You’ve probably noticed that things look a bit different around here. Years ago I spent most of my time posting articles, images, and updates to the blog. In recent years that’s changed, I’ve spent much more time updating my Facebook page instead. Facebook is great, but by its very nature it limits the quality of the content.
I’m in Hollywood for a couple of days meeting with some clients. In the spirit of Hollywood I thought I’d have a little contest. A few years ago I was in a movie with Tom Cruise (yes, I really was). If you’re the first person to guess the movie and the scene you’ll win a cool PocketWizard bag.
This contest is being held on the blog and on Twitter. So I’ll give a bag to the first person who leaves the correct move/scene combo in the comments section as well as the first person who tweets the correct answer.
The bag holds two standard PocketWizards or Two Flex units and One Mini. It’s very cool.
Hint: “You had me at PocketWizard.”
Update.
And the winners are…
@wordslinger0044 was the first to guess correctly on Twitter and seraphicimago was the first to guess correctly in the comments section on the blog.
I was an extra in the movie Jerry Maguire. Many of the football scenes were filmed at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ – just down the road from our first studio. I was in the end zone for many of the scenes and was later moved to a section by the 20 yard line. Although I was pretty close to the field I’m totally indistinguishable in the movie. In fact for most of the scenes everyone had cardboard people sitting between the real people in the seats. The entire upper deck of the stadium was cardboard people. It was pretty funny.
Congratulations to our winners. Your bags will be sent out soon.
The Beauty and the Beast tour with Hanson Fong and John Woodward is just about to begin – and we’re giving away 2 tickets in every city on the tour!
Here’s how you win:
*Travel and hotel expenses are NOT included. We’ll get you in the door but you’ll need to pay for the trip.
If you want to learn how two top, award-winning photographers put their techniques, styles and tools to work you’re in luck. Hanson Fong, one of the premier portrait/wedding photographers in the country and one who holds the degrees of Master Photography and Photographic Craftsman, and John Woodward, voted Photographer of the Year in 2007 by the Professional Photographers of America are embarking on an eight-city tour of the U.S. Cities are:
Hanson and John are both well-known speakers and educators in addition to being top shooters. Topics covered will include: compositional study, facial analysis, portrait, glamour and modified lighting, lighting ratios, metering techniques, posing family groups, “The Wheel of Self-Assessment,” digital and the power of RAW, color management and its importance, 10 basic poses, flow posing and more. Great stuff! Last year’s tour was without a doubt a hit with photographers all across the U.S.
In addition, the day will feature a mini-expo which will be open for one hour before and after the seminar, during breaks and lunch. Representatives from Mamiya, Sekonic, Profoto, Induro, PocketWizard, Tenba, X-Rite, Eizo, Toyo-View, Creative Light, Benro, Marathon Press, ACI/American Color, Nik Software, Denny Manufacturing, Luma Vue Arts and Graphic Authority will be on hand to demonstrate products and offer special discounts.
Visit www.ProlightSeminar.com for more information and online registration.
Diane was featured on 12 News in Phoenix today. Here’s a clip of Diane at the Arizona Humane Society. Diane volunteers at the Arizona Humane Society every week. It’s great that 12 News is able to help spread the word about these wonderful animals that need homes.
I’ve had many, many requests to offer my Studio Lighting 101 and Digital Photography 101 workshops on DVD. A lot of people just live to far away to attend the workshops. I’m happy to say that we are now in pre-production.
What does “pre-production” mean? Well, I have to translate everything that usually happens in a classroom and studio to a flat 2D screen. There is a lot of location scouting, creating storyboards, planning animations, research, and drinking coffee. Pre-production includes creating shooting schedules, finding local talent (models, camera operators, assistants), getting permits, etc. Oh – and did I mention writing?
The pre-production should be finished by the end of January with shooting starting in February. This is a large project and I estimate it will take about 6 weeks to shoot and edit. Once that’s done it takes another 3 weeks for Amazon to get all their ducks in a row (yes, it will be available on Amazon).
We’ll also need artwork for the DVD set which means I’ll be working with some graphic designers along the way. There may also be a workbook that accompanies the video so you can take notes and have a field manual when you are doing the exercises.
Yes, there are exercises for every lesson on the DVD and we’ll have a Flickr group so you can post your results and discuss them with others who have the DVDs.
Once the DVDs are finished I’ll be working on a teacher’s guide so that schools and photo clubs will be able to use the DVDs.
The first set of DVDs will be focused on basic photography – a translation of my 8-week course. That should be done by the end of March. Once that’s out the door I’ll be working on some studio lighting DVDs.
Along the way we’ll be posting behind-the-scenes photos and updates. We’ll also be posting new Digital Photography One on One videos – don’t worry.
This is going to be a big project and I’m looking forward to taking on the challenge. I’m sure it will be worth the effort when it’s all done.
We just have a few hours of 2008 left and I thought I’d take a moment to review the year from my perspective. 2008 brought some big changes to SnapFactory and 2009 looks like it’s going to be even more exciting. Here are a few of the hits and misses for 2008:
A very special thanks goes out to a few people who went above and beyond to help us out this year. In no specific order thanks to: Erin Markis, Jeff Carolli, Craig Bolton, Daniel Anderson, Yasmin Besonia, Phil Bradon, Brandon Bohling, Matt Hill, Ray Vitiello, Ed Hidden, and Bill Crawford.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I was able to spend a bit of time with Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent last night during a book signing for their book, “How To Eat Like A Hot Chick.” The event was held in the courtyard at XS Salon & Spa. The photos from the event will appear in Perfectify Magazine soon.
Cerina Vincent and Jodi Lipper.
Jodi getting ready to sign another copy.
XS Salon & Spa owners Dori Mead and Sayoka Grove with Cerina and Jodi.
We’re already back from our quick trip to New York City. Diane already mentioned most of the good stuff but I wanted to mention a couple of things.
B&H Photo
One of the first things we did was make a quick trip to B&H to pick up some new gear. But, as luck would have it, they were all out of stock on the things we wanted. I ended up ordering the new stuff online and it should be here soon. What are we doing with all of this new stuff?? Stay tuned and we’ll let you know soon enough. 
Hanging out with Shelby Chan was a lot of fun. He’s a great guy and we were honored that he took time out of his busy schedule to meet us. If you haven’t seen his work make sure you take a look at his web site. He has some very cool behind-the-scenes videos too.
The SoHo Photo Gallery
We were also able to spend some time at the SoHo Photo Gallery. Ann Marie Rousseau was displaying some of her work and I really loved it. She was at the gallery when we arrived but was just leaving, so we weren’t able to spend any time with her. Hopefully next time.
The lower floor of the SoHo Photo Gallery.
The gallery has two floors and is a wonderful space. Local photographers can become members and display their work. They also show work from featured photographers throughout the year. If you’re in New York make sure you stop by and see what’s happening at the gallery.
We are working to bring some workshops to other cities. New York is on the list and we were able to do some leg work while we were in town to begin to make it a reality. We’re also looking at bringing workshops to L.A., San Francisco, and Seattle. For those of you in the middle of the country we’re looking at Denver but are open to additional options. Please let us know if you’re interested.
Speaking of workshops my next Digital Photography 101 workshop begins tomorrow night. We have a terrific group of students and I can’t wait to begin. It’s always a blast.
© Copyright 2004 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory
We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for New York City. We’ll be staying at the Westin New York at Times Square. We plan to have a nice dinner and we have tickets to Wicked Friday night. We also plan to hang out with Vince Vaughn at the Apple Store in SoHo and of course we’ll be spending some time at B&H Photo.
While we’re in town we’ll be shooting some stock photos and hitting a few galleries as well. We also plan on having coffee with local NY photographer Shelby Chan. We’ll also working on some things we can’t tell you about yet. But stay tuned and we’ll let you know in a few weeks.
We’ll be taking lots of pictures and blogging as we go. We’ll probably do most of our blogging via our iPhones while we’re on the road and then catch up with better photos and stories once we return.
One of the big goals of the trip is to pick up a few things we need to produce training DVDs that everyone is asking us for. We’ll be playing with a some new toys at B&H to see what works best for us and then we’ll have those in AZ in a week or so. If all goes well we should have some terrific training DVDs this fall.
The new video equipment also means faster production times and more Digital Photography 1on1 episodes. We’re excited to move to the next phase of our video production.
Stay tuned. I’ll blog from downtown New York tomorrow.
I’m in Portland, OR this week and today I was able to capture a few shots of the Sisters of the Road Martin Luther King March and Rally. The theme of the march was non-violence. Here are a few of the photos from today’s march.
