Lessons from a Made to Create Weekend

A few weekends ago, I packed up my camera, borrowed a sleeping bag and headed south toward Gig Harbor for a weekend photography retreat with Made to Create. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I left much later than planned so my drive was almost 2 hours instead of an hour. I put that time to good use by listening to the first half of Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend it. And I HATED Eat, Pray, Love so when I say that you need to read this book, I'm serious.

Once at the camp, I squelched around in the mud, looking for the check-in location. I found everyone and was nicely shuttled with all my stuff (I seriously overpacked) to my cabin. I totally lucked out. I ended up in a cabin with two of the speakers and that was it. We had this huge cabin that fit like 14 people and there were three of us. The two other ladies are friends and had driven up together but in no way made me feel excluded. They were thought provoking, intelligent and inspirational. In fact, their two sessions completely made my weekend. If I had only attended their sessions, I would have found the weekend to be a smashing success.

Friday night was spent getting to know everyone and listening to Kelly Lemon as she shared her story about her life-changing accident and how she photographs amazing photos while working around her physical limitations. I had a mentorship session with her the next day and learned so much about posing clients. I have the worst time telling people how I want them to stand, act, etc for photos without getting too bossy. She helped me find my posing mojo with confidence. I ended up taking some wonderful photos of a lovely engaged couple in her session. Friday night ended up with a campfire and s'mores, made from delicious gluten-free graham crackers.

Saturday morning started with a wonderful yoga session by Honey Flow Yoga. She left us with a booklet for juicy living, full of great tips! We then enjoyed breakfast before heading out to the breakout sessions. I went to Devon Michelle's session on family photography. I learned so much even though I'm not interested in family photography at all. Well, except I am. I am interested in photographing my family and I learned so many tips from Devon. I've been incorporating her patented monkey sound to get Maggie's attention during photo sessions.

After lunch, we had 2 on 1 mentorship sessions. My first one was with Danny Owens. I had just finished shooting a baby food story and showed him my photos. He had very kind words to say and some good critique. We then set up a caramel shot and he gave me some great propping ideas. The black background is just two slate tiles from the hardware store that he brushed with water. I added the greens and the cool scoop and then we dusted the caramels with salt. My other mentorship session was with Kelly Lemon which I covered above.

We then move onto business intensive sessions covering taxes (eek!), social media and business coaching with Esther Swaty. I wanted to take Esther home and sit her down with some coffee, grab a notebook and just listen to her advice. She is seriously in the right career. I was inspired by every single one of her words.

After dinner, we had another business intensive session. I went to Lisa Hepfer's session on commercial photography. I love her enthusiasm for life. I loved her story about her first aviation shoot and how the pilot asked her if she liked photographing aviation. Since it was her first shoot, but he didn't need to know that, she just said, "I'm really excited!" I loved that! She didn't lie. She just didn't offer up the entire story because it didn't matter in the scheme of things. What mattered was that she delivered some amazing shots (and they were amazing, she showed them to us). I was so inspired that night when I went to bed.

Sunday was our last day and I was getting excited about returning home to my family. We had one last session though and it really made my entire weekend. Jessica Uhler spoke about Digital Storytelling and Documentary Photography. Her words really stuck with me. She asked us what brought us to photography. What drove us to take pictures. Why did we do it. I took all this in and after leaving her talk, I came home and took the following photo which speaks to my soul. This is why I take photos. I take photos to remember how little my kids are and yet how big they are getting. I take photos to show how beautiful my life is but also how messy it can be. I take photos to capture a moment in time that is passing by all too quickly. I take photos because it makes my heart soar. 

My Made to Create weekend was just the inspiration I needed. I've been feeling a bit of creative ennui lately and after this weekend, I was left feeling inspired and ready to create more.

February's 10 on 10

This month's 10 on 10 happened on Ash Wednesday. I had hoped to take my Mom to church services but co-op obligations kept me from doing so. We had a pretty busy day with preschool for Molly, Co-Op for Maggie, Ballet for Molly and a friend who joined us for Friend Week. 

I've been packing the girl's breakfasts the night before in hopes that it will smooth out our morning routine. It's been helping some as has our new Morning Routine chart in picture form. Some mornings though, the kids are just grumpy about their morning. 

Wednesdays mean that we all load up in the car to take Molly to preschool. Maggie always insists on taking her backpack along for the ride. We brought in Molly's valentine's for her classmates which was fun. I made pink, glitter playdoh and I hear it was a hit. I know I had fun making it. 

Once Molly is at school, Maggie and I come back to go to her school. We walk there since her school is about 2 blocks from our house. She loves wearing her backpack and checking out all the garbage cans on the way to school. 

Maggie got Valentine's from her classmates and when we returned home for lunch, she spent a long time looking at them and picking out her favorites. I also did play-doh for Maggie's class but opted for the pre-made party ones for her.

Then it was back to Molly's school to pick her up. She convinced me to bring her friend home with us. Luckily we've all been friends since before the girls were born. I actually met Molly's friend's Mom in birth class. I feel lucky to count her as a friend and am thrilled that our kids get along. 

The girls watched a show before setting in for some serious playing. Maggie refused to nap because she didn't want to miss out on the fun. It meant she was a real terror later but she thought it was worth it. 

It was "Bring a Friend" to ballet class this week so Molly's friend came with us and her Mom met up with us at class. They were so excited to dance together. I enjoyed watching them and chatting with my friend. 

The rest of my day was spent making dinner, going to a parent co-op meeting and avoiding the laundry. Just another regular day. I made a short video of my 10 on 10 photos (because I'm obsessed) which you can see here: https://vimeo.com/155079925

Be sure to make your way around the blog circle to see what everyone else was up to on Ash Wednesday. Next up - Sonia Marfatia-Goode!

**Reminder** A Day in the Life Photo Challenge Coming THIS Sunday, February 14th. Join me in documenting your day! 

Video Obsession

My new camera has video ability and I've been busy exploring what it can do. I took some video last week when Molly and I went on our photo date and spent some time this week crafting a very short video.

Molly at the Park from Rebecca Burgess on Vimeo.

I'm constantly inspired by my friend, Francesa's time capsule videos and have been hounding her for tips and thoughts. Luckily she's very generous with her tips and workshop ideas. She might also be the reason I settled on the Nikon D750. She's very good at helping me part with my money. I hope to share many more (and improved) videos with you in the future. I might even sneak in some video on my next 10 on 10 or a Day in the Life Photography Challenge. I just signed up for a Time Capsule class with Xanthe Berkeley but it doesn't start until March. I have a lot of deadlines between now and then so I think having to wait will be great for me. 

The Film Project

Way back in January, I decided to take out my Dad's Yashica camera and see if it still worked. I grabbed some old film and started shooting. The kids and I went to a park where they ran and played while I snapped some photos.

I was transported back to high school when I shot with this camera. I could hear my Dad's voice in my ear telling me what to set my aperture at, where to focus and what to watch in the view finder. I was also reminded of taking pictures with this camera of my baby cousin, Peter who is no longer with us. He was my first kid model. He was such a delightful sport and a fun little guy. While I didn't always get all the technical parts right, I think these photos came out pretty awesome.

I have a bunch of expired film languishing in my linen closet and a film camera that reminds me of my Dad so I'll be trying to shoot with it at least once a month. My current stumbling block is the development of the film. I get it developed at the drugstore down the street but they like to put electronic files on CD which is difficult for me to access. I'll make it work though as I love how the film captures these memories.

Newborn Photography

I've been lucky enough to have a few friends give birth lately and have been honored to take their newborn photos. I'm in no way a pro at newborn photography but I feel blessed that I can give this as a gift to my dear friends.

I've been intently watching this free Creative Live class with Kelly Brown on Creative Live today and learning so much about posing newborns. They are such sweet little creatures and usually sleep through their sessions.

Daily Photo(s)

I take so many photos and I love having them as documentation of our lives. This year I've been following the FatMumSlim prompts along with collecting daily photos of the girls with the Collect App. I love that every evening Collect reminds me to collect my best photo from the day. At the end of the month, I made a collage of my daily photos to remind me of what we did, what we liked, what we enjoyed.

I love looking back and smiling over our adventures. I love remembering what we did. 

I love seeing old photos that I've taken and falling in love again. I love seeing the magic come alive. 

You can follow along on my 365 journey here: 2015:365

Love

I'm still taking weekly pictures of the girls following prompts from AudreyAnnPhoto. The prompt this past week was, "Since it is Valentines Day at the weekend, let's incorporate some love into our images this week.  You could show your love for your child, or the love between siblings, or the love your child has for a toy."

I have to admit that I struggled with this one until I saw Molly snuggling up to her HUGE pink bear. Molly's Grandpa sent this HUGE bear to us for Christmas one year and of course, she loves the darn thing. It floats around the house, being huge and well-loved.  This bear has been through so much and keeps on ticking. I suspect she'll take him to college.

You can see the entire set, here.

Don't forget to vote for my Girl Scout Samoas No-Churn Ice Cream recipe through February 27th. I'm a finalist in the Western Washington Girl Scout Cookie Contest! I'd love it if you voted for me - HERE.

On Photography

I love photography and I'm always trying to get better at it. This year, one of my friends (Hi Fran!) reached out and told me about a 52 week challenge of Child Lifestyle Prompts on Audrey Ann Photography's site. I immediately decided to take this on as it fits perfectly into my love of photography, my love for my children and my desire to get better at photographing them. 

There have been easy shots and OMG! WHY WON'T IT WORK shots. I've had great discussions with Scott about photo ideas. I've had some terrible shots and had to re-do them until my children turn into wild things and refuse to participate in my plans. 

One huge thing I've taken from this experience is that photographing children is hard work. I applaud all of those family photographers who get great shots of kids. I suspect they too take 1,000 shots to give their clients 20 good ones. Or maybe they are all just super awesome and don't take any duds. 

You can follow my 52 week journey on Flickr. I'll be including more than just my final shots as I have some great outtakes already. I'm thinking of making a book at the end of the year to remember these times. 

A Day in The Life Photo Challenge Starts Tomorrow!

I've participated in these a few times already this year and tomorrow starts another Day in the Life challenge! Starting tomorrow when you wake up, take a photo every hour (or more) to document your day until you fall back asleep at night. You can join the Flickr group and/or tag your photos #adayinthelifephotochallenge on Instagram.

Here are the other "rules" from Francesca:

If you haven't participated in this challenge before, the rules are as follows: 

From the time you wake until the time you sleep...

1. Take at least one photo an hour (but you can take more!).

2. Post your photos to the "A Day in the Life" Photo Challenge Flickr group when you can. Posting your photos throughout the day as you take them is great (so we can see what everyone is doing in real time), but no worries if you cannot post until later.

3. Your photos do NOT have to be self-portraits.

4. Include the approximate (or exact) time of the photo either as the title of the photo or in the description.

5. Have fun!

Use your phone or camera - whatever you want to use to capture your day, however ordinary or extraordinary it may be.

Since this is my third time taking part in this challenge, I am bumping it up. I'll be shooting with my DSLR in Black & White. This will be a great challenge along with the fact that I have a three hour Preschool co-op meeting tomorrow night. Now sure how I'll document those hours without being noticed! 

I've set up a new set on Flickr for tomorrow's challenge which you can follow here: A Day in the Life 9.11.13  (I currently have a gnome for a placeholder so you'll know you're in the right place).

May Photo a Day

Another month of daily photos from Fat Mum Slim prompts! I had a great time taking these photos and am looking forward to continuing on with another month of daily photos. I'm really having fun stretching my photography skills as some of these prompts are hard and give me quite the challenge. This month I'm going to try to take more photos with my Nikon than with my iPhone even though my iPhone is a great camera.

Interested in joining us in June? Find the prompts at Fat Mum Slim!

1. What I Bought #fmsphotoaday, 2. Morning Ritual #fmsphotoaday All the coffee!, 3. This is really good! #fmsphotoaday sun + Molly = good stuff!, 4. In my cup #fmsphotoaday COFFEE!, 5. Paper #fmsphotoaday wherein I read Louise Penny, a Canadian author whilst in Canada!, 6. Broken #fmsphotoaday a broken pedal on a tricycle, 7. Something that starts with F #fmsphotoaday BCFerries, 8. Shape #fmsphotoaday Beach Logs have great shapes!, 9. A snack #fmsphotoaday Gelato makes a perfect vacation snack, 10. Stars #fmsphotoaday, 11. A Smile #fmsphotoaday Molly had the biggest smile when we let her play at the train table after breakfast., 12. I Ran Like A Mother! And my fans cheered like family!, 13. Sunset #fmsphotoaday, 14. 7 am #fmsphotoaday Morning drinks and playtime, 15. Need #fmsphotoaday I need my iPad and knitting (and a better memory to post photos I took on the proper day), 16. Mailbox #fmsphotoaday We have a funky mailbox, 17. Season #fmsphotoaday Spring is alive and well in Seattle., 18. Want #fmsphotoaday I really wanted dessert tonight so I made Banana Cream pudding layered with mini nilla wafers & topped with whipped cream., 19. View #fmsphotoaday one of my favorite views is watching Molly play. She's diapering her dolly here., 20. Light #fmsphotoaday I liked the light on Molly at the playground this afternoon, 21. I care about this #fmsphotoaday pain in the butt cat! Kato drives me crazy but I love him almost as much as Molly does., 22. Change #fmsphotoaday found in my purse (forgot to post this yesterday), 23. PJs (and rain boots) #fmsphotoaday this is how we roll to swim lessons, 24. Go! #fmsphotoaday, 25. US #fmsphotoaday, 26. Fave thing to do #fmsphotoaday is spend time with my smooshies!, 27. Can't Live Without #fmsphotoaday my smooshie (even when he is sick) xoxo, 28. What I'm doing now #fmsphotoaday Walking Greenlake with @kelseym and getting drenched! It was a great walk in the end though full of good conversation., 29. Kiss #fmsphotoaday kisses from momma, 30. Tools #fmsphotoaday these are the tools of my trade, 31. 4 Things #fmsphotoaday Four stuffed animals32. Not available33. Not available34. Not available35. Not available

A Day in the Life 5.19.2013

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite Twitter Mamas suggested that we do A Day in the Life Photo Challenge. I jumped immediately on board because I LOVE documenting my day and I LOVE seeing everyone else's days. I'm nosy like that. 

The photo challenge was this past Sunday and I have to say I had so much fun doing it! I had even more fun checking out everyone's photos and seeing what they were up to in the Flickr group pool.

Francesca is already ramping up for another challenge and I am excited for it. She's thinking of making it even more challenging by only photographing her day in black and white. I love this idea! It adds a great dynamic to the challenge. 

You can see all of my photos in my Flickr Set.

1. 7:24 am Wake-up Time!, 2. 7:51 am COFFEE, 3. 8:48 am Doing Molly's hair, 4. 8:50 am Molly rummages in the diaper bag, 5. 8:55 am We're heading out so I have to get Molly's stuff together., 6. 9:10 am Getting myself ready, 7. 9:22 am Heading out to breakfast!, 8. 9:30 Breakfast at our new favorite restaurant, 9. 9:30 Breakfast at our new favorite restaurant, 10. 10:45 am Zoooooo, 11. 11:05 am Sleeping Jaguar, 12. 11:15 am Gorillas! Nina and Pete (the old ones), 13. 11:25 am Zoomasium!, 14. 11:58 am Swinging at the park, 15. 12:26 pm Picking up more yarn for Molly's sweater, 16. 12:45 pm Lunch!, 17. 1:34 pm Knitting while the non-napper plays. Molly took a nap on the ride home from the Zoo and the transfer did not take., 18. 2:15 pm Off on an adventure!, 19. 2:45 pm exchanging of yarn for proper dye lot!, 20. 3:15 pm Pit Stop at Fred Meyer, 21. 4:00 pm Making mini frittata muffins for breakfasts, 22. 4:15 pm Snack Time! Molly finally fell asleep so I'm going to enjoy my snack and knit., 23. 6:40 pm Dinner!, 24. 7:15 pm After dinner and bath, it is time for some playing and reading., 25. 7:15 pm After dinner and bath, it is time for some playing and reading., 26. 8:09 pm Time for Hobbits!, 27. 8:36 pm Dessert! Strawberries with whipped cream., 28. 9:05 pm Finished the jacket for Molly's birthday doll (which still needs to be made). This jacket is a smaller version of the one I'm making for Molly's 2nd birthday. I'm hoping this small version can help me figure out the sizing on the big one., 29. 11:02 pm Time for sleep! Goodnight!

April Photo a Day

I'm a few days late showing this but here are my April Photo a Days. I'm continuing on with May! I get all of my photo prompts from FatMumSlim. Come join us!

1. Play #fmsphotoaday Molly and I play a lot!, 2. Blue #fmsphotoaday this blue bowl used to hold decorative pieces. Now it is yet another container for toys., 3. Starts with A #fmsphotoaday Apples and Avocados, 4. This happened today #fmsphotoaday Molly discovered the train table at the pool., 5. Something Good #fmsphotoaday My wee cherry tree is in full bloom glory!, 6. Air #fmsphotoaday Playing in the fresh, cold air this morning., 7. Dreamy #fmsphotoaday, 8. On my plate #fmsphotoaday we had buffalo chicken salad for dinner., 9. Tiny #fmsphotoaday my wardrobe only has the tiniest bit of color., 10. A Place #fmsphotoaday At the doctor's with the whiny sick child., 11. Detail #fmsphotoaday, 12. In The Middle #fmsphotoaday Kato always lies in between Scott & I after Molly goes to bed., 13. View from my bed #fmsphotoaday there always seems to be a cat butt in my view., 14. Water #fmsphotoaday, 15. Alone #fmsphotoaday I am never alone anymore but when I am, I knit, read and catch up on Ravelry., 16. Favorite Color #fmsphotoaday I don't really have a favorite color but if I did, it might be pink!, 17. Busy #fmsphotoaday Molly is a busy, busy little girl., 18. Hello #fmsphotoaday oh hai!, 19. Button #fmsphotoaday Selecting buttons for Molly's re-do sweater., 20. On my mind...#fmsphotoaday, 21. Fire #fmsphotoaday This Liesl Cowl is on fire!, 22. Blur #fmsphotoaday Molly was a blur of energy at gymnastics today., 23. Time #fmsphotoaday Tonight was my monthly happy hour with my PEPS ladies. It was time for a beer., 24. Someone I saw today #fmsphotoaday I saw Miss Molly all day. She was full of vigor and toddlerness., 25. Life is ... Fun and Messy! #fmsphotoaday, 26. Childhood #fmsphotoaday is playing in the sand on the beach., 27. Earth #fmsphotoaday secret kitty!, 28. My Sunday #fmsphotoaday Ran 8 miles then came home to this adorable child who was full of adventure!, 29. What I wore #fmsphotoaday it was chilly today so I bundled up with my new Lucy sweatshirt, 30. Glasses #fmsphotoaday I need to wear my reading glasses more.31. Not available32. Not available33. Not available34. Not available35. Not available36. Not available