A lot on the horizon...

Today, was a relatively pensive day. I woke up at 6:00 am (ahem) to go for my morning walk with Amy Nave and Co. Then I went home, took a bath, and then took a walk to Alice Keck Park where I proceeded to pretty much finish "The Anatomy of the Buzz." This book is action packed with business goodness! It's so nice to be able to take a good chunk of time out of the day to re-group and really focus on what is going to be really important for our business. Sometimes I feel like it's really really easy to get caught up in the day to day of running a business. It's SO key to consistently take a step back and really try to see the "forest for the trees" so to speak. Otherwise, one day we'll wake up and be like, "What have I been doing for the last 10 years!" Michael and I have so many exciting things on the horizon that I'm really anxious to share with everyone. Should be soon...
So here are some shots I took with my iphone of the park. It was such a beautiful day and was a wonderful atmosphere for me to let my mind focus on the upcoming future. It's such a treat to live in such a beautiful place. We are truly blessed...

Start of a my 2nd Oil Painting...

Today I got to start a new painting in my art class! It was a hard call, but I chose this dramatic still life of these beautiful red flowers. Alli pointed out that I am definitely drawn to still life - which I think is an accurate observation! So this is the preliminary skeleton...
This is Alli's finished painting from the past two weeks! Isn't it awesome! Alli tends to gravitate more towards landscapes - which she is obviously very talented at painting. :)



This last weekend, Michael and I were traveling north to be with him mom on her 60th birthday party, and as I was looking out the window I literally saw the landscape that Alli was painting. I took this picture to show her!


Here is Alli with her awesome painting. Our teacher always shows us how our final painting looks in a professional frame - which really makes it look finished. I love it!




Yay! Art class rocks! :)

Our Trip to Paris

I was going through pictures recently and came across pictures from Michael and my trip to Paris awhile back. I thought I'd share some our favorite spots! (I didn't have a blog when we went :)


Michael took this shot outside the Catacombes of Paris. What do your think it is?

Awesome shot Michael took of the Eiffel Tower

This is a shot Michael took looking down from inside the elevator in the Eiffel Tower. Cool, huh?
Michael took this shot directly UNDER the Eiffel Tower.


This is actually a shot of the inside of a huge fireplace in the Concergerie. This is an old Medieval Castle and the place Marie Antoinette spent her last hours before getting her head chopped off. (In the Concergerie - not the fireplace, I mean!)


Michael and I in the Tuillerie Gardens


Michael and I in front of Notre Dame


This is a cute picture of Michael in the Catacombes of Paris! Yikes! :) (This is one place I REALLY wanted to go!)

I had fun going through the pictures again! Michael and I loved Paris SO much that we made a commitment that we would live there someday for at least a year. Paris is a magical place! :)

LIVE Chat TODAY with Jared Bauman!!

For anyone who is interested in learning more about being an amazing business owner, definitely log onto photoforthepeople.com today from 4-6 pm (pacific) and post questions for Jared Bauman under the "Interviews With Photographers That Know the Biz" section! Jared is such an amazing example of how to start a business, make it profitable quickly and expand quickly and efficiently. I've been SO impressed with the volume of weddings he books between him, his partner and "crew" photographer, and how well his office operates.
Also, check out this interview I did with him that is also on Photo For the People. It's gives some awesome insights into his business!!
Can't wait to see you there and join in the conversation!!

xo

Take a minute to help solve world hunger...

Hey everyone,
Today my relative Jana made me aware of a cause called ONE that helps fight world hunger. All they are asking right now is that people sign a petition to put World Hunger on the G8 agenda poverty-fighting agenda in July. Here is more info:

It's being called the "Silent Tsunami." In three years, prices for the basic staples that feed the world—wheat, rice and corn—have risen by a staggering 83%. For people in the developing world, affording enough food to eat is becoming a daily struggle for survival.

The New York Times is reporting that in Haiti, people are eating cakes made of mud mixed with a little sugar and oil to try and beat the hunger pangs. Without action to stop the upward spiral of food prices, 100 million people around the world will face deeper poverty and hunger, and hundreds of thousands will confront famine and starvation.

In the face of this suffering, we cannot be silent.

Please send a message to President Bush and urge him to make solving this hunger crisis a priority on the G8's poverty-fighting agenda at its summit this July in Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda has sent a letter to the other seven leaders of G8 nations adding the hunger crisis on the agenda for the G8 summit. It's a critical first step and shows that our concern is being heard. Now we need to hear from President Bush and work to keep the focus on this ongoing crisis.

Why are we asking the G8—the leaders of the world's eight wealthiest nations—to take action? We ask because a global crisis demands a global response, and recent history shows these leaders are in the best position to take action.

In 2005, ONE members joined millions of people from around the world in demanding that the G8 make poverty a priority at its meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. The results were historic. A year of grassroots organizing culminated in the Gleneagles Declaration, in which the G8 committed to double development assistance to Africa by 2010.

We can help get such results again - please show your support for this effort by signing the petition.

It took me literally 20 seconds to sign the petition, so I'd urge anyone who'd like to to do the same! Here is the link: http://www.one.org/hungercrisis?rc=hctaf

Thanks! xoxo

The Daymaker Movement

So, my friend/staff photographer Kristen told me about this website called daymakermovement.com. Her mom emailed her the link and she was talking about it so I thought I'd check it out. It's SUCH a cool idea.
I think it's really important to always be actively involved in a good cause or charity, but sometimes we may not be thinking about what we can be doing on a basic day to day level. And that's why this website is great because it reminds us to just make someone's day everyday. It could be something small like letting someone in your lane on the freeway or remembering someone with a heartfelt card or letter. This guy has a ton of good ideas and I just really feel like if we could just be nicer and less selfish we'd live in a better world, don't you?

You know those people that are super nice ALL the time and are fun to be around and you genuinely feel happy around them because their eyes don't glaze over when your talking to them about your life? I want to be like THOSE people!

You know how happy you feel when someone remembers you or makes an effort to make your life easier or happier in some way? I want to be like THOSE people.

Oh, wait - that means I want to be like Michael, Kristen & Cherry! This is what these three people did for me today

Michael: He shows up after running errands with a beautiful rose that he picked up just to let me know how much he loves me. I think Michael definitely qualifies as a Day Maker. I'm going to stop here because I don't want to sound like I'm bragging - but it's really hard NOT to brag about Michael....Anyway...

Kristen: Kristen lead me to daymakermovement.com today, so that alone was awesome because it made me aware of a cause that will help me become a better person!

Cherry: Cherry came by to pick up her memory cards from the wedding she helped us shoot last weekend and brought me some mini cupcakes "just because." I love cupcakes. Whose day WOULDN'T be made if someone brought them cupcakes?

So, fortunately I have a ton of amazing examples already of people who like to make others days. So, I'm excited to get started!

Let's post up some ideas for making other people's days so we can all get pumped about our new cause! Anyone have someone in their life that is constantly making their day? Anyway out there who has already made a commitment to be a "Day Maker" that has some fun stories to share? Bring it on people!

xoxo

My First Oil Painting

So, today I finished my first oil painting! Yay! I am kind of suspicious of my teacher because she totally thinks it's done, but I still see SO much work to be done on it. (I'm just kidding about my teacher :) She is SO awesome and I totally see the merit at working quickly through a few paintings before getting every detail perfect. But I'm actually really proud of it and this class is great! It's really cute because most of the students are these really nice ladies that are about my mom's age or older - and then there's Alli and I - these two young girls in the mix. Alli and I are constantly smiling at each other during the class because the conversations are SO unbelievably cute! One of the ladies is English and so she has this really cute accent and one of the things she said today was quoting someone who said, "Every woman marries beneath her." They all thought that was hilarious!! It's so fun! haha!

I have great people working for me...

I just wanted to give a shout out to the amazing people that make Michael + Anna Costa Photographers great.

First off, our associate Kristen Grinnell is amazing in so many ways. She is truly one of those "Salt of The Earth" type people. She is kind, loving, generous, talented and a joy to work with. She is an amazing photographer and her couples absolutely LOVE her!! I swear I get so many thank you cards from her clients!!

Cherry Thomas, our other associate photographer is SUCH a pleasure to be around. Her work is so incredible and she has such a mellow and relax way about her. Weddings can be very stressful, but she has a great knack for keeping cool and getting the shot! I love it!

Amanda Bryant, our awesome intern has been one of our favorite people lately!! She does an unbelievable job and it's such a relief to have her around.(She does A LOT of stuff) She also really cracks me up because she has a really dry, in your face kind of personality so all the friendly banter has been very entertaining!

Thanks everyone for all your hard work - your truly what makes our studio great! Love you!!

xoxo

Awesome Lighting Techniques!

(Photo by Colin Michael)


If you are a photographer and are interested in how to make your images AMAZING through switching up your lighting technique - DEFINITELY check out this interview on photoforthepeople.com!


Colin Michael is an awesome photographer from San Luis Obispo and I think you'll be very surprised to see that he's only in his 3rd year of shooting weddings! Check out the interview and feel free to post comments/questions. I'm sure that Colin will be happy to post answers. Thanks Colin!

My Secrets Out...

Okay, I've been keeping this kind of a secret because I wasn't sure how long this would last, but..I'm a vegetarian. I started 2 months ago because I accidentally read a book that was a pro-vegan/organic book (I thought it was a diet book.Oops!) So, of course after reading all gruesome meat stories (which I won't go into) I decided to just give vegetarianism a try.

Disclaimer: For some reason this seems to be a sort of heated topic - so please know that I'm not on any sort of campaign or crusade - it's just something I wanted to try for myself.

I've grown up eating meat, so I thought this would be really hard - but it really hasn't. My favorite meats before I started the vegetarian thing was bacon, sausage and pepperoni so nutritionally I don't think I'm suffering by cutting those out!! haha!

Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone else out there is a vegetarian if you have tips. I have also been intrigued by the vast amount of variations that there are for vegetarians: ex: vegetarians that eat fish, vegetarians that don't eat eggs but do eat cheese etc etc.

There is this hilarious comedian named Jim Gaffigan who in his comedy acts talks about vegetarians and it's really funny. One of my favorite lines is, "You know how vegetarians love to tell you how long they gone without eating meat for? They're like, "I haven't had meat for 5 years" and I'm like, "We'll I haven't had a banana in a month, you don't see me bragging about it!" That's SO true! I'm constantly giving Michael the update on how long it's been since I've had meat. haha! (Check out the video below...SO funny) Our friend Brion Hopkins brought over the DVD and we've watching about 4 times!

Anyway, since I haven't missed eating meat I'm kind of assuming that I'll just keep this up. But we'll see... :)

Art Class!!

So, last week Michael and I invited some friends out to dinner and I happened to sit next to Allie Trowbridge (our friend David Jay's girlfriend.) After chatting for awhile we realized we had a few things in common:
1. We are both from English descent and both have ancestors that came across on the Mayflower
2. We both took piano when we were young, but can only play when we sit down and practice a piece for a very long time.
3. Both our parents are art teachers
4. We both have been wanting to take an art class in town!

After finding out we both had an interest in taking the art class we decided to sign up at Portico Gallery in Montecito.
The instructor was enthusiastic about the progress Alli and I were making. (So much so that I was a little wary that she was was being a little TOO nice, but when I look at Alli's painting I can see what she means. Alli is a natural!)
So, I am super excited for the next 5 weeks of this class and then I'm going to have my Dad come up so we can all go out and paint a landscape somewhere here in Santa Barbara. Check out my Dad's website: www.harveycusworth.com
stay tuned because I'm going to post my paintings as they progress...unless they're really bad...(just kidding!! :)

This is why we do what we do....

I just got this incredibly sweet email from April Elliot, one of the people that came to our WPPI presentation on "Standing our in the Photography Industry." We've actually been getting lots of emails and even thank you cards in the mail, so thanks you SO much everyone for your encouraging words. Here's April's email:

Hi Anna, Hi Michael,

I just wanted to send you a quick email to say "hi" and "thanks". The "hi"
is because I recently joined Photo for the People and will probably be
posting soon (if I can get the nerve to!) The "thanks" is simply because I
was in the audience during your WPPI Platform Class and I was really
inspired and totally impressed with you as people, as professionals, and
as photographers. I sat close to the front as your class was one I was
really looking forward to. I've "followed" your work (gosh, do I sound
like a blog stalker or what!?) and was excited to see how you do things
and what you'd be like in person. I loved every minute of your
presentation. I laughed, I was inspired, I was excited about the next
steps for my business, and I felt connected! Hearing you talk about your
relationship and how you work the business together
(ie: Michael: "I think we should do __________."
Anna: "Okay."
Michael: "Okay ... you do it." (insert smile here)

It was hilarious. It was like looking into my husband and my life and the
way we are together for the business. We seriously say the exact same
things all the time!
Anyways, I definitely think we're going to implement some of your ideas
simply because they made so much sense. We're actually just in the process
of interviewing assistants because we were inspired by you!

Thanks again, so much, for being such genuine, fun, and generous people. I
know that the photographic community is definitely stronger because you're
a part of it.

Warmly,

April Elliott

What do you think?

Okay, FIRST check out our Photo Blog so that you can see all the awesome shots that Michael posted from our WPPI encounter!!

Next, I'm interested to hear about people's preferences. Tell me what you think:
1. Live in a huge house in the middle of the desert or a really small house in a beautiful location?
2. Have the same job for 30 years with an average income and have security or take business risks that can either pay off really big or tank?
3. Have a job that you love that pays less or have a job that pays big but you hate?
4. Have less kids with better vacations and activities or more kids with simply activities and vacations. (example: European vacations vs. camping)
5. Have kids early in life and still be young when they're grown or have kids later on in life and be old when they are grown.
6. Go to church weekly or go to church only on Christmas and Easter.
7. Baths or showers?
8. Dinner or Dessert?
9. Board Games or Video Games?
10. Cloudy days or sunny days?

Okay, please post your thoughts b/c I'm super curious! Sometimes I think that things are obvious - like why would anyone CHOOSE do to this or that. But maybe, I haven't heard every side of the story... :)
(Martha, I know your checking this so I think you should post this time! haha!)

ohmygosh - this is the craziest video of my brother getting a shot for typhoid and yellow fever. Yikes!

(singing) 'Cause He's Leaving, On a Jet Plane....

(This is Daniel at the stream behind the Natural History Museum)
(This is me looking very miserly with my money from the board game "Cashflow.")

So, my favorite (and only) brother Daniel just came up to SB yesterday to hang out with Michael and I for the last time for two years! (Sniff). He is going to Brazil to serve a mission for our church.
We had an awesome time just hanging around SB and doing things that I don't normally do. We really wanted to check out the jail cells at the courthouse. (For those of you who don't know, there is actually an old jail there) but we found out that it's not open to the public. So then we decided to go find Franchesci Park which is such a cool park up on the Riviera with amazing views of Santa Barbara. Then we went to the natural history museum and walked over to the the stream that's behind it and walked around a little bit. So after, all the strenous exercise (hehe) we decided it was time for an ice cream break and went to McConnells for some delicious frozen yogurt!
We were kind of tired when we made it home so I decided to pull out "Cashflow" the board game. It was fun and I won! Yay! :) (fyi - "Cashflow" is a board game created by Robert Kiyosaki the author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad.")
So, after that we rented this hilarious movie called "King of Kong" which is a documentary on the world record holders of the video game Donkey Kong. And then I went to sleep! Whew! What a day!
I'll be going with my parents and sister Bethany to drop off Daniel at the airport this Wednesday. This is going to sound really sappy and pathetic, but I've already cried so many times just thinking about him leaving that I'm actually happy that I've gotten a lot of this out of my system. I've literally turned into my Mom (and if you know my Mom she cries at everything). Actually, I think I now officially cry more than she does which is really embarrassing! Heaven help me! :)
Love you Daniel

Friends and Food.

Not really sure what's going on in this picture...
(Why are DJ & Tim looking off into the distance??)

Last night, Michael and I had an awesome dinner with David Jay & Allie Trowbridge, Joel Serrato and Jose Villa as well as Tim & Cheryl Halberg. It was SO fun! We went to Elements for dinner (Mmmmmm) and it was some great conversations and catching up. It's funny b/c Jose, DJ and Michael and I spoke at the last WPPI convention but we didn't really get a chance to hang out there since we were all so busy! So we decided to catch up a couple weeks after by getting together for dinner in Santa Barbara. Good times!

Vote for us on The Knot!

A wedding that we were honored to shoot last year for Lisa & Jerry Takeoka is a finalist for The Knot Real Wedding contest! Yay! The winner gets published in The Knot, so please take a minute to vote for us! The wedding is titled La Dolce Vita and you'll see the opening shot of our bride on the beach. http://realweddingawards.theknot.com/
Thanks for your vote & you can vote every day until the contests over!! :)

What Beautiful Sight...

This is my awesome intern Amanda. Not only is she beautiful, but to behold this sight is breathtaking for me. Here she is busily working away at getting images to vendors - a task that if she wasn't in charge of - I'd be doing. This is a scene that I've been witnessing a lot lately with wedding submissions, filing, picking up/dropping off images to the lab, mailing prints, burning digital negatives for vendors and so forth.

Sometimes, it's hard to let other people do thing for us. But then we realize that we'll be able to take care of the things the we really excel at instead. I think it's important remember to not get so caught up in "running" your business so you don't have time to "build" your business. Food for thought...