The Workshop // 2016

My friend Jessica of Jessica Lauren Photography and I are good at dreaming. Both of us strongly believe that knowledge is meant to be shared, and community is meant to be built up. So, naturally, while sitting over a cup of coffee a little over a year ago, we started dreaming up this idea. That instead of comparing ourselves to others and walling ourselves off to other photographers in our industry, that we would share and encourage. Teach and empower. Love on and walk alongside of. So one Monday in January, in a huge leap of faith, we launched our workshop and date. Somehow, someway – we sold out in a week’s time! My only explanation for that is that the Lord is just good and that His blessings are endless. After the squealing and disbelief was over (and the reality of this actually happening set in – let’s be real!), tons of prep work and “Wednesday plan days” ensued. But I’ll be honest, all the planning is the world couldn’t have prepared us for how quickly March 5th would come and go. Honestly, I’m still sitting here just absolutely blown away at the whirlwind and goodness of it all. It was a packed day filled with manual shooting, posing, lighting, and discussing the tools to run a successful business. We drove out to one of our favorite spots for a styled shoot mid-day, and the sun, weather, and gorgeous models that met us there were SO much more than we could have ever dreamed up or hoped for.

Speaking for myself, I greatly underestimated how much I would learn from simply trying to teach. We had 9 attendees, and each of these beautiful women came loaded with a lot of questions and a whole lot of passion. Each ready to jump head-first into the unknown of the photography world. Each filled with their own sweet soul, unique ideas, and a style all of their own. I’m here to tell you that the blessing that comes with pouring into others and helping to build up community is one of the most incredible things I’ve been able to do as a creative. Each person left with a new headshot, a few goodies, and hopefully the tools they need to bravely jump into the photography world and whole-heartedly pursue their passion. Here’s just a small re-cap of our day! And so many more photos of this sweet session coming soon!

A huge thank you to Petal Pushers STL for the gorgeous styled shoot head-piece and bouquet!

We split up and let each person take a turn modeling the couple, while the other grabbed head shots for each of the girls. So thankful to Jessica for grabbing and editing these of our sweet attendees! How are they all so gorgeous?! I don’t even know.

Apologies for the iPhone pics – a couple were just too good not to include! Loved this one of all 11 girls crowded around our sweet (and ever-so-patient) models!