free to succeed in denver

last thursday night i attended the free to succeed tour held in denver by radtastic famous wedding photographers, david jay & becker. they were 100% real. and by that, i mean themselves, uncut, and genuine. wow. what a lightbulb experience. it is one thing to see their online work. and another to see their prices (gulp). and another to hear their experiences, lessons learned, and whites of their eyes. the best thing: they answered every one of my questions (which numbered up there to multiple digits :) thank you!

david jay and becker were the inspiration behind the kern-photo coffee-shop class, which is all about paying it forward by giving back to the photography community.

the A+ learning experience wasn’t all about the things i heard, but the people and HOW they said them. they speak from the heart with aim to help. for those not starstruck by famous wedding photographers you meet on the street, let me offer an example: as an art history major in college, it was one thing to see a slide of painting in class of famous russian abstractionist vladimir kandinsky, then memorizing dates, places, and minutia in the importance of the artists work to the period. but it was completely another thing to actually EXPERIENCE his work. rounding a corner at the museum of modern art in new york and seeing it firsthand hanging on the wall, brush strokes and all.... the real deal.... WOW. that’s kinda like meeting david jay and becker, in my aspiring & enthusiastic photographer mind :)

take away messages from their talk included not letting our buisness control our lives, being happy at being ourselves, and ensuring 100% top-notch customer service to our clients. i’ll need a few more weeks to completely digest, rethink, and re-digest what was learned. however, it was a grand experience and worth every penny of time & effort.

some favorite moments of the evening including sitting next to buddy gino siller and sharing “guy moments”, being inspired by the husband-and-wife pearls of wisdom from katie & chris humphreys, energizing with my sisters from anotha motha paige elizabeth & shannon & wade kaple (had to steal that one, shannon :), hearing about erin cady’s move closer to denver, meeting lynsey peterson for the first time who was so awesome to have referred us a wedding without even meeting us, and talking about leading a balanced family life with family guys james christianson & jared wilson. there’s a wonderful sharing community among denver wedding photographers and i’m proud to be there to help.

i took only a few photos that evening, mainly because the emphasis was thinking and taking notes, not shooting. however, the whole experience was part of #87 on my 101 photo goals in 1,001 days.

here’s david jay (dj), father of open source photo:
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becker rivotted the crowd with his personal experiences of how he overcame being a “newbie” and learned to work with other wedding photographers instead against. that has made his buisness today one of the most profitable wedding photography buisnesses in the industry. spot d. j. in the far right.
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professor [b] speaks without a PhD, but with real world experience. in the wedding photography industry, that is what matters most. mark twain once said, “never let school interfere with your education.” true that!
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paige elizabeth, shannon & wade kaple, nicole marie embrace the david jay experience.
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crazy boys:
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okay, okay... 1/20 second has it’s weakenesses. but i still love this cheesy moment with two heros :)
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vania posted some rocktastic images from the event over at her blog. i love her blog title, “the begining of the super photographer mom.”