Davis-Hicks is one of those people. He is a philanthropic photographer who not only shoots weddings, but saves lives by bringing water to people all over the world through his charity he started, Thirst Relief International. Through Thirst Relief, with just a $5 donation, you are able to give a child clean water for life.

Last week, Jim packed up his family and dog on a huge tour bus RV and have started a year-long adventure called "Thirst For More Tour" around the country speaking to different photography groups. He spoke at our Jacksonville Pictage User Group about photography, Thirst Relief, and his really awesome workflow that includes an efficient software he created called Action Runner. The next day he held an intimate gathering for a new group he calls "Fuel." During Fuel, he really challenged us not only about photography related things, but about our true passions in life and ways that we each we destined to make a difference in the world. Here's a quick shot of our Fuel group!







Also while they were here, Stephen took them out for a fun family portrait session. Here's some of the awesome shots he grabbed of their adorable family. (Though he shot it, my logo is on it because we are just using it until we rebrand things in May with our new business name!)








































Jim and his family stayed for about 5 days in my driveway, and while they were here, Jim educated Stephen & I on how to fish and build a firepit amongst other things. Stephen and I enjoyed getting to know him and his wife Lara as new friends as we bonded over s'mores and catching fish. We've documented on our new You Tube Channel a few funny videos of Jim during his stay here.


Watch Jim try to park his RV.


Jim teaches Stephen how to fish.


Jim teaches Stephen how to build a fire in the fire pit.

Special Guest Speaker at Jacksonville Pictage User Group: Jim Davis Hicks

Each month, Stephen and I host a meeting for other professional photographers in the Northeast Florida area to come together and network, learn from each other, and build a positive community. It is sponsored by Pictage.com but all professional photographers are welcome!

This month we are hosting a special guest speaker, philanthropic photographer Jim Davis-Hicks. I first heard of Jim through his charity, Thirst Relief, which raises money to provide clean water in third world countries. Last year at WPPI, I was invited to be a mentor to help raise money, and this year, Stephen was invited too. The past few years, with the help of photographers internationally offering mentor sessions, Jim has raised over $40,000 each year.

As a wedding photographer, Jim and his wife Lara have captured weddings for as high as $20,000 per wedding throughout shooting professionally for the past 12 years. He has been published in Rangefinder Magazine, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Studio Photography, nationally broadcasted radio, Platform Speakers at WPPI and are now heading out on the Thirst for More Nationwide Tour!

Jim & Lara will be bringing their message of "Passion. Purpose. Profit. Productivity". This is a free presentation. To RSVP, visit our Facebook page at: http://facebook.com/jaxpug

Additionally, while in Jacksonville, Jim is inviting 20 photographers to his "Thirst For More Tour" one-day workshop. To get more information on the workshop and reserve your seat, visit the Thirst for More Tour website at: http://tour.jimdavishicks.com

Awesome new watermarker called PICTUL!

As a photographer, I'm always looking for efficient ways to go about things to maximize my time. I was recently told about this amazing new watermarker tool that if you are a blogging photographer, you have to check out!

It's called Pictul and it's a great solution to automate watermarking on your images so seamlessly and easily! It's so fast and easy! You can download it and try it for FREE here before buying, but I promise you'll get hooked!

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek from a recent engagement session that I created using PICTUL!

Jacksonville Pictage User Group Holiday Party

Every month I host a meeting for Jacksonville area photographers called the Pictage User Group. We affectionately call it the "PUG". Though sponsored by Pictage, all photographers are welcome and last night we had our holiday party! Though there was more food to go around than people there, we also took time to reflect on the past year and share with each other 3 things we learned as photographers or about our businesses. We also held an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest with Jay from Life & Love Studios taking home the $100 gift card to Amazon.com. Jay's wife Allison put a lot of love in the sweater by hand sewing on a Christmas door hanging Santa to the sweater along with tinsel and Christmas ribbons. Obviously, it was hard to beat Jay's sweater in the contest!!

It's rare as photographers that we are in front of the camera, but here's us showing off our Christmas sweaters and the group as a whole!

If you are a photographer in the area, we hope you'll join us in the coming year! Be sure to "like" our new Facebook page to stay up to date with all the happenings and upcoming meetings!

The experience vs. the product.

I love my brides and grooms! This is me with Arlene and Jacob right after I got done photographing their beach wedding.

I was on the phone with a new bride and groom yesterday answering their normal questions in the inquiry process.

"Ok, cool, well, we want to book you as our photographer!" they told me at the end of the phone call.
"Great! I'm excited!" I said with a big smile.
"You want to know why we are choosing you?" they asked further. "We call it 'The Scarlett Lillian Experience.'" I just laughed and continued to listen as I questioned myself, "I have an experience?"
"We have a wedding planner who referred us all these photographers on her list," they continued. "We spoke with a lot of them, but honestly, you were one of the only ones who gave us such a good experience in just the booking process, that we are confident you will take good care of us on our wedding day. And oh yeah, we love your photography too."

Sniff, sniff... inside my heart, it let out a big "awwwwwwwww." So apparently, I have an experience that I'm not quite sure I had. To me, being a girl and a bride, I just naturally love weddings and I naturally love hearing people's love stories and celebrating with them the day that God is bringing them together as man and wife. But I guess, that in itself is part of the experience.

It got me thinking a lot about how the experience is just as important as the final product! Though they liked my photography, it was the experience I provided that built that trust with them. For those in the wedding industry, the experience, and genuine interest in their day, that you give your brides and grooms from the very first contact inquiring is sooo crucial. I'm learning that as a bride myself too. There have been some vendors I've hired for Stephen and I's wedding because of their promptness in providing information and answering all my dumb questions. And because while I know they have a ton of other clients, they treat me like I'm the only one.

Example:

Vendor A & Vendor B for a certain category.

When we got engaged, I scoured the internet to find the best vendor for this service I was looking for. This particularly category was super important to us and I knew would take a good chunk of our budget. I ran across the website for Vendor A and I TOTALLY fell in love with their work. They were even in a different country but I thought their product was A-MAZING and would sacrifice something in my budget to afford to fly them from another country. So I inquired.

One day passed. No response. Ok, I get it, I get busy too.
Two days passed, no response. Still, I get it, I get swamped.
Three, four, five days passed, and nothing.

In the meantime, I got frustrated and because I wasn't hearing anything back, not even an away message letting me know their normal response time, around day 3, I started scouring the internet for other options.

That's when I discovered Vendor B, who I thought was just as amazing, and inquired. Within a few hours, I heard a response. I was super impressed with their promptness, but was secretly holding out to hear from Vendor A. When the next week rolled around and still no response, I decided to go with Vendor B and book them. About 2 weeks after my initial inquiry with Vendor A, yes, 2 weeks, I finally got a response back, which confirmed I was glad I booked Vendor B. What annoyed me was not only did they not apologize for taking so long to get back to me, but their prices, as expected, were double what Vendor B was. I'm sorry, but for vendors who prices are more expensive than the average joe, they should provide even more prompt service for the investment. Would the Ritz Carlton be the Ritz Carlton if their reservation assistants took 2 weeks to book your room?

One tip to help set expectations:

Use an automatic response message for your email. Anyone who emails me gets this message:

"Hello! Thanks so much for writing me!

Due to a high volume of emails, I will get back to you in the next 2-3 business days. I appreciate your patience! You can always stay up to date about the latest happenings in my world and recent weddings I've shot on my blog at scarlettlillian.net."

I do this to let potential clients know, I've gotten their email, I do care, I will get back to you really soon, I promise. But personally, I always try to exceed their expectation by getting back to them within 24 hours, not the 2-3 days they think they have to wait.

Point of the story, the experience you provide your clients is just as important as the product you provide. Now as a bride myself, I realize that more than ever.

Jared Platt Workshop is coming to Jacksonville!

I've been getting a lot of emails asking me if I'm holding any future workshops. Between trying to plan a wedding and running a business, right now I've put hosting my own workshops on hold. However, my fiance Stephen and I look forward to teaming up once we're married though so stay tuned for that next year!

In the meantime, I love hosting other photographers here in Jacksonville who hold workshop tours. The next one on the calendar is Arizona based Jared Platt. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts in the Photographic Studies and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography from Arizona State University. Jared teaches photography at the college level and to professionals everywhere.




Jared is currently on tour around the country and coming to Jacksonville Oct 7 for his Lightroom Workflow Workshop. At the workshop, he teaches you how to cut your workflow time in half and use that time effectively to increase the quality of your work, strengthen the impact of your portfolio and ultimately to push your skills as a photographer to a higher level. The Lightroom Workflow Workshop is a full day workshop on post production in Adobe's Lightroom 3.0. At the workshop you will learn how to maximize your post production workflow experience and increase the quality of your work.

*Cut Your Workflow Time in Half
*Fast Selection Methods
*Fast Develop Methods and Techniques
*Advanced Adjustment Syncing Methods
*Positive Selection Editing Techniques
*Proper Lightroom Preset Creation
*Using Key wording and Metadata
*Making Books and Albums from Lightroom
*Burning and Dodging
*Color Management
*Import and Export Methods
*Using, Sharing and Syncing Multiple Lightroom Catalogs
*Photography Tips for Faster Workflow
*Digital Asset Management (DAM)
*File Security
*Using Lightroom and Photoshop Together
*Automating Lightroom with Photoshop
*Lessons in Composition
*Entire Lightroom Workflow
*New Lightroom 3.0 Tools
*And Much More...

If you feel bogged down in post-production or just need to boost your photography to the next level but don’t know where to start, then you need this time with Jared Platt. And you will learn the latest and greatest in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 at the same time!

Learn more and register now at www.jaredplattworkshops.com

Workshop Fee: $300

Enter the Pictage Discount Code for a 50% Discount: "pictage"

The Lightroom Workflow Workshop is normally $300. By using the coupon code "pictage" at checkout, you will receive a 50% discount, making the workshop the incredible price of only $150.





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Additionally, the day before his workshop, on Oct 6, Jared is speaking for FREE at our monthly Pictage User Group meeting. The meeting is open to all local photographers, and Jared will be covering how to take your photography portfolio and your individual events from good to great and save time in the process. Come and learn the how to tap into the power of perception through positive selection.

*Learn the power of positive selection to speed your workflow and improve your photography.
*Learn how to become a better photographer durring post-production.
*Learn how to elivate your brand by controling public perception.
*Learn some tips and tricks for increasing productivity inside of Lightroom 3.0.
*Question and Answer Period - (bring your toughest post production delimas to discuss)
*Door Prizes

If you would like to sign up for the free talk and don't already receive our monthly Evite invitations for our PUG, email me directly at scarlett@scarlettlillian.com and I'll add you to our Evite list for more info to be released in the October Evite.

Lastly, I just scheduled our August Pictage User Group meeting. If you are a local photographer looking to connect and learn from other photographers, we welcome you to our group and hope you'll join us at our usual spot!

WHEN: August 23
TIME: 7PM
WHERE: Jackie Lee's China Bistro
10915 Baymeadows Rd # 101
Jacksonville, FL 32256 US

Why I love my ShowIt site.

Yesterday, I tweeted about how I'm in California hanging and chillin' with my hot fiance Stephen, but in one day booked 3 weddings. I gave a shoutout in my tweet to ShootQ and how I love that I can run a mobile business. With ShootQ, all my contracts are online, so I can book a wedding anywhere. Even on my last trip home, I was on a layover in the airport, and booked a wedding through ShootQ right there in the terminal.

After my tweet, I got this question on my Facebook by Chad Robinson:




Though I'm taking a break from teaching workshops to focus on wedding planning, I did want to share some awesome results with you I've been monitoring. What I also wanted to give a shoutout too in my tweet, but couldn't fit in 140 characters, is ShowIt Sites! As I mentioned when I first blogged about my launch, I was hesitant to give into ShowIt Sites. I mean, I had a pretty cool template site, how could a custom site REALLY make THAT much of a difference?

But since launching my new site in May, my wedding bookings in the month of June jumped up 400%, marking my highest booking month to date (all of which I could compare through my handy dandy analytics on ShootQ).

Then yesterday, as I chatted with bride #3 on the phone, she told me "I love your photography, but wow, I LOVED your website! The design was so cool. The venue referred a cheaper photographer but after I looked at their website, I wasn't impressed and kept looking online and discovered your website and was like, THIS is who I want to hire."

I've always had my blog where I've put a lot of my personality on there, but now that I've incorporated that directly on my website through how ShowIt lets me customize my site, I can truly testify that it has increased my business! Also because of this, I rarely need to meet brides during booking because of how they are able to get to know me through my site and my promo video with one of my brides testifying why she hired me. (Which by the way was not a fancy production, just an assistant following me on a wedding day with a cheap video camera, grabbing a testimonial, and edited together with a mix of my photos on my Mac.)

So I just wanted to share that tid bit with you because I want to see YOUR photography do good as well! Remember, you are an artist. You are not just selling your photography, you are selling who you are as the photographer behind the camera. "Show it" to those who visit your website! The more "you" you put into your website, the easier you make it for brides to hire you.

But that's just my humble opinion. :-)

Be a Scarlett Lillian Associate photographer!

So the time has come.

I'm ready to take on an Associate Photographer. I'm looking for someone to take on dates I'm not available and also cater to smaller budget brides. I will handle all customer service with the brides, you will simply show up the day of the wedding and shoot! :-)

Here's what I'm looking for in an ideal candidate:

*Based in Jacksonville or Northeast Florida
*Experience shooting weddings
*Ideal photographer would be someone simply looking for shooting assignments and extra income such as:
*A stay at home mom with shooting experience who doesn't have time to run a business
*Someone who already has a photography business but wants to shoot more
*A photographer who loves shooting but hates running the business side of things, etc.
*Someone who feels they can reproduce a similar shooting style as mine.
*Please note, this is NOT a mentor program

If you have never shot a wedding by yourself, please do not apply. I am not looking to train someone, I am looking to hire someone with experience shooting. I am looking to fill this position by the end of next week, so don't hesitate to apply.

To apply, please send the following to scarlett@scarlettlillian.com:

1. Headshot
2. A link to your website/gallery/portfolio. A full wedding is preferable.
3. A statement on why YOU would be the perfect Scarlett Lillian Associate.

Compensation will be an hourly rate for shooting.

I look forward to hearing from you! Lastly, please note that while I will look at and review every application, I will be unable to respond to each applicant. I will be in contact if I would like to interview you further! :-)

Ask Away Wednesday With San Diego Wedding Photographer Stephen Knuth

Each week my hot San Diego wedding photographer fiance, Stephen Knuth, does a thing on his blog for other photographers called "Ask Away Wednesday" answering questions to help pay forward his knowledge. Since I'm in San Diego this week, I joined him for his video answer session, and wanted to share it here on my blog too. Be sure to keep up with his Facebook Like Page where you can leave your questions for him. I'm also starting to gather questions on my Like Page, so if you have photography related questions, please leave your questions in my Discussions tab.

Enjoy the video, I hope it's helpful to you!

p.s. Sorry for the annoying voice delay thing. We look like a bad Japanese animation, but couldn't figure out how to sync our mouths moving with the sound. Arg.

p.p.s. I hate watching myself on video. I look way sleepy in this video. Sorry, it's the jet lag, I'm still on East Coast time. :-)

My new ShowIt Site website!

I had dinner with one of my bride and groom’s recently to discuss all their cool wedding details. At the end of the dinner, the groom confessed to me, “To be honest, meeting you in person, you seem nothing like the pictures I’ve seen on your website and blog. You appear much older and serious in those pictures, but I love how in person you are much more youthful and fun in spirit.”

That’s when I realized, my current branding wasn’t reflecting accurately the real me.

I knew it was time for, yet again, another make over.

As I approach 30, I find myself in this awkward phase. It kind of feels like the “tween” years all over again where you are too old to be a kid, and too young to be a teenager. At 29, I feel like I’m too old to still shop in stores like Forever 21 and Bebe’s, and too young to be plucking gray hairs. But the thing is, I DO still love shopping at places like Forever 21 and Bebe’s. My mom always called me a late bloomer growing up. I was the girl who still played with Barbie dolls in middle school, but would hide them when my girlfriend’s came over for sleepovers because I didn’t want them to know I was still actually playing Barbies. I think that’s why too my relationship works so well with my 22-year-old fiancé. He jokes that he feels like he’s really 25, and that I act like I’m 25, so we meet in the middle and it works.

So in redoing my branding, I decided to start from scratch (ok, not completely, I’m still keeping the hot pink!) and switch over to ShowItSites so I could have the freedom to be… me. Though I have no complaints with my old host Photobiz.com, I no longer wanted to fit my images inside of a template site. I wanted to create a site that gave me permission to showcase who I am behind the camera. Oh yeah, and cool portfolio images too. The greatest compliment I’ve ever gotten was from my past bride Amy, who told me “I love your photography, but I’m hiring you because I love who you are as a person. You are the kind of person I want around me on my wedding day.” And it was time I showed that more on my website. So I’ve added a promo video, and a section about things I’m obsessed with, and much more.

When Stephen and I get married, we are excited to team up as a husband/wife photography team, but for now, the bachelorette in me wanted to create one more website just about me, like one more last crazy thing you do before you get married. I blame it on my Creative A.D.D.

You can view my new site at:

www.scarlettlillian.com

So because I love my new website, I want to share this link with you to find out more about easily you can create you own custom website:

http://getshowit.com/11307

When I met the ShowItSites family at WPPI, I was so impressed with how hands on they are with all their clients. That alone made me want to switch. They are a perfect example of how amazing customer service almost outranks the product itself. (Not to mention, my hot fiancé is their 2009 Photographer of the Year!) Check out the link above if you are interested in signing up for a ShowItSite too! I’m not pimping them because they asked me too, I’m pimping them because I freaking love my new website and I want you to love your website too!

Why I love Picasso.

So there's been a lot of heated arguments going on in the wedding photography industry lately about "rockstars." Somehow our industry has formed it's own little micro-celebrity world. Somehow, people have lumped my fiance and I into it and made us targets to pick on. Somehow, photographer tabloids have popped up and are trying to imitate the Hollywood gossip-holic, PerezHilton.com.

Personally, I think the whole word "rockstar" is ridiculous. The bottom line is, we, photographers, take pictures of OTHER people. We are not rockstars. It is our job to make our clients feel like rockstars.

Yes, there are photographers who have blogs. Some post only photos. Some post photos and personal stories. For me, I graduated with a degree in magazine journalism, I am above all else a storyteller in the depths of my heart. I need to write just as much as I need to take photos. So I choose to write about (some of) my personal life and showcase photos. That is why I call it my photo journal instead a blog. If you are inspired by my story and my faith, that's awesome, if not, I won't be offended if you stop reading. But whatever you do, please don't call me a rockstar.

In addition, other people are tearing down people's art. In a day and age where any one can go buy a digital camera and turn it on auto and take a photo, the more experienced photographers are standing up to preserve the art of photography. I'm all for preserving the art, but I'm not all for tearing people down to accomplish that. And it's not just me getting criticized, I have heard story after story from others at all levels getting attacked. My heart breaks for those who have shared their experiences with me. This isn't high school. The bullying needs to stop.

The bottom line is, we all see the world a different way through our cameras. For the very reasons other photographers critique my work saying it's overexposed, overcontrasted, oversaturated, that is the VERY reason I love it. That is the very reason my clients hire me. That is the very reason my wall is full of thank you notes from clients raving about how much they loved their photos.

That is the very reason I have always loved the painter Picasso. In his world, people had 2 faces. In my world, the grass is neon green. Just like beauty, art is in the eye of the beholder.

I'm ready for a movement in the photography industry that CELEBRATES the fact that as photographers, we have the coolest job in the world!

Let's CELEBRATE that each of us has a unique perspective in how we document the world.
Let's CELEBRATE the beauty out there that is yet to be photographed.
Let's CELEBRATE that we get the honor to preserve family history for people.
Let's CELEBRATE that God has given us a gift and a passion and we live in a free country that allows us to pursue that.
Let's CELEBRATE individuality instead of pointing fingers.
Let's CELEBRATE each other as artists and stop tearing each other down.


"My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso."
~Pablo Picasso

For The Love workshop

One thing I love about being a photographer is the opportunity it gives me to cross paths with other photographers who love the Lord, who view photography as more than an art, but an opportunity to serve and love through the gift God has given us. At WPPI's UNITE worship service, I met a beautiful soul named Ginny Corbett. She led the small group I was in, and as she spoke, I could see through her words and the way her eyes lit up as she spoke, that she was someone who truly radiates God's beauty.

Last year, the Lord called her to put together a retreat/workshop called For The Love for Christian photographers to come together and seek God's will for their businesses. I'm excited to join the next retreat in November in Oregon. She hasn't released details yet, but is collecting names of those who want to be the first to know when final details are revealed. On the For The Love blog, she just released this amazing video recap showing how powerful the first retreat was.




If you are interested in more info, be sure to sign up on the For The Love blog at:

http://www.fortheloveworkshop.com/blog

Hope to see you there as we come together in worship of our beautiful Heavenly Father.

No autographs please.

So I gave in.

I've really been trying to boycott the whole "Fan Page" thing on Facebook. I just hate the name. I'm not a Hollywood celebrity, I'm just a photographer. I would much rather call you a friend than a fan.

But alas... everyone seems to be doing it... and I heard Facebook caps your friends on your personal page at 5,000... so as I approach that number, I didn't want to start rejecting people's friend requests, so I created a Fan Page in hopes that I can start separating personal and business just a tad.

I'm not exactly sure what the point is otherwise of Fan Pages, but then again, I didn't understand the point of Twitter at first... and once upon a time I didn't understand the point of blogs.... so I'm just assuming I will eventually come to understand the point of Fan Pages once I dive in and actually get things going.

One thing I have started is a discussion thread for you to post your photography questions. While I wish I had time to respond to everyone's emails and Facebook emails, the reality is I'm unable to, so this discussion thread on the Facebook Fan Page will be the best way to connect with me. I'm going to start something called "2 Question Tuesdays" here on my blog soon, and I'll be pulling questions from the discussion thread, so be sure to leave your questions there!

So there's my press release. I have a Fan Page. If you want to join it, I would love to have you there and participate! If not, no worries, I'm still trying to figure out the point too. :-)

Scarlett Lillian is a fan of

Scarlett Lillian Photography

Create your Fan Badge

Hanging in the [b] school!

Yesterday Stephen and I had a fun time driving up to Mission Viejo to chill with The Becker for an live broadcast of Study Hall for The [b} School. The fabulous Jessica Claire also crashed our lunch and it was fun to catch up with both of them post-WPPI and chat about photography and life.

Here's a few photos Jessica snapped of us during the broadcast. Thanks so much to the photogs who participated and joined the chat and asked questions. And a special thanks to Becker for inviting us on guests on the show. We love paying it forward and sharing our experiences to help you succeed along your own journey! If you are looking for a great place to connect with other photographers and learn, the [b] School has a lot to offer!

Join me LIVE on the [b] School Study Hall today!

When I was first starting out in photography back in 2006, I kept hearing buzz about "The Becker."

"Becker who?" I asked.

"Oh, just THE Becker. Or [b] for short," I would hear.

I soon learned that The Becker is a So Cal photographer who started the [b] School, a Facebook-like place for photographers to hang out and learn and share. Each week he hosts a LIVE interview show called Study Hall where you can join the chatroom and ask the photog of the week and learn more about how they do what they do. This week while I'm in California, I was invited by Becker to be a guest along with my boyfriend Stephen Knuth. We'll be chatting about a lot of random things like the power of blogging, why I love Pictage, why Stephen loves ShowIt Sites and how Stephen kind of appeared out of nowhere to become the hottest Photographer of the Year I know. he he

If you've got photography questions for Stephen or I, this will be a great time to interact and chat it up with us. I look forward to connecting with all of you!

You can view our LIVE chat TODAY at 7pm EST/4pm PST at www.livestream.com/thebschool! Be sure to get there early to sign up and sign in to get your questions in. Just warning you, the chat room becomes a tad addicting! :-)

See you there!

WPPI 2010 Recap

WPPI.

Whew.

I'm still exhausted.

What a crazy busy time it was this year.

Reflecting back, it's kind of like when you would go on Spring Break in college and get back to realize, "Wait, what actually happened last week?" It all feels like a blur.

My favorite part of WPPI is how it feels like a high school reunion. Catching up with old friends you haven't seen in a year. Making new friends. Meeting YOU who follow me here on my journey. Being inspired by all the talent in this industry. Seeing new products and learning what's out there in the photography world. Shooting in new locations.

But one of my favorite new things I participated in was the 2 hours I got to slow down, and enter into worship with the Lord with about 100 other photographers who came together for a grassroot movement called UNITE. It was started by my photog friends Mike Larson and David Jay in Santa Barbara, and has evolved into UNITE groups starting up all over the nation. As busy as WPPI can get, it was refreshing to stop the whirlwind around me, sing worship songs, reflect on His word, and come together with other photographers on a similar mission to use their gift for a greater purpose of promoting God's goodness in this industry.

Here's some highlights from the fun things that went on:

First Stephen & I headed to the Airhorns and Lasers party hosted by Southern Weddings magazine.


Our buddy Jeff Youngren getting his dance on!


An email buddy I finally got to meet, Caroline Ghetes and her friend Diana Radoi


The always fabulous Cathy Crawley from Australia!


Stephen & I goofing off in the GoBee party photobooth!


Stephen & I speaking at a ShowIt Sites user gathering.


Stephen's amazing shootout on the strip! More can be seen on his blog!


So Stephen and I were invited to a dinner with the ShowIt crew one night, and this is how David Jay welcomes us to the ShowIt family! A little strange to be eating something staring back at me. (For the record, yes, for now I still use PhotoBiz, but I was so impressed with the ShowIt peeps that I will be switching to ShowIt soon!)


A cool pano Stephen grabbed on his iPhone of my Vegas desert shootout!


More pictures to come soon of Gavin and Erin Wade, but here's a group shot from my shootout!


The UNITE worship get together.


It was so great to meet Feuza Dos Rois and Katrina Wheeler. These are two amazing girls you want to keep your eye on.


Chatting with the best CEO in the world, Jim Collins, at the Pictage booth.


So proud of my honey for presenting his first talk at WPPI at ShowIt's Secret Service get together.


Hanging out at the ShootSac booth catching up with my friend, and now hair twin, Jessica Claire. She was taking these fun polaroid-like pics!


Always great to see old friends, Lain Eubank and David Esquire.


Stephen and I had dinner with some of our favorite people, Jody and Zach Gray!


One last pic before we left of the very spot we first met a year ago (though I don't remember it, whoops!)


Such an amazing time with lots of great new memories! I was also tagged in a lot more photos on my Facebook! If you've never been to WPPI, I definitely recommend you start saving up for next year. It's like Twitter, you don't get it until you dive in!