Holiday PUG Party – December 10th at The Wedding Loft!

Oh My Gosh folks!  It’s the holidays – where did the year go?  Don’t we all end up asking ourselves that the week of Thanksgiving?  It sure does sneak up on us!

We’ve decided that this year, we have so many things to celebrate. It’s been a tough year for us but that won’t keep us down.  It’s time to cherish the good stuff and the wonderful camaraderie of the creative professionals that we are.

I’m happy to announce that our Holiday PUG Party will be hosted at the Wedding Loft!  Please join us on December 10th for food, fun, and all around goofyness (c’mon, you know you wanna get goofy). There will be a photobooth, a slideshow of our PUG’s year in review, and some trinkets that Santa mentioned dropping off as door prizes!  Drop yer biz card in Santa’s hat for somethin’ to take home.

Catherine Warren, of In The Moment Photography, and I will be organizing the volunteer effort of food and beverages.  If everyone that comes picks up a little something to share, we’ll have a good assortment of nosh.  Please contact one of us at info@inthemomentphotographs.com or szphotography@mindspring.com for a list of things to choose from.  Please volunteer to bring your own “special” dish by all means!  Or just go the easy route a pick up some chips or cookies.  ;o)  BYOB for alcohol!

As usual, PLEASE PLEASE RSVP at the link to the right so we can get an idea of how many will be there that night!

The Wedding Loft is located at:

533 West Howard Ave • Decatur, Georgia 30030

Here are printable directions: http://www.atlantaweddingloft.com/directions_print.php

We look forward to seeing all of you!

November 11th: Gary Fong! UPDATED LOCATION!

What an exciting year for the Atlanta PUG!  We started out with Denis Reggie, an inspirational pow wow with the new CEO of Pictage, Jim Collins, then had a summer fling with Joe Buissink,  and spent a lovely evening with the McLellans.   How can this year’s PUG meetings get any better?  Well, let’s finish out the year of incredible speakers with a visit from none other than Gary Fong!

That’s right!  Gary will be coming to Atlanta to speak at our PUG on November 11th. Now, that’s a Wednesday night and a week later than our usual meeting. That’s because a whole bunch of us will be in New Orleans for the Pictage PartnerConference! So, a slight delay in our usual monthly meeting is sacrificed for an amazing opportunity to hear Gary and his message about where our industry is headed.

State of the Industry
For 20 years, Gary Fong operated one of the most financially successful photography studios ever. Starting by charging $150 to shoot a wedding (with no time limit!) he began selling large wedding albums with a simple premise, pre-designing the album and emphasizing album design over anything else. In an era of shoot-to-burn price competition, Gary will carefully explain how to achieve ravingly happy clients and how to grow your business exponentially with no advertising.
Gary will explain the system he relied on to allow him to enjoy remarkable financial success even through two deep recessions, and will explain why consumers distrust advertising in difficult times, and how to price reasonably and effectively.
Gary retired from photography at 42, just after co-founding the lab at Pictage. He then went on to design the Lightsphere family of diffusers, and controls a multimillion dollar empire including real estate, plastics manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.
Bio
As a professional photographer Gary ended his 20 year long career in 2002 to pursue other interests, including creating the solution to unflattering images lit with direct flash lighting called the “Lightsphere.” Since introducing the Lightsphere in late 2004, more than 400,000 Lightspheres have been sold worldwide.
After inventing the Lightsphere, Gary built a veritable cottage industry around variations on his popular dome-shaped Lightsphere light diffuser including variations called, “The Origami” and “The Puffer.”
Gary has expanded into extensive real estate holdings with properties in the U.S. and Canada, a shipping and distribution warehouse in Wisconsin Rapids, WI and a plastics manufacturing company in Columbus, Indiana specializing in environmentally-friendly plastics made from corn and other bio materials. His most recent book THE ACCIDENTAL MILLIONAIRE: How to Succeed in Life without Really Trying,” has been described as “a humorous, poignant memoir of the man said to have revolutionized wedding photography.”

We are now going to be meeting at 103 West!  Heidi Sandate has graciously arranged for a space for us in their beautiful facility at the last minute!  Parking will be valet only and is going to be “taken care of” for you – don’t worry! ;o)

103 West is located at:

103 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30305 (404) 233-5593

Click their link below for a map and directions.

http://www.103west.com/103west.html

Our meeting is from 7 to 9 and you do NOT have to be a Pictage member to attend!

Please, please, RSVP at the link to the right so we can have a good idea of the number of chairs we need! ;o)

Also, feel free to contact me, Shari Zellers at szphotography@mindspring.com if you would like me to bring Pictage samples!

See you soon!

October 1st: McLellan Style!

I am really excited to announce our next PUG meeting for October!  We are honored that Sean & Mel McLellan will be visiting us at our October 1st meeting and sharing some wonderful and valuable insight to their fabulous “McLellan Style”!  I’ve been blog stalking this dynamic duo since they recently began participating in the Pictage Forums on a regular basis and I’ve been completely in awe of their work. Here is a little bit about what they will talk to us about that night:

Shooting with Purpose, Shooting with Style:  Pushing the envelope and delivering amazing results, no matter what!

Sean and Mel decided several years back that there would be no excuses.  No excuses for not being able to succeed, for not being able to get the clients they wanted, and for not being able to deliver above and beyond in every situation.

Together, they’ve developed a shooting style that has proven successful in beating all odds and an overall approach to their business that has taken them to the top of their market!  Sean and Mel will share with you the techniques they have implemented in their studio, McLellan Style that have resulted in their success.  They’ll share examples of amazing images captured in the most unlikely conditions, show you how they are able to capture a wide variety of imagery in a short period of time, and even cover a bit of their post-processing methods.  Join us for what will surely be a PUG meeting you won’t want to miss!

About Sean and Mel:

Sean and Melanie McLellan are the internationally acclaimed husband and wife photography team behind McLellan Style.  As artists, they are highly sought after throughout the world for their vivid and emotionally impactful imagery.  They pride themselves on their ability to capture the beauty of a person’s essence and the style within.

With multiple accolades to their credit, including DWF/FINAO Photographer of the Year and multiple first place print awards from Wedding and Portrait Photographers International, they continue every day to strive toward greater heights for their clients.

Be sure to check out their work here: http://www.mclellanstyle.com/

Our location for this month’s PUG will be at Cator-Woolford Gardens’ Atrium (upper level). Cator-Woolford Gardens is located at the Frazer Center:

The Frazer Center
1815 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
404-377-3836

Our meeting is from 7 to 9 and you do NOT have to be a Pictage member to attend!

Please, please, RSVP at the link to the right so we can have a good idea of the number of chairs we need! ;o)

Also, feel free to contact me, Shari Zellers at szphotography@mindspring.com if you would like me to bring Pictage samples!

See you soon!

September’s Meet & Eat!

Hey Atlanta photographers and Pictagers!

Can you believe the summer is almost over?  It’s hard to believe that soon we’ll be entering the fall wedding season and starting shooting our holiday portrait sessions and next thing you know, it’s Holiday Party time!

We tried to organize a cookout for this month but it seems many of you are unable to come on a Sunday to just hang out.  We’re glad you’re busy though!  So, instead we are going to socialize and have a great time at Caramba Cafe on our usual first Thursday night of the month.  A lot of us love to get together and talk after our PUG meetings and we end up at a restaurant in the VAHI area anyways so let’s just meet & eat!

Caramba Cafe is at:

1409D N. Highland Ave.
Atlanta, Ga. 30306
404.874.1343

We’ll meet from 7 to 9 on Thursday, September 3rd.  Please RSVP at the link to the right so we can get a head count ahead of time.

Also, if you are new to Pictage and need to see some of the products that Pictage offers, please contact me before 5:00 on Thursday and I’ll be happy to bring some things for you to see!  Email me at szphotography@mindspring.com or call our office at 404.299.2800.

Hope to see you there!

August 6th!: Roundtable Discussion!

[NOTE:  wrote this late last night while preparing for Saturday's wedding so please disregard the date that previously said "August 1st"....I was tired!  We will be meeting at our usual first Thursday of the month, August 6th!]

Hey Atlanta Pictagers and fellow photographers!

For the last few months, we’ve had some spectacular speakers – Denis, Joe, and our new Pictage CEO, Jim Collins. We’ve listened to their visionary presentations so now it’s time to talk!  Let’s get together to jam about what we heard, learned and were inspired by from these guest speakers!

And if you weren’t able to come hear any of them, go ahead and join us as the topics we’ll throw in the hat will be as varied as our attendance!  What do YOU want to talk about in business or photography?  Have you attended any killer workshops this summer?  (the Love Affair workshop just wrapped up this evening in Midtown – I hear the gals all got manis and massages – MAN!). What has inspired you this summer?  What new techniques have you been working on?  How have you adapted your business to this economy?

We’ll be meeting in our usual place – same Bat Time (7-9), same Bat Channel (Java Vino in VAHI – see below for info)!

Hope to see you all there!

579 North Highland Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30307

A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!

Do some networking – buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!

Joe Buissink at our July PUG!

Joe Buissink will come and give a discussion about the psychology involved behind shooting weddings. Who we are when we shoot an event and how it shows in the work!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

7:00 – 9:00PM

SCAD – Atlanta 
1600 Peachtree Street

MAP

Info: This event is FREE and open to all professional photographers we just ask that you RSVP (to the right)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Joe:
Joe’s photography is about capturing the moments, and the essence of the person in those moments. His work redefines wedding photography, and has been described as Fine Art by his most notable celebrity clients. Joe has become a world-renowned teacher in the photographic field. His teachings have taken him on an international platform from Japan and Australia to England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as in the United States. Joe has been profiled by Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Extra, Lifetime Television’s Wedding of a Lifetime, and E!. His work is published regularly in InStyle Weddings, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, and People Magazine.

For Canon’s full calendar of events, go to www.usa.canon.com/dlc

Wednesday June 3rd – Pictage’s new CEO, Jim Collins!

Hey Atlanta! We have a very special VIP coming to meet us this next Wednesday night – our very own new CEO of Pictage, Jim Collins! Jim is on an exhausting multi-city tour of all the PUGs and coming to visit us next! Big changes are happening and I have so many great things to say about the way Jim is taking the reins at Pictage and letting us know he is really looking out for us. His presence and participation on the forums has been a welcome sign of the wonderful things to come. Please sign up and come out to meet and hear Jim!

Our Meeting Topic from Jim:

“I’m going to be visiting your Pictage User Groups for two reasons. One, it gives you a chance to meet the new guy and to hear directly from me what our priorities are, what we’re fixing, what we’re doing that’s new and when you can expect to see results. The other reason is that it gives me a chance to hear from you, in person, what your hopes and dreams for Pictage are. Our goal is to startle you with great things moving forward.”

The PUG will be held in our usual meeting space at Java Vino from 7 to 9.

579 North Highland Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30307

A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!

Do some networking – buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!

Last Month’s Meeting Wrap Up:

I also want to introduce myself  as your new co-leader of the Atlanta PUG!  Feel free to contact me, Shari Zellers, at my office 404-299-2800 or by email at szphotography@mindspring.com if you have any questions about Pictage or upcoming PUG meetings!

At our better-late-than-never May PUG meeting, I had the chance to share a presentation with our members that I’m working on for this year’s PartnerCon – “Marketing to Vendors – Making Contacts, Making Friends, Getting Business”.  Cindy M. Brown from Atlanta had this to say:

“The Atlanta PUG group met this past month to listen to Shari Zellers’ presentation about networking with vendors. I have always thought that networking  through vendors would be the smartest way to spend my networking/marketing time and dollars, but I had no idea of the best way to go about it.
Now I do.
Shari kindly shared her secrets with others in her own market–the mark of a true pro who cares about others. I will be seeing Shari at upcoming networking events, I’m sure.
Thanks a million for all the knowledge and a great meeting!”

Thank YOU Cindy and to all those that came to the meeting and gave me some great feedback!

Atlanta PUG meeting May 21st.

This Month’s PUG – Thursday May 21st @ Java Vino!! Hello Atlanta PUG photographers! We are SO sorry that everything is topsy turvy this month! We have decided we will still have our May PUG no matter what! Wedding Season can’t get us down! It can simply delay us a little and make us a little nutty thats all! I’m sure you guys are all busy too but hope that you will carve out a little time to spend with us! Lets get together to refocus, share and take a deep breath! This Month’s Topics Shari will be speaking about…. “Marketing to Vendors: Making Contacts, Making Friends, Getting Business” PRODUCT UPDATES – Review order pricing for Wholesale Products prior to checkout • Know how much you’re spending before you submit your order. A preview for your order’s price is now available for wholesale products. Album Designer: Larger Editing View • The Pictage Album Designer can now scale to the size of your monitor. The larger view makes it easier to see the details! The NEW Pictage Upload Tool • Now you can create an event, upload the images, and have it auto-release to your clients without ever visiting the website. We guarantee this is the easiest way to manage an event on Pictage. Download it now. Make an Event ‘Not-Searchable’ – New Privacy Feature for Events • Under event settings you can now mark an event ‘not searchable’ so that the ONLY way to find it is for the photographer or owner to share the event url. Update your Credit Card Online • Update the credit card you have on file at Pictage under the Billing Preferences page of your account. (Billing Preferences can be found from the Studio Preferences page.) A little Info about Shari! How did you get into photography? Photography has been a part of me since childhood! I was given my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, for my 7th birthday and it went everywhere with me. My first photography course was in elementary school and then I pursued more advanced courses during high school when I also got my first job at a local photo lab processing and printing B&W. Yet when it came time to go college, I chose to study Illustration and Graphic Design. While studying at the Atlanta College of Art, a freelance photographic opportunity convinced me that I was much happier behind a camera lens than sitting at the drawing table! So, I changed majors and found myself traveling to Greece and Turkey to study alternative forms of photography and of course, to photograph the beautiful landscape! When did wedding photography become your passion? I had started shooting weddings for friends and family around 1994 and eventually discovered a desire to pursue wedding photography full-time. I received a BFA in Fine Art Photography from ACA and in January of 2002, I left the photo lab industry and now enjoy providing wedding photography services full-time. I also enjoy the photo opportunities I encounter after the wedding – like maternity, children’s, and family portraits! In April of 2002, the special events industry in Atlanta awarded me the 2002 Allie Award for Best Event Photography for my wedding photography of Joy and Eric Orme. It was an honor to be acknowledged by my peers for work that I am so passionate about. March 2003, I was given the same award againfor my photography of the wedding of Lisa and Anthony Czech! What makes you a good wedding photographer? Did I say I was passionate about wedding photography? I am a hopeful romantic – a necessity for capturing those intimate moments and creating the best images of your wedding. I realize that as your wedding photographer, we will have the longest relationship of any of your wedding professionals. You will want someone who LOVES wedding photography, to work with not only on that special day, but for sometime after the wedding to order prints and design your album. VISIT SHARI’S WEBSITE Upcoming Events!!! Jim Collins – Pictage CEO Jim Collins, the new CEO of Pictage is coming to our PUG!! He is planning on coming to our PUG on WEDNESDAY, June 3rd? We hope you will plan on joining us to hear what all he has in store! We hear rave reviews and look forward to extending a warm welcome to Jim! JAVA VINO 579 North Highland Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30307 A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again! Do some networking – buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track! ©2009 The Decisive Moment | 1270 Caroline Street Suite D 120-136 Atlanta GA 30307

Denis Reggie at our Pictage User Group

Date: Thursday, April 2nd

Time:
6:30 – 7:15 – wine and cheese welcome (sponsored by shoot Q)
7:15 – call meeting to order and brief intro (Jenn Linke)
7:30 – 8:45ish Denis Reggie
8:45 – 9pm questions, wrap up etc.

Location:
Samuel L. Golden Retreat at…
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
980 Briarcliff Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30306
MAP

Info: This event is FREE and open to all professional photographers we just ask that you RSVP (to the right)!

This very special PUG gathering features Denis Reggie up close and personal as he shares favorite images and stories from behind the scenes. He will detail his techniques, offer industry insights, and answer questions in a casual, living room style format. This is a Canon Explorer of Light event and is open to all working and aspiring wedding photographers.

ABOUT DENIS: Hailed by Town & Country as “the great wedding photographer of our day” and by Oprah Winfrey as “the best in the business,” Denis Reggie and his impact on wedding photography have become legend. Sensing the frustration of many brides with the posed look of traditional and pseudo-fashion wedding photography, he set out in the early 1980’s to refine and popularize the truly natural, editorial style he termed “wedding photojournalism.” The wedding photography industry has never been the same.

In the American PHOTO cover feature naming “The 10 Best Wedding Photographers in the World,” Denis Reggie was listed first.

At the request of the Smithsonian Institute this year, several Reggie photographs will become part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington.

His images have been featured on the cover of LIFE, and named in “Photographs of the Year” by People, LIFE, People, and Newsweek among other publications.  He has been interviewed at various times as a guest on NBC’s Today show as well as Oprah! A Denis Reggie photograph of Oprah Winfrey and Jackie Onassis was featured on a program highlighting “Oprah’s favorite things.”

He has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, VH-1, E! Entertainment Television, CNN, and Fox in national broadcasts. He has also been the subject of feature stories in each of the major wedding and photography magazines, and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications. His photographs are frequently used in books on weddings, etiquette, and photography including titles by Vera Wang, Letitia Baldridge and Town & Country.

Denis Reggie’s celebrity client list reads like a Who’s Who among America’s elite and includes Vera Wang, John Kennedy, Jr., Susan Lucci, James Taylor, Mariah Carey, Rudy Giuliani, Peter Jennings, James Garner, television anchor Campbell Brown, Alan Greenspan, Ted Turner, and Don Henley to name a few.

YES! We are having a March PUG! Thursday, March 5th 7pm

Hello PUG members! Sorry for the delay in posting this week’s meeting – WE ARE MEETING! – We are speaking about…

MARKETING IN A RECESSION
How have you changed your approach?
Should we as an industry be making changes?
How can we offer our clients some relief without taking it from our bottom line?
How can we save money by marketing in creative ways that help our budgets!

I hope you will join us this week and share your experience with us! The greatest tool in meeting is to share our variety of ideas and perspectives!

I will be speaking a little about SHOOT Q 2.0 and how it has been an awesome tool for The Decisive Moment during this recession!

I will do a brief demo and attempt to answer any questions you may have about the program! I can’t wait to see you there!

JAVA VINO
579 North Highland Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
A quick note about meeting at Java Vino! We are very fortunate to have such a cool, comfy spot to host our meetings! They are gracious hosts but we in turn need to be gracious guests!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a minute or two to grab some coffee, wine and or food before coming upstairs! We want it to be mutually beneficial for them to host our events so that we can be invited back again and again!
Do some networking – buy a friend a coffee too! Make sure you let them know you are with the PUG when you pay so they can easily keep track!