Rise Krag of RKI Interior Design, ASID CA Peninsula Membership Director for 2010/2011

Last night I attended a joint board meeting with both the incoming and outgoing board of ASID CA Peninsula. We met at the Dunn Edwards store in San Jose it was a bright open space and a really enjoyable place to hold the meeting.

There was also a CEU being presented that evening: Designing for Healthy and Productive Interiors: Light and Sound for Optimal Human Performance CEU AND Decorative Lighting, Accessories and Art Spotlight.

You can see all the photographs from last nights meeting and the CEU by following this link to my portfolio gallery.

Front Row (L - R) Carol Spence Carr, Debbie Snider: Back Row (L - R) Meera Chawla, Jeanette Loretz, Anna Sarkissian, James Stout, Janine Arietta: Not Shown but in attendance: Dean Birinyi (Photographer)

We are beginning to get to know each other and feeling more comfortable discussing chapter business in an open and less tentative manner. This may be because the hand off to our board from the leadership of Marie Chan of Interspace Design is under way.

We discussed many things but the primary focus of the meeting was to ensure all members had a good working grasp of the overall goals of our organization and define a clear vision and mission for our terms. There were many opportunities that presented themselves to us, more than can reasonably be achieved in any one year. We will rely on the leadership of Carol Spence Carr of Carol Spence Interior Design to focus our efforts and make this year, and next successful and productive.

ASID CA Peninsula Continuity Board Meeting

(Board members above, from left to right, first row: Carol Spence Carr, Marie Chan, Jane Higo. Second row: Debbie Snider, Jeanette Loretz, Divya Vijayanandakumar. Not shown but in attendance: Anna Sarkissian and Dean Birinyi)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with the current board of the ASID CA Peninsula chapter at the continuity meeting at AS Design in Los Gatos. This was the beginning of the hand off from the leadership of Marie Chan to that of Carol Spence Carr.

I’m looking forward to working with the chapter and hope I am ready for the challenges I will be assigned as my duties. The upcoming board, on which I sit as the Industry Partner Director is meeting on Monday.

High Dynamic Range Image of the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA

I also had the opportunity to speak with Meera Chawla regarding the 2010 ASID CA Peninsula Design Awards Gala. I will be photographing the event and look forward to having the opportunity to help tell the story of the event.

Private Residence, San Mateo

I am surprised when my clients respond with astonishment when I help with the styling for my photographs. I move furniture and plants, help hang artwork and clear off desks, tables and counters. I offer suggestions about where to place the flowers, and how they should be arranged to best compliment the photographs composition and suggest changes to the arrangement of furnishings and which art to use where. This is the collaborative aspect of interior design photography and I love doing it.

But what really causes the strongest response is when I help put the homeowners things back where they were, help with re-packing the boxes of plates, vases and flowers, and carry things out to the car at the end of the day.

Because I am using high dynamic range imaging and no longer have twelve lights to position, adjust and control I have more time to work with my clients to style the spaces and make the photographs we create the best they can be, but I have always done these things. For an interior design photographer this is what collaboration is. If your photographer isn’t doing it, you should be working with me.

Red Clover in Sunol Regional Wilderness Area

Red Clover in Sunol Regional Wilderness Area

This months photograph is titled “Red Clover”

I shot this image in the Sunol Regional Wilderness Area last year. I love the soft forms and gently colors of the flowers. Upon getting good close look I was surprised a the abundance of nectar produced by the flower, these little beads of nectar really give this image a level of interest that is absolutely delightful.

I always enjoy shooting nature photographs. It gives me the chance to get away from the computer, phone and e-mail, reconnect with my inner being and remember what I love about being a photographer, because in the day to day madness of proposals, appointments and accounting it’s far too easy to forget that I chose this career because I like taking pretty pictures.

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

I’ll have images to show after Shirley and Loretta approve the images. Clients always have first rights.

So, it seems that a lot of people are buying new computers, but at least half of them are the thirteen inch screens. At this rate I will be able to drop the narrow screen version of my photograph of the month by August.

Private Residence, Los Altos Hills

And of course you will still receive the unparalleled customer service for which I have become known.

In the past it was not possible to offer a flat rate price for photographing interiors because of the complexity of the supplemental lighting required; often simply unpacking and re-packing the lights & camera would take longer than shooting the photograph.

Now that I am using High Dynamic Range Imaging we work exclusively with available light to reproduce the atmospheric effects of the space with an authenticity that simply isn’t possible when using supplemental lighting. And this means we no longer have the artificial complexity of odd shadows or stray reflections being cast by the photographers supplemental lighting.

Please take a look at my new pricing. I’ve done all I can to structure my services to make it easy, affordable and predictable because helping you is why I am here.

http://www.djbphoto.com/DJBPhoto_Pricing.html

Jeanette Loretz, Mike Weddington and Doreen Yun

Windows and Beyond hosted the second CEU seminar in the “Minding Your Business” series prepared and presented by Mike Weddington, General Sales Manager at Hunter Douglas. In attendance was the President Elect of the ASID California Peninsula Chapter Jeanette Loretz, of JL Designs & Interiors.

This seminar was titled “How to thrive, not just survive in today’s business environment.” As usual Mike did a great job of presenting the ideas and concepts in a useful and easily understood manner. I am very pleased with these seminars, so often a speaker will share just barely enough information so that no one can legitimately say they were “ripped off” but not one whit more. The result is that after an hour or two or sometimes a full day you walk away with a few hints of things that could help you, or possibly one new idea.

Mike, on the other hand, provides so much useful information you can’t help but come away with wealth of new ideas, proven techniques and concepts that will help you run your business more effectively and profitably.

But as Mike points out – it’s all in the execution. You can have great ideas, and wonderful plans but you have to have the commitment to do the work required to see your plan through to the end to achieve success.

You can see & download the shots I took of the seminar and the ASID members who attended by following this link.