Luxury Real Estate

By Robert Lockard

“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.”

So says Ilya Moshenskiy, the Principal Photographer of Ilya’s Photography in Washington state. I love that quote because, as a writer, I can definitely relate to his point about great works being written by people and not by keyboards or computers.

Ilya is an amazing photographer in a variety of fields, including luxury homes, weddings, events and cuisine. He has been the Official Photographer of the past nine Luxury Real Estate conferences and he always produces the finest photographic masterpieces. Just ask Jim Walberg, a LuxuryRealEstate.com member in the Caribbean.

Check out these amazing photos that Ilya took at this year’s Seafair, Seattle’s big summer festival.

To see more of Ilya’s photos from Seafair 2008, click here!

I’ll end with one more quote from Ilya. He uses only the finest photographic tools in his work, but he also notes, “It doesn’t matter what kind of camera you are shooting with; the real issue is who is behind the camera. Great photography requires perfect lighting and composition. It will always be a human behind the viewfinder. High-end photography demands exceptional skill and not every photographer is up to the task.”

Ilya certainly is up to the task. Contact him at ilya at ilyaestate.com or 425.883.2246 today!


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. All of the photos above are the copyright of Ilya’s Photography.

By Grant Hermes

“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”
~ William Pollard

Nowadays, information spreads and multiplies exponentially throughout the Internet. Who has time to spend hours a day sifting and sorting through endless websites in search of useful and, more importantly, up-to-date news? I know I certainly do not. This is where RSS feeds are a lifesaver for me.

When you see the  icon all you have to do is click on it and add it as a bookmark or to a reader of your choice. Try it out by clicking on the “Articles” RSS feed on this blog page (just look for the  icon to find it). Now you have a current look at the most-recent posts to the LuxuryRealEstate.com Blog. I personally place all my feeds in my bookmarks toolbar so they’re right in front of me. Another useful RSS feed I use is from RISMedia.com (they have dozens of feeds but I use the Real Estate-specific feed as well as a few others – check them out).

I always saw links for RSS feeds before, but just never clicked on them until this past week. Let me tell you, it is the greatest addition to my Internet browser. In one click, I get a snapshot of a site’s blog posts or articles and, most importantly, if any new ones have been posted. I feel more informed than ever on world news by being able to quickly and effortlessly scan through headlines, and if I want more detailed information it’s just a click away.

Hopefully this will help you narrow down and sort through the overwhelming amount of information out there that’s important to you but which you just don’t have time to sort through.

If you need it…RSS picture is complements of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102200751033.aspx


Editor’s Note:
Grant Hermes is the Staff Accountant for LuxuryRealEstate.com. He assists Controller James Hughes with all of the necessary paperwork and accounting to keep LuxuryRealEstate.com running smoothly. This is the first blog entry I’ve received from Grant, and it’s quite a smashing one. RSS feeds are quite helpful in our information-saturated environment, like the quote at the start of this blog entry notes. It doesn’t help to have a huge library if none of the books are correctly ordered or easily accessible to readers. Thank goodness for RSS feeds, which are kind of like a high-tech Dewey Decimal System. And thanks for the explanation, Grant!

By Courtney Jackson

I was reading Shelby Morris’ blog the other day about Print vs. Online advertising and I saw this great entry, entitled Internet Marketing vs. Print Ads, so I thought I would share it. The question this author posed was whether agents should do online or print advertising. One of the agents writing had decided to do just online. Below is a response by Matt Grohe that I thought was very telling:

“Shelby, I enjoy driving, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t ride a bike, walk, or take a bus or a train. In my estimation, a strategy based entirely on the Internet is a lopsided one.

“While sitting at my open house today reading Think Like a Winner by Walter Doyle Staples, the phone rang. The caller was asking about a listing I had closed more than a month ago. I asked her where she’d seen it, Homes and Land Magazine, and an old one at that. Turns out her computer was broken and she’s in transition. I schmoozed her a bit and got out of her what type of property she was looking for. She’s willing to go out looking tomorrow if I can find some homes that suit her. She’s reputedly pre-approved and has a letter (we’ll see).

“There’s a Long John Silver’s commercial that I find amusing and apt: A man is on a dock fishing with a single pole, he turns to the guy fishing next to him and asks ‘What’re you fishing for?’ The shot pans wider to show the second fisherman has about fifty different kinds of poles and lines, the second man remarks ‘Everything!’

”How many lines do you have in the water? You can’t catch all fish by the same method, some swim at different depths and some hit on different lines and lures.”


Editor’s Note:
Courtney Jackson is the Print Director for LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with The Wall Street Journal, Unique Homes and a variety of other publications to help luxury brokers gain domestic and international exposure for their properties. Indeed, this is a fascinating and relevant topic for all of us to ponder. Print advertising has not been replaced by online advertising, but these media forms have distinct strengths and weaknesses that can be used to reach different audiences. Use them wisely.