My friend Leland Hardy’s father passed away on Saturday morning at about 4:30am from abdominal cancer. Here is an excerpt from an email that Leland sent me shortly after his father died, All of your prayers have availed much and nary a tear need be shed as there is no question whatsoever that all of his wishes were carried out as he would want them to have been, and there is no question as to his receipt of all of the scriptural promises that are made by God to believers such as him.

Here is a photo of my neighbor

I am excited about all of the new albums that I am going to be able to offer for 2007. I have basically set up an account with just about every company that produces a high quality album and my goal is to be able to give you exactly what you want . The 2007 packages have albums included in them and you can swap between manufacturers and styles to get the right length, size and page style!

*Graphistudio
*La-vie
*Bound to Last
*Zookbinders
*AsukaBook
Leather Craftsmen
Queensberry
CMYK Books
Jorgensen Albums
White Wedding Album
Cypress Albums
Vision Art Books

I plan to carry samples of the first five albums with a * next to them simply because they are my favorites and I think represent the best value. My absolute favorite album is from Bound to Last due largely to the fact that they offer the best constructed albums that I have ever seen and that they are 100% hand built to your exact specifications (no mass produced generic books) .

If you are in the market for a new camera now is a great time to start looking, both Canon and Nikon are running excellent rebate programs on their already discounted cameras. The Nikon D200 is available for quite a bit less than what I paid for it and Canon has the 5d for a great price too .

The November newsletter is all written, it is going to be sent on Tuesday so if you want to subscribe send an email to weddings@bradydillsworth.com and you’ll be added to the list .

Have a great day!

Here are a few photos from a concert last night at Alfred State College with my friends in the band Navar.

I was told that the online payment system was offline for a few hours yesterday so if you were not able to make a payment give it another try since everything is back online and running again.

If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out the new website at Dillsworth.com .

I got my foliage medium format film back from my lab and it all looks great. I will scan some and write more tonight, after I finish another busy day of getting work done.

Have a great weekend!

I have been feeling a little congested all week. I don’t really feel sick, I am just having a hard time talking for more than a minute or two straight.

I think I am going to meet my friend Pat on Friday and then next week I am going to take some photos for Jonathan and Rachel’s new restaurant.

Sorry for the lame post, time for another phone call .

Have a great day!

Over coffee a few months ago my friend Gary Ventura told me that the new Gym Class Heroes stuff was going to be amazing, a lot better than what they have out now and he sure was right. I saw the video the other day and I thought you’d enjoy it .

I think Gary went to school with some of the guys from gym class heroes and possibly photographed a little work for their new album (the conversation was a while ago, I don’t recall exactly) and he seems to know them reasonably well.

Check out the video!

Tim Sanders made an interesting post about obeying email rules and that is something that I am going to work on… his post was primarily about finding out how people like to get their emails and then staying within those guidelines to keep them happy and to build that relationship stronger. One irritating habit that several of my friends have mentioned that I have is that I write too much most of the time (read through the blog, you’ll probably agree ) and that I write too often (sometimes I write 3 blog posts at once and post them 12 hours apart so it doesn’t get overwhelming for you ). Generally if you are on my mind I’ll send you an email, call you, leave you a voice message, write you a letter, blog about you or instant message you. For most people that is probably manageable since they are only getting contacted a few times each week, but for my friend Leland at NEWYORK.COM that means that he is getting upwards of 10-12 emails and phone calls from me per day (yes, he replies to all of them )… it’s not that I am dependant on him, we are just involved in a lot of projects together and we both continually innovate. One of my 2007 goals is to become more concise (especially since a lot of my emails print at 2-3 pages long ).

I’m not needy, I just think about everyone and like to stay in touch with people .

My friends Jonathan and Rachel have started their own new business. I am really excited for them! I will link to it and tell you all about it when they are closer to the launch date, it is going to be fun .

You know what is amazing?!?! On the instant message program that I use (gaim) I can assign everyone an alias, which is really cool! I don’t really remember the names of people very well as it is (sorry, it is nothing personal ) and when you mix in crazy IM names I generally have no idea who is talking to me so all I have to do is make the alias their real name and that is what gets displayed on my buddy list! All I have to figure out now is how to attatch a photo to their screen name so I always know who is IMing me. Just for future reference, my AIM screen name is Brady Dillsworth, feel free to send me a message .

Have a great day!

There is now a link on Dillsworth.com to print out the package contracts and to make the $1,500 retainer payment to reserve your date before somebody else books it. The process is really simple, navigate to the contracts page, print out the contract and sign it, either pay the retainer securely online by credit card (a receipt will be sent automatically) or with a check and then if it is available the date will be yours! If the date is not available then a refund will be issued immediately and you will be sent a list of other wedding photographers to consider .

There is also another great new contract on the site called a date reservation and it allows you to just pay a $1,500 retainer now to secure the date then at some point in the future (at least 4 months prior to your wedding) you can choose which package you want. You are guaranteeing to me that you will purchase one of the three listed packages and I am guaranteeing to you that the date is yours. After you pick your package you pay the package price minus $1,500 and everything works out well .

Watch this music video… even if you do not like My Chemical Romance or this song the video is well worth watching, it is very beautiful and pretty interesting . Just about all of MCR’s music videos are great, I wonder if they use the same director for each one?

I think I am going to direct a music video at some point, not in the near future, but definitely after I retire from wedding photography.

I need to take a full weekend and update all of my quickbooks pro information, I am pretty far behind with that type of work. Maybe I’ll commit next weekend to that .

Canon is running a double rebate program until January 13, 2007. If you are looking to buy a Canon 5d (for about $2,200) or other camera or lens now is a great time to consider.

Have a great day!

I appreciate all of the kinds words that you have sent me about the new website! I spent a lot of time selecting photographs for it and it is great to hear that you love them all .

Referrals in wedding photography are crucial, largely because it is a type of product and service where the end result is not known until days, weeks or months after the wedding is over so hearing good and bad things about a photographer helps to convince a couple that they are making a wise choice. I appreciate all of the many positive things that everyone says about me and I love working with the clients that you refer to me, especially since there is usually a connection in place from whatever great things you said. That means that the meeting is more about becoming friends and less about figuring out wedding day details… while I know that I don’t have to do it, I have just started sending out little thank you notes with iTunes music cards to let you know that I really appreciate the referred client . Since this was such a great week with booking weddings I half expect to get a personal phone call from Steve Jobs thanking me for the business .

Look at the simple white envelopes that the card comes in, it matches my style very well

I need to get back in the habit of working out every day again… working on the computer until I fall asleep is no fun .

Have a great day (and if you sent me a client, enjoy the music)!

Luke sent me a few photos from the game last night, he just had a Canon Powershot point and shoot at the game and I am pretty impressed by what he got with it

This is the city of Rochester from the Ford Street bridge, where I shot Jen and Jason’s wedding photos from

NBA game

NBA game

Luke and Brady (note the superman shirt )

Tonight I had hot chocolate with the couple that Jonathan and Rachel sent me, they are really nice people and I am glad to say that we will be working together for their fall wedding at Belhurst Castle. I am really looking forward to the engagement session, we were talking about some fun ideas and it will be good .

Here is the much anticipated new website

Let me know what you think

Have a great day!

Haha, sorry, that was just a teaser headline .

The October mailing list just went out so that means everyone who subscribed by sending an email to weddings@bradydillsworth.com was sent the link . If you did not subscribe you can check back at the blog tomorrow to see a link for the new site… it is well worth the wait!

Luke Walker and I went to see a basketball game last night, it was a good time, I always enjoy getting together with Luke.

I am off to Fairport this evening for a meeting with two really nice people that Jonathan and Rachel referred to me. I think we are going to get hot chocolate and talk about the wedding, maybe look at a few sample albums and just have a nice evening .

My clients Christie and Jo are taking over a SCUBA operation and restaurant in the beautiful Windward Islands of the Dutch Caribbean. They both are very passionate about diving and had their custom designed wedding cake built around the ocean and SCUBA diving theme. If you are interested in taking a SCUBA diving vacation email me and I will put you in touch with Jo and Christie (you can email me if you are interested in investing with them too ).

Have a great day!