Windows and Beyond Seminar with Sally Morse

Sally Morse & Doreen Yun at the Windows and Beyond Showroom

“Where do you want to be on one year?” was the title of the presentation I attended. I found it to be inspiring and informative. Doreen hosted a second event that evening titled “10 steps to a Perfect Room” again presented by Sally Morse that was focused more on helping her retail customers.

Doreen Yun owner of Windows and Beyond hosted the event at her Fremont showroom. Her showroom is fantastic with many little vignettes spread throughout the vast space showing the amazing variety of items and materials she has to offer. Any designer would be well served to tour the facility and bring their clients by to see the variety of styles and effects that can be created with good quality, creative window coverings.

Sally Morse Director of Creative Services for Hunter Douglas spoke on many subjects. She discussed color trends for the coming year, fundamentals of customer service, sales technique before during and after the job has been completed, intended to help us secure the clients business over the long term, not just to get a check today. She also discussed lifestyle issues.

This seminar was more about tactics than strategy, not focused just on sales but on satisfaction. The satisfaction of the customer as well as our own satisfaction with our lives and businesses.

Overall I am glad I attended. I walked away with a new perspective on quite a few things a few more nuggets of wisdom and was reminded of a few things that I had forgotten, such as the importance of making the customer feel good about spending the money it takes to do the job. Not just for the customer to feel good about the quality, timeliness and result of the job we do, but for them to be glad they spent their hard earned money to achieve whatever goal they set out to achieve or solve whatever problem they were faced with. It’s a big difference and requires much more energy and effort than just doing what you get paid for, but the return on your investment in the happiness and well-being of the customer will be immense over the years.

You can review the photographs I took of the event in my gallery by following this link.

Photograph of the Month March 2010 “Ghost Fence”

Wide Screen Version: High Dynamic Range Image of an old fence in heavy fog

High Dynamic Range Photogrpah of an old fence in heavy fog

This month’s photograph is titled “Ghost Fence” I hope you like it.

I found this fence in Sunnyvale Baylands Park last year while biking with my wife. I waited for the heavy fog to shoot it because the image I envisioned called for a mysterious atmosphere to convey the mood of the fence. I think it worked out quite well.

This photograph is a High Dynamic Range Image as are most photographs I have created over the past few years.

I recently discovered that my gallery software has been restricting the size of the images I posted there. It’s a very complicated piece of software and this feature got past me when I was setting it up.

I have corrected the problem and now the screen saver images will be the full 1920×1200 pixels in wide screen format and 1280×1024 pixels in square format that I intended them to be in the first place. I will be going through my archive and resizing past Photograph of the Month images to meet these specifications.

You can download the full size versions by clicking on the images you see above.

All images in my “Photograph of the Month” series are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. Please, share it with your family and friends, with my compliments.

CEU On Growing Your Business at Decorators Workshoppe

Today I attended a CEU at Decorators Workshoppe in Campbell, CA. The Seminar was a two hour event on business planning and marketing titled “Design Practice Management and Marketing/Today’s Presentation for Tomorrow’s Clients.”

Mike Weddington of Hunter Douglas was the presenter and he did a fantastic job. The information he presented was both timely and relevant to the Interior Designer in these challenging times. One thing he pointed out that had the ring of truth, but was not what we wanted to hear was – I paraphrase “If you’re waiting for the economy to get back to where it was, you’re out of luck because it’s never going to happen.”

Mike is a smart guy. He used to play football for the Green Bay Packers and now manages a multimillion dollar division of a Fortune 100 company, Hunter Douglas. This is what you call a successful man and I always pay attention to what successful people say.

Pauline Hsu Said My Photographs Made a Difference

Pei-Lan Pauline Hsu is the Professional Development Director for ASID CA Peninsula. We were talking at the Miele Event at Sierra Select in December and she was telling me that the high quality of my photographs of past ASID events made the difference in getting a special room rate for the members at the Gaia Hotel located in American Canyon here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I’m glad I could help provide this benefit for the members and very proud to know that I helped Pauline chalk up another success as Professional Development Director for ASID CA Peninsula.

As I always say “Helping you is why I am here”  and now I’ve helped every single member of the ASID CA Peninsula Chapter and they didn’t even have to hire me.

Nesting Newbies Publishes DIFFA Dining by Design

Nesting Newbies DIFFA Dining by Design

I am proud to announce the publication of the DIFFA (Design Industry Foundation Fight Aids) Dining by Design event at the San Francisco Design Center by Nesting Newbies magazine.

You can view the images I shot in my portfolio by following this link. All but one of the images they published were shot using the High Dynamic Range Imaging technique that is such a hit with all my clients.

Or you can review the entire winter issue of Nesting Newbies by following this link.

It was a pleasure working with Lea McIntosh and Jodi Murphy of Nesting Newbies, they are on the cutting edge of periodical publication. I look forward to working with them as they blaze the trail for others in the publication industry to follow.

February 2010 Photograph of the Month “Puff Ball”

High Dynamic Range Image of Dandelion Puff Ball

High Dynamic Range Image of Dandelion Puff Ball

This month’s photograph is titled “Puff Ball.” I hope you like it.

I shot this image last year in a local park specifically for the February Photograph of the Month. I intended it to remind everyone of the warm, sunny days of summer hoping it would brighten your day and lift your spirits as the cold dark winter slowly passes.

This is a High Dynamic Range Photograph. I am very pleased with the way this technique brings out detail in both the brightest highlights and darkest shadows. It allows me to control the representation of my subjects with almost the same freedoms of a painter. I say “almost” because when I create an image I still have to work with what is actually before me; a painter has no such restriction.

All images in my “Photograph of the Month” series are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. Please, share it with your family and friends, with my compliments.

Please call me if you have any need for photographs and I will do all I can to help you.

Thanks,
Dean

Permanent Link

ASID CA Pen IP Event Pictures Miele December 3 2009

Miele San Francisco Staff preparing Chocolate Bread Pudding at the 2009 ASID Holiday Event

Sierra Select hosted the ASID CA Peninsula the monthly meeting/event at their Miele showroom in San Francisco. This month the event was held in conjunction with ASID CA North, the San Francisco Chapter.

Sierra Select provided food and wine and gave interactive demonstrations of a few of their cook tops, stoves and ovens. Members from both chapters had the opportunity to cook Lamb Meatballs, Bacon wrapped Winter Squash, Chicken and Chocolate Bread Pudding. And those who did not attend this month, we thank you because that meant there was more chocolate for us.

We all had fun cooking and enjoying the hospitality of the management and staff of Sierra Select. The liberal quantities of good food and wine show they really know how to host a monthly meeting.

You can find photographs of the event in my portfolio gallery by following this link.

As always the photographs I shoot at the ASID events are available for ASID Members, Industry Partners and Staff as well as Press to download and use as needed at no charge. Photo credit is always appreciated.

Holiday Cooking Event at The Miele Showroom at Sierra Select in San Francisco

Today is the day of the “Deliciously Fun Holiday Event at the Miele Gallery at Sierra Select at 680 Eighth St. in San Francisco.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Miele line and the cooking “competition.”

I wonder if there will be any vegan food for the photographer this time?

Regardless it sounds like a fun evening and I’ll be on hand to photograph the events and the final culinary masterpieces.

I hope to see you there.

Dean

Photograph of the Month “Daisy”

This month’s photograph is titled “Daisy.” I shot this in a local park recently, I like it because it’s simple and sweet. I hope it brightens your day through the coming winter months.

You will notice there are two versions of the photograph. This is due to the recent industry wide adoption of the “wide screen” format for laptops and desktop computers, as well as high end cell phones. I realized that at least thirty-three percent  of the visitors to my site are using the wide screen format and wanted to ensure they had the option of enjoying the screen savers I work so hard to produce each month.

One version is for the wide screen and one version is for the “narrow” screen us geriatric cases are accustomed to. Select whichever fits your need, I will continue to produce both wide and narrow screen versions until the new format becomes universal. You can view and download both versions from my portfolio galleries as well.

The wide screen format has a long history in the movie industry, most of us have seen Panavision movies at one time or another. The computer industry has adopted the wide screen format because it is the defined format of HDTV and the motion picture industry has adopted the wide screen as a standard format for movies.

It also forces all of us to buy new computers lest we be seen as being out of date dinosaurs. If you have twenty minutes you might want to take a look at this video called “The Story of Stuff.” It’s really quite enlightening and aggravating but it’s well written, thoroughly researched and very well produced.

Oh, well… as with any computer technology what is available today really is much better than what was available last month. I just wish it wouldn’t cost quite so much.

All images in my “Photograph of the Month” series are sized and formatted as a screen saver or computer desktop wallpaper. You can click on the image to open in a new window or download; please, share it with your family and friends, with my compliments.

Dean

ASID Lunch & Learn at Emser Tile

Wednesday was the first meeting in the ASID CA Peninsula Lunch & Learn Series and of course I was on hand to photograph the event.You can view the photographs by following this link

The Lunch & Learn events are no cost to members so we get a nice snack and become better educated about the materials and supplies common to the spaces we work in.

Industry Partners provide lunchtime seminars to showcase new products, teach product specification and/or application techniques at their facilities.

Lunch is provided, and designers gain in-depth information about a particular product, service or showroom.

This first meeting was hosted by Emser Tile. The presentation was by Daybreak Stoneworks. We learned a bout the damage improper care can cause to stone tiles, counters and tables, we saw a demonstration of the refinishing process and how effective it can be even on severely damaged stone, and we learned abot the proper way to care for stone.

I am glad to know the best way to clean the stone because so often I need to throw a quick shine on stone for the photographs without causing damage. It is surprising how easy it is to damage stone and the cost of repairs is rather steep.

Lunch was provided – sandwiches, sodas, water and cookies… no Vegan fare though. Oh, well, It won’t hurt me to miss a meal or two every now and then.