Hey, KISSers!

2010-03 update: Our total donations are now at $4,335! Thanks to all of you.

2010-02 update: Through your orders, we donated over $1600 last month, and this month is looking great, too! I wanted to share a letter we received that details some of what’s going on with your money:

Dear Friend,

I have just returned from Haiti, where Samaritan’s Purse is working non-stop to help survivors of the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake. It’s almost impossible to describe the scope of the tragedy—not just the endless devastation and the lingering stench of death, but the anguished faces of women, children, and others who are desperate for food, water, and shelter.

Our teams on the ground estimate that Samaritan’s Purse has been able to help close to 100,000 people since the quake struck.

Here are some of the ways we have responded:

• SHELTER: Everywhere we went, I saw makeshift homes covered with heavy-duty blue plastic handed out by Samaritan’s Purse. Already, we’ve distributed enough plastic for about 20,000 families. In the coming days we will begin providing thousands more with transitional housing where they can live until they are able to rebuild a permanent house.
• MEDICAL CARE: While I was in Haiti, Samaritan’s Purse reopened a clinic at one of the largest churches in Cite Soleil. It will be staffed by doctors who are volunteering through World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse. We are also continuing to provide doctors and support for the Baptist Haiti Mission hospital, where over 1,500 survivors have been treated; and we sent in a helicopter this week to carry medical brigades into some of the most isolated and hard-hit towns.
• FOOD: We have handed out 250 tons of rice and other staples to thousands of families, focusing on the needs of mothers and other women. Our teams have also delivered food to over 40 orphanages where children had gone hungry since the earthquake.
• WATER: We have set up large-scale water filtration systems at 10 locations, providing more than 20,000 people with clean drinking water. More filters have just arrived and will be installed soon.

This has been the most massive relief project in the history of Samaritan’s Purse. We have chartered eight cargo flights and two trips by an ocean-going barge that delivered over a million pounds of heavy equipment and construction supplies. We thank God for providing the resources and opening the doors for us to deliver help into the crippled country.

Click on the video image here to watch my report from Haiti.

We praise God for what He is doing through Samaritan’s Purse to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people in Haiti. Your prayers and support are making a difference. Please continue to lift up our teams on the ground. They need God’s strength and wisdom as they help and minister to those who have lost everything. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:L1).

If you would like to know more about what Samaritan’s Purse is doing in Haiti and how you can help, go towww.samaritanspurse.org or call us at 1-800-528-1980.

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham
President, Samaritan’s Purse

KISS just LOVES the simple and minimal templates offered by Tofurious. Did I mention they’re free?! Yes, you can experience some of their designs for FREE! We love these guys and the simple designs they offer. It makes it easy for every photographer to create an effective design without cluttering up each spread.

Take a look at Set One get a sample of these templates here!

Check out Set Two get a sample of these templates here!

Enjoy Set Three get a sample of these templates here!

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

2010-02-01: Update: January’s Donation: $1691–Way to go KISSers!

As of Jan 14th, 2010, KISS will donate $5.00 for every order to Samaritan’s Purse’s Haiti Fund. We will announce if this policy changes. Until then, our prayers are with the millions of people affected by this tragedy.

UPDATE: Joy, our album designer, has offered that 100% of her fee for album designs ordered in January and February will be donated to the Haiti fund! Thanks, JOY!

You can find out more about the organization here:

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/responding_to_haiti_earthquake/

2008 was a killah cluster of clients. 2009 will be even better! RSVP here!

Fun announcements!

First… A dance-off. That’s right. Shake it for ShootQ and you could win six months of ShootQ’s amazing studio management for free . We’re planning on talking our hosts, the Boudoir Divas, into judging this intense competition.

Second… Get motivated with Pictage’s Passion martini! Pictage has recently reignited their company’s fire and they’re passing it on! Some great Pictage staff are coming down to mingle, so be sure to say thanks for all the new things they’re up to!

The Divas are giving away a seat at their workshop in Vegas.
Pictage is giving stuff away. KISS is giving stuff away. It’s going to be lots of stuff and people and drinks and dancing and stuff.

Hope you can make it! RSVP here!

CLICK HERE for some video from last year by the Fabulous Bui Brothers! They’re on it again this year!

So, most of you probably have no idea that KISS switched from a completely custom blog to a WordPress blog. That’s because we had the guys at Flosites build us a template to lay over WordPress that looked just like our custom blog!

The advantages are great. We get the industry’s best blogging software, complete with all the updates, the security, the plugins, and all the goodies that come from a killah blog platform. And, with Flosites, we were able to dictate -exactly- how we wanted that blog to look.

Flosites is doing a KISS special: $2000 for a custom blog template, slideshow integration, and a full website for your company. It’s pretty sweet! We’ve been running on the WordPress blog now for about a month and couldn’t be happier… You can get a discount by using the code KISSEDBYFLOSITES

Heck, you can even get a iPhone/iTouch optimized version when you browse it from those devices. All with a simple plugin.

KISS hearts Flosites!

To our NOLA friends and to everyone who wishes they were at Partnercon

Kevin, Shaun and I had such an awesome time at Partnercon in New Orleans! We thank everyone who stopped by the KISS table to check out our *new* soft KISSes as well as our hard KISSes. Shaun and Kevin spoke on branding and album sales, which totally rocked! If you have yet to hear them speak, get on it! The Get Simple Seminar featuring Kevin Swan, Shaun Austin, Nathan Holritz and Mike Larson is a must!

If you didn’t make it out to NOLA we hope to see you in Vegas at WPPI. We have a few surprises up our sleeve that everyone must be a part of! (and pictures on our blog won’t do justice). See you at WPPI (can’t come soon enough!) and Partnercon 2010 in NOLA.

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

It’s done! Months of work, new equipment, custom programming; it’s all ready for you!

1: New Soft KISSes! http://www.KissWeddingBooks.com/books
2: New Simpler Ordering! http://www.KissWeddingBooks.com/ordering
3: New Design options! http://www.KissWeddingBooks.com/design
4: Much cheaper shipping!

Yes, you read that blog title correct! A three day cruise to the Bahamas while learning from top photographers Scarlett Lillian, The Bui Brothers, Stephen Knuth, Kylie Banks and more!

This workshop will give an emphasis on networking, building relationships, informative workshops, exotic photo shoots and so much more; this Photog Retreat will be one for the record books! Enjoy a much needed vacation; build your portfolio, network with top industry professionals and that’s not it! They will have over $10,000 in prizes to give away from sponsors! How much better can it get?!

Whether you are just starting out in the industry or have years of experience, the opportunity to network, learn and build relationships is constant and a very valuable tool for success. The concept of this retreat is to bring photographers together from every point of the industry (new & experienced) to encourage, teach and learn alongside and from one another as well as the featured speakers.

A few special rates have just been released to save you $200-$500!! Don’t  miss out on this great experience!

Fee: $850 Single Photog; $1500 for 2 Photogs! (Includes Workshops, Cruise and Photo Shoots)

Date: Jan. 7-10, 2010

Location: Departing from Port Canaveral, Florida

Cruise, Workshops and Shoots included

For more information and to register visit www.PhotogRetreat.com

Email: photogretreat@gmail.com

Blog: http://photogretreat.blogspot.com/

Website: www.photogretreat.com

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie 

Hey, KISSers!

Just letting you know the Boudoir Divas have a killa workshop coming up in San Diego. These girls are great teachers, fun to be with, ridiculously good looking, talented, and smart. If you’re shooting boudoir, or thinking about adding it to your arsenal, we highly recommend this workshop!

November 10-12.

Here’s the details: http://www.theboudoirdivas.com/#/workshops-home/

Another reason to use the 10×10″ templates, located on the questions page! We’ve adjusted our trim so that it proportionately scales to the same size as the book you’re ordering.

A 10×10 book has a .25″ trim. So…

A 12×12 book will have a .3″ trim (120%)
An 8×8 book will have a .2″ trim (80%)
And the 4×4 book will have a .1″ trim (40%)

This way, all your design spacing will be faithfully reproduced at any size. Improving every day!

Thanks for KISSing.
Kev