WPPI 2007 Thirst Benefit Mentor Auction


Who: You and generous and talented industry leaders who are donating their time, wisdom, experience and excellence in the form of 1-90 minute mentoring sessions.

The List in Alphabetical Order:
Becker
Charles and Jennifer Maring
Chenin and Doug Boutwell
Chris LaLonde
Dane Sanders
David Beckstead
David Jay
Davina Fear
Denis Reggie
DQ Studios
Gary Fong
Gene Higa
Huy from f8 Studio
Jeff Jochum
Jefferson Todd
Jeffrey and Julia Woods
Jerry Ghionis
Jessica Claire
Jim and Lara Davis-Hicks
Joe Photo
John at Imagemakr.com
John Michael Cooper
Joy and Garrett Nudd
LaCour's Rachel and Andrew
Laura Novak
Liana Lehman
Marcus Bell
Matt Antonino
Me Ra Koh
Michele Celentano
Mike Colon
Mike Larson
Nathan and Amber Holritz
Parker Pfister
Pepper Nix
Ryan Joseph
Stephen and Jen Bebb
Vanessa Hall from Wildberry Studio+Design
Vicki Taufer
Yervant

What: The 2nd Annual WPPI Thirst Benefit Mentor Auction is happening this week! Each of the Mentors listed above has donated 1-90 minute mentor session to the highest online bidder. 100% of all proceeds will go directly to providing pure water for those who need it most via Thirst Relief International.

When: The Auction will be live March 1st-March 8th at midnight PST.

Why: Because over 1 billion people lack access to safe, clean water and nearly 2.5 million children die annually as a result. For $5 we can provide a lifetime of safe, clean water to one person in need! Click here to learn how.

HOW????: Follow these instructions in detail to place your online bid!

1. Click the link below (thanks to fotoverite.com for the free online auction)
2. Once you arrive at fotoverite.com click on the Thirst Relief Logo and register for the auction.
5. You'll then see all the different names and auctions you can bid on. Follow the intuitive online bidding format provided.

BID ON YOUR FAVORITE MENTOR NOW!! By clicking HERE.

Note: If you win the auction you will be required to make your payment online via credit card at www.thirstrelief.org within 24 hours of winning. If you do not make your payment you will forfeit your session and the second highest bidder will be the winner. Please do not bid if you are not prepared to donate online within 24 hours of winning the auction.

I created a new action today! It's kind of a cross between a vintage look and a color infrared. I call it Colortage. It will be bundled in the User Friendly V.2.0 of ActionRunner. The GUI for ActionRunner 2.0 is so smooth and seemless, user friendly and dummy proof! It's gonna be rockin!

However, while I've been able to get alot of work done today since my parents are in town Lara has had a horrible day. Please pray for her health. I can't stand to see her like this. Why pregnancy affects some like this and not others is a mystery.

God bless,

jim

so my last post was on friday, lara's best day was saturday.

could it be a prayerful connection?

let's do an experiment.

if you know anyone that is a praying, miracle believing believer ask them to pray for Lara to be freed from the extreme nausea she experiences in pregnancy.

right now she is completely bedridden and vomits multiple times a day. saturday she experienced some freedom and actually got showered, dressed and out of the house for a few hours. it was amazing to have her back among us! the next day, she was back to normal.

so, that said, she is in need of some prayer! please pass this request on to others and i'll report back on how she is doing!

thank you.

Life Comes At You Fast!!

Though we do have our coats on since it was only 56 degrees and windy, it was sure nice compared to what we came home to! Frozen pipes in our kitchen (our house was built in 1875 and has poor insulation under our floors in the kitchen) anyway it's been anywhere from -7 to 20 degrees but not above that for like 2 weeks now! Lara is also really sick with the first trimester of our 3rd child! So, from 56 to -7, to a sick and bedridden momma and some needy boys with a thriving business and helping to run www.thirstrelief.org I am kinda busy!

I'll take all the prayers I can get! God bless you all.

Here is the snow outside my back door!

I don't know if this is from who it say's it is but I must say I think it's pretty accurate and a real masterpiece.

Enjoy.

AN EXPLANATION OF TAX CUTS.........................
Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; "It's just a tax
cut for the rich!" and it is just accepted to be fact, without
questioning it. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are
not completely clear on this issue, the following might help.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that
every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to
$100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something
like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce
the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just
$80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men; the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would
each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's
bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the
amounts each should pay.
And so:
The first four men (the poorest) would still pay nothing.
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The
sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5
instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25%
savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth
now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men
began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the
$20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got
$10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar,
too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the
tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers
without him.
But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something
important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even
half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, PhD
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

This picture represents our growing family. Count how many snowmen there are!

I've read that Ancient Celtic Warriors used to strip down naked and paint their bodies before heading to war! This must be the Irish coming out in my boys!

Today is Brayden's 3rd Birthday. He definitely has a warrior spirit. Sometimes it wears me out, I am just praying that I can help to direct it in the right direction.

Happy Birthday Brayden, your daddy and mommy love you soooooooo much!

Every year now at WPPI we are doing a Thirst Relief Benefit Mentor Auction. Big name photogs like Mike Colon, David Jay, Dane Sanders and many others sign up to be mentors for a 45 minute session. All the procedes go directly to benefit Thirst Relief International!

Super cool news is that Denis Reggie known as "the father of wedding photojournalism" is on board as a mentor! I am blown away at the continued amazing responses that we get in support of Thirst Relief International!

Thank you Denis and the entire photo community!

Just as I was writing this I received word that [b]ecker and jessica claire are both in too!

This weekend's slidshow from the wedding. click here

So this weekend I shot this really great couples wedding, Jennifer and Jason. But, as wedding time often is running late we were running out of daylight fast and on top of that it was raining! So we had to get really creative. I saw this old horse barn at the venue and thought, that'd be a great shot, but no light???? hmmm, I don't want a fake look of just flash, even bounced or filtered wouldn't give me the look I was going for, so I asked Mike Lotz of Lotz Photography who was shooting with me to pull my truck up and shine the lights in the barn at an angle, this is what I got! If you could see what it looked like with the naked eye you'd be amazed at how this shot turned out! When I showed them on my D2x lcd they couldn't believe it! I was very pleased. I'm gonna make a soft box for my headlights, no joke.

God bless guys! Have a great time in Canada on your honeymoon, I hope you get the snow you were praying for!

all i can say is "what happened to my bucks?" that was not the same team i cheered on all year!

wow, i'm in shock.

i will give credit to Troy Smith right after the game he said "There is a whole lot more to life than football, this kinda stuff forces you to grow up."

wow, he didn't blame the line, or lack of line, he just recognized it's a sport and he better build his life on more than just how well he plays it.

i'm sick at the loss but i wish i was more sick at what is happening every day across the globe with injustices that are too sick to mention here. know what i mean?

Scrooge/Grinch or next to Santa/Elf like???

Which one are YOU? I'd love to hear what best describes you this time of year and why?

I can be a bit of a Scrooge cause I hate buying gifts for folks that already have everything already! I think that consumerism christmas has almost completely wiped out the real meaning of Christmas, but I do love the concept of giving, it's just hard cause so many folks need so much more than us and yet we give to eachother. Don't get me wrong, I love giving a gift to folks that need it or if it's something really cool that they don't have but I'd rather go in with my family and buy a car or something crazy for a family in need or do international effort stuff like fund an entire well $5k in Zambia with Thirst or something.

So what are you? I'd love to hear!

Also, I have a super cool photog seminar idea, it will only accomodate like 3 photogs max per session but it will be super cool! Shoot me an email info@davistools.com if your interested in learning more.

Being the President of non-profit www.thirstrelief.org is like being a kid during Christmas time! I never know how much year end giving we'll see come in and it's so exciting to see them when they arrive! It's been so fun to see Mike Colon, Gary Fong, Jeffrey and Julia Woods and many others getting involved and generously!

Life is good, business is good, kids are great, marriage is rockin! I like when life feels like it does right now, but I know that whether it feels good or not God is good!

I'm thankful for the gift of Jesus this Christmas and for all of you too!

God bless, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a "Weekend to Remember"!!!

For real, I must say this past weekend was by far the very best investment I've made into my marriage. What an incredibly amazing experience! I can't say enough.

Whether your engaged to be married, into it a few years, on the rocks, doing great or are celebrating your golden anniversary this conference is a winner!

I was so impressed I want to go back next year. They have them all over the country and in some really cool locations too! WOW!!!!

Jose Alvarez and Karl and Junanne Clauson were the speakers and they rocked!

I just can't believe how great it was! I know you can also listen to some of Karl's other messages at www.changepointalaska.com what a gifted speaker and a man full of the life of God!

Weekend To Remember

Lara and I are headed off to this really incredible weekend marriage conference. I'm super exctied about it. They say "If you don't agree that this is the best money you've ever spent toward your marriage we'll refund your money." With this type of a guarantee plus the recommendation of some friends who have been to it we figured we couldn't pass it up!

Marriage is such an amazing gift and such an incredible responsibility! I had a friend who said "You know, I started thinking, "I'm getting this walk with Jesus down pretty good, I'm doing pretty good in life and just being a better person. . . . then, I got married and realized what an absolute jerk I still was. Then I got the marriage part down a good bit and started feeling good about me again . . . then I had kids and . . ."

You get the point. Anyway, I'm excited to learn how to be the best husband I can be!

God bless you all!

P.S. Thanks Mom and Dad for staying with the kids!

I just received an email from a sister-in-law of a couple we shot like 4 years ago. She had a print that was somehow damaged and wanted to order a new one. It's times like these that I am so glad to be a Pictage partner! Using a pro lab like Pictage allows me to simply go online, select the event I want to rerelease and click "release" and it's done. Now the customer can simply go online, reorder the pic and I don't have to dig up old back up cd's, make the print, mail the print etc. for what would be nearly no profit when it's all done. Plus by releasing the event online again it might just generate a few more sales etc. as I added a discount purchase price for the next two months! If you've not used Pictage or have heard negative things in the past about them, just know that the CEO Jason Keifer recently sent out a letter addressing the 4 most common complaints about their services and he described in detail their efforts to improve in these areas. I'm proud to be in partnership with such a great company! And since I've had no sponsorship from Pictage (though I wish I was) I say this with no other motive than simply turning others onto a great service that really reduces the stress in my life and allows to focus on running my business, not just maintain it.

This Christmas consider giving the gift of life by providing a bio sand water filter to a village in need. For only $50 you can implement and install a filter that will radically change the health of a community, save lives and provide jobs for our ground workers that labor diligently every day to produce these incredible life saving filters! To learn more about how you can get involved visit www.thirstrelief.org also, the first 50 responders will receive a free Thirst t-shirt!

I just received these pix from Dave Webster who recently visited our water project in Zambia! Dave has been an amazing supporter of Thirst Relief International both as a source of encouragement and financially! Thanks Dave.

Sometimes I wonder how many people are jealous that I have the cutest kids in the world!

Not really, but man I can't imagine them any cuter!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

I just received this VanValkenburg Original drawing that has my son Brayden's name in it.

Can you see it?

These are really incredible works of art!