There’s a workshop coming up soon in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 8th & 9th, 2012 at The Saguaro Hotel. Almost a part of the Scottsdale Civic Center
itself, The Saguaro will give us access to several perfect workspaces for the hands-n portions of the workshop. The small number of total participants is filling up quickly, so don’t delay calling 480-302-1267 to reserve your spot today.

The next workshop on our calendar in in Paris, France on July 23rd & 24th, 2012. We’ll be in the heart of the city, just north of the Seine, in the 2nd Arrondissment, in the Opera district. The workshop will take place just a few days after the finish of this year’s Tour de France, and right before many bicycle tour companies will lead groups out of Paris for amazing rides through France. Our time there will also coincide with a special season of “beaches” being added to the banks of the Seinne, with special events and celebrations.

In both the Paris and Scottsdale workshops, you will learn to:

• CREATE a photo session that is beautiful in its pure simplicity – a shorter session with shorter post processing
• DEFINE your uniquely artistic person
• APPLY an IMPROVISATIONAL philosophy to your style’s greatest challenges
• DIFFERENTIATE yourself from other competitors
• cut through FADS and TRENDS
• SEE and capture a real situation without contrived props, posing, or preconceptions
• DEFINE your style
• be empowered with the ability for SELF ASSESSMENT
• PORTFOLIO REVIEW by Keith Pitts
• in depth REVIEW of your WEBSITE
• discussions on the philosophy of PRICING and professional practices

For more about, see the series’ website at www.keithpittsworkshops.com

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received (from the most successful photographer I ever met) is, “Opportunity rarely presents itself at a time that is convenient.”

Don’t delay. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to dramatically improve the way you capture your family’s life and the lives of others with your camera. You’ll gain a perspective on how to grow and develop that you’ll carry with you for years. Call me to secure your place with us at 480-302-1267.

Had a kombucha for the first time. Luckily it had so much stuff in it, I still don’t really know what kombucha tastes like. It was packed with chia seeds and some cherry juice. It was fine, but was a social disaster: the cherry made it tart enough that I accidentally “gleeked” on someone, then the chia seeds were so ethereally gelatinous that they stayed stayed near the font of my mouth in secret places after I thought I had completely swallowed — when I spoke, little seeds seemed to leap out of my mouth like they were self-aware and fleeing.

I had to stop. Don’t think it went unnoticed. As my wife intervened, my friends had a great time re-enacting it and having a great laugh. I haven’t felt my face flush like that in a long time!

Now I know that, for me, anything filled with chia seeds is exclusively an at-home drink.

Among the comments, I added:

I forgot to mention that my ridiculous display occurred at a gathering of AZ’s social media elite, so my inadvertent Sylvester the Cat impersonation was live-tweeted to thousands. I think it was described as, “…like an outtake character falling victim to one of the hazards in Willie Wonka’s factory…”

If wedding DJ’s seem like fun people when they’re working at an event, just imagine what it’s like to be with a group of 25 of them! I had a great time, honestly. There were lots of smiling faces and laughs, and I was delighted to be networking with such dynamic people.

My favorite photo of the night, however, was of the one DJ whose persona was stoic, due to his ability to let his partner do the emcee duties with charm. After confirming with Eric from It’s Your Night Entertainment that the serious look was what we were after, we came up with this character study:

Being at West World pre-dawn was necessary, 1) so I could be there to have the shippers position the Wells Fargo stage coach in the right spot, at the right angle for the morning and midday sun, and 2) so we could drive our own equipment in — even the tables that you can only see a glimpse of behind the front of the vehicle came in inside Vanford (my Honda Odyssey).

We were happy to have a high percentage of the foot traffic through our area stop to meet us and pose with or inside the famous Wells Fargo stage coach.

I don’t always work behind a tripod, but when I do I enjoy the freedom it gives me to connect more directly with the subjects of the photographs. (And thanks to my assistant Jez for thinking of and rigging up the umbrella!)

I look with admiration and appreciation at my amazing team: the fetching Lisa, my wonderful wife; and Jez the Cyber-Cowboy. Thanks also to the vivacious Caralie behind the iPhone camera and its supercool OWLE Bubo.

As the afternoon arrived, I believe I was asked how may more hours I planned to continue, assuming our supplies held out. From the looks of me, I’d say I was overestimating by a factor of about 5, the number of additional hours I’d be able to hold out, given our starting much earlier than scheduled.

In all, we were able to serve visitors and make new friends well past our scheduled end time. But when I noticed my shoes the next day, I saw evidence that reminded me just how much I had been on my feet the day before. I could see exactly where my jeans fell upon my shoes while standing, and how there was no dust on the areas of the shoes that would have been uncovered by sitting down in our dusty spot near Arena 3. I laughed as I saw the outline.

I saw also that as I lined up this quick photo, I could use the reflection on the floor behind the shoes to symbolize the fiery feeling that my feet knew all too well from our long but enjoyable day with the horses, those who appreciate them, and the great Wells Fargo Advisors team in Scottsdale.

Below are a few peeks into the day.

Working at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show with the Wells Fargo Advisors of Scottsdale and the official and beautiful Wells Fargo Stage Coach yesterday at West World was an amazingly fun time! If you’re checking in to find your downloadable copy to go along with your free print, this is the place to check back in a couple more hours. I’m putting a gallery together for all of our wonderful guests who visited our own little area of the horse show. I’ll make another announcement and post some of my favorites here on the blog. Thanks for visiting the me and the Bradford Jones team at the Wells Fargo Stage Coach yesterday and the website today.

Thanks also go out to the muti-talented Tori of ToriTori Creative, who’s a part of April’s Made Better Network of great freelancers. Tori is the designer we brought into the project to help turn my mood board and the site’s preliminary design into amazing business cards. The cards not only feel like they reflect me, but their elements also made it into the design of the new website itself.

Of course, no project I undertake is complete without the help of my better half, my sounding board, my best advisor, my wonderful wife Lisa.

Thanks to three amazing women (and congrats to Tori on the beautiful new baby boy!)!

A tiny Bulgarian town, as seen from a huge castle on a high hill. I had to climb up on one of the battlements to get this view (and don

To avoid any confusion from getting married outside of the U.S., Mira & Jose chose to have a short civil ceremony at the courthouse in downtown Phoenix. For me it was fantastic to have such a cool 60′s inspired wedding dress to photograph! I think that having more than one ceremony is a supremely cool way to justify having more than one wedding dress – it gives a bride the freedom to be a little more unique and daring with one of the choices. I think Mira hit a home run with this stylish retro dress!

The rehearsal the evening before the wedding was capped off with this beautiful sunset over the beach left exposed by the low tide. Look through the watermark and you’ll spy some buoys that I can only imagine belong to either a fisherman with traps out in the water, or possible a mooring for a jellyfish net.

Mira was a stunningly beautiful bride in the wedding dress she chose for the beach ceremony. I was honored to be able accompany her during her preparations in the amazing suite that overlooked the ceremony site at the Las Palomas Resort in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico.

Jose prepared in another part of the vast suite, and then exited without being seen by his bride-to-be. Jose is one of those grooms who just makes clothes look good. He is one of those few men today who can rightly be called “debonair”. And it’s all capped off by his big heart and wonderful willingness to share with people how much they mean to him – truly a joy to be around.

The storybook wedding ceremony on the beach was interrupted by a jokester in an ultralight who could not resist buzzing by, as close as possible, to wave his well-wishes to the bride & groom.

One of the most fascinating things about photographing this wedding was that the reception featured dancing that was so much more than what I’m used to seeing in the states. Both the Mexican and the Bulgarian traditions played out on the dance floor well into the night.

The next morning, well more like the next day around lunch time, Mira and Jose went way beyond the original plan of just getting their feet wet in a beach photo session. It turned into a full-on “trash the dress shoot” and we had a blast!

I can’t wait to be able to show you more, but I want to have the bride and groom over for a full presentation of all of their photographs on a big projection display first. And that will have to wait. Why? Well, because this wedding just wouldn’t be complete without a third ceremony – in Bulgaria, of course! I’ll post photos of that adventure when we return…

The Time Trial

The Road Race

“Wait, isn’t Facebook’s handling of photos an abomination?” Well, yes, it is. But there are networking reasons and the old clock on the wall told me to get the FB albums started first, and then hit the hay.

“Will you add better versions of those images here on your blog or in a gallery?” Heavens above, I hope I do. Staying regular about blogging has been nowhere near as easy as I had expected. But I’m thankful to be busy with great clients.

“You know your galleries are hopelessly outdated and don’t show the vast improvements in your more recent portrait and wedding work, right?” Don’t remind me!