Dream Big Workshop - Part 1

I think I've officially recovered from the amazing I Heart Faces Dream Big Workshop last weekend in Dallas. The workshop was on Friday from 8:30am-7pm! It was a fun and jam-packed day of photography! I have so much to share that I'll be dividing up the workshop into a few different posts.

I was honored to have the opportunity to attend the Advanced photographers workshop with 11 other ladies, 4 of the I Heart Faces contributors (Dana, Michelle, Jessica and Rachel) and of course, Amy and Angie, the co-founders! We had an amazing time and I LOVED getting to meet each and every one of these lovely ladies.

We started off the day with brunch and the wonderful, Rachel Durik teaching us about lighting. We even had the opportunity to play with some off camera, studio lights! It was a lot to take in, but I'll definitely be looking into what will work for me in what I want to accomplish with my photography, personal style and of course, budget! =)

Angie and Amy had some really cute props for us to use while we played with the lights and backdrop. Get your own props and other printables at Amy's shop: Printables by Amy.

Here are some favorites:

Angie and Amy!

A great group of ladies!

Me and Michelle Johnson.

My dreams! (Hopefully, the Air Force will move us to Colorado one day!)

Thanks to Rachel for those images!

We also went outside to work with the lighting. We did a lot of talking about sunflare too!

Amy being our model ;)

Later we had a chance to talk "business" with Angie and Amy. They had some really great ideas and things we all have to think about. That conversation definitely got me and a lot of the ladies thinking and possibly changing things about our business. (Is that a teaser or what!)

Then we were able to have a nice lunch while having our own personal shopping session with Bill & Angela from Arlington Camera! A bought a bunch of goodies including a new camera strap from Mod, a 5-in-1 reflector along with a reflector stand and holding arm. I really wanted a Speedlight and a new camera bag but my budget wouldn't allow it.....yet!

During our lunch & shopping break we also had a nice surprise, a massage!!! Oh, it was much needed!

Someone (Rachel maybe) got a picture of me enjoying the massage ;)

After lunch we Rachel taught us about her work flow in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CS5. I consider myself quite proficient in PSE, so it was great to see the differences in CS5 and most of all Lightroom! I've used the trial version before and liked it, but wasn't sure exactly what it could do for me. Having Rachel and Jessica Paige there (Um, hello...One Willow Presets!) was great and they have inspired me to go out and get LR3!

After that we headed outside for portfolio building photo shoots!!!!

I have so many pictures from the 3 shoots that I have to divide them up into separate posts. But here is a sneak peek:

All In The Details.

Adorable Stylized Birthday Party.

Gorgeous 'vintage style' Couple.

It was an amazing, tiring and inspirational day. I can't thank Amy, Angie and all the ladies enough for teaching and inspiring me to be the best photographer I can be! I highly recommend everyone to try and attend the Dream Big Workshop next year!

Thanks for stopping by and please come back to see more from the Workshop and my photography adventures!