With just under 4 days left until ProFusion 2011 gets underway, things are really in full swing around here, and you do NOT want to miss out on any of the excitement!

There will be over 80 vendors booths on our expanded trade show floor where you’ll be able to talk to the leading (and most innovative) manufacturers as they parade their latest tools and technology.

A dynamic Demonstration Theatre is going to play host to two days of FREE information sessions & product demos featuring everything from software, on-location lighting & printing demonstrations to showcase launches & copyright law information.

And along with all of the excitement on the trade show floor, ProFusion is showcasing an amazing selection of professional seminars and workshops, conducted by world-renowned experts in the field of photography and videography – some lecturers in Canada for the very first time.

There really is something on offer for everyone this year. But space is limited. And last year saw a standing-room-only situation (luckily some quick-thinking staffers were able to move things around and accommodate everyone.)  But do you really want to tempt fate this year?

Sign up now and don’t miss out!

And have we mentioned that admission tickets to the trade show are available right now FREE of charge? Get yours now – and avoid that pesky $10 fee at the door on the day of the event.

One of the highlights of ProFusion’s inaugural event was its riveting Demo Theatre  – located smack, dab in the middle of the Trade Show.

And his year’s event promises to be even bigger & better; with a lineup that includes informative seminars on Copyright Law, software How Tos and product demonstrations, you may find yourself lingering longer on the Trade Show floor than you’d originally planned.

Antonio Turco takes questions from the crowd during his 2010 Copyright Law presentation;
he’ll be on hand again this year to keep you in the legal loop!

Check out this year’s lineup of events!

FRIDAY, JUNE 17
9:30AM          Matthew Corley – DSC Labs | Charts for Video Production
10:00AM       Steve Bonin – EZY FX | The Basics of Using Jib Arms & Camera Cranes
10:30AM       Jeff Simpson – Avid Technology, Inc.
11:00AM       Rob Poretti – Sennheiser | Wired Mics
11:30AM       Gary Fong – Product Demos
12:00PM       Chris Thompson – Apple Canada | Introducing Thunderbolt
12:30PM       Greg Cameron – JVC Canada, Inc.
1:00PM         Colin Smith – Adobe | DSLR Video
1:30PM         Colin Smith – Adobe | DSLR Video (cont’d)
2:00PM         Andrew Patrick – Epson Canada Ltd. | Printing Demonstrations
2:30PM         Andrew Patrick – Epson Canada Ltd. | Printing Demonstrations (cont’d)
3:00PM         François Gauthier – Sony Canada | Introducing the Sony NEX-FS100
3:30PM         François Gauthier – Sony Canada | Introducing the Sony NEX-FS100 (cont’d)
4:00PM         Brady Harris – Lowel | Location Lighting with Lowel Lighting
4:30PM         Brady Harris – Lowel | Location Lighting with Lowel Lighting (cont’d)
5:00PM         Brady Harris – Lowel | Location Lighting with Lowel Lighting (cont’d)

SATURDAY, JUNE 18
9:30AM          Antonio Turco – Copyright Law
10:00AM       Tom Jacob – Kino Flo
10:30AM       Jeff Simpson – Avid Technology, Inc.
11:00AM       Rob Poretti – Sennheiser | Wireless Mics
11:30AM       Gary Fong – Product Demos
12:00PM       Chris Thompson – Apple Canada | Introducing Thunderbolt
12:30PM       Greg Cameron – JVC Canada, Inc.
1:00PM         Colin Smith – Adobe | Photoshop/Lightroom
1:30PM         Colin Smith – Adobe | Photoshop/Lightroom (cont’d)
2:00PM         Andrew Patrick – Epson Canada Ltd. | Printing Demonstrations
2:30PM         Andrew Patrick – Epson Canada Ltd. | Printing Demonstrations (cont’d)
3:00PM         François Gauthier – Sony Canada | Introducing the Sony NEX-FS100
3:30PM         François Gauthier – Sony Canada | Introducing the Sony NEX-FS100 (cont’d)
4:00PM         Matthew Corley – DSC Labs | Charts for Video Production
4:30PM         Matthew Corley – DSC Labs | Charts for Video Production (con’td)

Meet Witz

Okay, Witz isn’t just one person. It’s a whole team of qualified professionals – many of whom will be on hand at ProFusion 2011.  Witz is Canada’s Gold Premier Apple Authorized Training Center – with more than 30 years of business training and consulting experience under their collaborative belts. Witz trainers bring a high level of professionalism and enthusiasm to their work and training sessions.

One Witz team member in particular – Darrin Sayewich – will be around to present four fantastic seminars. Over 14 years of Broadcast and Film Industry experience, coupled with his continued desire to expand and enrich his teaching acumen, make this Master Apple Certified Trainer coveted throughout the country. Darrin’s deep understanding of the Broadcast and Film Industries stems not only from his firsthand experience with such organizations as TSN and Lions Gate Films, but also through his acting career working on various corporate and commercial productions. His enthusiasm and energy, combined with his undying passion for all things Mac is contagious among his students. His acting skills demand a higher level of engagement. His recognition as a certified teacher with the Ontario College of Teachers is a testament to his compassion and leadership. His various certifications, including Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server and Aperture Master, and his in-depth knowledge bring extended value to his students. Most importantly, his Second Dan Black Belt and experience as a Karate Instructor with Northern Karate Schools, create just the right sense of trepidation from his pupils.

Darrin will be presenting the following seminars:

Introduction to Colour Correction in Final Cut Studio

June 17 | 10AM-1PM
$199

This hands-on course will familiarize students with an overview of the colour correcting capabilities of Final Cut Studio.
Read more & Register.

Introduction to Final Cut Pro 7

June 17 | 2PM-5PM
$199

This hands-on course introduces students to the primary feature set & basic interface of Final Cut Pro. In this course you learn to perform basic editing functions while familiarizing yourself with the user interface.
Read more & Register.

Introduction to Aperture 3

June 18 | 10AM-1PM
$199

This 1/2-day course introduces students to the basics of image management and Aperture’s powerful photo-editing, image-retouching, proofing, and publishing features.
Read more & Register.

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

June 18 | 2PM-5PM
$199

Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the industry standard image editing software for web and print professionals This 3 hour seminar introduces students to some of the key features and workflows in Adobe Photoshop. In this course you learn to perform basic editing functions while familiarizing yourself with the user interface.
Read more & Register.

Meet Mark Cleghorn

Mark Cleghorn is a photographer, with a distinctive style, whose images have won hundreds of awards — including the Kodak Gold Award… 17 times. His work has been acknowledged by the photographic industry, where he has been awarded 4 Fellowships for his outstanding images. As one of the first photographers to fully embrace the digital format, Mark has set new trends & techniques and influenced photographers across the world. Mark has written books on Portrait and Wedding Photography as well as Digital and Lighting. He has judged photographers’ work all over the world and is still considered to be one of the major influences of style and technique in the wedding and portrait industry today. Most importantly, his portraits hang in thousands of homes around the world bringing a smile across generations and a memory of a time never to be forgotten.

Mark will be presenting the following seminars:

On the Edge with Creative Flash

June 17 | 2PM – 5PM
June 18 | 10AM – 1PM
$59

Small Flash pushed beyond its basic capability is an essential skill for today’s professional photographer. In this practical presentation Mark shows the Power of Being Portable by shooting live with a model & creating a vast variety of styles with nothing more than portable flash and Lastolite accessories.

Read more & Register (June 17)
Read more & Register (June 18)

Weddings from Hell

June 17 | 10AM – 1PM
June 18 | 2PM – 5PM
$59

In this presentation Mark looks at real weddings and the trial and tribulations. It is not all about pretty pictures; it is about real people in real situations.

Read more & Register (June 17)
Read more & Register (June 18)

Take a look at Mark in action in these two Lastolite tutorials:

Congratulations to Amanda Benner – she’s winner #3 in this year’s ProFusion 2011 Big Blog Giveaway & is now the proud new owner of a Limited Edition Canon Thermal Travel Mug EF 70-200 f/4.0 L IS USM!

She gets to enjoy her java in style for this entry:

“Well, because I’m about two seconds away from defiling my own 70-200mm to have one. It would be a hard and troubling sacrifice, but I think when I sip my morning coffee from my ‘gone but never forgotten’ lens-mug, I shall prevail – be strong and move on. And never let go of the memories we shared and our wonderful time together. I might even shed a tear, possibly two….but no promises on the second tear!”

And the giving isn’t over! We’ve still got a few more mugs up for grabs… so be sure to enter!

*****

We’ll give one away every week – to the commenter we deem most worthy – up until ProFusion 2011. AND – if you retweet this message: ” I just entered to win a Canon Travel Mug from @profusionexpo by commenting here: http://bit.ly/iOWX2P ” we’ll throw your name into a hat and pick one additional winner at random when the contest wraps. But don’t spam your friends… multiple tweets won’t count as multiple entries. And it goes without saying, right, that you’ll have to follow us on Twitter in order to win the Twitter prize? Excellent!

So tell us: Why should YOU win one of the sweet mugs!

As with any contest, we need to let in on all the Terms & Conditions:
This contest is open to Canadian residents, 18 years of age and older, only. Employees of Vistek and members of their respective families are ineligible to participate in the contest. Prizes are not transferable & and may not be exchanged for other prizes or for cash.

Meet Gary Fong

Gary Fong is an American entrepreneur and former wedding photographer. After twenty years, Fong ended his photography career in 2002 to pursue business interests such as marketing photography products, luxury vacation rentals, yacht chartering, plastics manufacturing, a distribution and fulfillment center, and authoring a successful inspirational memoir.

Gary Fong, Inc. is a multi-million dollar business incorporated in Kelowna, British Columbia (Canada). The CEO, Gary Fong, is a world-famous photographer who ended his 20 year long career in 2002 to pursue other interests. Fong is most well known for marketing and patenting the Lightsphere ™, a dome-shaped light diffuser, which was introduced in late 2004 and has sold more than 400,000 units worldwide.

Gary will be presenting the following seminar:

Wedding Photography Revolutionized

Friday, June 17 AND Saturday June 18 | 12 – 2pm
$25

Gary Fong will give you the secrets that made his studio the most financially successful business in wedding photography. He will explain how you can use his step-by-step pricing and merchandising method to help make your custom-designed albums irresistible.

Read more & Register (Friday)

Read more & Register (Saturday)

You do NOT want to miss out on this unprecedented two hour event! KelbyTraining.com is presenting this one-time-only event at 6pm ET on June 6.

Watch the premiere of Another Day with Jay Maisel with Scott Kelby and Jay, in its entirety, absolutely free. And, in between segments, Jay will answer your questions – live!

The event started out as a KelbyTraining.com class, but grew into something more. And you get to reap the benefits of that growth!

This online event is FREE and, once it ends, will only be available to KelbyTraining.com subscribers. So make sure you register HERE for a reminder… and don’t miss out!

Of course, if you DO happen to miss this event, you CAN catch Jay Maisel live and in person, June 17 from 2 – 4pm,  at ProFusion 2011.  You can read all about this seminar & register to attend here.

Congratulations to Kerry Garvey – he’s our second winner in this year’s ProFusion 2011 Big Blog Giveaway & is now the proud new owner of a Limited Edition Canon Thermal Travel Mug EF 70-200 f/4.0 L IS USM!

He gets to keep his java stylin’ thanks to this pithy persistence:

“Hmmm I didn’t win the first week, perhaps I wasn’t witty enough, maybe My “MUG NEEDS” were understated. I’m dashed against the hard rocks of the sea of rejection. Ill pick my self up though and shake the seaweed and barnacles off and try again. This holy grail of geekiness is on my list, if the world doesn’t end tomorrow I hope I’m still in the running.”

But keep the faith… you might not have won this one, but we have more to give away!

We’ll give one away every week – to the commenter we deem most worthy – up until ProFusion 2011. AND – if you retweet this message: ” I just entered to win a Canon Travel Mug from @profusionexpo by commenting here: http://bit.ly/iOWX2P ” we’ll throw your name into a hat and pick one additional winner at random when the contest wraps. But don’t spam your friends… multiple tweets won’t count as multiple entries. And it goes without saying, right, that you’ll have to follow us on Twitter in order to win the Twitter prize? Excellent!

So tell us: Why should YOU get one of these bad boys to call your own?

As with any contest, we need to let in on all the Terms & Conditions:
This contest is open to Canadian residents, 18 years of age and older, only. Employees of Vistek and members of their respective families are ineligible to participate in the contest. Prizes are not transferable & and may not be exchanged for other prizes or for cash.

Meet Seth Resnick

Chosen as one of the 30 most influential photographers of the decade by Photo District News Magazine, Seth Resnick is one of North America’s most prolific corporate, editorial and stock photographers. Seth is greatly in demand for his beautiful graphic images in both natural and created light. Resnick has been published in the world’s most prestigious magazines. His credits include over 2500 publications worldwide and his clients constitute a virtual list of Corporate America.

Seth will be presenting the following seminars:

SEEING COLOUR: Creating Dynamic & Saleable Images

June 17 | 10AM – 1PM
$75

Rather than just taking pictures this seminar will help refine your creative vision and help you create more effective and compelling images bringing your creativity to a new level.
Read more & Register.

The Business of Digital Photography

June 17 | 2PM – 5PM
$75
Among the topics tackled: pricing for digital, justifying the costs, providing digital receipts, copyright, the cost of being in business, negotiating tactics and more.
Read more & Register.

Digital Workflow with Adobe Lightroom

June 18 | 9AM-12PM
$75

In this presentation, Seth Resnick will demonstrate his entire workflow in real time using Adobe Lightroom. He will begin with RAW files, adjust them for white balance and apply both local and global tonal corrections.
Read more & Register.

Archiving for Digital Imaging

June 18 | 1PM-4PM
$75

Seth Resnick will cover media and standards for creating a true archive so that both current and future clients will be able to view the photographs you work so hard to create.
Read more & Register.

Check out this excerpt from an interview Seth did for Luminous Landscape Video Journal 19

Meet Jason Groupp

Sophisticated but instantly accessible, Jason Groupp’s wedding photography celebrates the individuality of every couple he works with. Having honed his style on the streets of Manhattan, Jason instinctively creates a sense of place in every clients photograph. Whether it’s a free-spirited portrait of a newly engaged couple astride a motorcycle or a rare quiet moment shared by a bride and groom against the splashy backdrop of a Las Vegas cityscape, Jason captures the relationship between a couple and their surroundings. You notice the setting, but you remember the couple.

Jason will be presenting the following workshops:

Shoestring TTL

Friday, June 17 | 9:30am – 12:30pm
$49

This won’t be a class about fancy hard-to-understand ETTL techniques, I’ll show you my easy to use shoestring TTL techniques and how you can create your own no excuses bag.
Read more & Register.

Take a sneak peek!

Fun with FUsioN

Friday, June 17 | 1:30 – 4:30pm
$75

Stills + Video at the same time? How do we do it? We have systematically created a process where we can capture both great still shots and beautiful video footage. Managing both is not an easy task but, trust me, it CAN be done!
Read more & Register.