TheBuzz

Seniors (Its Time for 09)

It's that time of year again, GRADUATION!! With graduation comes the passing of the baton to the next leaders of the class. Each year we celebrate this momentous occasion as high school juniors begin the extremely exciting journey to the class of a SENIOR. This Saturday we had a celebration for them. We want to send a big thanks out to all of you that came by. It was so fun to watch you laugh together during your photo booth sessions and entertain Washington with karaoke in the street. We wish we could bottle some of your energy!

During the celebration, everyone that scheduled their senior session was entered into a drawing for a shopping spree at Pink Sugar Boutique. Congrats to the winner, Jenna Haste of Dunlap. Big thanks to the Girls at Pink Sugar ( Erin and Cory Crusen) for being a part of our open house.

If you missed the open house, you can actually still experience a bit of Pink Sugar with a 20% coupon off of any one clothing item when you book a senior session with Portraitlife before June 15th. (call the studio for more details 309-444-8514).

While we are talking about young people, make sure you pick up a copy of our latest newsletter (Northwoods mall or the Portraitlife Studio). It's an inspirational story of a young girl name Meghan Hirschmann, owner of Bezales. Bezales is not your ordinary company. The driving force behind Bezales is certainly not your average corporate leader. Instead, the Bezales story is about family, values, hard work and creativity — not to mention the vision of a 16-year old entrepreneur. So pick up a copy of "Lifestyle" and learn more about Bezales.

Big Sky Country

Julia and I had just back from Montana where we shot the beautiful wedding of Paul & Tenneil. Here are a few of our faves. It was our first time to the Big Sky Country. I really enjoyed driving fast on the open roads! I kinda felt like Ricky Bobby (Mom I am going fast) haha. If you would like to see more images check out our new wedding website at www.jeffreyandjuliawoods.com. Enjoy

I know I know...

Thanks for all the hate mail I have received due to my lack of blogging. haha! (I can't believe it has been almost 5 months since my last post.) Julia and I have had such a wonderful winter and now spring. We have been on the road for most of it. It's been great to meet so many of you during our travels.

Well, all I can say is that I am back and I will try to make every effort to post at least once a week. That way I can catch you up on what we are up to. Which most of the time just seems like insanity.

One thing we have going on this month is our last "exposed" workshop until the fall. So, we wanted to have some fun and get our good friends at Blu Domain involved. We had a contest to give away a free seat. The catch was contestants had to draw a stick figure of Julia and I. It was so fun to see all the creativity that you all put into this.

We have to admit we were really overwhelmed with the response. We recieved over 450 emails. Here were the four finalist.

AND THE WINNER? Bonnie Novotny

When she incorporated our children it seriously melted our heart. We look forward meeting you Bonnie.

ONE CONFERENCE 08

Julia and I have had "ONE" in the works for a long time (actually about three years). We have been waiting for the right time and we wanted to take the time to make sure our motives were pure. We wanted to make sure we could really help couples unite in a stonger way. That's not to say that we have all the answers, but we do know we have the passion to share from our own experiences. The details about the conference are being set in motion, however I wanted to let all the faithful readers in on somthing special. This endevor is from the heart! It will not be a photography conference full of fluff but, practical information to help not only your business grow but to most importantly strengthen your marriage vows. We have a few other couples getting involved that we are excited to tell you more about. Details are almost finalized and with in the next week we will open up registration. So stay tuned. I hope to see you there! If you would like to be on the waiting list feel free to email us at info@jwweddinglife.com .You will be able to find out more at www.sidebyside247.com

Out of the Office.

Julia and I will be making our annual pilgrimage to one of the biggest photographic convention and tradeshow. We go to be inspire but, also to inspire others. Julia and I will be doing a fair amount of speaking. If you are a photographer and headed to the convention please stop by and say hi.

Here is our schedule while in Tampa.

Friday & Saturday, Jan 4th & 5th (Pre Convention classes at the Tampa Bay Convention Center)
Sunday, Jan 6th 10:00am (Digital Wedding Forum at The Grand Hyatt) Sponsored by Canon
Sunday, Jan 6th 4:00pm (Canon Explores of Light Tradeshow booth)
Monday, Jan 7th 1:00pm (Canon Explores of Light Tradeshow booth)
Monday, Jan 7th 2:00pm (Marathon Press Tradeshow booth)
Tuesday, Jan 8th Noon (Marathon Press Tradeshow booth)
Tuesday, Jan 8th 3:30-6:30 (Platform "Art of Success") Sponsored by Bella Grafica

We will also be releasing some brand new products for photographers during the convention. They will also be available through our education website."Need to Change" They include new photoshop brushes, photoshop embellishments, and layered psd templates. This will be the first release of these new products.

While in the area, please join us for our good friend Ryan Joseph's gallery opening in historic Ybor City at the Hoffman Porges Gallery . It's bound to be a great time with friends and a wonderful exhibit of his photographs from a resent trip to Africa.

Last One in 07!

Well after 25 weddings for this year Julia and I end 07 with a bang. Mark and Vanessa dreamed of a winter wedding and it turned out to be beautiful day! We started at one of our favorite hotels which is actually named after us The "W" , well not really but as much as we stay there I would love to call it my second home. The wedding took place on the beautiful campus of DePaul University and the reception at the historic Mid-Day Club on the 56th floor of Chase Towers. The wedding party had so much fun we were even allowed to go on the ice at Millennium Park (special permission of course, hanging with us has its perks)

Mark and Vanessa we wish you all the best! I hope you enjoyed Australia.

You can always see more on our wedding website www.jwweddinglife.com

Patrick and Jeana

Winding down another great year of photographing weddings! Wedding was shot here in our hometown at the historic St. Marys Cathedral and Hotel Pere Marquette.

I love my friends!

I would like to introduce you to one of my "many" best friends as my wife puts it. Parker J and I met a almost a decade ago and we have been like Abbot and Costello since or if your into today's lingo Rob and Big (I will let you guess who is who). Parker has taught us so much and one of those life lessons is shooting from the heart. Parker always says he doesn't shoot because he needs to. He shoots because he has to. His soul needs to. One thing about Clicky (as we call him) is you will never see him without his camera. It is truly a part of his soul. He has challenged Julia and I in so many ways. For those of who you have never gotten the chance to see Parker in action I thought I would leave you with something special! How to use a flash PJ style. lol

We are so blessed to have so many great friends. Over the next few weeks I would like to introduce you to some of them. Stay tuned.

A Sneak Peak of Image X 08

Julia and I have been honored to be a part of an all-star line up of great photographers. It is to be held in New Orleans next Oct. We are letting you in on a little sneak peak of what is in store. Be sure to check our blog and the Image X website in the next few months for details.

Here is a list of the Who's Who of photography who will be teaching.
Parker Pfister
Jessica Claire
Joe Photo
John Michael Cooper
Victor C. Sizemore
Gene Higa
Cherie Stienberg
Chenin Boutwell
Julia Bailey

See you there!
Jeff

We have not fallen off the face of the EARTH!

Well at least not yet anyway. This time of year can be so demanding on us. I had decided to take some time off from blogging for a while. Sorry to say the Blog was last on my list. I have had to keep a priority list that was so important in keeping my sanity this season. This is the first time in years that I can think of that Julia and I actually have enjoyed the Christmas season. We have taken some time of to enjoy our children and friends. We beat all of our deadlines on client orders (thank you Jesus!) and we are still pushing out Christmas cards everyday. Julia and I have been getting our fill of inspiration for innovative ideas for 08. So a little time away is always good. I hope you guys and gals have a wonderful Christmas and please enjoy the true reason of the season.