MIVA - Michigan Independant Videographers Association had it's monthly meeting on Wednesday June 3rd. The guest speaker was Terry White, Adobe Systems Manager and he was speaking on Adobe's CS4 Premier Pro editing software. The evening was a great success and much onformation was learned by all. The picture below is from left to right Terry White, Bruce Mandel and Don Pham. Just another great day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer!
Terry, Bruce & Don
The first couple of days in June were spent with my daughter Chelsea. Her and her friends moved from her apartment in Allendale Grand Rapids, MI to downtown Grand Rapids. She and her friends want to be where all the action is! So dad (me) got a trailer and moved her things to her new house. Dad then proceded to paint her bedroom from a deep burgandy red to a light / bright yellow. It was great fun for me spending some time with Chelsea and her roomates! Her roomates (for now) are Bob, Vickie, Katie. Michael and Cory may move in later. Good luck to you all! Just another few days in the life a Michigan Wedding Videographer!
It is a Rootbeer in her Hand!
It was great having Chelsea home for the Holiday Weekend. While here we saw the new Star Trek Movie, I'll give it an 8, and then went out to BWW for some hot wings! On Memorial Day we celebrated at the Marrone's and had a cook out. A very nice time was had by all. Just another day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer.
Chelsea and Dad Memorial Day 2009
Chelsea and her Car
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the men and women that currently serve or have served in our US Military Service! Your continued sacrifices to protect our freedoms are greatly appreciated. We are able to spend this day with our friends and families because of what you do!
As we observe this solemn day, we must remember all the brave men and women in uniform who gave their lives in the service of our great country.
Again, Thank You!
Marine Raymond Plouhar 1976 - 2006
Jacob, Nickolas, Don & Bruce
A good friend Lisa Brennan called me and offered me 4 Detroit Tiger Baseball tickets. I had not yet been to the new stadium, so I immediately said YES! She informed me that these seats were owned by Roger Penske, so I knew these had to be great seats (and they were). Section 129, Row 32 Seats 6-7-8-9. I called one of my best buddies Don Pham and offered to take him and his two sons Jacob and Nickolas. They were happy to go. The weather was in the high 70's with lots of sunshine, a spectacular day to go to the ballpark. My impression of the new ballpark was that it was awesome. A real architectual beauty. My hat is off to the Illich family. Anyways the Tigers beat the Texas Rangers 5 to 3. It was a fairly exciting game. Overall I think we all had a great time. Just another day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer!
Tiger Ticket
Tigers Scoreboard
Infield at Night
Terry White
One of my best friends Terry White asked me over to his photo studio in Downtown Pontiac to shoot a "Music Video" of him taking photos of one of the many beautiful models he photographs on a regular basis. This model Aferdita Dreshaj is a stunning model and a fun person to hang out with. We all had a great time and Renata Stojcevski did Aferdita's make-up and hair. Terry asked me to use his personal Hd Camcorder, so that he could edit it using the New Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Just another day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer!
As some of you know I videotape the Mac Group Detroit monthly meetings. A good friend of mine Terry White runs the group and it's the biggest Mac organization in the country! One of Terry's best friends (besides myself) is Scott Kelby. You may know Scott, he's the biggest selling author of computer books in the world for 5 years running! Besides authoring books, Scott also runs the Photoshop World National Conventions, editor in chief of PhotoshopUser and Layers Magazines. In addition a great photographer, Photoshop Instructor (and from what I hear) a great dad and husband.
Scott Kelby was this months guest and speaker at Mac Group. He flew up to Michigan for a few days to hang out with Terry, take care of some local business (more on that later) and to present. Scott put on a great two hour presentation of re-touching portrait photographs. It's amazing how much information Scott gave to us in just two hours.
Scott Kelby
Scott Kelby at MacGroup
After the meeting a large group of members met at the Family Buggy Restaurant and enjoyed a meal.
Terry, Scott, Bruce
After dinner I accompanied Terry as we drove Scott to Metro Airport to catch a plane home. On the drive to the airport Scott asked me to videotape a special photography series for him here in Michigan. It's going to be (5) two hour training videos on "How to profesionally photograph models" hosted by Mary Duprie. When finished they will be available to be viewed on Scott's "Kelby Training" Website. I'm grateful that Scott considers me to have enough talent to produce this series of videos for Kelby Training. I'm looking forward to doing this project! Thanks Scott and Terry! Once again another day in the life of a Michigan WEdding Videographer!
I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week down in Port Charlotte Florida the last week of March, it was great to get away from the super cold weather we have been having here in Michigan. My Aunt Sue and Uncle Joe were kind enough to let me stay at their home. It was great seeing all of my sisters. Sandy, Kathy and Kym. Kathy drove down from Orlando to see me. I spent a day at my favorite beach, Engelwood, just walking up and down the coastline in the wonderful white sand looking for sharks teeth and shells. We celebrated my brother-in-law Tim's Birthday one evening and had a good time. I also had a chance to spend some time with my biological father Richard whom I haven't seen for 15 years. Maybe with the time left we can get to know one another. Anyways I had a great time and I really didn't want to come back to the cold weather. Just another day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer.
Feet in Sand at Englewood Beach
Bruce and Aunt Sue at Englewood
Welcome to my latest brain storm! I've created a new division called MixnPixels seperate from Mandel Video Productions. Cool name Huh? The name comes from a great description of what we actually do when we edit video. We "mix" the "Pixels" around, in short MixnPixels. With the economy being down most businesses can count on their competition cutting back their own marketing and advertising budget which in reality gives the smarter business people the perfect opportunity to build their brand. MixnPixels is offering for the complete price of $499 a 1-Minute Infomercial for any business website. This video opens up when your guests arrive at your website and greets them with a personalized one on one greeting. Statistics show that by having this one on one experience increases your chances by a whopping 25% of keeping your visitor on your site and to buy your products or services. Included with the $499 price is a video CD that will give you real information on improving your search engine results. Getting more people to your website and then impressing them with your new video will increase sales for your business. The website is www.mixnpixels.com and should be operational by the end of March 2009. Just another day in the life of a Michigan Wedding Videographer.
I wanted to share with you one of my hobbies. I curl. Most people think it's an odd sport, but I have loved it since watching it on TV as a kid. I actually think that it was watching the sweepers (using the straw brooms) that facinated me most. The hypnotic swaying of the brooms on the ice while softly gliding on the ice. The equipment has changes drastically over the years and to sweep we now use synthetic fibers on padded brooms. FYI: Curlers sweep in front of the moving stone to shorten the "arc" of the curl (to keep it moving more straight) and also to "extend" the length of the throw (make it go further down the ice). If you would like more information on curling please feel free to contact me or you can check out their website at http://www.detroitcurlingclub.com
I'm in the "Hack", preparing to throw my stone. These are hard rubber foot pegs in the ice to use to shove off from.
Here I've slid out of the hack (sole of my left shoe is teflon) and delivering my stone.
My 2009 Team. Paul (Second - Subbing for Tim), Dan (Our Skip), Me (Vice) and Shirley (Lead)
