Thank You All

This week I sent out an e mail to about 3000 photographers on my mailing list asking for some help in finding a replacement fish eye lens. I wanted to try to buy a lens from one of my blog readers before I tried e bay or out of town camera stores. I got WAY more response than I thought I would. People were searching E Bay, calling camera stores, getting prices and then e mailing me or calling me personally. This is what it is all about people. Photographers helping other photographers. Now no one wanted to give up their personal fisheye lens, but I did order one from a very small camera store in Ohio.
But here is the neat thing. Chip McGrath, owner of http://www.atlantabride.com/ ( A new up and coming wedding planning site) called and offered me his lens for the weekend. What a cool guy.
Below is a photo I shot with it today.
I am off to bed, I have another wedding tomorrow on Sunday. I hope you enjoy the 2 photos from tonight's wedding in Athens, GA.

People, Go To Bed

It is 12:55 AM on Thursday morning and 10 min ago I sent out over 3000 e mails to fellow photographers. In 7 minuets over 120 people had opened the email and more than half are on my blog right now. Thanks Guys, but come on, get some sleep.
I can't sleep because I am in a hotel room in Colombia , SC at the moment and the band at the bar next door is keeping me up. It would be ok if they were any good.
Thank you all for checking out my blog. Please leave a comment.

Peace and Quiet

It is midnight and I am sitting on my back deck looking out over the lake. The water is so still and the night is very quiet. All I hear are frogs and crickets. No stereo with the psychedelic mid 60s music floating threw the air along with the smell of incense. No cold ones. Not tonight. That was LAST night after I got home from Saturdays event.
Anyway, tonight I am working up a little advertising sheet that is for the event facility that my Friday night wedding took place in. The guy that owns the place says he does over 200 events a year there and does NO advertising. Now many of these events are lunches for local civic groups and garden clubs and such. But you never know who will pick up a card with your name on it. I had one lady spend over 33,000.00 (Yes that's thousand) dollars with me over a period of 2 months all because another lady that she did not know was sitting next to her in a restaurant and snooping in on her cell phone conversation hearing that she was planning her daughters wedding and gave her my card. You photographers listen up. The advertising card that I just made is in 8x10 size and fits in a brides wedding planner book just perfect. Print up 100 of these and give them free of charge to the event facility. You put your name and web address on the card ABOVE where the name and contact info for the event facility goes. Why does you name go on top ? Because some of these event planners, especially the ones that hiss when they speak will trim off the bottom of the card where your name is so that the free 8x10s that you just gave them will only show off the photographs of the event facility and no one will know that you made all the photographs. Then the event director can recommend another photographer that gives them a kickback while still using your free advertising 8x10 to show off their facility. Sounds bad but it has happened to me several times.
The peace and quiet was just shattered by the most hideous noise. It was either two bobcats trying to kill each other or just getting it on REAL GOOD or space aliens have landed in the water off my point and that was their mating call. Either way, I think it is time to go inside. The skeeters are starting to eat me up. See the photo of the advertising card. The event facility info will be added when I remember the name of the place.

One more thing. Hello to who ever is in Venice , California and has spent over two hours in the last 5 days looking at all the back pages on my freaky little blog here. Do you like what you see or are you plotting to kill me like my old paranoid neighbor used to say about blog readers ? Just wondering. Please California, post something or just send me an e mail at scott@scottevans.com

Stuff from This Weekends Wedding

My wedding this weekend was in the North Ga mountains at an estate home built by the groom. The weather was fantastic and I can remember telling my couple that theirs was the kind of wedding that makes me not want to retire. It was very personal and at a place that was special to them. Once the groom saw the bride, he just could not stop hugging her. Not bad work if you can get it. She was a living doll. Enjoy the photos, I just started editing them. If you are here for the first time, maybe because you just got an e mail newsletter from me, drop me an e mail or make a post. If you don't want to do that, then just buy some of my DVDs. HA !

The photo of the estate is from Google Earth.

Does Anyone Like These

These photos are from a Bridal Portrait shoot I did last week. I just want to know if anyone likes them. Please add a comment . If adding a comment is to big of a pain in the ass because of the way that you have to "Log On" or something just send me an e mail at scott@scottevans.com

Had to Post This

This photo reminds me of these 3 guys that are always in the local restaurant where I get my biscuit every morning.

I would also like to thank the people in the following cities who checked out my BLOG for what I think is the first time this last week.

Rohr, Bayren Germany, San Francisco and Windsor California, Philly and St Paul, MN

I've Been Everywhere

I know I have not posted anything in almost a month, but I have been on the go quite a bit. Since my last post I have been in Savannah, Nashville, Jacksonville Fl. ,Atlanta and Miami. I have photographed 3 weddings, a prom, 2 engagement sessions, 4 bridal portrait sessions, a baseball team 2 golf tournaments and 300 Red Hat Society little old ladies. The Eng Session was shot at my house. Everything else was shot on location. The Baseball, Prom, Golf and Red Hat ladies were all photographed with my new "Print On Site" system. The way it works is this. I take a photograph, the wireless transmitter on my Nikon sends the image to my laptop and the printer prints the photo right there and I hand the photo to the customer. All lightning fast. I bought this system because I thought it would be fun to do something other than weddings every now and then. And it is fun.

The photos are from a few of the weddings, Eng Session and the print on site events.

Keep Our Butts Clean

First off, Whoever is in college in Eugene, Oregon, thanks for looking in and welcome to my silly little world. I know some good people just south of Portland OR at Kambara USA. They make the BEST CUSTOM wedding albums.

It seems like all I did last week was tie up loose ends. I had loose ends all over the place. The Super Monday thing went well, and I met some nice people. I did not have a wedding this past weekend so Garen and I went to the grand opening of the Indian Springs Village just south of Jackson , Ga. Erin , my assistant for years is a member of the Butts County Historical Society and she spends just about all of her spare time working on historical sites. She made me promise that I would show up so I did. She even put it in my calendar. We toured the museum of the old Indian Springs Hotel and saw the spot where the Creek Indian Chief gave away all the Creek Lands to us white folks then drifted over to the Blue Grass festival they were having down the road. We had some Bar-B-Q that we bought from the Boy Scouts and rated it about a 7 on our BBQ scale. It had a South Carolina heavy vinegar taste to it. I am thinking about doing a BBQ Blog, anyone interested ? We also had some boiled peanuts. Boiled peanuts are a deep South thing. I have never seen them north of Tenn. I did not take many photos, hey , I had the weekend off. So everyone stay safe this week. Stay out of trouble and remember to keep your butts clean.

Super Monday Program

This Monday I will be hosting a PPA Super Monday Program at my new shop. The title is "So You Want to Quit Your Job and be a Professional Photographer"
If you would like to attend, you can register on site on Monday from 9:30-10AM
The class is from 10-4pm and I will serve lunch. ( A cookout at my house) The fee is $ 120.00 payable to Professional Photographers of America. Directions can be found at this link http://www.imagedoctor.com/classes___workshops.htm
I had a blast in Miami for The Who show.

What a Great Weekend

I am sorry I missed it. The weather was FANTASTIC here in Georgia this weekend. The fishing at my house was great. Everyone came by to fish and hang out. At last count over 100 Crappie were caught and released. (For you guys up north those are Croppie or Speckled Perch ) Most all in the 2 lb range. 19 Large mouth Bass from 1 to 8 lbs and one Chain Pickerel at 3 lbs. All released.
I missed it all. I was stuck in my hole designing wedding albums all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I got 7 finished. So I am caught up on work. I have a wedding this next weekend and a Super Monday program on .... well Monday, of next week. There is still space open if you want to come. The Course name is "So You Want To Quit Your Job and Become A Professional Photographer" My class will probably scare the hell out of anyone that attends. But I do not sugar coat anything. Take this weekend for example. Everyone was having fun but me. I could have outsourced the design, but then the Brides and Grooms would not have been getting what they paid for, which was one of MY designs. Also, the only GOOD design company out there charges $ 40.00 per page for design only, no book. I did 7 albums this weekend The smallest was 42 pages. The largest was 68 pages. My Wedding Books wholesale cost more than a lot of these new "Photographers" charge for the whole day of shooting plus the CD of snapshots.
When I finished up this afternoon I did do 2 things for me. The first was I took a photograph of Garen and Chris in the canoe. See the Before and After photos in this post. If you want to know how I did it, buy my Instructional DVDs here at www.scottevans.biz The second was buy a ticket to see the WHO concert in Ft Lauderdale, Florida tomorrow. I am on the 8th row. And bought 1 round trip airline ticket. The show is at the Hard Rock where Anna Nichole Smith died. I am staying the night but not in a room. My flight leaves Fl. at 5 am
So Tuesday I am sleeping. All Day. If you want something from me, save it till Wed.

Louisville, KY

There is a Dog Show and a Cheerleading Competition at the fairgrounds across the street from my hotel. What a contrast.
Thank you PPAGL for putting me up in the official hotel for the cheerleaders.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

I Love Fireworks

Ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you that I am such a guy. Just love fireworks. I stoped for gas on the way to Kentucky at this fireworks place just North of Chattanooga, TN. While I was getting gas, and could smell the gas fumes, some employees of the station were setting off fireworks in the side parking lot. The spent rockets were falling all over the pumps. I wonder how long of a fireworks display we would have if the gas station and the grocery store sized fireworks shop were to go off at the same time ? If the place is still standing, I am going to load up on bottle rockets and star shells. I always do when I get into Tenn. We have these super funny "Bottle Rocket Softball Games" where I live. Hit the ball, run the bases. If you get hit with a rocket, You are OUT ! The opposing team can also shoot rockets at the outfielders. Everybody has to help put out the small brush fires that sometimes happen. I am North of Nashville at the moment and going on to Louisville tomorrow . I will be speaking at a show in Louisville on Sunday. The beach photo is of my son Garen. I just found it on the cameras flash card. It is from Savannah, GA a few weeks ago when he and I went there to do a show. If you are a photographer, do you see the "Rule of 3rds" ?

My Favorite Photos & How They Were Made

There sure is a lot going on this week. All week long I have been re recording my 2nd Photographic Instructional Series Disk set. This one is a 2 DVD set of My Favorite Photographs and How They Were Made. Get behind the scenes video or narration for each photograph. You can see the photos that are in this set at the bottom of this post. I would also like to announce the re launching of my Image Doctor web site. At the moment it is up but in a very basic format. My super cool hip web designer is nowhere to be found so I had to make a basic one. If someone has any ideas for it let me know. See it at http://www.imagedoctor.com/
Tomorrow on Friday, I leave for Louisville, Kentucky. I am the main Speaker at the PPA(Professional Photographers of America) Kentucky Chapter in Louisville's Annual Meeting. If you are in the area come see me. I am doing the show for free but I thing the Kentucky group is charging at the door. See their site at http://www.ppagl.com/ I will post stuff from the road.
If you would like to purchase the latest DVD set , go to http://www.scottevans.biz/ This is Volume number 1 with 4 more volumes to come. I chose almost 50 images for this project and will release a new set about every 6 weeks. The price on the web site is 129.00 but for my blogers, it is $ 99.00 until March 20th 2007. Post something or send me an e mail and tell me you saw it on the blog to get the 99.00 price. When you order on line the order form will show 129.00 plus 5.00 shipping but YOUR special super cool total will be just $ 104.00 Trust me and don't believe your receipt. Oh, And Claudia in McAllen Texas, Yours is already on the way. One more thing. When you run a Spell Check on this blog. The sudgested spelling for blogers, is BOOGERS. Pick a winner for me . Oh yeah, and Garen's team won their ball game tonight 10-5

First Sale !

Thanks to Travis in Enterprise, Alabama. I hope you and your wife enjoy the CD set. Call me with any questions. 770-355-9644

First Set of Instructional Videos

Hey , remember a month ago when I said I would have some big news on Friday ? Well it is still Friday, only a month later and I am happy to say that the FIRST SET OF DISKS ARE READY !!!!!!!.
This first set is called "Photoshop Basics" and it is for those photographers that are just getting started with digital and are just a little overwhelmed with the power of the massive Adobe Photoshop. In this 3 disk set you can follow along with me and watch on screen exactly the way I work in Photoshop using ONLY the most basic tools and processes. It is so easy I do have advanced sets almost finished as well as Disks and DVDs on "Wedding Album Design from Scratch" and "My Favorite Photographs and How they were Created" A 2 disk set.
See the photos of the Cover of the packaging and me holding the first one to come off of the duplicator. I will be relaunching my Image Doctor web site in the next week and then doing an e mail newsletter to the over 3000 photographer that are on my e mail list. When the site goes live, the price for this first 3 disk set will be $129.00. Since you are a loyal BLOG reader, you can have it for $99.95. Order on line at http://www.scottevans.biz/ Click on order on line and then "CDs and DVDs" The price in the shopping cart will say $ 129.00 but when I process the order I will only charge the $ 99.95 price plus minor shipping. I promise. You know you can trust me. Right ?

Just a few photos from Yesterday

Yesterday I did a wedding for Anne and Howard. They are a pretty cool couple. Howard must like Anne alot because the rock on her finger made her walk like a gorilla. I don't even know if she can lift her left hand.

OK, Here is the deal.

The big news was supposed to be the launch of the new Image Doctor web site. It has a "This Weeks Tip " section with a new Photoshop or Photography lesson posted each week. The new site is in 3 sections. One each for Photo Restoration, My Photography and the all New Photographers Only section.
The Photographers Only section will be the coolest one as you will be able to see clips from my DVDs and and order them on line.
The main problem is that my web designer has not given me the framework for all of this new material. We met 10 days ago for the 2nd and he said he would get right on it and I have not heard anything from him since. My video editor and producer, Eric, is on a mission trip to India and was supposed to be back this week. I got a call from his family 2 days ago that said that they did not know when he would be home as the local government in India where he is on the trip to support an orphanage, had taken all of the children out of the orphanage and said they could not have them back until the orphanage paid a fine. That same local government arrested the orphanages director 4 months ago and asked for a fine for his release. Several American churches raised the money and paid his $ 20,000.00"Fine" I guess that they figure they can get more money by taking the children. Eric works for Hope For The World Media. Check them out on the web. I will post Eric's blog when I find the link.
Anyway, I have the DVDs mastered and Eric was supposed to do the duplications so that I could put them up on the web site for sale. We agreed that the duplications could hold off until he got back from India because the new web site was not ready.
So here I sit waiting on other people. I will post and do direct e mail to all of you who have sent me an e mail when everything is ready.
I hope that this clears a few things up.

No News is Good News

There was supposed to be big news today. But it looks like it will be NEXT Friday.

The Best thing About Today

Today I did a Wedding Show north of Atlanta. Now what promoter does a Wedding show on Super Bowl Sunday ? Well, Tommy Vaughn of Elite Events does and it was a very well attended show. I had a good response with at least 2 or 3 brides in front of my booth all day long. But that was not the best thing. Not even the fact that the Super Bowl is over, (And all that really means is that Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training in about 2 weeks) is the best thing about today.
The best thing about today is that a lot of people went to church and that the uncut version of Caddy Shack is on Cinamax.
Enjoy the coming week and watch this blog for some BIG news at the end of the week.

Stuck in San Antonio

The ice storm here in Texas has caused all flights out of San Antonio to be canceled. So here I sit waiting for the next flight to Atlanta. I am told it might be tomorrow afternoon or Friday afternoon. All flights tomorrow are full. If they take off. I am sure that they will because the ice has started to melt and fall from the hotel windows onto the side walk and river walk. I got hit by a very large piece of ice a little while ago and it almost knocked me into the river. I am staying in the rest of the night. These are just a few photos I took with my little Nikon s6.

My Kids

Several people have e mailed and asked " Why don't you post any photos of your daughter ?"
It is because I am VERY protective of my daughter. My son can handle himself very well. So, he gets photos posted. The incident in St Louis , MO where the 14 year old boy scout was kidnapped by the pervert has really upset me. My Son is 14. My daughter is 16. She is a very petite young lady and is protected by her daddy (ME) her brother, and her new Black Belt Degree in the Martial Arts. She also has just finally out shot her brother and myself by putting 16 out of 20 .233 rounds in the first 3 rings of a 150 Ft target at the shooting range. If you shoot, you know what I am talking about.
Anyway, my description of my daughter in no way covers the whole picture. Life in my house with these two kids is like a comedy Broadway play. Imagine if you will, Ronald Reagan and Keith Richard as teens living in the same house. I have a very large demographic that reads this blog so for those of you who do not know who Keith Richard is, He is the lead guitar player and chief song writer for the Rolling Stones. When Keith dies, Rock and Roll will die with him. He is flamboyant, as is my daughter. My son is much more conservative. When we go out, my son may have on a jacket and tie, and my daughter will have on a feather boa and a lime green shirt with some kind of punk saying on it. Somebody help me. Somebody cool. The photo is from when we went to the tree farm to get a Christmas tree.

Erin And I

Photo of Erin and I in the freezing rain.

San Antonio, TX

Here I am in San Antonio. FREEZING my butt off. Rain and ice have been the norm since I arrived. I am here for the Imaging USA convention. The last 2 days have been full of great speakers and a lot of schmoozing with vendors who might want to sponsor part of my speaking tour. San Antonio has a great downtown area with the Riverwalk. You can get on the riverwalk and go just about anywhere downtown that you want to go. It has great shops and restaurants. (See the photo of my piece of cake) Lord knows I did not NEED any cake but when I am out of town the one thing I spurge on is great restaurants. I will post some photos later.
Erin (My old assistant from the Fayetteville days) is here with her husband Casey and we are about to go to lunch. (See photo of Erin and I in the freezing rain) other than Erin and Casey I have not seen any other photographers that I know here. I think must of them are waiting until March when an even larger convention will be in Las Vegas. The photographers that I have met here that are my age seemed to have an attitude of panic about all of the young photographers attending this year.
Erin and Casey are in a different hotel than I so it is a bit lonely here. I wish someone very cool was here with me so we could cause some trouble.
Three years ago on Biloxi MS, there were 3000 photographers that attended this event. Last year in Austin TX they had 7000. This year over 10,000 photographers have joined the organization and come to the convention. Most of these new photographers do not have a clue. But they came here to get one. And this is the place to get it. The statistics show that 80 % of them will be out of business in 3 years. Of the 20 % that survive, 80% of those will be out of business in 7 years.
This May I will have been in business 27 years. My new goal is to help some of these young photographers. I am looking for a few good ones with talent and the right attitude to take under my wing and teach for free. All the rest I will try to sell my advice to.