spa blog

Guest Blogger - Jeff Nordby

Jeff Nordby has been a spa Member for several years now, and is a regular on spa Talk our online forum. Jeff posted this the other day, and I thought it was great, so I asked him for permission to share it here.

You can find more on Jeff HERE.

When Monty was in high school, his teacher gave the class the assignment to write about what they wanted to do when they grew up. Monty wrote that he wanted to own his own 200-acre ranch and raise Thoroughbred racehorses. His teacher gave him an F and explained that the grade reflected that he deemed his dream unrealistic. No boy who was living in a camper on the back of a pickup truck would ever be able to amass enough money to buy a ranch, purchase breeding stock and pay the necessary salaries for ranch hands. When he offered Monty the chance of rewriting his paper for a higher grade, Monty told him, "You keep the F; I'm keeping my dream.

Today Monty's 154-acre Flag Is Up Farms in Sovang, California, raises Thoroughbred racehorses and trains hundreds of horse trainers in a more humane way to "join up" with and train horses.

This was taken from Jack Canfield's book "The Success Principles". 

Monty Roberts is just one of millions of examples of people who did not allow the pressure of other people's opinions take away the dream he had for himself. Consider this, just about everyone who ever created anything significant in the world today, somewhere during their journey had someone tell them..."you will never make it.... you can't do that... you don't have the education for that.... you don't have enough money to ever do that... that's impossible..." These nay-sayers take all the reasons why THEY have never amounted to anything or accomplished anything and try to apply their self-imposed limitations to YOUR life. But you are different. If you dream your dream (and make it a BIG one!) and hold to it firmly in your heart and mind and work smart and hard there is nothing that can hold you back from seeing the vast majority of it, if not ALL of it come to pass. 

Those that will give you all their reasons why you can't do what you want, should be given the same value as a commercial during your favorite movie... a good time to go to the bathroom! Turn your back on that junk and go do something more productive!

One of my favorite quotes is from Michelangelo "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Dream BIG! In your business, in your family, in your personal life... have BIG dreams. Little dreams accomplish little while big dreams accomplish big! Michelangelo is saying if our aim is too low and we reach it, then we have put a self imposed ceiling on what we might see accomplished with our lives. By having grand dreams and goals... beyond what most other people are willing to have, even if we don't fully reach it, we will still be so far ahead of the small dreamers because we are reaching so much higher.

The road to success does not begin in any social class or with a college degree or a large bank account... it begins with a dream and a strong DESIRE and we ALL can have plenty of that if we want it.

Create your dream and then make that dream your reality!

I hope this can be encouraging to anyone who might be having some doubts right now.

Guest Blogger - Rod Evans 3

Ever think about how to sell your images on CD, but can't figure out how you'll actually make any money doing it? Rod Evans shares how he is doing it SUCCESSFULLY in this short video clip.

Evansology 103 Selling Images on CD from Rod Evans on Vimeo.

Find more from Rod HERE

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Guest Blogger - Rod Evans 2

Interested in learning how to turn out images like this:

Rod Evans shared this tip in his 2nd installment of Rod Evans TV

You can find all kinds of great FREE info there along with training tools for purchase.

 

Quick tip 2 Glamour Lighting tip with a mirror from Rod Evans on Vimeo.

Guest Blogger - Excerpt from Jeff Smith's "Achievable Wealth"

SLAVERY AND THE DEFERRED ENJOYMENT PLAN 

 How much time will it take?  Less than you think.  On the other hand, it won’t happen overnight.  I have seen many of the “get rich quick” schemes out there and the only ones getting rich are the ones selling the idea.  While income replacement does take time, it takes much less time than the deferred enjoyment plan that most Americans call retirement.  Most Americans work their asses off for 30 to 40 years, in careers that in most cases they hate, with the thought of endless fishing or golf playing in front of them.  After this long, methodical journey of slavery there are no long days at the country club or fishing hole, but rather, it’s sitting at home arguing with their spouse.  Why?  Because fishing or golfing can only take up so much of your time and most retirees find the cost of such activities to be too far out of their retirement budget to do frequently.  Also, many retirees find that after a lifetime of being a producer, having nothing to do will drive them up the wall.  It is a known fact that many people, men especially, die shortly after they retire. 

 Some people work for 40 years to get to a point of retirement, buy a motor home for the long trips they have planned to all the places they haven’t yet seen, and guess what happens?  Often, by the time they retire, many have medical issues and tire too quickly for extended travel.  In some cases the motor-home is practically brand new, because the big trips across the country to see all they haven’t seen has turned into a retirement of taking care of their children’s children (grandchildren but not your responsibility).  Work all your lives to start a geriatric day care!  

 This is another causality of the American Deferred Life Plan. Our children live with parents that are working so hard and are so tired they are emotionally unavailable, while trying to penny pinch their way to a successful retirement.  The average American misses out on their own children’s childhood, so they try to recapture it in their grandchildren’s childhood.  Many retirees exchange being a slave for their boss to being a slave to their adult children’s baby-sitting schedules. 

 I think I have a better plan.  What about not deferring enjoyment? What about traveling and enjoying my life, my children, and my spouse now, while I am still young enough to do everything I want to do, and never retiring (at least not in the traditional sense)?  I want to continue to do what I am doing because quite frankly, I love what I do.  If you follow the advice in this book, you will discover what you love to do as well and if you love what you are doing, why stop?  If you travel often and have all the free time you want, what is the point of traditional retirement?

spa Member publishes new book!

Jeff Smith, is a Professional Photographer, Business Owner, Author of 13 books,  Board Game Designer, Real Estate Investor and a Breeder of Pedigree White German Shepherd Dogs.  Like many high paid professionals, Jeff thought the road to wealth was about generating more income through his business, and like Ned the character in the book, Jeff found himself working 60 to 70 hours a week with only higher taxes, a larger house and no family life to show for it.  Realizing that this default life path was leading down a road to no where, Jeff and his wife Charla redesigned their businesses to achieve the most profit for the least of amount of time possible.  Jeff went from a 60-70 hour work week down to working 2 to 3 days a week.  This additional time allowed him the opportunity to develop passive and near passive income streams to replace the income from his chosen career.  While Jeff loves being a photographer and has plans to retire, he and his wife have "semi-retired" by creating a life by design, selecting business ventures and investments that both of them truly enjoy.   (note: Jeff and Charlaha also spa Members

About the Book: 

  

Achievable Wealth is a book for the average American. It designed to help the working man or woman that wants more than the deferred life plan of our fathers and grandfathers; working 30 to 40 years in a career that they don’t like waiting for a retirement that may not happen.  Whether you call it wealth, financial freedom or living life by design, this book will help you create income streams from work you are passionate about, invest your money wisely by getting it out of the stock market and investing in more stable investment using a Self-Directed IRA and securing your future whether you want to retire full-time or Semi-retire and never quit what you love to do.   

 

    Unlike other books, Achievable Wealth will not teach you the art of Penny Pinching the way to Wealth and Retirement.  In life there are the Savers (penny pincers), the Spenders (those that like Ned in the book that spend more than they make) and those that achieve wealth by with a balance of being wise with their money and increasing their income by increasing the worth of your time.   

Come back tomorrow for an excerpt from the book.

To purchase visit Amazon.com

Guest Blogger - F-Stop Beyond Interview

Kia and Sana were interviewed by Ron Dawson - owner of Dare Dreamer Media and it was just posted!

F-Stop Beyond: The EXPERIENCE

Really cool Photographer Promo Video

I don't know that I've seen this creative of a photographer promo video before - have you? Makes me want to hire them!

 

Meet the Brockintons from ashley brockinton on Vimeo.

Guest Blogger - Steve & Shelley Harrington

Steve and Shelley Harrington have owned and operated Steve Harrington Photography since 2002. They have been members of spa for the past couple of years, attended spa Event for the first time in 2008, and at spa Event 2009, Steve was one of our featured fashion shoot photographers. They have sent in this video that shows a simple, fun and great lighting tip/technique - Thanks Steve and Shelley!

Guest Blogger - Peg Buckner

This is the first in a series of posts by spa Guest Bloggers. They will cover everything from lighting and posing to marketing and sales. Enjoy!

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Peg Buckner and her husband and business partner Michael Hewitt own and operate Picture This! Studio & Gallery in Nevada. They have been spa Members for a couple of years now. Peg was one of our featured spa Event fashion shooters in spa Event 2009. Look at the end of this post for info on classes and products from Peg...

First a few answers to FAQ's:

Our lab is Miller’s Imaging

We use the Nikon  D3.

Favorite lens is the 70-200, 2.8.      

A little bit about our set-up:

1.  Select an iso depending on the available light.   

2.  Meter most everysituation (except groups) with an aperature reading setto 2.8.       

3.  Change the mode to manual, (to lock the setting) according to the calculated shutter speed. 

4.  A kicker light with a small softbox is added for fill to give sparkle in the eyes! 

The above portrait is split light.  It’s late afternoon light with a small amount of flash kicking in from the camera right.  We didn’t get  quite enough light into his eyes, so this is a good example to show,  how the flash should have been metered for a stronger fill light.  Even so, this is a strong image and one we love! And so did the client, who purchased a canvas!

The below portrait is back lit from the setting sun.  Metered at 2.8 with a high iso and some light from our Qflash kicking in the sparkle in his eyes!  That’s it!  Beautiful light easily.  Be sure to bring the subject very close to the fence or net to avoid harsh shadows.

How we light our Portraits!

We love to let the ambient light be picked up by the camera, so in order to do that, we select an iso setting or number first.  This is determined by many factors.  Even though our Nikon D3 has superior results with high iso, we start with the lowest setting possible.  A light reading is then taken from the area of the face.   We use a hand held meter or the in camera meter set at Aperature Priority on 2.8 for our lens best capability! After the camera or hand held calculates the reading we then change the mode to Manual and put the shutter speed in. This locks the exposure setting and we can make fine adjustments from there according to the falling light and the histogram!  We add the Qflash for a kiss of light! The setting is below the ambient.

 

Posing!

Posing should be artistic and creative, and at the same time look comfortable and natural!!  If you direct your client in the most polite and complimentary way, you’re clients will give wonderful expressions! Talk with your clients, warmly, and try hard not to ever demand poses.  Make your directions sound like suggestions, not  orders and you will be loved!