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Welcome

Welcome to the Stagi Imagery blog! My name is Mark Stagi and I am the owner and one of the photographers for Stagi Imagery. I started this business over 10 years ago to create fresh and creative wedding and portrait photography. Over the past 10 years our business has grown to now include a few other photographers and many wonderful clients that we serve. We have been creating award winning images in the Bay Area and beyond and are available to travel worldwide. It has been a huge blessing for me to be a part of such wonderful events in my clients lives and I will share some of the fun moments through my blog.

We will share many photos of events and other fun stuff that we are up to in the studio. I will also share a little about myself so you can get a little peek into the always unpredictable life of a wedding photographer and business owner. Our blog is updated often so check back later! To see more of our wedding and portrait photography just go to our website at: www.wedclix.com . You can also subscribe to our RSS feed here: feed://wedclix.com/blog/?feed=rss2 or drop us a comment here

Thanks for stopping by.
-- Mark

Win a hour long photo mentoring session

I am giving away an hour long mentoring session to help raise money for Thirst Relief. If you are going to be at WPPI it will include a lunch or dinner, and can be an hour one on one session about anything you need to know! You can bid online only today and tomorrow so get your bid in now: http://thirstrelief.shootq.com

Get mentored by mark

in the 2010 ThirstRelief Mentor Auction!

Click the images to
open them in new windows.

Grow as a photographer while saving lives!

I’m participating in the 2010 ThirstRelief Mentor Auction. Our mission is to save lives by tapping into the incredible talent and generosity of the photo industry.

Did you know that every 15 seconds someone dies of a waterborne illness? That’s 5760 people every day! You can help. Bid on a mentoring session with your favorite photographer!

100% of the proceeds directly benefit Thirst Relief. Add to that the incredible wisdom and talent that is being shared in the one-on-one mentor sessions and you have better and more
successful photographers! It’s truly a win win for everyone involved!


About me and my mentor auction

Here is a little bit more about my studio:

Passion is what its all about for us. True passion and love for photography drive our team every day (and a few Mocha’s along the way). Photography has been a love of ours since childhood and we shoot not only to provide our clients with the most awesome images they could ever image but to also fuel our creativity and need to capture compelling images.

We have been capturing weddings in the Bay Area for over 11 years. It all started with a passion by Award Winning wedding photographer Mark Stagi to create fresh, fun wedding images that reflect each brides unique day.

Mark has a degree in Fine Art along with a minor in photojournalism. This has given him a unique look into weddings, from focusing on capturing the emotion of the day along with getting creative with off camera lighting setups. Running a studio shooting over 50 weddings a year has given Mark many insights into what it takes to successfully market your company. He has learned how to keep a boutique style feel to his studio with a strong focus on his customers all while taking care of a good number of weddings each year.

Our mentor session will focus on finding your style and being true to that. We believe that the best long term way to run your business is to be true to your self and let your passion drive everything you create. We wear our passion for our work and our life with our clients and truly give them an experience they won’t forget. Mark will also focus on how to keep your marketing fresh and to keep buzz always around your studio.

My mentor session can take place at WPPI 2010 (Las Vegas), in my hometown of San Jose, ca OR on the phone.

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save on our workshops

We are running a discount for our workshop registration only to our readers this week. For any of our workshops (Weddings photography from A to Z and our Marketing in 2010) save $60 off the workshop cost if you register by this Sunday (2-14). You can view details about our workshops online here: Photography Workshops.

photography workshop

Weddings from A to Z
Our weddings from A to Z workshop is a full day intensive workshop all about wedding photography. With emphasis on finding your style, expanding your creativity and unleashing the artist in you. We will cover some basics in using natural light in an artistic way and start to get a little more complicated with bringing in external lighting to your weddings. We will show you how to turn the ordinary wedding scene into an amazing art piece. From using creative compositions to creative lighting and how you work with the bride and groom, we’ll show you how we turned our passion for the art of photography into a successful wedding studio. Its all about unleashing the artist in you and making your work shine!

These are full day workshops in our studio in San Jose. Our next wedding workshops are:
2/27
3/13
5/7
7/16

Sign up online at http://www.workshopsfromtheheart.com

photography workshop

Marketing in 2010
2010 is here and times have changed dramatically over the last few years when it comes to marketing. 2010 is here and if you want to have your photography business thrive in this age you have to learn many new ways to market yourself (as well as some tried and true methods that have worked for ages)

Are you just starting your wedding photography business and don’t know how to get new clients? Or just looking for new and fresh ways to increase your current business. In todays competitive environment marketing is key to your success. We will cover many aspects of marketing from websites, blogs, Podcasting, referral marketing, and social media. Learn all about Facebook, Twitter and other online ways to market your business. This will also include a portfolio review and insights on how to brand your image.

Our marketing workshops are 1/2 day workshops and limited to 8 photographers. Our next Marketing in 2010 workshops are:
3/19
5/21

I love teaching these workshops, they are a lot of fun and packed with great info and goodies from our sponsors.

– Mark

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Writers block

Thinking about what to post today I think I started 10 different posts, wrote down a few things and just wasn’t feeling it. I always want my blog posts to either have some great images or if its a personal post to be something to help and inspire others. I am always hesitant to put out a blog post, it takes me some time to hit that final publish button. I want to be real with everyone but at the same time know you are all so busy and want to provide great content for you to read, to be able to lift up your spirits. But tonight nothing comes to my mind to write about so I am going to do something I have never done before, just write. What I don’t really know but as I type I hope something good will come. Actually that gets me thinking about movement, what do we usually do when we don’t know what to do? Sometimes I think we tend to stay put instead of push ahead into the unknown. Fear keeps you put, it keeps you really in bondage. I used to be like that, sometimes I would have an idea but wouldn’t fully know how to do it. So what would happen with that idea, it would sit in my mind until one day the thought of it was gone. I have had many things I wanted to try out in my business, new lighting ways, new ways of printing…. so many ideas go through this little head of mine. But what used to happen is I would write it down, get inspired, maybe even start something new. But then I would get to a point of not knowing exactly what to do next, instead of asking someone, searching for help or even just trying something totally new myself I would say to myself “i’ll finish this soon”. Or thought “OK now this is the hard part and I need to do it right so i’ll wait until I am ready”. What happened is I would never be ready and after time that inspiration would be gone. I don’t know how I got to be like this either, when I was younger I used to love to try out new things. But somehow something changed that was trying to keep me from reaching out. Fear of rejection of not being a “success” was getting in my way of doing what I was supposed to be doing.

But last year when I really realized what was going on I saw how ridiculous it was. I started to act out on the things that were in my head and make them happen. I realized that no matter if something is a success or not, you have to try. By not trying something new you will have 0% chance of succeeding and what is success anyway? It’s defined differently for us all, for me it’s living out God’s purpose on this earth. Doing what I was created to do and doing it to my best ability! I have found that the insights he gives me are always right and am finally starting to act them out, and act them out right away. There is really no time like the present. In 2010 I will continue to act on things right away and have no fear, regardless of what happens I am sure that 2010 will have some pretty amazing stories and things to share. I know that it already does and we are just in the first month of the year. I think that’s it, a little thought that came into my mind, put it down on paper (or

Wow, now I feel much better about this post. I didn’t know what I would say or how that would go but it was a fun exercise for me. And I hope that this can at least touch and help out one of you reading it. I sat down and wrote out some thoughts in about 20 minutes and am not going to proof read them or even look at what I wrote

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Welcome baby Isaiah

As I first woke up this morning it was like any other day. My internal alarm woke me up around 5:45 and I stretched out in bed for a second. I gave thanks for another day ahead of me with possibilities running through my mind. Looking over to my right I saw my wife was already out of bed, which normally would be very strange to have her up before me but lately not too rare. In the last month of her pregnancy she has been getting up really early hungry and eating a quick breakfast then going back to sleep for awhile. I sat in bed for a few more minutes and right before getting up saw her standing right next to me. She was pretty calm but said she had been having contractions for the past few hours and they were harder than they have been for the past weeks. We both thought it wouldn’t be anything big but since the Dr. said to go to the hospital with anything we decided to head over to O’Connor hospital. We took our time (even stopped for a quick bite to eat) and got to the hospital around 8. They got her all setup to monitor the contractions and called her Doctor to see what she wanted to do. She was still having contractions and after a ultrasound confirmed the baby was not in the right position for birth. The doctor came in and said they have a c-section scheduled for 9:30, I paused for a second and first said “a c-section?” and then “9:30, are you talking about in like 45 minutes or 9:30 some other day?”. I was shocked, our first baby came naturally and we didn’t even think about the possibility of a c-section. I also didn’t think we would be having our baby that day. With his due date not until 3 weeks away my mind I guess just wasn’t ready yet. Well 9:30 came and 11 minutes later Isaish was delivered into this world, nice and healthy and already 8lbs.
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This week has been a blur and a challenge. My wife is doing well but with the surgery can’t move much and can’t pick up anything heavy, thankfully we had help from my family to watch Faith and take care of her a bit. Every day is getting a little easier on my wife so hopefully she will be fully healed quick. You never realize how much you need to lift and carry with a 16 month old until you can’t. But all of these things are always just minor inconveniences in the big picture, sleep can always be caught up on later, work can get done at other times but the beauty of your child is worth so much more. I am Thankful today for my two beautiful and healthy babies, looking at them always brings a smile to my face.
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Reel life photography and video

The fusion is here!!! One thing I am super excited about is a brand new thing we are going to be offering this year. Reel life videos are a hybrid, part photography and part HD video fused into one amazing storytelling movie. I have been wanting to do these for quite some time and think these are such a great way to tell the story of your day. We can add these to any engagement session or wedding coverage (or even lifestyle family portraits). Just give us a call or email if you are interested and for more info. I am really excited for the creative opportunities these movies will bring this year!

I’ll be posting some samples up on the blog over the next couple months but in the meantime check out the really fun and cute couple Dustin and Sharon below. I had the best time shooting their photos around downtown Los Gatos and love how the video aspect just brings their personalities to life.

Sharon and Dustin e-shoot from mark stagi on Vimeo.

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