April 30th Live Group Workshop Recap

Finally! The long overdue recap post about my first ever in-person group workshop. I was planning to write this on May 2nd, the Monday after the workshop, but life changed abruptly and tragically. Thank you to the attendees and sponsors, for your patience while I focused on family and then worked to reclaim my life after six crazy weeks.

I cannot properly express how much I enjoyed the day spent with nine other amazing, talented and generous women on April 30th! However, I will give it a go by recounting how our day went and mentioning some of the highlights (for them and me, not always the same).

The day started with a meet and greet, then we moved into my den, where I went over shooting in manual, focusing on areas that most trip up new photographers. We had hands-on time right there, with me having them shoot the ladies with bright backgrounds behind them. For those who were sure their camera wasn’t working right, I would take it, get the shot, show them, then mess with their settings and have them work it out (with coaching from me, don’t worry, I didn’t leave them hanging).

 

After a few hours of photography talk and play, we ate lunch that I provided (and lovingly prepared by my mother-in-law, who had Delanie with her, bouncing around). We talked “shop” the whole time, of course.

Next on the agenda was our photo shoot with my friend Sandy’s family. Due to travel time for the attendees and Sandy’s schedule, the only time we could fit in the photo shoot was at 1:00, when the sun was high in the sky. So, needless to say it was a challenging shoot. I took advantage of this, though, to show how to use reflectors to add fill light to subjects.

The first spot we shot in was a dirt road I love to frequent, then in a shaded spot in a pasture. After that we walked back and went into the field next to my house. The ladies were snapping away at the cows, so I tried to call them up for them, to allow them to get closer shots. They about died laughing when I did that. No, the cows didn’t come up (too many of us standing there), but they sure had a good time listening to me call cows. 😉

 

When we were all good and hot, Sandy’s family headed home and we moved inside to start the editing portion of the workshop. I had bought a projector and screen so that everyone could see my laptop screen. Well, the area I held it is VERY bright due to eight large windows and another eight transom windows. We closed all the blinds and shoved pillows in the transoms, which made it just dark enough to allow them to see the screen.

Only one person had taken any of my online workshops, and several had never shot in raw, so I started out showing how to import into Lightroom, batch edit the raw files there, then carry them into Photoshop Elements for more local editing. I also showed the same steps opening them via Organizer, batch editing the raw files, then into full edit mode in PSE.

Before our editing time ended, I quickly showed using presets in Lightroom (they received a coupon from Pretty Presets), actions and textures in PSE (they all received a special set of textures from Kim Klassen and photo veils from Love That Shot), and then quickly showed clipping masks for templates (they received a coupon from Photocard Boutique).

 

Each attendee had a special goodie bag that held a custom made camera cookie from Pink Martinis and Pearls, camera magnets made by an Etsy shop and by me (mine were pitiful), a candle from IKEA, candy and the coupons for the digital goodies from the vendors who sponsored the workshop (see below).

I want to especially thank M. from Pink Martinis and Pearls. She is a past EE workshop attendee, and made the cookies for the attendees, and did such a beautiful job with the packaging. The cookies were delicious; I ate mine plus a few of the extra she sent!!

 

Before the ladies left, I was able to give out one door prize to each of them. The door prizes were a mix of things I bought for the event and products vendors provided for me.

• Ofelia blanket from IKEA
• Nikon LensPen
• Newborn wrap and headbands (donated by The Sugar Shop)
• $100 gift certificate to Love That Shot (donated by LTS)
• Shutter Sisters Expressive Photography book
• 5-in1 reflector
• Newborn headbands (donated by Vintage Pretties)
• Premade marketing set (donated by Madilu Designs)

A huge, special thanks to go my sponsors Love That Shot, Kim Klassen, Pretty Presets and Photocard Boutique, and to vendors who provided door prizes, The Sugar Shop, Vintage Pretties and Madilu Designs. These are all vendors who I love and respect and strongly encourage you to check out their sites and products. You can’t go wrong with them!

If you missed this workshop but would like to attend an upcoming one, check out the live, group workshops page, where I will post upcoming workshops. My next one is July 9th in the Raleigh, NC area and there is still spots available if you can join us. In the fall, probably early November, I will be having a two day retreat here at my house.