Today is a fun blog post with a workshop announcement and fun photo tips on “Shooting from the Hip”!

I have to tell you I woke up Saturday morning, and Brian yelled “MEEEE RAAAAAA! THERE HAVE BEEN ALMOST ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOOKED AT THIS BLOG POST IN THE LAST 12 HOURS!!!”

Oh, I couldn’t stop laughing! Thank you for all the comments, you had me laughing all weekend! (and Brian too–he’s such a great sport)

So here’s some fun news! We’ve got our Sonoma Wine Country Workshop coming up at the end of April, and we had a few spots open up last minute. Our policy is that we don’t issue refunds for workshops once someone has signed up b/c we have to budget accordingly and put down deposits for the location, restaurants, etc long before the workshop. But a few of the women had some really tough things unfold in their lives–things you never plan for. Brian and I felt the best way to support them was to give them a refund.

With that said, Brian and I thought ‘Why don’t we offer a special discount for the Sonoma Workshop since we have new seats open.’ Here’s what we came up with!

We’d like to offer 25% off to those of you who sign up with a friend! Yep! That’s right! 25% off for each of you who sign up for the Sonoma Workshop! So find your favorite girlfriend and see if you can talk her into spending a weekend in the wine country, sharing a hotel room with you, sipping wine, nibbling on cheese, eating grapes and BEST of all, learning all about photography! We have women flying in from Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Missouri and Washington!

A new addition to our Sonoma Weekend is The Red Grape! We’ve reserved this quaint, sweet little spot for our Friday Night Meet and Greet! Gathering starts at 6pm, AND drinks are on our tab! Check out the awesome reviews for The Red Grape at the website.

this is all just something to think about….:) If you’re interested, email me at mera@merakoh.com, and we’ll set you and your friend up with the discount!

That being said, let’s talk about SHOOTING FROM THE HIP!

Garrett Burdick is a great photographer and friend. He is actually the mastermind behind our Sonoma Workshop. Garrett will also be with us all weekend to help out and offer coaching on taking better photos. Seriously, Brian and I love this guy. We can’t wait for you to meet him.

Garrett has two boys, Walker (5) and Cooper (3) and he says that they know dad would give anything for a great photo of his boys. But they are NOT interested in helping those photos happen. Anyone relate?

Even though Garrett is a professional photographer who does photo shoots for families, brides and many of the Pottery Barn catalog spreads you see every month–he’s super down to earth and agrees with the fact that photography doesn’t have to be as hard as some make it out to be.

Here are his top four photo tips with some beautiful samples of his little ones!

1. Use a SLR Camera with Auto Focus Lens

2. Keep Auto Focus ON with Auto Selector

3. Use a Wide Lens (28mm to 50mm)

4. most important, Have Fun

Garrett says, go for it and Shoot from the Hip!! This means, with all your auto settings going, take a break from even looking through the lens and get crazy!

Shoot from under the table!

Use that wide angle magic and shoot from the side!

Or even under the water!

Request for Garrett!

Garrett, when you hop on the blog today, will you share your recipe for these shots in the comments? We know you mentioned having your settings on Automatic but we would still love any recipes. What was your aperture, shutter speed and ISO? Thanks friend!

Okay ladies! See you in Sonoma!!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Later this week we’ll post the Top Five Finalists of the “Darkness and Light” photo contest! The Winning Finalist gets to come to the Sonoma Workshop for 50% off! The random voter will get to have their pick of any one of our five 101 Kits!

We are also working on announcing the Running on Empty Contest Winner for San Diego, so stay tuned in for that.

And a few other fun things coming–like shoe shopping with a seven year old!

Since Brian’s left for the day to go play racquetball…hee, hee, hee!… I thought I’d share a photo I found from WPPI. This is Brian doing his “Vegas” dance one morning. Our room was in front of the fountain at the Bellagio. Can you hear Brian, “You guys think the fountain is cool–look at me dance!”

Am I dead or what?

(that’s what he gets for being in the dog house last night!)

There is no better word to describe Raya than the word “lovely”. She just oozes the very essence of loveliness.

Raya is a wonderful photographer, album designer of her business Pink Penny, a new mama, and the most talented person with her sewing machine and sense of design (which of course makes her an amazing album designer).

Raya’s sense of combining color is so fantastic! Don’t you love the contrast in these colors!

So friends…want another addicting blog to add to your collection? Check out Raya’s blog, Paper Pony.

On Wednesday this week, Raya had a write up done on her in sfgirlbaby.com. (very fun blog too!)

Oh my goodness, I was drooling over every photo! The photos that Raya took of her home and the simplicity of her sense of design are just beautiful! You can almost feel the calm breeze blowing in through the windows of her home.

I categorized today’s blog under Photography Tips for Moms because by seeing her photos and studying them, you can gain so many wonderful ideas on how to take photos of your home, especially the details in your home that show your tastes and what you love.

Go check out the interview! Look out Martha!

p.s…..

…As an “extreme” opposite post to how lovely these photos are, check back later today when I post a photo of Brian without his permission! (He was in the dog house last night, so it’s very deserving–that’s all I’ll say.)

Hey all you Posh Mamas! Check out this cool site: Posh Cravings: The Pursuit of Maternal Mojo! The title alone is worth checking out, love the whole “Maternal Mojo” part! I know a lot of you have the maternal mojo going on in your home and businesses!

I’d heard some great stuff about the content and interviews offered on this site a few months back (fun interviews with celebs like Heidi Klum and Julianne Moore). And then when Brian and I were in Thailand, the editor contacted us out of the blue and said, “Can we do a feature on your Refuse to Say Cheese DVD series?”

Heck yes!!! How cool is that!

Refuse to Say Cheese, Capture the Story by Me Ra Koh Tips from a photographer-mama on capturing the essence of childhood with a click of your camera. Read the Entire Article Craving more of the latest buzz? Check out more features on parenting, pregnancy, and all that is posh.

(excerpt from Mom’s Survival 101 Kit)

“When I started to pay close attention to how I felt throughout the day, I realized I felt one emotion more than any other–guilt. The better I did at our business the worse I felt as a mom. The better I felt as a mom, the more behind I felt in our business….in the end I felt such heavy guilt that if my kids were really important I should quit all this. But I knew I couldn’t quit because somehow having this business to build, this dream to chase, made me a better mom.”

Now to make all this work and love being a wife, a mom, and my work, while NOT being over shadowed by guilt…this journey is the heart of my Mom’s Survival 101 Kit.

I’m almost in tears as I type this because the Kit is done, live on the Refuse site, and ready for you to purchase!

For the next four days (ends Friday night at midnight), in celebration of this going live, we will be offering the Moms Survival 101 Kit and the Getting Published Kit (this ones new too! more on this later!) for 30% off the regular price. ($69 instead of $99, you save $30–Yippee!)

What’s inside the Mom’s Survival Kit?

Basically 30-40 pages of me sharing my heart with you.

This is made up of practical and heartfelt insight on setting boundaries, time management, breaking out of the cycle of guilt, overcoming common issues women struggle with in the business world, thought provoking questions from my business coach that have take me to new levels in my peace of mind and our business’s success, and ALL the many ways I’ve learned to take care of myself with the purpose of maintaining balance.

There is also a fun Appendix with samples of the Two Week Dinner Menus I make, some of my favorite recipes from these menus (everyone mom loves a new, easy recipe–Brian thought I was funny, but I had to include a couple! :)) and a list of rich resources from other amazing mommy bloggers, to forums, to my business coach’s info and much more.

Is this Kit Only for Mom’s? What about Dad’s?

I’ve already been asked this question a lot since we first released it for sale at WPPI last week. Before this kit was finalized, I hand a handful of people read over it. A few of them were dads, and I’m thrilled to say they LOVED it. I have to tell you that I was totally blessed to hear their response. The dads feel like they also struggle with issues the kit addresses, and one even said he was excited to strategize and plan his upcoming year implementing the ideas I write about. So there you have it dads. Looks like the kit should be called Parent’s Survival 101 Kit, but since it’s to late…I hope you’ll forgive me and not feel excluded. I honestly didn’t expect dads to respond the way they did after reading it. (lesson learned! :))

Is this Kit Only for Women Who Have Children?

While I speak directly to moms, I think a lot of women wrestle with the same struggles. A woman with three children may feel the pressures to different degrees than the single woman, but the principles of overcoming common issues woman struggle with in the business world or time management, or setting boundaries…they are universal issues. Enjoy all my single divas!

Raves!

Roxanne Benton wrote this wonderful rave after reading the Mom’s Survival Kit. I had to share it with you. But let me first tell you that Roxanne is a Co-Owner with her husband to a successful small business (Pixel2Canvas), she is a wife AND, AND mother of TWINS! My respect for her made her feedback even that much more meaningful. Roxanne writes;

“I am energized and empowered! To read this–coming from your heart Me Ra–and at times sharing WAY to much information (but that’s who you are–and why we all love you so) gives me such INSPIRATION!”

I do share it all friends. If you’ve been reading this blog for a few days, you know I have issues with self disclosure. That’s what twenty years of therapy gives you! But seriously, I do share from my heart all the good and bad because I want you to see that the journey is not easy, but it’s so worth it. Finding balance and pursuing my dreams while loving my family and homeschooling the kids, wow, it makes me tired if I think to much about it. Yet, I have learned such wonderful lessons along the way and love, love, love what I do and how I spend my time. It hasn’t been easy, but is anything you want or aspire to achieve ever easy?

Discount for the Next Four Days!

So yeah!! The kit is live at Refuse to Say Cheese. You can go there and purchase the download, and if you do so in the next three days you get 30% off the regular price of $99!

But here’s the cool part that I actually just noticed as I’m typing this blog post. Brian fixed a second discount so that for the next four days, you can take advantage of the Better Together deal and receive both the Mom’s Survival Kit and Portrait 101 Kit (the essentials to starting your own portrait side business) for $128. Scroll down this page and you’ll see it! Run into any problems, email Brian at brian@merakoh.com.

One more thing!

IF…IF…you are attending the San Diego or Sonoma workshop don’t buy the kits now. We always offer the best deals at our workshops or when we are speaking somewhere. You’ll save even more if you wait to get it at the workshops!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Check out Refuse to Say Cheese for details on the rest of the 101 Kits!

Portrait 101 Kit

Wedding 101 Kit

Associates 101

and just released with the Mom’s, the Getting Published 101 Kit (more details later this week!)

If you haven’t already heard, the current Photo Contest theme is “Darkness and Light”. Daylight savings time inspired this theme. But I’ve noticed something, we haven’t received as many submissions with this theme. I’m wondering if it’s because the theme is intimidating some people. If so, remember, this is just about having fun. Try taking a silhouette shot if you never have. They are super and fun and way easier then people make them out to be.

(Marian, like the image? Your event is just about done!!!)

Photo Tips for a Silhouette Shot!

Here is an easy way to capture a silhouette shot.

1. Put your camera on AV mode at a 5.6 to 8.0 Aperture. This means the camera will determine your shutter speed because you have set the aperture.

2. Focus or meter on the sky and see what the camera says your shutter speed should be.

3. Take the shot. The camera will have probably given exposure to the sky as well as the person in your image so you can see both. But for a silhouette, you want things more dramatic. How do you do this?

4. Switch to Manuel mode and speed your shutter speed up from where it was on the last shot. Look at the back of your camera, are the subjects darker? If not, keep speeding the shutter speed up until your subjects are dark and the sky is bright. This isn’t a super technical explanation, but it works!

The PRIZE for “Darkness and Light Photo Contest”

You ready for this? I’m super excited about it! Since we have a few spots left in our Sonoma Photography Workshop, Brian and I have decided to give the winner of this contest 50% off the workshop cost! Instead of paying $999, you pay $498! Isn’t that fun!!

If the winner cannot attend the Wine Country workshop, the prize will go to the runner up and so forth. So send in your submissions, and who knows, we may be sipping wine together and eating cheese at the end of April!

For more details on the workshop, visit Wine Country Workshop (fyi, the San Diego workshop is Sold Out).

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Running on Empty Update

Thank you for all your beautiful, wonderful submissions. We’ll be working on getting all the nominees to our panel of women judges. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on who the winner is.

Did We Meet at WPPI?

If you attended one of our talks at WPPI, stay in touch! I’ve finally set up a Facebook Profile and would love to stay connected. A number of you told us that our platform talk gave a lot to you. You have no idea how encouraging your feedback was! It would mean the WORLD if you would pass this on to the people at WPPI. We are going to submit a new platform talk for 2009, and your feedback is so helpful! To send them your comments in regards to our platform session, email Shauna at sharris@rfpublishing.com. And most of all, thank you for all your enthusiasm last week. Brian and I had a wonderful time meeting all of you!

Mom’s Survival 101 Kit and Getting Published Kit!

Be checking www.refusetosaycheese.com! The new kits are finally here and going live this week! (with a discount price!) They went like crazy at WPPI! Can’t wait for you to see them too!

Missing Jennifer…

As many of you know, our dear friend Jennifer Cuellar, passed away last Saturday. My family spent Easter weekend grieving with her family and friends. I love the verse that says it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of praise. There is no where I would have rather been this weekend then with Jennifer’s sisters and friends.

So many of us believed Jennifer was going to make it, especially when her bone marrow transplant took. No one really planned for her death. My parents were able to bury her in the area that our family owns at the cemetery. She will be in wonderful company with my Korean grandma, and I will love sitting with them both when I go to visit their grave sites.

But Judy, Jennifer’s sister, told me there are still expenses with the funeral and burial that they never anticipated–along with the overwhelming hospital costs over the last nine months. If you would like to contribute, you can by sending them a gift. Judy’s address is on yesterday’s post. They thank ALL of you for the constant prayers. I was comforted to hear that Jennifer never stopped receiving emails from people all over the world. Thank you for loving her. Thank you so much.

This last week was a blur of joyful times and sorrowful.

Brian and I arrived in Vegas Saturday evening for WPPI. We were relieved when all EIGHT of our product boxes had arrived successfully (being shipped from three different places in the country–:)). Just as we were getting dressed to head to our first dinner, my parents called.

Jennifer had passed away earlier in the day.

All I could think was ‘I don’t understand.’

Jennifer’s bone marrow transplant had successfully taken weeks prior. She was at my parent’s house only days before. And then she started slipping, she was fighting so hard, and then her heart stopped.

Brian and I canceled our dinner plans, and I spent the rest of the night in prayer and tears. I have to thank all of you for praying for me and Brian and our commitments at WPPI because the next day, we had to start our speaking sessions. There is no way this could have happened and gone as well as it did without people praying.

Today is Jennifer’s Gravesite Service at 2pm. The family has invited everyone who knew Jennifer. For details, look to Jennifer’s website. Tomorrow is a Celebration Service at Jennifer’s church–friends are welcome to this as well. They request that everyone wear bright colors because this is what Jennifer would have wanted.

In the meantime, please hold her family in your thoughts and prayers. Below is a picture of Jennifer (she has the pink scarf), her older sister Judy is in the middle, and Jennifer’s twin sister Francis. I can’t fathom what the family is going through.

If you’d like to send a card to the family, below is an address.

To those of you we met in Vegas this week, thanks for visiting the blog. We met the most wonderful and kind photographers. What an honor to be part of such an incredible industry.

On Monday, the blog will be back with much to share but for now, thanks for all your love.

Me Ra

Cards for the family
Please send all cards and letters for the family to this address:
Judy Cuellar
PO Box 44786
Tacoma, WA 98448

We have received the most touching nominations for the Running On Empty contest.

If you haven’t heard what this is about and you know a mom running on empty, click on the link “Running on Empty” for more info.

We’ve reserved a special spot at the San Diego Workshop Photography workshop. This workshop has SOLD OUT, so we’re excited to have the winner join this wonderful group of ladies!

If you would like to nominate a friend, wife, mom, grandma, sister, or yourself, make sure you do it before 6pm, PST!

After 6pm PST, we will collect all nominations and share them with the team who will take on the task of picking one woman. (I’m so glad it’s not me.)

That’s it! Make sure you get them in by 6pm tonight!

xoxo

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Here we go!!!

Every year, 10,000 plus pro photographers in the wedding and portrait industry come to Vegas for WPPI! If you are going for the first time, I’m so excited for you! There is no way that you walk away from this event without being affected in a zillion positive ways!

I’m doing a lot of speaking this year, and I have to tell you…I LOVE speaking! I’m a quack, huh!

It’s a ton of prep work and when you combine products to bring and sale…oof-da! But I love the speaking–that makes all the long nights of prep worth it!

Below is our speaking schedule starting Sunday. If you’re at WPPI, come say hi!!

Sunday:

Sunday, I’m speaking at the Pictage Headliners Conference. I’m so excited about this because the session is called “Ladies of Photography”! Yeah! The photography industry can still feel like a boy’s club at times, and last year I asked Pictage about hosting an evening for just women with a women’s panel. You can imagine how excited I was when they put something similar on the calendar. The women I’m speaking with are fantastic! Check out their websites! Pepper Nix, Jules Bianchi, and Liana Lehman.

Sunday Night is the Pixel 2 Canvas Party, Club Rouge! Roxanne, the amazing mind and mom behind Pixel2Canvas, has got some CRAZY things in store! If you want to join the party, email her off her blog asap!

Monday:

On Monday morning we have our platform in the Gold Ballroom from 8:30am to 10:30am! We are giving away the coolest door prizes like Sony cameras, Adobe software, 101 Kits, DVDs, and these little 1″ buttons that say “Refuse to Say Cheese!” in hot pink–these buttons are what I’m most excited about!

ME RA KOH “Associate Your Way to the Top”
Everybody tells you to work smarter, not harder. But what does this look like? The married team of Me Ra Koh Photography will teach you their secrets to working smarter and achieving nationally recognized success. Through hiring associate photographers and good old trial and error, Me Ra and Brian invite you to experience the ever-changing business model that has freed up their time and caused their passive revenue to grow. From how to hire and train associate photographers, to printing and pricing packages, this couple shows you the power and profits of “RSV”-Real, Simple and Visible management and marketing. If you’ve heard them before, you know Me Ra and Brian share it all with a passion to encourage, inspire and leave you laughing! Sponsored by Pictage, shootdotedit, Sony

1pm-2pm, Sony Booth #227

3pm-4pm, Adobe Booth #317

6pm-8:30pm, Adobe Dinner

6pm-9pm, Pictage’s Risque Party

Tuesday:

Carey is speaking Tuesday morning! Yeah Carey! She’ll be in the Las Vegas Rooms 1-3 starting at 8:30am! Don’t miss her!

CAREY SCHUMACHER “Revolutionary Ideas to Enhance Your Bottom Line”
Carey Schumacher provides a refreshing approach to the rapidly changing photographic industry. Since starting her studio, San Diego Barefoot Memories, in 2002, she has emerged as one of the most successful and well known modern family portrait providers in San Diego. Discover the revolutionary methods Carey uses to cater to today’s modern family and increase profits. Sponsored by Mpix, Gina Alexander Inc., Pixel2canvas, Aftershutter, flosites.

1pm-2pm, Pictage Booth #335 (Brian and I will be speaking with Amber and Nathan Holritz. Can’t wait! Check out their website and all the great photos they have on their homepage of the two of them. Very cute!)

3:30-4:30pm, Sony Booth #227

4pm, Coffee with Jeff Jochum (I’m so excited about this window of time. Jeff Jochum is the former VP at Pictage, and he is one of the most amazing business minded people ever. He has mentored Brian and I so much when it comes to being a business owner. Every time I’m with him, I learn so much!)

7:30-9:30pm, Jared Bauman is doing a great Platform Session called “Structuring Your Business for Maximum Profit”. He’ll be speaking in the Las Vegas rooms 1-3. We are combining our products and selling them at each other’s platforms to give people two opportunities to take advantage of our CRAZY BUNDLE product specials for WPPI. So if we don’t get to connect with you at our platform, look for us at the end of Jared’s session in the back of the room!

JARED BAUMAN
At only 25, Jared owns a high-volume wedding studio and a post production company, both of which are very successful. With images featured around the country and a business structure that provides several months off per year, Jared knows how to achieve financial success and freedom. He will show you how to do so through a variety of techniques, including business structure planning, proper package pricing, and tailored outsourcing. Sponsored by Pictage, Shootdotedit.

Wednesday:

10:30am-11:30am, Sony Booth #227 (all the Sony Booth talks will end with a Live Demo Shoot where you can watch me work with models as I talk through my thought process of taking the shots.)

We kiss our friends goodbye until WPPI 2009. (Have I convinced you to come in 2009?! It’s so worth it!)

Head back to “home, so sweet, home”. I’m sure we’ll be sleeping the whole flight home!

Remember our dear friend Jennifer?

This is an update and request for urgent prayer.

Jennifer had a bone marrow transplant the first week of February, and the transplant took.

On March 10th she started having severe abdominal pains and ended up in ICU. On Monday she had to have her heart drained of fluid. Yesterday her lungs and kidneys started to have problems, she is now on a respiratory machine. She is fighting to live.

We just got a text message from her sister that the doctors called a family meeting today at 3:30pm. I cannot imagine what her family is going through right now.

Please pray for a miracle in Jennifer’s healing. Please pray the family would feel God’s comfort surround them.

I love the verse my mom just emailed to everyone in regards to Jennifer;

He who created you, who formed you, Fear not, for I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you… Isaiah 43

Jennifer is unconscious right now, and I wonder where her thoughts are. Does she feel like she’s passing through waters, does she feel God holding her hand? I pray that as all of us hold her up today, Jennifer is feeling herself wrapped tightly in His arms.

Thank you for thinking of her today. If you’d like to email a personal message to Jennifer and her family, you can email Kate_Stinson@hotmail.com. Kate will make sure they get the messages.

If you’d like to see their family blog and read more of what’s happening, you can visit Jennifer’s blog.