Brass Knuckle Mic Stand
I don’t think I’m badass enough for this mic stand, or the cool grenade mic stand it’s paired with. Not that I’m a professional singer in any case, but I can see how these could strike fear into the hearts of my audience if I was.
This was found on an article over at b&hphotovideo.com, which is one of the greatest online stores in existence.
June 9th, 2010
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Display Unread Mail in Gmail
Ah, I just learned this tip about showing only unread emails in gmail. I had about 500 unread mails that were buried so deep it would have taken me days to remove them, but with this simple trick I was able to clear them out in minutes.
Here’s how to do it: when logged into gmail, in the search bar enter:
is:unread
Tada! Now you should see only your unread mail items. Your unread mail count will actually matter from now on.
And because you now know how to do this, the Google Mail Checker extension will now actually be useful! (Chrome users only)
I originally learned this trick from this Google forum.
May 20th, 2010
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Wedding Photographer Scam
You’ve probably heard this story at some point; a couple hires a photographer without doing enough research on them, the photographer makes nice until they get the deposit, and runs off with the client’s money. This scam will sometimes be carried as far as the wedding, where they will go and shoot, collect the full payment, but then never deliver any photos, and are never heard from again.
Here are a couple real incidents where this actually occurred:
http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/93342049.html
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/photographer-1273962-cbs-picture.html
As a wedding photographer, I would like to recommend some tips for not getting caught in this scam. It might be really easy to “fall in love” with your photographer, and trust them to the extent that you do not do any homework, so be wary of getting scammed, even if your photographers are really sweet. Five minutes of research online could save you hours of worry and years of heartache.
Here are my suggestions for making sure you’re hiring a legitimate photographer:
1. Google them. Search for their names, emails, business names, and any other names associated with their company. Usually if someone has had a bad experience with them, you’ll find out right away.
2. Search the Better Business Bureau. Find any unresolved complaints related to them or their business.
3. Check their references. Legitimate photographers are already aware of this scam and will be happy to give references to make you feel secure in their hire. Do not be afraid to ask them for contacts of previous clients, or other professional references. As a wedding photographer, I happily give out references of past clients who have given permission to use as a reference.
4. Make sure every part of your agreement is well documented. A legitimate photographer will have a solid, legally binding contract which will protect both parties involved. A good contract will be professionally written- take a copy home before signing anything and show it to any lawyer friends you have, or get some help from a legal advice website. In addition to a contract, your photographers should provide documentation of your payments. Another safe routine is to ask for a copy of any business documentation they should have, such as their fictitious name statement, certificate of payment of business tax, business license, reseller permit, or any other government issued document with their name(s) and the name of their business. You may also want to get their physical addresses, phone numbers, etc. Again, these are things that legitimate photographers will be prepared to give to you. Anyone who has been in the business a long time will not be shocked by your asking for this information.
5. Stay away from deals that are too good to be true. If a photographer is offering to shoot your wedding at far below the market price, they are clearly not very experienced or they are operating some kind of scam. Professional photography requires expensive equipment and dozens of hours spent on each wedding.
Think about this: a professional grade camera costs around $2,000 and is rated for about 150,000 photos. A photographer will shoot about 1,000-2,000 photos in a wedding, or about 1/100 of the camera’s lifespan. That means, the wear on just the camera costs about $20 per wedding. That may not sound like a lot, but add on the wear on the external lighting, lenses, memory cards, batteries, tripods, light-stands, camera bags, miscellaneous cables, laptop, umbrellas, etc. A photographer can have $10k-$20k worth of gear at a wedding, the wear on the equipment can cost hundreds of dollars per wedding. Now add that to time spent with clients prior to the wedding, driving time, gas, electricity to charge the equipment, storage space to put the equipment, fast computers to process the images, dry cleaning to look good for the wedding, equipment rentals, AND all of the time spent post-processing.
Considering all this, how could a photographer afford to charge so little to shoot your wedding? Either this person doesn’t have the equipment needed to do the job, they are shortcutting something important, or they are not legitimate at all.
May 18th, 2010
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Affordable Ecommerce
Trying to find a solution for selling onine? I can help your San Diego business start selling online with ecommerce for under $1000.
What I build are simple, SEO friendly, aesthetically pleasing sites. These are designed to effectively pass your message to the client and create a positive user experience. Your site can be as simple as a few basic pages, or as complicated as a fully-featured ecommerce store with reviews and ratings.
Some of the sites I built or designed are:
South Sun Beads
South Sun Wholesale
Best San Diego Wedding
The Sprouting Image (Co-designed with Samaria Daniel)
If you’re interested in getting a custom quote and proposal for your website, please contact me using the form below.
May 16th, 2010
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Our House Compared to Ray at Night
Check out this map of Ray at Night for May 8th 2010. I added the green start to mark where our new live/work studio is located. We’re really looking forward to the move, as you might expect 
.
See more about Ray at Night at: http://www.rayatnightartwalk.com/
April 17th, 2010
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Our new photography site:
Here’s a preview of our new site. To see the non-shrunken version, go to:
http://www.thesproutingimage.com
April 1st, 2010
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Fever Dream
“Fever Dream” by Iron and Wine, go look it up right now. It might make you cry.
My girlfriend is sick, stomach is hurting her. 
South Sun Beads is about to start making profit (http://www.southsunbeads.com), if the company can get the logistics straight and ship everything on time and keep products in stock.
New site is about to start converting more photography leads at a higher price.
Grooveshark, though questionable in its ethical nature, is playing some really good songs this morning.
I wonder when I’ll be able to start investing in my musical abilities again.
March 15th, 2010
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Used Canon 28mm f2.8 for Sale – $150
THIS LENS HAS BEEN SOLD!
I’m selling my Canon 28mm f2.8 for $150. It goes for about $270 new so this is a bargain on an already low-priced lens.
Some of the killer features of this lens are that it is very lightweight, inexpensive, and sharper than the kit lenses that come with most camera bodies. The color and saturation of this lens are also very good, and it has no noticeable distortion. See the bottom of this post for links to some reviews of this lens.
Here are some pictures I (or my girlfriend) shot with this lens:
March 7th, 2010
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Used Tamron 28-75 f2.8 $250 (for Canon)
THIS LENS HAS BEEN SOLD!
Have a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens for sale. This is a great all-purpose lens with emphasis on taking pictures of people.
Has great DOF at 75mm and also a short minimum focus distance so you can get close to things and get a nice DOF that way.
I shot most of my first few weddings with this lens and am very satisfied with the images, but am giving it up now that I’m able to replace it with higher end Canon Lenses.
Here are some photos I’ve taken with this lens:
February 28th, 2010
1 Comment
San Diego Zip Codes
Okay I just spent a couple hours compiling this comprehensive list of all San Diego zip codes (every zip code in San Diego) after not finding one online. Some of these were borrowed from a pretty good list I found online (view here), but it still took me a lot of work to fill in the blanks.
All I’m asking is that you leave a comment or something if this list of San Diego zip codes comes in useful to you.
You’ll probably notice that there are some zip codes you didn’t even know existed, that’s because the zip codes were provided by a list of 30,000 addresses of real San Diegans, meaning its not likely that I missed a single zip code, but if you find one I’m missing, please leave a comment.
Thanks, here’s the list:
91901 – Alpine
91902 – Bonita
91903 – Alpine
91905 – Boulevard
91906 – Campo
91909 – Chula Vista
91910 – Chula Vista
91911 – Chula Vista
91913 – Chula Vista
91914 – Chula Vista
91915 – Chula Vista
91916 – Descanso
91917 – Dulzura
91921 – Chula Vista
91932 – Imperial Beach
91933 – Imperial Beach
91934 – Jacumba
91935 – Jamul
91941 – La Mesa
91942 – La Mesa
91944 – La Mesa
91945 – Lemon Grove
91946 – Lemon Grove
91950 – National City
91951 – National City
91962 – Pine Valley
91963 – Potrero
91976 – Spring Valley
91977 – Spring Valley
91978 – Spring Valley
91979 – Spring Valley
91980 – Tecate
91990 – Potrero
92003 – Bonsall
92004 – Borrego Springs
92007 – Cardiff by the Sea
92008 – Carlsbad
92009 – Carlsbad
92010 – Carlsbad
92011 – Carlsbad
92013 – Carlsbad
92014 – Del Mar
92018 – Carlsbad
92019 – El Cajon
92020 – El Cajon
92021 – El Cajon
92022 – El Cajon
92023 – Encinitas
92024 – Encinitas
92025 – Escondido
92026 – Escondido
92027 – Escondido
92028 – Fallbrook
92029 – Escondido
92030 – Escondido
92033 – Escondido
92036 – Julian
92037 – La Jolla
92039 – La Jolla
92040 – Lakeside
92046 – Escondido
92049 – Oceanside
92051 – Oceanside
92052 – Oceanside
92054 – Oceanside
92055 – Camp Pendleton
92056 – Oceanside
92057 – Oceanside
92058 – Oceanside
92059 – Pala
92060 – Palomar Mountain
92061 – Pauma Valley
92064 – Poway
92065 – Ramona
92066 – Ranchita
92067 – Rancho Santa Fe
92069 – San Marcos
92070 – Santa Ysabel
92071 – Santee
92072 – Santee
92075 – Solana Beach
92078 – San Marcos
92079 – San Marcon
92081 – Vista
92082 – Valley Center
92083 – Vista
92084 – Vista
92085 – Vista
92086 – Warner Springs
92088 – Fallbrook
92090 – El Cajon
92091 – Rancho Santa Fe
92092 – La Jolla
92093 – La Jolla
92096 – San Marcos
92101 – San Diego
92102 – San Diego
92103 – San Diego
92104 – San Diego
92105 – San Diego
92106 – San Diego
92107 – San Diego
92108 – San Diego
92109 – San Diego
92110 – San Diego
92111 – San Diego
92113 – San Diego
92114 – San Diego
92115 – San Diego
92116 – San Diego
92117 – San Diego
92118 – Coronado
92119 – San Diego
92120 – San Diego
92121 – San Diego
92122 – San Diego
92123 – San Diego
92124 – San Diego
92126 – San Diego
92127 – San Diego
92128 – San Diego
92129 – San Diego
92130 – San Diego
92131 – San Diego
92132 – San Diego
92134 – San Diego
92136 – San Diego
92139 – San Diego
92140 – San Diego
92142 – San Diego
92143 – San Diego
92145 – San Diego
92147 – San Diego
92149 – San Diego
92150 – San Diego
92152 – San Diego
92154 – San Diego
92155 – San Diego
92158 – San Diego
92173 – San Ysidro
92178 – Coronado
92179 – San Diego
92182 – San Diego
92184 – San Diego
92186 – San Diego
92187 – San Diego
92190 – San Diego
92197 – San Diego
92199 – San Diego
January 14th, 2010
1 Comment