I am going to be keeping track of my progress on this post and will be creating links to each complete goal with specific information/pictures/history/etc. I would love any feedback and support as I work through my list. If you ever have any ideas or advice that could help me accomplish any of the things on this list, please let me know in the comments box.

My 101 Goals for 1001 Days (June 16, 2010 – March 13, 2013)

Volunteer, Donate, Give Back

1. Volunteer photography for charitable cause
2. Spend a day paying 25 people I know serious, heartfelt compliments
3. Go on a mission trip
4. Give a 100% tip
5. Pay for some ones bill randomly
6. Sort through my clothes and donate what I no longer wear
7. Donate a portrait shoot to a charity fund raising auction
8. Participate in get-your-hands-dirty volunteer work
9. Commit a random act of kindness that personally costs me more than $50

Travel, Culture, Entertainment

10.Attend 5 music concerts
11. Try an ethnic food that I haven’t had before
12. Go to the opera
13. Eat at 10 restaurants I’ve never tried before
14. Visit a country or state I’ve never been to before
15. See a live improve comedy show

Reading, Writing, Learning

16. Re-read a book from childhood
17. Read 15 books
18. Read 25 books
19. Read 50 books
20. Read the Bible everyday for 30 days
21. Read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit
22. Read the complete fictional prose works of Edgar Allan Poe
23. Learn a second language fluently

Personal

24. Find a 9-5 in Portland
25. Quit the 9-5 in favor of full time photography
26. Eliminate my higher interest student loan debt
27. Get baptized
28. Answer the “50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind”
29. Save all of my change for 1001 days and cash it in when the challenge is done

Art and Photography

30. Enter a photography contest
31. Join WPJA and PPA
32. Take 100,000 pictures
33. Make a coffee table book of the years adventures
34. Shoot a session in the rain
35. Teach a basic photography class
36. Teach someone how to use an DSLR
37. Sell an “artistic” photograph
38. Spend a night doing star photography
39. Get 5 personal photography canvases printed for my home
40. Print 25 pictures to frame

Adventures

41. Climb Mt Hood
42. Climb Mt Rainier
43. 5 day backpacking trip with friends
44. Learn to kayak
45. Move to Portland
46. Go sailing
47. Go fishing with my grandpa
48. Backpacking trip along the coast for a week
49. Road trip to visit a friend
50. Go on a trip by myself
51. Go Geocaching
52. Jump off a + 40 ft cliff into water
53. Visit another continent

Cooking

54. Cook 3 new recipes in 3 days
55. Plant a small salsa garden
56. Cook 3 meals a day everyday for a week
57. Only eat out once a week for 3 months
58. Learn to cook 1 new recipe a week for 3 months
59. Cook a dinner for friends
60. Bake a loaf of bread from scratch

Random enjoyment

61. Buy a hammock, hang it, and use it!
62. Buy a bike
63. Buy a motorcycle
64. Learn all the musical modes and positions for guitar
65. Take 50 piano lessons
66. Spend an afternoon in an Irish/English pub with friends
67. Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day
68. Bring someone flowers
69. Don’t log on to facebook for a day, instead spend the time calling family members

Health & Finance

70. Go to bed by 11 PM on the weekdays for two weeks straight
71. Get up by 8 AM for 7 days straight
72. Refrain from buying any new clothing item for 3 months
73. Create a will / living will
74. Run 8 miles without stopping
75. Go jogging 3x per week for 3 weeks
76. Set up a ROTH IRA
77. Complete emergency fund at least $5000
78. Go a full day with no email, text, or phone
79. Sell $300 worth of stuff on craigslist and/or eBay
80. Weigh below 200 lbs
81. Give up caffeine for a month
82. Drink only water and decaffeinated tea as beverages for one month
83. No fast food for a month

Good for Business & Industry

84. Plan, build and launch my photography product
85. Join local chamber and attend an event
86. Blog every day for 1 month straight
87. Blog at least once a week for a year
88. Go to a local entrepreneurs meeting
89. Throw a party/event for my business
90. Get published
91. Complete 3 interviews with wedding pros
92. Get 3 weddings published on online style blog or magazine
93. Get 15 comments on a blog post
94. Get 25 comments on a blog post
95. Hire an accountant/tax
96. Streamline business by outsourcing and following the 80/20 rule
97. Start an online community for local photographers

Randomness

98.Fly a kite
99.Write a letter for myself to open in 10 years
100. Go to an event, festival, or convention that I think is weird
101. Finish all my Christmas shopping before December 1st

Each album layout is a custom and uniquely designed art piece. Each album spread is created with a micro-fold, not a cut which allows for each page to lay beautifully flat so that each spread can be presented in its full glory. Each page is photographically printed on Fuji Crystal Archival paper. Super-durable with a nice soft finish and at 2mm page thickness your going to love flipping through your album with your friends and family!

Choose from seven ridiculously good-looking colors. How could you not love this?

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Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

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Do you shoot both color and B&W? I shoot your entire wedding in color but any image can be turned into black & white or sepia toned.

How many weddings do you photograph per year? Only 20 wedding per year, this way I can be sure that I am fully dedicating myself to my clients.

Will you build a custom package for my wedding? Of course! It’s my personal preference to build a custom package designed to fit your wedding. You know what you envision for your wedding and I want to work with you to create the perfect fit.

Do you travel for weddings? I love to travel; I love seeing new places and meeting different people. If you are interested in a destination wedding I will be honored to photograph your wedding. Contact me for details about travel costs.

What will you wear to my wedding? I will wear what is appropriate and professional based on your wedding style. If you have a formal wedding I don’t mind wearing a tie, or if you just want to keep things casual that is all right with me too.

Do you require a meal at the wedding? I don’t require any kind of a meal but if you do provide me with a meal I will eat when you are eating. (Most people don’t like pictures of themselves with a mouth full of food, well maybe except for cake)

What retainer/payment schedule do you require? Upon signing a contract, a $500 non- refundable retainer is required to hold your date and I will turn away all other inquiries for your date. 50% of the remaining balance is due 90 days before your wedding, final balance is due 30 days prior to the wedding day.

Do you take credit cards? I sure do.  All major credit cards are accepted.

Do you have a minimum for print orders? Nope, you can order as much as you want, even if you only want a single print.

Who decides what photos go in my final album? It’s all up to you, if you prefer I can design and pick the images that I feel best tell the story of the day or we can work together to pick the images for your album.

How long will it take to receive my proofs and albums? Your online proofs will be ready in 2 weeks. Proof books are ordered when the photos are released online and arrive about 1 week after your images are online. Albums are ready between 4-5 weeks from the time we receive your final approval.

When do I pay for prints? All print orders must be paid in full upon placing the order.

Why a Wedding Album?

Often clients ask about whether or not they really need a wedding album.  Wedding blogs, and other industry “insiders” often suggesting saving money by foregoing a professionally designed and produced wedding album, instead – opting for a simple disc of images.  Which is really better for you – the client?

Isn’t a disc all I really need?

First let me say this – all of our clients receive a disc.  That’s right, you’ll receive a disc with the final edit of your images (usually 400-900 images) for archival purposes.  With a disc, we provide you with a license to reproduce those images for your personal use.  If that’s the case, it’s fair to ask ‘why would you really need anything else?’

I believe so strongly that every single couple should have a high-quality wedding album, that every wedding commission we photograph includes an album credit.  Every single client gets an album.  It’s that important.  Here’s why:

The art of a print

Your photographs are intended to be presented as professional prints.  A print is the end result of a photograph.  A digital file is simply a negative.  If your photographer shot your wedding on film, you wouldn’t be satisfied with just the negatives would you?  They wouldn’t be especially useful to you.

A print, on the other hand, is a work of art.  It’s been retouched, enhanced, processed, and essentially “developed.”  Creating photographic prints is a skill that separates professionals from amateurs.  All of our albums are crafted with real photographic prints.

A wedding album will last hundreds of years when cared for properly.  It holds its value and is your very first family heirloom.  It is meant to be viewed and shared for generations.  The quality and craftsmanship of a professional album is meant to be around for far longer than any of us.

Your Story

Finally, your wedding album tells your wedding story in a way that nothing else can.  Loose prints only capture a moment.  Your disc with hundreds or thousands of images is simply raw, unedited footage (so to speak), and lacks the storytelling that an album provides.

Looking through that many images is overwhelming.  It might be nice to have for your peace of mind, but it lacks the narrative that exists in an album.   When created by a professional, a wedding album captures your story so that you can share the emotion, the experience, the memories from your wedding day.

Finally, it’s unlikely that in 25 years, you’ll even be able to read the DVD or CD those images are on.  With the speed that technology changes, it’s certain to be a challenge for all of us to back up and maintain files for decades to come.  It’s great to have access to your digital files, but it requires diligence to be sure you’ve created a copy every five years on whatever is the most commonly accepted form of storage media.

A wedding album, on the other hand, is timeless.  It will never be out of style, and you’ll always be able to share your story.  And really, the entire purpose of having your wedding photographed- is to share your story.