Caution - this site contains the rants and raves of a Michigan photographer and coffee junkie.

Getting Ready for the Carfax 400

I didn’t know that Gumby and Pokey are part of the Carfax NASCAR team.  I snapped a picture of them tuning up the car and getting ready for the races at Michigan International Speedway.

After a few hours of work they kick back, relax and share stores of race days past.

Model Headshot

My wife and I love to work with new models.  We make a great team.  My wife is great at doing make-up and I get to setup the shots.  We recently had an aspiring model into the studio for some work with clothing for a website.

Kayla had only done one photoshoot before.  She said it was for antique wedding dresses and they couldn’t move or touch the clothes because they were so delicate.  We tried to have some fun in this shoot.  Like any first time photoshoot we try to get a good headshot.  I really like this one but it is going to take some time to edit he wild fly away hair.

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Begging for Facebook Likes

Like My Facebook Page Warning

Do you want a poor little kitten to get hurt?
Neither do I so you better like my Facebook page.

Ok, so everyone (and their mother) is on Facebook.  I feel bad because I don’t have very many “likes” on my photography page.  So I decided to attempt some drastic measures.

Actually I spent the entire day making crappy little marketing graphics for websites and needed a little creative outlet.  Plus if Purrl sees this I’m in trouble when I get home!

2010 Michigan Galaxy Pictures


2010 Michigan Galaxy Pageant – Images by Defoe Photography

A special thanks to Doug Julian for his assistance in taking pictures during the pageant show on Saturday night.  Doug is the staff photographer for Great Lakes Bay Regional Magazine and owner of Doug Julian Photography.

Individual images from the entire weekend can be ordered as prints or for download.  Click Here for more details and to get your 2010 Michigan Galaxy Pictures today!

Last Wish

3 friends die in a car accident and they go to an orientation in heaven. They are all asked, “When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?

The first guy says,”I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man.”

The second guy says, “I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.”

The last guy replies, “I would like to hear them say … Look, He’s Moving!


2010 RUBY Awards Pictures

Did you or someone you know receive a 2010 RUBY Award?  Need pictures for your website or scrapbook?  Get them online from Defoe Photography!


2010 RUBY Awards – Images by David Defoe


Need a photographer for your event? Contact David Defoe by clicking here.


Third Annual Arts from the Heart Pictures

I switched my online order processing company.  There was a learning curve on getting it up and running.  I applogize for anyone that tried to use the code for a free 5×7 image.  The site is now up and running and you should be able to get your pictues!


Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum’s Third Annual Arts from the Heart
Images by David Defoe

Have questions about your pictures or problems with the free 5×7 code.  Click here to contact me.

Another Indoor Car Studio

Labadie Toyota Photo Studio

We are working on another indoor car studio in Bay City.  This time at the Labadie Toyota dealership.  Shown here is builder extraordinaire Mike Kowalski.  He has done wonders putting into place some of my ideas that he wasn’t to sure about when the project started.  He was able to custom build the light boxes that contain 6,000 watts of daylight balanced light.  Now that the weather is getting a little better in Michigan, Mike is trying to get the floor warm enough to paint.  Then it’s time to hang the curtains and off we go!

I look forward to being able to pull some cars in and test the studio in about a week.

Can You Find My Business?

Local Business ListingsAs the Internet continues to increase the amount of information available at a phenomenal speed some of the basics for business owners are still getting missed.  Gone are the days of putting your business listing in the phone book and expecting to get phone calls.  In fact I don’t know anyone that still uses the phone book.  They are using the Internet to find everything either from their computer of cell phone.  As with everything else on the Internet there are a plethora of business listing websites.  Most will list your business for free and most require you to sign up in some way.

One very important element to remember is that we are dealing with computers.  Remember the saying, “garbage in, garbage out?”  This is very true and important to remember in the search engine world.  Gone are the days of humans reviewing websites and listing them.  The same is true of your business listing.  It is very important to make sure that you check your listings and make the data consistant across all the sites the information is listed on.  What does this mean?  Lets say that your address is 123 North Main Street.  This can also be listed as 123 N Main St or 123 North Main St or 123 N Main Street.  These are all different addresses to a computer.  Pick a way that you are going to list your address and be consistant with every listing for maximum results.

Also, be sure to search for you listing with each site.  If you need to update the information claim your listing and follow the instructions for the website.  If you are not listed at all be sure to submit your business and follow the conformation process.

So where does a business start when trying to get their information out and accessable to the masses?

The three places to start are:
Google – http://www.google.com/local/
Yahoo – http://local.yahoo.com/
Bing – https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx

Here are some high quality sites that will get you some major exposure because they feed to other major players:
InfoUSA – http://leads.infousa.com/Landing/UpdateListing.aspx
Citysearch – http://national.citysearch.com
Acxiom – http://www.acxiom.com (This company provides data to a ton of listing websites like Yelp, yellowpages.com, superpages.com, local.com and superpages.com.  I have not been able to find out how to submit your data to Acxiom and all the links for doing so that I’ve seen on the Internet do not work.)

Following is a list of other listing providers that are simple to get listed with:
HotFrog – http://www.hotfrog.com/
MagicYellow – http://www.magicyellow.com/add_your_business.cfm
CityVoter – http://cityvoter.com
Angie’s List – www.angieslist.com (this site requires a small membership fee)
Discover Our Town – http://www.discoverourtown.com/
WCities – http://wcities.com (My city wasn’t listed and I couldn’t find a way to submit a listing automatically.  I submitted an editorial content request.  Don’t know what is going to happen yet.)
InsiderPages – http://www.insiderpages.com
YellowBot – https://www.yellowbot.com
Local.com – https://register.local.com

I’m sure there are other websites.  These I found relatively easy to use and updated listing quickly.

Don’t have a website for your business?  Looking for a website designer in Saginaw?  Click Here to contact me for more information and a custom quote.

The Screaming Casanovas

The Screaming Casanovas

Friday morning I got a call from Mike Magee.  Mike has been working on a new regional website, Great Lakes Bay Scene, and wanted some pictures of O’Hares and Midland Street Pub in Bay City.  They wanted pictures of Saturday night.  This was fine because I wasn’t booked for Saturday and my wife and I could use a night out.  We went early and had the the Saturday Night Special which is BBQ Ribs.  The ribs were great!  Juicy and fall off the bone well done.  The ribs were served with a choice of potato and either a tossed salad or cole slaw.  At 8pm the bar was a little slow and we new we had some time to kill.  Fortunately an acquaintance saw us there and we killed the time with some good conversation.

The band at Midland Street Pub this Saturday night was The Screaming Casanovas.  I had never heard them before.  They started their set at 9:30pm and the bar started filling up at about 10pm.  The Casanovas did a great job covering some 80′s and newer rock songs.  They are quality musicians that put on a good show.

We had a few drinks, took a few pictures and went back to Saginaw.  If you were at Midland Street Put or O’Hares on Saturday, Feb 6th, 2010 and want to see some pictures be sure to visit:  http://greatlakesbayscene.com!