Stephanie Masters first day at school

Monday this week was stephanie's first day at school, there was no crying as Stephanie said good-bye as soon as she exited the van. She went to her teacher with hardly a look in my direction. I had cleared my schedule for the morning, getting up early to get stuff done in the office as I envisioned spending much time trying to calm her down. No such thing!
Everybody loved her. She ate all her lunch and was playing quietly when I went for her. Sigh. No more baby girl.

Jonathan is all excited about going to collect his baby sister fron school.

More of Gary Masters Weddings

Ann-Marie Wyss is one of the top designers in the Caribbean when it comes to wedding decorations. I'm constantly amazed by her work. I'm including some shots of her work from a recent wedding. You can drop her a line at everybloomingthing@cwjamaica.com.

The view at the top is from the Richmond Hill Hotel in Montego-Bay where Bridgette & Cavel were married. The view is awesome. Grace & Gale Elmore were the perfect hosts.

My baby girl starts summer school next week as a precursor to pre-school in September. I will take some photos soon for upload.

Jonathan got another trophy for Academic Excellence this year. We are quite proud of him. He is reading up a storm and taking good care of his cat Mystery.

What in the world has Gary Masters been up to?

Since I last posted, my assignments have been as varied as they have been interesting. I have done weddings in Montego-Bay & Mandeville, I did some work in some inner city communities for the Ministry of National Security( its really sad how some people are forced to live) and I went to the tip of Jamaica to get some shots of a lighthouse.(I will go into detail about this one at another time as this was a genuine adventure).

I'm posting some shots from two of the weddings a shot of the lighthouse and a shot of a public bath from the inner city(the side of Jamaica we don't often see).

I have so much more to tell you but i've gotta run, deadlines, editing etc. I will post again soon.

Dolreen & Vaughn were wed in Ocho Rios Jamaica last week-end. The bride was remarkably cool considering that the make-up person was over an hour and a half late! That aside though, the ceremony & reception went well, the bride cried, her dad cried and the groom was just cool throughout. There were some killer toasts with no shortage of references to the current Cuban Lightbulb Scandal. The reception was held at the fabulous Jamaica Grande Hotel and there were a lot of guests(I didn't count but it was plenty plenty). All the best guys it was great working with you both.

This week-end my assignment included covering a peace & love concert near Montego-Bay. A young female fan of one of the performers in a single leap reached onstage and into his arms while he was singing! I will leave the details sketchy as the client was not amused! I will however upload a shot along with some from the wedding.

I've run out of excuses for not blogging for such a long time so i'll just get to it. I'm uploading some pics from Kadria & Brian's wedding. Fun is their middle name. She is a medical doctor and he...well apart from the fact that he drives a very fast car(Mitsubishi Evolution 8 I think) I am unsure what he does for work... oh yes I remember now, he works for a government agency(obviously one that pays very well). As the images show we had a blast with their portrait session.

I'll upload my new video demo real soon. Video should finally be coming to my website soon. My developer says he should be finished sometime next week.

My roofing project is finished.(did I say this before?) I have a brand new roof that hasn't leaked(hurricane season will give it a real test), I thank God and my clients for their help.

My son Jonathan has a new cat whom he named "Mystery". He has an explanation for the name but I don't recall it now. If we could just get Stephanie to stop picking the cat up by his neck all would be happy.

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!

Well I didn't make the January 15 editing deadline but i'm close. The reroofing of my home took a little more of my time than I had anticipated. I'll be attending wedding videography workshops & seminars all next week so i'll have an update when I get back into office.

I take this opportunity again to thank all my wonderful and beautiful brides, their husbands and my other clients for their support during 2007 and 2008 and to wish for all a great 2008. May all your dreams come true, may you have happy marriages and may you continue to be blessed. I'm adding some more shots from Diana & Dwight's wedding and one of the roof replacement on my house. That is not me in the photo.(Just making sure)

Another great wedding with another happy ending...or begining depending on how you look at it. Diana & Dwight were my first couple for 2008 and they started my year off with a bang. We darted in and out of the rain to get the images for the portrait session but the sun eventually came back out and all was well.

Diana was coiffed by celebrity stylist Dexter Pottinger, decor was handled by Dorette Douglas, who did a fantastic job in very limited time, Ade Beckles of Heavenly Concepts was the wedding coordinator and Pauline Milwood of The Mona Visitors Lodge coordinated the reception. Rising Star Lenya Wilks entertained.

The reception was held at the Mona Visitors Lodge, a popular wedding reception venue in Kingston situated on part of what used to be a sugar plantation in the early days. The ruins provided an excellent backdrop for photographs and the gold room was fully decked out by Dorette Douglas and her team.

Dianie and her FCIB posse were in the house, but those pics will follow in a subsequent blog as I really must go to sleep now.

Saturday December 29, 2007 came & went. I got so many requests to cover weddings on that date I wonder how many got married last Saturday. Anyway I digress. The wedding I covered was of Shellion & Richard and was held at the breathtaking Tryall Club on Jamaica's North Coast. Anyone planning to get married in Jamaica should definately consider this location. The view, the food, the service, the location, all first class. Coordinator Paula Scarlett-Grant worked well with Herbert Baur in ensuring that all went well.

We had so many breathtaking locations for the portrait session we ran out of light. The wind took the bride's head piece into the ocean but a young swimmer retrieved it and all was well again. Happy Honeymoon guys!

One of the best Groom's replies I've heard in a long time was given at the wedding of Natalie & James last Saturday. The wedding reception was held at the fabulous Strawberry Hills property, nestled in the picturesque Blue mountains some 3,100 feet above sea level. Tanisha Henry-wedding coordinator extraordinaire-ensured that everything ran perfectly.

Thanks for all the calls and good wishes while I was recovering from God-knows-what. My doctor hasn't said what it was(I don't think he knows for sure) but it knocked me into bed for the better part of two weeks. I'm glad to be back and I had a fabulous wedding on Saturday that I will post some images from in my next post.

My 4 year old son Jonathan made the principal's list this term with a 91 percent average as a follow up to getting the top boy trophy in kindergarden for last year. (he so takes after his mom) He often asks to say prayers for the family at the breakfast table and my 1 year old daughter Stephanie always chimes in with "men"(short for Amen) at the end. They are two of my greatest blessings from God.

My first seminar for wedding photographers & videographers will be some time late February or early March next year. I feel its time that I help others in my industry the same way others helped me to become successful. I think this will be the first seminar of its kind in Jamaica. Stay tuned for details.

Its amazing how much work backs up in two weeks. I'm putting in some serious overtime to catch up with my editing etc. I have a goal for all outstanding 2007 videos to be ready by the latest January 15, 2008, December weddings included. (that would be something) I'll keep you posted.

Neil & Nicole

A simple & elegant wedding, touching toasts and a peek into the honeymoon suite. Someone made our bride late and she was sure the groom was going to leave the church. He didn't though & all was well. I was invited to the honeymoon suite, or did i invite myself...hmmm, any way I was there for the first time in recent history and I have the pics to prove it.