I'm back!!.......Again!!

Ok.....go ahead and say it, I'm a slacker. Its OK...I can take it. Yes, I said that I would be blogging about something every day and NO, I haven't blogged about something every day. But the truth is, I have been really, really busy over the past month. Probably the biggest thing going on is that I have moved myself and my business to Ashburn, VA. Getting settled has taken a while and I've been fighting an awful flu. Also, I quietly rebuilt my website and am getting good feedback on the new design. Feel free to stop by and send me feedback. Anyhow, I'm back and busier than I have been in a while. My calendar is filling up with weddings and engagement sessions and I couldn't be more pleased. OK....I could handle a little more business, but I'm not complaining. With all of the stuff thats happening in my life, I'm feeling truly blessed these days.

February PUG - Dinner Before?

Hello Folks,
I hope to see you all on Monday at the PUG meeting in the new MBK studio!
I wanted to see who would be up for dinner before hand?
If you are interested, please send me an email - sarah@blinkdc.com

Tentative plans for Monday night are dinner at Red Tomato Cafe 4910 Saint Elmo Ave in Bethesda
at 5:30.
If we get a large number of folks wanting to come to dinner we may need to change locations, but I will keep you all posted.

Thanks so much and hope to see you Monday!

Sarah

January PUG tonight CANCELLED!

OK, so I just returned from shooting a wedding in Palm Beach, Florida and am greeted with the biggest winter storm of the year! Since it will get worse before it gets better, I have decided to cancel tonight's PUG. I hope this does not inconvenience everyone - I was looking forward to seeing you all and to show off our new studio. We will now have a pre-WPPI PUG on Monday February 9th. Hope you're all staying safe and warm.

Best,

Geoff

January PUG Rescheduled for Tuesday the 27th

Hello all - 

I hope everyone had a great holidays. Ours was busy at Michael Bennett Kress & Associates as we moved to our new location - 7906 Woodmont Avenue - still in Bethesda. While we hoped to be ready today, we're still getting unpacked and settled into our new space. So we have rescheduled for Tuesday, January 27th. I hope this does not inconvenience anyone and hope to see you at the end of the month!

Best,

Geoff

Winter Get Together - Update

I hope everyone had a fantastic NYE, and celebrated 2008 going out and 2009 coming in with a bang!

I just wanted to give a quick update for those of you who are interested.
Myself Jess and Shawn will be at the Corcoran Gallery at 10am. The Corcoran opens at 10 and since Shawn is still operating on west coast time, he will be raring to go since he is quite the early riser! :D

We will view the Richard Avedon exhibit and then head to lunch.
I have two places that I love to recommend to "out of towners", Teaism and Ollies Trolly.
We can take a vote as to where we would all like to eat after the exhibit.
I believe we went to Ollie's last time and it was a big hit.

We hope that you can all join us.
If you come late, don't worry, I am sure we will be in the exhibit for at least an hour and a half, maybe more.

Please email me at sarah@blinkdc.com to let us know if you will be joining us.
And on Saturday if you need to reach one of us, you can call my cell 703 851 8463.

Can't wait to see you all!
Sarah, Jess and Shawn

Winter Get Together!

Hello to All,
I hope you have been having a wonderful holiday!
I wanted to let you know that myself and Jess are planning a
get together for this Saturday January 3rd.

The amazing Shawn Reeder will be in town visiting for the holidays
and we would love to show him a warm DC/NOVA/MD welcome.

Are plans so far include a possible trip to the Corcoran to see the
Richard Avedon exhibit.
We would also like to scout around the city for some shooting/play
time.
We welcome any ideas and of course would
love to see you, for all or just part of the day.

We will list a schedule here and on the Pictage forums when
we have a finalized the plans.
So please send me an email and let me know if you are interested in joining
us. sarah@blinkdc.com

Hope to see you all!
Sarah and Jess

November Meeting Recap - Weathering the Economic Downturn

We had a great meeting about the state of the event and portrait industry as we weather the economic downturn. I've always felt that professional photography for weddings, events, and portraiture has been a recession-proof industry. People are always getting married and celebrating life events, and new babies are born every day - creating a seeming limitless supply of clientele.

Our conversation centered on marketing and customer service and how the two combined can help your business stand-out amongst the competition all the time. These two become even more important when people are guarding their money more and doing much more due diligence before making their purchasing decisions.

We discussed ways of getting more return on the time and money we invest in marketing, obviously using Pictage helps us generate additional sales, but also helps to get our name and work in front of potential new clients from those events as well. Traditional vehicles like magazine advertising now take a backseat to search engine optimization and good old-fashioned networking with professional organizations. Amie Otto added some great tips on using social networking like Facebook to help get the word out as well.

Look out for info on our December meeting - our social committee is working on a fun get-together!

Best,
Geoff