One of the reasons that I am thankful for the slow seasons is because it gives me a chance to invest in my education. I use my work from previous years as a barometer of my growth. The funny thing is, I’d never planned to be a wedding photographer but after the dust settled and I realized how much couples in love spoke to me, it was an obvious decision to put the majority of my focus into weddings. My dad was a wedding photographer and he even helped me with my first year of weddings, so he was my teacher for how to shoot weddings, composition and exposure in the beginning, but he was a film photographer and transitioned to digital shortly after I began shooting, so now I teach him the world of digital photography. The digital world is so different and now there are wedding blogs for all things wedding related, so with the change in technology the industry has been forced to shift as well. Photographers have a couple of options these days- either keep up or get left behind!
This is where my education comes into play. Each year I invest a certain amount of money into workshops and conferences. From these workshops, I’ve learned how to remove some of the bottle necks in my business. I have also learned how to define my style versus just doing what someone else does. I’ve met some awesome friends and I’ve saved myself time and money by attending workshops, especially the ones with prizes!
In 2013, I assisted Abby Grace on a few of her weddings and what I learned was how to access and use light better, how to better communicate with my clients and how to stay organized. Because we were at weddings, it was unrealistic to expect her to stop what she was doing and explain things to me, so I decided to do a series of one-on-one mentoring sessions with her. At the conclusion of those sessions, I decided that I would attend Abby’s next workshop. I mean, I had totally gotten a wealth of knowledge during mentoring but I wanted more! Insert “A Practical Wedding Workshop”!!! This is Abby’s workshop where she walks through every detail of a wedding day from initial contact and communication to final delivery of the album and images. I will never be above learning from those that I consider to be successful, so this was exactly what I needed. Without hesitation, I recommend this workshop for someone that has never shot a wedding or has only shot a few weddings. Even though I have been shooting weddings for a few years, I definitely walked away with a notebook FULL of valuable information to use and tweak for my style and add to my arsenal!
The day began with snacks and tea and a slideshow presentation of the wedding day by Abby followed by lunch. Then we moved into a styled shoot portion of the day with one of Abby’s past couples and headshots. We finished the evening with dinner and an open Q&A session. There was a lot of learning and a lot of laughs and I met some really incredible young ladies that are about to take this industry by storm! Here are a few images to recap the day:
Dress: Soliloquy Bridal (http://www.soliloquybridal.com/)
Hair & Make-up: Alison Harper & Company (http://www.alisonharperevents.com/)
Florals: Floral & Bloom Design (http://www.floralandbloom.com/)
