Tuesdays Top 5 Volume 3

It’s been a while since i’ve don’t a top 5, but as always there’s a lot of cool stuff out there, and I’m thrilled to share it with you!  Let me know what you think.

Favorite APP

1Password Pro – If you ever get your passwords mixed up, you’ll love this app.  I picked up this app when they were giving it away for some reason another, but if i had missed that deal i would pay the $7.99 any day.  You can set a general PIN as well as a Master Passcode (if you’re extra paranoid).  Then you have a convenient list of all your passwords for all of your logins.  1Password is also available on the computer and works as a plugin for your browser to manage all of your logins.

Check out the official website for more.

Favorite Beer

Anything from Lagunitas Brewery.  My good friend over at Redlight Redlight got married (we got to shoot his wedding!) introduced me to Lagunitas last month, and there was plenty of it to go around at the wedding.  I had to test for consistency so i re-tested it on my recent “that was delicious” road trip and it was still just as good.

http://www.lagunitas.com/

Favorite Music

It’s not new, but I’ve been listening a lot to one of my favorite albums by “RX Bandits”, an album called the resignation. It mixes a combination of hard rock, reggae and ska (yes i said ska, they have horns, i don’t’ know what else to call it).  Great lyrics and a great jam band style, you definitely have to give it a listen

Favorite Movie

Zombieland – laugh your pants off funny, pretty gory, and one of the best surprise cameos ever!

Wildcard

Why does this always end up being a lens?  About a month ago, I tested out the 85mm 1.2 from my friends at thelensdepot.com (Our favorite place to rent gear from).  It was splendid, I didn’t want to give it back, but I didn’t have a choice.  I was able to talk Becka into it, and now it’s ours!  Using it has pushed me to shoot a lot tighter than normal, but it’s sharpness and bokeh are really second to none.

Which brings me to my final point…

We’ve got a couple extra lenses now, and it’s time to pass on a couple of our favorite tools to you. Shipping will be added on based on your zip code.

First, a classic:  the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L $875 (Retails for $1329 on B&H)

Disclaimer -We may or may not have lost the hood… Ok, we did.. It’s not the end of the world. We lost it in New York City, so that’s a good story… Also, there are some scratches and a small dent on the rim in the front of lens where the filters screw on, but they still go on fine. Can you tell this was our go-to lens for a while? It’s such a perfect range, especially for traveling. The glass is in great shape, the barrel is metal (a little loose when it’s fully extended, which is standard across the board on these).  It’s one of the go to lenses for professionals, and it has served us very well… but we’re just about full on zoom lenses and switching to primes…

Second – the Canon 50mm f/1.4 – $275 (Retails for $349 on B&H)

Another go to lens, it’s in perfect shape and is the best affordable prime lens that will really push the way you shoot.  Canon’s 50mm lenses are favorites among photographers for their versatility and gorgeous background blur. We upgraded to the 1.2 so this one doesn’t get much use anymore. It’s fast and great in low light, great background blur, fast focus, and sharp.

We’re selling them first come first serve. Email us if you’re interested and we’ll send you a paypal invoice. We’re letting you blog lovelies know first, then we’ll be announcing it to our facebook fans. We’d like to get this sold and shipped out before we leave for Vegas on Sunday.

Dayna and Ian are married! Their wedding was a perfect day and we were so excited to get to spend it celebrating with them. One of the things we were most excited to collaborate with Dayna and Ian on was their PARTY BOOTH. Party Booths are portable photo “booths” that can be set up almost anywhere at your reception and can be customized to match your wedding decor. They not only help to entertain your guests, but they also give you extra snap-shotted memories of the crazy, sexy people who made your wedding day special. We have a few basic design options that you can pick from and customize or we can work together to build an idea completely from scratch. We are currently working on our Party Booth Lookbook that will showcase our current themes. If you are a bride and you’d like to add a Party Booth to your reception, send us an email and we’ll make it happen!

If you are a guest from this wedding, all the Party Booth images are available online. Simply contact the bride and groom for the password!

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Do you love 222 as much as we do? Well you can’t get more 222 than today, February 22. And to celebrate, we’ve giving away a Mini Wedding Swag Bag! If you’ve ever wanted one of our coveted creative ring shots. If you’ve ever thought that partying at your wedding with Nate and I sounds like fun. If you’ve ever thought that getting SWAG just for the sake of swag sounds lovely, then we’ve got a contest for you!

The winning couple will win a pretty sweet collection of goodies from us and some of our lovely friends!

The winning couple will receive:
-5 hours a la carte wedding coverage by Becka & Nate at Studio222 Photography
-Private online proofing gallery of their wedding images
-A concept Engagement session with Becka & Nate
-High resolution digital files on DVD from the wedding and engagement session
-A 1 hour design consultation from wedding coordinator extraordinaire, Brandee at Blush by Brandee Gaar
-A super chic bridal tank top and tote from The Wedding Chicks
-Custom designed Save the Date cards + 22% off (how cute are they?) invitations or other stationery from Orange Blossom Ink

That’s a wedding SWAG bag worth over $3600!

To Enter:
Get out whatever camera you have and get creative! We want you to send us an image that you and your better half create incorporating the numbers 222 as well as your personal style. Show us who you are! Easy enough right? That’s all the direction we’re giving you. We want to see what you’re beautiful imaginations dream up!

Details: We (along with a panel of super cool judges) will be selecting images that make us feel something, that catch our eye, that really tell us something about the couple and will be posting them on the blog for all to see along with a little info on each selected couple. Then it’s your turn to get the word out. Votes are cast by comments. The couples with the most votes will become our finalists and our panel of expert judges will pick a winner!

Rules:
-submissions must be made via email to info@studio222photography.com by 11:59 EST on Feb 27, 2010.
-emails must include: “222″ image, a photo of the couple, wedding location and date, and a short paragraph about the couple
-the couple must be a fan of our work and willing to give us full creative control
-open to couples getting married in 2010 only

And some fine print:
-the couple must have their wedding date and venue set in stone (elopements are okay too!)
-couples contracted with another photographer are excluded from entry in this contest
-couples already booked with Studio222 Photography are excluded from this contest
-open to new inquiring couples only
-out of area submissions will be accepted but if chosen, the couple will be responsible for any and all travel fees
-winners will be notified via email as well as announced on this blog.
-If winners fail to claim their prize within one week they forfeit the prize.
-Studio222 Photography reserves the right to use personal discretion to select images for blog and final winner.
-Obviously, only entries for dates we are currently available will be eligible (We are currently 100% booked for October, FYI)

PS. Photographers, check the blog post from earlier today to find out how you can win an amazing canvas from our favorite supplier!

Happy 2/22 everyone! To celebrate, we’ve got two big giveaways planned for today. This is the first, and it’s for our beloved photographer friends.

Roxanne Benton, canvas-goddess and kick ass company owner, has been gracious enough to allow us to give away a certificate for one 20×24 canvas from Pixel 2 Canvas. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a canvas from Pixel 2 Canvas, but let us tell you… they are the best of the best. Their mission is to partner with photographers to create the finest quality artwork for their customers. Pixel 2 Canvas is also proud to be OBA free which allows their canvases to be of an unparalleled quality. (You can read more about why that matters here.) Our client’s adore theirs, we adore ours, and we always get “oooohs” and “ahhhhs” from everyone who steps foot in our house and sees the one we have hanging over our TV.

So, here’s what we want from you photographers… we want you to send us your best, most creative, most awe-inspiring, most hilarious long exposure spelling out “222″ in light. Send images sized no larger than 800 wide to us at info@studio222photography.com/blog by this Thursday at 11:50pm EST.

We’ll be posting the winning image on the blog on Friday so don’t forget to check back in. We’ll also notify the winner by email because we will need to mail you the certificate. That also gives you a few days to get your creative juices flowing. We can’t wait to see what you come up with! In the mean time, check out Pixel 2 Canvas website to see even more about what they’re about.

And, if you’re a bride-to-be or you know a bride-to-be, check back in at 2:22pm EST for a huge giveaway from us and some pretty cool friends!

Cypress Grove Estate House | Orlando, Florida

Erica and Brent. I don’t even really know what to say about them except that our lives are more exciting, fun, and lovely because of knowing them. We were absolutely thrilled to get to capture their wedding at the Estate House at Cypress Grove Park here in Orlando. Erica planned a gorgeous blue and red colored day and everyone partied into the night. Brent owns the local bar, Redlight Redlight, so he was able to incorporate some pretty cool brews into the day. The two of them even had a wine ceremony during which they poured red and white wine together into a single cup. I’ll save the rest for their big post later on but I wanted to get this sneak peek up for everyone because I know Erica’s been checking in for it. ;)

I don’t usually post the family portraits but I had to this time. This is the biggest family portrait we’ve ever taken. And this is just Erica’s side.

This mouthwatering delight is by the talented Anna Cakes. You can smell her cakes from a mile away! Mmmmm….

Don’t forget! Tomorrow we have 2 BIG GIVEAWAYS planned for the blog. One is for photographers and one is for brides-to-be.
You aren’t going to want to miss it so keep checking in and spread the word!

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