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Hi everyone! I know it has seemed that I have been awol over the past few days. Kind of reminds me of the movie ET when he was lost and trying to send a message out for rescue. The past few weeks it's been like getting an audience with the Pope to try to find time to get on here to let you know what's happening. The answer is a lot! We have had several projects in the works and it seems that they are all kind of landing at once. Weddings and movies have been common words around the studio. At one point I was up in a bucket truck shooting wedding pictures. Believe me that would have gotten someone some money if that had been captured on digital.

Along with real estate packages, we have begun putting together some other wedding type packages. We are so honored to have been approached by a area business to team up with them in the development of these types of packages and I hope to present the full details very shortly. Let's just say that if you are looking to get married soon (especially around mid September) you will want to hear about what we're up to. We are teaming up with some great folks in a absolutely gorgeous location and you can bet the moment I get the ok to give you the details I will.

Also, I got to spend another day on the set of the "History of Branson" documentary film on Sunday. I've mentioned so many times how great it has been to be part of the team on this project. I've got to tell you that I have really under stated things. I'm telling you that the movie with all of it's drama and realism couple with the accuracy in detail is cause enough to own this movie. Add in the fact that many of our still photos are use in the movie and that should move it right to the top of the most desired Christmas gift list. But you just will laugh your self silly when you see the bloopers. I've just got to tell you about just one of them that happen on this last outing. One scene depicts the shooting and killing of a man outside a church. The victim has no weapon visible but is wearing a long jacket that is button. While walking towards the church he is confronted by someone with a warrant for his arrest. Upon hearing this he reaches inside his jacket at which time he is shot dead before he can get his hand and whatever he was trying to get out from his jacket. During one of the takes I was standing behind the shooter so I could get a straight on view of the victim being shot. As the scene progresses I am in continuous shooting mode and taking pictures at a rate of 4 pictures a second. It was clear that something wasn't right because the victims hand came out of the jacket about the time he was shot. When the scene was cut we went back and reviewed my stills to find that just before the actor was shot he pulled his hand out with his forefinger and thumb extended in the shape of a gun trying to shoot the shooter. His answer was that he couldn't help it as it seemed the natural thing to do. Now in all fairness he was not the scheduled actor to do the scene. He was a stand in and not a regular actor but it was still funny. It will make a great blooper.

Speaking of bloopers, it's time I get back to work. I will try to get more pictures up in the next few days. In the mean time, have a great day everyone!

Richard

Just another Hollywood moment

Hi everyone. I spent the day working with Bear Creek Productions on their movie set of “The History of Branson". It was a really great day working with the cast and crew again. Mike Johnson, the owner of BCP, has really done his home work and goes to great lengths to get the story right. It has been a great experience let alone a privilege to have been given this opportunity to work on this movie. Mike has given the ok to post some of the pictures I’ve taken and so here are a couple.

Pretty cool, huh? I got to tell you I have had a lot of fun doing this job and then to have several of the photos I've taken used in the movie, well that's just to super cool (pretty hip for such an old dude right). I am really looking forward to the movies' release and I want to encourage you to watch for the World Premier. Our history in the area is not pretty but it is fascinating. I'm looking forward to working with Mike and the whole BCP team on future projects.

We've also shot a wedding and are looking to having many of those pictures posted up on our site in a few weeks. Shooting a wedding is exhausting but really in the grand skeem of things it is fun and rewarding. There is just something about capturing the beginnings of a couples union and the story of the day that is just so neat (will there goes the hipness out the old window).

There is one thing that I have began to notice about weddings that to me is kind of alarming. Now I will have to go into it in depth in a later blog but in brief it pertains to what is missing from the wedding celebration. We all hear and see the love that has grown between the bride and groom but you never hear why they fell in love or how that love came to be and grow. To me those things seem to be just as important if not more so than the union itself. The reason, I think, is that weddings seem to fall under the "but rule". The "but rule" is simply that no matter what is said it is completely canceled out when the word "but" is put into the statement behind it. In short, when the couple says "I do" the memory of their courtship begins to fade. Much like the use of the word "but," all those special things that brought them to this moment looses their value as if the calender is reset to day one. As their life as man and wife moves forward it seems that that the foundation only goes back to the "I do" thing. To me, thats a little like trying to build a ten story building starting with the third floor. When the "why" is forgotten the motivation looses something. Wow, if that's brief I can't wait to see how long the not brief version is.

Well, this post started out great and has ended in a groan. Yep, my work here is done!

Have a great day, everybody!

Richard

Isn't life fun

Hi everyone. Well we have been looking at apps that have been submitted to us online and we have contacted some for a face to face interview. There is time for you to put in your own app if you might be interested, so take a minute to do that before you leave our site.

Have you ever heard someone say "If it was easy everyone would be doing it"? Well all my life I've heard that and I guess it's gotten a little old. In a way that has a lot of truth to it but there's not a lot of comfort in that. You would like to think that the more you do something the easier it would get. NOPE! But if that was the case than everyone would be doing it and what you are doing wouldn't be so special. I guess we would all like things to be much like the old Staple's "Easy" button but that's just not what God had in mind when he placed us on this rock we call home. He knows that we only learn and grow as human beings when we have failures and pains that enter into are lives. We never seem to remember the successful and happy things that we have, and when someone tries to remind us about those times we almost always respond with a "yea, but" answer. The fact is that most of us don't like bumps in our road. They almost always cause us to go real slow making a relatively short distance drag on forever. On the other hand the fact is that the most of us don't take the time to appreciate a good road. Why? I think it's because there is nothing there (like a bump) to remind us to be appreciative. After all that's the way the road's suppose to be, right. But let us hit a chuck hole and the whine starts flowing. And if that's not enough, look out when we come into a construction and repair zone where someone is trying to make our road even better because then it's "Mission control, we have lift off!" Go ahead and ask me how I know. Now if I was a betting man (and I'll bet you I'm not) I would bet that I drive over more smooth roads by far than down old bumpy ones. As for the bumpy ones, chances are they didn't start out bumpy. Could it be that they became bumpy because of our lack of appreciation for a good smooth surface when we drove over it then. Are you failing to appreciate something in your life because that's what's expected only to go ballistic when those standards are missed even just a little. I know I do! Well I know I would be better off if I tried to recognize and appreciate the good smooth road. If neglected, additional chuck holes are likely to appear where we can least afford them. There's enough chuck hole in this world without us helping to create a few more! The moral is don't be a chuck hole or be a carrier that causes them.

Well I guess I need to get back to work, so, have a great day everybody! Richard

Hello everyone! We continue to work on several new services to better meet the needs of our customers. I've got to tell you that this 360 degree panoramic photography is pretty cool. If you haven't checked it out you need to do so. Go to our home page and look under our services section and then under the Real Estate sub section. There you will find an example of a 360 degree photo that was taken at a Scottish Rite auditorium in Kansas. Many organization have facilities like these in which they offer to rent out for special events such as weddings, family reunions, hobby and special interest shows, etc. With this kind of a service, these organization can better promote themselves and gain the edge over other similar organization doing the same. Potential customers can actually see the area better than they can with single photos (not that those aren't good and necessary) and with video the customer has no control on the view they are looking at. With this the costumer can zoom in and out, backwards and forwards, and up and down. How cool is that!? Try it out, you'll like it! This service can be used by so many different clients to give them the edge. Real Estate, motel/hotel, convention centers, entertainment venues, churches, civic centers, resorts, and the list goes on. Rates will be posted soon and will be very highly competitive.

So what's coming next!? The suspense is killing me much like the scene in the movie "Willy Wonka" when the kid falls into the chocolate river and gets caught in the tube going to the fudge room. Well, we have several in the works so stay in touch.

By the way, all this reminds me that we have a couple of positions for entry level photographers, so if you or someone you know is responsible, trustworthy, and has a professional work ethics you need to fill out one of our online apps found under the employment section on the home page. But do it quick because we are going to start interviews right away!!!!

Finally, I'd like to take a few minutes to share a little about what has been going on with me in the last few weeks. If you have ever owned and operated a business "you've just gots ta know" that you get the opportunity to run into all kinds of folks and many times the running into turns out to be not very fun. On the other hand there is the other extreme of folks you just seem to feel a deep sense of joy to be around. Some even a sense of being complete by just having them around you. Those who you feel your life is better because you know them and I have several that fall into that category, one or two in particular. On the other side there are a few in particular as well. What I have gotten from those is a few flash backs of things taught to me by a lot of really smart people who really cared for me and I could count as among the few really close friends in my life. They taught me by way of memorable stories, many of which were funny or in joke form. For me that was the best way to learn. It's just to bad that I needed to have a boot applied to my posterior side to get me to apply most of the lessons they taught. One story in particular has been haunting me lately. It's about two statues, Venus and Mercury, who had stood in a park for many, many years, and where granted two hours of life able to do anything a real human could do. The moral of the story is what you sew you usually reap. It may take awhile but it will come back to you usually with a vengeance. I don't want to bore you with the details but if you ask I'll tell you the story.

Well, that's a wrap! That's movie lingo (a shameless plug about our working with a movie), or I've eaten at to many fast food places lately. Have a great day everyone. Richard