elle styles

i always love to help a friend with a new business venture. my girlfriend shelley, who is an amazingly talented hairstylist, recently started her own business: Elle Styles. she will come to you and do your hair, rather than you having to go to a salon. she is amazing at brazilian blowouts, i've seen some of the transformations first hand. 
but anyways, when shelley first told me she was starting her company, and started her facebook page to help promote herself, i said how great it would be if we collaborated on a photo shoot to show off her amazing skills! it just so happened too, that my amazingly talented australian makeup artist houseguest carlie, was still in town and able to do the makeup for the shoot too. 
so together, with three beautiful friends, we put together our photo shoot. i wish shelley and carlie all the luck in their careers, they are both ah-mazingly talented artists! 
and as for our "models", i think all three of you need to quit your day jobs and go become the worlds next top models. seriously. y'all rocked it for me!! 

the first workshop i ever attended

14 months ago i had no clue who Jasmine Star was. some of you might be reading this and still have no clue who she is. and that is ok. i came across a website while i was searching for a photographer to take my maternity pictures. since E was premie, i never had any taken, and i was determined second time around, that i would have those photos to look back at. hours and hours after searching through websites, i came across one that caught my attention. i emailed her with my story, i was 7 1/2 months pregnant, and didn't want to wait much long, in fear of the baby coming early again. just my luck, a response came quickly! she was able to schedule a session the next week. perfect! alicia met us for some family pictures and during that time, told me she was getting married the next month. how does an awesome photographer find one she trusts to do her own wedding photos? Jasmine Star she said...

it's been a few months now since i attended the Jasmine Star workshop, and it's been a few months since i've looked at my photos from the day. Not because I wasn't happy with how they turned out, and not that I didn't learn a LOT from the workshop, but because well, i couldn't figure out what i wanted to say in my write up about the day. 

there are two types of photographers i have discovered: those who love all things j*, and those who don't. i was not aware of these two groups until the day after i attended the workshop, and came across a very rude man on another one of the photographers blogs about the day. i was in aw of how rude he was, because the workshop he attended was not what he expected. hmm, i don't see that as anyone else's problem than his. 

j* is very open about what her workshop is about: branding. having just started my business this year, i hadn't thought a lot about branding, and while i wasn't entirely sure what that meant, i now know. it is making sure all you do, and all you show fits who you are, and who you want to market to. from the first contact (websites and blogs) to the importance not just of a handwritten note (swoon!) but the letter pressed stationary it is written on (double swoon!) 

it is posting ONLY your best work and the images you want people to remember. and if there is only one of those images, then that is the only one you post. the family, couple, parents, might love them all, but you have to find your "signature" image, and stick with that one. if you are lucky, you might get 5, but sometimes, the elements aren't in your favor.

j* also set up a gorgeous shoot for us, so we could watch her in action. the way she poses and works the couple really is what she is most known for. her sassy attitude somehow both intimidates and makes you feel at complete easy. she knows what she wants from the couple, and will show exactly what it is. 

the elements were obviously in our favor that day, the forecast called for rain, and it waited until about an hour after we finished our shoot and were back at the club for more lecture! 

now as far as those two groups of photographers, i will admit i am not a lover of all things j*, but i do respect everything she has done to make it to where she is. she admits she might not be the most technically perfect photographer (she is mostly self taught), but she is one bad ass business woman, and a hard worker. we differ in shooting style -she is shutter happy, where as i learned on film, so i am more apt to wait for the shot i want, and we differ in work flow -she pays to outsource, and charges for it. i don't. who's the dumb dumb there?(that answer is obvious). but would i recommend her workshop to other photographers, yes. if you are in a funk with where you want your business to go, you need a little facelift, but don't know where to start, or need direction in the branding side of the industry. if you are looking for someone to hold your hand as you shoot a mock wedding, or teach you what the little symbols on your camera mean, by no means would i recommend this workshop to you. 

was it worth the investment? some days i say yes, and some days i say no. today is one of those yes days, and that is why i finally posted my pictures from the day! 

things i love thursday!

it's amazing how quickly a week can pass by. it truly makes me try and enjoy every minute with my children and husband, as well as with my friends and clients, because time can slip away from you before you know it.

it's been a tough week for us, people always say when things happen, they happen in 3's, and this week is testimony to that. my prayers go out to all the families in their time of loss and sadness, and i have to say thank you to God, for protecting my best friend's dad when he rolled his car 3 times after hitting black ice in the mountains outside lake tahoe.

but now for my things i love:

finding old love letters when cleaning out boxes of junk. i found one that i actually wrote and never gave to my 6th grade boyfriend. he was the one who taught me how to rollerblade backwards, and i was telling him how much fun i had on our  "roller blading date" that weekend. oh the simplicity of youth!

cleaning out boxes of junk! i wouldn't call myself a packrat, but for some reason, i used to hold on to random stuff. you know, the napkin from the first fancy restaurant i ate at (yes, the clothe one went straight into my purse),  movie ticket stubs from when movies still only cost $3.75 (must have been a matinee), a hotel key, bead necklaces from spring breaks in college (oh college!), and more letters from friends dating all the way back to junior high. the memories that flooded back with some of it were great. other stuff, i had no clue why i was holding on to it, so it went straight into the trash!

diaper cakes. i made one for my best friend's baby shower this weekend that i am so in love with! i can't wait to post the pictures of it to show it off (obviously, next week after her shower. i don't want to ruin the surprise of it!) lets just say, it's very cheery!

getting my hair did. finally. i'm doing my color for the first time since JULY of last year! i'm excited!

my new logo design. did you notice? it's a simple design, but i'm a simple person! the website has had a little facelift as well. i got bored of the black and white, and felt it was time to bring a smidge of color into it.

have a great weekend all! did i mention i'm shooting my first solo wedding this weekend? and 2 maternity sessions and a baby shower! heaven!

both my boys have their own rose bushes, planted on their 1st birthday's. w's is blooming already!