Arizona shooting trip. Day 1/24

So we made it. We’re here. After sitting on the runway in Phoenix after we landed, for a good 30 minutes because there was a plane parked in our spot, then going to the rental car place only to find the car we reserved was taken, but hey, here’s a free upgrade. The house is 30-45 minutes from the airport and holy shit the drivers are aggressive. Apparently there is a bowl game here Monday between Oregon and Auburn. That would be an experience and a half.

Wow, what a journey. It hasn’t sunk in yet that we’re so far from home, so far from Jack. We arrived under the cover of darkness so finding our way to the home was hard. It’s a 1.3 million dollar home, and we’re here for the rest of January. Crazy times we live in, crazy times indeed.

Walking through this home, italian marble throughout, it’s surreal. It’s like we dropped into an episode of Cribs or something. I’d love to tell you I could get used to this, but I couldn’t. It’s just too.. wow. So la-dee-da if that makes any sense? I feel like such a poser here, it’s not even funny.

Although, after hitting the liquor store, grabbing a case of beet and chilling in the hot tub.. I think I’ll feel better. Apparently there are major scorpions, snakes and javelinas where we’re staying. Nice. We’ve yet to see any, but hey, this is night 1 of 24… give it some time

Yes, we shall document the hell out of it.

Seriously, this house. Fuck me in the goat ass, it’s crazy.

I can hear Bryci just started the bath so my ass is outty.

Have a great night world!

I am sitting in the airport, in a chair closest to the windows. It is -10C/14F outside, blowing snow, damn cold. I sit watching the planes get de-iced and I see these baggage handlers scuttling all over with their little circus car like carts. Man, working outside right now would seriously eat a dick.

Bryci is beside me, laying out on 2 chairs, sound asleep. There are people bustling around, racing to their plane, trying to catch their kids, most seem to have their trust Starbucks in hand. Seems like a pattern almost.

We’re stuck here for another few hours, as we wait for our flight. We need to go through customs and then we’re off to Arizona.

Where we live, next week is supposed to be -21C. The same day, in Arizona where we’ll be.. +21. That’s a 42 degree change. Fack.

We’ll have a ton of photos to show you all so be sure to check back =) There are some pretty big changes for the network in 2011 as I keep mentioning. More as they get closer. =)

I can smell coffee… I can’t help but think… I want a coffee.

Starbucks sucks though, there has to be a Tim Hortons nearby..

Hope you’re safe, warm and smiling. Will touch base later..

Willie Nelson, you’re the man. This song just popped into my head and it reminded me of what I do for a living, and how much I love my job. I’m not a musician as the song implies… but if I switch out the words music with photography, I’m smiling.

This sort of sums up the Bella family. Damn it’s going to be good to see the ladies again!

On the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way

Is on the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way

Is on the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

Thanks Willie!

So tomorrow we embark on the journey. Arizona, here we come! We have family coming to watch Jack, taking care of our home while we’re gone and because of the new staff members we brought on, we can relax, knowing the network is in good hands.

We wanted Bella to EXPLODE in 2011 so we brought on some new people, three to be exact. We *might* bring on a fourth, we’re not sure yet. We invested HUGE in some new things that will become public in February area. In addition, we’re going on location for this shoot. There are a few secrets in play here that will become public soon enough, and yes, smiles will be had by most, if not all.

One quick thing, we’re being asked from time to time if we (meaning the Bella sites) are going to be moving over to Your Daily Cams. I know there has been a little confusion on the topic, but here’s the thing.. we (Bryci and myself) created and own Babe Chat so no, we won’t be moving to YDC. Ever. Yes we were invited, We smiled, laughed and declined. In that order. Long ass back story there. (NOV 18) (DEC1)

moving along…

What else is new?

Well… aside from a month and a half of preparation? Let’s see, we’re interviewing for a new Bella girl at the moment. We’re not sure what the future holds, but we’re looking at options. What I can tell you.. wow. That’s all I can tell you at the moment. It’s weird because we get 1-3 girls/week applying to be with Bella and we never look twice at them. It’s not that we’re haters, we’re just busy and we don’t agree with building new site after new site just to have a ton of girls. Better to have fewer sites, and make them extraordinary then just stock pile.

Sometimes, things won’t work out with a girl, that happens. It’s a business thing. Sometimes hard decisions have to come down and be put into play. Sometimes that means changes. Change can be a good thing though, well, change can be a great thing. I guess it depends if you embrace change or you fight it.

Fuck it, let’s get our funney on.

(when Men bake)

what in the fu…

what is more scary? her Twittoo or the wall painting? Discuss.

ONE ahahahahaha

NAILED IT

Alright kids, I am off to bed. Large in charge day ahead. Watch for a LOT of photos coming through my blog in the month ahead. I am going to try and post one pix per day minimum.. starting Monday.

It’s Friday, that means DATE NIGHT with my lady!

I think I might just have to treat her to a movie with family.

Have a kick ass weekend people!

I’ve been somewhat reflective these past few days. I hadn’t been blogging because I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to say. i like blogs that aren’t always work based and I saw my blog moving in that direction.

Last year I told myself I’d start blogging with photos from girls, different models that I was promoting. Sort of like you’ve seen on blog after blog before. I thought, sure.. some model posts, some word posts, some model posts, some word posts etc

Not sure if I am going to start that or not to be honest, it’s not that I can’t do it, I’m just not sure if I want to is the thing.

So 2011 has a great many things changing within our network. Truth is, almost everything is changing. We’re redoing the outside, the inside, the photos, the videos, the banners, the way we promote, the way we allow others to promote etc. Bella is a completely different network in 2011. Well, once we’re back from Arizona that is.

Arizona is going to be crazy. I am so excited, most likely to the point I have over hyped it in my own head. It couldn’t possibly be as kick ass I imagine it will be (yes it can and will be, dur).

Bryci and I pride ourselves on not just resting on our reputation/content. We always push for better, push for more MMMMPH! if that makes sense? heh We have re-invested so freaking much into what we’re doing. Yikes. You could buy a car, new, outright, on what we spent in December alone towards making Bella better.

I see so many sites, that just do the bare minimum. So many photographers that don’t really look at what they’re doing. I see promo photos going out where the girl is half blinking for fuck’s sake, who does this as a promo shot? Yikes. If I was that model, right there I would lose a great deal of trust in my team. I suppose I am thankful these people exist though

There are so many things racing around my head as I write this.

I sit wondering what I should and should not write about. I don’t want to create drama, but at the same time, I want others to know things and know I am not associated with some things.

I was talking to another webbie the other day, well, a program owner really (a major program owner). We spoke about reputation and they mentioned to me that they had ignored me in the past because they thought I was partners with another webmaster. Someone that I am not partners with, nor have EVER been partners with. Guilt through association sort of thing because I know this guy. 

There is a long ass story here that I could easily blog about, but in the end nothing is solved. Let’s just suffice to say you cannot trust everything you hear. Some webmasters lie through their teeth to try and make themselves look/appear bigger/more powerful. Fuck if I know what is gained by this.

If you are an affiliate reading this, or another webmaster reading this, now you know. The only partner in the Bella network is Bryci, that’s the way it always has been. There has never been a partner with Bella. If someone else told you they own one of the Bella sites, you’re being lied to. There are no partners on any Bella site.

TaliaShepard.com for example, was bought from Precious Cash. They have ZERO to do with site now. They stopped having anything to do with it in June 2010. If you’ve heard from one of the staffers that they are partners with us, they are lying to you. Point blank.

I am not partners with ANYONE on ANYTHING other than being partners with Bryci in the Bella Network. The girls in Bella are partners with their own sites of course, but no other webmaster has anything to do with Bella. Period. No exceptions.

If you have been told something, and you’d like to check with me, drop me an email. james@jamesdot.com

I will keep on blogging, but with Arizona just a little away, were busy busy busy!

I’ll touch base from AZ and try and blog from there as well.

Hope you’re all doing great!

Thank you for helping make 2010 such an amazing year. It was a crazy year for us for sure. We brought a new Bella girl into the family with Katie Banks in March 2010, we bought Talia Shepard’s website in June 2010 from her old webmaster and restarted her career being that the old team pretty much had tanked it. We went live with Monroe Lee’s website in Sept/Oct.

2011 is going to be a fast paced year for the Bella family. We’re off to Arizona in January to shoot all the ladies, which means new photos, new high end HD video, new everything. We’re entertaining taking another Bella girl into the family as well but we’re not sure if we are going to do this or not just yet.

It’s always been about quality, not quantity with Bella. We’ve had many girls apply to work with us, a few well known as well. We would rather focus on the sites we have and make them amazing, rather than have 10 so-so sites. Right now, we see a lot of ways we can make our current network better so that is what we’re doing. If/when we bring one more girl into the family, we’ll make sure she is a great fit. We have a great group of girls working with Bella right now, if one was to be added, we’d have to make sure she’s some kind of awesome as well.

Bella grew each and every month in 2010, and we owe you for this. The fans are what have made us successful and we don’t forget this. We try and do the best we can do in our sites, and as I said, we’re only going to get better.

It kind of sucks that I have to censor myself on the blog here for the sake of keeping drama out of the equation. In 2009 we had a webbie or two copy our ideas pretty badly, right down to same wording. In 2010 we had the same shit happen with a model who felt she could be us. Sigh. Weird story there… but anyway…

Point being, there are those that feel they need to look to the left or right and copy what is done, rather than forging their own path and kicking ass. Who cares what the other sites are doing? We sure as fuck don’t. We don’t look to other models to see how to improve. It’s not personal against the models, we respect their hard work. When we want to improve, we look within our own program. We can see the areas we want to be better, and it’s then that we take aim and set up a plan of attack.

We’re not perfect, but we’re trying to be better and if you look at our work, you’ll see a pattern of photos getting better as we go. It feels good to work your ass off and have a member tell you thank you for the hard work. It feels amazing when one of the girls, or better yet, all of the girls love the work you’re doing for them. Again, we’re not perfect but we’re busting our ass and it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Thank you ladies, for busting your ass for us, and for the fans. We’ve had amazing 2010 with you and we cannot wait to get started into 2011!

We’re going to really change more than a few things in 2011 with the Bella Program…

whoooo eeeeeeeeee I IZ excited!

Happy New Year my friends, I wouldn’t be here with you!

James