I’ve been so so blessed to have connected with so many amazing people through this process. While I obviously can’t offer the opportunity to everyone, I still feel like I’ve made all these new friends! That part of the process was amazing.

Not so amazing….trying to pick someone. Yea, that was harder than I ever thought. I spent alot of time reading through emails and interacting with everyone. It was hard knowing that there were so many of you out there that totally deserve this opportunity. However, I fairly certain that this will continue to be something that I offer every 6 months or so. So, if you didn’t get picked this time around…don’t give up. Take the time to push forward and see what happens! I can’t wait to see the progress you are going to make!

So, I am happy and thrilled to announce that my new friend and super duper rockstar mentee is………………………

drumroll………………………….

or long pause………………………………………….with alot of dots…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Catie Ronquillo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m so super excited to take the next steps of this journey with Catie! She is a newlywed (her lovestory is amazing) and just relocated to Dallas! She’s ready to dive in in Dallas and I know she’s ready to get started!

Congrats Catie!!!! I can’t wait!

I am truly humbled at the response I’ve gotten. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!! Thank you for sharing yourselves with me! You’ve all been amazing. I am already having a hard time thinking about who will get this opportunity. However, know if you don’t get chosen this time it is something I may extend and offer again.  Again, I thank you!

One other reminder.

Remember today is the day! It’s going on right now! (just started so don’t worry you didn’t miss much…yet)

One other big announcement I’m thrilled to let you all know about is a labor of love my good friend and fabulously talented, Maile Wilson of Relish Portrait Studio, is launching. Get ready for this ladies….how cute are these???

Like many of us, Maile was tired of trying to find a safe way to carry her camera with her without having to lug a whole camera bag of stuff along. And 9x out of 10, an ugly camera bag at that. Recently there have been a few products that have stepped in and saved the fashion forward woman photographer and have filled the gaps nicely. However, what I love about Maile’s bag is that it works not only as a functional alternative when I’m shooting but it’s perfect for the times when I want to take my “stuff” with me but I’m not necessarily “playing photographer”. So all the times when I go to events where I’m ….just ME!!!! Woot!  Going to a wedding where I’m a guest, going to a shower, going to freakin’ SEA WORLD….this bag will work!!!

I was fortuante enough to see a prototype of the bag a couple months ago. Maile totally asked for input and feedback and was completely commited to creating a bag that would not only be WAY FREAKIN’ CUTE but functional. I loved that. There is ample room inside the bag for your camera & a couple lenses. The inside compartments were stury and the dividers velcro in and out so you can adjust the openings to fit your equipment. They are really versatile.

These are not only going to be great for the pros but perfect for those of you who have invested in your equipment and want a safe way to carry it with you while maintaining that fashionista persona you’ve worked hard to establish!

The offical announcment was made on Maile’s blog and she’s just about ready to roll into production on these. If you are interested on getting on the mailing list to be one of the first IN THE KNOW on these then you can sign up
here.

Congrats Maile! These are going to explode! Get ready!

Originally I was going to only offer the 4×6 flat cards.  If you’ve ordered cards from me in the past you know how awesome those are. Then I started thinking….what do I send out myself? I send out the 5×7 folded cards. They are a-may-zing!

Here’s a little blip from the email promo about them:

Let’s get one thing clear. These are not your average photo greeting cards that you print from a kiosk while picking up your prescription or grabbing bread & milk. These cards are high quality, custom cards, printed on fine art linen paper that would make even The Grinch’s heart skip a couple beats.

Again, you get to choose from the following four designs. Text is all customizable.

ahhh. pretty things make me happy.

Be sure to check out the new email blast that went out this past weekend with more details about the Holiday Mini Sessions. You’ll find more info regarding the products you’ll receive and how to schedule your sessions!

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Shine On!

If you’re a photographer you should stop reading this and go Register NOW!  Then you can come back and read the rest of this….I’ll wait.  Go! Go! Go! Please!

this is me waiting……………………………………………………………
and waiting……………………………………………………………………
and waiting………………………………………………………………………………….
still waiting…………………………………………………………………………………..

oh super you’re back. oh, you aren’t sure if you want to get the audios of the summit??  it’s on sale for $49 today and then goes up to $99 tomorrow. Either way, it’s a steal for what you’re getting. 16 hours of knowledge from some of the best in the industry? Are you going to be able to sit at your computer to listen to the entire summit….for 16 hours in 2 days??? Yea, that’s what I thought. I’ll wait while you go purchase those.

waiting…………………………………………………………………………
waiting…………………………………………………………………………
waiting…………………………………………………………………………….

Ok, awesome!

I’m so excited about this! So excited. I was even more thrilled when I found out it was on an actaul day when I was available. That often happens to me…you know, something amazing is taking place and you have an appt. to get your teeth cleaned or some garbage like that…(not that getting your teeth cleaned is garbage but really….who wants to do that instead of *insert name of something more exciting than getting your teeth cleaned here*)

So today is already much better than yesterday! Hope to see ya’ll there!!!!

In other breaking news let the record show that I watched about 15 hours of television this weekend. Yes, I am bragging about that. I never take the time to watch TV. I have about 2-3 shows that I really love and make it a point to watch but even then, the only show I will actually take the time to DVR is LOST.

Mark & I had the entire last season on DVR and hadn’t gotten a chance to watch any of them with the exception of the season premier. So, this lovely Labor Day weekend we completely played couch potatoes and watched the entire season in 3 days. OMG, it was amazing. I am so sad though that once again, I will be sitting here until Jan. when the premier airs to figure out what’s going to happen next. REALLY??? I won’t spoil it in case there is some sad soul out there reading who has for some unknown reason not watched it but WTH??? Is next season the last season for real???? What on earth am I going to do. Even 10 years worth of The Bachelor can not even come close to making up for one season of Jack or Sawyer. Oh, say it isn’t soooooo!!!!!!!

And in a final thought I will be posting the new Holiday Mini Session promo tomorrow so stay tuned. Spaces are LIMITED this year so be sure to book early!!! Can’t wait to knock out another great year of holiday sessions!

Alright, until tomorrow…..

Shine On!

ok, so where was I yesterday????  read the book, rejoined the forums, actually started to participate in the forums. That was huge for me. If you’re a photographer you know there are like what 9,000 forums you can join to connect with other photographers in the industry. I love forums but let’s face it there’s a lot of drama that can get stirred up on them. I’m not a huge fan of drama to begin with. I live with an 8 year old girl and that’s about all the drama God equipped me to deal with. I’m a member of several different forums but until I read Dane’s book I pretty much tried to utilize them in a way that gained me as much knowledge as I thought I needed and I didn’t really participate much. There were a few I was active on but overall I had the mentality of “what can these people teach me”. That’s ok to a point. However, there comes a time when you have to realize you have something to offer and when you realize that, regardless of how big or how small you might think it is, you open yourself up to share and you start to approach the online community with a whole new perspective. It’s so apparent that this message really resonates at the FTP forums because it’s just a phenomenal group of people over there.

So, yea, I rejoined the forums and started connecting with some of the members and reviews started pouring in from the Roadshow and it as pretty amazing. It didn’t take me long to realize I had to make it happen. When Dane announced he was going to be in Austin, I screamed. For real. I promise. I was stoked!!!!!

The workshop was hosted by Studio 563. Amazing, amazing group there! Andy & Eric were the best hosts constantly making sure everyone had whatever it was we needed. It was awesome. And their space in dowtown Austin is killer. So cool.

The workshop itself was intense and fun and intense and practical and intense and comforting. Dane brought in some amazing guests for us. Top notch companies like Spilled Milk Designs. Nick is like a rockstar super designer stud man that can rock a ShowIt site like no one I’ve seen. Incredible. We also got completely set up and dialed in with ShootQ. Which could quite possibly be like THE most amazing tool ever. If you are a photographer and you are running your business without this tool I guarantee you are not even tapping into your full potential to run your business efficiently.   If there is anything you should take from this post (besides the fact that you must go to a Roadshow) it’s that you must right now purchase ShootQ for your business. Amazing. And ok, I’ll be totally honest and say it didn’t hurt Andrew & Rachel at all when I found out they are Mizzou alums. Woot! Go Tigers!

Very early on during the first day it was apparent that this was going to be an opportunity to walk away changed. If you were open to it. It was so so easy to feel at ease in that group. It was an intimate setting where you immediately knew that you were going to make connections that would impact you for a lifetime. Dane laid the ground work for that very early and reminded all of us that he was asking us to be “for each other”. It’s a resounding message that you will hear anywhere you find an FTP’er. It really is as simple as that. Once you know that you are surrounded by people that are “for you” it’s hard not to open yourself up to the possibilities of change, progress & growth. In all aspects of your life…not just your business.

There were many times you could easily have forgotten you were sitting at a photography workshop. It was that intimate and when Dane talks to you it’s like you are the only person in the room. It doesn’t matter that there are other people there listening in. He is such a genuine and caring person and you immediately sense that he’s not kidding when he says he is 100% committed to you and your business.  He just hones in on everything about you and really wants to know why you’re there and what you are looking to walk away with. His teaching technique is engaging and the content of the workshop is just straightforward and practical, good business sense that we all need to be practicing. He speaks incessantly about running your business as a business. Things we all think we are doing but that we realize we aren’t doing well. He talks to about being an invitation, about connecting and about building a business that never has to compete with any other photographer in town because your business is about YOU and honestly no one else in town can touch that!

About 1/2 way through the 2nd day I started to realize that there was no way I was walking away from this and not taking this opportunity and running with it. I could not just come home and wake up each day doing the same things I’d been doing.  It really was time for a change and Dane gave me and everyone else there the tools to implement that change and infuse our businesses and our lives with the FTP philosophy.

This is hands down the best investment I’ve made in my business thus far.  I mean, I thought it was killer that for the first time I walked away from a workshop feeling like I actually got 10x more than what I paid for and didn’t have that feeling of…”ok, that is all great but NOW WHAT?”  I actually KNOW what to do next or at least I know I’m on the right track.

So a giant thank you to Dane for just being Dane! To the Austin group who was just so incredible. I can’t wait to see everyone again and I’ll be honoring my commitment to check in on all of you this month to find out where you are on your commitments! And of course a big thanks to the Portland group who sent us all yummy desserts! I mean, really….does that stuff happen at other workshops??? Seriously!  You can check out a couple pictures on Dane’s blog.

I’m stoked at what the future holds. It’s going to be awesome to watch it unfold!

I digress.

My point here is that we are give opportunities every day. I was given a big opportunity a couple months ago when I found out Dane Sanders: photographer, author, teacher, friend and yes, Violent Femmes fan was bringing his Fast Track Roadshow to Austin. I promise you I screamed when I found out.

I first heard about Dane thru one of my favorite Flickr groups. A fab-u-lous little rockstar by the name of Christine Tremoulet was ranting and raving about this guy and how he was doing this amazing thing and there was something about Founders, and a new forum, and a rockin’ website and a book.  Because back then I stalked Christine like…..um, a crazy stalker dude I was all over finding out what this was all about. I joined the forums and was immediately like…um, there isn’t much going on over here. These people aren’t teaching me anything and I moved on. When Dane’s book, Fast Track Photographer was released I bought it almost immediately. I was so excited to get it and put it on my shelf right next to all my other amazing photography books that I had been collecting.

And that was that.

Fast forward a year. Yea, a year. A YEAR!!!!!

Something compelled me to pick that darn book up and read it. At this point I had already stopped my subscription to the forums because it wasn’t anything like any of the other 9,000 forums I was on. Nonetheless, I read the book. In one day. There was absolutely no question. It wasn’t like anything else I had read. It was as if after I read it the entire makeup of my brain actually changed. My whole thought process and the way I had been approaching my business. It was a little alarming actually. Kind of like I was suddenly part of this cult…but….like a really rad cult. (rad…that’s one of Dane’s words…see he even changes your vocabulary)

It was really that simple. As simple as reading a book. I rejoined the forums and this time with this idea that instead of joining a community wondering what they were going to be able to do for me & my business, I joined to be a part of something bigger than just my business. I rejoined with this epiphany of just connecting with other people in our industry and with the intention of just being purely genuine in my giving & receiving in whatever form it might take.

I know it seriously sounds like a bunch of kumbaya but it really was a good place to be for me. It led me right to the workshop in Austin and I will give you all the deets on that tomorrow.  I know I said I would talk about it today but there is no way I can keep rambling this way. So we’re doing this in two parts. I promise a full review of the actual workshop tomorrow and what the FTP philosophy is all about.

Kumbaya Peeps!

I am beginning September posting on the blog and announcing my official commitment to blog every.single.day…for a month.  I know, pick yourselves up off the ground. Never before have I been able to pull off the ‘blog every day for a month’ promise since like 2006 when i first starting blogging and I would blog about my kids’ boogers and insaitiable hunger for all things scrapbook related. Seriously, I’ve said it before 8,000 times…when I had nothing to blog about …I blogged. Like all the time! What the heck did I write about people? It’s insane how commited i was to blogging back then. i secretly think it had more to do with the fact that it was my only means of communication to the world and even though all my friends lived inside my computer it made me feel ‘connected’ to something other than Steve from Blue’s Clues. (yes, this was the pre-Joe era)

I also realize I just promised this like in June (i think) so it’s even more important that I prove I can actually do this! Plus, I made a commitment to do this at the Fast Track Roadshow in Austin last week. Which by the way was so incredible I can’t even begin to squeeze in all the goodness about it in this post. It warrents and entire post all its own. Which will come tomorrow! So stay tuned peeps! This is good, good stuff!

In other fascinating news, I’ve got the biggest craving for black jelly beans and can’t find any. Why is it that you can only find them at Easter? Do other people not eat these things throughout the year?

That’s just so weird.

My email is not working apparently. Who the heck knows how long this has been an issue. I actually emailed my server about this a couple weeks ago because I was having issues accessing saved messages but didn’t realize I wasn’t recieving anything in. Of course, because I also have issues with my server…I didn’t hear back. Trying to get this resolved asap.

So, if you have emailed me and didn’t get a response I’m not ignoring you. Please feel free to email my personal account at : chasityfurse@gmail.com or call me at 210.219.0113.  You can keep trying the chasity@studio423photo.com email as well but please just know I’m having issues with that address. 

**as a side note I’m at least the 3rd other local photog who has had email issues and we are all using the same service provider…so if you’ve tried contacting any other San Antonio photographers and no one is getting back to you please don’t hate us! We aren’t all lame I promise!**