Remember this group of beautiful ladies in Chicago? You may recognize them modeling one of our most popular Photo Coaching tips, The Fake Laugh! 🙂

Well, it’s time we brag on them and share the whole story of what went down in Chicago!

We brought in four moms and their babies to be models for a live hands on shoot. And we gave our workshop attendees this beautiful space for the photo shoot with awesome lighting, incredible decor, and amazing backgrounds. NOT! (The last time I said NOT! like that was probably seventh grade, but there is no better word for this moment.) Gretchen, I know you are dying right now! 🙂

What would our workshop attendees learn if we gave them a perfect setting to shoot in? As Brian and I say in our workshops, our job is to frustrate you during the live shoots. This isn’t your typical workshop where all the surroundings are perfect. We want to help you run into walls so we can help you learn to climb over the wall. We want the lighting to be tricky and challenging because our goal is that when you do your first portrait shoot or take photos of your kids, you will be confident no matter what your lighting is. So instead of a beautiful setting with perfect surroundings, awesome lighting and incredible decor and don’t forget amazing backgrounds, we gave them THIS! VOILA! (Thanks to our wonderful hostesses help! ;))

Yep, that really is dirty, vintage filing cabinets and tungsten lit lamps hanging from the ceiling.

I will never forget some of the women’s faces when we showed them the room we were going to do the live shoot in. They must have thought Brian and I were crazy. But with courage and a willingness to go for it, the attendees turned their cameras on and tried putting all they had been learning into practice. Brian and I helped them along as they ran into walls. It was so rewarding to see the women smile as they realized that even in horrible lighting, you can capture BEAUTIFUL shots. Can I share their shots with you! Brian and I are super proud of our Chicago ladies!

Due to low light, the women took advantage of low aperture and higher ISOs…but not to high to make sure the grain wouldn’t take over. Be encouraged ladies, some of these women were beginners and shooting these images in Manuel Mode! And keep in mind that the little daylight we had from the windows was gone in less than 30 minutes. I’m telling you, these women deserve a standing ovation!

This beautiful image was taken by Candace. Just breathtaking!

Gretchen, our AMAZING hostess, caught this image. I love how she captured the baby’s hand with that sweet little face. So precious. Look at those lips!

Debbie and Kathleen captured two different perspectives of one of the mom’s with her baby. But both images are so intimate and framed in a way that exudes warmth between mama and baby. Here is Debbie’s image.

Here is Kathleen’s beautiful color image. Different perspective of mama and baby but still so beautiful.

Here is another tight framed color image that Lauren took! I love how she shot down on this little one. You know mama is there, but we don’t need to see mama’s face. Beautiful, amazing job Lauren!

And one more that you must see of this mom and baby. Sherry did a great job of clipping in just enough of mom and her profile, but the use of light to illuminate the baby’s face is gorgeous. The women didn’t have any lights or flashes when taking these images. They worked with aperture and ISO, and wow, wouldn’t you love an image like this of you and your baby?!

Allison caught this precious shot. This will have to bring a smile to all the attendees because there is no way any of us can forget how happy this little girl was! She was quite the model! I especially love this image b/c it has that photo journalistic feel to it. You see the background and know stuff is going on, but we are caught up by the little one’s emotion. Great job Allison!

Lynette captured the joy from a different point of view. You can almost hear her giggle. There is such great energy in this image!

Here are two other perspectives of this bundle of joy.

This precious shot was captured by Nicki. The framing of this little one playing with her mom’s necklace is so sweet. Nicki, you have such a wonderful eye for catching the moment before it is gone. I can’t wait to hear what becomes of your photography dreams!

Different perspective and still so beautiful. This is Pamela’s image. Pamela was watching the same moment but framed and composed her image a little different. This is where I fall in love with photography that much more because two people can see the same thing and walk away with different images. There is room for everyone. Good job Pamela!

As this little one calmed down and started to get tired, Becky was there to capture this image. Whenever I see this image, I lean in to it because I feel like I can almost hear the mom whisper in her ear. Becky, you did a great job getting out of the box and capturing an angle that was different than face on.

Does anything compare to a mother’s comfort? Here is a different mom comforting her baby with soft whispers. I love this little baby’s head. I love the hairline that lines the roll on his neck and the sweet little ear. Wonderful job Tara. The mom’s face is so soft, and you captured it so well!

There were two sets of mothers and their daughters that attended the Chicago Workshop. Whenever we have moms and their daughters come it adds a beautiful dynamic to the group of watching two different generations become awakened to something creative inside them. The results are breath taking. Roma was one of the moms, and she captured this sweet image. I love how the baby’s face fills the frame, can’t you just feel those wet, sticky fingers! 🙂

The other mom and her two daughters all subconsciously had empty space in their images. It was amazing to see this connection between them as photographers and family!

And we can’t forget about dad and his little one!

Traci captured this amazing shot that is so quiet. Would you ever guess that Traci had the lighting conditions she did to work with? Or any of these other women for that matter?

Molly captured the same moment. And I love how Molly framed her image because you see all this commotion and feel it surrounding dad and baby, yet the way the dad and baby are lit is so quiet. Wonderful job Molly!

Who put the initials TSJ? You must tell us who you are! 🙂 TSJ did an AMAZING job at taking the same moment from a third perspective and getting in super tight. The results are breathtaking.

We must end with hands and feet images!

Paula captured this beautiful color image of the feet. Color in low light is so hard, and Paula makes it look so easy! I love that this is in color. The softness of the lighting is amazing. And the newborn feet with the dry skin we know so well, it’s amazing. Thank you Paula.

Kelli captured this fantastic shot of the baby’s outstretched hand. The perspective of mom’s hand blurred below makes this little one seem so small. Great framing Kelli!

Lynette focused in on the baby’s feet and ankles and let all the rest go to a soft blur with the low F stop. And it worked oh, so well. I love how we see mom’s hand, face and baby’s face all softly, quietly blurred. Isn’t this fun! We could look at these different perspectives all day!

And oh, look at this image. Wow, it will take your breath away (again!). Kristin captured this beautiful image. And yes, she did it in the same room we were all in. 🙂

And we can’t leave out a baby’s yawn! The yawn is one of the best things to capture when doing a baby shoot. There just isn’t any other yawn like a baby’s yawn. Kim, you rocked this shot! Your timing was spot on! Look at those eyes too! I love it! Great job!

Our goal is to help empower women so that they feel like their camera is a tool not an object of intimidation. I want the women who attend our workshops to leave with more confidence and assurance in their ability to shoot beautiful images in low light no matter how icky their background or surroundings might be. With a few tips, techniques and teaching on the camera’s functions, all of us can do it! Really, ALL of us! 🙂

If you have a second, post a comment and congratulate these women. They were not sure of that ugly room where we did our photo shoot, but they all gave it a chance and ended up with BEAUTIFUL results!

If you attended the Chicago workshop and didn’t see your name or image mentioned in today’s post, I am so sorry! I think I got everyone, but if I missed you please let me know!

And guess what, we started a new Facebook Group “MeRa Koh Workshops“. If you have been to one of
our workshops or hope to attend one in the future, we’d love to keep you updated and have you connect with women from all the different cities we’ve been too!

Great job Chicago ladies! Much love, Me Ra

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If you are interested in attending the Atlanta Workshop, click here for details/registration. Our friends over at Pictage and Triple Scoop Music are offering their members a special discount to our Atlanta workshop. If you didn’t get their newsletters or email and want to take advantage of the discount, shoot us an email! mera@fioria.us

***Today at 4pm PST, I’m going to do an interview if you’d like to listen in. Dane Sanders is the host, and we are going to have a blast for 30 minutes. If you’d like to join us, you need to sign up with Dane’s forums or coaching site. Go here for info on that! http://store.fasttrackphotographer.com Once your signed up, you can then go to this link to tune in http://XiosoftPresenter.com/?eventid=5488023 Around noon, you’ll be emailed a password to listen in on the interview. We’ll be twittering updates as we get closer! See you at 4pm today!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!