2011 April Archive - Em the Gem

Archive for April, 2011

adam + jessica engagement : mike colon workshop
April 28

I have had the amazing opportunity to attend several photography workshops over the course of the past year, and I truly believe the experience has been something that has pushed me forward in my business.

One of the workshops I attended late last year was one by Mike Colon.

His 2 day Newport Coast workshop was a great experience – I loved getting behind the scenes on how Mike has run his business over the past 10 years, and how I can implement some of the things he has done.

Honestly, one of the biggest things I gained from this workshop was a better sense of how I want my digital workflow to look – what happens to the images when I download them to my computer, how I edit them, what happens after that. I know right NERDY.

But I love it! I am a better business because of him.

His last workshop I went to, I learned the importance of shooting manually and how much consistency it gives your images.

So I love that I learn things from Mike that I never knew I wanted to learn.

Here are some images from our first shoot on Day 1 : Jessica is a real life model but her boyfriend isn’t. But thankfully they are amazing together and it made for such a great engagement shoot at CAMP shopping center in Orange County.

Amazing styling by Kat Harris and great makeup by Rachel Burney.

that’s a REAL butterfly. Jessica is one with the earth, apparently. Love it.

xoxo

Posted in engagement, photography | 2 Comments »

the Q’s : seri bradley + meiko
April 26

You might remember the Q’s from a blog post a few months ago.

Our main competition in this year’s The Amazing Date ; the Q’s are not only amazing competitors, they happen to be one of the most stylish and adorable little families I know.

Seri is a marriage and family counselor, bread-baker and knitter extraordinaire ; Bradley is a manager at a Silicon Valley corporation and soccer dominator, and we like to bond over Japanese food and just good food in general.

Oh, and they love dinosaurs. So pretty much we were destined to be friends.

I haven’t been able to stop smooching their firstborn, little Meiko, since she arrived on this earth.

When you see the photos, you will understand why!

I loved capturing this snapshot of their family right now – there is something so simple and wondrous in the first little addition.

The way they play, and laugh, and discover new things together.

It’s just a sweet and precious thing.

Oh. I just love this little family.

Xoxo,

Posted in family, portrait | 3 Comments »

dreaming: out loud
April 21

I have been so blessed by every comment, every “like”, and every affirmation that came out of my post earlier this week.

I am truly thankful to have a community of people who actually come around me and help build me up.

But if I’m being honest, I’m so tempted to stop there.

I want to stay in this place of comfort. I want to hover over every affirmation and just rest in it.

But the truth is there is no point being built up if you are not willing to be sent out.

I just said I don’t want to settle, right?

What does that mean for me? What does it tangibly look like?

Well, my friend Gladys got it right the other day when she said that to verbalize something is powerful. It makes it real.

I want to feel the fear and do it anyways.

I want to verbalize exactly what I want, and I want to take the steps to get there, no matter how many failures it takes to make me stronger.

I want to do more editorial photo shoots like the one I styled for John and Mia.

If I’m being honest with myself, I have a deep and abiding love for fashion. For color. For collaboration.

And if I’m being really honest, I would say that this scares me.

It scares me because so many other people I look at do this so well already. Who am I to try to jump in to this?

And it scares me because I want to work with the best in the industry but I am afraid of rejection.

I want to submit an editorial idea to Southern Weddings V4.

Too often I think there is that voice that tells us that the dreams we have are selfish.

Gina hit this on the head this morning. It’s this lie that says: who am I to want more than I have already been given?

But dreaming you guys? This is the stuff we need to keep going. This is the stuff that gives us life. Makes us better.

So here is where I find myself. Dreaming out loud.

Verbalizing the dreams I have.

Fighting the lie that fashion or creativity should take a backseat to capturing “real” people.

You guys I love what I do. Hear that.

It’s so hard, especially where the photo industry is at right now, to believe that these other dreams are not as legitimate as the business I already have.