I talk to some of the attendees of our photo shoot on the beach in Cabo San Lucas. Unfortunately the batteries died in the middle of recording, so it ends abruptly and without an ending.

The sound of the ocean in the background is REAL. I promise.

I’m obsessed with certain types of organization… yet am actually not all that organized. So those few things that I can keep total control over, I do my best. You know, things like my wallet, my desktop and my iPhone. And sometimes my room. Sadly, that’s about it.

I don’t think I want to admit, even to myself, how many hours I use my iPhone every day, I’m going to put the estimate at over 6, especially since I’ve usually run the battery down by 3pm. WHAT I’m doing during all that time… well yeah I’ll just say BIG business.

So… here’s how I have my apps organized… the games folders are new (I used to just have a bunch of folders all named “Games”)… and I’m only sharing this because I’m curious how everyone else does it. Folders in iOS 4 changed my life. What about yours?

first screen has my most used apps (in theory)

second screen is everything else, organized into folders

third screen has all the games, though I haven’t found a great folder system yet (hence this blog post)

fourth screen is for my junk folder and where I keep new apps that I’m testing before being put info a folder

So… how do you do it?

I’m on a four and a half hour flight from Las Vegas to Jacksonville, FL, and I’m feeling quite comfortable right now as I type this into the handy WordPress app on my iPhone. Sure, the old woman beside me smells a bit smokey… but she’s friendly, quiet, isn’t using the armrest between us (even though middle seat should always get dibs) and best of all is “normal” sized.

Southwest Airlines has an interesting seating policy. They assign you a letter and number, not a seat. When it’s time to board, you line up in the order of your letter/number combo… and once you’re on the plane you take whatever seat you want (um except in the cockpit, thankfully).

This leaves room for a little fun and a lot of anxiety, especially on a full flight.

THE GAME

Lan and I typically choose aisle seats across from one another. This allows us to talk to each other without having to sit side by side and without the need to talk over someone, which is strangely considered rude. The game then becomes the task of making the seats next to you look as unappealing as possible.

The window seat next to me was taken right away by a nice older gentleman. This was a good first step. Immediately after, a cute girl who we’d spoken to and joked around with in line at Burger King in the airport came down the aisle, and I suggested she take Lan’s window seat, which she did. Lan then had her leave her bag on the middle seat, while he slouched down and tried to appear to be larger than he is and sloppy looking. This is actually a pretty good play.

There are, of course, more effective methods, but they often come at a cost. As people come down the aisle you can have bouts of coughing and/or sneezing. This tears up your throat though and almost requires that you continue with the act even after someone sits down (if they are brave or don’t care, or even worse, if they are already sick themselves). Otherwise your plan becomes obvious and you just look like a jerk. That makes for an awkward flight and almost guarantees an armrest war.

For this flight I chose “the wall”. I leaned forward and buried my head in my iPhone, creating a formidable barrier while shielding my face from passers-by. This method has three layers of protection. First of all, it shields my face, which doesn’t allow someone the ability to judge how good of a seat companion I’d be, and in this case the mystery is usually enough to compel a would-be-middle-seater to move on. Secondly, since people normally like an invitation before they join two existing people who have already staked out their territory in any situation, the hidden face also means they can’t just give you that friendly nod as they approach, because you stupidly made eye contact first, which then means you agree to get out of the way for them to enter the row. Lastly, people normally hate interrupting someone else, and since I look so intensely busy on my muy importante iPhone they have to tap my shoulder to get my attention and ask if I’ll move so they can get in. This is undesirable to most, and they cattle on.

DON’T HOLD OUT FOREVER

At some point you will likely notice when a flight is really filling up, and you have to start planning for a much unwanted intruder. This is a list of the most common choices from least worst to absolute worst (there are subcategories for all of these which include sweatiness, cough factor, general hygiene among other things, but these are the basics):

1. Attractive women – I don’t actually know who they end up sitting by, maybe there’s a really cool separate room for them in back because they never stop at my row.

2. 16-24 year old skinny people – They usually aren’t experienced fliers, which makes it more likely that they will be too shy to take the armrest even when it’s rightfully theirs. They also are usually too embarrassed or nice to wake you up so they can use the restroom, and would rather sit and hold it. They also don’t typically strike up meaningless nap-depriving conversations. Bonus!

3. Business people in suits (still skinny) – These people usually travel often so they know to use the restroom beforehand, they know the armrest rules but are sometimes evolved enough to understand the positions that exist that allow two people to use the armrest at the same time, and they are usually too busy reading a book or looking at pie charts to be annoying in any other way.

4. Older people (still skinny) – They have to use the restroom more often and don’t have reservations about waking you up so they can do so, but they are usually polite about it. They sometimes come with interesting odors, from smoke to perfume to old-people-smell, but this is usually tolerable especially once the flight is in motion and the vents are blowing. They are more chatty than any of the previous categories, but will typically let you sleep if you can find the opportunity to close your eyes in between sentence.

5. People with children – I love kids. Just not on planes. They can’t sit still or be quiet or understand the effect they can have on those around them trying to nap… but they can’t be blamed for it. I just want them to be children in another row. But not the one behind me because they’ll kick the back of my seat JUST as I’m falling asleep.

6. Fat people – I’m chubby. But I still fit in the seat without my arms or rolls encroaching into the seat next to me. So when I say fat I only mean people who make it impossible for you to be comfortable because their bodies are actually unable to stay contained to their space as defined by the borders of their seats. I know what it’s like to struggle with my weight, so I’m not saying they shouldn’t exist or that they need to diet or anything like that. It’s just absolutely uncomfortable to sit next to them on planes.

Actually #6 has major subcategories that correspond, in order, with #s 1-5 of the list. 1-5 are the skinny versions. So I guess it should be:

6. Fat attractive women.

7. 16-24 year old fat people.

8. Fat business people in suits.

9. Fat old people.

10. Fat people with kids. Or people with fat kids.

11. Fat people with fat kids. (I realized this was worse than either of the options in #10.

There is also another category that I think would best even #1, attractive women. That would be drug mules. I think they’d be small and try to be as invisible as possible. Not taking the armrest, not going to the restroom (to avoid suspicion), and pretty much non-talkative. The only reason they don’t make the list is because they aren’t the easiest to identify. Unless people really can tell when someone looks like they have something up their butt.

LAN’S FOLLY

If you have a full flight, SOMEONE is going to sit next to you. Lan’s fat-slouch and the purse were doing such a good job that everyone moved on. Not one person stopped. He and his fun companion (who was a nice mix of categories 1 and 2) celebrated. Far too soon.

After a few minutes, an 18-year-old-looking kid came up from the back and asked to sit between them. Apparently there were no more seats in the back. They hesitated before saying yes and he awkwardly said that he saw a seat (the only other open seat) ahead of them and that he’d sit there instead. And THAT was their big mistake.

Sometimes you take something undesirable in order to avoid something even worse. Sometimes in life you have to understand that luck doesn’t always last forever. Sometimes you give in, ESPECIALLY to a #2.

They should have taken the kid.

About 30 seconds later, after their sighs of relief at having averted an attack on their beloved open middle seat, one more person came up from the now-full back. She had nowhere else to go. She sat between them. She’s still sitting there now as I type this. Lan is trying to nap, next to his very own number 9.

I don’t want to go so far as to actually lay claim to anything she’s doing right now… but Lydia spent most of WPPI with Lan and I and is truly embracing videoblogging and things we’ve spoken with her about in her business… and for that (in addition to her fantastic talent as a photographer) I believe she is the perfect candidate to win the Identity Kitchen contest for a $3,000 identity (branding package).

Lydia is talented, kind, genuine, hilarious (usually) and best of all in my eyes understands transparency in her business… even though she is really just beginning to show it. Let’s just say she learns quickly. She’s also a finalist in the contest… and needs comment votes.

Take a couple minutes out of your day, check out her entry post, and leave a comment of support to vote for her (each comment is a vote, I believe it’s one vote per person). She doesn’t have a large following (being new in the business) so her social reach is still small (but strong, 60 votes so far!)… she definitely deserves and NEEDS this, so I’m reaching out on her behalf. ;)

Her entry video:

Her entry images:

Identity Kitchen is Ellen Petty and located not far from me in SoCal at the Noho Lofts. I’ll admit I hadn’t heard the name Identity Kitchen until this contest… but so far I really like what I see… so I think Lydia will be in good hands.

VOTE FOR LYDIA!

(this post was written on my iPhone, excuse any fat-fingered typos)

I am all for marketing yourself in the smartest and most creative ways possible. I think people need to stand out in a sea of competition… show their personality or whatever else makes them unique and attractive to hire.

We all already know that Facebook and Twitter are great for this. You get to build a fanbase who is at least interested in the little things you have to say… your blog posts (Twitter feeds are the new RSS, unfortunately)… your photos… pretty much all the stuff you upload, be it personal or business related.

The problem is with people who don’t understand what to do with their existing audience and instead of offering something of value to them… or strengthening their bond and loyalty and “fandom” of them… they instead alienate them with constant badgering and repeat messages.

Yes, it’s true that they used to say you have to repeat something 7 times in a commercial (I think it was 7) in order to get people to remember it. Yes, it’s true that the reason you see a commercial more than once on television during the same 30 minute show is because people get convinced of things through repetition. The difference is that people are willing to deal with those ads as a “payment” for watching an entertaining (hopefully) show. What are you offering them to follow you on Twitter or be your Facebook fan?

What Value Do You Offer?

Are you only posting things about yourself? Are you only posting notices about your own business and your blog posts and the last photos you shot? If your intended audience is your family and you just want them to know what you’re doing in life… that is fine. If your intended audience are true fans of yours who hang on every detail in your life… well that’s weird but it’s also fine. But if you’re attempting to build a follower base who you can sell your products and services to… basically building a client base who will know about your latest and greatest… you’re going to need to do more than just promote yourself.

I used to follow too many people on Twitter. I say too many not because I think there’s a threshold over which you can’t successfully pay attention to… but because I was following people that my eyes would automatically skip over in my Twitter client because I knew without reading their tweet that I wasn’t interested in what they were saying (most likely because you always say the same thing or only talk about you, you and you). So… that made no sense and I eventually just got rid of them. If they had ever offered anything that entertained, educated, inspired or somehow moved me… I wouldn’t naturally skip over them at the sight of their avatar.

I am not saying I’m an expert at this. I am guilty of the same sometimes. I’m definitely not saying that I entertain, educate, inspire or move people… but I do try. And considering that Mr. Tweet shows me that for every 30 people or so who add me, around 10 drop me… I know I’m not always successful (though at least half of these are marketers trying to inflate their numbers by following loads of people and unfollowing the ones who don’t follow back).

Twitter Badgering

So you have a new product or service… or a new contest… or a new whatever… or maybe not even something new… and you announce it on Twitter and see that 10 of your 1,000 followers responded in some way. Awesome!

So later in the day you announce it again to get the people who weren’t paying attention in the morning… and sweet! Another 4 people responded.

So late that night you again announce it… so you can reach the followers who are night owls and don’t pay much attention to Twitter during the day. 1 more response, not bad!

Ok… now STOP. At least for a while.

Three times in the same day is already pretty bad for the same exact announcement unless it’s something amazing… but it makes sense when you’ve got something big going on… however seeing people post the same thing day after day after day is just extremely annoying, and puts you in the category of people I will start to automatically skip over in Tweetie when I’m reading tweets… and you will eventually be cut when I do my quarterly cleanup of my following.

There are lots of exceptions to this… ongoing contests being one of them. Especially ones where you need daily votes. There’s still a point at which it’s too much, but I appreciated when Mike Ambs was doing this every couple days or so to get Babelgum votes because I did want to vote but without his tweets I’d likely not remember… or more recently Brigitte Dale is promoting her daily need for votes to win the “Good Mood Gig”. These contests allow people to vote over and over every day… so a daily or so reminder through the short duration of the contest isn’t a bad thing.

Announcing the availability of a workshop as the seats fill up is also a pretty decent exception in my opinion… but again you just need to not overdo it. Once you’ve said something 3-5 times on Twitter you can trust that most of the people who care at all about things you say have seen it.

There are lots of other exceptions… and I think that uncommonly used thing called common sense will be able to handle your decisions on these on a case-by-case basis.

Facebook Fan Invites

Facebook fan invites are the reason I started typing this blog post… after venting a bit on Twitter and creating my new rule.

If you send me an invitation to be your fan when I’m already your Facebook “friend”, I’m going to unfollow you.

This makes sense to me. I’m already your “friend” (I put that in quotes because a large portion of my Facebook “friends” are people who I don’t know but who added me because I am part of their industry and have many OTHER “friends” in common. I’m totally cool with that… it’s a good way to network and see what’s going on in your industry and I enjoy having the extra base of people who will see a certain percentage of my updates). Being your Facebook friend means I will see your announcements and new photos and other things you post about. I’ll see them and I’ll act on them if I choose to. That means I’m already part of your audience.

Don’t Ruin a Good Thing

If you’ve already gotten me (and all your other “friends”) to accept your friend invite… you should be pretty happy. We are now a part of your audience. Build upon it, cultivate it… and help it grow. You are NOT going to make me happy by now trying to get me to become your Facebook “fan”.

By sending me notices every week or even month to become your fan you are essentially alienating me, your willing audience, and creating a barrier between your information and my desire to receive and process information. It’s annoying. It’s bad business. It’s essentially not very smart.

Use that effort instead to try and convert people who AREN’T your audience into Facebook friends or fans. Otherwise you’re just ruining a good thing you already have going with people you are already connected to.

BUT don’t ask me how to do it though, cuz I have no idea. I am identifying what’s wrong here (and it’s still just MY opinion)… but have no solution to offer another route. Do you? I’d love to hear it in the comments below.

UPDATE 1/12/2011: I have a much more detailed and newer Dropbox review on The Bui Brothers site.

Although pretty much all of my recent clients know about Dropbox (because I pretty much force them to use it so they can get their deliverables) I feel as though there are still tons of people I know who do not… and this post is for them. Or perhaps I should say it is for you, reader, if that suits you better.

Dropbox is a file sharing service that’s also an online backup service that’s also an online gallery/proofing service that’s also… well it’s pretty much whatever you want it to be.

It works on Mac and Windows (which is perfect since I run Windows 7 on my netbook and Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro and Leopard on my G5) and has a web interface as well as a desktop component… and they recently just released their extremely useful iPhone app. All of these elements are important in their own way and I use them all. I’ll try to sum up how in a short-ish post.

How I Abandoned Mobile Me

Mobile Me is awesome. Mobile Me sucks. As a place to safely store files online, available anywhere… it’s great. Upload/download speeds are always great, I have access to files anywhere… and I can even upload files and send out links that will expire in a certain amount of time.

The thing I used most is the gallery feature… their galleries are the BEST for delivering client proofs where you’re not trying to get print sales from the photos. They look good, are easy to navigate, and allow people to easily look at large numbers of photos in a variety of ways.

There is also the Find My iPhone feature… cool and sometimes really useful, especially if your phone is stolen.

The rest of the service isn’t so great for me. I don’t use the email… the syncing is replaced by the free (and so far more reliable and open) Google Sync (computer to computer to iPhone)… the web interface is ALWAYS ridiculously slow… and it costs $99/year for all that greatness.

Enter DropBox

DropBox offers 2GB of storage on your account for free. It shows up as a folder in Finder (or Explorer) and you can create subfolders just as any other folder.

Store and Sync

The main feature of Dropbox is the automatic sync of all the files and folders in your dropbox with any other computers which you have dropbox installed. Drop a file in dropbox and in the amount of time it takes to upload to the server then back down to your other computers… it’s there. (ok that sentence actually made it sound like a long time, but it’s not)

What I use it for, however, is mostly for collaboration and for delivering client files. Every folder in your dropbox has sharing rights… and you can right click (ctrl+click) the folder and choose to share… it will open the web interface and allow you to send invites to whoever you want to share it with. This means when you drop files into the shared folder they will automatically download to the folders of everyone that folder is shared with, and they receive a notification on their screen.

Keep in mind, everything you are currently sharing in your folders AND your clients or colleagues count towards your total usage. You get 2GB for free and can get additional 3GB by referring other users (hint hint, yes that was part of my motivation for this post, 250MB additional for each person you sign up). Or if you need lots of storage you can pay $9.99/mo for 50GB or $19.99/mo for 100GB.

Versions

Another great feature of Dropbox is that it saves each version of each file you upload. So if you are collaborating on a file with someone and editing straight out of the folder… if you make any mistakes you can just go back into history and pull the version you want. These versions are stored for a month! Which means you also have…

Backup

Not only are you able to back up important files (2GB worth or more, depending) but even once you’ve deleted them from Dropbox, they remain in backup for 30 days. It’s like an online Time Machine (the Apple kind, not the HG Wells kind).

iPhone app

The iPhone app for Dropbox was recently released, and is pretty darn awesome. Multiple times I’ve dropped a huge file in Dropbox but needed to leave right away… and wanted to be able to send a link to the file once it was uploaded. When on the road I was able to check the status and then send a sharing link once it was up. Nice.

You can also view content and mark files as favorites for frequent reference (pricing lists, contracts, etc…), and there’s an upload button that allows you to upload photos and videos directly from the iPhone.

Viewing photos is also made super simple from the app… just open a photo and you can easily navigate from photo to photo using the navigation at the bottom of the screen… or by the standard swipe gesture.

Send a link to any item via email… and Dropbox automatically creates the link and sets it to expire in a month.

Galleries

If you create folders in your photos folder that comes pre-created in Dropbox and fill them with photos… you get instant galleries that you can share. They galleries aren’t quite as cool as Mobile Me galleries… but they are fast and easy to navigate. They work great for proofing and easy image sharing.

Download Dropbox

So… like I said… download Dropbox… and get your friends to join… and your clients… and your mom. Share files with ease.

These are the ways I use Dropbox, do you have any to add?

image by Chris Bartnik

Aardvark

Aardvark is a service that allows you to ask a question to the community… and it will send that question to someone who is available and might know the answer (based on categories that its members sign up for) and then typically provides you an answer within 5 minutes by one of these other community members. They have a nice little iPhone app that makes asking these questions pretty easy wherever you are.

I tried out the service for a little while… but I never actually asked it a question… though I was able to provide answers to a few.

While some of the questions I saw were really legitimate things you’d need to ask in order to find an answer… MANY of them just pointed to a bigger question…

Are We Really This Lazy?

I knew there was something wrong when most of the questions I didn’t have answers to I knew I could find with a quick Google search… and I did. I found that I could answer quite a few of the questions with a simple Google search (though in my frustration with these “lazy” people I didn’t answer the questions for them, yes cuz I’m a jerk). Other questions, like “is anyone hiring in Chicago, IL?” or “what is your favorite song this year?” seem to be out of place on the site… which left less than half that I thought needed to be legitimately answered on Aardvark by someone else (some questions asked for specific recommendations for products and services… and these seemed totally useful to me if you’re the type of person who doesn’t LOVE research like I do).

The people asking these questions are already online, obviously know how to use the internet… and have enough time that they can log on to the site and ask the question and wait 5 minutes or so for an answer… so couldn’t they just Google it?

Google Fu

I have been using the internet since 1995… and I’m fairly geeky. I’ve Googled (yes I’ve been using it as a verb forever) things thousands of times… and perhaps I’ve gotten a lot of practice. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a true master of something… and I wonder how many hours I’ve spent searching for things on the internet… but I really don’t feel that my Google skills are so much more powerful than the average internet user. Still, these questions are being asked on a forum

I can’t remember, however, the last time I had a question that I couldn’t answer with a Google search. Obviously there are types of questions that can’t be fully answered with facts… but I’m talking about questions that have simple, factual answers.

We Are To Blame

I am definitely not blaming Aardvark for this problem. I think their service is really great… and I haven’t spent THAT much time on it so I have probably not been exposed to the many great questions that probably exist on the site. My frustration is more with people in general. The truth is that I’ve felt just as frustrated with people on forums and other places where these questions typically surface… I just never really voiced it until now.

I do think services like Aardvark and specific forums like the new videoWTF are awesome places to learn from others and get questions answered for things that aren’t so commonly documented online… and there are a lot of those things when it comes to really specific industry or trade related questions (I’ve answered some tough questions on videowtf.com)… but I get really annoyed when I log into Aardvark and see someone asking “what’s the capital of Alaska?”.

Or am I wrong?

First of all I want to preface this post with the magic word… FREE.

WHY

I often hear some of the same things when people see some of our (The Bui Brothers) work or the work of some of the other photographers currently producing great photo fusion videos…

“I could do it if I had nice cameras like yours!”

“On my budget it isn’t possible.”

“Video editing is complicated.”

I don’t blame people for thinking, feeling and voicing these things. Many of the recent technological advances have been so fast and sudden that people don’t realize the quality of gear that is within their reach. They also have no idea how amazingly easy some of the recent video editing software releases have made things for the everyday person.

Photo fusion isn’t even an everyday term yet (Lan and I recently had a discussion about what photo fusion is HERE). Many people have no idea what it is or what can be done with it. Here’s an example of photofusion the way that The Bui Brothers present it… behind the scenes of the photo shoot of television and web celebrity (House, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) Felicia Day:

WHAT

I teamed up with SmugMug and decided to create a project to show everyone JUST how easy it is to create beautiful work… with some of the most affordable gear available. I’m going on a one week destination photo fusion trip to O’ahu, Hawaii… bringing a camera and lens combo that’s less than $1,000 and a set of accessories and gear that is also just around $1,000 (in addition to some home-made DIY items!). The point will be to not only show what is possible with this entry-level gear, but to detail how I do all of the shoots that I’ll be doing during the week.

I’ll be announcing the gear list in a coming blog post, but we’ll basically be doing a variety of photography and video shooting using a consumer DSLR, natural light, wirelessly triggered small flashes, affordable underwater equipment and a few accessories.

What you’ll see:

• DIY tutorials – Before the trip I’ll be posting videos of the preparation for the event, including how I make a number of Do-It-Yourself items that I’ll be using during the week for both photography and video.
• Photography Tutorials – We have 4 photo shoots planned and will be shooting behind-the-scenes fusion videos of each one. These will look in detail at the wardrobe, the locations, the lighting and even some of the camera setting choices we make.
• Photo Fusion Videos – We’re going to produce a couple photo fusion videos just to share. We’ll have behind-the-scenes videos of these as well.
• Video editing screen capture tutorial – watch how I edit a photo fusion video from start to finish.
• Videoblogs – We’ll be videoblogging daily from O’ahu… personal videoblogs that will allow you to follow our short adventure. Hopefully they’ll be funny and entertaining.
• Live workshop in Honolulu – We’re going to be giving a live workshop in Honolulu to a limited number of people, and some of what we do there will be recorded and shared. (more info HERE)

WHO

We have a tiny two-person team for the trip… which is being sponsored (along with the fantastic entry-level list of gear) by SmugMug. All of the media we post from the trip will also be hosted by them, which is a really easy way to show you how cool their services are. I’m mostly excited about the HD video streaming, which is fantastic.

• Vu Bui – photographer – You can see some of my work at The Bui Brothers Blog. We shoot photos and videos for professionals, and we create behind-the-scenes videos of almost everything we do. You can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vubui
• Tracie Cotta – model – Tracie is a model and makeup artist from Orange County. She was the makeup artist on many of our recent high-profile shoots (including the Felicia Day shoot in the video above). You can see her model mayhem gallery HERE. You can follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/traciecotta

A quick video of us talking about the event:

WHEN and WHERE

The event (I’m calling it a mini-tour, even though it’s only to one island) will be from September 20th to September 26th. The videos will be posted during our stay and will continue afterwards as we get everything edited and completed.

We will be staying in Kailua on O’ahu in Hawaii. We’ll be shooting at various locations on the island, starting at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world… Lanikai Beach.

View Larger Map

The live workshop will be held in Honolulu and details about it can be found at the Hawaii Photo Fusion Workshop announcement page.

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES

Sign up to receive email updates from me about this tour, future workshops and the video tutorials to be released in the future.

You’ll also have the first opportunity to download the final tutorial pack which will include some of our $50 video editing and blogging tutorial videos for free.

FOR MORE INFO

Live workshop in Honolulu – get details about the live workshop which will cover the basics of creating photo fusion videos… everything from video editing to photo lighting.

More photo fusion from The Bui Brothers -

• iJustine – photo shoot at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel with behind the scenes video.
• Veronica Belmont – photo shoot in the basement of the House of Shields bar in San Francisco with behind the scenes video.
• Micah Lee – photo shoot in Old Town Orange with behind the scenes video.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at vu@vubui.com or you can use my contact form.

WHY

I am visiting O’ahu for a week as I do the Hawaii Photo Fusion tour with the wonderful model and makeup artist, Tracie Cotta. We are being sponsored by SmugMug to come out and spend a week shooting photos and videos to create a series of video tutorials and behind-the-scenes looks at some of our lighting, posing and shooting techniques.

I did a small photography and lighting workshop in March of 2009 the last time I was out here… it was literally thrown together at the last minute at the request of a few people… and I was happy to have had 26 people attend and spend a few hours with me at Magic Island, Ala Moana Beach Park, as the sun set. This time I thought I’d go all out and cover everything I think is necessary to light and capture great photos AND videos and meld them together into what is now being called photo fusion videos.

WHAT

The workshop will begin indoors at the ING Direct Cafe in Honolulu (map), light refreshments will be served and we’ll spend a couple hours in-class. We’ll then head outside for a 2.5 hour hands-on lighting workshop.

Bring your camera, we will have a live model (the gorgeous Tracie Cotta) and you’ll be shooting her in various scenes using some natural light, some flash-lighting. (you can also see Tracie in the iJustine video above, she is the makeup artist!)

Fusion Workshop

“Fusion” is probably a term you’ve heard a lot recently. With the proliferation of DSLRs with video features it’s now easier than ever for photographers to capture GORGEOUS video while shooting photos without worrying about taking along an additional device. This allows for the simple “fusion” of photography and video for wonderful videos of weddings, events and photo shoots.

We (The Bui Brothers) also use it in other ways. The last few high profile photo shoots we’ve done we’re accentuated by behind the scenes videos that have actually gained more attention than the photos themselves. We actually attribute more than half of our recent photo business to these videos. When watching them, potential clients are able to see not only how we work but also who we are.

Here is the behind the scenes video we shot during our photo shoot of iJustine at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Beach:

CONTENT

• photo editing workflow
• basic video editing software (iMovie)
• video editing techniques
• how to create simple music for your videos (Garage Band)
• how and where to find legal free music online
• how to publish your content on SmugMug and share it on your blog or other sites

Photography Workshop

The questions we get most often from people are regarding the lighting techniques we use in our photographs. We typically do outdoor shots using a combination of ambient and flash lighting supplied either from small flashes or Alien Bees lights.

On this trip I’ll be shooting with two Vivitar flashes and a brand new set of Radiopopper JrXs. They are all as affordable as it gets! I’ll also be using some homemade modifiers to properly control the lighting, and will spend a couple hours setting up multiple sets for you to photograph.

In this part of the workshop I will show you exactly how to light your subject and why I make certain choices to get the effect I want. You’ll have the opportunity to photograph Tracie in each set with the lights I set up.

CONTENT

• choosing your location using the available light
• using flashes to fill against the sun
• using a single light for portraits
• posing your model
• using direct sunlight to backlight your subject
• using light modifiers for complete control
• a bunch of other stuff that will come up as we work

WHERE

Fusion workshop (1st part of the workshop)
ING Direct
1958 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815

Photography workshop (2nd part of the workshop)
Fort DeRussy Park
right across the street from ING Direct

WHEN

The photo fusion workshop will be held:

September 24th – Thursday
2:00 PM – 7:00pm (it may go a little later)

RESERVATIONS

In keeping with the low-budget nature of my trip and this workshop… I’m pricing it at an absolute no-brainer $35.

Due to the size of the venue and in the efforts to keep this workshop reasonably small and intimate, seating is limited. Click to reserve your place now:

Note: Purchase is non-refundable.

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES

Sign up to receive email updates from me about workshops and video tutorials I’ll be releasing in the future. I don’t email very often because I hate annoying emails as much as you do.

MORE INFORMATION

Visit the Facebook event page
Visit the upcoming.org event page

Hawaii Photo Fusion tour
Ritz Carlton Photo Workshop
The Bui Brothers shoot Felicia Day

Although I’m in a couple of the testimonial videos saying what I think not only of the Tofurious SEO Workshop itself but also of SEO in general, I wanted to actually write out a few short things about my experience with all of this so far.

As a disclaimer… Lawrence is my friend. But he became my friend BECAUSE when Lan and I met him we immediately believed in what he was doing… it was smart, effective and HONEST. In an industry full of people trying to sell you CRAP they learned at the last workshop THEY attended, it was refreshing to come across someone who worked hard for a long time on their own without help to gain the knowledge they are now bringing to the world.

I took Lawrence’s workshop back in June, and one of the things you’ll learn when you take it is that you should kind of have an idea of WHAT you are. If you’re a wedding photographer… you will optimize for that and the things that go along with that… if you’re a portrait photographer or a dog photographer you’ll optimize for THAT. I am a… well… no one ever really knows. I do so many things that it’s hard to tell people what I do in a short sentence. So… I decided to choose ONE thing that if people knew me as JUST that, I’d at least be content. I knew this might change any time… but I was really just excited to test out what I’d learned at the workshop.

I decided I wanted to be considered a fashion photographer. It’s not a stretch… because although fashion photography isn’t my sole profession… there is a good deal of that style in all that I shoot. I googled for it and found that a LOT of people consider themselves fashion photographers… and that competition to rank for that term was going to be pretty fierce. I also found that a lot of people are searching for fashion photographers in LA and OC… so I wanted them to find ME!

So… I did a few things. They were simple and didn’t take long… in fact I only spent part of a day “optimizing” some of the main points of my site that needed to be done… and since then I’ve posted 3 photo shoots that were “fashion-ish” and included the things I learned from Lawrence, each time you create a blog post you spend a few extra minutes (less than 5) to optimize it.

Then I got really busy with other things, and sorta forgot all about my attempt to be known (at least by Google and those searching there) as a fashion photographer.

Until today. I decided to check and see where my optimization had gotten me. I was going for something that a LOT of other photographers are already optimized for in Orange County and ESPECIALLY in Los Angeles. After all… the LA/OC area is obsessed with fashion. And I was REALLY surprised to see the results.

As of today my site comes up on the front page of Google for each of these searches:

“orange county fashion photography”
“orange county fashion photographer”
“los angeles fashion photography”
“los angeles fashion photographer”

I have to say that I am floored. To have done a few tweaks then change the way I posted a few blogs (mind you I didn’t do EVERYTHING I was supposed to from the workshop) and now come up on the first page of Google for fashion in LA and OC??? Wow. So… NOW I’m moving on to the rest of the lessons… I’m going all out… I want to be the FIRST result. Granted, that’s not going to be easy… but I’m going to try… and thanks to Lawrence I now know how.

If you can attend this workshop, DO IT. It works, in an honest yet effective way that won’t get you banned from Google (this has happened to people I know because they hired “SEO experts” with practices that “bent” Google’s rules). It WILL get you the results… apparently even if you just half-ass it like I did.

So do it. But don’t optimize for fashion photography in LA or OC… because I will hate you.

Oh, and if you’re not convinced, watch this video. Lawrence explains a bit of this story, how it relates to YOUR story… and how and why SEO is the way. At the end are some of the biggest names in the wedding industry giving their praise to Lawrence and the Tofurious SEO Workshop. Enjoy!

BUY IT HERE!

Lan and I hung out in the RVIP Lounge at the LA Film Festival this past Saturday with Hayden Black, Kestrin Pantera, Jonathan Grubb, Batgirl (the dog) and a few other cool people.

We didn’t really spend much time at the festival, and it was the day before it ended… but we did walk past the big Hellboy II premiere party as they were still setting up.?? Very fancy…

Here are a few shots from the day, I actually didn’t shoot that much.

I just called 911 for the first time in my life about a half hour ago.?? I need to wake up in 3 hours to go shoot some crazy crane move at CHLA… but I thought I’d jot this down really quickly first.

I was coming down the 22 East… passing the 5… when I noticed a newer silver BMW 7-series swerving back and forth between the carpool and fast lanes.?? I thought it might be someone just taking the turns a little tightly… or being a jackass… but after we passed Main St. I figured that he/she (after this I’m gonna just refer to this loser as a “he) was drunk.?? The driver started to slow down… and I wasn’t going to pass him for fear of being rear-ended… he’d gone from 75 to about 45 in a short amount of time… and I wasn’t going to risk him ramping back up behind me.

As we approached Tustin, it seemed like he was moving towards the exit… but a little too slowly… the nice new BMW smashed right through a large road sign – the kind held up by a wooden 4×4 – and then swerved back on the freeway and kept driving.?? It was at this point – maybe 2 minutes after I first noticed the car – that I called 911.?? I gave the officer the info on what I had witnessed, told him that there was probably a large sign sitting as a hazard in the road on the Tustin exit, and gave him the color make and model of the car as well as the license plate, lastly mentioning that the car looked pretty beat up by the sign and had the front bumper hanging off the side.?? By the end of the call we were on the 55 South passing the 5, I had my flashers on behind him because he was driving about 30 mph.

As we approached MdFadden, it looked like he was finally going to exit… but as we started to get off he must have suddenly realized it wasn’t his exit (SOME of his brain cells were still functioning) and he swerved back towards the freeway, over the curb, and back into the traffic lanes… and since I wasn’t about to pull any death-defying (or death-inviting) moves of my own… he lost me and I drove home.

I do wonder if CHP responded and went after him… or if he made it home.?? Neither would surprise me.?? There is also the chance that he got into a larger accident… he was totally out of it and nearly crashed multiple times during the 5 minutes I was tailing him.

I hope that’s not the case.?? I’d like to think he’s in the back of a cruiser right now… and once he gets out he’ll pay some hefty fees to get his smashed car out of impound.?? I doubt he’ll learn his lesson, but it’s the best I can hope for (unless I want to hope that he just wrecked his finely tuned German automobile on the side of the road… but that wouldn’t be nice to wish on his friends and family).

I am not a designer.

The being said, I’m actually pretty proud of myself for putting together the page for the new Shootsac promotion. Lan and I did the video (Lan’s post work on this one was AWESOME) and I put together the page with a good deal of input and advice from Keats. It’s done in a very old way (tables and crappy html code), but I did everything on the page except design the logo (made the poster, buttons, etc…) I’ve checked it in multiple browsers and everything seems ok with it, so the fact that it looks decent is all that matters.

This may seem like a pretty inconsequential thing… but I have a long history (8 years or so) of making really crappy looking websites and pages. This is the first time EVER that I have put together something that doesn’t look like it was done by a five year old, or maybe a monkey.

To top it all off it’s also a GREAT promotion. Spend $75 at the Shootsac store during the month of May and be entered to win the lens of your choice up to $1800 on Adorama. The odds of winning are actually quite high compared to most contests or promotions you will find out there, so it’s pretty exciting. Check it out.

After seeing everyone else do it… I thought I’d go ahead and try Tweetcloud, which makes a word cloud of your most used words through your Twitter posts. I have no idea how accurate this is… “going”, “know”, “think” and “vegan” are supposedly my most used words (minus the stop list, which removes the most common English words like “the” and “and”, etc.

Try it!

This one is good for all my non-photographer friends who just like to take photos and maybe do some simple edits to them. I assume most of the photographers I know actually own a copy of Photoshop…Adobe has just released a beta of Photoshop Express… which is basically a scaled down FREE version of Photoshop that you can actually use on the web. There are no layers or filters or complex brushes… but the truth is that for 99% of the photos that are posted on the web you really don’t need any of that. It’s more than enough to take your decent photos and make them look great.

That being said there’s still a pretty impressive list of adjustments and tools for an online application.

The Touchup feature works really simply… you choose the size of the spot you want, click the area in the image you want to touch up, then a red circle comes up which you can move to find the spot you want to use to blend into.

There are also liquify-type effects that you can use… for entertainment purposes only, of course.

I’m not going to do an in-depth feature review… but this is definitely a great tool for amateurs or those who just want to perform basic edits before posting their photos online or having them printed. Check it out.