Awaiting Tropical Storm Gustav

More hype than rain and wind so far. We are all safe inside. Internet service comes and goes so I'm typing as fast as I can. My family and vehicles are all safely inside and windows boarded up. Trying to stay safe. I hear it will get worse tonight.

37.10 New WORLD RECORD-Jamaica

I feel so good its hard to do any work today! This whole week i've accomplished very little workwise, but that's the beauty about the fantastic life i'm privileged to live. I thank God every day. I can work when I feel like, weed and water my lawn when I feel like, play with my children when I feel like, take a nap when I feel like and watch the Olympics when I feel like it. How great is that? Congratulations to the Jamaican team.

A word about Usain Bolt and the unfavourable comments about his behavior: Just shut up, please. Sorry, that was four words. We are by nature a very expressive people and I think he is being rather restrained considering his history making achievements. Usain...YOU DA MAN, YOU DI BEST BY FAR.

Asafa's problem is all in his mind. His ability and talent are intact, but he has some sort of mental block that needs to be worked out. We still love him though. The girls... can we turn back time and make both them and the American team not drop the baton? What? You don't believe in time travel? I guess you also believe that earth is the only planet with intelligent life on it! You sound just like my wife. Where is your sense of adventure? Anyway its all good. I'm an artist and we cannot aford the luxury of being considered totally sane. That's just so passé:)

I'm actually trying to get some video editing done now so be good, be happy and give thanks for every day and the blessings you enjoy.

August 08-What a Month!

Greetings All! Our new website is up and running. Its been a couple of weeks of pure stress I assure you. After more than a week of trying to get it to work with the hosts of my previous website with them having me upgrade my service to a bigger server(and more money), someone finally said Oh! I know what the problem is. Our servers do not allow you to have audio or video on your website, its against our policy. Wow! that must be the best kept secret in the company because tech help surely do not know about that policy.

All that aside our site is live, please let us know what you think of it. It is a flash site and if you have an older computer without the latest flash player you will need to download it(for free-there's a link on the first page of the site) or you will not be able to view the site. Sorry. View Website here. Many thanks to Timco and the guys & girls from Blu.

At mastersweddings.com we've been busy. So Many weddings, so little time...Lesley & Martin, Shereen & Kevin, Patricia & Charles, & Althea & Maurice. Can you believe these were all this month, with more to come! This weekend gone I worked with a really great photographer Michael Chen. Real easy-going, really knew his stuff, does fantastic photography. Give his website a visit. He shoots with Nikon equipment but then nobody's perfect:) His assistant Cia (pronounced see-ya) was really special.

I've posted some pics from some of these weddings along with recent shots of Jonathan & Stephanie. Enjoy!

How could I forget... I picked both the Olympic 100 meters winner and the miss Jamaica world winner this weekend. I'm posting a shot I took of Brittany Lyons a couple of days before the contest finals. She is a real sweetie.

The secret of life

I've decided to share a bit of my philosophy with you today. It all comes down to a simple word "BELIEVE". This has worked so phenominally in my life that I want you to try it. The majority of people go through life without achieving their true potential because they fail to believe they can do it.

When I was robbed at gunpoint I complied fully with the robbers' demands and handed over my very expensive 600cc motorcycle. I was shot, at point blank range for my co-operation. I was told by a Urologist rated as #2 in the caribbean that due to the damage internally I would never be able to have children(at least not the old fashioned way). This happened in 2000. My son Jonathan is 5 years old and my daughter Stephanie is 2 years old. (and I got them the old fashioned way):)

While I was in hospital for one of my 4 surgical procedures (you have a lot of time for pondering & reflection when you're in hospital)I decided that I wanted to change my business model and shift to a more upscale clientele. Today this where I'm at. Despite having to close down my business for a couple of years while the doctors patched me up, my wife and I decided about two years ago to start looking for a house to buy even though we did not have enough money to afford the kind of house we wanted in the kind of area we were determined to live in. Last year it became a reality.

Set huge goals and believe, deep down that you can attain them. I believe the almighty wants us all to be happy and live meaningful lives. Health and wealth begin with a state of mind. You can have both if you believe and work in harmony with your belief. Give thanks for the blessings you now enjoy and expect more to come into your life. I do every day. I have the most fabulous clients any wedding professional could work with, I have an amazing wife who is a tower of strength and who encourages all my endeavors no matter how far-fetched they seem, I have two beautiful, well behaved and intellegent children and I have a job that's like a vacation every day. I've learned to focus on the positive aspects of my life and I find it just keeps getting better.

Smile every day. Do the happy dance. Be a magnet for good things by radiating good happy thoughts. Work on your relationship with the Almighty. Be a genuinely good person. Don't mess too much with your hair:)

Gaylon & Carlton's Wedding-mastersweddings.com

How could I not blog about Gaylon & Carlton's wedding! Gaylon lives in the USA and Carlton lives in Jamaica. We shot video & photos in restaurants, at the beach and at Devon House (a kind of park). I think this couple complement each other perfectly, she is always excited and full of life and energy and he is laid back and cool. Thanks for having us along guys, we had a blast!

My new workflow is allowing me more time to get in touch with my artistic side as can be seen from the wedding images posted. Let me know what you think.

Natalie and Terrence Wed

Just a few images from Natalie & Terrence's wedding on July 5, 2008.

Gary Masters Reflections

Two nights ago I watched ths movie with Adam Sandler, I think it was called Click.(I know, its old and I'm late) Anyway, he had this remote which he used to fast forward through some stuff in his life and end eventually the remote took over. He achieved fame and status and money, but he missed most of his life, his kids growing up, hid dad dying, his wife left him, real sad. The movie had a great ending but it caused me to look at my life carefully.

I'm a driven and goal oriented person, and because I so totally love my work its nothing for me to work a twenty hour day(the energy drink Red Bull really works!). Of late I've been taking off some time in the afternoons to spend with my children, and i've now vowed to ensure that I spend even more. My new workflow allows me to be current with my work, keeping up with all the weddings and get some time off.

Since the begining of this year whenever I have weddings out-of-town I carry the baby sitter and we all check into a hotel near the wedding the day before the wedding so we stay together as a family almost every night.

Life is so fast paced now that families are falling apart from the speed and the multiple demands and stresses of life. Hug your kids more, hug your spouse more, take some time to slow down every once-in-a-while. I would rather be poor with a happy family and an excellent relationship with my kids than rotten rich with a broken family & children out of control.(of course ideally I would love to be rotten rich with a happy family:))

OK i've got to get back to work now...

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)