It’s a busy time this year and budgets are tight but I’m convincing Chris that we should take a trip to San Francisco in April. I think it’s a GREAT idea. :) No more thinking. Just booking. I’ve waited too long for San Francisco photography.

I have to get ready to meet my makeup artist for a trial today for the wedding so I have to make this quick! I did a little bit of re-branding and designed a new logo for 2014. Hope you like! I’m moving on from Charlene Precious Vintage Photography to Charlene Precious Fine Art Photography. :) The main site has been updated as well. I’ve also submitted a request to Facebook to modify the fan page name. I’ve just learned that after 200 fans, you are not allowed to change the fan page name yourself, understandably. Keeps those impostors in check. Here’s another shot from a little town in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Again, beautiful in a different way.

Here’s my growing list of favourite TV shows: Homeland, Suits, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Dexter, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, The Killing, Luther, Breaking Bad, and Scandal. Homeland is BY FAR my favourite though. It’s too good. I can’t wait for Season 3. The show I tried out that never stuck is… *drumroll*… Sons of Anarchy. Not my cup of tea.

I added a “Become a Fan” tab to the left of the blog just now. Please become a fan on Facebook! :)

This is a shot of a little home in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Beautiful in a different way.

I’ve been struggling with a paper on Bitcoins for the last two days. I’m finally almost done but it has probably been one of the tougher papers I’ve had to write. The topic is a little wild. For those who don’t know, Bitcoin is a digital currency that some believe is the future of currency while others have outright banned it. Here’s how it’s explained “as if you were five”. I know it helped me… ;)

We watched a movie called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a movie adopted from a novel about two boys and their friendship during World War II in Nazi Germany. It was a really good movie but also heart-wrenching as you can probably imagine. I recommend it though. After watching films like this, it always scares me to see what horror human beings are capable of, especially under authority. There is so much good in the human race but also so much evil. I really want to talk more about this but the time left to finish my paper is running out, so I’ll come back to it in a future post.

Quick update: we are already at 550 fans on Facebook and the contest is going really well! If you haven’t already entered, make sure you do right here. Or just simply like our fan page right here!

Happy Saturday! I hope you all had the sweetest Valentine’s Day.

I am so excited to announce the launch of the Charlene Precious Vintage Photography fan page on Facebook! This is definitely long overdue and it simply took as along as it did because I didn’t want to launch it without some sort of a campaign to support it and allow it to hit the ground running. :) So here it is! With the help of my fabulous team at school, we are ready to launch the campaign with a contest, Connecting You & Yours, a photo at a time.*

Like our page and enter for at least 1 in 50 chances to win! In other words, for every 50 entries, a winner will be drawn to win THE PRIZE: As the winner, you get to choose TWO FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTS (up to 8×12″) from my Etsy shop. One print is for you to keep and the other to surprise a friend or loved one in the mail with a personalized message, packaged and delivered on your behalf by Charlene Precious! The world could always use more love!

After entering the contest, you’ll receive a unique contest link to share with your friends. Each friend who enters through your shared link, gives you an additional entry and increases your chance to win for every draw! So help spread the love!!

For what it’s worth, our goal is to reach a minimum of 600 fans by the end of this campaign, so if you enjoy the work on this blog, please like and show your support on Facebook! ENTER THE CONTEST BY CLICKING THIS! Thank you so, so, so much!

*Refer to Contest Rules & Regulations:
Canada: click here
USA: click here
For residents of Canada & U.S.A, excluding Quebec. Contest valid until March 25th, 2014 at 11:59PM EST

I am so excited to share that I have the opportunity to embark on a rewarding MBA internship with General Mills Canada this summer as an Associate Marketing Manager! And so in lieu of that, I took a quick photo of my General Mills breakfast this morning :). I noticed after the fact that the Fibre 1 box is displaying the French side – oops. Once photos are taken, there is no chance for redemption because I’m so busy nowadays that every second counts; re-taking a photo because it’s not “perfect” is becoming an unproductive use of time, so now, less-than-perfect shots will get just as much loving! Anyway, I digress. The point of my delicious breakfast is to show that it is always an added bonus if you are already a patron/lover of whatever brand/product you market because if you believe in the brand/product or are personally connected to it in some way, then selling and marketing it is second nature. (These may or may not be the brands I’m assigned to but General Mills has a portfolio of amazing brands, most of which can be found in our fridge and kitchen cabinets :)). I’m so excited for the wonderful world of Consumer Packaged Goods and can’t wait for a new challenge and learning curve!

I must get back to midterm mode though, ciao!

We conducted stakeholder analysis – it’s really quite incredible how much you discover by doing this. And then because this analysis leads to a mish mash of ideas and potential focuses, defining the vision, mission, and values of the business becomes critical in helping with the decision-making process and navigating through millions of options. What does the business stand for? Why does it exist? Where does it want to go? These are hard questions! I’ve never even thought about them until now, with an amazing team. It’s awesome.

(See here for reference of what this is all about.)

Here they are! We’ve officially thrown them all in the mail yesterday and I am now offering the photography, design, and print service for brides and grooms looking to do something a bit unique and untraditional with their wedding invitations.

Here’s an a la carte menu of my services:

Design – $170
If you’d like to have your postcard invitation designed and if you’d like to use an existing photo that you own to feature on your postcard, you can choose the Design service. Vintage-style editing will be applied to your photo to achieve the vintage look and feel of the postcard. I will then supply you with a final print-ready file.

Photography – $200
If you’d like a Charlene Precious original photograph to feature on your postcard, you can add the Photography service. This would be a 30-minute photoshoot at a desired location and one hero photo to be chosen and edited for the postcard. This option is only available to local customers in the Greater Toronto Area.

Print – $1.50/pc.
If you’d like to print your postcards in the Charlene Precious original format, you can add the Printing service. Shipping charges will apply based on weight and quantity of cards. Here are the exact specs of the postcards you’ll receive:
– 12 pt. stock
– Matte on the text side
– Gloss on the photo side
– UV gloss finish on the photo side
– 5″h x 7″w final trim size

If you are interested in a packaged combination of any of these services, please send me a message and we can customize something for you! This listing is now up and available at my Etsy Shop.

The invitations process was so much fun. We’re looking at cakes now and chiavari chairs then moving on to bridesmaid dresses and accessories in February. :) I have a million things to read, so I gotta run! Happy Sunday!

The program does not take its time to drown you in work. I told myself that there’d be a small window of freedom left as classes got ramped up. So, in thinking that the first two weeks would be the calm before the storm, I stocked up on personal action items but as it turns out, we skipped the calm altogether. It is extremely busy and an absolute mad house.

My touch pad stopped working at random and Apple couldn’t fix it so I have to buy a new one. My iPhone is as slow as a snail nowadays and the Safari browser keeps voluntarily shutting down. My laptop is also slowing down despite having ample of memory left. What’s happening? I might not love Apple as much as I used to.

I’m taking a course called Strategic Capability Development and the course focuses on one main project that requires us to pick a business initiative to pursue, strategize for, and execute within the next 10 weeks. Ideas, plans, and strategies tend to be great up until the point of implementation, which is always the hardest part! And so the core purpose of the course is to provide us with the right tools and frameworks that help bring strategy to life. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share my fine art photography business with the class to see who would be interested in helping me take it to the next level, and here they are! My all-star dream team for the next 10 weeks who I adore and am grateful for. We have quite the natural team chemistry and I couldn’t ask for anything better. This is the beginning of an amazing experience! We are missing one member though, Jie, she is sick with the flu but should be back with us in the next meeting. There were tons of fabulous and ambitious ideas today but the key is to pick something significant yet still small enough to be executed flawlessly in the timeframe that we have. We now have to put a brief together to obtain approval for and then… all hands on deck! :):):) Go dream team!