Posts Tagged ‘Photo Coaching’

June 1st, 2009

Workshop Results! Be Inspired By What These Ladies Captured!

Here comes the post you’ve been waiting for! Enough about us, and what we were teaching!

Let’s see the beautiful RESULTS the Discovery Workshop ladies captured!

As you know from reading about our Portrait Day in Stinson Beach and the Photo Coaching Day, the ladies were asked to capture a myriad of different shots. I asked those that were comfortable to send me one or two of their favorites. Some are from the Stinson Beach Shoot, and the rest are when they worked on specific Photo Coaching techniques with a couple or family. Be inspired friends! These ladies went for it and did an AMAZING job! Most of them have websites or blogs, so when you have time make you sure you enjoy all the new connections of their work! Just the other day, a woman told me how one of her closest friends came from meeting her on this blog. Isn’t that cool. Don’t be shy, comment on each other’s blogs and let them know you are behind them too!

Susanne from San Diego sent me this beautiful shot of Matt and Laura. Two things strike me about this image. The sweetness of their connection and the tones of blue. Susanne, I love that you had them on the blue steps. It works so well with the blue tones Laura was wearing from her scarf to her jeans. All the toning contributes to how sweet this image is.

And look at what Susanne captured from the Stinson Beach Portrait Shoot. Don’t you love the catch light in her eyes, the buttery blurred background. It’s gorgeous!

Alex was teamed up with Susanne, and I love how a different eye, different photographer, is inspired to capture something TOTALLY different of the same beautiful woman. We have two different set ups but both images show us an inner strength that this woman possesses. What else do you feel like their images share? Don’t you love the dog! :) (Alex, you were so brave to share your image, and I’m so glad you did! exhale)

This was Alex’s couple shot from our Photo Coaching Day. I love the raw emotion on her face! Look at how Alex framed the shot too. We have a beautiful blurred steeple in the background, a tree in the opposite corner, you get the sense that this couple is at a special place.

Same couple but different photographer. This image was taken by Annie. Don’t you love how both these images capture totally different parts of the couple’s relationship?! Beautiful job Annie!

It’s great seeing Janine’s version of the same moment from above. Little more blur, choice of making it a horizontal shot. Same moment but both photographers were drawn to focus on something slightly different.

This is from Janine’s Stinson Beach Portrait shoot. There is something so mysterious and strikingly beautiful in this image. Wonderful job Janine. From the brief conversations I had with this lovely woman, I think you did an amazing job of capturing the depth to her spirit.

Kathleen was partnered up with Janine, and it’s amazing how the story of this woman shifts with Kathleen’s image. If you remember, the women were asked to begin with an interview process that Rick had demonstrated. With their subject, they decided on what “story” their subject wanted to express. I wish we could share the stories alongside these images. But even without knowing the background, doesn’t Kathleen’s image invite you to the story of this woman’s life?

And then Kathleen nails it on this incredible image from our Photo Coaching day! Great job Kathleen on both!

Annie! This image almost got away from us! I’m so glad it didn’t. You did an incredible job of capturing the kindness inside this woman by the subtle connection she is making with her dog. And the lighting, oh my goodness Annie, the lighting on this image is DIVINE! Wonderful job!

Addie, this image below of Garrett’s son and wife is so enduring. You were both fast and sensitive to capture such an incredible moment. I can’t believe the look on his face. What mother wouldn’t want this expression captured? Amazing job Addie!

On our Photo Coaching day, we had a beautiful mother/daughter team model for us. And I love how Dana not only captured their physical beauty, but she also captured a beautiful moment. Both facial expressions share so much with us about how connected these two are.

Dana, this is an incredible shot from your subject at Stinson Beach. I love that you focused on the hands. If you have a minute, can you tell our readers a little bit of the background story, and why you chose to focus on the hands? I think they would love to hear.

Sharon, there is so much depth to this single image. This one image makes me want to know this person, makes me want to ask them questions about themselves. Your focus is incredibly crisp, and I love how you blurred AND blasted out the background. It works so well as a BW. Beautiful job.

And being the talented portrait photographer that you already are, of course you would capture something this magical. Again, AMAZING Sharon. What mother wouldn’t love to have this?

Caryle was one of our Running on Empty Winners. What an amazing gift to have her with us. She has an incredible eye. Look at this beautiful image that she captured of the same mom from above. Mom is so soft in how she holds herself and her little one. And the blurred, soft green background helps us feel it even more.

Caryle, this is a powerful image. Just powerful. This was what Carlye shot from our Stinson Beach shoot. And Carlye, if you don’t mind I’d love to ask you the same question I asked Dana. Can you share with us a little background on why you chose to focus on the tools and hands? Readers would love to know!

Okay, Garrett, did you freak out when you saw this image? Oh my goodness! I LOVE this image of Garrett and his son. The talented photographer behind the camera on this was Carrie, another one of our Running on Empty Winners. Carrie, what a gift you gave to Garrett’s family. Their smiles, I feel like they are so relaxed and not performing for you but allowing you in. What a difference that makes when capturing a family. Kudos to you. They obviously felt safe with you as the photographer.

And if the image above didn’t blow you away, this one from Stinson Beach will! Look at this AMAZING shot that Carrie captured of her subject. I look at this image, the energy from the woman, her silver hair, the barn like opening, and I want to hear ALL her stories.

Here it comes again. That powerful perspective shift. One photographer sees one thing. Another photographer sees something else, and they BOTH take your breath away. They both tell a story of depth. Elizabeth captured this image below. And I cannot express how powerful this image feels. There is something about this woman, she’s relaxed in the image, not stressed, not performing for Elizabeth…she’s at peace with herself, and it rings loud and clear through the image. And then I love the white top, the silver hair and the white ropes underneath her arms. ALL of it works so well!

Elizabeth not only captured powerful images at Stinson, but she also knocked it out of the park on the Photo Coaching day. Look at BOTH their expressions. What a moment. What life and pure joy. Elizabeth, you are so talented (in so many freaking ways!).

And then I came to this image, and I started to cry. Jeannie captured this image of Garrett’s family, and guess who makes me want to cry. If you guessed Garrett’s wife, you were right. She looks so filled up and in love with her three men that it brings tears to my eyes. Jeannie was able to capture a single moment, a fleeting moment, that lives and resides in the depths of all mothers. Everyone is surrounded by love, but Garrett’s wife, she is feeling it and at the same time so much of the source from where all the love comes from. Amazing Jeannie, truly, utterly, amazing.

Lauren was one of the subjects that our ladies worked with at Stinson Beach. This man is amazing. He doesn’t let age slow him down whether that means triathlons or bouldering rocks. I love how wide Jeannie went on this shot of him. It shows me that he is a man who overcomes. He does not waste time being afraid of mountains, no matter how high.

Christene and Jeannie were partners at Stinson Beach. Christene took her time with Lauren and captured a completely different image, yet one that shares a similar story of strength, joy and defiance. If Lauren was your dad, wouldn’t you LOVE to have this image of him?

And Christene, oh my goodness Christene. Did you Photo Coach this and set it up? It’s almost to good to be true. I see it on the cover of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog for Easter! You did so good on this image of the kids. So incredibly great!

Have you seen a much better photo of “boys” than this image? Tracy, I have to ask you the same thing! Did you Photo Coach this shot and set it up? I LOVE that one is looking out the window doing his own thing, and wild boy is leaping toward you! It’s the best!

The legend of Stinson Beach says that this guy has been surfing Stinson’s waves for thirty years! It was a cold and rainy day when we did our Stinson photo shoot, but I love that Tracy encouraged this guy to get out his surfboard. To capture who this man is and what he has been about, it seems like a surf board is very appropriate! Great composition Tracy!

And then we have the talented Tracie with an “ie” ending. :) Look at this incredible image she captured. I LOVE the rich and vibrant green grass all around them, the total joy on her face, and his hand…his hand is so tender yet strong and in total adoration of her. Tracie, in one image, you captured so much. Beautiful!

And here she does it again! This is Tracie’s subject from Stinson Beach. A man with a hundred stories to share and energy that is contagious. Tracie, would you mind sharing a little back story on who your subject was? This image is so striking. Did he want to be alive and happy in the image, or did you just capture it when you saw it come out? I also love your composition on this and how you broke it into thirds.

Cathy, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this image of Matt and Laura. I love how he is whispering in her ear, and what is bubbling out of her. I love the angle from which you shot it. It’s incredibly flattering of Laura and her gorgeous smile. This is an image I would love to have of me and Brian. Well done Cathy! Laura must love you for this!

And I know you gained points with this family! Cathy, what an incredible moment. These are not easy shots to grab! If you haven’t tried this shot, set it up with your husband or friend and give it a shot. To capture the feet in the air, wide smile, hair flying and the height of the toss…yeah, Cathy rocked this! Great job!

Same little boy from above, but Katie’s captured another side of his personality. Look at those eyes. So precious. Whenever I’m doing a shoot with a family, I try to capture as many sides of the kids as I can. A smile or moment of laughter is only a part of who the kids are. And when my clients look at my shots, I want them to say “Oh my goodness, that is totally my little boy when he’s being sneaky or thoughtful or mischievous!” Katie, you gave that gift to the family with this image.

The image below is from Katie’s Stinson Beach shoot. I looked at this when Katie first emailed it to me, and I thought ‘What is this woman’s story! I want to know?’ There are so many clues in this single image from how she styled her hair, to her choice of earrings to the vibrant, rich blue cloth. Katie, is it okay to have you share a little with us? This image is so intriguing!

Jenny was AMAZING at the Discovery Workshop. She just had a baby boy, and coming from Seattle to San Francisco was one of her first real outings with her little one. And then to put nursing, sleeping schedules, and hormones on top of all that. Yet, she did it. And she seemed to being soaking it all in taking a window of time out for herself. What I’m trying to say is that she was my hero that weekend. It’s so hard to do something for yourself in the first six months that your baby is born. And I applaud her for doing that. On top of all that, she captured this quiet moment of Genie. This my friends is Genie! My GENIE! “My little Genie” who makes so much of Me Ra Koh Photography, Inc. happen. This image captures how kind Genie is, how sensitive she is to details whether it’s the fragrant rose or one of our brides.

But she’s not just sweet! :) She is daring, powerful and strong! Chelsie, our high school Senior who skipped her prom for the workshop, captured this FANTASTIC shot of Genie. This is SO Genie too! And Chelsie, you did such a great job with composition and lighting. I love how the light is illuminating Genie’s arms. Chelsea, you have to tell us how it felt to take this picture. Have you ever taken a nude shot before? Was this Genie’s idea or your idea? Was it a little nerve wrecking? What were the challenges you ran into b/c of the simple fact that it was a nude shot? Share, share, share!

And then this images makes you exhale. Wendy captured this soft, beautiful image. Even though “soft” comes to mind, there is this powerful strength in their relationship that I see demonstrated. Don’t you think? The image has incredible depth to it. Wonderful job Wendy.

Rick snuck himself in and got a portrait shot done. And Wendy is the photographer on this too. Wendy, I’m really proud of you b/c sometimes it can be tougher to photograph a photographer! But you did an amazing job all the same. What’s interesting is that I see a bit of your personality in both of these images Wendy. You have such a quiet, rich spirit about you, and I don’t think it’s a mistake that you captured this in all three people.

That my friends is just a taster of the AMAZING images the workshop attendees captured. Aren’t these women incredible!!

They took their cameras and didn’t hold back one bit!

Even when we invited them to JUMP! :)

To all the Discovery Ladies, it was a honor to have you all invest time, money and most of all, yourself in our weekend together. The four of us came away transformed and inspired by all of you. Thank you for not holding back, for jumping, for trusting, and for setting aside time to Discover the Artist Within Yourself and the World Around You. May our time together, “a-ha” moments, laughter and confidence building multiply and multiply as you continue to run after your dreams.

Don’t ever stop running after those dreams. These images are proof enough that the world NEEDS you to express your art and what you see.

All our love,

Me Ra, Brian, Rick and Garrett

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Tomorrow we announce the THREE LUCKY winners of the new Sony Alpha DSLR’s! Don’t miss it! You may be one!

Our Refuse to Say Cheese DVD series are now AWARD WINNING! Read the press release HERE! If you haven’t ordered your own copy yet, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and , and our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the titles of your choice!

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May 28th, 2009

Photo Coaching: Helping Your Subjects Relax in Front of the Camera!

As we said our goodbyes to the family this weekend, the mother of the groom gave me the most amazing compliment I’ve ever received. She reached out her hands to me and said, “When you were near me with the camera, I felt beautiful. I wanted my picture to be taken because of how you made me feel. You made me feel at such ease. You and Brian were not only the photographers, but you became a part of our family. Thank you for making the experience of being photographed so wonderful.”

This is a woman who has had her picture taken hundreds of times. I was speechless. I was so moved, I couldn’t help but cry. The mother of the groom experienced what we work so hard at. She experienced safety. She experienced herself wanting to be photographed. In the midst of all the craziness a four day event can bring, in the midst of a big black camera pointing at her all the time, she felt beautiful.

It’s one thing to photograph someone, but to make them feel beautiful in front of the camera…that is our goal and a whole different ball game. This is where the term Photo Coaching comes into play.

Day Three of the Discovery Workshop: Photo Coaching: Helping Your Subjects Relax in Front of the Camera!

You ready?

The way I, Rick, Garrett, and Brian built the Discovery Workshop was so every day would build on itself. Day One: was Self Portrait focused. It was abstract and pushed the ladies outside of their comfort zone on many levels. Day Two with Rick became a little more concrete, but Rick and his work still lives in that abstract land. That’s why we love him. :) And, we wanted all the Self Discovery stuff from the first day to simmer as they worked with their Stinson Beach models. Day Three was coming into the end of our time together and focusing on the practical techniques and tips to lighting, branding, but most importantly, helping your clients relax in front of the camera.

Brian and I showed the women how we model our ideas to our clients when we’re working with them. We give them different ideas and then those ideas often evolve into feeling relaxed in front of the camera. To tell our clients “just go ahead, ignore me and be yourself”…that hasn’t ever worked well for us.

We try to take the pressure off them by involving ourselves As you can see below, Brian totally gets into it. He gets so into it that he starts trying to be Mr. Romantic with me, and I start to freak out b/c I feel like he is not staying focused, and so the story goes. He kisses me, I push him away. Our clients laugh, I get embarrassed. I hit him. He says “ouch” when it didn’t hurt…you get the picture. :)

Part of what Brian and I are doing is entertaining our clients, drawing the nervous attention away from them. I think the same entertainment dynamic happened with the women attendees. These next few shots are great! Brian and I especially love making people laugh when we teach, and seeing these shots made my day!

We’ve had a lot of Mother/Daughter teams come through our workshops. It’s an amazing way for them to spend the weekend together. Addie and her daughter, Chelsea, took our first workshop over a year ago. They were back for more!

Here is Addie cracking up. And below Addie is her daughter Chelsea!

FYI, Chelsea missed her Senior Prom to attend this workshop. Is she AMAZING or what! She is going to blow her clients away! Can you imagine being 18 and already dialed into your talent and dreams?

Photography Workshop for Women

Brian and I taught and modeled over twenty of our Photo Coaching Strategies for Weddings and Portrait Shoots. After lunch we brought in seven or eight families with children and half a dozen couples. The attendees had the assignment of working with both a family and a couple and implementing 3-4 of the Photo Coaching Strategies we taught. Their amazing results from Stinson Beach and Photo Coaching goes live in the next couple days!

What do I mean by Photo Coaching?

Almost two years ago, Brian and I were having a heart to heart talk with each other about our work. Our work really isn’t “photojournalism”. The ceremony, toasts, cake cutting, etc is photo-journalistic, but the images we showcase on our website aren’t from photojournalism. Even though the word “photojournalism” is a buzz word in the industry, truth be told, we have never been flies on the wall. It just doesn’t fit our personalities. Brian and I talk with our clients, we model ideas for them, we make fools of ourselves, we compete for the best shot, and we even get into little arguments in front of them (and then we reassure them that we’ve been in marriage counseling for 15 years and married for 13 yrs. We have the tools to get this worked out fast. :) ) Our clients love it. As I said above, it takes the nervous attention off them, and they feel more engaged with us.

But here is another piece to helping people relax in front of the camera. This is probably the most important piece of all. Whether you have an assistant, shoot with your spouse or by yourself, everyone can do this.

When Brian and I are shooting an event, we are always smiling. No matter how stressed, no matter how tired or hungry–we are smiling. One of our biggest trademarks is the fact that our clients and their guests feel like we were enjoying ourselves as much as everyone else. We looked happy whenever they noticed us. We look like we are enjoying our work NOT being the “serious” photographer but enjoying our work, in essence, enjoying the process of capturing them. Brian and I are very intentional about this. A stressful face can spread negative energy like wild fire. But if the family and guests see that you are always upbeat and enjoying your time with them, they are drawn to you, feel safe with you. This energy pulls them to you, and they find themselves wanting to be photographed by you. We have yet to leave a wedding where people didn’t share these feelings with us. And I’m not saying that to toot our horn, but to show how hard we work at this one piece throughout the whole event. And how this one piece pays off so much. This, if nothing else, is our signature emotion that we leave them with. And I can’t tell you how many referrals we’ve received b/c this was the emotion former clients communicated to their friends. You could know all the Photo Coaching techniques and tips in the world, but if you don’t look like your enjoying yourself (spider bite or no spider bite :) ), none of it matters. Your clients will not fully relax with you.

Does that make sense? Can you tell I’m passionate about the topic? :) Back to the workshop tie up.

Cavallo Point was an amazing setting for our workshop to begin and end. When we first started publicizing the workshop, we had the image of the line of rocking chairs on the front porch.

But I love looking at this image below even more! The women having lunch together, filling the rocking chairs, laughing and making friendships for a lifetime.

Now, I have a question for the ladies of the Discovery Workshop,

I came across two photos that Garrett took when I wasn’t around. Both of these images are of Brian. Can anyone please tell me what the heck Brian was doing?!

This second one especially gets me. He said he was doing “ballet” for you during the “flash techniques” focus group. That YOU needed him to do this? Is that true! And was this helpful for all of you? :) I don’t think you needed him to do this. I think he willingly jumped at an opportunity to dance for you.

But Brian’s not the only one I caught! Garrett, you are BUSTED! :)

We have TWO SPOTS left for the Seattle Workshop in two weeks! The Early Bird Discount is over, but you can still grab one of the last two seats! Hope to see you there for an AMAZING weekend! For details and registration, CLICK HERE!

***The Women’s World magazine/Sony Camera Contest winners will be announced this Tuesday, JUNE 2nd!!! Don’t miss it! You may have one a beautiful, new, Sony Alpha DSLR camera my friend!!!***

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March 31st, 2009

Thai Pancakes and Gibbon Apes: Day 2 of Our Homestay!

Brian and I have been reading some of the submissions as they come in, and we are both moved by your honesty and passion. I’m also proud of those who are nominating themselves. As women, we can struggle with self worth and the idea of deserving a gift. Whether you’ve suffered trauma or not, if your a mom, you deserve a break and a gift. :) Amen?! For anyone who missed yesterday’s post, make sure you enter someone you love (including yourself) in the Running on Empty Contest before Wednesday!

Want to hear about the rest of our Homestay in Ban Tale Nok?

We woke up a few times the second morning. The first time was at 5:30am when the rooster crowed and crowed AND crowed. When he was done the neighbors rooster crowed and crowed and crowed. And when all the roosters had their final say for the morning, we woke up again at 7am with the Gibbons singing their beautiful songs. Every living thing was alive in the early hours of the morning. Day two started with a vibrant energy!

Mr. Hem’s wife invited us over for breakfast and taught us how to make our own Roti Thai pancakes.

Blaze loves Roti pancakes and didn’t waste any time getting started. You’d love them too: fried dough with condensed milk, sugar, chocolate and sliced bananas on top.

For all my Photo Recipe lovers, I shot the above image with the Sony DSLR-A900 at an aperture of 2.8. My ISO was high b/c the kitchen didn’t have a lot of light. My ISO was at 1250. My shutter speed was 125 or 1/125th of a second. Metered on Blaze’s face.

After breakfast, we were given a tour of the village’s Animal Rescue Shelter. This set up is awesome. When monkeys or apes are injured, the village has set up the means to help rehabilitate them so they can enter back into the wild.

As you know from past posts, it’s rare to see a Gibbon ape at our house. We hear them, but rarely see them. Well guess what! The village had a handful of beautiful Gibbons!

We have a couple white Gibbons living in our backyard! We’ve spotted them two or three times, but it’s always from a distance. It was AWESOME to see the white ones up close. They are just beautiful!

Not only do Gibbon apes have amazing songs, but they also do the most incredible acrobatics with their long, strong arms. I could watch them for hours and not ever get bored. But watch out for those long arms, they swiped the sun glasses right off a man’s head! Lickety split! His glasses were gone! They can reach through the cage a lot farther than you’d ever guess! You can see how they are spying on Brian and Blaze, waiting for the perfect moment to grab that video camera. :)

After the Gibbons, we went on to more activities! The day had only begun. One activity was meeting the beautiful soap making women and being taught their trade. The other activity was learning to palm weave. Both of these experiences were amazing and could be their own blog post! I’ll start with the palm weaving and see how far I get.

This amazing woman taught how to palm weave.

She will get an order for 400-500 sets of palm weaving that becomes a bungalow roof. Have you ever been to Mexico or Hawaii and had a bungalow bar on the beach? Next time see if the roof is made up of palm weaving.

She earns 5 Thai Baht for every length she does. See the piece on the top of the pile? How the colors are brown and green? For that whole thing, she is paid 5 Baht. It’s mind boggling. In US dollars that conversion is 14 cents.

For almost two hours, she sat with us and the kids and taught us how to do her trade. This woman didn’t speak a word of English, but she had such a heart of gold in wanting Pascaline and Blaze to learn for themselves.

Blaze loved her. The two of them spent almost an hour together working on one piece. He kept asking her questions, and she would just smile at him and nod–sometimes saying “Wow!” or give him a thumbs up with a BIG smile. Oh, Blaze soaked every bit in. They were total buds.

With the help of our friend, we all finished our own pieces.

In the evening, some of the staff from Andaman Discoveries came by to teach the youth how to make compost for organic gardening. AD is doing an AMAZING job with the villages, on so many levels!

Pascaline and I joined the village women and learned how to shell cashews. The village women do this every night. I asked them what they like to talk about together. They said men and how to make more money. Women are women! :)

For example, I was making fun of Brian behind the camera. And even though these two women don’t speak a word of English, they totally got was I was saying. When someone is crazy in the head, Thai people call them “Ding Dongs.” Brian said we use the same word in English. Husbands are husbands (and often Ding Dongs), no matter how small your village is.

Aside from the occasional (HUGE) beetles wedged between the curtains, we had an AMAZING time! Some Thai people fry these beetles and eat them with chocolate sauce. This is a tough one for us to grasp. :)

We want to thank AD and all the villagers of Ban Talae Nok for welcoming us into their homes. The experience was life changing to say the least!

And a HUGE thank you and BIG HUG to the sweetest, most savvy Thai woman you’ll ever meet!

Her name is Tu, and she was our translator the whole time. She owns her own restaurant in Thailand. And when we were done with our homestay, she took us back to her restaurant and gave us Thai cooking lessons!

It was AWESOME! We love you Tu and miss you terribly!!

Brian tried to do some Photo Coaching Tu by teaching her how to lean forward to elongate your neck for pictures. She almost did it as good as me. :)

Maybe if you had blue eyes Tu, it would be easier. ;) (little inside joke we have with Tu)

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WIN A SONY CAMERA!! It’s a NATIONWIDE CONTEST that Woman’s World and Sony are sponsoring with us! For details, CLICK HERE !

Register for our Upcoming Discovery Workshop ! Ladies Only! :) CLICK HERE to get your spot!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!

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March 29th, 2009

Change Her Day and Nominate Her for the Running on Empty Contest: THREE Ways to Win!!

I’ve got to take a jungle segway here and start our Running on Empty Contest for the May Discovery Workshop in San Francisco! Remember…the Discovery Workshop in San Francisco! :)

We’ve been so occupied with life in Thailand that we haven’t mentioned it much on the blog, but ladies, the dates are coming!! The countdown for the workshop has begun! As of today, we have 32 days until the workshop starts! Woo hoo!!!

We are so excited about this workshop, and more than ever Brian and I are excited to start the Running on Empty Contest! We have GREAT news! There are THREE ways to win this time!

We’re going to do what we always do. We’ll have you nominate a friend, wife, sister, or yourself (don’t be shy–your worth winning!) in the comments of TODAY’S post. BUT, you MUST include a contact email in their nomination. If there is no contact email, the nomination will be DISQUALIFIED. Please don’t miss this important detail! We want the winners to be able to come, but if we can’t get a hold of them or you, we’re stuck. So please, please, please include their contact email or yours in their nomination.

Now to explain the good news! One of our former workshp attendees felt inspired to donate funds for two women to attend the workshop with a matching grant. This means, we have the funds to pay for HALF of the workshop for TWO women! Isn’t that an incredibly generous gift, especially in crazy economic times! This former attendee has a heart of gold and believes that this workshop will be amazing. This is part of what she emailed me;

“I’ve been blessed enough to be able to do take your workshop…What touched me most to do it is knowing people couldn’t afford it, but obviously want to go as badly as I do!”

We can’t thank her enough for her generosity.

The beautiful bottom line is that we have three prizes!

One woman will win the full enchilada! Her workshop tuition for three full days with me, Brian, Rick Chapman and Garrett Burdick will be COMPLETLY paid for! Garrett and his lovely wife have offered a spare bedroom in their house if the winner needs a place to stay. And you get to ride with Garrett everyday to the workshop! The Sonoma Workshp ladies will all vouche for what an AWESOME guy Garrett is. If the winner lives local, but one of the other two winners don’t, Garrett is more than happy to offer his spare bedroom to you! (thank you Garrett!)

Two runner ups will be given the opportunity to come to the workshop for HALF OFF and have this angel of a woman pay for your OTHER half!

Three women win! I’ve never been so excited to do a Running on Empty contest! We get to have THREE winners!

If you are new to our blog and not sure who this contest is for, I’ll explain below. If you already know the drill, nominate someone you love in the comments below. We are going to close submissions in 48 hours. So make sure you nominate someone today! We want to announce the winners by the end of the week!

For more details on the Discovery Workshp see below!

Official closing time for submissions is in 48 hours, Wednsday at 6am, PST!

Who is the Running on Empty contest for?

Here’s how it works! In honor of how wonderful moms are and all that they do and give, Brian and I have reserved three spots in the Discovery Workshop for a special mom YOU nominate! That’s right, one woman will get a free pass to the workshop. And two other women will recieve a matching grant that pays for half of the tuition!

To nominate a mom, you must post a comment in today’s post (before the 48 hour deadline) that tells us about the mom who you think deserves a big break in life! If your a mom, you’re probably laughing because we ALL deserve a serious break. But the moms we’re looking for are the ones who have had a ridiculous amount of stress in their life whether from trauma, finances or things just not going her way this year.

She is a mom in your life that needs a serious blessing to come her way. She needs a surprise giving her empty tank some fuel. If she is a woman that has miscarried, she is still a mom in my mind b/c I know her heart became a mother’s heart the moment she found out she was pregnant. I’m proud to say that our previous winners stepped out on a limb and nominated themselves. Take courage in them and feel free to nominate yourself if you know you need a serious break. Who knows, you may have your house remodeled by Oprah! :)

We’ll collect all the nominees, have a committee vote, and then announce the winner in this week! Nominate her today and turn her day around! Oh, wait! Don’t forget to let her know you’ve nominated her too! If I was a mom nominated I’d love to know my friends were thinking of me whether I won or not!

Is the Discovery Workshop right for your nominee?

This will be a three day workshop, instead of our normal two day. Unlike our other workshps, we are asking women to come who have a good sense of camera basics. If you’ve watched both or can watch both Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box, prior to the workshop, you could do this workshop with ease! We are going to go deep into the heart of discovering our artist within. We’ll be working with award winning, Rick Chapman on portraiture. Brian and I will teach on Photo Coaching: how to help people relax in front of the camera. Garrett Burdick will help lead focus groups on topics like; difficult lighting, metering, marketing, getting a business off the ground.

All meals are covered in the workshop tuition! We start with a wine/appetizer Meet and Greet at Rick and Garrett’s beautiful, new, San Rafael Studio! And we spend the next couple days at Cavallo Point and the beautiful landscape of Stinson beach!

To see the Full Schedule, CLICK HERE!

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March 11th, 2009

Unexpected Meeting with a Hawskbill Sea Turtle!

It’s 9:30pm here, and I just got back from a full day of scuba diving off the reefs of Koh Phi Phi (an island that is one of the top ten places in the world to scuba dive). Brian and I are going through the scuba certification process, and today was my turn to leave him with the kids. :)

Picture a two story rustic boat, blue skies, full sun, cool breeze, turquoise waters, naps on the two hour boat ride there, naps on the two hour boat ride back :) , fresh pineapple, green curry over rice for lunch, AND no kids pulling on my shirt from 8am to 8pm. Awwwwwwwww.

In the middle of my second dive, we were 12 meters down (36 feet). Out of nowhere, I had an unexpected meeting with a beautiful sea turtle! He was magical! A real life Hawksbill sea turtle!

(photo taken by Sandra Edwards)

This big guy was almost as long as Blaze is in height! I couldn’t help but follow after him. I was mesmerized, and for a brief moment, nothing else mattered expect to follow the sea turtle. Honestly, seeing this creature glide through the water left me changed. I can’t quite explain it in words yet, but I had to share.

Brian and I are also learning A LOT about underwater photography! Our scuba instructor also shoots professionally underwater (what a coincidence, huh!), and he’s introduced us to a couple other underwater photographers. The whole art of underwater photography is completely fascinating! The white balance challenges alone get me all excited. Did you know that the deeper you go in water, the more color you lose? First you lose red tones, then you begin to lose yellows, and so forth–so you have to adjust your white balance continuously. Many underwater photographers shoot with a red filter to compensate for the loss of red tones. Ohhh, my mind is exploding with ALL that I’m learning about underwater photography! It’s a whole new world to shoot with all new rules and tricks!

And to top it all off…I came back and heard that Blaze swam on his own for the FIRST time today! What a big day for our family!

I am completely exhausted but had to share my unexpected meeting with all of you. It was to magical to keep to myself!

Glad you all liked the Back Lighting photo recipe and photo coaching yesterday! I’ll try to answer your questions tomorrow! Off to bed to dream of sea turtles (so much better than Flying Termites!).

xoxoxo,

m

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WIN A SONY CAMERA!! It’s a NATIONWIDE CONTEST that Woman’s World and Sony are sponsoring with us! For details, CLICK HERE !

Register for our Upcoming Discovery Workshop ! Ladies Only! :) CLICK HERE to get your spot!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!

read more
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March 10th, 2009

Photo Recipe for Back Lighting at The End of the World!

Over the weekend, we did a sunset snorkeling adventure and ended our evening on a deserted beach. It felt as if we reached the end of the world.

What would you do if you felt like you’d reached the end of the world?

We felt like flying!

Photo Recipe for all you recipe lovers! How did I capture this back lit shot at sunset?

This is an image that is tough to shoot unless your willing to shoot in Manuel. If you are, good for you! Manuel isn’t as scary as people make it out to be! Learn more about it in our Beyond the Green Box DVD , as well as these fun steps below!

First things first! I dropped my ISO down to 200 for rich color saturation. I tried an ISO at 100 but I needed a bit more light since it was sunset, so I had to bump up to 200.

Instead of having a wide open aperture, like I normally do, my F-stop was 7.1. Brian and I often shoot at a 2.8 F-stop or lower b/c we love that yummy, buttery blurred background feel. But I didn’t want the background blurred for this shot. I wanted some detail in the islands, the longtail boat floating off to the side, the patterns in the sand and the soft waves rolling in and out. A higher f-stop gives me more detail for all these things.

Now the Manuel part. I haven’t set my Shutter Speed yet b/c I use the light meter scale inside the camera to tell me where to set it at. But in this case, the scale is going to be blinking off the chart in the positive side b/c my camera thinks I have way to much light. Why would that be?

The first step was to meter on the kids to see how SLOW my shutter speed needed to be to illuminate them without blasting out the background that they would be running to. Once I found the right shutter speed (by bringing that pointer on the scale to 0-1), I can reframe and shoot the image I want. But I have to remember that my light meter will freak out when I reframe b/c it will pick up on the intense sunset light and think I need less light, thus, a faster shutter speed. But what would happen if I sped up my shutter speed?

If you guessed silhouette your right! For this shot, I didn’t want a silhouette, I wanted the kids to glow instead of be dark. I really wanted the kids to have that yellow, back lit glow.

If your reading this and still wondering where your light meter scale (or Exposure Compensation Scale) is in your camera, look through your viewfinder as if your going to take a picture, and you’ll see the scale at the bottom of the frame. Adjust your Shutter Speed, and you’ll see the pointer move up or down the scale. Voila! If you love back lit “glowing” type images but don’t know how to capture them, you better check out our Discovery Workshop in San Fran the first weekend of May! We’ll be doing a “hands on” Focus Group designated to Back Lit images! Read all about it here! To register, CLICK HERE!

“xtra! xtra!” Photo Coaching Tip while we’re at it!

I had the kids stand still while I metered on them, and then when I said “GO!” I let them take off and fly. We did this two or three times until I had the metering where I wanted it–and caught the kids at the distance I was envisioning. I had asked them to start behind me and run past me while I shoot away, but by the time they went past me they were drifting to far apart. So it worked better to have them start running side by side–in front of me. We all had fun doing these shots for our own reasons, and I quit when I noticed they were sick of it. :) It’s always important to know when to quit as a mom with the camera. Don’t want your kids resenting you in their old age! :)

Give me some feedback from my beginning shooters, was this photo recipe to technical?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WIN A SONY CAMERA!! It’s a NATIONWIDE CONTEST that Woman’s World and Sony are sponsoring with us! For details, CLICK HERE !

Register for our Upcoming Discovery Workshop ! Ladies Only! :) CLICK HERE to get your spot!

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February 19th, 2009

Top Eleven Highlights to WPPI 2009!

The TOP ELEVEN Highlights to WPPI 2009!

1. Reunion Time!

We’ve gone to WPPI for the last three years, and every year it feels like a bigger and better reunion with friends you only see once a year. My dear friend, Sara France, and the awesome Robert Evans, hosted the best Photography Mentor/GOBee Bag party yet! It was Sunday night, and the BEST way to kick of the whole tradeshow week! Thanks you two for all the hard work that goes into throwing such a great party! And thanks for making it open to so many people. The heart of you two is always wanting to invite people in, and it’s a very cool thing! Check out Robert’s Photography Mentor site and Sara’s NEW, AWESOME blog!

2. Master Class Blast!

Our Master Class on Photo Coaching was a BLAST! Bronson took a ton of images that I haven’t even had a chance to look at, but I’ll post some up soon. We had a full class, and the energy in the room was awesome! Thanks to every one who signed up for our Master Class. It was a honor to spend those hours with you! So many of you approached us over the next two days and thanked us for the class. Your feedback meant the world! Thank you!! I also have to do a special SHOUT OUT to Roxie at Pixel 2 Canvas! She and Curt made these AMAZING canvases of our work and a HUGE, beautiful banner outside our door.

The whole thing looked amazing! Roxie, send me our photo so I can post it up here! Thank you to Pixel 2 Canvas from the bottom of our heart! (And thanks to the lovely ladies who helped in the background! You three were dolls!)

3. Stealing the Mic!

Tuesday afternoon, Brian and I did a talk at the Pictage booth with Denis Reggie.

For those of you who don’t know, Denis Reggie has been a hero to us since we first took his workshop in the early days (amazing workshop for wedding photographers). To be invited to speak with Denis was a wonderful honor. (but I soon realized that I had to GRAB the microphone from the man to get a word in edge wise! :) ) Thanks to Mike in Hawaii from Mango Tree Photography for capturing this great image!

4. Heartfelt Dinner

Later that night we had a special dinner with a handful of Pictage leaders. Half way through the dinner, I convinced Mike Colon to switch places with me at the table so I could get to know Joe Buissink better. Joe’s work astounds me and Brian. His images leave us breathless. But his passion for photography is what moves me the most. I lucked out b/c Mike switched places, and I had the most wonderful, heartfelt conversation with Joe. We talked about all the things that are closest to my heart when it comes to being an artist; how do we build more confidence, how does our pain in life affect our art, and a few other wonderful conversations that I’ll share at our Discovery Workshop. Joe, thank you for sharing your heart. My time with you was a definite, unexpected highlight to our week!

5. Brian doing the River Dance!

Pictage hosted a HUGE party at Studio 54 (or 59?) late Tuesday night. I pretty much walked in and in 15 minutes had to turn around and walk out. It was the craziest experience b/c I felt so dizzy inside the club (and I wasn’t drinking :) ). I think my Audio Deficit Disorder played into it b/c my equilibrium was thrown completely off that we had to head out. The moment we walked out the door, and the music was gone, I had my sense of balance back. So Me Ra learned something new. She can’t hang out in loud, and I mean SUPER loud, dance clubs. :) Since the night was young, Brian and I joined up with Airika and Gerald Pope and Katie and Chris Torres and found ourselves at the Nine Fine Irishmen pub where they had a Irish band performing. Brian, being an expert River Dancer (as many of you have come to realize, Brian is an expert on just about every thing), did his river dance with Chris! That was a definite HIGHLIGHT for me. ;)

6. Jeramy and Sharon Showed UP!

Right before WPPI, Jeramy (our token male commenter :) ), emailed us and said he and Sharon were coming to WPPI for the first day! Brian and I were so excited to see them! But we didn’t get done with our speaking sessions and appointments until almost 9:30pm. When we got up to our room that night, we called Jeramy and Sharon. They had changed into their PJ’s and opened a bottle of wine. We asked them if they were up to meeting us for dessert, and so awesome, they totally ditched the bottle of wine and had dessert with us! I laughed so hard that night I almost wet my pants! Thanks you two for coming out! We are so glad we got some time with you both!

7. Workshop Ladies Going for It!

Brian and I also ran into a handful of ladies from our San Diego workshop! These beautiful ladies all came to WPPI together and were having a BLAST! Some of them showed me their photography since they did our workshop, and I was speechless. Totally speechless! I’m so proud of you ladies! And way to go! WPPI is such a great thing for your business! I can’t wait to hear stories of how the week impacted all of YOU!

8. Hearing the NEW news!

We spent a few hours with the awesome founders behind Shoot Dot Edit, the BEST post process company ever! And ladies (and gents!), I’m excited to say that I got the newest scoop that you are going to LOVE! Shoot Dot Edit is now accepting a la carte orders! This means you don’t have to upload a wedding to have them color process your images! You can send them a 100 images from a Portrait Shoot, have them all color balanced, and only pay around $22! It’s INSANE!!! How can you beat that price! And I’m telling you, these guys care about your images as much as you do! We are proof of it! Yeah for the new A La Carte MENU!!! Check it out portrait ladies!

9. All Frozen Pea Jokes

…from my twitter and facebook status! Oh boy, Brian has such a great attitude! :)

10. Family!

We literally ended our time with seeing family! And that was the BEST way to end a great week! Brian’s sister, brother in law, and our niece live in Vegas b/c they are key players to the creative choreography in Le Reve, the Cirque Du Soleil show at the Wynn. Before we headed to the airport yesterday, we got to spend some precious hours with them. Not enough time, not enough. But it was such a wonderful, rich way to end our time! love you guys!

11. Coming Home Means…

We have two days and then we leave for TWO MONTHS to Thailand! Can you believe it?!! We leave with the kids on Saturday to start our adventure of Jungle School in Thailand! Ooooh, we are going to have fun on this blog over the next several weeks!

Honest to goodness, I think this was the best WPPI we’ve ever been too! Every year it gets better and better! Next year, you must be there! Big thanks to Bill, Skip, Shawna and all the those behind the scenes!!

p.s. I didn’t have as much time to follow your comments on the last couple posts. But I’m glad you all had fun with Brian’s “snip-snip” post. That was the talk of the show! :) And we’re all super excited about how the tuition and new Focus Groups meets your needs even more for the Discovery Workshop! Thanks for all the blog comments!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WIN A SONY CAMERA!! It’s a NATIONWIDE CONTEST that Woman’s World and Sony are sponsoring with us! For details, CLICK HERE!

Register for our Upcoming Discovery Workshop! Ladies Only! :) CLICK HERE to get your spot!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!

read more
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February 4th, 2009

The Early Bird Gets the Worm!! :)

Hi ladies! It’s that time!!! The Discovery Workshop is officially open to everyone for Early Bird Registration!! Click Here to REGISTER NOW!

You are going to have not our normal two, but THREE full days together with me, Brian, Rick and Garrett for the San Francisco!!

Here is the schedule of days, times and locations!

Thursday night, April 30th, at 7pm, we will gather together for wine and gourmet pizzas at Rick and Garrett’s hip, new studio on 4th Street in San Rafael. This will be an evening to reunite, relax and get ready for the next three days! (Spouses are invited! That means you, Jeramy! :) )

Friday morning, May 1st, at 10am, we will start our first day at the beautiful Cavallo Point! This gorgeous location is located right under the Golden Gate bridge and couldn’t be more picturesque

and cozy space for a workshop of 30 women.

Right outside our room is an inviting spot for conversation or journaling…

Topic for Day One: Discovering the Artist Within

We know there are a number of business and technical things we could teach on, but as the four of us came together, and discussed our vision for this workshop we agreed that our biggest strengths to offer as a team is our passion and inspiration for being artists…creators of life. The four of us also felt a deep agreement that this passion must first come from within-a deep exploration to knowing oneself. Thus, we start the first day with doing some soul searching, deep sea diving so to speak to Discovering the Artist Within.

Rick and his wife Leslie (an amazing professional dancer),

Garrett, Brian, and myself will be leading the day together. We will have exercises, small group exercises and guided reflection time. This day is about finding the strength within and how this strength sets you apart. Regardless of the economy’s state, we are all given a dream to pursue. This first day is about digging up our dreams and giving them strength. I know it may sound abstract, but if you’ve ever seen the four of us work together you understand how intense and wonderful this first day will be.

Dinner will be at 7pm. Location undecided. But please note, ALL dinners are COVERED in your tuition (except Sunday, see below)!

Saturday morning, May 2nd, we meet at 9:30am at Cavallo Point, and caravan to Rick’s stomping ground: Stinson Beach.

Topic for Day Two: Discovering the Mystery and Beauty within Your Subject: Portraiture with Rick Chapman

For Day Two, we caravan out to Stinson Beach where Rick and his family live. We spend the morning learning from Rick and his powerful, yet sensitive approach to portraiture. Rick has taken numerous portraits of celebrity athletes, people who have had their picture taken hundreds of times. Rick shows us how he makes his connection with clients a new, fresh and intimate time.

After lunch, we will be bringing in 10-15 portrait subjects. The group will break up into smaller groups of 2-3 people. Your group will be given a block of time to practice all that Rick’s taught with your portrait subject. The portrait subjects will be coming from all walks life. Your mission is to capture their spirit by using the tactics and approaches Rick teaches. We will then come back together and share.

A group dinner will be held in Stinson Beach at the local favorite, Sand Dollar!

Sunday morning, May 3rd, at 10am, we are back at the Cavallo Point for our last beautiful day together.

Topic for Day Three: Photo Coaching: Helping Your Clients Relax in Front of the Camera

There is never one way to do things. Rick has a certain way of capturing the human spirit, and Brian and I have a different approach. The more approaches we can teach you, the more prepared you’ll be to work with every type of person!

We spend the first half of the last day learning all about Photo Coaching-the approach Brian and I have to capturing our clients.

Brian and I came up with the term Photo Coaching over a year ago b/c we often feel our clients (family or wedding) need coaching to help them relax in front of the camera. The term has stuck and spread like wild fire! We are so excited to incorporate this subject into a workshop! If you were unable to get a spot in our Master Class at WPPI, you’ll get the full tamale at this workshop! Brian and I are going to pull out ALL the stops as we model, make fools of ourselves, and teach you every tactic we use with our wedding and portrait clients.

The second half and last part of our workshop begins after lunch. We will spend our last few hours discussing the topics we learned over the last three days, doing group exercises, reflection and a couple other things that you have to wait and see. :)

The workshop officially comes to a (sad :( ) ending at 5pm for those of you who need to fly out and get home before Monday morning. Dinner will not be planned or organized.

Oh, I almost forgot! To see a 360 degree view of Cavallo Point, check out this link Garrett provided!

FAQ-Here WE GO!!!

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for women only. Sorry Jeramy. :) It is not a beginner workshop. We expect women to have a good understanding of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. If you’ve attended one of our workshops, your in good shape for coming! We will be discussing composition and the creative process a lot during this workshop. Rick, Garrett, Brian and myself will all be available to answer technical questions, but the focus is not technical.

This workshop is also for women who are wanting to pursue their own photography business or want to strengthen their existing business. As you can see from the topics, we will be unfolding all our tactics behind capturing the images we do of our clients.

This workshop is especially for those who are feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, and in desperate need of creative inspiration and connection with other women who share a similar passion. As we designed and discussed the mission of this workshop, this last group of women were on our hearts the most. We want you to leave filled up and inspired to pursue your dreams that much more!

Will technical subjects be covered?

Of course! While we are not dedicating a few hours to shutter speed or ISO, Rick, Garrett, me and Brian will all be involved in your live shoots/hands on exercises, helping you work through technical difficulties. Our goal is to challenge you on many levels, one of them being technical. This is why the Discovery Workshop is not for beginners. We are going to be building off the technical foundation you already have to get more behind the heart of what your capturing.

What does it cost?

The workshop cost per person is $1499. The Early Bird Special of $1249 starts today!

Can I put a retainer down?

YES! Absolutely! Just remember that this is a retainer not a deposit. This means the retainer is non-refundable under any circumstances. Please be thoughtful about registering b/c we book rooms, airfare and the location space and pay for things up front. Last minute cancellations really hurt the overall workshop. If you decide to put a retainer down, we’re going to consider it as an act of good faith that you will pay the remaining amount. If for some reason you can’t come, we cannot refund the retainer.

The coupon code is the word DISCOVER (all caps). If you are having any problems, we can always take cc via phone. Email Brian at brian@merakoh.com for help.

The Early Bird Special retainer required to reserve your spot is $749. The remaining balance of $500 will due by March 9th 2009.

Airfare

Knowing that women are flying in from everywhere for this workshop, be sure to check out Virgin Air, Alaska and Southwest specials!

Hotel Options

The Cavallo Point has beautiful rooms and the prices range from $200 something up to $500. It’s nice to be on location, but if your looking for something more economical, we have a WIDE range of options. There are too many to list here, so once you register we’ll send you a list of hotels in the area to check out. Price range varies. FYI, Garrett and Rick did suggest the Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley. Take a look at the place. If enough women are interested we could ask them about a group rate. But like I said, there are a LOT of hotel options so no stress.

How do I register?

To register, CLICK HERE!!!

Almost forgot! Meals!

All meals are included in the tuition cost, except for breakfast. Thursday night’s Meet and Greet is also on us. But remember, Sunday night is your own night to head out or hang out with friends from the workshop. We will officially end on Sunday at 5pm.

Promise…

We promise to have lots and lots of stories, laughs and possibly a few tears at this workshop-all signature elements to a Me Ra Koh Workshop! :)

Can’t wait to see you all!

Yeah!!!! Once you’ve registered, head over to our Facebook Group “MeRa Koh Workshops” and let us know your coming! We’re already starting to build community as a group!

xoxo, Me Ra and Brian

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!

read more
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January 27th, 2009

Spilling the Details!

Time to spill ALL the details ladies!

You are going to have three full days together with me, Brian, Rick and Garrett for the San Francisco Discovery Workshop!!

Thursday night, April 30th, at 7pm, we will gather together for wine and gourmet pizzas at Rick and Garrett’s hip, new studio on 4th Street in San Rafael. This will be an evening to reunite, relax and get ready for the next three days! (Spouses are invited! That means you, Jeramy! :) )

Friday morning, May 1st, at 10am, we will start our first day at the beautiful Cavallo Point! This gorgeous location is located right under the Golden Gate bridge and couldn’t be more picturesque

and cozy space for a workshop of 30 women.

Right outside our room is an inviting spot for conversation or journaling…

Topic for Day One: Discovering the Artist Within

We know there are a number of business and technical things we could teach on, but as the four of us came together, and discussed our vision for this workshop we agreed that our biggest strengths to offer as a team is our passion and inspiration for being artists…creators of life. The four of us also felt a deep agreement that this passion must first come from within–a deep exploration to knowing oneself. Thus, we start the first day with doing some soul searching, deep sea diving so to speak to Discovering the Artist Within.

Rick and his wife Leslie (an amazing professional dancer),

Garrett, Brian, and myself will be leading the day together. We will have exercises, small group exercises and guided reflection time. This day is about finding the strength within and how this strength sets you apart. Regardless of the economy’s state, we are all given a dream to pursue. This first day is about digging up our dreams and giving them strength. I know it may sound abstract, but if you’ve ever seen the four of us work together you understand how intense and wonderful this first day will be.

Dinner will be at 7pm. Location undecided. But please note, ALL dinners are COVERED in your tuition (except Sunday, see below)!

Saturday morning, May 2nd, we meet at 9:30am at Cavallo Point, and caravan to Rick’s stomping ground: Stinson Beach.

Topic for Day Two: Discovering the Mystery and Beauty within Your Subject: Portraiture with Rick Chapman

For Day Two, we caravan out to Stinson Beach where Rick and his family live. We spend the morning learning from Rick and his powerful, yet sensitive approach to portraiture. Rick has taken numerous portraits of celebrity athletes, people who have had their picture taken hundreds of times. Rick shows us how he makes his connection with clients a new, fresh and intimate time.

After lunch, we will be bringing in 10-15 portrait subjects. The group will break up into smaller groups of 2-3 people. Your group will be given a block of time to practice all that Rick’s taught with your portrait subject. The portrait subjects will be coming from all walks life. Your mission is to capture their spirit by using the tactics and approaches Rick teaches. We will then come back together and share.

A group dinner will be held in Stinson Beach at the local favorite, Sand Dollar!

Sunday morning, May 3rd, at 10am, we are back at the Cavallo Point for our last beautiful day together.

Topic for Day Three: Photo Coaching: Helping Your Clients Relax in Front of the Camera

There is never one way to do things. Rick has a certain way of capturing the human spirit, and Brian and I have a different approach. The more approaches we can teach you, the more prepared you’ll be to work with every type of person!

We spend the first half of the last day learning all about Photo Coaching–the approach Brian and I have to capturing our clients.

Brian and I came up with the term Photo Coaching over a year ago b/c we often feel our clients (family or wedding) need coaching to help them relax in front of the camera. The term has stuck and spread like wild fire! We are so excited to incorporate this subject into a workshop! If you were unable to get a spot in our Master Class at WPPI, you’ll get the full tamale at this workshop! Brian and I are going to pull out ALL the stops as we model, make fools of ourselves, and teach you every tactic we use with our wedding and portrait clients.

The second half and last part of our workshop begins after lunch. We will spend our last few hours discussing the topics we learned over the last three days, doing group exercises, reflection and a couple other things that you have to wait and see. :)

The workshop officially comes to a (sad :( ) ending at 5pm for those of you who need to fly out and get home before Monday morning. Dinner will not be planned or organized.

Oh, I almost forgot! To see a 360 degree view of Cavallo Point, check out this link Garrett provided!

FAQ–Here WE GO!!!

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for women only. Sorry Jeramy. :) It is not a beginner workshop. We expect women to have a good understanding of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. If you’ve attended one of our workshops, your in good shape for coming! We will be discussing composition and the creative process a lot during this workshop. Rick, Garrett, Brian and myself will all be available to answer technical questions, but the focus is not technical.

This workshop is also for women who are wanting to pursue their own photography business or want to strengthen their existing business. As you can see from the topics, we will be unfolding all our tactics behind capturing the images we do of our clients.

This workshop is especially for those who are feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, and in desperate need of creative inspiration and connection with other women who share a similar passion. As we designed and discussed the mission of this workshop, this last group of women were on our hearts the most. We want you to leave filled up and inspired to pursue your dreams that much more!

What does it cost?

The workshop cost per person is $1499. But we will be offering two specials. Starting tomorrow at 9am PST, we will open registration for all FORMER workshop attendees first. They will have the opportunity to register for the Early Bird Special of $1249. A week from tomorrow, we will open up registration to everyone else for the same price. This special will be extended two more weeks for everyone else. The Early Bird Special will last three weeks total, starting tomorrow. After that, the workshop tuition bumps up to $1499.

Can I put a retainer down?

YES! Absolutely! Just remember that this is a retainer not a deposit. This means the retainer is non-refundable under any circumstances. Please be thoughtful about registering b/c we book rooms, airfare and the location space and pay for things up front. Last minute cancellations really hurt the overall workshop. If you decide to put a retainer down, we’re going to consider it as an act of good faith that you will pay the remaining amount. If for some reason you can’t come, we cannot refund the retainer.

The Early Bird Special retainer required to reserve your spot is $749. The remaining balance of $500 will due by March 9th 2009.

Airfare

Knowing that women are flying in from everywhere for this workshop, be sure to check out Virgin Air and Alaska TODAY! We just realized last night that they have crazy cheap flights to San Francisco, some sales ending today!

Hotel Options

The Cavallo Point has beautiful rooms and the prices range from $200 something up to $500. It’s nice to be on location, but if your looking for something more economical, we have a WIDE range of options. There are too many to list here, so once you register we’ll send you a list of hotels in the area to check out. Price range varies. FYI, Garrett and Rick did suggest the Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley. Take a look at the place. If enough women are interested we could ask them about a group rate. But like I said, there are a LOT of hotel options so no stress.

How do I reserve my spot?

If you are a former workshop attendee, expect to get an email from us sometime tonight or early tomorrow morning that has the link to follow for registration. If you haven’t received an email from us by 8:30am tomorrow morning, email Brian at brian@merakoh.com. (Only former workshop attendees will be receiving an email to register early.)

Almost forgot! Meals!

All meals are included in the tuition cost, except for breakfast. Thursday night’s Meet and Greet is also on us. But remember, Sunday night is your own night to head out or hang out with friends from the workshop. We will officially end on Sunday at 5pm.

Promise…

We promise to have lots and lots of stories, laughs and possibly a few tears at this workshop–all signature elements to a Me Ra Koh Workshop! :)

Can’t wait to see you all!

Registration starts tomorrow morning! Check your email tonight and tomorrow morning for the link to register! Can I get a Hip Hip Hooray!!!

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For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!


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January 22nd, 2009

Where Do You Go When Your Photo Shoot is Rained Out? How About Under the Freeway? :)

Yep, you heard me. Under the freeway. You know, where all the ivy grows and black soot collects. Where random Taco Bell trash exists, and you wonder how it got there–then start to think about it–then shudder at your thoughts. Yep, that’s where we went. Ideal photo shoot location for a family with two boys under six? You wouldn’t think, but we went for it anyway! ;)

Unlike sunny San Diego, the Northwest weather can be wet and fickle! My portrait clients will sometimes book their sessions six months out. How will we know what the weather will be like? And in the Northwest, it can be totally sunny one minute and raining the next. It’s enough reason to NOT shoot portrait sessions in the Northwest. But miss out on the craziness, challenge and sheer joy of kids? No way. :) This client in particular lives almost an hour away. When they left their home to head toward me the weather was fine. When they arrived it was pouring down rain.

Now imagine being the mom who has got her boys dressed, snacked up and ready to have their pictures taken. There is no way I can send her home and say “let’s take a rain check”. So driving we went, for any alternative that would make this shoot work in the pouring rain. And that is when I saw it. The freeway. Oh yeah, the freeway is a pretty wide structure, right!

The underpass we found happened to have old train tracks. I had the kids take the umbrella and get some fresh air after being cooped up in the car. I didn’t want them to get out and feel the instant pressure of me and my camera. In the meantime, this gave me the perfect opportunity to grab a handful of umbrella/rain boot shots. :)

Rain in the Northwest is not usually the soaking rain of NYC. When the rain shifted to sprinkling, I had mom squat down low and each of her sons, one at a time, snuggle in close to her. This little guy is her oldest, but I love how affectionate he still is with his mama.

Look at that smile, don’t you just love the sheer joy!

And then I had dad get involved, and look at the this! Kids and their dads are always so different then with their mamas. The contrast between the two relationships is something I love to capture. (Steve, the face you have in this shot is classic! :) )

Below is my favorite shot of the day! Need I say more?

One of my photo coaching strategies with little ones and their energy level is to have them sit down and then I shoot down on them to accentuate their little size but also help them hold still. Since we had train tracks under the underpass, what better place to sit. Dad was right over my shoulder making funny faces.

And then the time had come. Bribes are a big part of successful family shoots, and don’t you every forget it! :) We told the boys that if they did a good job for the photo shoot, at the end they could put on their dragon Halloween costumes. This is where the shoot gets crazy to me. I told Steve, their dad, a few weeks later that I still can’t believe we set the kids free to run around in the ivy under the freeway. God knows what was living under the ivy! And yet, it was worth it for these images!

This one is my favorite “freeway ivy” images of the day. It reminds me of that book “Where the Wild Things Are”. He was free and in total make believe land. For all we know, the ivy and shelter of the freeway underpass was his momentary kingdom. This is the magic of childhood that I love capturing.

Getting outside of the box is essential to photography. I think this is one of the reasons Brian and I love shooting weddings so much. We are always flying to a location we have never seen and are forced to think fast about how to document the couple and the new location. But sometimes, portrait (and wedding) shoots can stunt the creativity if your always going to the same three locations. Does anyone know what I mean? Can anyone relate? The rain forced me to get out of the box and think fast on how to do this family portrait shoot. And for this, I’m grateful. I’m also grateful that no skin rashes were acquired from the freeway ivy. :)

For those of you who love the photo recipes behind images, here we go;

Depending on how much light I had when we were under the freeway vs. being under the open, cloudy sky, determined my ISO. Less light under the freeway, so I had to bump up my ISO to 320 or 400. But when we were out in the sprinkling rain, I could have my ISO down to 100 b/c the clouds act as a big light diffuser and make every thing brighter.

I shot all these images at a 2.8 f-stop/aperture.

Shutter speed varied depending on what the ISO was. Pop quiz for all our former workshop attendees!!! What feature on my camera did I use to know where to set my Shutter Speed since I was shooting in Manuel? :) Atlanta ladies, this should be real fresh for you! Post your answer in the comments and tell us which workshop you attended!

Post Process work was all done in Lightroom by either adding a little contrast or removing saturation for the black and white images. Love Lightroom!

Need help understanding Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed? Then check out Beyond the Green Box, DVD 2! And see what nutty Professor Townsend has to say about the matter vs. what I have to say. ;)

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To hear details on Upcoming Workshops for 2009, join the “MeRa Koh Workshop” Group of ! New that reunites me, Brian, Rick Chapman and Garrett Burdick is in the works for this Spring 09!!

For more fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and (They are BACK IN STOCK!! Yeah!!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a in , click on the words of your choice!

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