I had the best day with Best Buy and Blue Pixel in Seattle this week! I had no idea what to expect. When Kevin, the CEO of Blue Pixel, called to invite me to join his team he said it was going to be a blast! I had no idea!

Listen to this! About 360 Best Buy employees won this Seattle adventure. They flew in from all over the country. Toshiba gave them all free laptops!

They all got Nikon D 40’s. Zune players, t-shirts, sweatshirts, laptop bags, and don’t forget tripods! It was insane! Blue Pixel’s job was to come in with their team of professional photographers and teach photography 101 for the day.

Kevin and Reed (Blue Pixel founder) did a great morning session about how to use the basics on the camera. Then we had 8 buses come to the Marriott. Each professional photographer was given a bus of 45 people to take to the Seattle Center for this insane Scavenger Hunt with Jimmy Hendrix look alikes, Seahawk and Sonic Cheerleaders, even a Geisha!

I was assigned the pagoda with the Geisha model. For three hours I helped different groups learn how to use their portrait feature on the Nikon D40. Taught a little on ISO, aperture priority and then they’d move on to the next station to learn something different, like Shutter Speed priority on carnival rides with Seattle Times photographer, Ken Lambert! (an AWESOME guy and incredible editorial photographer by the way!)

Best Buy rolled out the red carpet, and Blue Pixel took it to the next level! It was so fun to see the day unfold! After dinner we took a 100 people on a Seattle walking tour and practiced shooting different things in Pike Place, like macro shots…recognize the famous Gum Wall? I had to take them there! 🙂

Or slowing down your shutter speed for fun freeway shots. :). It was so fun! How often do you get to hang out with a team of AMAZING photographers (7 Pulitzer Prize winners!) and just teach people how to shoot cars from above a freeway at night!

Kevin had told me how Blue Pixel is a small, close knit group. I was a little nervous to join them, but they instantly made me feel at home and invited Brian and I to join their team for future events. Every one was so nice and such fun to be with. This picture below is some of us, and it shows how fun these guys are!

Brian and I are so bummed because they wanted us to shoot with them in Colorado Springs in July, but we have two out of state weddings back to back. Best Buy is having them teach workshops, put on a rodeo (just so Best Buy employees can shoot action shots!), do a hot air balloon release at sunrise! (just for photo practice!–I’m dying!), and everyone will get a free Canon 30D (now you’re talking :)), laptops, MP3’s and more!

I’m thinking one, Best Buy seems like a cool place to work! 🙂 And two, we can’t wait to see what future adventures wait with Blue Pixel since these guys seriously know how to have a good time!

Thanks to all you guys at Blue Pixel for making me feel so welcome! It was a honor to be with you and teach alongside you! And especially, thanks for the drinks last night and the six tripods! 🙂