New season begins.

Have you ever heard the saying -"Time flys?" Well it sure feels like that for me lately. On March 1st we began the summer season for Excellence Toronto. Marianna made a few calls and now I have 35 engagement shoot scheduled for April/May. Boom.

So the first order of business is to explain why it is soooooo important for couples to take this photo session very very seriously. I vividly about how we started shooting engagement photos because every other photographer did, and then over a 2 year period how we have meta morphed having your portraits taken into a science. In fact, our engagement portraits are one of the main reasons we book so many weddings. Having an Excellence Photography portrait collage at the front of your Hall entrance is a sign of quality of the wedding you are having. Our weddings are among the finest in the world.

But it didn't start out that way.


11 years ago Marianna and I used to both go to engagement shoots. Marianna would shoot the photos and I the video. The whole thing took about 30 minute total. Well, we had to shoot a nice couple I wont say their names but lets call them Lisa and Mario. Anyhow, the shoot we scheduled for a Tuesday in July. Back then we were shooting at a place on Bathurst with a park for kids, a bridge with a stream under it.

This couple arrived 25 minutes late - they were lost, no directions. They were wearing nylon shorts, and neon shirts. He didn't shave (her either ewe). It was 95 degrees and after 10 minutes they had sweat marks under their armpits.

Needless to say, when they did meet up with Marianna they couldn't find too many photos they liked.

Was this their fault? I certainly wanted to blame them. That is until I met a legendary photographer named Monte Zucker at a WPPI convention in Las Vegas a year later. He explained to me that couples, families and people in general put their trust in us as photographers to provide instructions to guarantee images that will make them look their best.


In 1998 we started with adding a map to were we are shooting, confirming appts the day before and most importantly instilling a Dress Code.

Yes - I mean Dress code. These portraits are important. Imagine that you are now 50 years old. You have had 3 kids and been married for 25 years. You walk into your 5000 square foot house (hey we can dream!) and look at the engagement portrait you took over 25 years earlier. What would you do to improve it. Imagine that for 200$ you could have had a professional do your hair. And for another 100 bucks a real make up artist did your face.

OK that seems like a lot of money now. But think about it this way now. If you make $30,000 a year for 25 years - taxes you can expect to bring in approximately $550,000. I think you can afford it.

Select the best clothing for both of you. Set a standard that is the highest not just will do.


Here are a few of my personal favorite engagement shots.

Wow!!!

I have always believed strongly in socialization. If you read to your child they will lead faster, they watch you drink 10 beers after work they - well they might drink 10 milks.

Check out this 17th month old.

Directions to G. Ross Park

Today Marianna spoke to 2 dozen brides eager to shoot their engagement photographs. Here is a few quick links to help you prepare for an amazing session. South Florida couples have all special arrangements so please make sure you have confirmed with Jean the time, date and location.

Directions to G.Ross. - Toronto


Dress Code

What's in front of you?

As a photographer and a business person I am constantly fascinated by what I see. Depending on the profession I obtain a different perspective on certain view points.

Recently the subject of photography as Art was a topic of conversation at a dinner party I attended. It was strange trying to understand the view point of the professional art dealer. To him photography as art is simply a commodity. Something to buy and sell to make money.

But it got me thinking that as a photographer that sells my photos to everyday (wonderful) people, I really need to explain why I believe in what I do.

What really put me over the top was I recently had a bride (who shall remain nameless) return an incredible wedding portrait "cause I don't like the brown tint"

Sooooo - since most brides have not spent years and year studying, review and meeting some the greatest artists of our time, I will be featuring some other peoples works as a way to broaden all our experiences. Imagine how I felt a few years ago when a mother of the bride ask me to why half the face was not lite up properly. That when she had the kids photos done at WallMart their faces were so well lite up they were almost white!!

First - the Master of Light - Rembrandt.

Rembrandt lighting in photography is a lighting technique that is sometimes used in studio portraiture.

The key in Rembrandt lighting is creating the triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye. One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric form on the face.

The triangle should be no longer than the nose and no wider than the eye. Rembrandt lighting is a combination of short and butterfly lighting-- and as such it is actually the eye closest to the camera (on the broad side of the face) that should have the triangle of light. The narrow side is illuminated. This technique may be achieved subtly or very dramatically by altering the distance between subject and lights and relative strengths of main and fill lights. It is a common photography technique.

Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history.^[1] His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardship. Yet his drawings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high^[2] and for twenty years he taught nearly every important Dutch painter.^[3] Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. The self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.^[4]

March break fun!

I love my kids. But..... I can't wait for March break to end. If I see another episode of Storm Hawks or Mulan I think i will freak out.

I am typing this on Marianna's new laptop - Dell Inspiron 1525

Can you believe it was only $648 including tax and shipping!! I remember buying a hard drive in 1998 that was only 9 gigs and I paid $1500. Based on Moore's Law I should be able to get a super editing computer that will encode 2 hours of video in 15 minutes by 2009.

Moore's Law describes an important trend in the history of computer hardware: that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years.^[1] The observation was first made by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore in a 1965 paper.^[2][3][4] The trend has continued for more than half a century and is not expected to stop for another decade at least and perhaps much longer.^[5]

Almost every measure of the capabilities of digital electronic devices is linked to Moore's Law: processing speed, memory capacity, even the resolution of digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well. This has dramatically increased the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy.^[6] Moore's Law describes this driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Thank you Thank you!!

When I was growing up I remember thinking to myself that I would one day meet a beautiful woman, settle down and get a dog. Well, today I had 2 people book and a third couple will likely finish booking tomorrow. As it stands we are very likely to completely book the 08/09 Florida season BEFORE we even get to the September bridal shows.

In Toronto, we usually settle down for appointments around the end of February. I been away for a few weeks and our phone has not stopped ringing. In fact, Marianna has lined up 22 new customer appointments while we were away.

When I was a working guy at S&P Data and Marianna made me quit my job I have to admit I was terrified!! All I kept think was the worse thing that can happen is they take away our house and we end up living with my parents again (funny enough a few years later when Marianna persuaded me into building a brand new house from scratch we did end up back at my parents!!)

So who is responbile for all our success?

I say it all thanks to Marianna. You see it was her courage to try something new, not take the easy road that lead us to set up our Florida office last year. Whenever there was an obstacle (IRS, GST, L1a finding new schools for the kid) Marianna would not only preserver but find out a way to use this info to our advantage.

So I havent settled down, I definitely do not have a dog. But I married a beautiful women.



FloridaHomeMovies.com and ConvocoMedia.com are growing each day. Each does very similar work.

FloridaHomeMovies.com is special in that people who have 8mm old movies film, or 16mm old movie film even VHS tapes can bring their orders (or ship) to us and we will save them from fading by converting the 8mm, 16mm and VHS to a digital format. Our experience is that most regualr folk want the footage on DVD. Some of the more adventurous prefer Minidv or avi for editing.

ConvocoMedia.com is government, small business and large corporations that need a professional trustworthy company to help archieve their company data, or convert training tapes to DVD or even save the legacy of the company by digitizing old photographs and slides.

In both cases, a dedication to quality has been the key to our success. You see, we are ALWAYS looking at ways to improve quality. It begins with education. I current read no less than 4 books a week, 5 trade magazines and track about 10 specialty websites. Partly cause I can't sleep. But another reason is that I feel that the world slowly becoming dumb.

That's right. Have you ever read a book written between 1800 and 1900? Robert Burns
a famous Scotish poet and lyricist is just one example. But how about Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors of all time.


As I walk through the mall and listen to people speak, am completely horrified. Worse than that, turn on talk radio. These are the influences of today and most are more concerned with making profanity than saying anything profound!


No I'm not going to get religious - I'm not stepping in that! But, as I have surveyed the demografic of my reads of the blog I have 2 main groups. Young adults aged 20-30 and baby boomers in their 50-60. Either Excellence Photography customers of TorontoHomeMovies.com or FloridaHomeMovies.com, or USHomeMovies.com. The older group grew up without the benefit of 85 cannels on TV. Video games, cell phones and the Internet did not exist!! Our older custoemrs are likely to have be force to read Shakespeare and read the Bible or Torah. This type of foundation is the building block for character.

So what does this have to do with FloridaHomeMovies.com and ConvocoMedia.com.

By dedicating ourselves to the preservation of history we spend hour and hour seeing the past. It has made me, Alex, Sacha, Anthony, Aaron, Marianna, Anton,Dima, Manpreet,Vitali, Natasha, Julia, Arthur, Bill, Matt, Tim, and the rest of the team appreciate how little we really know and how important it is to alway improve.


Some of my favorite Oscar Wilde Quotes.

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Oscar Wilde

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.
Oscar Wilde

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
Oscar Wilde

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.
Oscar Wilde

A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Oscar Wilde

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
Oscar Wilde

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.
Oscar Wilde

A poet can survive everything but a misprint.
Oscar Wilde

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
Oscar Wilde

A true friend stabs you in the front.
Oscar Wilde

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.
Oscar Wilde

Ah, well, then I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means.
Oscar Wilde

Alas, I am dying beyond my means.
Oscar Wilde

All art is quite useless.
Oscar Wilde

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.
Oscar Wilde

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic.
Oscar Wilde

All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
Oscar Wilde

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
Oscar Wilde

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.
Oscar Wilde

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
Oscar Wilde

An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him.
Oscar Wilde

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
Oscar Wilde

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.
Oscar Wilde

Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.
Oscar Wilde

Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing.
Oscar Wilde

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.
Oscar Wilde

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.
Oscar Wilde

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
Oscar Wilde

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
Oscar Wilde

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
Oscar Wilde

Biography lends to death a new terror.
Oscar Wilde

By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
Oscar Wilde

Charity creates a multitude of sins.
Oscar Wilde

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde

Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.
Oscar Wilde

Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.
Oscar Wilde

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
Oscar Wilde

Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.
Oscar Wilde

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
Oscar Wilde

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
Oscar Wilde

Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.
Oscar Wilde

Everything popular is wrong.
Oscar Wilde

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
Oscar Wilde

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
Oscar Wilde

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
Oscar Wilde

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
Oscar Wilde

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.
Oscar Wilde

Hatred is blind, as well as love.
Oscar Wilde

He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.
Oscar Wilde

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.
Oscar Wilde

How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive.
Oscar Wilde

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
Oscar Wilde

I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
Oscar Wilde

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.
Oscar Wilde

I can resist everything except temptation.
Oscar Wilde

I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.
Oscar Wilde

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Oscar Wilde

I have nothing to declare except my genuis.
Oscar Wilde

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
Oscar Wilde

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
Oscar Wilde

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
Oscar Wilde

I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.
Oscar Wilde

I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything.
Oscar Wilde

I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability.
Oscar Wilde

I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.
Oscar Wilde

I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
Oscar Wilde

I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying, dead.
Oscar Wilde

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
Oscar Wilde

If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Oscar Wilde

If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people don't talk.
Oscar Wilde

Got some "before" photos of the studio

OK so last night I worked until 3am. So when I left the studio I was hungry. 24 hour restuarants are rare in Boca Raton. It just so happens that across the street from the studio there is a 24 hour restaurant called Denny's

WOW!!!! Seriously I stepped out of my are and my arteries immediately began to harden. It was as though they could sense the onsluaght of grease that was about to invade my body. What I cant understand is how I could spend 78$ to fill the gas tank when there was enough oil within my burger to fuel 2 cars!!!

I have a bunch of before photos of the new studio in Toronto. Instead of uploading all of them click on the link below. Whoever had the place before us love the color Blue and the color Red!!!

Yes we have moved the Toronto office!!!

The new address for Excellence Photo, TorontoHomeMovies.com, DGVideo and ObjectiveEye Video is:

3893 CHESSWOOD DR
TORONTO ON M3J 2R8




View Larger Map

From Downtown: Take DVP north to 401 west. 401 west to Allen rd North. Past Sheppard until you see the Mcdonald's on your left. The next street turn left (west) onto Steeprock and go to the end. We are on the North East corner, the north building 3rd unit in we are unit 3893.

From Mississauga: 401 east to Allen rd North. Past Sheppard until you see the Mcdonald's on your left. Turn left (west) onto Steeprock and go to the end. We are on the North East corner, the north building 3rd unit in we are unit 3893.

From Woodbridge: Hwy 7 to Dufferin go south on Dufferin past Finch. At the top of the hill turn right onto Steeprock and go to the end. We are on the North East corner, the north building 3rd unit in we are unit 3893.

Jamba Juice is the best - Panera Bread too

I love Jamba Juice and Panera Bread.

Today I woke up and went for breakfast at Panera. Had an amazing quiche (yea real men do eat quiche). After meeting with a few new customers at the Boca Raton Excellence studio I picked up a nice Strawberry Nirvana from Jamba Jucie. You know it pure juice no extra junk and only 200 calories.

As you know I am a huge Starbucks fan. As a person who follows the ideas of perfectionism its very important for me to surround myself with quality. Compare the following


Starbucks - Dunkin Donuts/CoffeeTime

Jaguar - Kia

Sony - No name TigerDirect special

Whole Foods - Food Basics/Publics

Of course, you could say its just the price that marks the difference. Thats true. But its also the standards. I would rather do without than to deal with mediocrity. Yes a coffee is a coffee but when you only accept the best then your life changes. You begin to compare and contrast all facets of your life. I give Marianna credit for making me this way. I remember when we purchased our first house. I would have been satisfied with a fixer upper. She refused with no chance at a rebuttal. As far as she was concerned our first home had to have a number of minimums. It had to be in a very good neighborhood. Had to have a nice kitchen, 3 bedrooms, a den for business, a large living room, and basement we could rent out.

In fact because of her we not only bought a way nicer house than I expected, $100,000 more than I thought we could afford, but because of the renters we were able to pay down the mortgage way faster, because it was in a good area we were able to sell it at a huge profit and we were able to run our new business out of the front den for 3 years.

You could say her uncompromising standards set the tone for our Excellence - (nice pun huh!@@)

very cool video - slow motion video

March break!!

It wasn't until I became a parent that I began to dread March break. Don't get me wrong, hanging out with the kids for 8 hours a day is great, but boy am I tired!!! I've taking a few days off to recharge my batteries. I'm living in Boca Raton in the winter and Toronto in the summer. So today I spent the day at the beach. Yep I burned my neck (does that make me a red neck??)

Anyhow, I am slowly getting back into the grove and will update the blog with some more photos etc.

There are a few 2007 customers who have yet to place their orders. PLEASE contact us asap. We must complete your order by April or risk being grouped with our competition who takes 6 months instead of the 6 weeks we usually finish in.

You know who you are.

FloridaHomeMovies.com is trucking along. Our 8mm to DVD, Super 8 to DVD and 16mm to DVD film conversion department is now 3 times as busy as last year at this time. Soon we will be hiring@@.

If you are getting married in South Florida from October to April and still have not booked you wedding photography, wedding videography services then visit http://www.boca.excellencephoto.com/

We are booking a LIMITED number of weddings this 2008-2009 season and will only be handling 1 wedding each saturday and 1 wedding each sunday. Remember, we only book wedding where we shoot both the photography and video.

For Toronto area customers, most of the spots for May and June 2009 are booked. We only handle 2 weddings on Saturday and 1 on Sunday so contact Marianna to see if we are still available. So far we have turned away 9 weddings for 2009.