Masters weddings at Hilton Bridal Show

The first bridal show of the season in Jamaica-Beautiful Brides & Mr. Tux sponsored- was held at the Hilton Hotel in Kingston. It was a truly fabulous afair with hundreds of brides and grooms coming through. This bridal show has established itself as the premier show each year and we are happy to be associated with it.

I wish to personally thank all those who visited our display area for their kind words and interest. We booked a repeat customer (we covered her first wedding and she is now getting married again) and for the entire show our area was empty for maybe ten minutes tops. It was so busy I took not even one photograph the entire day! I didn't even realize when the show closed as I still had a couple showing our wedding video and explaining the benefits we offer long after closing time. I had a lot of fun.

My asistant told me of a couple where one wanted to come over and speak to us. The other said "Dear as you look at how they are set-up and the pictures on display you know they are expensive". (it may have been the fact that of all the photographers & videographers there I was the only one in a suit).

I will get back to all who left questions & e-mail addresses this week. I promise.

Inspiration from Gary Masters, Ron Dawson, Philip Knight, Donald Trump

Ive been listening to a Ron Dawson CD, he is co-founder of Cinematic Studios, and he said something I thought i'd share with you because it is so profound. It was about FEAR and how it can keep us from reaching our potential. He uses it as an acronym for Follow-Everyone's-Accepted-Routine. Doing the accepted things, the safe things, the things our peers and family expect us to do. If we do this we will never step out of the box and do things differently, we will never take a risk or be different from those around us. Fear keeps many people in a job they hate because they say "it pays the bills". Fortunately I was fired years ago by a vindictive boss who then shut me out of my industry. I'm now sorry it hadn't happened sooner because now I have a 100% enjoyable career, touching people's lives and sharing their joys. Some of us need a kick to get started really living to our full potential. I've driven cars and motorcycles at over 100mph, I rode Jet Skis, I've flown single engine Cessnas and been shot at point blank range by criminals. (thank God I got most of this done while I was much younger and lived to tell the tale, I live a much calmer life these days-I worry about my son though, I hope he is nothing like me in this regard.)

My encouragement is as Philip Knight of Nike fame says "Just Do It". Don't be afraid to follow your dream. Donald Trump said "nothing great in the word has been accomplished without passion". Be passionate about everything you do, and you will be unstoppable.

I'll post some pics from this weekend's events soon.

Jonathan Masters is Number 1

I don't know what sports day was like when I was 4 years old, but sports day at my son's school today was the most disorganized bungling i've seen in a long time. Then to make matters worse, after having Jonathan sitting for about two hours in the holding area beside the track in anticipation of his race, they cancelled his race! Now I would have none of that.(sometimes you just have to put your foot down) I let the official who scrapped the race know that my son had been told he was going to run, waited patiently for hours, and he was going to run. (that's the summary of what I told him. I actually said a bit more.)

So the race was reinstated and Jonathan ran with all his might... and won. He came home with his first-place ribbon, he was happy & I was happy. Whew! what a day.

I'm shooting in Mandeville Jamaica this weekend. Its a quiet and cool part of Jamaica with a slightly slower pace of life than the big cities. I enjoy the variety my job gives my life. This is really the greatest job on earth. Do you feel that way about your job? Post a comment & let me know. As soon as I get some time I will upload some slide shows, I promise. For now Jonathan's pics will have to do. There's also a photo of Stephanie my daughter & Zahra my wife.

Just reposting our 2007 Jamaican Wedding Video Demo by request. Be sure to double click the play button.

Masters Weddings at Master Your Craft Seminar-Miami Florida

Last week Monday (Feb. 4) I flew back to Miami for the Master Your Craft Seminar with The great Mike Colon & Bob Davis. These are two guys at the top of their game. Mike Colon's wedding photography coverage starts at U$20,000.00 (yes twenty thousand) and he recently covered Usher's wedding. Bob Davis shot the weddings of Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Eva Longoria Parker of Desperate Housewives fame. He is also Oprah's personal photographer.It was just awesome learning from these guys how to do what they do capturing awesome images and giving their clients an awesome experience while doing it. As everything learned is put into practice at Masters Weddings, our brides will definitely have an advantage in the wedding day coverage we provide. I'm adding a shot of myself with these two Titans of wedding photography. Mike Colon is on my left.

Masters Weddings at Orlando Wedding Videography Seminars

Orlando was a blast. Inspiration and creativity ran wild. With full days of seminars & workshops dedicated to the art & business of wedding videography most of the days, I was like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Each year I attend the seminars I learn more and more. Our brides have the advantage of highly polished productions which incorporate new techniques each year.

By mid to late February we will be the first to offer the cinematic style of wedding videography in Jamaica. My friends Joshua Smith of Cinematic Bride & Chip Goolsby of Canon Video inspired me to push the enveloppe to offer wedding video movies unlike any availabe in my market. By late March we will be offering these through our Tampa office in Florida also.

I stayed at a time-share my wife & I own for the first time since purchasing it about 6-8 years ago and it was fantastic! I'm uploading some pics of the jacuzzi in the master bedroom, a shot of the pool area outside and one of Josh, Chip and some others of us at lunch during the conference.

Tomorrow i'm off to Miami for the Master Your Craft wedding photography seminar with the ultra-cool celebrity wedding photographer Mike Colon. Talk about starting the year off with a bang!