I have to be honest, Brian and I were a little nervous when it came to preparing for the Orange County CONFIDENCE Photography Wkshp. Our last photography workshop was in January. Since January, a whole lot of stuff has happened. We’ve been half way around the world and gripped by the Dengue fever. I remember our last week in Thailand. I was so exhausted from the fevering, and I asked Brian if he thought I would be ready for the OC Workshop. I wanted to make sure we honored our commitment to all the women who were investing their precious time and dollars in us. We decided to take life one day at a time, and if we needed to reschedule we could. But when last Saturday morning came around, can I just say that I was so THRILLED to walk in and start our OC CONFIDENCE wkshp! I was so ready, so charged, so excited, and Brian was right behind me! I can’t explain it, maybe the women will be able to articulate better than I can, but it was the most AMAZING weekend together. These women came from Ohio, Chicago, WA and all over CA. They stepped up to the plate of gaining CONFIDENCE and hit a home run!
Here are some fun Behind the Scenes shots of the women working, risking, laughing, exploring and stepping out of their comfort zone to build their CONFIDENCE!
Saturday’s Baby Shoot!
Five sweet babies came with their mamas!
It was wonderful to meet our Running on Empty Winner, Paige (in the sweater), and watch her Confidence grow leaps and bounds! (Paige, I was serious when I said that I can’t wait to see where life takes you and your gift!)
Sometimes I have the ladies do photo exercises that requires them to take turns being in front of the camera. Being in front of the camera is one of the most UNCOMFORTABLE places, when you are used to taking all the photos. But there were wonderful treasures to be found in the exercise, and these women found them!
On Sunday, we went to Huntington Beach Pier and did several family shoots.
No matter what camera brand or model you have, Brian is like this walking—all knowing camera manual! I don’t think he’s ever not found the answer to someone’s camera question—and he’s an AWESOME teacher! He amazes me!
These two beautiful ladies are Sony shooters! We had to get a special group Sony shot! (Thanks for this awesome photo Jess! xoxo)
Here is the BIG group shot!
And then Brian got goofy. But can you blame him? He’d been with over 20 women ALL weekend! Can you find Brian and see what he’s doing? 🙂
Part II –Brian ditches the camera!
Goodness ladies! Look at Brian’s FACE! (He feels pretty great about having this photo to prove how funny you thought he was.) 🙂
To all our OC Confidence ladies,
This was the most AMAZING weekend! Brian and I loved every minute with each of you. Whether you were a beginner or advanced, you all dove in and incredible growth came from it! But the best part, we made lifetime friends. And to think that we gained CONFIDENCE in our photography abilities too! We couldn’t have hoped for more! Brian and I love you all! Make sure you register for the Soarority Forum and the SOARority FB Group page so we can all keep growing together!
I also want to thank our volunteer models! It was wonderful to meet so many new faces and reunite with past workshop attendees! Thank you for being our workshop guinea pigs. You ladies are the BEST!
But wait! We want to thank Roxanne from Pixel2Canvas too! She has always supported our CONFIDENCE Workshops with awesome door prizes and gift certificates. This time, she finally got to be an attendee, and she hosted our Meet and Greet at her beautiful home! Thank you so much Roxie! Brian and I love you!
Who attends our CONFIDENCE Workshops? Are you a good fit?
Well, at the OC workshop we had women of ALL levels. Some women were already booking clients and charging money. Some women were stay at home moms and wanted to capture their kids and not feel like their photos were always “Happy Accidents”. A couple women didn’t even have a camera yet. Some had kids in college, some had babies, some were single, some in between. But each of the women came with the same thing. They came with expectation, and they left changed. Whether it was the woman who knew nothing about her camera and left shooting in Manual or the stay at home mom who realized it was okay to pursue something that she enjoys…transformations happened everywhere—transformations that humble me b/c these women can only get what they put into it…and they each put everything into it.
If you are in Seattle or New York area, we still have a few spots left in the CONFIDENCE Workshops for May! This is an awesome Mother’s Day present if you are in desperate need of an inspiring weekend with girlfriends. Need help convincing your husband, you MUST read these Top 12 Reasons that two husbands wrote—the comments are HILARIOUS! What will you gain besides CONFIDENCE?…I wish I could describe it, but every time each woman walks away with such an amazing, magical gift that can only happen when women come together! CLICK HERE to find out all the details about our May CONFIDENCE Workshops!
Hope to see you in May!!
xoxo,
Me Ra
Love the post!! It makes me miss it so much! Thank you for everything Me Ra and Brian. It was an amazing weekend and I learned more than I ever thought I would. To anyone considering a CONFIDENCE workshop sign up!! You will not regret it!
Me Ra and Brian, I can’t thank you enough for one of the most inspiring weekends of my life! Like Katie said, it was amazing and I learned so much. Not just about photography but about myself! I’m so excited to see where this journey takes me!!
To anyone thinking about taking the Workshop, DO IT!!! You will be so very happy that you did!!
This post brought tears to my eyes, I am missing you, Brian & the ladies so much already!!
I ditto what Katie & Karen said, I left this weekend with so much more than I ever expected. I learned so much about my camera and myself and I can not thank you enough for doing these workshops, being so open and having faith in all of us. I love you Me Ra & Brian!
So glad it was a great weekend for you all! I am sure all the ladies learned so much!
I cannot wait to be able to go to one of your CONFIDENCE Workshops! It is one of my goals for 2010!
Me Ra & Brian … Hi! Thank you SO much for all your poured out to us – not just camera knowledge and “how to” but your heart. You give so openly of yourselves and have left a mark on us all! Gosh, wish you lived around the corner so we could just hang out! ;O)
Grateful for the time we all had together! Hope you are blessed and refreshed like the rest of us!
I’ve never been around a group of people who all had cameras!!!!
That seems like so much fun, I hope to go to a workshop sometime 😀
~WW
Also….
I’m so happy you always give Sony shout outs. I’m a new Sony user, too! Well, I’ve had it since Sep 09.
I did an online webinar yesterday and people were hating on Sony cameras! I love my camera 🙂
I AM SO EXCITED FOR NEWJERSEY/MAY.
see you there.
Thank you Me Ra, Brian, and all you beautiful woman who touched my heart this past weekend. I have been on cloud nine since I returned home. This workshop was by far one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
Never before have I shot in manual mode – I just couldn’t seem to grasp it… So for the baby shoot – I was feeling very anxious about what mode I was in – so I approached Brian – I swear it was like he waved a magic wand over my head and bestowed all this worldly knowledge about my camera that I never before understood. I don’t know how he did it – but in less than 5 minutes I was shooting in manual mode! Unbelievable! Thank you so so much!
I am so thankful that my hubby bought this workshop weekend as a Christmas gift for me. This is definitely the gift that will keep on giving because I learned so much – technical information, business knowledge, posing techniques and more. I love Me Ra and Brian’s hearts and their passion for helping women blossom in their pursuit to become better at something we all love to do. Thank you for sharing with us. You guys are a blast to be around! If ever you need a family in OC to model for a future workshop, we’d love to do it. : )
P.S. to Brian – keep on capturing those heartprints of Me Ra with the kidlets. Love it!!! Oh, and tell the Sony execs…we want video!
I love it! And i miss it! Thank you to MeRa and Brian for this amazing workshop. I will never forget the experience and the friends i have made along the way.
I don’t know if it is the postpartum emotions left over or what but just reading about how unique each attendee was made me laugh and cry. I know when I touch down in Jersey it is just the beginning of the rest of my life. Not only will I learn but become completely empowered by each woman’s journey to discovering this art form. I am glad Professor Townsend will be there and is “walking camera manual” because I have been afraid that the workshop might be harder for me!!! Let the countdown begin!! 30 Days until, love, laughter and tears!!! 🙂
this was such an amazing weekend and i just echo what everyone is saying! i had been wanting to go since the very 1st one was announced about 3 years ago, and i just wish i wouldn’t have waited so long. but i don’t think the timing could have been any better 🙂 i did my first shoot today on my own, and i could have never done it without the tools and confidence that me ra and brian gave us. love you guys!!
I just wanted to chime in and give a very heartfelt thank you to all the ladies that spent the time on Sunday photographing my family… I feel SO blessed to have been given the chance to be part of this workshop in such a special way. Truly. To Me Ra, Brian AND Genie… I adore you all… one of my dreams came true that day and I appreciate more than words can say that you all allowed that to happen!
Much love,
Freida
Yay for this blog entry! I loved seeing the photos that you captured of the weekend. We had such a great time AND learned a lot. I haven’t been able to set my camera down since I got home and I feel like I see things in pictures more and more in my daily like, like the camera really has come just an extension of myself.
I really enjoyed shooting all the models and can’t wait to share photos with them as well.
It was a great pleasure to spend the weekend with you Me Ra and Brian, like you don’t have enough going on, but if you develop another seminar, I’ll be there!
Wow ladies!! These comments are AMAZING! Thank you so much for all your feedback. It was an incredible weekend! And we are so excited to bring all your fantastic energy to Seattle and NY this month! What a wonderful way to experience Spring–to see women bloom in countless ways. I LOVE hearing that you can’t put your camera down! I LOVE hearing that your shooting in Manual!! And I love that you felt loved, welcome, embraced and exhorted. Thank you so much ladies. We love you!
This makes me even MORE excited for Seattle (as if being more excited is even possible :))
Thank you, Me Ra and Brian, for an amazing weekend. I’m not sure what it is, but you’ve got it! Just like you said, everyone came away from this weekend with something. Something they didn’t have before. Something they won’t ever forget, and something they’ll hopefully never lose.
I am so glad I could attend this workshop with so many fabulous women. Thank You!
[…] we surprised the Orange County Wkshp last week with all these packages—one for each lady. Inside is a DVD that has ALL FIVE of our […]
Wow, MeRa and Brian… you had an AMAZING group of women in OC!
I want to thank all of you for what was such a wonderful time for myself and my family. I’ve already had a sneak peek at some of the images and can’t wait to see what’s to come.
I am LOVING the group shots of all of you… you can just tell how great the energy was with this workshop.
Thanks again!!!!!
Erin, Shane, Jonah and Riley
My favorite gift to give during Christmas day is a fruit basket with toys and gift certificates. they can really put a smile on someone’s face'”-
Can you believe I had my husband talked into me doing the workshop in NYC? He’s a freelancer, though, after losing his job in the BIG CRISIS. Jobs come in very randomly and rarely enough that nothing can be turned down. I didn’t quite dare sign up early, so I waited. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s got a job interview in DC on the 28th. What a dilemma! He can’t miss that but we can’t pay for both another flight AND the workshop AND certainly not at the same time (we have four small kids, plus we’re Expats in Europe). Argh! The fates are against me!
But I will persevere! What are your next planned dates? Could I suggest a workshop maybe in Europe? Like, soon?? 😀
[…] is the beautiful mom in the middle. She attended our Orange Country CONFIDENCE Workshop a couple weeks ago. It was SO FUN to see her and meet her two daughters. I had to photograph […]
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