Look Ma! I'm On TV!

While at the YMCA burn down, I ran into an old TV news friend of mine from when I worked at WTNH. Channel 30 was also there and I notice that I was kind of standing in front of their shot. So last night Kelley and I were watching the news after the Chargers win (GO CHARGERS!) and we saw this! Photos taken from my iPhone.

That's Kelley in the blue jacket and I'm standing to the right with my camera and tripod.

Burnin' Down The House

Before Christmas I did a holiday portrait fundraiser for the Soundview YMCA. They broke ground on the land that the building is going to be built on. But before they could start construction they have to remove the house that's on the land. So why not start a fire? The slide show is from my camera that I had across the street and set to take 1 picture every 5 seconds (right up until the smoke headed our way).



Here's a few cool shots of the house and Branford's finest.

YMCA Holiday Portraits Fundraiser

Today was the YMCA Holiday Portraits Fundraiser at the Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club. We had a good number of families come by for a quick holiday portrait with all proceeds going toward the Soundview YMCA and the building of the new YMCA in Branford.

We had a great natural backdrop. Everyone was able to see their photo right there and plenty of orderes were placed!

Kelley and I took the opportunity to take our holiday portrait by setting the camera on the tripod and running in front of it! Happy holidays to all! We hope everyone had a family filled, and turkey filled, Thanksgiving.

PhotoExpo, RE:WORKSHOP, Drobo, Clients Albums

So I'm sitting here not being able to do much... so a rambling I shall go. I'll explain the work stoppage at the end.

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NYC

Last weekend I went down to NYC for the PDN Photo Plus Expo. I took the train in with a few photographer friends. I walked the whole expo floor with my assistant Greg. The show was just ok this year. I did pick up a few products that I wanted to get, but didn't really see anything impressive on the album end of things. First, I'll continue to use Memory Link as my standard line of albums. It looks like they just finished their new website. I've been using them for years, pretty much since they started up. Their quality has been top notch and so have been their prices. This is how I keep my clients costs low on the albums while keeping the best quality. Then I wanted to see my high end album company and the 2 other high end album companies. Unfortunately all 3 were not at the show! I guess I'll see them at the WPPI convention in Vegas. Another no show was Apple! APPLE!!! There weren't there promoting Lightroom (not that any of us seem to be using it), nor there to promote their cinema displays. Every photographer I know (except 1) are using Macs. Plus photographers and videographers are using Apple TV to present their work on large displays! But don't worry, I went to the Apple store after the show.

Speaking of after the show, we had a reservation for 28 photographers at Carmine's on West 44th. SOOOOO Good. Then it was off to a bar with a few friends, and then to hang out with Kelley's friend Courtenay, and her sisiter, who live in the city. We got back to the hotel at 2:30am! It's New York!

The next day we shopped the city, stayed for dinner, and drove home. I found some AMAZING deals at the Macy's sale where we spent a good portion of the day. I don't even want to know how many miles we walked. OH! The biggest bummer of the trip was not getting together with Chris and Katie Humphrey's who were in town. Simply put, my cell phone battery died and I never got their messages until 2:30am. If you don't remember, Chris and Katie photographed my wedding in San Diego. Sorry guys!!!! I'll see you in February at WPPI!

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RE:WORKSHOP

I had my Hartford RE:WORKSHOP / PPA Super Monday class on Monday! It was awesome. I got a lot of great response from it. What can I say, I'm a very giving person and I love to help out my fellow photographers. I give away my secrets! OK maybe not all of them. But thank you to everyone that came out. I have already heard that a few of you are implementing some of what I do, and are using the files that I gave out! As always, e-mail me any questions.

For those of you not in CT who want to attend the RE:WORKSHOP, why not host it yourself? I've already had one in Sacramento, CA host by Carmen Salazar which was a huge success. You supply the space, notify your area photographers (I'll help too), and I'll be there! Check the website: http://www.rephotodesign.org

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Drobo

This is going to get technical... So this week I decided to check my RAIDed hard drives to make sure everything was going well. Well... no. Both RAID's failed. This isn't the first time they have failed. I've been doing it through Mac's Disc Utility with Lacie Drives. I've pretty much have had enough with this setup. It would probably take me 5 days to restore everything. So instead of dealing with all this, I bought a Drobo and all new hard drives to store next years files, backup this years, and to store last years files. 6TB total. So as I transfer this years files, I can't really use them. The changes may or may not transfer, depending on where the transfer is at the time of the changes. So I'll sit here and wait the 7 hours for the transfer. Then I have to transfer 2 other drives. Joy.

Now I have FOR SALE: Completely working, no issues, 2 - 500GB USB / Firewire 800 Lacie Desktop Drives, and 1 - 1TB Lacie Big Disk USB / Firewire (That could also be a 500GB RAID). Make me an offer. I may have 2 more 500GB drives in the closet.

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Albums

Lastly, and I should probably put this first cause I'm sure your bored reading this by now, are my clients albums. I'm done editing photos for a month after this weekend. So now it's all about designing the albums that I have lined up to do. Believe me there are a lot. But work on them starts on Monday! I hope to have everyones designed by the end of November.

Why the backup? I didn't expect EVERYONE to choose a new option called the "Photographer's Line" which puts all the work on me. And I do mean everyone this year. But I can't complain because knowing that my clients trust me to do a good job has been the best thing ever.

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So those are the updates! Tonight: A halloween party!!!!! What will I be for halloween?? wait and see!

Attention Brides: SAMPLE SALE!

Traci Romano is having a sample sale at her water front bridal salon in South Norwalk. Traci has mentioned to me that if you are one of my clients, she would love to speak with you personally. Just mention me, Richard Esposito, and they you will receive an extra incentive!!! Here's what it say's on her blog:

"TRE will be hosting a sample sale on November 15th from 10am-6pm. No appointments are necessary. All dresses including: Cymbeline, Amy Michelson, Amy Kuschel, Simone Carvalli, Thread , Badgley Mischka, Jane Wang and more are included. We are also including our Accessories in this Sale so even if you have a dress already, stop by to find the perfect accessories to complete you wedding day wardrobe.

Preview Cocktail Party | Friday , November 14th from 5-7pm . Join us to preview these *almost new* dresses, share a glass of wine and meet other brides and industry professionals in a casual and fun setting. Kindly ring us to let us know if you will be stopping by on Friday -203.354.9791"

Brides.com and Brides Connecticut Event

Last night Kelley and I went to the Brides.com and Brides Connecticut, cocktail networking event at the very cool Loading Dock in Stamford. Soon after we got there, so did almost 10 other photographer friends of mine! It ended up being a good night of networking with, wedding planners, caterers, other photographers, etc. There was a pretty good crowd there. There were even better hors d'oeuvres and desserts.