Spending 2 days with my Photography Idol

This past May I was lucky enough to attend Me Ra Koh's confidence workshop in Chicago and it changed me in many ways. I got to spend 2 days up close and personal with one of my photography idols. The workshop is limited to 25 participants which makes the learning experience very personal and intimate. Me Ra isn't shy about sharing her secrets to success and how she got to be where she is today. I have been shooting in manual with confidence ever since the workshop, it seems I've forgotten even how to use aperture priority these days. In addition to being able to shoot manually now, I learned how to shoot in tough lighting situations and believe me - we were shooting in the worst light possible on day 2 thanks to a rainstorm that came through.

Me Ra blogged about the workshop a couple months later and I was ecstatic to see my work featured on her blog not once but twice. You can read all about our day 1 experience here and below are the 2 photos she shared that I took on day 1. I love all of the details and tend to really hone in these adorable little features.

Here's a photo of us hard at work trying to capture the beauty of this ADORABLE little girl. She was a big hit that day and everyone wanted to photograph her personality and beauty. I'm sitting on the windowsill on the left just waiting for the perfect shot and she didn't disappoint!



The first day we shot babies under 1 year of age and then day was family shots. Oh boy, we had the worst lighting ever because right when it was time to shoot it started storming and raining like you wouldn't believe. So stuck inside of hotel we were and needed to find a way to still get some amazing shots for these families. It's a whole lot more challenging to get 4 people looking great in a shot than just 1 or 2.....maybe that's why I prefer shooting little one's and just waiting for that magical moment.

Me Ra blogged about day 2 as well and shared a couple more of my shots from this very challenging afternoon. Read more about it here. I love how comfortable mom looks in this first photo and you can really sense her love for her little one. I then got a good shot with dad as well while they were laughing and having a good old time.

Me Ra and her husband Brian took these photos below as we enjoyed the afternoon challenge. I am in the first photo below where the dark shirt and was ecstatic to put my flash to use that day. I learned during the workshop how to use it and make it look like natural light - it was a god sent that day for me and I am no longer afraid to use flash when necessary.

So there you have it - my 2 days with Me Ra that I will treasure forever. This year I am hoping that Me Ra will come back to Chicago once again so that I can bring our Baby Girl to the workshop as a model. It would be great to see her again and have 25 talented women taking shots of our precious girl, what more could a girl ask for.