Marcus, the founder of the group Arctic, wrote me a nice email in reply to my blog entry about when I heard him at The Art Bar in Toronto at the NXNE music festival. One of the things that he said to me that stood out in my mind was, “Bloggers and Podcasters have helped so much in getting my music around and yes I do play for the sheer joy of music, its great that it came across that way.”

The whole statement is great but that bold section is one of the elements that I have really focused on for this year. That is, to have genuine passion for my wedding photography, I want my clients to love their images AND I want my clients to know that I love making their images, I want them to feel special when I work with them and I want them to know that I look at a wedding as a priviledge to photograph… not just as a way to make a living. I love that I was able to see the passion of Marcus, and I’d guess that enough other people saw it too since he’ll be at NXNE again this year. Hopefully he packs the venue Clinton’s (where I saw AMPOP, I’ll tell you about them later) on Bloor St in Toronto .

The other thing that Marcus said relates to what the wedding photographer David Jay has been saying, which is word of MOUSE, or the influence of bloggers, podcasters, forum posts, emails and other things on spreading the word. The ability to connect with people is so amazing right now that if you just take a second to think about it, you can literally reach out to anyone in the world and completely affect their life.

These were from an amazing engagement session with Jen and Jason at two local universities and two county parks. We photographed for just over three hours (which is a little crazy for an e-session ) and came away with 67 photos that I think are stunning. These are some of my favorites!

Press the small PLAY triangle to see the show.

I hope you enjoyed the images

Listen to this great song from a band that I photographed at last year’s NXNE music festival in Toronto Canada.

Here is the story of how I heard Arctic play and why word of mouth is so powerful in getting people to know who you are and why you matter.

I was in Toronto for the NXNE festival in 2005 and had been walking around all day photographing, interviewing, writing, listening and enjoying. It was getting late and I had been awake since around noon with only getting an hour or two of sleep on the night before. I was exhausted and wanted to go home and sleep more than anything.

Throughout the day I talked with other NXNE media and bands and asked who was worth seeing. One of about five bands whose name I kept hearing was Arctic; I was told that the music was something that I had to hear live before I returned back home to New York. As I walked through Toronto I kept asking myself… ‘Do I really want to get home somewhere between 6am and 7am, if I leave now I can be home by 3am.’ After some hard thought I decided that with so many people talking about Arctic I had to see what the band was all about so I walked a few blocks to The Art Bar.

I got there about 15 minutes before the concert began and entered the front door. The venue was literally 15 feet wide by 30 feet deep and was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, there was not enough air conditioning and the waiters couldn’t even get close enough to people to take drink orders! It was the last place that I wanted to be after such an exhausting day, until I remembered everyone telling me that I had to see Arctic before I left Toronto.

I squeezed in and stood toward the back, as not to block anyone’s view (though I couldn’t have gotten close to the front even if I tried ). As Arctic began to play I felt my mood change from exhaustion to one of pleasure, for taking the effort to find out who was worth listening too, for hearing great music and for feeling like Arctic was playing for the sheer joy of music.

I stayed for the entire show and was thankful that so many people suggested Arctic. Had there not been such a strong buzz about the band with the people that I had talked too, I probably would have gone home without ever having heard them.

I think that goes to show the power of word of mouth!

If you go to Project Arctic’s Website and go to the listen section you will have the option of downloading a few studio and live tracks. If you like what you hear there is a paypal donation link on his site so you can help the guys out

I am going to try to find my photographs of their band and email them copies for their website, I think they’ll like to use them.

I just checked the schedule and found out that Arctic will be playing again this year. I have a wedding during NXNE so I won’t be able to make it but I did request passes for my cousin and his girlfriend to attend on my behalf. I will spread the Arctic word of mouth and say that they should see this band live!

I think next year I may block off NXNE weekend off from wedding photography and go for three days of great indie music.

I just finished The Little Red Book of Selling. I took longer than usual to go through the book since I was reading, re-reading and taking notes on every chapter. One great thing about the book is that it teaches how to give clients exactly what they want so that they are happy and buy because a need is satisfied. Most importantly, it did not teach how to sell like the stereotypical used car salesman. I am really glad that the book focused on pleasing people instead of how to get every last cent out of someone, because I wouldn’t and don’t buy from the cliché profit driven salesmen but I would and do buy from the knowledgeable and passionate person who wants to help me .

The Little Red Book of Selling made me think of this TV series that a friend recommended I watch. It is called The King of Cars and is on A&E. The owner, Chop, runs the largest new and used car dealership in Las Vegas and routinely sells dozens of cars per day. The one episode that stood out in my mind was when the owner went on vacation and motivated his sales team to have a 30% or greater closure ratio. The team ended up selling 33% or 34% AND every customer that bought went away with the perfect car at a price that they were thrilled with. The timing on seeing King of Cars was ideal, as Chop and his sales team follow every rule presented in The Little Red Book of Selling by doing whatever it takes to make sure that their customer is sincerely happy and is not buying because of pressure.

Watch this promo of King of Cars, at one point Chop says two things that really stick with me. The first is that “…it should be a celebration, it’s a big deal, they just bought a car.” Another great thing that Chop says during his video is, “fun, fast and easy.” Both of those quotes are 100% applicable for my clients and their wedding photography. It should be a fun experience that is fast and easy for my clients to hire their wedding photographer and the clients should have a little celebration after the contract has been signed since hiring a wedding photographer is all about finding that one right person to create images for generations to come, not to mention the big financial commitment that comes along with that one right photographer . Expect to see some great changes based on the book and the TV show soon.

I think my next book is going to be The Brand Called You. The title sounds perfect and at $10.00… you can’t go wrong .

I have a meeting with a client in Geneva on Sunday afternoon, I am really looking forward to speaking with these clients. The engagement just happened and they are trying to get married as soon as possible. They sound like a really excited and fun couple, I think their wedding will be great.

I am supposed to photograph an engagement session in Canandaigua after the noon meeting, that may have to be postponed due to the weather, we’ll see. The senior portrait session was put off too, I’m sure it will happen as soon as the schedule starts to slow down a little . I mailed a bunch of information off to clients this week for their 2006 and 2007 weddings, I can’t wait to hear back from people!

Check out all of these great photographs from my backyard that I took today.

I hope you enjoyed the images !

I photographed a bar mitzvah with Garry Geer over the weekend. It was one of the most fun events that I have ever photographed. We set up a background and photographed everyone in front of it throughout the night. All of the guests were having a great time being photographed.

I have seen this magician at a few events over the years, he is pretty good.

The senior portrait session was delayed, hopefully I will photograph that this week. Look forward to more images

I read a very simple and interesting statement in the book The Little Red Book of Selling : 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness which was “it doesn’t matter who you know, it only matters who knows you.” I never really thought of a network that way but it makes perfect sense .

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything never really took off or got a unifying theme but it was an interesting read. I didn’t take a lot away from it but for the entertainment value I suggest that you read it. The book is fairly short and not very deep so you could finish it in just a day or two.

I’m really excited for all of the clients that have been calling and booking for 2007 weddings, it is always nice to get that first one of the year booked, all the stress just seems to go away after that.

I am photographing a senior portrait test on Sunday. The senior is going to be for the face of 2006 for the upcoming marketing strategy. I’ll write more about it on Sunday.

Have a great day.