Hey everyone! I hope things are going well! I am so excited that we are now offering online Gift Certificates and a Wedding Registry to all our clients!

Now you will be able to send and receive Gift Certificates from our Boutique which can be used for any products & services that we offer! Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries? Why not give them a gift that will make them smile? :)

Do you and your hubby/bride-to-be have a wedding website? Simply put this link onto your Gift Registry page and your friends and family can give you two the gift of a lifetime!

Michael Wachniak Photographer –  Boutique

WARNING: Please send this link to friends and family ONLY IF you would appreciate the gift of beautiful gallery wrapped canvas images and storybook albums gracing your house more than multiple toasters, wine flutes, and breadmakers. :)

If you have any questions at all regarding this new feature, please don’t hesitate to email me or call me at 778 878 4531

All the best!

Michael

Hey Everyone! I am beyond excited to announce that today is the first day on my blog for year 2 of Cans for Comments! Created last year by the amazing Chris + Lynn Photographers, Cans for Comments started off as a blogging concept where for every comment left by readers, Chris + Lynn would donate either one can or one other non-perishable food item to their local food bank for Christmas. Within minutes of posting this ‘idea’ on the blog, this amazing event was already spreading to other local photographers…but it didn’t stop there… soon photographers in other cities were doing it, and then other provinces, and then other states…Cans for Comments was International!!! It even started spreading to blogs from other professions, like designers, and radio personalities, it was amazing!

This year, will be even better.

I started my participation last year on December 4th and so to carry tradition, from today (Friday December 4th 2009) until Saturday December 12th 2009, for every comment made on any of my blogposts, I will donate 1 can or other non-perishable food item to The White Rock / South Surrey Food Bank.

Honestly, it doesn’t get any easier than this folks. Give someone the best gift they can have. It doesn’t cost you anything but a second of your time and perhaps a comment or cheesy joke like ‘Q: What are a Wedding photographer’s favorite flowers? A: Posies.’ lol Do whatever! Just comment! Better yet, why not comment and then go drop off another can to your local food bank yourself? Seriously! I gotta tell you that leaving a comment feels pretty good knowing you’ve just fed someone, but dropping off that can yourself I GUARANTEE you that you will feel amazing! Last year’s total number of comments was 50! This year I hope to crack another one out of the park! 60? 70? 80? The sky is the limit, and you can bet your sweet gingerbread latte that I will be bloggin’ some things that will make you want to stay home from work and comment all day!! Well… maybe not THAT good, but seriously, you’ll like what I’ll be posting…I HOPE!

Click here to check last year’s entry on Cans For Comments, and also to see a cute photo of Adobe, the doberman. Why not comment on her Christmas scarf while you’re there?

Here is a list of fantastic people who are a part of Cans For Comments this year. I know there are more that I haven’t listed so please feel free to COMMENT …*wink wink* …if you are one of them, and I will be sure to update the list as soon as I can!

john heil photography
kristel wyman photography
the other angle photography
blue olive photography
tracey l heppner photography
kayci gough photography
white album weddings
sakura photography
david redding photo
pelaez photography
kp photography
erin wallis photography
studio jeanie
chris + lynn

I have been holding off on new business cards for quite a while now. I really wanted to find something that not only looked professional, but something that went above and beyond from the moment you held it in your hand. First impressions are SO important! (Letterpress pun intended. Impression? HA!)

I have to say that after searching and searching I found there are a lot of Letterpress Companies out there and most of them do an amazing job, but the folks at The Mandate Press are (in my opinion) the best of the best. From start to finish they exceeded my expectations (which trust me, were high to begin with!).

Quite Simply -
Quality of Card: 100%
Customer Service: Infinity %

If you are looking for a letterpress company I highly recommend The Mandate Press. Thank you guys so much! :)

Last night Grit and I decorated the Christmas tree. I know….its still UBER early… and we were reminded that when I insisted on playing Christmas Music before starting on the tree. If ever there was a proper time for British choir boys to be singing “O Come All Ye Faitful”, November 18th isn’t it….this I promise you.

I thought it would be fun to make a time-lapse ‘production’ of the tree. The best part is, I didn’t realize until I set everything up that I actually need a different remote control in order to DO a time-lapse. Determined, I set the camera on 10second timer and actually ran over to the camera every single time to start each photo!

I’m actually pleased with how it turned out! My video editing skills are getting better (just another thing I enjoy tinkering with in my own time), and I am very pleased with how cheesy the entire thing is. We will have a laugh with this when we’re 85! :)

p.s. and yes I actually drew the mistletoe/holly thing at the end… talented I know. ha!

When Grit and I were in Germany in September I had the opportunity….nay…the PRIVILAGE of partaking in Oktoberfest. It was truly amazing, not to mention *slightly* overwhelming, but I held on with all my might! I actually didn’t know until I got there that there was more to Oktoberfest than just Beer and Dirndl’s. It was a full out carnival! Food, drinks, rides, music….CHAOS!! (note to self: ignorance makes for better surprises!)

And with that…a video. This was an absolute blast! The best part is Grit didn’t want to go on the ride so I went with her friends and they don’t speak English… so ya… made it even MORE interesting!

For the photographers viewing this, yes I did take my 5DmkII on a ride that plummets to the ground in a complete free-fall of DEATH. I also don’t edit video much, so this one is pretty silly….nevertheless it was fun and I wanted to share. Yes it was edited in iMovie and not Final Cut Pro.

Oktoberfest. Video Editing.

There’s a learning curve.

For both. ;)

So… I’m not even going to check when the last time I blogged was…

I had a blast the last 2 weeks travelling around Germany, Austria and Italy and there are SO many images I am going to share with you VERY soon! For now, I wanted to to give you all a taste of the next blog posts coming up in the days to come.

I hope you can feel these images.

For those of you that don’t know the story behind this image yet (below), I can’t WAIT to tell you!! :)

…as for the title of this blog post… I’ve been listening to Great Big Sea for the last few hours straight… I think my mind has temporarily been east-coast-transplanted ;)

…soon. :)  I find it so funny that no matter how prepared you THINK you are for a trip, you still find +90 things to do in the last few hours before you leave!!! 

Grit and I are heading down to Seattle in a few hours and flying out on the red-eye to Acapulco for our Destination Wedding we are shooting for Amy & Octavio on Sunday! I am SO stoked for this not only because its a killer destination with a killer couple, but its also our first wedding of 2009! What a way to ring in the 2009 wedding season!!! (RING…WEDDING season… yup, I’m PUNNY!)

We’ll be back in Vancouver Tuesday night (April 28th, 2009). My phone will be turned off but I will try and check my emails periodically, and if I am in a wireless hotspot you can also skype me (name: michaelwachniak).

I can’t wait to show you all the photos!

Have a great weekend!

p.s. Don’t tell me what happens on the Season Finale of Heroes on Monday. I’ll hunt you down. ;)

(temperatures are in Celsius not in Fahrenheit lol)

Hey everyone! Today’s blog post idea actually came to me via a nice little spam email I got late last night. No, it wasn’t a special offer for the magic “Blue Pill For Men” or  ”Where to get cheap flights to anywhere I DON’T want to go”…. it was actually entitled: ”How well do you know Photoshop?” …..I have to give them an “E” for Effort, at least these guys are doing SOME research as to who they are emailing lol! It got me thinking….how well DO I know Photoshop? How well do ANY of us know Photoshop?  I have used Photoshop extensively for almost 11 years, I have taught private lessons, I have even assisted in instructing a few larger classes, but I still learn new things almost every day. OF course (and I don’t mean this in a bad way), many photographers know how to use “Actions” (usually made by other photographers and then bought by millions worldwide), which are essentially several individual editing ’steps’ or  ’tweaks’ done to your image all rolled into a shortcut so you may execute it and look like every other photographer at the click of a button. :) I have to admit, I am guilty of doing this at times, so I don’t condone ‘Actions’ as being wrong, however they should be used as a stepping stone towards a final product of YOUR style, not someone elses… They are great, I just think as photographers we are using other people’s ideas more-so than our own. We won’t get into this, this is a blog post in itself :). But what about all the other stuff? The day-to-day Photoshop tasks such as zooming, opacity, merging layers? Did you know that you can press ‘command+alt+M’ on the keyboard to open up the Curves Dialog Box? Sure it only takes a second or two to click on the Image menu, roll over to the Adjustments menu, and click on ‘Curves’… but what if you have 1000+ images to sort through? (well, first off, you’d probably use Lightroom and save about 8 hours! That too, is a post in itself!). Forming a habit with hotkeys and shortcuts will shred MINUTES off your editing, so you can spend time with your family and friends…away from your office! Time isn’t money. Time is more valuable than money, therefore you should be spending it how you want.

I have done a bit of research and have found  some great links that I would love to share with all of you.

Photoshop Hotkeys for Mac and PC – www.spoono.com

Photoshop Tool Hotkeys and More – www.associatedcontent.com

Top 10 Hotkeys Every Graphic Artist Should Know – www.hyperninja.com 

Go through them and find out what you use the most. Whether you are a seasoned Photoshop Wiz or a beginner willing to learn by experience, these tidbits are certainly worth a look and will save you more time so you can get out into the sun!

My personal favorites that I use all the time (and aren’t even mentioned on the links) are: 

Dodging/Burning Toggle: shift+o
Brush Size Increase: ]
Brush Size Decrease: [
Brush - 1 step Softer Edge: shift+[
Brush - 1 step Harder Edge: shift+]
Opacity: press 1-0 (where  1=10%, 2=20%…0=100&)
Flatten All Visible Layers: mac: command+shift+E    pc : ctrl+alt+shift+E
Dragging an image around (in fullpage mode): hold spacebar + click and drag the mouse to move the image

I hope this was informative! I’d love to hear feedback from all of you!

Have  a great weekend! 

Michael

p.s. I thought I’d add a photo as well, just in case the text was a little TOO on the ‘blah’ side. :)  This abstract shot of Canadian Geese in flight was shot outside my house in Calgary in 2004. Processed in Lightroom and prepared for web in Photoshop. Hope you like it! :)

OK, seriously, this is like the BIGGEST news I have heard all week… are you kidding me?! A movie?! THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!

This was my absolute favorite book growing up (I think I have gone through 3 copies in my lifetime…) and I never get sick of it! I LOVE the illustrations, and the storyline is just so absurd that you simply can’t help but feel like a kid when you’re reading it! 

I was also checking out Apple’s website for the “Where the Wild Things Are” trailor…(yet another children’s favorite)…. sadly, I have a confession to make… 

…I’ve never read the book… *gasp*   The movie looks amazing, and I am SO glad they are using costumes and puppeteering rather than CGI… I admit CGI always LOOKS more realistic, but maybe thats just it… maybe with puppeteering and costumes… there is a sense of real organic life, and that it ISN’T perfect… but thats what makes it FEEL real… Jim Henson really was one in a million. (not sure who is doing the puppeteering for WTWTA, but give me a holla if you know!) In any case, I can’t wait to go to BOTH of these movies! Who wants to come with me!? :)

Thanks all for now, have a great weekend everyone!

Michael

so… a good friend of mine text messaged me yesterday with the following message:

“3 months from today and you will be 30″

…I didn’t have the energy to drive out to Calgary and smack him. (Does FedEx offer this as a service?)

I got to thinking after that, that I’m actually not scared of turning 30. In fact, I’m kinda thrilled! Is this normal? Its a BIT scary, but exhilarating at the same time! I bet it will get a little more REAL once I start typing this out lol… I remember turning 25 was MORTIFYING…26, 27, 28, 29….not too bad (well now that I am typing these ages out back to back, it IS kind of an eye opener…)..

30. Thirty. Thurrrrrrdy. Dirty 30? 13 going on 30? Will I still be on ‘this’ side of ‘the hill’? Am I already at the top and just about to spiral down the roller coaster track in a chaotic blur of blood-curdling screams?

30. wow. 

Thanks Ben. Thanks for the random text message….Remember, you’re time comes up one month after mine… 30 dude, 30. THIRTY. Not 29. 

Below are 2 photos of me when I was clearly younger (with my sister, Hillory). When I was NOT 30. See my smiles?! The FURTHEST thing from my head in these two shots I PROMISE YOU was ‘I wonder what life will be like at 30?’ (for the record, my fashion sense back then was ASTONISHING! The sweater on the left said ‘The Kid’, and the brown ‘velvet?’ (yes velvet) jumpsuit (yes jumpsuit) on the right has Big Bird on it. Boo-yah.)

30. Pass the A5-35.