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The Colón Experience VIII Student Portfolio

A short display of each student's images ( semi-large file so please be patient )
Each video is also posted to CutFrameTV, so if you have a CutFrame account (it's free to join!), you can bookmark them there.

All in all it was an awesome workshop with a great group of attendees.
Here is what they had to say about The Colón Experience :

"The workshop is awesome, more than I expected. Mike’s discussions on technique and workflow have been extremely helpful. In just two days I’ve completely changed the way I shoot." - Phillip Glickman

"Wow...that's all I can say :) I have learned more in one day at Mike's workshop than I could have ever dreamed of. It's kind of like a light bulb coming on over your head..." - Courtney Fries

"I cannot say how impressed I am with Mike over the course of the workshop. He really has a genuine interest in teaching other photographers and wanting to help them take their work up to the next level." - Steve Goldhaber

In February, Mike Colón and Bob Davis will be partnering together on the 9 city Master Your Craft Tour. If you missed out on attending "The Colón Experience VIII", this is an opportunity you will not want to miss

The Colón Experience VIII Day 4

The Colón Experience VIII Day 3

On day 3, Mike covered marketing strategies and then in the evening we went out on a night shoot. In Orange County it never really rains, however we have had no shortage of rain this week! Kurt from Pictage showed up to drop off some awesome Pictage hat's and Robert De Niro / Tony Blake seemed to like them a lot.

In the marketing session, Mike was covering bridal inquiries and decided to call a couple brides on the spot, so the attendees could observe.

By the time the night shoot rolled around, it was raining pretty hard. We decided to use a parking structure to cover ourselves from the rain and leverage a nice background behind.

The Colón Experience VIII Day 2

We spent the afternoon shooting at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano

The crew (from left to right: John Loyola, Courtney Fries, Phillip Glickman, Justin Wesbrooks, Chris Diset, Steve Goldhaber, Nathan Dang, Dee Dee Dallas, Tony Blake)

(From left to right: Amy Wellenkamp, Tammy Marcelain, Crystal Petersen, Laurie LaRock, Mandy Hanks, David Escalante, Aiden Colón, Mike Colón)

The Colón Experience VIII Day 1

The workshop awesome so far! We have a good mix of photographers from around the globe. Here are just a few images of what the first day was like.

The Colón Experience VIII Prep

The Colón Experience VIII is underway! I've hijacked Mike's blog because he is taking a short break from blogging for this week to focus on the workshop, so I'll be posting photo and video updates giving a short summary of what happens at The Colón Experience. Kenny Kim & I will be handling the blogging here for the remainder of the week & we are excited to share our images with you.

Last night we stayed up late prepping for the workshop and stopped off at Fuji Yama's a little earlier in the evening.

Coming Home

Vacations are never long enough. I'm looking forward to Monday when
my workshop starts. It's going to be a fun week! We have some great
models, fun locations, and tasty restaurants to look forward to. I
can't wait to meet everyone and make some new friends and see some
familiar faces too!

This one goes out to my bro dave

I guess i need new boots too

New Board!

GNU 11-UP

A Much Needed. Vacation!

I'm in Mammoth with the fam and its gorgeous here! 50s and fresh
packed powder, not a cloud in the sky!

Sales Tax Audit! A word to the wise...

Wow!  I have to tell this story in case it can help any of you avoid trouble with sales tax.

A few months back I got a call from an auditor at the State Board of Equalization (California's state tax authority).  She said I was randomly selected for a tax audit and asked if I could schedule them in for a meeting.

Two auditors were at my door a few days later for our scheduled meeting.  There was a supervisor and a new tax auditor who chose me as the lucky one to do her first (or near first) tax audit.  Lucky me.

We sat down in my living room and the supervisor made it very clear that they would try to take as little of my time as possible and would try to keep the audit short and painless as long as everything I told them and showed them proved to be in line with the sales tax laws.

After about a half hour of questions from the supervisor I seemed to have proven that I understand exactly how I should be handling sales tax because he told me that he was impressed and that most photographers he's interviewed don't know as much as I did about the tax laws.  

I took some accounting and tax classes at CSUF and read the pamphlet that the State Board mailed out to me when I started my business in hopes I could avoid any mistakes and crazy penalties and interest.  My motto was always that I want to keep the money I make and not have to constantly look over my shoulder.  I decided early on that I would be completely honest about everything I do in my business, including the way I handled reporting income for taxes.  I claim every penny that comes through my studio including cash receipts and keep very accurate records.  So I thought...

After opening up my books to the auditors (e.g. bank statements, financial statements, tax returns, e-commerce receipts, shipping receipts, contracts, you name it) they were so quick to find discrepancies that were extremely shocking.  At one point, the auditor told me that I showed almost $300K in extra revenue that was not claimed in a particular audit period.  I couldn't help but laugh... and then I kinda got offended.  I said something like "Yeah right... I'm hiding $300K from you... what a joke!... You are joking right?"

It turns out I had made a big mistake... or actually Quickbooks (which I relied on heavily) had lead me astray and did not include all of my revenue in my sales tax liability report (which I was stupid enough to trust without reconciling it to my bank statements).

I had started fresh with a new company file in Quickbooks at the beginning of 2004 to try to re-organizing some accounts and invoice items to help my accountant out and the opening balances for some clients did not get marked as taxable income but were left in an unknown revenue account that didn't show up in my sales tax liability report.  

It wasn't $300K though... more like $40K... the remaining $240K turned out to be balance transfers to and from business savings accounts I had set aside for paying taxes.  The auditors were adding all deposits going into my business checking, disregarding that some were not actual revenue but simply transfers back into my checking account when it came time to pay bills.  They would have charged me tax on that amount if I couldn't furnish proof (savings account statements were proof enough) that they were transfers.  Crazy!  

Also I had a large number of out-of-state sales made up of my destination weddings, products sold to my out-of-state brides, and DVDs sold to out-of-state photographers.  They wanted proof that these were indeed out-of-state sales.  My online booking system and e-store did not qualify as proof even when I showed out-of-state shipping address and billing addresses in the system.  They wanted actual shipping labels and receipts from couriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS.  They also wanted to call every bride and photographer who have paid me in the last 3 years to verify that they were out-of-state.  Thank God they settled for a third party report from Authorize.Net that verified these out-of-state sales!

They proceeded to move on to my non-taxable sales which "seemed extremely high considering I'm a wedding photographer who shouldn't have many sales that qualify as non-taxable.  Most of my non-taxable sales were made up of income from lectures, workshops, and endorsements.  They wanted proof that I was doing lectures and seminars so I had to show them contracts and even dig up press including screenshots of online promotional material, printed brochures, and magazine articles. 

This whole thing has been a learning experience!  Here are some key things I highly recommend you put into practice:

1.  Double and triple check your sales tax returns and reconcile them against your actual bank deposits before sending them off to your state tax authority

2.  Know your tax laws and make sure you are properly charging your clients.  I know many photographers who think they only need to charge tax on the "service" portion of their wedding photography package.  In California, the entire package is taxable.  Don't get stuck paying for sales tax that you should have charged your client!

3.  Keep extremely detailed records of all non-taxable and out-of-state transactions.  You may need tangible proof if you are ever audited.  This includes scans of shipping receipts and out-of-state checks.  A digital record in quickbooks is not enough.  The auditors won't even get close enough to look at your quickbooks because they don't want to be blamed for altering numbers or reports.

4.  Keep at least 3 years of bank statements, credit card statements, contracts, tax returns, and any other legal documents that provide information that you will need in the event of an audit.

5.  Be honest.  I can't tell you what a great feeling it is to be able to clearly explain and show proof of honest behavior in my tax reporting.  Auditors will see right through any lies.. that's what they're trained to do.  I know dozens of photographers who would be in big trouble if they were ever selected for an audit.

As for me... I have a final meeting with the auditors this Friday at 10am.  I'll be presenting my explanations and supporting documentation for the bank deposits discrepancies they were questioning.  According to my findings I owe about $3500 give or take in sales taxes I missed from my Quickbooks screw-up plus any interest and penalties which I'm hoping won't be astronomical.

Hope this helps someone out there!  As business owners we really have a lot to think about and a lot of hats to wear including the hat of a bookkeeper, accountant, and tax attorney.  Even if you hire these jobs out (and pay an arm and a leg), you still need to have a good understanding of them all if you want to make sure your practices will hold up in an audit.  It's not easy doing what we do!  It took me about a million and a half baby steps to get this far... but it's finally paying off!  Don't get discouraged!

Master Your Craft Tour Map

View Larger Map

I made this map in Google Maps.  It has all the dates, cities, and locations for the tour.  You can easily click on city and get driving directions or the phone number to the hotel where we are holding the seminars.  I hope to see you there!  We are currently selling out about 30-50 seats a day so at this rate we'll be sold out in about a week and a half.  Don't wait!  ***CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP NOW!!***

Top of Apple's Hot News!

I just found out from some friends that my national tour with Bob is at the top of the Apple Hot News page! How cool! Click here to see it!

In other news (and just as exciting!), my tour partner Bob Davis just shot Eddie Murphy's wedding in Bora Bora! Click here to read all about it! Congrats Bob!

Zoe Ink - Vermont's Best Kept Secret

I can't tell you how long it took me to find Zoe Ink! For years I searched for someone who specializes in letterpress, has similar taste and style to me, and is professional to work with.

It wasn't until I met Daria Bishop (a super cool photographer based in Vermont) at a workshop I gave in Pittsburgh in 2006 that I found exactly what I was looking for. I saw Daria's amazing business card that was unique in every way and forced her to tell me who made them. "You have to call Zoe!" She exclaimed with excitement in her voice.

A month later, I hired Zoe to design my new look. She did such an amazing job on my business cards, note cards, press kit, and custom envelopes! She has so much class and style and is simply amazing to work with!

I can't even begin to tell you how important it is to have business cards and press kits that are up to par with the image you are trying to portray and your target market. People judge you on the smallest things and it's always the small details that leave the biggest impression.

If you are looking for a new look for 2008, look no further than Zoe Ink! She really pays attention to every detail and does the job right. I have a feeling there might be a waiting list so get in line now.

Master Your Craft 9 City Tour

I sent out an email blast this morning and in less than 5 hours we now have over 130 registered! This is my first national tour and I'm so excited about it! Bob and I have put together an awesome program that we both feel is going to really help photographers not only improve their photography skills, but also take their business to the next level.

I've always had a passion for teaching and this is my chance to really get out there and make a difference! My goal is to get photographers to step up their game, become better photographers, and make more money doing what they love. I have a ton of valuable information that I am going to share on this tour that can really save photographers years in the development of their brand, shooting skills, and workflow.

If you are a wedding photographer, this is your chance to spend 8 hours collecting priceless tips that will change the way you shoot, market, and think about your photography business forever! I hope to see you there!

***CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS***

Or click your city below to skip to the sign up page and reserve your seat!

Miami, FL
Charlotte, NC
Baltimorre, MD
New York, NY
Hartford, CT
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA