PRESENTERS
Karen Abad is an extremely passionate cinematographer, camera operator, and editor from Fairfield, California. Having been introduced to the world of filmmaking within the last five years, she has quickly found her calling in the art of cinematography. Initially on the path to becoming a child psychologist, everything changed the moment she sat in on her first world cinema course during her sophomore year of college. Her appetite for film only grew when she enrolled in her first video production and 16mm film course a year later. As soon as she learned how to load 16mm film into a Bolex, she knew that cinematography was what she wanted to pursue. That year, she bought her first digital video camera, the Panasonic DVX100a, that she instantly fell in love with. Karen went on to winning the Best Production award in the 2006 Festival of Media Arts at Calvin College for an unofficial music video that she directed, shot, and edited for Sufjan Steven’s “Chicago.” That year, she participated in several 24 and 25 hour film festivals, placing in the Top 10 with the films “Ink” and “Moustache” and winning 2nd place with the film “Epoch.” Karen’s cinematography work for “Epoch” won her the Best Cinematography award in the 2007 Festival of Media Arts. Before graduating from college, many of her films were screened in film festivals across the world, and one of her films was even selected as a finalist for the 2007 Broadband Emmys. In 2007, she graduated from Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a BA in Psychology, Film Studies, and Media Studies.
Immediately after graduating from college, Karen drove back home to California to pursue even more higher education because she felt like there was still so much more she needed to learn about cinematography and film. What better school to apply to than the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco? AAU’s Motion Picture and Television department specialized in digital, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm filmmaking. Karen spent the next three years thereafter developing her graduate thesis that focused on exploring purposeful medium selection for a series of films based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In 2009, Karen worked for Vimeo, where she shot and edited tutorials, staff content, and assisted in curating offline events and meet ups in New York City, Berlin, Paris, and London. In the late spring of 2010, Karen was the Director of Photography for portions of the feature-length documentary, For Thousands of Miles. She then graduated from graduate school with an MFA in Motion Pictures and Television with an emphasis in Cinematography in May of 2010. Immediately after graduating she drove to Grand Rapids, Michigan to assist two of her friends with NEWWORDS. She worked on the 26 films in the series in varying capacities of shooting, editing, coloring, compositing, and digital painting. The series premiered at the 2010 Art Prize in Grand Rapids. By September of 2010, Karen spontaneously moved to Chicago where she currently works as a camera operator and editor for Zacuto Films. She has worked on various product videos and original programming such as Critics, FilmFellas, BTS, and Great Camera Shootout 2011.
Karen has received numerous praise for her varying cinematography work. She enjoys experimenting with different mediums such as 16mm, 35mm, Super 8, HDSLR video, 2D illustration and construction paper animation, 3D stop motion and digital animation. Recently, her films have been screened at the 2010 SPARK Family Film Festival (Akron, OH), 2010 Epidemic Film Festival (San Francisco, CA), 2010 Filmed by Bike Film Festival (Portland, OR), 2010 Disposable Film Festival (San Francisco, CA), the 2010 ArtWars in DeFabriek exhibition in the Netherlands, the 2010 Short Film Festival in Denmark, the 2009 Reblog This! Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA), Vimeo Offlines in California, New York, Berlin, Paris, London, MTV2′s Subterranean, and IndyMogul’s 2009 Best Short Films in the World. Karen’s other work has also been featured on Kodak’s official photography blog.
By integrating her former education in psychology with filmmaking, she is able to create visually intriguing and compelling films. Karen mostly enjoys DPing short narrative films and music videos. She also enjoys sewing, animating, graphic design, color correcting, and photography. Regardless of the medium, she produces work with a genuine sense of passion and creative whimsy.
Karen presents “The Cinematography of Feel” at POSH 2011
Getting the most out of your tools to create cinematic and emotionally driven images. This presentation will touch on the technical and theoretical approaches to cinematography as a storytelling device. Some topics that will be covered are lighting, composition, camera movement, finding your perfect camera, and networking as a cinematographer.
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Since being exposed to MTV in the 80′s, Julie Hill always knew she wanted to do something that involved putting images with music. At Whittier College, those creative dreams got a bit sidelined as she majored in fine arts and early childhood education… eventually earning a masters degree in education. (I mean… how can make a living from being in the Arts??)
Eventually, after her own wedding, Julie decided to take the bull by the horns and delve into wedding videography. She and her husband Alex, started Elysium Productions in 2001 and their first wedding was – of course – a friend’s wedding. From there, Julie & Alex learned all they could about all aspects of the business. Julie took on most of the creative and technical tasks and Alex focused on the business side (since he has a masters in marketing).
Elysium has grown leaps and bounds since those first days. The studio now films over 120 weddings a year and their average bride is the higher-end and destination bride. Together, Julie and Alex have amassed many industry awards but are most proud about the fact that they’ve built their business how they wanted, and most importantly, have found a way to make a great living doing what they love!
Julie presents “How to Market Yourself as a Can’t Live Without Option” at POSH 2011
Julie’s presentation will focused on unconventional ways of marketing, selling, and making your studio stand out. She will discuss creative ways to connect & book the brides you want.
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Michelle Loretta LOVES to have coffee with wedding professionals. She loves to talk shop and discuss business strategy. So, in 2009 she started a blog: Sage Wedding Pros. This blog would evolve to cover all things business in the wedding and event industry. These days, Sage Wedding Pros is a consultancy dedicated to educating small business owners. The company’s mission is to create sustainable business in the wedding and events industries.
Michelle joined the wedding industry when she launched her stationery business in 2004: mmm… paper. She has a background in finance, having armed herself with a BS in Accounting from University of Southern California and having spent her early career working for Deloitte LLP. She spent 5 years in the fashion industry as a sales manager for DDLA, and a visual merchandiser for Coach, Inc. In 2008, Michelle co-founded the wedding industry not-for-profit Get Hitched Give Hope.
Today, Michelle helps small business owners in the wedding industry with their business planning. Her particular strength is in financial analysis. After years of reviewing financial reports, she can look at the numbers and quickly identify strengths and weaknesses within any organization. Hidden in financial info are always opportunities for improvement and growth. She loves being able to help with the “mystery of numbers” and make business owners confident in their business finances.
A few fun facts about Michelle:
- Has lived in four corners of the US: born near Philly, grew up in LA, lived in Seattle, and now resides in Miami.
- Favorite thing to do is go to the movies.
- Has a funny 3-year-old who amuses her with comments like “I’m a SPICY girl. Mommy is a SPICY lady. And, Papi is a SPICY man.”
- Is trying to convince her husband to have an “Indian Wedding” renewal of vows.
Michelle presents “Behind the Mystery of Pricing” at POSH 2011
Pricing can be tricky. You may be unsure if you’re priced to high or – worse – priced to low. It’s all a big mystery! But, it doesn’t have to be. Michelle will walk you through some easy-peasy pricing formulas to help you understand the strategy of pricing. She’ll also teach you how to look at your place in the market to better understand the factors you should consider when pricing your services. You’ll leave the POSH retreat priced to sell! And, with the confidence to ask for your worth.
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Meet Jessica Ringor, owner and chief filmmaker at LoveSpun Films, a boutique film company specializing in handmade wedding films. Jessica has been able to harness a unique combination of technical skill infused with feminine storytelling techniques to make LoveSpun Films break away from the pack. In doing so she has caught the attention of the wedding industry, celebrity designers and high profile brides alike. She is honored to have become the choice of some of the most distinguished clients, from television and film producers to Olympic athletes, to the editor of ELLEuk.com.
Jessica loves to travel and always dreamt of a career that would enable her to do so. LoveSpun Films has been the vehicle for this goal and has taken her to many exciting places such as Mexico, Texas, Las Vegas, San Diego, LA and with upcoming shooting trips to New York, London & Paris she is living her dream.
She is honored and thrilled that her work has been extensively featured in some of the wedding industries hottest publications: ELLEuk.com, Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, The Daily Candy, The Wedding Chicks, Snippet & Ink, Hindsight Bride , Nonpareil Wedding Magazine, Dessine Moi Un Mariage, and more.
Jessica will be talking to us about the art of storytelling at POSH 2011! Check out a clip of her work to see her amazing storytelling talent.