Mark Wikkerink Cinema | Stills

Hello from Las Vegas!

I am in Las Vegas, Nevada for a yearly convention called WPPI – Wedding and Portrait Photographers International!  It’s a week long event full of classes, a hue trade show, and lots of parties and networking events!

So far I have been really enjoying my time here, and I have been learning a lot about this industry that I play a part in, as well as some new ideas for my business! So far I have attended classes by DQ Studios (who talked about the joy of failing, and are actually from Calgary); Chris Becker (who gave a lecture about branding and marketing); Sal Cincotta (who spoke about pricing, branding, and exclusivity); Jim Garner (who talked about emotions and emotional imagery and who will be coming to Calgary for the 2012 Wedding Photographers Summit - if you are in the wedding industry in Calgary, I would highly recommend attending!), and Rob Adams & Vanessa Joy (they are a married couple who spoke about creating fusion (photo/video) products for their clients!)

I have also been meeting other photographers from around the world, and it has been really great!  Today I even went to a small meet up where I learned all about the proper techniques for frothing milk (with my not so fancy espresso machine) from Zach of Gray Photography!

So far I haven’t taken any images (except for a few on my phone, but we all know those don’t count, right?).  On the way home I think we will be stopping in Moab, so I am going to try to shoot some film there with my Mamiya C330!

I hope all is well in Calgary, I will be back soon!

Mark

Last month, I was looking around on youtube, and I stumbled on the hilarious Photographers vs. Videographers video found on my Real Couples – Cinema page. Of course I didn’t produce this video, but I find it very funny (and so true) so I emailed Joe at Switzerfilm to ask if I would be able to use the video on my website.  Both himself, and a fellow member of his team (Ashley) replied, and enthusiastically said of course!  If you haven’t heard of them before, they produce AMAZING work and you should check out their website!

Anyways, after emailing back and forth a few times and asking various questions, Joe referred me to a company called SongFreedom!  In the wedding world, you can’t just purchase music off of Itunes and use it in a video, slideshow, or anything else – to do so is both illegal and immoral. I respect my own art and artistic abilities, and I have a lot of respect for musicians and music in general.  Without music, our world would simply be a boring, dull place.

To make a long story short, SongFreedom ended up sponsoring us!  It has been SUCH a huge blessing, and 2012 is looking like it is going to be a really great wedding season, especially with SongFreedom’s support!

The reason I love SongFreedom is because of their selection – they feature a lot of popular music, such as Train, Rob Thomas, One Republic, Colbie Caillait, and many more!  The songs available are great, and are going to add a whole new element to our cinema features and slideshows!

As it is the Christmas season, I wanted to share a special gift with my photographer/videographer colleagues!  Working together to improve the wedding industry as a whole is very important to me, and of course I want to help others out in any way possible.

So until the end of 2011, anyone who signs up for a SongFreedom account using the coupon NY will receive  a whopping 50% off of their first year!  That’s FIFTY PERCENT, meaning you could license popular songs for as little as $2 per song, for the first year!  And the best part is that even after one year, it really isn’t much more expensive!  This puts you in a great position to license up to 200 songs for your first year, depending on which package you choose.  They offer packages that can be paid monthly, or you can purchase a yearly subscription.

I hope that this little present helps everyone have a Merry Christmas, and makes 2012 that much more of a better year for you and your beloved clients!

Blessings,

Mark