I am a perfectionist, but not perfect. This is one thing that sometimes can slow me down a bit. I sometimes get a new idea but want to make it perfect before I release it out, or sometimes even tell anyone. But before I get into my weekly post about who I am, I wanted to acknowledge a few people that are very important to Stagi Imagery and the work that we create. This blog is a mix of my business and also some personal things that I like to share to my clients and photography friends out there. I love to blog and even though my writing skills aren’t the best, it is a way of expression for me that I really enjoy. There is nothing cooler that being able to share my vision, my thoughts and dreams with all of you. But Stagi Imagery wouldn’t be where it is today without the hard work of many others.

First off Joey, our awesome other photographer. He has a great eye for moments and perfect timing to capture just that right expression from someone. He is also our master at lighting, and can turn any scene into an amazing dynamic image. He has been shooting for us for 3 years and always produces some amazing images.

Lisa my wife has been side by side with me for the last 10 years of this business. I actually started Stagi Imagery in her apartment in San Jose, when somehow I convinced her to let me put a little desk and computer in her tiny room. I will never forget that little $30 desk that could barely hold my apple monitor. Lisa has helped me out at weddings, helps with marketing and now besides being an amazing mom still answers the phones for me and responds to clients. I also have to thank all of the 2nd shooters that we use at weddings, they are always taking care of our clients, running around like crazy on the wedding grabbing gear, setting up lights, and on top of that capture the best shots! Thank you, Stephanie, Carrie, Jimmy and all of the other great 2nd shooters we have had.

So back to me trying to be a perfectionist. I was really thinking about this a lot yesterday and how sometimes my strive for perfection gets in the way of me doing what I am supposed to do. As most of you saw in my blog last week, I really felt led to help some of the homeless people downtown during this cold winter. I got an idea to post a video call out for help to people and put that out on twitter and facebook. My goal was to get 40 sleeping bags donated to help out people that are usually at St. James park downtown. I wanted to get these together in a few days to give them to people on the Thanksgiving weekend. I figured it might be a little difficult to raise money in a few days but thought that with all of the hundreds of people on facebook and twitter I know, no problem. Well when Thanksgiving came we only had 7 sleeping bags. I put off going downtown to give them away for a few days to try and get more in but nothing happened. Part of me wanted to wait and keep trying to get more so I could hit my goal of 40. So I tried to delay until I could do what I set off to do. My wife finally said to me “people are cold and need what you have” so I set off yesterday to give out the 7 sleeping bags. Thinking for a second I failed and couldn’t make a big of an impact as I wanted, my thoughts changed very quickly when I arrived. Not being out of my car for 20 seconds with 3 sleeping bags in my hand I had a guy run right over to me asking what I was doing with those sleeping bags. When I told him that I was giving them away and he could take one, the joy and happiness on his face made me realize that just helping out one person made this a 100% success. I was able to talk with him for awhile and encourage him. I prayed with him for his situation and for his family and know that if I can help touch one person then its all worth it. The other 6 were given away within a matter of minutes. In the end the needs of everyone weren’t met, but some were and I hope that it can help to turn their lives around.

By me trying to strive for perfection I almost missed the chance to impact the 7 people that I was able to meet. Perfection isn’t possible, the quicker we realize that and move on the better. From now on I will do the best that I can, put 100% into everything that I do, and then move on to the next project. I won’t dwell on making things perfect but will do the best that I can.

– Mark

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a great day filled with good family, good food and fun times. I have so much to be thankful for and am thankful and grateful every day for the breath that God gives me. He gives me vision to do what I love to do every day, and I owe it all to him. I wish you all the best this day and every day moving forward. To all my family and friends (clients and vendors alike) I love you all!!! You are all a very important part of my life and I am thankful for each and every one of you.

I am also very thankful to be a part of such an awesome church that is always giving back to the community (Jubilee Christian Center). This year we gave out 1000 full turkey dinners to families in San Jose. Its so awesome to see how much of a difference we can all make in other peoples lives. Sometimes it dosen’t take much to help someone out and make a change in their lives, just a little bit of money or just a little bit of time. But the first step is just taking our eyes off of ourselves and our problems and focusing on others and loving others. This is the 3rd year that I have volunteered and normally I just help with the assembly line of getting the food out, but lately I have been thinking a lot more about using the gifts that I have in photography for more than just my work. So I signed up to photograph the event and help to tell the story of the day. I don’t know what impact my images from the day will make but I pray that they are seen by the people that need to see them and help to move people to help out those who are hungry. Did you know that there are 30 million people who are hungry right now in the United States…. 30 Million! I don’t know exactly what I can do to help this number be 0, but am going to pray for guidance and help out in any way that I can.

I know that a lot of photographers read my blog so I encourage you all to use your gifts in photography to help make a difference. There are so many ways we can use our cameras to inspire others. Here are just a few pics of the Thanksgiving 2009 giveaway.

A few weeks ago I went downtown with my church to help provide food and clothes to some of the homeless. In such a wealthy valley with so much it hurts me to see so many people without basic needs. They are hungry, cold and empty inside and after helping out this day I left wanting to do more. For the past few weeks I have thought about different ways I could help but kept putting it off. Sometimes I want a perfect plan of action and want to help in a huge way so because of that might put off an idea for years, while in the meantime people are in need. Today I want to actually do something to make a difference and need your help. There are people out there that just need some warmth for the winter and I want to help provide them with sleeping bags. We can get a nice sleeping bag for $34 (got my numbers wrong in the video, sorry). I still need to reach out to some local companies and see where the best price would be (if anyone can help in this area please let me know), but walmart has a good sleeping bag for $34 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2579726). I am going to get one so we need 39 more people to help out to be able to provide warmth for 40 people this winter. If you can donate $34 or any other amount please do so on the link below. If you can’t donate but can help out in any other way let me know, if we can all help out in some small way it will make such a big difference.

Please view the video below and pass this along to your family and friends. I know that we can all come together to help out 40 people this week and make a difference in their lives.

Help provide sleeping bags from mark stagi on Vimeo.

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With the year winding down here is our last newsletter of 2009! This was emailed out earlier, if your email has changed or aren’t on our email list just fill out the form below.

Stagi Imagery November 2009 Newsletter

And a post wouldn’t be complete without a killer video

Why do I love Canvas wraps so much? The easy answer is they are just absolutely gorgeous to look at! We started printing on canvas a few years back and the first sample print I got from my lab I just fell in love with. For me photography has always been an art form and always will be. Great photography is a combination of getting the perfect moment captured with great lighting and then what turns that image into something amazing is in the printing. Choosing the right paper to print on and how the image is presented will make such a huge impact on the final print. A lot of my work that has a romantic feel to it or a little bit of an artistic flair shine when printed on canvas. The extra texture of the cannas can really add to the feel of the print. Taking it a step further with a canvas wrap gives the presentation a very modern feel.

If you haven’t seen a canvas wrap yet they are prints on canvas then laminated and then stretched over a stretcher bar frame. The canvas wraps around the frame so the edge of your image bleeds over the side of the frame. These are meant to hang directly on the wall and usually have a 1.5 inch frame so have a nice depth to them. If you are looking for an amazing way to display some of the images we have created for you give us a call.