Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Zion... Again.


At this point, I've been to Zion National Park in Utah at least 6 times. I was introduced to it by a friend about 3 years ago. Where most of our national parks have their landmarks that make them so famous, for some reason Zion floats just under the radar. Its easily overlooked and most unsavvy individuals typically ask, "Zion National Wha?" Having been to several of our parks, this one really makes you appreciate that we have the National Park System that we do.

While carving your way up the canyon into the park by shuttle bus, the announcer slowly begins to take you on the journey of how it actually formed. His voice is subtle and he pauses often to really allow you to understand with your own imagination of how over the course of millions of years, at one point this was actually the bottom of the ocean as we know it. The salt and the wieght of the water slowly packed and cemented these gigantic sandstone cliffs. As the water receded it painstakingly carved out this canyon leaving a wildlife sanctuary from top to bottom like nothing else in the world. In fact in addition to the voice of the announcer, on the bus, and in the park everywhere, you'll hear languages being spoken from all over the world.

I've been to Mt. Kilamanjaro in Tanzania, I've been to the tropical beaches of Thailand, I've even spent the night and hiked the Great Wall of China. I won't say that one is better than any of others, but Zion will harness your outdoor spirit and capture your every awe.




Wedding El Mexicano.

After the Marketing Bootcamp this weekend in Los Angeles, it has come to my attention that I have not been keeping up with "the blog." I'm making a statement, that I will now, and I'm looking forward to it. There are TONS of photographic content that aren't put up yet, so I'm just going to keep them coming. I've been told over and over from the "experts" that being a commercial photographer, I shouldn't put anything other than that on our blog. I'm quite aware of the "repercussions" of posting these sort of things when you are supposed to be a commercial photographer. Its safe to say, at this point, that I don't really care. If you want to know what I do for work, if you could call it that, have a look at our website... If you want to know what I do in life, so you know who you're working with, well then... stay tuned.

From time to time I must admit, I like to shoot weddings. Especially when it is for a friend. You also get to choose the amount of time you'd like to shoot, and you almost always end up with a few gems. This was for some friends of mine, Fermin & Nellie. Fermin can be wild and fun, and Nellie always seems to ground him in ways a man should be grounded. They're a wonderful couple and I wish them the very best. ;)












Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Personal Development.

Sometime ago I was on the search for additional income for myself to sustain mounting student loan debt. After looking at a couple of different options, you know, selling drugs, marrying a foreign girl, selling my hot body and the like, I settled on a multi-level-marketing company. It seemed like the most reasonable after comparing the risks. Now I did make a few bucks at the company and I did have a little "team" that was working for/with me for about almost 10 months. During which time Photon Concepts did suffer, although as you'll soon find out, I learned a lot.

With this company, and I won't name names but it rhymed with Shmee Shmade Shmegal, there was a large commitment to go to trainings and seminars. Being there to actually make money, I dove in head first. I attended almost every training, seminar, special event, etc.

One of the many things that I walked away with from this company and its trainings once I moved on from it, was embarking on a path of personal development.

I'm paraphrasing here but I was told once...
"In order to succeed in business, you must work twice as hard on yourself as you do your business." -Jim Rohn

The only place where accomplishment comes before hard work, is in the dictionary. You must go to work on yourself, and luckily for you, its not that difficult. That multi level marketing company that I once worked with shouted just - 10 pages of a good book per day. If you think you can't handle that, or its just too much... put the book by the toilet. Its really not that difficult at all and the compounding goodness that stems from it is seriously incredible.

Embarking on that path of personal development almost 3 years ago has left me, 20-30 books smarter, more patient, more thoughtful, a better listener, better speaker, attentive to my daily work, more detail oriented, a better family man, consistently smarter on the take, a better presenter, a better friend, and a better reader, just to name a few.

Recently I attended a seminar called, Craig Duswalt's Rockstar Marketing Bootcamp in Los Angeles with a good friend of mine, photographer, author, Michael Stern. One of the stars of the 5 day seminar was famous speaker, author Brian Tracy. By the time I had gotten to a book by Brian Tracy in my path for personal development I was right where I needed to be. It was a pivotal moment and the name of that book was, Million Dollar Habits. That book single handily catapulted my understanding of what I really wanted for myself and my family both in my business and financially.

I got to meet Mr. Tracy and take a quick snapshot with him in the front of the lobby. Its kind of a shakey pic, but you get the idea. He was kind full of humility and I must admit, I've been to the Playboy Mansion and this was one of the first times being just a little starstruck. I'd love to download his brain via USB. It was really nice to meet a the guy who wrote the words that were the "cherry on top" so to speak.

Here are a couple of books I've read and I believe you should too.

Million Dollar Habits - Brian Tracy
The Slight Edge - Jeff Olson
The Success Principles - Jack Canfield
The Exceptional Presenter - Tim Koegal
4-Hour Work Week - Timothy Ferriss