Hire a Photographer? Genius!

We don't own a video camera.  I know, we're probably the only family on the planet (or at least in Utah) that doesn't own one but we don't and here's why.  Once upon a time my brother-in-law got a new video camera and asked us if we'd like to have his old one.  Mind you, this was a LONG time ago.  My twenty year old daughter was like six or seven and the video camera was a monster.  You had to sit it on your shoulder it was so big - and look in and eye piece and then view it on a little tiny black and white screen.  Remember the days?  The one and only time that we ever used it was to my daughter's one and only dance recital.  We're sitting in the gym, on the bleachers, and she's dancing her heart out, and Jeff is recording away and the whole performance lasts all of two minutes and when it's over Jeff looks at me and says, "Why would I want to watch Bek's performance through a little viewfinder in black and white when I can watch the real thing in full and living color?"  So we donated the video camera and that was that because I too don't want to watch life happen while behind a viewfinder. 

 

Last spring I had a burst of pure inspiration.  Mason would be coming home from his mission in July and I wanted a million photos and while I have a pretty decent camera it is not a high speed digital one so my action shots tend to have bits of blur in them and it's not like you can tell him to back up and come off the airplane again and I wanted to be IN the moment and not worrying about the perfect shot...(whew, breath girlfriend!)...so...I got this thought...inspiration...why not hire a photographer?  I'm tellin' ya - it was genius!  I wished that I had a friend that I could beg to come take photos and though I do have a cousin that takes amazing photos (J.Taylor Photography), she was already doing a wedding that day so I just grabbed the phone book then went to each photographer's website to view what their pictures look like and started making calls.  Calls?  Not really - one call, that's all.  First local photographer that I called (Shootz Photography) was thrilled with the idea and charged me the same price that she charges to do birth photography - $100.  With that I got the photographer, all the photos on a disk AND a slide show.  Totally worth it and all of us - the whole family - got to be IN the moment.  It was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

So here's Mason's homecoming slideshow but not the one that the photographer did 'cause I couldn't get it to upload but they are all her photos.  Lucky that I have that awesome software that I told you about here...

 

  

 

(...any ideas why YouTube seems blurry? Maybe it's just my old age...)

HD Slideshows via ProShow Gold

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jackie and I were discussing our sons upcoming Eagle Scout Court of Honor and she mentioned that it might be nice to do a slideshow of the boys.  Cringe.  Hmmm...do I have very many Scout photos?  Who do I bother to get more?  I don't even know how to make a slideshow...that means I'll have to call Janice - but she has a MAC...what would I have to do to change it to work on my PC?  Or I could bother Eric - but he's bishop now.  If I don't have time, he certainly doesn't have time...Those are the thoughts that are whizzing around in my head while outwardly I say, "That would be AWESOME!"  Which indeed it would be...if I can wrap my brain around it.  I do hate to bother other people.  Of course Janice says, "Yes!"  That's the kind of person she is.  We need to get out photos to her as soon as possible because she is busy the end of the week.  Of course the Court of Honor is the following Sunday.  I am a last minute kind of girl, in case you haven't noticed.

Skipping my Sunday nap, (which is the one and only perk to the 9 a.m. meeting schedule) I head into the office to go through photos and scan in those that I do have.  Jeff mentions, "You should call Eric he has tons of Scout photos."  Eric was the Scout Master and Jeff was his Assistant.  "I can't call Eric.  He's way too busy."  So I scan and search while Jeff takes a nap.  Fast forward and his nap is over..."You should really call Eric."  So I call Eric and apologize before even asking him for what I know will take him forever to do...and he says, "No problem!  My MAC has face recognition.  I'll just click on a photo of him then go eat dinner.  Should be done running when I'm finished eating."  Wait?!  What?!  There's such a thing?  Wonders of modern technology!  It's a miracle...but wait, there's more...

An hour later, Eric calls and tells me he's got a disk ready for me.  I explain about the slideshow and he says, "I'll do it for you."  "You absolutly will NOT!"  Then he makes a confession, and this is the part that this very long post is really all about, (I'm very long winded at times)  "I have this really amazing software.  It will make your slideshow in about 10 minutes.  I spend more time picking out the music than it takes to actually put together the slideshow."   Hmmm...Instantly Janice has her free time back and I get to learn something that I've always wanted to learn.

Proshow Gold (Photodex)*, the ultimate HD slideshow tool and my new favorite computer program.  Easy, peasy.  Seriously.  This program will easily combine as many photos, videos and songs as you want.  The wizard will help with automatic show creation and instant effects or, create it all on your own.  No matter how you choose to create your show, ProShow Gold also offers tons of built-in tools that let you edit your show content to perfection.  You can also use ProShow Gold to publish your show to 40+ formats for sharing online, on TV, DVD, Blu-ray, Facebook and YouTube.  There's even a button that you click if you want the program to sinc the song to your slideshow.  Brilliant!  Program is downloadable or for an extra $10 you can download it AND they'll send you a hardcopy.  On the downside...Eric was right.  It does take longer to pick the perfect music than the slideshow will take you to put together.  Here's a hint:  Piano Guys.*  Trust me.  If only learning Photoshop were this easy...

 

 

* Note:  I have not received any funds toward promoting ProShow Gold or Piano Guys.

I just really, really like them and thought you might too.