A little while back, I had the pleasure of spending a few days (technically, it may have only been 24 hrs) with an amazing photographer, good friend, and past workshop attendee, Sabrina Gebhardt Photography in Fort Worth. As part of our adventures together, we photographed another amazing photographer, good friend, and past workshop attendee, Lauren in Dallas. As excited as I was to explore downtown Dallas, I’m not going to lie…the heat almost did me in completely! I live in Texas, but I just wasn’t prepared for the way the heat radiated up through the streets and sidewalks. We were super duper lucky to find a cool little building to duck into for a few minutes 😉 and believe me, we were ALL grateful for a little bit of ice cold AC. Lauren’s kiddos did amazingly well considering it was the end of the day and so hot outside and I loved being able to incorporate the city into their family pictures this time. THIS one made me laugh ;-).

I also really loved having Sabrina there with me. She and I were saying how invaluable a second shooter would be at family sessions. This is common practice in wedding photography, but I can definitely see a need for it here, too. It was so cool to see all of the different perspectives she was able to get, even though we were both photographing the same people in the same location. One HERE and one HERE for example.

Here’s Sabrina in action:

So fun to get to go back and relive that whirlwind mentoring time with Sabrina and Lauren’s photoshoot in downtown Dallas! We had a wonderful time and I truly loved talking shop with Sabrina and watching her grow her photography business!

As I’m gearing up for the FINAL Pinkle Toes Photography Workshop of 2016 [by the way, there is ONE opening left and the workshop is THIS weekend], I wanted to take some time to reflect on how much we accomplished during the February workshop. Day one was spent getting to know one another, talking all things pricing and marketing and branding and then playing around taking headshots in a lovely winter sunset. We tried to go to bed early because day two is always super busy, starting with hanging out with this adorable little guy and his amazing parents for the in-home newborn lifestyle photo session demonstration:

He was such a sweetie and gave us plenty of chances for all of the attendees to step in and take their own versions of the shots we set up during the session:

And I loved that his family wanted to take a group photo with all of us at the end of our fabulous morning. Sigh…

After re-fueling on some food and re-grouping, we went out that evening for an urban-ish, outdoor lifestyle family photo shoot. I’ve known this mama for several years so it was a wonderful experience to get to see her with her family. What a dynamic group full of personality and love! We hunkered down inside the parking garage for a little bit and then braved the wind to get more images closer to sunset. It provided us with perfect opportunities to practice in all kinds of lighting situations.

How to use shadows and light to your benefit. And then, below, embracing full sun and making it work for you.

I’m pretty sure I teared up when this image came across the screen as we culled them following the session.

That sunflare…YESSSSS! And they were just so cute together!

Finally, on the last day, we were up much, much too early to catch an incredible (albeit, chilly) sunrise for our maternity model photo session. So fantastic walking around and observing the attendees who were able to take chances and discover new skills, practicing with different lenses and techniques. I was very impressed with the images they created for our models!

Here they are…the Pinkle Toes Workshop Class of Feb 2016:

Good looking group, no? And great personalities and energy to match. They made it a fantastic weekend for us all!

And now, please if you will, go on over to Missy Mayo – Dallas Family Portraits and check out her take on the workshop (that’s Missy up on the left, by the way 😉 Loved what she told me the other day about the Pinkle Toes Workshop:

I was warned that this workshop would ruin me for all other future workshops. It is true. Every aspect of being a photographer is covered – even the parts you don’t consider. I came home with a revived passion for my art and business and pages of ideas to try.

After more than a year, the Pinkle Toes Photography workshops are coming back!!!! What???? Yup! Full details and dates along with special registration bonuses will be announced tomorrow only to those who fill out THIS FORM, so…

USB Memory Direct! Sorry…just had to share because I tend to get excited when I find things that are exactly the right shade of pink ;-). I’m even more excited about the ones I’ll be ordering next year to commemorate Pinkle Toes Photography’s 10th Birthday (wow…can you even believe that?). Thanks so much for the wonderful and speedy customer service, USB Memory Direct!

But not about the tragic, horrific, sad, unspeakable event that just happened there recently (though I will admit it completely broke my heart when I heard the news). No, instead I want to talk about the absolutely beautiful, warm, friendly city with the equally beautiful, warm, friendly people living there that I was introduced to back in May. Charleston, South Carolina was the site of the 3rd Annual Pinkle Toes Photography Workshop Reunion. With previous magnificent reunions held first in Chicago in 2012, then New York City in 2014, the barre (spelling intended 😉 had been set pretty high for this informal gathering of past Pinkle Toes Workshop grads from all over. You will definitely want to read this post all the way to the end so you can follow the links to the images by all of the photographers who came to play.

The very first thing I did in Charleston was Becky’s family photo session (sigh…that was amazing) and I have to tell you, the city pretty much blew me away with its charm and beauty. The next morning, those of us who had gotten to the house early got to take a wonderful stroll along the beach at Isle of Palms. It was there we happened upon this stunning pregnant momma and Becky got the idea for us to do a maternity photo session for her on the beach when the rest of our crew arrived later! I cannot even believe this mom did not run away thinking we were crazy with the idea…instead, she was thrilled and we were very excited to get to play at sunset. I cannot remember the exact order of events, but I do know we had an OUTSTANDING lunch at Cru Café, very VERY tasty pizza from Mellow Mushroom that evening (including a surprise visit from a long-time online friend of mine, Danielle Hobbs), and then a gorgeous sunset maternity session on the beach:

With that many photographers there with cameras snapping away, you would think that would cause extreme intimidation and shyness. That, my friends, was NOT an issue here. How wonderful that this family opened up their little world to us and let us photograph this magical time in their lives. By the way…there are TWO babies in there ;-).

Pull back from the above image HERE so you can get a taste of what it must be like to have your own paparazzi. 

Loved this playful interaction here with Heather! She really had no problem hamming it up to the camera!

 I’m not sure why Nicole is hiding under Jody’s dress. #motherginger #lotsofhashtagginghappeningduringthistrip

Yeah. Pretty stunning evening all around.

Okay, all of my days are starting to blur together at this point. In true reunion fashion, we packed in as much as we possibly could during our weekend. Let’s see if I can remember what all we did. Let’s see…

1. Pure Barre Class – I was WAY impressed that these ladies decided to join me for a class and I was amazed at how Pure Barre Mount Pleasant welcomed us with open arms. Maybe not the best idea for the start of a very busy vacation (can you say SORE?), but actually, maybe it was (can you say LOTS OF DELICIOUS FOOD?).
2. There was a lot of talk about T-Rex’s and what they do and do not like ;-).
3. We had amazing sushi at O-Ku.
4. Food Tour!! – we’ve done this at each of the reunions so far…such a great way to get to know the city and try all kinds of unique dishes.
5. Oh…I will never forget dinner at The Grocery, which involved lots of incredible roasted broccoli and a few too many grown up strawberry-basil drinky drinks ;-). Lots and lots and lots of laughs that evening!
6. The most amazing cupcakes at Sugar Bakeshop. I really want one right now.
7. Cruising around downtown Charleston in Christy’s minivan dancing to Uptown Funk.
8. #hashtag
9. Sunrise Saturday – it has become a tradition as well to get up before the sun and go someplace unique for some photo ops. We chose the Folly Beach Lighthouse this year and it did not disappoint:

Rushing to catch the sunrise! It amazes me how little convincing it takes photographers to get up at 3:30 in the morning after you’ve gone to sleep after midnight just by the promise of amazing light.

Christy is being very dramatic with her hand signals. Thank you, Christy ;-).

I LOVE the shot Annette ended up getting from this perspective. It really is telling when 10 photographers can photograph the exact same thing and each come away with their own unique take on it.

Cue sun. Cue birds.

Okay, so Katie and I took a bit of a risk and basically RAN all the way around the island to get the perfect spot. Maybe not a good move as the tide came in and we had to kinda wade back to the rest of the group holding our cameras above water. Oops. #stupidbutworthit

Oh, I wish I had a longer lens.

Wish granted.

It was indeed worth it.

We had yet another delicious meal complete with homemade cinnamon rolls at Lost Dog Café and then it was off to our carriage tour. After that, we headed to Boone Hall Plantation (see…I wasn’t kidding when I said we did it ALL). What a beautiful place and yes, we did get to see the very waters where Mr. Hey Girl Ryan Gosling dove in during filming of The Notebook. (BRB, going to go watch that movie again). #heygirl

Here, Jody is giving us jazz hands. Or letting us know she has 5 fingers. Or giving us a tour. Or telling us to stop walking. Or testing the light. It’s hard to tell. #trexhatesjazzhands

They were setting up for what was certain to be a GORGEOUS wedding that night. We seriously contemplated crashing it. Who would turn down 9 free photographers? Of course, we probably would spend the whole time photographing the Spanish moss, of which, I’m certain I have about 1,000 images. Good. Grief. #photogcandy That, and poppies:

We also got to make one last visit to Rainbow Row (sigh…Jen Y). I am SO glad we got to back there. So many lovely colors and plants and details. I decided to play around with the Waterlogue app on my iPhone images from the trip. I kinda like how this turned out:

(Follow this Instagram #hashtag for more images from the trip).

I am certain I have missed major details from this incredible reunion. I’m sorry I keep using the words, “incredible, awesome, amazing, beautiful, wonderful, etc.” over and over again, but really, there’s no other way to describe it. I feel incredibly (there I go again) lucky to get to explore these new places, but even more so, I get to do so surrounded by lovely people who share the same sense of humor and a LOVE of all things beautiful, artistic, and tasty. Ladies of the Charleston, SC reunion: YOU made this trip for me. I swear my cheeks hurt for days after coming home from smiling and laughing so much. I would go back in a heartbeat and do it all over again. Much love to you all. #trexlovesfriendship

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Now, click on over to Jody Mack Photography (Charleston, Mount Pleasant Lifestyle Newborn and Family Photographer) to see her images and take on the trip! Follow the blog circle!

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And for the complete list of photographers who attended this reunion (visit their sites and you will be blown away!):

Jen Yancey (Greensboro, NC)

Heather Schmitt (Dallas, TX)

Becky Keller (Raleigh, NC)

Nicole Leonard (Louisville, CO)

Katie Bork (Wilmington, NC)

Christy Gant (Sumter, SC) 

Annette Goodman (Charlotte, NC)

Jody Mack Photography (Charleston, SC)

I had the pleasure of seeing the beautiful state of Washington this summer. I loved my first morning there, shopping an AMAZING farmer’s market in Olympia with our awesome hostess Casey with Phreckle Face Photography (and be sure to visit her website because it is REALLY cute!).  I mean, we have have farmer’s markets in Austin, but it’s nothing like this. The air was so fresh and cool. The smells of flowers and berries and hand-crafted soaps was intoxicating. We may or may not have spent nearly half of our food budget for the workshop there (which may or may not have resulted in two Thai meals that weekend with minimal complaining), but oh, it was worth it.

Our fabulous attendees arrived later that afternoon and after going over the traditional workshop business stuff, we played outside along the beautiful bay practicing finding light and embracing sunshine. We were up early the next morning to photograph a *very* expressive newborn baby girl who had us all entranced with her adorable whole body smiles:

Later that evening, we had the incredible opportunity to photograph the family who owned the STUNNING Lighthouse Bungalow that housed us (pics of the house below). This session was such magic…it was all things boy and beach and energy and light and sparkle and love:

Our final morning together, we were up at the crack of dawn to hone our photography skills and try out new techniques with our oh-so-fun maternity couple along the docks (continuing the nautical theme that sort of naturally developed during our stay here):

LOVED playing with that perfect mirror-like reflection that greeted us in the water that morning!

And here’s some house decor eye candy for ya:

We had such lovely evenings out there, overlooking the Capitol building, watching the drastic changes in the tide, sipping drinks, watching the sunset, discussing all things photography. What an amazing group of ladies and a fantastic way to end our 21 day journey workshopping up the west coast (click to read part 1 and part 2; my personal pics from the trip will come…eventually).

And be sure to follow the next link in our blog circle to see another perspective on this photography workshop: the beautiful and talented Carrie with Yi Li Photography, Seattle Family Lifestyle Photographer. I can’t wait to check all the posts out myself! I have purposely not looked until now!

Meanwhile, I wanted to let you know that we do not have any more workshops coming up in the states this year or next at this time. However, we are gearing up to head all the way down under to Sydney, Australia sometime late in 2015. If you would like to be notified if that changes or if you want to get information on the Australia workshops when they are available, please drop a line.

Let me start by saying that Mendocino is no easy drive up from San Francisco. While the Google Maps says it takes 2.5 hrs or so, it’s more along the lines of 4+ hours considering all of those windy mountain roads. Thank goodness our amazing hostess Melody White Studios gave us plenty of warning about that and we were all equipped with sea sick bands and Dramamine ;-).

Every inch of that windy road was totally worth it as my breath was completely taken away when we pulled up to the house that night just in time to catch the most incredible sunset over the Pacific. I mean it was something else and thank goodness we managed to see it that night because the sun pretty much disappeared into a very thick fog for the rest of our stay there (pics below).

It was a small, intimate group for our little workshop, but that ultimately tied right into the cozy little theme we had going on in Mendocino. I mean, how lucky were we to get to do some serious workshop discussions in a hot tub overlooking the ocean??? (And yes, Miss E is probably going to kill me for posting that pic up there, but I can’t help it. It was just so cool!).

As with all of the workshops, the first official photo session was the in-home lifestyle newborn demonstration. Loved meeting this family and check out “Crying is for Babies” below. Classic!!!

That afternoon, we drove out of the fog to get to spend time with a SUPER DYNAMIC family (the sister of our hostess) feeding pics, playing in the sunshine, collecting chicken eggs, dancing to records, and playing music. It was perfection!

Don’t miss their not do American Gothic 😉

The next morning, we explored downtown Mendocino, which quite honestly, looks like something out of a fairytale book. The flowers…oh the flowers!! And the houses and storefronts are like little cottages. I really wish I had the chance to go back and explore and shop more because it was truly a beautiful place. Our maternity models were so stunning, don’t you think? And, they even stayed extra long so we could take them out on that amazing arch (it looks scary, but the walkway is actually quite wide and safe ;-). The fog actually worked in our favor as we were able to shoot much longer than full sunlight would have normally allowed.

And now, back to the lovely home which welcomed us with open arms in Mendocino:

Magical house. Just magical and I am so thankful we got to experience its charms. Like I said HERE, Mendocino is like no other place on earth. And maybe someday, you can stay in this cozy house yourself (HERE).

Thank you, Melody, for a BEAUTIFUL time in Mendocino and to the attendees for making this workshop absolutely amazing! Also, a very special thank you to Aderyn–those little touches you put onto everything you do just have a way of making things seem so magical and heartfelt. For a little eye-candy and continued look at life in Mendocino, you might want to start following her on Instagram ;->

And most importantly, check out Emily from Pure Light Photography and her beautiful images from the Mendocino workshop!

I’m not even sure how to put into words the experience my family and I had this summer on the west coast. I guess I’ll try to break it down by each of the three lifestyle photography workshops I did along the coast and then come back to blog about what we did as a family. So let’s start with Cardiff-by-the-Sea in southern California. This group of ladies was so fun and up for anything. The first night, we got to venture out to the beach so I could take their headshots (all the way at the bottom of this post) and we could dip our toes in the ccccccccold waters of the Pacific Ocean (I had NO idea how chilly the water was compared to the Gulf of Mexico out here, lol).

After staying up all night covering all of the standard workshop stuff about preparing for sessions and equipment, etc. (oh, did I mention we did much of this discussion in the amazing hot tub by a fire at the house?), we got up early the next morning to head out to our first official photo session of the weekend: the in-home lifestyle newborn photography demonstration. We could not have asked for a more laid back, perfectly California cool family with which to work. And I mean, look at little guy’s hair? It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Later that afternoon, I had the long-awaited privilege of photographing my wonderful photographer friend with Caroline Martin Photography in Carlsbad, CA. I’ve “known” Caroline for several years now (she is a Pinkle Toes Photography Workshop graduate) and she also served as our amazing hostess for this workshop in Cardiff. We got to work in Caroline’s home…the place where she brought her boys home from the hospital after they were born…the place that they love and have grown up in. SO many memories there!!! It was rich with love and happiness. I teared up so many times while editing this session because Caroline radiates joy in all things she does…especially when she is around her family. She is a talented, vibrant, determined, energetic person and I feel very lucky to know her:

The next morning, we had to get up at sunrise (which is BRUTAL on the west coast) to practice all of the techniques and skills we covered on this gorgeous couple, who at the time, were expecting their third baby:

Workshops are always equally exhausting, inspiring, and cathartic…this one was no exception and the attendees who choose to attend a Pinkle Toes Workshop truly give it its own personality. Here are some of those personalities:

As always, I’m excited to follow along in this workshop blog circle to get all of their perspectives and see the images the attendees took for the very first time. Follow along with me! Next up is Brittany Lynn Portraits all the way from Milwaukee, WI!

THIS group…my oh my! I’m not sure I have ever laughed so much at a workshop. Some super witty ladies in this bunch and I’m quite impressed we still managed to accomplish all of our lifestyle workshop objectives in between our constant brainstorming and amusing conversations. I think that’s what so amazing about any workshop group, actually: when you get a group of women together with so much in common, there is a bond, no doubt, but we all understand we still have work to do and are incredibly eager to do it! Did you see I even earned my own Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme? P.S. My underwater “assistant” would probably kill me for that last pic up there, but I couldn’t resist. I won’t out her here since you can’t tell who she is, but she knows. Oh…she knows.

Day one was spent talking all things related to the business of photography complete with headshots in the now infamous Wal-mart parking lot sunflower field:

The next day, we headed over to my sister’s house for our in-home newborn photo session demonstration. I was honestly a little afraid to use the twins as my subjects for this workshop because I knew it would be hard for me to keep my emotions in check. Sure enough, as with pretty much ANY photo session I do for my baby sis, I started out so choked up, I couldn’t speak, but we worked through it:
Aren’t my twin nieces  just so deliciously adorable? And have they not changed SOOOOO much??? Oh, and did you see they’re kinda locally famous now, lol?

That afternoon, we headed out to one of my favorite spots to cool down and photograph a dear friend of mine and her beautiful family in the creek:

And then we all got up before sunrise the next day to do a little practice maternity session at the greenhouse along with a bit of underwater photography:

It was a fabulous end to the summer Texas workshops! I haven’t looked at all of the posts yet, but I can’t wait to start going through the images in our blog circle from this group. Make sure you hop over and see Beth’s take on the Pinkle Toes Workshop:  The Queen B Photography – Houston Family Photographer!

I wanted to share this image and these words from a recent workshop attendee Amy Drucker with Amy Drucker Photography in Westchester, NY:

I’m spending today editing this week’s sessions and just wanted to say that something has really clicked for me since our workshop. I’m not afraid of families anymore – I feel like I’ve been given license to shoot what I want to shoot (as long as I get that Grandma shot too).

An image I love, and a moment I might have overlooked during a recent session if not for the confidence I gained during your workshop. Watching you work and having access to question your process helped me get past a creative block that had recently been keeping me from shooting for clients the way I really wanted to. Thank you again for being so open and working so hard during our recent workshop. I got everything I had hoped to out of it, and much more.

And it makes me so incredibly happy to hear the joy in her voice. Thank YOU, Amy! And congrats on following your heart!

For more info on the upcoming lifestyle photography workshops in CA and WA starting next week, visit http://pinkletoesblogstalker.com/blog/workshops-coaching/