Before I begin, let me just say I'll be posting a lot in the next few days about all the great photographers I met here in California, more details about the trip, and the fabulous models we worked with: Brittany, Jasmine, JD, and Sarah. So be sure to subscribe to my blog on the right.



I’m writing this waiting for my flight at LAX. The wedding went really well and Kim and Ian were such a great couple. Thank you both! We'll post a few photos of them soon.

Since I was flying to LA anyway, I decided to take advantage of my time there and take a photography workshop with Mike Colon. IT WAS AWESOME! Thanks Mike! We got a massive amount of great information out of the 4-Day Intensive, but one of the greatest parts of the workshop was all of the connections I made with so many talented photographers from all over the country. I’ll be posting photos and information about all of the new friends I made here over the next few days....sign the guest book on the right and you’ll get an email notification as soon as a new post is made. And to all of my wonderful new friends, you should surely sign up as to not miss my post about you.

The workshop itself was great! Mike really opened up his home, life, and business with us! The information we got was invaluable indeed. And thanks also to Epson and Pictage for our wonderful dinners on Tuesday and Wednesday....it wouldn’t have been the same without them.



I made the most of my trip to LA aside from the wedding and workshop. As soon as I landed last week, I went straight to La Vie in Santa Monica and met with Satoko...what a great lady! And she sure knows her stuff. I’m really excited to now be offering their amazing albums to my clients and am the first and only photographer in North Carolina to do so! Thanks, Satoko!

After Mike’s workshop, I drove up to Torrance and met the great team at Pictage! David Luebke gave me the full tour of their facilities, which was fascinating. I ran into Jeff Jochum and Shyla too. It was great to meet David and Bibiana....they were very generous with their time with me and we had a great lunch meeting (thanks for picking up the tab, guys!!) and I loved hearing all about the Partner Con, Pictage features, forums, and new billing that will take effect soon.....that lunch was one of the highlights of my trip.



The next day, drove in to Beverly Hills to Celeste and I met with Norma LeNain...one of the best bridal gown designers in the world! She’s such a great lady and a really genuine person. I can’t wait to work with you and your coordinators Norma! Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. I cannot explain how absolutely amazing Norma’s designs are....I’ve seen A LOT of bridal gowns and Norma’s are utterly and indescribably out of this world!

I’m in LAX right now and though I had a full and fantastic trip here, I’m really excited to get home. Having lived in LA for a decade, it was nice to know my way around, but every time I come here and deal with the traffic and crowds, I feel reassured that I made the right decision to move to the lush, green mountains of Western North Carolina. And now that I’m traveling so much for work anyway, why not live in a place that truly makes you excited to come home to?!

A big thanks to my mom, sister, and brother-in-law for opening their home up to me too and letting me stay there when I wasn’t at the workshop in Newport. I’m also glad I got to see Dell, my best man, and Bari (when are you two gonna tie the knot?), and see Byron, one of my great friends, one of my groomsmen, and the only rock star that I know!!

And last, but certainly not least, I can’t wait to get home to my beautiful wife Jill! See you soon, sweetie.

To Mike and the rest of the Colon workshop gang: See you at WPPI in March!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My wife and I had a nice quiet dinner at home and will celebrate "our" Valentine's Day tomorrow night. Tonight, I had a meeting of F32, a local photography group where I showed a few of my images for a Photoshop demonstration. I also enjoyed our 2nd Pictage User Group last night. We had a good turn out...about 15 people, I think. And in Regina Holder's absence, I thought that Michael did a good job of orating....thanks.

I'm starting to get excited about my trip to California on Friday for a wedding. Though the traffic and crowds are not missed from having lived there for a long time, many of my friends are, and I look forward to seeing some old faces in my time off.

My studio manager/associate photographer Jeremy is also flying to LA on Friday for different wedding than the one I'm shooting. We're taking different flights from different cities and will cross paths, but doubt we'll see each other while there. He'll be back midweek.

Of course, a very important second reason for my visit will be the 4-day seminar with Mike Colon. It should prove to be extremely interesting at the very least, but predict it will be quite educational and fun to boot!

And lastly, I have a meeting with Pictage to see about the possibility of my speaking at a future Pictage Partner Convention. I'm really looking forward to that, too!

I'll try to update here about the seminar as the days progress if I have access to wifi.

Corey

Mike Colon recently posted a comment on the blog that talked about the importance of time spent with one's family. In light of how busy the past couple of years have been for me, I couldn't agree more. Here's my response to his post:


"Quite true, Mike. Thanks for that. I saw you speak in NC last year and you mentioned that if you're working 15+ hours a day, you're doing it wrong. I paid close attention to that comment. Though I've always worked very hard at everything I've done, not until last year, when I didn't have any, did I realize the importance of time and spending it with the ones you love. Being owners of our own businesses, it's hard to stay out of the studio with so much work to be done (I couldn't help but notice how late your post was posted!), but your message is clear. I'm looking forward to seeing you again at your 4-day in a couple of weeks.

We only get one life...we're here for a good time, not a long time.

Corey McNabb"

The snow is holding off! The news said we were to have quite the storm late last night and today, but it has apparently passed us by. I attended a seminar in Charlotte yesterday with Joe Buissink and Marcus Bell hosted by Graphistudios and rushed back afterwards to beat the storm. Alas, no storm. It was a very fun event though. I enjoyed seeing some old friends and making some new ones. It also paid for itself as Marcus gave me a copy of the new Lightroom for being the attendee that had been using it the longest...that was very generous and appreciated! Thanks Marcus!

Now my attention turns back towards data management and setting up a scalable catalog before my trip to California, which will include a wedding and attending the 4-Day seminar with Mike Colon.

For those of you who did see some of that storm, drive safely and be careful!

Corey