Meditation

Few days ago I was at the gym doing my regular upper body routine. I course I had my iPod on and in this case was listening to some Tiesto I "borrowed" from Alex.

Dj Teisto's music is amazing. The beat just keeps you going and going. But I realized that as I was working out I was very very tense. Turns out that instead of working out at my full potential sometimes you need to change not just what exercises but also the music.

I had downloaded a set of podcasts on meditation.

http://www.heartofhealing.net/


The second I becgan to hear her podcast on controling your body I immeditately began to relax. And then my power began to increase!! I could feel my muscles as they worked.

Were back!! wow what a week

After a crazy week of reprogramming, editing and shooting we fiiiinnnnnally got the Excellence website back online. Sorry guys. Turns out there was a security problem in one of the programs I use on the site that allowed a bad guy to come into the admin and basically delete over 10,000 files.

Nice huh? What would I do if I knew who it was? Actually, what could I do? Probably very little.

The Toronto season is in full swing and we start shooting engagement photos in Florida in the next few weeks.

If you are getting married with us (yea - people who we do not shoot read this blog too!) please fill out the following forms 2-4 weeks before your wedding day.
Wedding Info Form: This will give us the info needed to get around on the day of your wedding, the times for each location and an idea of the number of people we will be working with. If you have any questions while filling this out -Please give Marianna a call!! She can help you determine the time we need at each location and would love to help you - 905-326-9622


http://www.excellencephoto.com/itinerary/

Wedding Video Info Form: We use this form to figure out the style, music and the end credits for your wedding video. You can fill this out anytime, the sooner the better. We will NOT start working on your wedding video unless this form is completed. If you have any questions while filling this out -Please give Tim call!! He can help you determine the time we need at each location and would love to help you - 416-630-0090

http://www.excellencephoto.com/video_info/

Excellence Site still down. boo hoo

We got hacked. It happens. We get over 3000 hits a week on our sites and in the world of new technology we are a target.

I've been working like crazy - sorry for the lack of posts. Anthony has left for Israel for 4 weeks so I have to edit all photos while at the sametime shooting, dealing with accountant, marketing and our 3 other businesses.

Marianna has been meeting with couples to discuss wedding day, Engagement Portraits, frames and Albums.

Alex, Manny, Natasha, Vitali are shooting every weekend and Alex and Vitali and a team of programmers are designing a brand new web based order system for all of DGgroup - TorontoHomeMovies.com, FloridaHomeMovies.com, USHomeMovies.com, New YorkHomeMovies.com, MontrealHomeMovies.com.

Los Angeles was a blast. I want to open an office in New York before we open one in LA (Montreal opens offically August 2008) But, where I was hesitant before, now I can't wait.

Reading a great books:

Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra (Paperback - Feb 26, 2008)

Wealth: How the World's High-Net-Worth Grow, Sustain, and Manage Their Fortunes by Merrill Lynch and CapGemini (Hardcover - May 16, 2008)

Buy new: $29.95 $19.77 28 Used & new from $6.94

Get it by Thursday, Jun 26 if you order in the next 23 hours and choose one-day shipping.

Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.

Books:

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Mass Market Paperback - Sep 8, 1999) Buy new: $7.99 64 Used & new from $0.95 In Stock Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping. (102) Excerpt - page 115: "... everyone else, then, really," said Ridcully. The boy gave the Hogfather an appraising stare as he sat down on the official ..." Surprise me! See a random page in this book.

Can't seem to finish these ones

Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw (Paperback - Oct 30, 2007) - Bargain Price

Buy new: $20.00 $5.99 20 Used & new from $5.88

Get it by Thursday, Jun 26 if you order in the next 23 hours and choose one-day shipping.

Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.

(20)

Books: See all 9,882 items

Up Your Business!: 7 Steps to Fix, Build, or Stretch Your Organization by Dave Anderson and John C. Maxwell (Hardcover - Mar 9, 2007)

Buy new: $24.95 $16.47 35 Used & new from $11.28

Get it by Thursday, Jun 26 if you order in the next 23 hours and choose one-day shipping.

Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.

(21)

Other Editions: Kindle Edition, Hardcover, Audio CD

Excerpt - page 15: "... a re- sume. The phone pre-interview was also an excellent tool."7 15 ..." Surprise me! See a random page in this book.

I hate getting up so early

So it's been an eventful few days. Los Angeles is such a cool place. Had some great sushi (Sushiya on Sunset click here to see the street view.

Yesterday we went to Laguna Beach. Wow what a beautiful beach. I can handle about 30 minutes of relaxation then I go crazy. So I walked around to all the shops and even visited a photo lab there.
Today another chill out day. Monday I plan on visiting a competitor and a photographer who has been my mentor or sorts for the past 5 years. Very excited. Try to get some photos up tomorrow.

Passport Hell

This morning at 6am I realized that our passports were out of date and had to be renewed. After 4 hours of running around, standing in lines and over $400 they will be ready for pick up tomorrow. I still can't believe how much. Oh well, 5 years without having to worry about it.

Checking out restuarants reviews in Los Angeles and came across the best site I have seen in years.

Watch the intro then put your mouse over the buildings. Each one is a different part of their business. Then visit the restuarants. Thats when I realized why I like the style so much. Its philip Stark. Made famous for his Alessi designs.

http://www.sbeent.com/restaurants/rg_katsuya.html

Marianna and I have collected Alessi since we first met.

Here - learn something - check out the Stark site.


One the bridesmaids from a wedding last year asked my why I talk about things like Alessi or sushi, or art movies.

You see, the weddings are all pretty similar. But our photos of weddings are far from the norm (that's why we are so popular.)

How is that we get the ideas we do??? My best answer is life.

If you visit 25 countries, read about 2000 books, eat a exotic restaurants, shop for unique and special things, keep you eye open to other cultures, and appreciate the art in nature then you will gain a certain perspective on life. You can't help it overflowing into your photography.

This is a kettle. Serious. Amazing huh? Too bad it failed.

Here is an article about the kettle:

Hot Bertaa

28-11-2006

Hot Bertaa Kettle, 1989
Philippe Starck

Aluminum, plastic
Alessi S.p.A., Italy.

This aluminum kettle is filled by pouring water in through the cylindrical handle. Its considered design allows the water to enter the kettle, heat and exit through an opening that appears to be an extension of the handle. Production of this kettle stopped in 1996.

Not all of Philippe Starck's designs were so successful. This kettle, launched in 1990, is the favorite design fiasco of Alessi CEO Alberto Alessi. The cone-shaped shaft pierces the body of the kettle, serving as both its handle and spout. The complex mechanism needed to redirect the steam proved unreliable, leading Alessi to pull it from the market in 1997. Says Alessi, "You shouldn't need an instruction manual to operate a kettle."

"The Hot Bertaa is one of my first pieces produced by Alessi. Alessi is a star, so it was a real highlight, a heart-stopping moment. Michael Graves had done it, as had Richard Sapper, so I had to be extraordinary, to show all my talent. But I became somewhat self-deluded and came up with the theory of immobile aerodynamics. There are certain objects that don't need to move, like a kettle placed on a table. If you give such objects movement, or dynamics, as they are unmoving, they might try to instil movement around them. It may be true. It seems to work a little. But with hindsight, I was just trying to get myself noticed, I wanted to make a masterly, sculptural object. In fact, this sculptural object is one of my worst pieces ever. It isn't very functional, it's dated, too fashion conscious. It's one of the things I'm most ashamed of. And to take the story further, this object, which existed for all the wrong reasons, also had a very difficult birth. It took 5 years to develop. Firstly because certain people at Alessi were very slow. And secondly, they didn't understand the complex system of valves and such. After 5 years, we couldn't recall why this object existed. So if a thing starts out badly, it ends badly, too. That piece was one of my big regrets. It illustrates the limitations of design, and it was responsible for my gradual loss of interest in stylistic design and masterly design."

Sunday - ahhhhhh

I had such a good night sleep. Alex and I met up at the studio around 2am last night and I kinda freaked out when I saw a security car in our parking lot. Turns out our landlord got sick of the break in's (3 in the past 2 weeks, one 2 doors down from us) so they hired a private company.

I welcomed him like a long lost brother and offered to buy him a cup of coffee. He turned me down. :(

So by the time I passed out it was after 3 but I slept like a baby (On my back). We spent the day at the zoo. Not sure if I should go with them to see Kung Foo Panda or go to the gym.

Oh yea I forgot to mention; as of Friday I have lost a total of 15.6 pounds!!! Off to LA on Wednesday be out of contact until after 3. Marianna can be reached on her 561 cell number. Please dont call me. heehe

If you dont get the joke - read this old old post about why I do not like the telephone.
http://excellencephoto.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-i-dont-use-phone.html

The fact is I am a very private person. I am extremely busy and rarely get time to spend with my family and when I do, I don't want to share with anyone but them. Of course, I understand that my clients are vital to my success. However, by using email to keep me organized I am actually in a better postion to meet their needs.

Early morning.

This morning when getting up we thought it was 7:30 and we were late. So everyone rushed to get dressed, brush teeth etc, only to notice it was 5:30 -aaahhhhhhh back to bed. No sleep.

Anyhow - I love the internet! Around 7 I received an email from a lady in Florida who wanted to purchase a gift certificate as an aniversary present. The idea was that the parents could then bring us their old movies prepaid. What a brilliant idea!!! So it looks like I have to get some gift certificates made.

But to help those who are trying to survive $4 gal gas I will make you a deal. If you purchase a gift certificate for $250 or more - we will include free shipping back to you!

Opps got off track. THe coolest part of this morning was after she emailed. About a minute later I called her on Skype. Clear as day, answered all her questions and hopefully got a sale.

Its a slow economy. That's all I am hearing. But its the companies that give up on service that will fail. We are ALWAYS trying to improve our service. If it possible we want wedding orders done in weeks not months. We want movies transferred in days. We want our customers questions answered in minutes.

You may have noticed the Twitter updates on the right side column for a few weeks. I update this throughout the day and it automatically updates my Facebook status and blog. If you want to follow me join Twitter and you can get email update too. Not that wouldn't be kinda weird. But I do follow a few people. Do that make me weird??

(1990 photo) I am in there some where - near the 30 yard line 3 guy in. I think

Some really silly products out there.

Check out this site - They sell something called a Bed Pal = NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!

I can finally sleep!!

As many of you know, when it comes to work flow I am a little compulsive. I make my photographers (and myself) back up photos after every location. We all carry laptops and portable hard drives. At the end of the wedding everyone has to come to the studio no matter what to prepare back ups etc.

By the time most brides and grooms are on their Honeymoon we have already made 4 copies of the raw photos, not including the orignal CF cards that do not get erased until the Thursday before the next wedding.

But today Alex configured my new DriveStation Duo™

Check out this cool site with a demo on it http://www.buffalotech.com/products/external-drives/drivestation/drivestation-duo/#

Thanks to Ilan at IOM computers for supplying!!

Holy Cow!!!!! This is for real!!

Check out this watch!!!

Click here to find out

Thanks Alex

OK so I wasnt completely precise. As the person who not only manages our entire studio, networks and all equipment, I have full confidence that Alex's corrections are exact.

sent by Alex
this is actually not true. 1 kilobyte - 1024 bytes 1 megabyte - 1024 kilobytes 1 gigabyte - 1024 megabytes 1 terabyte - 1024 gigabytes thats why when we format a 500GB drive it ends up being 465GB

So that would mean I was off by how much? Thank g_d I'm an artist and not a mathematician ~!!

Space Data not outer

When I think back to the days when I used to edit videos using the Panasonic ave 5 connected to 3 JVC SVHS Vcrs there was no way I could fathom that one day we would have 25 Tera bytes of space.

Here is the math.

1000 megs = 1 gig
1000 gigs = 1 tera byte

Yesterday I added another tera byte as a back up for our wedding photography division. Set up as a raid (One hard drive connected to another, configured as an exact mirror), this way if one drive were to fail all my information is backed up onto the other drive.

We are currently completing just under 100 projects a month in the back editing room. Since we have moved we have added 3 new systems and in July are planing some major changes. Objective Eye video has been on fire lately with our new "under cover" shoots and lawyers are signing us up so fast we have to tell them only one a day.

Wedding season is in full swing. Too bad the weather is still freaky cold in Canada. I have a bunch of meetings in Los Angeles next week so if you need to reach us, email. Marianna will call you back.

It's kinda cool. We have a Metro PCS photo for when we are in Boca and the plan is incredible (too bad the call quality is not the same - many people call it Metro piece of sh..) Anyhow, we will be taking the monkeys with us, and a few well desrved days off to visit Disney and whats left of Universal Studios.

Wok with Yan

I feel like a kid again. I just sat down and had breakfast and for the first time in years I turned on the TV. Good ole Stephan Yan from Wok with Yan was on.

I used to love this guy. I would rush home to watch him cook and just laugh. He was the funniest!! I would get sooo hungry I would have to go in the kitchen and pretend to cook (usually Kraft Dinner).

I tried to find a video on YouTube but no luck.


Wok with Yan was a Chinese cooking show starring Stephen Yan. The show was first produced in Vancouver, Canada by the CBC from 1980 to 1982. A second edition of the show was also produced in the early 1990s. The popular series was syndicated internationally in United States, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore for years. Even though Wok with Yan has been out of production for many years, episodes continue to be rerun on Omni Television.

The show was famous because Canada has had few well known Canadian cooking shows and in each episode, Yan had a different pun on the word "wok" on his apron. The humorous aprons also complemented his humour that consisted of spontaneous one-liners spoken with his trademark Cantonese accent or him playing with his food or cookware. That, combined with his energetic personality, endeared himself to Canadian viewers. Prior to him preparing his stir fry cuisine, the show usually featured a vignette of Yan travelling to different vacation spots from around the world (eg, Thailand). He always invited an audience member to come up and eat with him near the end of each episode (there was a ticket draw in the studio audience to sit with him), and had a fortune cookie reading before the meal (first done in Cantonese, then translated in English).

The show also aired in the Caribbean during the same period on TTT Trinidad and Tobago Television.