Yesterday we wrapped up our Seattle Photography Workshop for Women. It was an AWESOME three days!! This week I’ll post the photos from the weekend, and wait till you see what these women captured! Just awesome!

After a full weekend, I decided to sleep in this morning (very nice :)), and now I’m off to hang out with the kids and catch up on mommy/kids time. But as I checked emails this morning, our friend Dane Sanders had sent a link to his blog. It made me want to cry!

Dane is a wonderful photographer, speaker, writer (the list goes on and on). He called on Friday and said he watched our Refuse to Say Cheese DVD and had one of the best times with his daughters while putting the DVD photo exercises into practice. Then he emailed me his blog today with the results. His call and email meant the world. You can’t ask for a better endorsement among your colleagues than the one he gave on his blog!

Check out Dane’s photos!

This one is my favorite!

Dane took a lot more than these three images. To see the rest, check out his blog. And while you’re there, take a look at the new project he’s got going. It’s called Fast Track Photographer. He read Brian and I the first chapter this summer, and it’s amazing. For those of you wanting to break into wedding photography…you want to be hooked up with this project.

Thanks Dane! We love you!

And Happy Monday everyone! Full week ahead, and hopefully we’ll have the okay to make a BIG announcement soon!

Today is Friday. The last day of our first week to have the new site live: Refuse to Say Cheese. Despite all the glitches and funny design coding that people encountered, we still had an amazing first week of visits! The response, feedback, excitement in your posts and emails was way beyond my expectation, especially the popularity of the 101 Kit series. I poured over the 101 Kits, but to hear your feedback…I’m speechless.

We also started booking our new Associate Company Photography, Yuriy Manchik!

Every week, we receive a few emails from all over the world with photographer’s resumes to be considered for an Associate position with Me Ra Koh Photography. We decided to ask Yuriy to join us because not only is his work phenomenal, but he is a great guy in countless ways. Our clients are loving him, and his calendar for 2008 is booking away. Yuriy will be shooting weddings in Seattle area, as well as flying out of state for wedding coverage. Check out his website to see his work, and you’ll know why we asked this guy to join our team! www.yuriymanchik.com Again, I’m speechless.

The feedback from the DVD series is coming in this week with so many of you receiving DVD 2, Beyond the Green Box. Your emails make me want to cry. I’m so thankful we’ve touched something in you.

And yet, as I write this, I feel like all this is only a beginning. A prelude to much bigger things. I must be careful to not limit the impossible happening because I can’t dream big enough. I also know this isn’t true just for me. It’s true for many of you right now. You’re on a similar path to the impossible happening with your photography business budding and your confidence rising.

Let’s journey together!

Have a wonderful weekend, and don’t forget to check out the 5 finalists for the thankful contest. You can vote and become the winner of DVD 2. Voting ends on Sunday night.

Any ideas for the theme of December’s photo contest? All ears!

And if you’re looking for a different website to inspire you in a new way, check out Jesh De Rox. His site is one of my favorites. I guarantee it will make an impression on you.

Next week, let’s talk more about the rest of the cities for the 2008 City Tour. Is there really 40 plus people in Georgia who want a workshop!

How many bugs can one encounter when launching a new website? We must admit that this type of site is not like a photography portfolio type website. It’s so intense on how the site processes orders, verifies credit card info, does product comparisons, customer reviews, gives downloads of each 101 kit, and gift certificate options. Oprah, we’re ready!!

But at 2am this morning, I had to stop working on the bugs and head to bed. When I woke up this morning, Brian wasn’t next to me. He WAS STILL GOING!! Even now, he is STILL GOING! Can you believe this man! He never went to sleep last night! He’s AMAZING!!

Because of Brian, and only Brian, www.refusetosaycheese.com is live!!

We’re super excited about 4 of our 101 Kits being ready! And the great thing is they are all downloads! Again, Brian blows me away and how he took what I wrote and configured them!

And to top it all off, he was working out bugs the night before until 5:15am! This means he has slept only 2 hours in the last 48 hours. Unreal! The kids can’t stop talking about how amazing dad is, even now we are writing ballads and singing his praise!

The Refuse to Say Cheese website went live this morning, but we were still having shipping errors and credit card processing issues. Even now, the Workshop page is working but not looking “just right”. So me being a total coward…couldn’t bear to check my email and the blog. I turned on Nora Jones instead and tried take a few deep breaths while Brian kept going. “Sunrise, Sunrise…”

Brian sighed with a smile, and it looks like we’re running okay! YEAH!! Orders are coming in without problems. But definitely email us (brian@merakoh.com) if you are having a problem. You’re the first to see this which means your the first to see it AND the lucky first ones who get to encounter any bugs we missed.

So all this to say, I jumped on the blog and was blown away by all your wonderful posts. I totally started to cry. Thank you so very much for all your feedback! I can’t tell you how much it means! We’ve been working on the look and feel for months, and your feedback and excitement brings me to tears.

You all rock!

We are so close to going live with this new site! It’s driving me crazy! I’m so excited I can’t go to sleep, and it’s 1:20am in the morning! Yikes! BTW, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Our 27 lb. turkey turned out great! The kitchen sink decided to overflow at one point, but the food was great.

Okay, this is a little glimpse of how beautiful the new site for parents and aspiring photographers, www.refusetosaycheese.com, is turning out! There are 101 Kits, DVD 2, or the Set, Workshop Registration, a Giving Back page, Gift Certificates that are pretty, yikes! I can hardly stand this waiting!

Our bank wants to do a couple test runs on the Merchant Account process, and then we are live and running. Yep, that’s right, we’re going live with the site sometime TODAY! Ask me how many times I’ll be refreshing the screen for www.refusetosaycheese.com?

And if anyone at the bank is reading this, I’m seriously going to cry if we don’t go live today (but will it be over disappointment or staying up so late? or both! ;)).

Besides this new site, www.refusetosaycheese.com, going live, we also had TONS of WONDERFUL images submitted for the thankful contest! We’ll post the finalists this week, and let you start voting! Wait till you see this. Kleenex may be required.

We’re also almost done with confirming details for the San Diego workshop, so registration will open soon! Thanks for your patience on this! I just want to make sure we know where the location will be before we go live with registration. But I can tell some of you don’t care. I think I’ve received a dozen emails from San Diego moms ready to sign up. You ladies are fantastic, and Brian and I can’t wait to meet you all!

And thank you, thank you, thank you, for the wonderful comments on Thanksgiving Day’s post! We too are so thankful for you, and I’m overwhelmed with how many of you are emailing and posting about DVD 2! We are thrilled that you are loving Beyond the Green Box!!! Words just don’t do it justice! Oh, I almost forgot, be sure to use your promo codes from the booklet in DVD 2 for great discounts on the new site!

Better head to bed, but I’ll see you all later when the new site goes live! If you see it before I see it, post a comment and let me know!

DVD 2 is off in the mail today!!!

The pearl is in the river!

I think I’m more excited about our stickers than anything else! But the stickers are not the special surprise.

The “Special Surprise” is that within the Booklet of DVD 2 is a list of discounts for all of you! Yep, that’s right! Everyone who purchases DVD 2, Beyond the Green Box, will find a bunch of discounts for other products like our 101 Kits, DVD 1, Refuse to Say Cheese, and our upcoming Top Ten Photo Effects! The coolest discount of all is 10% off our workshops–look out San Diego and Seattle attendees!

When we go live this week with our new website, you can take advantage of the discounts and order your own copy of Beyond the Green Box if you didn’t pre-order.

So question: we may be able to go live with the website on Friday, but should we wait until Monday since lots of people go shopping on Friday? Or should we say to heck with it, and get this website for parents up and running?

What do you think?

p.s. The ‘thankful’ photo contest entries are just amazing! What a wonderful theme you guys picked!

Okay, time to send some serious prayers my way. I can’t share to many details right now, but wow, I’m in for a ride!

I get this call Friday afternoon from Blue Pixel, the company I did work with earlier this year when Best Buy came out to Seattle. They ask if I’m coming to Photo Plus Expo, I say not this year b/c we’re taking some time off of tradeshows, they say that’s really to bad and will I rethink it b/c there is someone they’d like to introduce to me.

I can’t say the someone right now, but the someone is a billion dollar company that wants to know more about the DVD’s and me. Eeks! It’ll all happening at a private party Friday night in New York. American PHOTO and Popular Photography magazines are hosting, and they’re bringing in models to shoot!

Within the next 48 hours of booking my ticket (Monday!), I get calls and have four more appts. set up–all around the DVD series and projects we’re launching in 2008. It’s just crazy how fast every thing is happening in the last few days!

So I buy a plane ticket, and away I go at 5am this morning, having no idea what’s going to happen in the next 48 hours. But I feel like this is a God thing, and I need to jump. Plus, it helps to have a supportive husband push you off when you’re nervous to jump. How does he push me off, he smiles and gives me one of those looks when I tell him about the phone call from Blue Pixel. One of his looks that says “You were meant for this.” (love you honey–remember, no chocolate milk with their cereal!)

I’ll try and update you guys during the weekend!

Thanks for praying and rooting for me!! It means the world!!!

Oh, and if you missed last night’s post about a Christmas Special, be sure to check it out!! Couple spots still open!! And if you didn’t meet Megan the afternoon post yesterday, you don’t want to miss her!

For DVD 2, the title is Beyond the Green Box. I’ve had the working subtitle be Understanding Your Digital SLR.

Just wondering, do you think the term “SLR” is confusing for parents and aspiring photographers who are new to their cameras? If it is I’d rather scrap it.

Would it be better to have the subtitle read Understanding Your Digital Camera?

Thanks!

There is no other word to describe how I feel as your emails arrive with your beautiful photos. I am truly overwhelmed.

When we started working on the dvd project, I really had no idea how people would like it. I hoped and prayed it would connect with parents, but you never know if something is going to fly until you jump.

As you’ve been sending your photos the last 48 hours, I’m also moved by the stories you are emailing. It’s amazing to read about how you’ve connected with a certain chapter on DVD 1, and it inspired you to catch something breathtaking like this. This little guy will have this photo forever, and what an amazing thing that one of his parents spotted it and knew what to capture.

The mom that took the image below said she was experimenting with aperture, and I’m in love with how she blurred the background to add softness to her daughter’s quiet moment.

The hands, the rope swing, the blurred smile are all amazing in composition, detail and aperture. Talk about a breath taking detail shot. This mom nailed it! A lot of people have sent detail images, and it’s fun to see how that specific chapter really connected with so many parents.

There are so many more that are being emailed. Thank you for sharing your stories with me. I treasure each one. You have no idea how encouraging they are to read.

So good news! We’re extending the deadline to send in photos b/c the ones you are sending are way more amazing than we ever imagined. We want to give you the weekend if you’d like to send more or haven’t had a chance to send one yet. Don’t forget to put “DVD 2 photo submission” in the subject line and the title of the exercise or dvd chapter that inspired the idea for your images.

And for those of you who post comments on the daily blog posts, YOU have no idea how much you make our day. Our stats tell us that sometimes 1000 people will hit our blog, but when you only see 1 comment you feel like only 1 visited. It’s hard to visualize another 999 readers behind that comment.

Your comments help me believe that the blog really is leaving my studio and going out to people. Thanks so much for posting, I don’t tell you enough how much it means.

As parents we see endless emotions in our children. We know their quiet look. We know their mischievous look. We know that smile that says, “Momma, I wanna marry you.” Who better to take their photos then us.

One of my favorite parts of my week is getting emails from moms and dads. I may not be able to respond as much or as quickly as I want, but I love seeing what you are all shooting of your little ones. It’s amazing to hear that after watching DVD 1, Refuse to Say Cheese or attending a workshop “this” is what you caught. And then some of you connect with the blog, and I’m so honored that you share your most treasured images with me.

Simply put, your images move me.

I opened this image from a wonderful woman, mom and former workshop attendee, and I teared up. I’ve never seen an image express such quietness before. You can almost hear the child quiet breathing. Look at those soft, long eyelashes.

Then Kari sent me this image, and I busted up laughing! Kari is also one of the Running On Empty winners. Doesn’t this image make you smile! Look at Ty’s face! Love it!

And this image says something totally different than the first two. Jessica caught a moment with her son that will forever be with both of them. I love how her toning work by changing it to black and white accentuates the emotion and thoughtfulness of her little guy.

We’re all busy here at the studio, gearing up for our Mom’s Workshop this Saturday. And as we’re putting the final details in place, I look at these photos and think, wow, what better thing can you spend your time on then documenting your little ones life.

Update on DVD 2, Beyond the Green Box:

For those of you who have loved the first DVD, Refuse to Say Cheese, we want to thank you again and again, and also update you on DVD 2, Beyond the Green Box.

I found out yesterday that I’m supposed to be getting the final copy this week to review before it’s manufactured. It’s been held up way longer than I had ever planned, and this process has almost broke me. But we are making it through, and DVD 2 is coming to us. But when? Can I keep you updated as we go on a week by week basis? I feel like so much of the process is out of my hands, but I know many of you want to know the updates, so I’ll be sure to post something every week on the blog over the next couple weeks.

It’s not so much the wait that has bothered me as wanting to respect your belief and support in this project. We haven’t released a national campaign for this series, so you are our first customers–most treasured customers of all. We want to honor you more than you’d ever know.

I’m a people pleaser to a horrible fault, so when I called a mom in CA to tell her why DVD 2 hadn’t shipped yet, I felt horrible. She was so gracious on the phone and encouraged me to hang in there and keep going. (Annette, you have no idea how much you gave to my soul this week.)

But not everyone may feel this way, and it’s totally fine. If you are wanting your money back until DVD 2, Beyond the Green Box, is shipping, please email us and let us know. We would totally understand! If you are okay hanging in there, man, what can we say. You are amazing.

We’ve decided to not allow any more sales on DVD 2 or the Set until the manufacturers are done, and the product is shipping. Only DVD 1 will be available for the next couple weeks. Also, our shipping procedures are totally changing, and in the next couple months customers will have tracking numbers and all that other good stuff so you know what’s happening at any given moment. Such the learning curve. Your basically our guinea pigs, and hopefully your not feeling skewered in the process!

All that to say, we are planning a big Release Party for both DVD’s–thinking November. Anyone interested in coming? When this project is over and available, we need to have a SERIOUS, SERIOUS, SERIOUS celebration!

Do any of you ever get hyper focused on something, and then you look at the clock and realize it’s 2:43am!!! I don’t do this very often. That’s usually Brian. But tonight, or should I say this morning, I am the loser b/c my kids are going to totally take advantage of this when they wake up! So that’s why I’m blogging now—because I’m probably going to look and think like a zombie in a few hours!

If you didn’t catch the front page of the Business Section in Friday’s paper, here is the link to our article! It’s titled “Photographers Rise to the Top Gives Message of Hope“. Isn’t that a great title! Especially for the Business Section! A couple details are a little off, but we’ll go with it! I was overwhelmed at what Dan, the editor, decided to focus on. I’ll let you read it for yourself. Since Friday, I have received numerous emails from men and women who have experienced similar experiences that the article highlighted, and it’s been a honor to read their stories.

Here’s some more fun news! On Wednesday this week I’m going to release the dates for fall photography workshops, so be sure to check in and be ready to sign up! I’m so excited at how the last couple details are falling into place! The price is going to be $450. Why more? As much as I loved doing it in our home before, it was a bit rough on the kids. So I’ve found a new location that is perfect! (I apologize for the raise in price due to these extra costs) Also, the workshops have been for women, but if I have enough men (10-12), I would be more than happy to have one just for guys or maybe we could mix one up…not sure…probably to late right now.

So I’m going to stop now because I’m afraid that I don’t know what I’m saying any more with how tired I am! And I need to get a serious nap in because our good friend, Dane Sanders from CA, is here tonight! And then Mike Larson and his beautiful wife come later in the week! It may just be one of those 3am every night type of weeks. Blogs should be interesting if that’s the case. If you want to see a great video, check out what Mike Larson did recently! It’s great!