workshop

How I Went to a Truck Stop and Got Bit by a Donkey / aka FW8

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It is hard to write about things that are meaningful to me. And the Foundation Workshop was very meaningful. It was hard and fun and exhausting and exhilarating. It changed the way I see and nothing is more valuable for my photography than that. I had an amazing team led by the extraordinary Amy Deputy, who not only does amazing work, but has a heart bigger than the state of Texas. Our mentors were: Huy Nguyen, Rachel LaCour Nieson and Jay Premack. One thing I loved about the team leaders was that they all had skills and personalities that complemented each other. But the most important gift to me was their total generosity with their time, their skills and their energy. We had the only all female team, which I thought was pretty cool. My amazing team members were: Britt Bailey, Gulnara Samoilova, Emmy Sherman, Tak Yi Young and Tina Wilson. We made such a great team--I love them all. And a shout out to Matt Mendelsohn, who is nothing short of splendid. He is not only a great photographer, but a darn good writer to boot.

We were each given an assignment to shoot. Mine was to photograph the opening of a new yoga studio called Get Yogafied and in particular the story of Shana, who is an attorney looking to change her life by helping to open a yoga studio. After reviewing my photos from the first day of shooting, the team leaders decided that that story was complete even without the lawyer angle and that I needed to find something that would challenge me a bit more. So Huy, in his infinite wisdom, thought I should just head up 75 north and find a truck stop to shoot at. So I did. I had never been to a truck stop before and I was pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was. Only two people did not want me to take their photo. Mostly people just wanted me to listen to their story. Among the many people I met was JR, who works at the adjoining mini mart. He invited me to come to his 280 acre place where he has 40 DONKEYS. So of course I couldn't pass that one up. And Amy came along for the ride.

The final night everyone showed slides of their work and I WAS BLOWN AWAY! If you want to go to a workshop that doesn't talk about marketing, gear or posing, but gets to the heart of photography--the art of telling a story, then this is the one for you. The first day I got there and found out that many people had been before I was confused. I thought "why would you attend the same workshop more than once?" Now I am mentally saving my pennies to go back next year.

Below are three slideshows that show what I shot while I was there. You should definitely check out Anna Kuperberg's amazing photos of the week here and Vlad's fabulous video here.

Katie and Ryan

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Not only was I fortunate enough to do a shootshop with the wonderful Nate Kaiser, but I also got to work with THE BEST COUPLE EVER. Katie and Ryan were SO great to work with and just so much darn fun. I want them to get married again so I can shoot their wedding. I wasn't really 'technically' shooting them (just observing the master), but I couldn't help but sick my camera on them from time to time. They were just so darn cute. So after you look at my paltry attempts to capture this amazing couple, take a look at these objets d'art. and the man of the hour doing his thing:

Shannon and Conor

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We just spent a lovely evening at Shannon, Conor and Savannah's house. Poor Savannah had an upset stomach after an unpleasant macademia nut reaction. But she bounced back pretty quickly and a good time was had by all. While I snapped some photos there (which I will share later) I wanted to share some more I took of her parents at Friday's workshop. They are such a handsome couple as well as amazing hosts.

The Man Comes Around

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Today I had the good luck to be in a one day workshop called veryaltf given by the fabulous John Michael and Dalisa Cooper from Las Vegas. They are touring around the country in an RV with their two dogs for the next few weeks offering workshops in several US cities. So ear infection or no ear infectin, I was going to be there. I doped myself up on vicodin and headed over to the beautiful home and studio of Eric Doggett, who was generously hosting the workshop.I got so much out of it and pretty much none of it was technical, business startegies etc. Don't get me wrong. There was some of everything. But what I personally took away from the experience is how to approach my photography work the same way I have always approached my design work. With research, concept, intent. For a long time I have had an abstract expressionistic philosophy towards photography. Namely that I am simply recording time and action. I think it served as a nice break from the intellectual rigors of the design profession. But now that photography has become my main focus, it is time to reintegrate some of that mental energy. And I feel like Mr. Cooper got me thinking that way again. And I am grateful. Here are some highlights of the day. John Michael Cooper: Their trusty dogs (who knew that a dachshund would make such an amazing RV guard dog): This is my friend Shannon and her husband Conor, both if whom I was plesantly suprised to see there: And two of Shannon's wedding clients who volunteered to model: And then for some REAL fun:

I'm Baaack!

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I got back Wednesday night from The Lab Workshop in a small town near Dallas called Glen Rose. It was such a great workshop. I always feel like I am gambling when I take a workshop that is in its inaugural year, but this one was fabulous. It was well organized, I learned a lot and I had a really great time. Usually there is at least one annoying person in every crowd, but not this one. It was such a great group of people and the workshop leaders, Amy Coffey, Fred Egan and Michael Norwood were stupendous as were Amy and Michael's better halves Curt and Cindy and all the kiddos. And everyone was so generous with their time and information and I loved what Michael said on the last day. He said "We are now invested in your success." I thought that was such a positive thing to say. It left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.It was so nice to have a few days to just geek out in photography world and not spend all day thinking that there are a million things I should be doing (and that I am not). We were going all day long and shot oh so many photos. Here is just a sampling. There are more on flickr and I am sure even more to come. A big THANKS to Amy, Michael and Fred as well as all of my fellow lab rats. You were so great.