PUG Holiday gathering..

We are looking into the possibility of holding
the PUG party on the 11th, which is the date
that our PUG would take place anyway.
Please send either me or jason & stacey a
response if you can or cannot attend that
evening and we'll go from there....
thanks and have a blessed holiday season.

sue

November 13th wrap-up...

we had an intimate group last night and
we talked a LOT!!! at times, in groups.

discussions were about goals mostly.
where are you now? where to you want to be?
where have you come from? things of that nature.

inspiring input was given by everyone and ultimately,
we all want the same things:
~more life!
~more financial freedoms and less guilt.
~to quit our day jobs and still provide for ourselves.
~respect from family
~respect from the industry
~to continue to do awesome work and maintain selfworth!

it all boils down to making choices. the right choices.
define your goals! i mean, really define your goals!
write them down, have them at your work station always
so that when faced with a decision you can look up and
ask yourself "will this bring me closer to my goal?"
sounds so simple doesn't it?

i'm attaching a form from mike larson on goals...



oh, and a photo of baby ian who was also in
attendance last night...



i'm working on getting information on how to
allow people to subscribe to our blogs. i'll perhaps
e-mail that out when i hear back so you don't have
to keep checking here! :)

have a great week everyone.
photograph something you haven't.

November meeting....

our next PUG meeting is this Tuesday, the 13th.
I believe that we had discussed the possibility
of meeting at Bill Clark's home in Minnetonka
but I actually think that it's a "go" at the
studio.

we seriously need a photo of our group!

i would like to get a re-cap of erin johnson's
gallery extravaganza that i could NOT get to!

see you all on tuesday.

Stacey says that she just turns her phone off
or to silent when she rests so if you need to
contact her please dial her cell phone and or
contact jason for further updates on this meeting.

enjoying your fall?????
tell me about it in an e-mail with your favorite
images! PLEASE!!!

educational information...

i met bob davis last summer at a tcppa event
here in eden prairie. he is truly an amazing
human being and a terrific teacher and he
wants to share his knowledge.
here's proof....i subscribe to their (he & his
wife dawn who happens to do all the post for him)
blog and this morning dawn posted about his
educational videos (DVDs) that are coming out
later this month or december at the latest.

please check out the lastoria blog and watch
for the upcoming release of this educational
materials and subscribe to their blog!

if you aren't familiar with bob's work....
you should be. change that today! :)

bob was planning on coming back up from chicago
this coming summer to speak again for tcppa.
i pray he still can make time to come.

tcppa is also holding their print competition
tomorrow...monday november 5th at the hennepin
technical center in eden prairie. you all should
come!

Welcome Ian Jason Thon..

Hey everyone,
If you are interested in more details about the new
Thon, please head to their blog!
Ian was born around lunchtime on Monday the 29th of October.
They have posted a photo on their blog...
Super precious! :)
Congrats Stacy & Jason!

Liz Banfield...

Sorry for the delay in posting my wrap for
our PUG meeting Tuesday evening 10/9/07.

Liz Banfield graciously accepted our invitation
to come and speak to the group regarding
getting your work published as well as sharing
her background and bits of her personal life.



Liz came in, sat down and ran through her program that
she will be sharing with tons of other photographers
attending the photoplus expo so she said
that it was good for her to come see us first as
she wasn't certain how she was going to organize
her thoughts and images.

Liz was laid back and really just explained that
we should all start to shoot our weddings to the
caliber that editors would want to place in their
magazines...i mean not that we don't all now do
that but that we should be submitting weddings for
publication whenever we can. like for me, and maybe
you too, i just really wanted a to shoot for the bride
and be certain that she was thrilled with my work.
it never really occurred to me to go after publishing.
Liz says locate the photo editor's name and address on
the inside of magazines and just go for it!
simple enough, right?
let's do what we can soon and then report back to
the group when we hear back from some of these
editors and cheer one another on...even if ours does
not get selected. we are a very talented group
of individuals with different life goals but the
same professional ones...get hired, do great work and
get more great work from that and so on...grow as
photographers and share our God given talents with
those around us.

another way to support one another within our own group
is to attend showings of our PUGmates whenever we can!
here's one of the first...erin johnson
erin passed out invites last night but if you could not
attend...here's the information. see you there!

Bruce Dorn

First, I'd like to thank Bjorn and David for sitting with me
even tho' I still smelled like a campfire from the night before!
I was standing in the lobby waiting to be allowed in the
auditorium when I spotted the guys...fellow PUGers...
then Stacey called me. "Hey Jason and I are so bummed
we can't be there for the Bruce Dorn program, can you take notes
for us?" and I was like, "Bruce Dorn?" who's Bruce Dorn?"
You see, I purchased this ticket so long ago and paper clipped
it to my calendar as to not forget to go and nowhere on this
ticket does it say anything about the speaker..just that it
is "IDC presents: Digital Photography Edge". clearly, I hadn't
a clue but Stacey steered me straight...the 3 of us went in
and grabbed a seat in the front row.

So, the big news, and I know you won't even believe me,
is that there as been a HUGE flood of interest in FILM coming
back into the market. Apparently brides have gotten savvy and
have discovered that the photographers that used to shoot film
have an edge over those that have only shot digital!
i know, crazy, right?

Well, okay..you all just failed my bull~sh*t test! :P

okay, moving on....just wanted to see if i could get you!~


Here is some points that i saw fit to write down...

3-things that they look for in lighting:
1)Quality of light
2)Direction of light
3) and the least important but considered is Intensity

When putting together an album they make certain that they
have covered the wedding day like a "3 Act Play"~
*****Preparation, Ceremony, Celebration*****

Bruce loves to couple natural light with artificial for a
more well rounded image.

He also loves to tell the couples to "almost kiss".
Bruce says this, more often than not, creates more for them
than they imagined. I know I'm going to try it next wedding!

Bruce suggests exploring commercial photography and
attract more types of clients. He strongly feels that
you can not just say you do one thing or another in
this business cuz you'll market yourself right out of it.
Interesting.

Bruce brings to the still camera quite a bit of cinematic
style photography from the Hollywood days (where he met
his wife, Maura).
He likes to look at light as an actual character in
the image...I think we all knew that but never really
looked at it that way, am I right?
Use a lot of back light with a bounce...(that's a no
brainer!) to get rim light and fill with minimal
equipment.

Another suggestion Bruce shares is one of being aware
of your surroundings by simply keeping your left eye
open when shooting (I do that a lot, do you?).
Train your left eye to be comfortable open whether
with a wide angle or a zoom while shooting.

Movies he recommends watching for just lighting ideas
are "The girl with the Pearl Earring" (Scarlet Johanson)
and "Pride and Prejudice" for posing ideas
also Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo & Juliet" (Leo DeCaprio)-ugh!

Okay, one last cool thing...
shoot one "pro~bono" wedding a year for, say, that client
that maybe just can't quite afford you...then let them
know that you get all creativity! I like that idea!

Wouldn't it be fun if we, as a group, could call on
one another to shoot a pro~bono wedding and use the
images for whatever we wanted and create an album
without any constraints!?? Who's in with me??!

See you all Tuesday night.

gary fong moves to wisconsin

well, not gary, but his fulfillment operations.
check his blog for 10/5.
Who would like to head over to Madison and take
in a tour? wouldn't that be fun???

Trash the Dress...

Ever want to get together to do a "Trash the Dress" session?
Well, in case you didn't see in on Gary Fong's blog...here ya go...
trash the dress

oh, and don't be afraid to leave a comment.
and ummm, i haven't gotten ANY fall images from anyone so
i may just elect myself the winner and eat the candy corn! ;)

Greetings Fellow Photographers!

Sue Austin here...
I have been given the distinct privilege
and honor to tend to our PUG blog.
I accepted willfully!

I would like to begin by perhaps asking
anyone that is interested to e-mail me
a fun fall image...either simply gorgeous
color or a favorite outdoor family session
image. The colors should be popping in the
next week or two and i thought it might
be a nice way to color up our blog.
All entrants will receive a bag of brach's
pumpkins or candy corn! ;)

here is some inspiration...
the first one is a shot my neighbor took
last year up north...not bad!



and this tree is down the street from my
friend gerri's house...it looked like it
was on fire!!



If you haven't already, please mark your
calendars for Tuesday, October 9th for our
next PUG meeting. Topics are forthcoming.

Have a great day and check back often!

And The Winner Is??????

Congratulations to Tasha with f8 design photography, who won the first Minneapolis PUG contest and will be moving on to represent our group in the national competition.



It was a very tight contest with honorable mentions going to Melissa Johnson



and Sue Austin, who made it anything but a run-away!



I would like to thank everyone who participated and voted. You all did a great job.

PUG Photo Contest

Hey Everyone,

Here are the entries for the PUG "People" Print Competition.

If you all could send your vote to jason@stajastudios.com with the number that you would like to vote for. Please remember not to vote for your own image. The winner will be entered into the national PUG contest. Each PUG will have one representative and the winning image from those will win a gift certificate.

With that in mind, "drum roll please", here are the images!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

May 15th PUG Meeting

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2007
7:00PM

Staja Studios
5205 West 73rd Street
Edina, MN 55439


Local Agenda:

* Melissa Hasson will be here from Pictage to demonstrate the album designer

Pictage Agenda:

* New proof books
* Companion books
* Pictage learn site


We look forward to seeing you all there.

- Jason & Stacey

April 10th Wrap-Up

Stacey and I would like to thank everyone who was able to make Tuesday's PUG meeting. One again we had double digit turnout!

In review, for the month of April we went over the following topics:

Paul Fletcher - Spotlight Studio
Pictage's new proof books
Pictage's new companion albums
Pictage's learn site
and we held a roundtable discussion on blogs

The majority of the roundtable discussion focused on the purpose of using blogs, the approach to take toward a blog, and how to increase exposure and viewership.

What were the themes we came up with?

#1) A blog serves photographers very well because it allows our clients to keep up with us and see our latest work very quickly.

#2) Should your blog be personal or business? The general agreement was that it should be a combination of both. The business portion helps clients see some new work and that you really are a photographer where the personal side lets people into your life and gives them an idea of who you are as a person.

#3) Post as often as you can. This helps make people want to come back more frequently

#4) Find a niche/become an expert - try and find something unique to post about. Incorporate that idea into your blog, it will make people want to read more frequently (one very successful blog is about a guy who talks about being boring).

#5) Look for unique features and things to add to your blog.

#6) LINK, LINK, LINK - Linking helps you in the google search engine. There are countless ways and things you can link to.

#7) Use keywords in your posting titles - The search engines look at these posting headings.

Some photographers blogs that were mentioned that various people like
simple photo life
[b]eckers blog
gosip - jessica claire
me ra koh
open source photo
cup of joe photo

I hope everyone enjoyed the conversation and were able to leave with some new ideas.

For those of you who may be interested, I am attaching a PDF of the Agenda for the Pictage topics.

Housecleaning items:

#1) Who would be interested in attending a 1 day workshop if I am able to set it up. I am thinking of trying to get Zack Arias bring his one light photogrpahy workshop to town. The following are various links to what he is doing.

www.onelightworkshop.com - workshop site
www.usedfilm.com - Zack's Music Photography
www.KillTheFill.com - Zack's Blog

The cost would be $325 - $350/person for the day. This would be open to anyone you think would be interested and we would be looking for 8+ people to attend.

Zack does a lot of music photography and typically lines up a band or two in the area to shoot.

I think it would be interesting a different yet somewhat minimalist way to approach lighting.

#2) Does anyone have ideas as to what they would like to have for topics in the next year? Two things we are looking at so far are storage ideas (External Hardrives, Raids, etc.), a workflow discussion, and a group shoot; however, we are always looking for additional ideas.


In closing, congratulations to Bjorn Meisnerr for winning the $100 in Pictage credit, and the reward of doing June's Studio Spotlight. We are also hoping to have Noemi do next months spotlight. Stacey and I hope you are all doing well and we look forward to next month's meeting.

Take Care,

Jason and Stacey Thon
Staja Studios

April 10th PUG Meeting

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2007
7:00PM

Staja Studios
5205 West 73rd Street
Edina, MN 55439

Local Agenda:

Studio Spotlight: Paul Fletcher

* Are you using a blog to MARKET your business?
* The points we are going to be looking at include:
- Are you currently using a blog?
- Should your blog be strictly business, personal, or a mix?
- What do you want to accomplish with your blog?
- Is your blog sending a consistent message with your site?
- What blogs out there do you enjoy reading (if any)

Pictage Agenda:

* New proof books
* Companion books
* Pictage learn site

We look forward to seeing you all there.

- Jason & Stacey

March 20th Wrap-Up

First off, Stacey and I would like to thank everyone for showing up. This has been the second month in a row where we have had our best turnout yet! It is great to see a core group of people coming on a regular basis, along with new people coming to check out the meeting for the first time.


For this month of March we went over the following topics:

*Tom Ekblad - Spotlight Studio
*Pictage's order by text function
*Pictage's new 2-for-1 automation promotion
*Pictage's new event owner releases
*"The Wedding Report"
*Roundtable discussion on what parts of a wedding give you trouble.

The majority of the roundtable discussion focused on formals, and the following ideas were tossed around:

#1) How do you prevent yourself from getting bogged down/off-track/and losing momentum when doing formals?

Some of the ideas to help in this area where to be very prepared, have a list of the shots you need to get, and start posing your groups from bride and groom and then adding people or vice versa so you remove people from the frame and end up with just the B/G as the last shot

#2) What do I do if I find myself consistently shooting more formals than I (yes the key word is I) want to?

Some of the ideas:
Set a time limit per wedding/package on formals
Put a limit on the number of groupings per wedding/package
Put a time value per grouping and explain to the couple how time can really add up
Cut down on the possibilities you give your couple (don't fill their head with ideas).

#3) Any suggestions on using fill flash for outdoor formals?

An idea that was brought up is to use a flash lower than the camera to help fill in the shadows set on manual at 1/16 power.


Congratulations to Paul Fletcher for winning the $100 in Pictage credit, and the reward of doing next month's Studio Spotlight. Stacey and I hope you are all doing well and we look forward to next month's meeting.


In closing, we would like to thank everyone for helping making this group a fun and informative evening every month. One thing to keep in mind is that we all come to these meetings with a different background, style, experience level, etc. With those diverse backgrounds, there are bound to be different approaches that work for everyone. My goal is that we all can learn from one another's experiences, be open to new ideas, and above all be patient and willing to share! I want this to be a place where we all can foster new relationships and feel comfortable in giving and asking for advice. I know that we are all very passionate about photography, and hopefully we all can remember that there is more than one way of doing things.


Take care,

- Jason and Stacey Thon

February 13th Wrap-Up

February's meeting resulted in one of our better turn-outs. We had 13 people attend the meeting and had the privilege of having Glenn J. Schwartz (Attorney and Counselor at Law) as a guest speaker.



Glenn talked to us about the importance of a sound contract and how it can help protect you. Some of the highlights included:
- Get the terms of the agreement in writing
- Make sure both parties are identified (names and addresses)
- Don't be afraid to get additional signatures (ie. bride or groom's parents)
- If you collect a retainer or deposit make sure "non-refundable" is stated and why

In case you might be interested in Glenn's services, he practices business and real-estate law along with estate planning.

After Glenn's discussion, Stacey and Jason Thon of Staja Studios were this month's Spotlight Studio. They talked about their business and showed a couple of slideshows. One of the main highlights was about how they strive to create some fine art pieces for each wedding, and how they incorporate various media applications in their marketing.

Rounding off the night was the monthly drawing for $100 in lab credit which went to Tom Ekblad . Congratulations Tom!

We are looking forward to having someone in from Pictage next month to give a demo on their Album Designer 3.0. We hope to see you there.

MNPPA Technology Camp 2007

For all of you who could use a little help in the Photoshop area, don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the best. Kevin Kubota of kkphotodesign and kubota image tools will be instructing at the MNPPA 2007 Technology Camp. Not only is he an accomplished photographer and photoshop guru, he is an excellent speaker. I would strongly encourage anyone to attend.

For more details visit the MNPPA website.

Studio Spotlight - Staja Studios

February's studio spotlight will be on Stacey & Jason Thon of Staja Studios. Stacey and Jason are primarily wedding, and lifestyle portrait photographers based in St. Louis Park, MN. At the next PUG meeting (Tuesday - February 13, 2007), they will be showcasing some of their work and discussing their business. Be sure to come and check them out!

Be sure to check out their slideshow, and the sample images below.

January 9th Wrap-Up

Happy New Year everyone! Our first PUG meeting of the year was a lot of fun. It wasn't as segmented as usual, but it was more interactive. We conducted a branding exercise in which everyone brought in work samples, and all of the members that were in attendance gave 2-4 words that they felt described that persons work. I thought it provided some excellent insight into how others perceive our work, which can be helpful in explaining our work to a client. If it matched up with your own perception, great. If not, it gives you something to think about.

The nights activities finished with the drawing for $100 in lab credit, which went to Sue Austin of Austin Images. Congratulations Sue!

We look forward to seeing everyone next month.