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Welcome! Here's where we post most everything... from weddings and engagement sessions, to our personal vacations and thoughts. This blog is a great way to follow us and keep in touch. Our hope is that you are encouraged and inspired, along with giving you ideas.

402.440.4937 or 308.234.4556 ~ info@melenbackerphotography.com


Showing posts with label boda bag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boda bag. Show all posts

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Shane & Erin Melenbacker Speak at PPN Conference



Erin and I had so much fun speaking at the PPN Fall Conference! Actually, probably too much fun as we're beginning to see the pictures surface on Facebook :) We'll be speaking next at the Heart of America Conference in March, so if you missed us this time, we look forward to meeting you there!

Our thanks again to BODA for sponsoring us and giving away a BODA Dry bag, Mike Colon for donating his DVD "On Location With Mike Colón: Toronto", and Big Folio for providing one lucky person with a new website/blog/online hosting combo! We love these products and sites and for those of you that didn't win in the drawing or couldn't make it, BODA has offered to extend a 15% discount to anyone planning to purchase a BODA bag before October 10th. Use code: mel0814


The amazing group we had!


We had a short break, and had some awesome volunteers to play a quick round of "Reception Dance Song" Trivia. The catch... if you knew it, you had to dance it to compete. Photo below is from "Thriller"




Monday, April 21, 2008

Gear Review

Wanted to share some of my gear favorites with everyone. Whenever we get new equipment, we like to test it out and see if it's everything it claims to be. A couple weeks ago, we decided to test two of our favorite pieces of gear for weather. When the forecast called for rain, sleet and snow, we thought it was the perfect day to test things out! We took out our Nikon D3 along with our Boda Dry, as both claim to be water resistant, and put them to the test. I would guess that both of these great brands probably do not suggest testing their gear the way we did, but I can assure you they both held up under some extreme weather.

While in Vegas at WPPI, I was introduced to Boda Bag by a few friends and then had the chance to get to know Gary who manages Boda. It was also nice to meet Jim Garner, the creator of Boda as well as a great photographer. We tested the Boda Dry in heavy rain, sleet and snow all within a couple hours and the inside stayed, well...dry. I would have no problems using the Boda Dry during inclement weather, of course I would want to find somewhere dry to actually change lenses.



Pretty much anyone who has shot with me can attest that I am not the most delicate with my equipment during a shoot, and because of that I need equipment that will hold up in the worst of conditions. Nikon has done just that since I first started shooting landscapes over Ten years ago and weddings for about five years. Even though during a shoot I may be a little hard on my gear, I do make sure it is taken care of after, like drying it off :)



Last, the Think Tank (Domestic) rolling bag. I have to thank my friend Ray Santana for this suggestion. I had a Think Tank (International) for a while but just didn't think it was big enough. This bag fits most all my gear for destination shoots and I can't tell you how nice it's been to simplify luggage. At a wedding, we store our backup gear in a separate location (just in case), lock the bag and use the internal cable to lock it around a nearby pole or railing. Not foolproof, but it at least deters. And...because it perfectly fits all my gear, at the end of the night, I check the bag to make sure all the spaces are filled and if so, I'm good to go. As a side note, we back up our clients' images to a computer and hard drive the day of the wedding. But, we also keep the original copies on our memory cards on us at all times. As we never know what the day will hold, we feel it's incredibly important to have a backup for your backup.



If anyone ever has any questions about the gear we use or what we think of it, feel free to drop us a line, I love to talk about toys :)

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Fun at WPPI



Here are some fun pictures we took throughout the week and some awesome people we met during our time at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International).

From Left to Right:
Picture 1... with Mike Steelman, Ray and Anna, Mike Colon, Harald, David and Travis.
Picture 2... with Becker and Geoff, Picture 3... with Gary and Jim, from Boda Bag


Picture 1...with Gloria, Jose, Picture 2...US!, Picture 3...with Anna.


The Hoover Dam...it took hours to get here because of all the traffic :)


Having some fun out in the desert!


And from our friend Kenny... Picture 1...a group of us after an awesome dinner buffet, Picture 2... at the tradeshow.
Picture 3...Erin and Julie having fun while me, Kevin and Geoff try to take a real photo.