Riding on the inspiration of yesterday’s baby shoot and all the creativity that came out of our San Antonio women…

brings us to Day 2 of the CONFIDENCE Workshop!  For a couple hours, we bring in family models and do some hands on practice of all that we’ve been learning.  I’m super proud of these women, like every CONFIDENCE workshop, because the Family Shoot is not the easiest task for them.

I’m challenging the ladies to meter, shoot in Manual (many have always been an Auto mode before the workshop), incorporate some of the creative composition and story telling we’ve talked about–there are basically a zillion things running through their head–and get GREAT shots at the same time with the family standing in front of them!  I WANT them to hit glass ceilings, run into problems, get stuck, get frustrated and all the above, so we can work together on helping them breakthrough to the next level.  I’ve even been known to make the set up more difficult if I feel like things are moving along too easy!  🙂  My philosophy for live shoots at workshops “Make it tough because if all the lighting, models and setting are perfect, what will you learn?  But if you have to work through difficulties and challenges, you will be so much stronger when you leave the workshop.”

The conversations and experience is invaluable.  The families come to volunteer their time (and get GREAT photos from it, as you’re about to see).  Since the families are not paying for the shoot, these women get to work with their group, me and Brian at trying new ideas, experimenting, playing and practicing all that they’ve been learning.  It’s pretty awesome to see what comes from it!

Why don’t I show you!  🙂  (We even had a pregnant mama show up to model!)

Look at these AMAZING blue eyes!  Four siblings, and Katie Vaughn decided to shoot down on them.  I LOVE the angle and how piled together they all are!  Great job Katie!  Getting four kids to look this good is a lot!

We had the sweetest toddlers come.  Holly Graning captured this moment of daddy carrying his little guy on his shoulder.  There are a handful of things that I LOVE about this image.  Since he’s not sitting straight up and down on his dad’s shoulder, it leads me to see how busy and energetic this little guy is.  I also love how buttery, blurry the background is around them.  Wonderful Holly!

And how can you NOT fall in love with his face!  Here’s a wonderful family portrait that Staci Rosen caught.  Notice how she got in tight and framed out all the unnecessary background so our attention is brought right to the little guy’s facial expression.  Great job Staci!  He was definitely on the go!

A few of the ladies played with his energy and ramped it up even more by having mom and dad swing him.  I love how Anna Kuhn composed this image.  We see just enough of mom’s joy, a little bit of dad’s smile, but it all accentuates how loved this little guy feels.  Beautiful Anna.

Kelly Duhaney‘s group used the same principle with this little one.  Different family, same strategy.  The image above is vertical and works so well, and Kelly’s shot being horizontal is powerful too…just in a different way.  I’m always blown away at how the simplest choices in composition, choosing a vertical or horizontal frame, can make such a big difference.  I LOVE mom’s smile in this photo Kelly!  I love that we don’t even see all of dad, but we see enough to know he is super happy too.  Great job!

When all the swinging is done, there may be a moment of stillness.  To be ready for it, know it’s bound to come after all that energy got exhausted, to have your camera settings in place…all stars align and you capture magical moments like Dana Kelly did in this black and white photo.  Don’t you love how mom and dad are blurred in the background!!  Dana, incredible!

This next photo struck my heart.  It is so simple, and I think that’s why it grabbed me. Susie captured these two pairs of feet, and I love how much innocence I feel when I look at it.  I love that they are standing on stone steps, and you have this sense that these little feet are going to run away at any moment.  But for this moment, Susie captured them and because of her eye, we will always remember how small they were.

Daddy’s girls.  Anne-Marie did such a beautiful job of capturing that loving portrait that dad will cherish forever.  Isn’t this the type of photo that every dad wants on his desk?  Anne-Marie, very proud of you.

Dad and his boys!  Look at how sweet this shot is!  Melissa Droegemueller captured this, and I love how unexpected it feels.  The only one who notices the camera is the little guy in the bottom right hand corner!  I love how the other two are caught up in what is happening.  And just like the dad image above, I think this is another type of photo that could be framed for dad’s desk!  Melissa, great eye!

Joy Neville must have used that post process action she talked about in the comments for yesterday’s blog when she post processed this one.  (Am I right Joy? :))  I love the moment, the simplicity, how washed out it is…just precious.

And then there was Elizabeth Knox and her sweet hubby!  Elizabeth came to our CONFIDENCE Workshop two years ago (was it two or three Elizabeth?) in Atlanta, GA.

She is within weeks of having her first baby and came to our San Antonio Workshop to be a beautiful model.  There are so many endless things that inspire me about Elizabeth.  She has no idea how much I think of her and her strength.  She is a strong soul who has an AMAZING story, and I think we may save it for an Amazing Mom’s feature.  For now, I just want to celebrate how beautiful this pregnant mama is and how our ladies captured this in a powerful way!

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried, but photographing a pregnant woman is not easy.  You have to be thoughtful of the angles you choose so they actually look pregnant and not just chubby, but then you don’t want them to look huge.  We played a lot with these two, and I’m so excited about the results.

Ailynne Abarado captured this beautiful moment.  I love the position of Elizabeth’s hands and her husband’s hands.  The hands are very intentional because if you don’t have the hands highlight the tummy, we may not know she’s pregnant.  Ailynne, I also love the expressions you captured.  Wonderful job.

Te shot below is from the same moment, but I was standing off to the side of them.  Just an example of how many different viewpoints there are to capture without moving the couple.

Lauren Salinas took this next photo.  I jumped up and down when I saw it because not only did she capture a beautiful, beautiful moment but she did some serious metering magic with her camera!  Lauren, this is so amazing.  I love how you metered the light to capture the different lighting on both their faces.

Anna Kuhn captured this next shot.  I love how sweet it is, as if they had no idea the camera was even there.  And yet they totally did which makes a captured shot like this that much harder.  Anna, you rocked it!  Great job!

Before the weekend was over, I had the ladies do a special Head Shot photo exercise of each other.  They had to interview each other with specific questions and then capture a Head Shot/Bio Shot based on their answers!  Want to see a couple?  🙂

Danette Adelson captured this GORGEOUS photo!

And I’m not sure who caught this of Joy, but it’s such a “powerful” and beautiful looking stance that I had to share it.

Ladies, can you tell us what your answers were to the interview questions so we can see how those answers guided the Bio Shots of you both?

There you have it!  The courageous and creative women of the San Antonio 2010 CONFIDENCE Workshop!  I’m so proud of each one of them, and wished I could bring ALL these CONFIDENCE ladies together once a year!  Wouldn’t that be so fun!

Love you San Antonio ladies!  Hope you are having the most wonderful holiday season with your cameras and confidence!  MWAH!

For all our blog readers, if you have 90 seconds to spare, post a comment and tell these ladies how GREAT they did.  It’s so scary to share your beginning works, and yet, they did amazing.  And be sure to click on their names because they’ve got even MORE photo results to share on their blogs and websites!

xoxo,

m

ONLY ELEVEN DAYS LEFT TO APPLY FOR SOAR! (I have a feeling you are all going to swamp us the last three days with applications like last year…You are, aren’t you?!  :))

2011 CONFIDENCE Workshops Updates:

Seattle’s Workshop is SOLD OUT! (And the women are already emailing each other and introducing themselves!  I LOVE it!)

Only TWO spots left in the LA/Orange County Workshop!

Few more left in the Scottsdale, AZ Workshop!

Early Bird Price of $799 Ends Monday, December 20th (the SOAR! Scholarship Deadline)!  Regular Price is $999.  To hear what past attendees say, see comments by clicking here!

If the CONFIDENCE Workshop is out of your budget right now, but you have a passion and hidden dream for photography, consider applying for the SOAR! Scholarship! Details here! (a reserved seat in the workshop is one of many things we are going to equip you with!)