This Holiday, give the gift of SUM Booth

Remember the feeling you had as a kid when you went to open presents on Christmas morning, hoping (well ok, expecting) to get one thing — but getting another? If you were a boy hoping for a Transformer, maybe you got a Gobot. If you were a girl pining for a Cabbage Patch Kid, maybe you actually got some cabbage instead.

We here at SUM Booth know that feeling all too well, and sadly, it still exists today.

These days that feeling is experienced when you walk into your company’s holiday party, hoping (well ok, expecting) to see SUM Booth there taking photos, but instead there’s nothing — or some other photo booth the equivalent to cabbage.

It’s a tragedy that can be avoided, however. If you’re on your company’s party planning committee, get in touch with SUM Booth. If you’re not, suggest it to someone else. Together, we can help put a stop to holiday party disappointment and make your next party the Christmas morning equivalent of this:

Getting Down to Brass Tacks with ISES Austin

After relocating our primary operation to Austin earlier this year, we wanted to step up our game on the local level, and in doing so researched joining a regional professional organization where we could get our mingle on. When we were in our infancy in San Diego, I spoke to some folks on that topic and they recommended a handful of groups — one of them being ISES, or the International Special Events Society. After a bit of research, I found a local ISES get together and decided to pack up some samples and see if it would be the right fit.

Almost immediately upon entering the event, I was greeted by Kevin from Brass Tacks Events, and we struck up a conversation which lead me to showing him the sample book I had brought along. Needless to say, he was pretty excited about our service and gave me the scoop on a photography-based ISES event he was producing in October. Long story short — SUM Booth is now a part of ISES, Kevin sealed the deal to have us be a part of his event, and the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.

All caught up? Great.

Thanks to Illuminate Photography for the behind the scenes photo

For the event, we pretty much had free reign to do whatever we wanted — which is a little intimidating. We contemplated doing trading cards, but decided on providing a variety of fun templates for folks to choose from, some Austin-related, some not at all:

• an homage to Austin’s music scene with a concert stage
• a Longhorn bull standing in front of the Capitol building
• a Halloween themed scene with Austin’s famed bats (although people called it the ‘Twilight’ design)
• ..and an old school Duck Hunt themed design (with authentic Zapper), just because

The event itself was definitely one of a kind. It’s not often you find everything from ice sculpture demonstrations, pole dancers, acrobats, and SUM Booth all under one roof. Three out of four is pretty common, but all four — not too commonplace. Many of the performers were there as a part of a “reverse red carpet”, where guests could walk down the red carpet and play paparazzi, taking photos of all the entertainers lined up in front of them. The photos they took would then be entered into a contest to see who snapped the best shots, adding a fun element to the event even once it was over. If you want a glimpse of the action, check out this beautifully done recap video done by Altared Weddings (note: don’t be scared of the video thumbnail, it’s safe for work!):

As you can tell by the video, it was quite the production. Kevin from Brass Tacks really outdid himself and formed quite the all-star cast — everything from the catering to the lighting to the decor (and everything in between) was beautifully done. And of course, let’s not forget the photos we took as well. Folks had a great time interacting in the scenes we created, and it was nice to talk to so many people that weren’t even aware something like SUM Booth was available for their events. That aspect was the primary goal of our participation in the event, and we were proud to showcase what we can offer in the Central Texas area.

Mission accomplished!

Want to see more? Feel free to check out all of the photos here!

We Heart Holidays

‘Tis the season.

These days, the “season” that many people refer to basically stretches from Halloween until New Year’s Day — a solid 62 days (and sometimes more) of parties, costumes, hi-jinx, eating, drinking and being merry. And we here at SUM Booth are here to participate in all of that right along with you.

This year, we kicked off the season in grand fashion at a Halloween house party just north of San Diego. When you think of a house party, you may imagine kegs, black lights and Chex mix — or perhaps you think of the 90′s classic movie franchise starring Kid n’ Play — but let me assure you, neither of those stereotypes were true (although we do love Chex mix). Put together by Jennifer Molloy of Amoré Events, this was on the scale of a Hampton’s house party or an opulent backyard wedding, anchored by a huge tented dance floor which you had to access via a Haunted Trail. Mix in some giant ice carvings, a full catered spread, enough candy to make a dentist salivate, and a costume contest — and let’s be frank, if SUM Booth is in attendance, you know it has to be a good party.

Positioned right at the entrance, guests stopped by for a photo op before they embarked on the Haunted Trail and into the party itself. We then had the photos available for guests to take home with them as they departed, since we all know that a lot of these costumes don’t exactly have a lot of pockets or places to hold photos while partying. When it was all said and done, every guest got to take home a photo to remember the night, and what their costume looked like before the face paint started to run.

Want to bring some SUM Booth fun to one of your holidays events? Don’t be shy and get in touch ASAP, because dates tend to fill up quick!

I Need a Hero

At SUM Booth, we have are typical roster of events that we usually handle — sporting events, trade shows, weddings, private parties, and 3-year old Super Hero birthday parties.

Oh, you didn’t know we cornered the illustrious 3-year old Super Hero birthday party market? Well now you do. Really, would you expect otherwise?

Obviously, we aren’t going to post dozens of photos of toddlers (how can they sign a model release if they can’t even write their name yet?), but we did want to share a sample that we took while setting up — because frankly, it turned out pretty awesome. We did some on-the-spot Photoshop wizardry to make it look like all the pint-sized Super Heroes were actually in flight, adding motion blurs and blending areas to imply speed, and then delivered the photos in trading card format, complete with Super Hero name on the front and stats on the back. I never knew that Super Heroes weaknesses included Kryptonite and bed time, did you?

In conclusion, it was probably the coolest take-away in the history of 3-year old birthday parties. That is, of course, until we work your soon-to-be 3 year old’s upcoming birthday party.

Riders on the Storm

Here’s a practice SAT question for you:

Superman is to kryptonite, as SUM Booth is to ________.

a) awesome  b) radical  c) water  d) puppies

Look, I’m no Mr. Wizard (or Bill Nye, for the younger generation), but the one thing I do know is that electricity and H2O are not best buds. We have no problem working outdoor events and have faced everything from extreme cold to extreme winds — even snow — but unless we’re under a huge canopy or tent, rain is an issue. Luckily, with our two primary service areas being sunny Southern California and (unfortunately) drought-stricken Central Texas, exposure to water in the form of rain isn’t really an issue.

Jinx.

When heading off to San Antonio for an outdoor event for Comdata and Event Logistics, rain was the last thing on my mind. It was the 104 degree heat, spiking right around our start time, that was the thing I was dreading the most. With that in mind, I made sure we had more than enough time to get everything set up, actually arriving 3 hours in advance to ensure a slow-paced process. So, fast-forward 2 hours and about 2 gallons of sweat later, something dark and ominous starts appearing on the not-so-distant horizon.

Yeah, those are storm clouds. If we were Superman, it was the equivalent of kryptonite the size of an iceberg, or Kim Kardashian’s engagement diamond (I forget which is bigger). Anyhow, this wasn’t looking good.

After hasty discussions, it was decided that the entire event would have to be moved indoors on the other side of the resort. Let me just say something right off the bat, it normally takes us anywhere from 60-90 minutes to set-up and test all of our equipment to ensure that everything is good to go. I looked at my watch and saw that it was an hour til start time, got a little light-headed, took a big gulp and told my assistant Claudia, “uhhh, ok, let’s do this.”

After moving at a pace that rivaled Dash from the Incredibles, we broke down all the equipment, loaded it up in the car, drove around the resort, unloaded the car, wheeled it up to the ballroom, set-up and tested everything — all within an hour. In all honesty, I didn’t think it was possible, but we did it, even leaving enough time for me to change into something respectable (and dry) in the bathroom before going live.

Now, although this post has been pretty SUM-centric (it is our blog, afterall), I must give huge props to the staff of the JW Marriott Hill Country and all the other vendors and planners as well. They were completely set up and ready to go outdoors until Hurrican Fubar decided to roll in, and had to transform an empty ballroom into themed dining room in the same amount of short time. Also a huge thanks goes out to my assistant Claudia who got tossed into a little more manual labor than usual, and did so with a smile on her face the whole time.

When it was all said and done, the guests arrived at 7pm and had no clue as to the chaos that had just occurred an hour earlier, and in the end, that’s all that matters. In this industry, it’s all about the guests and the service we provide, and sacrificing some sweat (hey, there weren’t any tears, ok!) is a welcome trade for a job well done. Sometimes life throws you a curveball, and you can do one of two things — watch the ball sail right past you and strike out, or, learn how to hit a curve!

As expected, everyone loved the photos we provided, and we actually went a half-hour longer because people just wanted to keep taking more and more. The lights went on, the bar closed up, but we still had a crowd around us, and I’d like to think that alone is a pretty good testament to our ability to hit a curve.

One Whale of a Wedding

When we design our photo templates, we usually have an idea on how people are going to interact with the elements in the design. The thing is, once you get on location and people start taking photos, the element of “one-upmanship” comes into play, the creative juices start flowing (and sometimes alcoholic libations) and all of a sudden.. it’s a whole new ballgame.

Before we get into that, let me first comment on the beauty of the location and the overall scene of the Geller wedding in Pebble Beach. The wedding was held at a private residence with one of the most dramatic views I’ve ever seen from the backyard (see below for a photo that doesn’t do it justice). Produced by Colette Cuccia, the wedding ceremony and reception were held in the same area, with a decor, lighting and ambiance transformation that occurred while guests were dining. Once dinner was over, that’s where we came in.

Going into the reception, we had designed two photo options that were suggested by the bride — a retro Pebble Beach golf course and whale watching. Wanting to provide some flexibility with the photographs, we designed the golf option as a more straight-forward shot, and the whale watching design was created in a way that allowed some more interaction. The design allowed guests to stand on the bow of a boat with a whale kicking it’s tail up just beyond them. Perhaps if they were feeling creative, they could pull off a little Leo “I’m the king of the world!” action or touch the whale’s tail — but like I foreshadowed, I underestimated the creativeness of the Geller’s friends and family.

It all started with two younger guests wanting to have a photo where one of them was in the water being rescued by the other on the boat. Easy enough, and the photo actually turned out pretty cool. Before I knew it, I had people hanging onto the whale for dear life, people drowning in the water, folks getting thrown off-board the boat, and others getting seasick — and I loved every minute of it.

The spontaneity of the guests combined with the creativeness of the designs create an experience you can’t really get anywhere else — and that’s why we do what we do at SUM Booth.

Laissez les bons temps rouler avec Career Builder

When we were approached by CareerBuilder to work one of their tradeshows in New Orleans, they asked us if we had any ideas for themes or concepts for the design — and that question alone is always music to our ears, because if it’s one thing we usually have too much of, it’s ideas. So we instantly proposed a Mardi Gras theme, where guests would be the bead-tossers, perched on a balcony high above the throngs of humanity below.

After getting the a-OK from CB (that’s what we call them now, since we’re best buds), we dove into our stock imagery banks, hoping we could actually pull-off the scene we had proposed. Just as we had hoped planned, we found a great base image as a jumping off point for the design. After some SUM Booth Photoshop wizardry, the following was presented to the client, which they loved:

One fun feature that CareerBuilder wanted to implement was live Facebook uploading with our SuperSync service. While the photos were being printed for guests, the photo was also being uploaded to a gallery on CB’s FB account — allowing folks to share, save, tag and comment on them instantly. Not only does this give guests more options to enjoy their photos, but it also gives clients and sponsors some extra bang for their buck, since a viral sharing element is introduced, leading to more exposure for their brand.

We’re a Good Sport

Here’s a fun fact: SUM Booth’s roots as a company actually originate in the world of sports.

Our first client out of the gate was trading card (aka baseball cards) producer Upper Deck, and since then we’re collaborated on events all over North America. But the connection doesn’t stop just there — the majority of the SUM Booth team has ties with Upper Deck as well, either as designers or photographers. That means our unique offering of custom trading cards are chock full of years of related design experience, which allows us to create card designs that rival (and in our opinion, are sometimes better than) what you’d find if you forked over some cash and bought trading cards from a hobby shop.

Since jumping into the world of custom trading cards, we’ve worked at events for the NHL, MLB, NFL, MLS and NCAA; teams and conferences such as the LA Kings, Vancouver Canucks, San Diego State Aztecs and the Mountain West; and created cards for brands such as the aforementioned Upper Deck, Topps, Pepsi, Nestle, Mt Dew, World of Warcraft, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Super Heat.

In this post, we thought we’d bring it back to the OG franchise we started off with, Upper Deck, and showcase some of the designs we created for various sporting events in 2011. If you think your brand or event would benefit from our unique custom trading card service, or want more info on what it consists of, don’t be shy and get in touch!

Dear Tumblr, it wasn’t you.. it was us

Every once in awhile, you reach a point in a relationship where you have to take a good look at the situation and assess things, almost like a personal State of the Union. Well, we recently did just that with our blog, and came to the tough decision to part ways with our partner, Tumblr.

Tumblr, I just want to let you know, that it wasn’t you.. it was us. We’ve just, well, changed. The quaint quirks of your microblog format was great initially, but we soon came to learn that we like to talk in our blogs — a lot. Probably too much. And, you know, things just got awkward with your close-minded ways.

But don’t worry, I want to memorialize the times we had together, not tear them down. You won’t find me deleting your bookmarks or shredding all our past blogs, because frankly, that’s impossible. Blogs aren’t shreddable, silly. Instead, I’m going to share to the world all that we’ve done together in the past out in the open, right here:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE OLD SUM BOOTH BLOG ARCHIVES

See, that wasn’t so bad.

By the way, I’m going to need all of your stuff off of my server by Friday.

XOXO

SUM Booth