Anyway…I am getting off topic. There are still plenty of people left in our lives to get married. Not as many as there used to be. But plenty. And thankfully, some of them are wise enough to come to us for advice about the photography. I recently helped my brother find a photographer in San Diego. They did not want an album at all and were fairly adamant about that, so while I included it in my search, it wasn’t the prime factor. But let me tell you. Finding a photographer cross country is surprisingly difficult. A close friend moved back home to Seattle. We’re *hoping* she is engaged soon. And while there are a TON of well known people in Seattle, there are even more incredible people who aren’t “famous”. This friend works in fashion, so I know she will want an incredibly stylish, beautiful, timeless album that she can make “her”. Now, I have a great way to point her in the direction of some photographers that I at least know use amazing albums.

Queensberry just did a “soft launch” of a directory to find photographers that use their albums worldwide. If you are a bride who happened to find this, give it a go. If you are a photographer, check it out and send Queensberry some feedback. And if you don’t carry their albums but you are looking for something to make you stand out, definitely check them out!

Since I was posting our card, I also wanted to talk about Bay Photo, which is the lab I chose for our printing this year. Previously, like many others, I used WHCC. I am beyond happy with WHCC’s customer service. They are always quick with printing and delivery is ALWAYS on time. What I have always liked even more, is that in a pack of 25 cards, you usually end up with at least 2 extra. This is great if you want to be able to sell to your clients in packs of 25 and still keep a few for studio samples. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about with WHCC was the digital printing quality. The trim lines are HUGE and never accurate. If you were hoping to have something centered on your card….good luck. And the dots from the printing! It is almost as if you were looking at a newspaper.

So, as I said, this year, after searching the pricing of everyone else, I chose Bay Photo. And hey – it didn’t hurt that they offer 25% off your first ROES order! SWEET! My primary reason for choosing Bay Photo besides the discount though….their premium 6 color printing. And that ends up about the same price as WHCC’s standard printing! The printing turned out absolutely gorgeous! And while I was shocked by their templates having such tiny “safe area” guides, I am happy to say, it seems as though exactly what I uploaded is what printed and came back to me! Almost no loss to trim. Well done Bay Photo. And the pearl paper with an outer UV coat….beautiful. I am hoping the UV coat protected my pearl paper in the mail. I have seen cards by WHCC absolutely destroyed because the envelopes actually wear the pearl off the paper in a pattern.

But I must be honest….the whole experience was not peachy keen. My order seemed to have gotten lost. I uploaded and paid for express shipping. I wanted my envelopes before I went away so that I could address them while traveling. I kept checking on the order and checking again…I emailed customer service…Nothing. Finally I used live support. They were able to see my order was 2 days behind. Apologized, but blamed it on the holiday rush. I flipped out slightly, but my cards were printed and overnighted to arrive the day before we got on the plane. Issue one resolved. Next…as I am addressing my envelopes, I realize that pile is shrinking far faster than my pile of cards! In an order of 100 cards, it seems I only received 80 envelopes. Yes, I counted. A quick email to customer service…..this time I complained about not receiving my few extra cards too….what can I say – I was stressed about not having the envelopes….I counted the cards too – there was exactly 100. I just wanted to tell them I had been happier with results from WHCC before… I got an apology email less than a few hours later (at around Midnight), and in two days had extra cards and a bunch of extra envelopes. So yes, I had some bad times with Bay Photo. Everyone has bad experiences with every company sometimes. But overall I am beyond happy with our cards and the results of choosing Bay Photo for our printing. If anyone out there at Bay Photo is listening however…I do have one suggestion…in Roes, I would love to be able to have a separate front file, back file, and Inside Spread. I do not want it to be 4 separate or 2 spreads as my only choices. Thanks

And now that everyone has read my rant, enjoy our 2009 holiday card, and have a safe and happy new years celebration tonight!

Thank you to Kamila Harris for the FABULOUS outer photo on our card & Jana Bannan for the photos inside!  Everyone told us it was AMAZING!

Anyway – back to the Lensbaby! No pictures of food, but they have a gorgeous chandelier in Chocolat, and the wall is white marble with a pattern of little squares of textured glass. I love it! The soft focus optic adds that perfect glowing skin that we all want to images or a magical glow to anything else. Think “glamour shot” without all the extra Photoshop work. The softness, however is even throughout the entire image, so keep that in mind. I really enjoyed shooting lights with the soft optic. The multiple openings in the apertures create a floral bokeh, which I thought was perfect for the lighting. And when you flash right into someone’s glasses, the effects are hilarious (to me at least) So here are some of my favorites from last night! Just a fun little post, but plenty more to come later!

Don’t forget! Right now is Cans For Comments! So Comment here, comment there, comment EVERYWHERE!

For the next two weeks, every comment I receive will put a can of food into a bag that will then go to Philabundance. Â Browse through the blog and leave love all over the place. Â And share the site with others so they can join in! Â Check out the Cans For Comments website as well and join in the spirit! Â Happy Commenting! Â

Originally posted at My Latest Distraction (entertainment blog) by me, but I thought it might be something nice to share with my photography audience as well!

One of my many distractions over the years has been photography. Â And not just in a professional manner, but before that. Â I liked to take pictures. Â Didn’t matter what the camera was, or how the image actually turned out, I liked to take pictures. Â A few years ago I purchased my first Digital SLR camera. Â The most exciting thing to me about this was the idea of being able to use different lenses. Â For the first year I owned it, I had the two lenses that came with it. Â Then I bought a used 50mm. Â Meaningless to many of you I am sure (not meaningless to my Piqulette readers, so you can imagine my excitement!). Â But anyway….

Last Winter, while at a photography convention for work, I discovered the coolest toy on earth for my camera.  The LENSBABY.  No, seriously, this little contraption it great!  There was previously a fad in photography of Tilt-Shift Lenses.  That is not what a Lensbaby is.  And thank goodness, because that sounds complicated and hard to use.  The Lensbaby is more of just a tilt lens.  What the best part was, not only could I make images have an entirely different look, it had swappable optics and accessories to transform a standard lens into a macro, a wide angle, a zoom, a holga (plastic lens), or a pinhole.  The pinhole was one of the most fascinating to me since I had loved making my own pinhole cameras out of oatmeal containers and making prints in my photography class in college.  I had looked up how to make a pinhole cover for my camera at one point but chickened out.  The Lensbaby was truly my all in one solution for my new photography toy.  It was able to give me everything I wanted…..for the time being.

Over the past 9 months, the company introduced new toys to go along with my Lensbaby. Â I had known a few of them were a possibility, so I was excited on each launch day, but waited patiently. Â Today, a Lensbaby package came in the mail. Â My awesome husband purchased all of the new toys for me as a birthday gift. Â There are 4 new accessories for my Lensbaby and we have 4 days until we leave for San Diego. Â So we will experiment with one new toy a day.

Tonight, the first, and the biggest…..the fisheye lens.  This is an optic for the Lensbaby that is really the entire lens itself and then clicks into the shell that attaches to the camera.  I have wanted a fisheye for a long time, and what better way to have one than to pair it with my Lensbaby.  Not only is it WAY more affordable, it is smaller, and I can do a bit more with it (tilt your “sweet spot”).  The only downside is that everything with the Lensbaby is manual focus, and since I can’t focus anything….my whole life is a blur  But alas, I love it!  And now, when we get the focus right, we can take arms-length shots of us with the Lensbaby!  Cannot wait to explore San Diego with my new toy.

What else….It takes a great family portrait.

And how cute are these two?

Next review to come…Lensbaby’s Super wide angle adapter.

I do however need days off just like everyone else. Weekdays that will not be counting towards turnaround times thru the end of the year are: 11/26, 11/27, 12/4, 12/9, 12/24, 12/25, 12/31.

I am also still holding to 7 business days for processing weddings! Have any 2009 clients outstanding? Get them their images soon so they can get you all those glorious holiday orders! Prints, Holiday Cards, Thank You’s, Oh My!

Last! Tweet this post and receive 10% off ALL your orders from now through 5pm EST November 25, 2009 (day before Thanksgiving).

I personally can’t stand that there is stores are holidafied before Halloween, but what are you going to do….we have deadlines!

**UPDATE** The last day to upload to ensure 12/24 delivery of layout to your client is FRIDAY DECEMBER 18!!

Since those posts, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit. I have helped others grow their business. I have provided advice for some to book jobs without losing. And I have people excited about meeting with me and going over their plans for how to improve their businesses. I am so excited about all of this!!! I can’t even tell you!

Looking back at these first two posts though, I feel like I skipped over something. I skipped over talking about my goal of a successful business! I want to design more albums. I want to help more photographers. I want to play with more logos. I want to design custom photo cards for your clients. I want to be your studio’s graphic designer.

I realize though, that I am never going to achieve this goal without people knowing who I am or what I do. This is where networking comes in. I have been trying to get out there and meet as many people as possible lately. Making sure I am where I can meet the people who will hire me, and the people who will refer me. The same goes for anyone in any business really. I still believe word of mouth advertising is going to be what helps me succeed, and I want as many people to be able to say “hey, I know a designer who could help you” as possible. And obviously – I want that designer to be me!

So – out I go! Into the world of wedding and photography events. Into the world of twitter. Find me and follow me! Can we trade business cards?

Enjoy your weekend! It’s Halloween and the Phillies are in the World Series! WOOOOOOOOOO!

I also met some great people and want to give them some link love!

Christina HIll of cHill Weddings

Laurie of Photography by Laurie

Diana McGarvey from The Union League (she was hilarious!)

Leza Davis ofThe Mona Leeza Spa

Blush of Blush and Brushes (can’t wait to see the photo booth pictures!)

Really, everyone I met was great! And – the photo booth was the best! I will get our pictures up here as soon as possible! These events are so important, and I can’t stress enough, if you aren’t putting yourself out there, you won’t succeed. Mix, mingle, make sure your peers know who you are! Word of mouth advertising does not just come from your clients. If you are a wedding photographer, remember that photographers are not the only people in your industry that need to know you! Planners, florists, Caterers, make up artists, there are so may people involved in planning a wedding – and they are all awesome to hang out with!

On the bright side, my lack of blogging means plenty has built up for me to share with you in the coming weeks! Lots of album designs and such!