Workshop | Me Ra Koh Photography Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Workshop’

January 6th, 2009

What Happened in Chicago at the Workshop! :)

Remember this group of beautiful ladies in Chicago? You may recognize them modeling one of our most popular Photo Coaching tips, The Fake Laugh!

Well, it’s time we brag on them and share the whole story of what went down in Chicago!

We brought in four moms and their babies to be models for a live hands on shoot. And we gave our workshop attendees this beautiful space for the photo shoot with awesome lighting, incredible decor, and amazing backgrounds. NOT! (The last time I said NOT! like that was probably seventh grade, but there is no better word for this moment.) Gretchen, I know you are dying right now!

What would our workshop attendees learn if we gave them a perfect setting to shoot in? As Brian and I say in our workshops, our job is to frustrate you during the live shoots. This isn’t your typical workshop where all the surroundings are perfect. We want to help you run into walls so we can help you learn to climb over the wall. We want the lighting to be tricky and challenging because our goal is that when you do your first portrait shoot or take photos of your kids, you will be confident no matter what your lighting is. So instead of a beautiful setting with perfect surroundings, awesome lighting and incredible decor and don’t forget amazing backgrounds, we gave them THIS! VOILA! (Thanks to our wonderful hostesses help! )

Yep, that really is dirty, vintage filing cabinets and tungsten lit lamps hanging from the ceiling.

I will never forget some of the women’s faces when we showed them the room we were going to do the live shoot in. They must have thought Brian and I were crazy. But with courage and a willingness to go for it, the attendees turned their cameras on and tried putting all they had been learning into practice. Brian and I helped them along as they ran into walls. It was so rewarding to see the women smile as they realized that even in horrible lighting, you can capture BEAUTIFUL shots. Can I share their shots with you! Brian and I are super proud of our Chicago ladies!

Due to low light, the women took advantage of low aperture and higher ISOs…but not to high to make sure the grain wouldn’t take over. Be encouraged ladies, some of these women were beginners and shooting these images in Manuel Mode! And keep in mind that the little daylight we had from the windows was gone in less than 30 minutes. I’m telling you, these women deserve a standing ovation!

This beautiful image was taken by Candace. Just breathtaking!

Gretchen, our AMAZING hostess, caught this image. I love how she captured the baby’s hand with that sweet little face. So precious. Look at those lips!

Debbie and Kathleen captured two different perspectives of one of the mom’s with her baby. But both images are so intimate and framed in a way that exudes warmth between mama and baby. Here is Debbie’s image.

Here is Kathleen’s beautiful color image. Different perspective of mama and baby but still so beautiful.

Here is another tight framed color image that Lauren took! I love how she shot down on this little one. You know mama is there, but we don’t need to see mama’s face. Beautiful, amazing job Lauren!

And one more that you must see of this mom and baby. Sherry did a great job of clipping in just enough of mom and her profile, but the use of light to illuminate the baby’s face is gorgeous. The women didn’t have any lights or flashes when taking these images. They worked with aperture and ISO, and wow, wouldn’t you love an image like this of you and your baby?!

Allison caught this precious shot. This will have to bring a smile to all the attendees because there is no way any of us can forget how happy this little girl was! She was quite the model! I especially love this image b/c it has that photo journalistic feel to it. You see the background and know stuff is going on, but we are caught up by the little one’s emotion. Great job Allison!

Lynette captured the joy from a different point of view. You can almost hear her giggle. There is such great energy in this image!

Here are two other perspectives of this bundle of joy.

This precious shot was captured by Nicki. The framing of this little one playing with her mom’s necklace is so sweet. Nicki, you have such a wonderful eye for catching the moment before it is gone. I can’t wait to hear what becomes of your photography dreams!

Different perspective and still so beautiful. This is Pamela’s image. Pamela was watching the same moment but framed and composed her image a little different. This is where I fall in love with photography that much more because two people can see the same thing and walk away with different images. There is room for everyone. Good job Pamela!

As this little one calmed down and started to get tired, Becky was there to capture this image. Whenever I see this image, I lean in to it because I feel like I can almost hear the mom whisper in her ear. Becky, you did a great job getting out of the box and capturing an angle that was different than face on.

Does anything compare to a mother’s comfort? Here is a different mom comforting her baby with soft whispers. I love this little baby’s head. I love the hairline that lines the roll on his neck and the sweet little ear. Wonderful job Tara. The mom’s face is so soft, and you captured it so well!

There were two sets of mothers and their daughters that attended the Chicago Workshop. Whenever we have moms and their daughters come it adds a beautiful dynamic to the group of watching two different generations become awakened to something creative inside them. The results are breath taking. Roma was one of the moms, and she captured this sweet image. I love how the baby’s face fills the frame, can’t you just feel those wet, sticky fingers!

The other mom and her two daughters all subconsciously had empty space in their images. It was amazing to see this connection between them as photographers and family!

And we can’t forget about dad and his little one!

Traci captured this amazing shot that is so quiet. Would you ever guess that Traci had the lighting conditions she did to work with? Or any of these other women for that matter?

Molly captured the same moment. And I love how Molly framed her image because you see all this commotion and feel it surrounding dad and baby, yet the way the dad and baby are lit is so quiet. Wonderful job Molly!

Who put the initials TSJ? You must tell us who you are! TSJ did an AMAZING job at taking the same moment from a third perspective and getting in super tight. The results are breathtaking.

We must end with hands and feet images!

Paula captured this beautiful color image of the feet. Color in low light is so hard, and Paula makes it look so easy! I love that this is in color. The softness of the lighting is amazing. And the newborn feet with the dry skin we know so well, it’s amazing. Thank you Paula.

Kelli captured this fantastic shot of the baby’s outstretched hand. The perspective of mom’s hand blurred below makes this little one seem so small. Great framing Kelli!

Lynette focused in on the baby’s feet and ankles and let all the rest go to a soft blur with the low F stop. And it worked oh, so well. I love how we see mom’s hand, face and baby’s face all softly, quietly blurred. Isn’t this fun! We could look at these different perspectives all day!

And oh, look at this image. Wow, it will take your breath away (again!). Kristin captured this beautiful image. And yes, she did it in the same room we were all in.

And we can’t leave out a baby’s yawn! The yawn is one of the best things to capture when doing a baby shoot. There just isn’t any other yawn like a baby’s yawn. Kim, you rocked this shot! Your timing was spot on! Look at those eyes too! I love it! Great job!

Our goal is to help empower women so that they feel like their camera is a tool not an object of intimidation. I want the women who attend our workshops to leave with more confidence and assurance in their ability to shoot beautiful images in low light no matter how icky their background or surroundings might be. With a few tips, techniques and teaching on the camera’s functions, all of us can do it! Really, ALL of us!

If you have a second, post a comment and congratulate these women. They were not sure of that ugly room where we did our photo shoot, but they all gave it a chance and ended up with BEAUTIFUL results!

If you attended the Chicago workshop and didn’t see your name or image mentioned in today’s post, I am so sorry! I think I got everyone, but if I missed you please let me know!

And guess what, we started a new Facebook Group “MeRa Koh Workshops“. If you have been to one of our workshops or hope to attend one in the future, we’d love to keep you updated and have you connect with women from all the different cities we’ve been too!

Great job Chicago ladies! Much love, Me Ra

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If you are interested in attending the Atlanta Workshop, click here for details/registration. Our friends over at Pictage and Triple Scoop Music are offering their members a special discount to our Atlanta workshop. If you didn’t get their newsletters or email and want to take advantage of the discount, shoot us an email! mera@merakoh.com

***Today at 4pm PST, I’m going to do an interview if you’d like to listen in. Dane Sanders is the host, and we are going to have a blast for 30 minutes. If you’d like to join us, you need to sign up with Dane’s forums or coaching site. Go here for info on that! http://store.fasttrackphotographer.com Once your signed up, you can then go to this link to tune in http://XiosoftPresenter.com/?eventid=5488023 Around noon, you’ll be emailed a password to listen in on the interview. We’ll be twittering updates as we get closer! See you at 4pm today!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

29 Comments »
Tags: 101 Kit, Art, Business, Exercise, Facebook, Kids, Photo Coaching, Photographer, Photography, Refuse to Say Cheese, Sony, Twitter, Workshop

January 5th, 2009

The Seedpod and Running on Empty for Atlanta Begins!

It’s the first Monday of 2009! The first blog post of 09! Wow! Here we go!

On Friday, Brian and I escaped to our favorite cabin up in the mountains.

We had one night. Our mission was to lock ourselves away, build a fire, spread out poster board, bring twenty different colored markers, get the tea kettle going and map out our vision for 2009. We wrote down all our dreams, goals, “impossibles” to see if they could become possibles, and much more. It was an amazing 24 hours together. We were worried that since we only had time to leave for one night, we wouldn’t get much done. But wow, God totally blessed our time and we feel like we are hitting the ground running for 2009.

Before we left, I went for a walk by myself and stumbled across something that took me by surprise. I saw myself in a seedpod.

If there was ever a self portrait of myself during the month of December, this lonely and confused seedpod would be it. It was like my whole world, all my insides, all my reserves, all my creativity and enthusiasm for work, life, family was empty but I kept hanging on, trying to tell myself that it wasn’t that cold outside, my tree of life wasn’t barren, I wasn’t hanging by a thread at all. And yet, a thread is all I was hanging by. That morning I read the following passage and felt as if I was looking in the mirror as every word reflected my being in December.

An artist must have downtime, time to do nothing. Defending our right to such time takes courage, conviction, and resiliency. Such time, space, and quiet will strike our family and friends as withdrawal from them. It is.

For an artist, withdrawal is necessary. Without it, the artist in us feels vexed, angry, out of sort. If such deprivation continues, our artist becomes sullen, depressed, hostile. We eventually became like cornered animals, snarling at our family and friends to leave us alone and stop making unreasonable demands.

We are the ones making unreasonable demands. We expect our artist to be able to function without giving it what it needs to do so. An artist requires the upkeep of solitude. An artist requires the healing of time alone.

-Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way

Does anyone else relate? Any other seedpods out there?

December was an amazing month of taking time to do nothing, and I can’t believe how much courage this took. I don’t know if the courage required is due to owning your own business, or being a woman/wife/mom and feeling the needs of those you love, or just being an artist and struggling with the right to withdrawal. But withdraw I did, and it has made all the difference. I knew I was my own Running on Empty mom when a colleague wanted to set up a phone conference to brainstorm over an upcoming project in 2009, and I had to cancel b/c I had nothing in me to brainstorm. I think I even got scared I wouldn’t ever be able to brainstorm again. Yet, all I needed was my own space of giving to myself, my own space of finding ways to inspire myself, finding time to heal and most of all, time to be alone.

In honor of the courage it takes to first call ourselves artists and then second, nurture the artist within, I thought it only seemed appropriate to start the first blog post of 2009 with opening up nominations for the Running On Empty Contest for Atlanta.

If you are reading this and feeling like your the seedpod hanging by a thread, or your running on empty, or you know someone in Atlanta running on empty, feel free to take care of yourself and nominate yourself or someone you love to come to our Atlanta workshop for free. The dates of the Atlanta Workshop are January 17th and 18th. Yes, you do deserve it. Yes, you are worthy of it. And yes, doing something to inspire yourself, escaping to nurture you, finding healing time… is all worth it.

Post your nominations in today’s comments. Tell us about yourself or someone you love and why they need the Atlanta workshop to help with running on empty. One winner will be picked and given the Running On Empty spot. (please make sure you can make travel and hotel arrangements. The workshop tuition of $999 is given to you, but the travel is something the winner must accommodate.)

Be sure to NOT email us your submissions. To qualify, the nominations must be made as posted comments in today’s blog post so all judges can access the nominees. And be sure to leave your email so we can contact you if your chosen!

Please note: The deadline is this Wednesday, January 7th, at midnight so we can announce the winner on Friday this week.

Did you hear Dane Sander’s great interview with Photoshop Action master Kevin Kubota? It happened New Year’s Day! If not, click here to listen to it!

And if your around…Dane is going to do an interview with me at 4pm PST tomorrow! If you know Dane, this will be a great time! We would love to have you join us! Follow the above link for all the info! I will also post more details in tomorrow’s blog too!

Have a wonderful Monday!

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44 Comments »
Tags: 101 Kit, Art, Artist, Business, Contest, Exercise, Photography, Photoshop, Refuse to Say Cheese, running on empty, Sony, Travel, Workshop

December 31st, 2008

What Waits for Us All in 2009 and a Photo or Two! :)

First of all, this is a long post. Consider yourself warned. Not only long text, but I’ve got lots of images below too. What do you expect when I haven’t blogged in forever!

Second of all, I want to thank EVERY one of you who follow this blog. I know some of you refresh this blog multiple times a day (not naming any names! ). In the last 10 days, there hasn’t been as much to refresh. Your understanding is much appreciated! Brian and I have taken some time off to regroup, refocus and most of all refresh. The time off has been so rich, and I thank you all for being patient during this time. Not only were you patient, but you kept up with our Twitters. And the other day, when I twittered that I was going to church for prayer, I was overwhelmed at how many of you sent love my way.

A number of you have emailed and asked if everything is okay since I posted that Twitter. Thank you so much for your concern. Everything is okay. A difficult and scary part of my past confronted me for the first time in 15 years the other day. The experience caused all my old fears, insecurities and pain to come roaring back at me. It’s amazing how something so long ago can seem like it was yesterday. But I must tell you, that all of you (even though you didn’t know it at the time) played a major role in me pushing through. It’s one of those rare situations where I can’t share details with you over the blog, but I do look forward to sharing with you in our workshops this year. You need to know how you inspired me to push forward.

2009 holds what I call BIG BLESSINGS. And if I could be brutally honest, some of the big blessings overwhelm me with questions like, “Can I do this? Am I the right person? What about all my weaknesses and brokenness? There must be someone not so broken, someone more confident and sure of themselves for what is to come…”. Isn’t it just classic that in the midst of me sorting through these deeper questions, finding my grounding and place of rest, that my past would come at me out of nowhere? It is classic, don’t you think?! But to continue the honesty, regardless of my past, my pain, my brokenness and questions, I know that God has brought every BIG BLESSING to us. He must see more in me and our family than we see in ourselves. So I’m going to choose to bet on Him rather than my fears. I don’t want to walk into 2009 with fear, I want to RUN, RUN, RUN!

We are not the only ones who have BIG BLESSINGS waiting for us in 2009. Each one of you has a new chapter waiting to unfold. And I’m sure that many of you can relate to the old voices that haunt us, trying to keep us in a place of fear or insecurity. I want to encourage you to take some time during the New Year to write down your dreams, your BIG dreams. Share them with someone you trust. Don’t let them read them, you read them out loud. Speak out your dreams and take ownership. I know this is painful for some of you, but it is a must to not only survive but thrive in life. You and I were meant for so much–more than we can even dream of. Will you push forward with me this New Year? I know the voices of our past are always on repeat mode, but maybe we could turn the volume down just a little and listen to the voice of our dreams, the voice of the Impossible becoming possible. If we could, I believe that this time next year we will be sharing the BIG BLESSINGS that came our way, whether we deserved them, earned them or were worthy of them…they came.

Happy New Year to all of YOU–EACH one of you!! Brian and I love you all and look forward to stepping into 2009 with you by our side!

Here is a fun window into what we’ve been doing these last couple weeks! Enjoy!

Rosie the Reindeer!

Best sledding hills in the world!

Can you beat that view of the water?

Best Buds!

Frosty with her Teapot and Rosemary necklace. Before all you moms jump on me about where Pascaline’s snow clothes are, she only stepped outside to get in on the photo!

Lots of quiet nights by the fire with hot chocolate, Christmas lights and a good movie. Now Lauren, if you look real close you can see the branches on the wall with the photo frames. Just for you my dear!

A favorite past time by the Christmas tree.

Prince Phillip is so patient and so loved.

The kids wanted you to see their latest dancing moves.

And one of my favorite! Here’s to a New Year of growth (no matter how small, young, old or furry we are) and a year of BIG BLESSINGS!

Meet us back here this Monday, January 5th for the first blog post of 2009! And on Tuesday, we may be doing a live interview over the web that you can join in on. More details to follow!

Happy New Year Everyone! It’s good to be back!

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ATLANTA-Start 2009 with a weekend of inspiration! If you live on the East Coast and want an inspiring type of Christmas gift for your loved one, send her to Atlanta! The dates are January 17th and 18th! Register here !!

18 Comments »
Tags: 101 Kit, Art, Business, Exercise, inspiration, Kids, Photography, Refuse to Say Cheese, Sony, Twitter, Workshop

December 22nd, 2008

FREE 2 Day Shipping Until 11am PST!

Today only, until 11am PST , we are offering FREE 2 Day Shipping on our DVDS, Refuse to Say Cheese

and Beyond the Green Box !

The DVDs have been a favorite purchase on our shopping cart this Christmas. We love receiving your emails and hearing your excitement
about purchasing the DVDs as gifts for photo enthusiasts from spouses to grandparents to good friends! If you’ve been meaning to
order your own set this is your LAST chance to get the DVDs and have
them arrive before Christmas day !

We need to get your orders in by 11am PST today so that our shipping company back East can process and ship orders today! So don’t delay! Put your order in by going to this page at Refuse to Say Cheese.com!

And one more bit of good news! Brian and I sat by the Christmas tree last night and finished up all the responses to those of you who
couldn’t get your 1 yr. anniversary discount! You should each find something fun in your Inbox today from the Me Ra Koh elves!

Cheers to the last Monday before Christmas Day!

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Make her Christmas even more magical this year by reserving a spot in our Atlanta Workshop for January 2009! For details, click here!

3 Comments »
Tags: Art, Beyond the Green Box, Refuse to Say Cheese, Workshop

December 16th, 2008

Setting Up the Scene for a Fashion Shoot!

We start Day 2 of our fashion shoot today. The experience has been incredible so far! I can’t show you our final images yet, but I wanted to share some behind the scenes stuff and give a you a peak into what we’re doing.

The company that hired us is based out of London and NY. They are wanting to redefine the fashion industry in how hair is styled along with the tools hairstylists use. They showed mus a quick presentation on how they are fashioning hair after architecture in Italy. The presentation in itself was awesome. I had no idea that top of the line hair stylists took their inspiration from architecture around the world.

When I showed up yesterday, I was under the impression that we would be shooting every thing in the salon. But plans had completely changed in the last 24 hours. I was handed the latest Vogue magazine and asked to capture something out of the box using Franco next door. Franco next door?

There is a shop next door called Franco the Tailor. He is an Italian grandpa who has this wonderful old world look.

With Franco’s permission they wanted us to create an old world scene in his shop. They wanted the model in a man’s tux and Franco to be working on the hem of her jacket and pants.

We walked into Franco’s shop and basically asked if we could use him and his shop for the day. He wasn’t prepped for this at all. But he was totally open to it and let us take over the whole place with setting up lights and camera gear. Franco even got his hair done for the shoot. He was loving it.

So Brian, Yuriy and I went to work on setting up a scene. Just like a portrait shoot or wedding, we wanted to set ourselves up for success. To do this, we needed to answer the following questions. What type of lighting would we need? How do we make this shop come alive but not take attention away from the model and her haircut? How do we use as little light as possible for dramatic effect?

Lots and lots of test shots and scene setting were done as we prepared for the model. Guess who got to be our fill in model to practice on? Yuriy himself!

We knew we wanted to have a series of shots with all the chaotic details of the tailor shop included. But we didn’t want the details to take over the image either.

So we went to work on figuring out how to get the most dramatic lighting for the story we wanted to tell. And for those of you who have been to our workshops, you have heard us talk about how we like to keep things as simple as possible. So one light is all we wanted, if we could pull it off.

The image above had to much light on Yuriy’s face and not enough drama for what we wanted to eventually do in post process.

The image below is closer to what we’re visualizing.

Now we add Franco into the scene and make the lighting a little more dramatic. Isn’t Yuriy great! He’s such a good sport!

We get as many details figured out so that when the hair stylists and model arrive we are ready to shoot.

The creative process and energy were so different and yet so similar to a wedding. The difference is all the prep time we had unlike weddings. The biggest similarity is the whirlwind that came through the door when the model was finally ready. It went from testing lighting to “we’re ready to shoot now and you’ve got 30 minutes to make it all happen!” That fast paced pressure felt very familiar, and I soaked it all in. It was a blast!

Off to start Day 2!

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13 Comments »
Tags: 101 Kit, Art, Business, Exercise, fashion, inspiration, Photography, Refuse to Say Cheese, Sony, Workshop

December 9th, 2008

Catching Up!

Today is more like a Monday since I took the day off to be with the kiddos yesterday. So much to blog about, but I feel like we should play catch up first on a few things. What do you say?

Seattle Workshop Ladies!

Sunday night came to soon Seattle Workshop Ladies! Brian and I miss laughing with all of you! Yesterday we talked about the workshop, and how we feel blessed once again to have had such a wonderful group of women attend. The Seattle Workshop was the last workshop for 2008, and what a great way to wrap up the year! A big hug and thanks to all of you who attended. It was a honor to spend the time with you that we had. As soon as Kevin emails me our group photo, I’ll email it out to the rest of you!

Did You Have Issues Getting the Anniversary Sale Discount????

If you had issues using your coupon code and emailed Brian, we will still honor your discount. For the most part, it looks like a majority of the people didn’t have any issues with the BIG Anniversary Sale that we did. We’re so sorry that a handful of you did. If you ran into problems and haven’t heard from Brian yet, he will be getting back to you shortly. He is working his way through the list of emails he received. We appreciate your patience! AND, we are more than happy to still honor the discount without question!

New Photo Contest!

I love, love, love the idea of “Simple Gifts” being the new theme for the Photo Contest! Let’s go for it!

Submit a photo of something that has to do with Simple Gifts (see Submission Guidelines below). Your photo can be as “out of the box” as you’d like!

As far as prizes, I’ve got a great idea for what the finalist should get, but I have to talk with someone and okay it first. I’ll keep you posted!

I know I said last Monday that we’d post the Five Finalists for the Inspirational Object Photo Contest last week. But last week was insane. One of my best friend’s from college emailed and said she was driving two hours to come see me (her surprise visit was water to my soul!). We also finished putting our house back together and then the workshop started. Can I just say that I’m so glad the holidays are here? I feel like the next few weeks is going to be the first down time we’ve had in a long, long while, and it will feel so good to get caught up, rest and celebrate the magic of the season. Inspirational Object Finalists coming soon!

Submission Guidelines and Deadline for the “Simple Gifts” Photo Contest:

1. Email your Simple Gifts image to contest@merakoh.com.

2. Make sure you’ve attached your image as a small JPG. Do NOT put your image in the text of your email. Attach it to make it easier for us.

3. Since this is a Simple Gift that connects to you personally, we invite you to write a couple sentences on why you chose the photo you are sending.

4.SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday, January 4th 2009 at Midnight PST.

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For more fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

8 Comments »
Tags: 101 Kit, Art, Business, Contest, Exercise, inspiration, photo contest, Photography, Refuse to Say Cheese, Sony, Workshop

December 5th, 2008

Runner Up Email Needed, Is It You???

I had the privilege of chatting with Adrienne last night, and long story short, we still have an open spot for the Running On Empty Contest. But here is the thing, my team can’t find any of the nominees contact info.

If you nominated someone or nominated yourself, can you email us at mera@merakoh.com ASAP?!!

You may be the Runner Up for the Seattle Workshop and spending the weekend with us starting tonight or tomorrow morning!!!

12 Comments »
Tags: Art, Contest, running on empty, Workshop

December 4th, 2008

The Running On Empty Winner is…

Announcing the Seattle Workshop Running on Empty Winner!!!

Adrienne, you are the WINNER! You were nominated by your wonderful friends Gina and Lisa!

Adrienne, we are so excited to have you join us! For those of you who didn’t get a chance to read her nomination entry on the blog, this is what her friend Gina wrote;

on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:08 am Gina

Dear Me Ra,
My dear sweet friend Adrienne has been running on empty for quit some time now. If you think of major life changing events, she and her family have experienced all of them. In the past five years her family has dealt with the suicide of a loved one, death of a father, 5 job changes, relocation, and the unexpected addition of their third child. Through all of these challenges she has remained positive, strong and a blessing to her family. She has taken care and thought of everyone else but herself. A woman who has been there for others through such adversity truly deserves a weekend to revive her spirit.
Adrienne has always been able to capture beauty through a lens. Recently she has taken her love of photography to the next level. This weekend would bring her much needed rest, and help her to focus on someone whom she hasn’t in a long time… herself.

Brian and I also feel bad that this has been so last minute. Our lives have been crazy these last few months, and we can’t believe we are announcing the winner when the workshop starts on Saturday! Insane of us. To make it up to you, we reserved a room at the Villa with your name on it Adrienne. If you’d like, you can stay free of charge Friday night and Saturday night. It’s on us! Hopefully that will help make up for how last minute this is! You can either come to the Meet and Greet at the Villa tomorrow night at 7pm and stay the next two nights. Or you can join us Saturday morning at 9am! Totally up to you. Whatever most recharges your batteries is what we want you to do. (If you do take us up on staying at the Villa, oooh, you won’t regret it. It’s the most beautiful B&B ever!)

If you would post on the blog today or email us asap so we know you can make it this weekend–that would be AWESOME! And if for some reason you can’t, we’ll announce the runner up today! Email: mera@merakoh.com.

Much love! And see you very, very soon!

8 Comments »
Tags: Art, Contest, Photography, running on empty, Workshop

December 3rd, 2008

The Hardwoods, Last Day Of Sale and Surprise Press!!

You would have laughed if you saw us at 5:45pm last night. Our dinner guests were coming at 6:30pm, we had just returned the Uhaul, ran through the grocery store, and took light speed showers. By 6:15pm we were starting to make dinner, setting the table, attaching the bathroom door back to it’s hinges (which was never completed –good thing no one had to go!). When the doorbell rang at 6:30pm, I had wet hair (I never push it this far!). But I was so excited for dinner! The funny thing is that we could have rescheduled, but all the wives will get me on this. If there is a deadline to get the house put back together, deadline being that company is coming, my husband just moves so much faster on his “Honey Do” list. And Brian, moved SUPER fast down that list! He was a rock star for sure!

So check out the hardwoods! Before sanding the main floor, the hardwoods were the dark color of our dining room chairs!

I can’t tell you how much BRIGHTER the whole main floor feels! I love it! And you know we need all the light we can get in the Northwest.

Quick reminder, today is the last day of the sale on all our products and the discount for the Atlanta Workshop!

Sale ends at midnight tonight PST! For details, click here!

Again, if your having issues with using your coupon code, email Brian at brian@merakoh.com.

And check this out!!

My publicist just emailed me and said the Sacramento Bee ran an article on our photo tips called “Take Perfect Pictures of a Newborn”. What a treat! I had to share it with you! To read it, click on the title!

But I almost forgot! Here is that promised peak of what I did with those 8 ft branches! I can’t show you a wide frame shot because I want to surprise my family this Christmas. But this gives you a small idea. We mounted the branches on the walls and hung photos underneath with glass balls hung by Christmas ribbon from the branches. The glass balls have candles inside, and at night the room glows. I love it! And the best part, Brian isn’t giving me any more grief about those branches. He’s a believer now too!

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The ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Sale is happening on all our products and the Atlanta Workshop!

It ends Wednesday at midnight PST!!! To see the details, click here!

18 Comments »
Tags: Art, Photo Tips, Workshop

December 2nd, 2008

Didn’t Realize!

I didn’t realize that when you have your hardwoods sanded down, you have a thick layer of dust covering every thing. Wow. Maybe it’s good Brian and I didn’t know what we were getting into. I was thinking that we didn’t have to wipe down the walls until Brian leaned up against one and walked away with his whole backed covered in dust!

We were up till 2:30am wiping down all the walls and cupboards throughout the house. Did you know you have to vacuum out all your vents too? It’s just a “fun, little project!” Lots of dust and clean up, but wow, the hardwoods are BEAUTIFUL!!! Just jaw dropping! Your going to hate me, but no photo yet. We need to finish cleaning the layers of dust and emptying the Uhaul before we have company for dinner tonight. Yep, tonight!

FYI, If you emailed Brian because your coupon code for our One Year Anniversary discounts wasn’t working (or posted the problem on our blog (LAUREN! ), he will get back to you soon. We were a little swamped with clean up here so Brian didn’t have a chance to get to your emails yesterday. We’ll be sure to honor the coupon code if by chance he doesn’t get back to you until after Wed. If you haven’t emailed Brian and ran into problems with using the coupon codes, email him at brian@merakoh.com so he can help you too! Oh boy, was that too repetitive? Lack of sleep here.

But good news is that LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of you had no issues with the coupon offers and got your orders in! Yeah! We’re so happy to do this for our One Year Anniversary! And thanks for all the congrats yesterday!

I’m also loving all of the nominations for the Running on Empty Contest. Since the workshop is this weekend, the cut off for submitting nominees needs to be tonight at midnight PST so people can have time to vote for the winner. Get your nominations in today by midnight!

Photos of the hardwoods will come soon, and I can’t wait to show you what I did with these eight foot branches my friend found! Oh, the suspense!

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The ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Sale is happening on all our products and the Atlanta Workshop!

It ends Wednesday at midnight PST!!! To see the details, click here!

8 Comments »
Tags: Contest, running on empty, Workshop