Workshop Review

As I said in my previous post, I had the most amazing weekend at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop this past weekend. One of the most exciting parts was the opportunity to do two different styles of photo shoots while gaining feedback and constructive criticism from not only two renowned international wedding photographers, but also working with and observing the 19 other women in attendance. The first day, we focused on moms and babies and learned how to better take advantage of low lighting and difficult surrounding situations. Can you believe that these shots were all taken in a hotel conference room, and that mere feet away was a table with left over lunch dishes on it? I have to say that of all the shots I took this weekend, this first one is far and away my favorite. This beautiful baby was only 6 weeks old, but her mom seemed to already be so in tune with her. I don't think I ever managed to look this comfortable and beautiful at 6 weeks post-baby.

There were actually a total of four babies and moms who came down to help us out on Saturday. One of the moms is actually a neighbor of mine who recruited her friend to join us at the last minute. These shots of their two babies together make me laugh every time I look at them. He was really putting the moves on her...


This final little guy was a miracle baby - born very premature, but at 9 months he's thriving and was super flirtatious with all the ladies that were taking his picture.

On Sunday we had another opportunity to watch Me Ra in action as she lead us on a series of family shoots. There were only three families that came, so it was a bit more challenging to get good shots without stepping on the other ladies toes - or winding up in their picture. For these we headed out to the streets of DuPont Circle. There is so much variation in the architecture down there it's hard to believe these were all taken within 100 feet of each other. I only had the chance to get one shot of this little cutie, but I really like the dynamic that I caught.


This family was just great. The two little boys reminded me so much of my own, both in their coloring and demeanor. The older brother was so serious and not happy about being there until we got him to loosen up and have some fun, then he started smiling for us. It really helped when Dad made some crazy monkey sounds. One think I took away from the shoot is that if I act goofy the kids don't really care, but when Dad and Mom go crazy, the kids can't do anything but laugh.