“You know all those things you’ve always wanting to do? You should go and do them.” – Lara Casey

Jordan and I had so much fun at our second photography workshop. We grew right out of our living room after the first workshop we hosted and were totally blessed to have such a comfortable lounge to host our second workshop. University Church of Christ opened up their Aggies for Christ room for us, so we had cool air, comfy couches for everyone and snacks for days. Leila from Photography by Leila attended our first workshop and joined us to help take behind the scenes pictures and answer questions as they came up. We are so thankful she was with us! Thank you Leila and UCC! You both made our experience so much better. 

We started at 2:00 in the afternoon where we all met one another and shared a little about ourselves. These 9 photographers, 5 of whom traveled from out of town, became sponges–the sweetest kind–during our 8-hour photography-packed workshop. We began the classwork portion of the workshop where we covered everything from: our story, our mistakes, shooting in manual, lighting situations, backlighting, branding, marketing, pricing, client interaction, posing, vendors we use, etc. The ladies had outlines to follow along with, takes notes and application questions at the end of topics, so they could be interactive with the subjects we discussed.

Our hope was that we’d cover all of the questions that came up for us along the way when we started photography. If there had been a workshop that addressed all the little questions we had to spend hours researching or learning by trial and error, we would’ve attended it! So we were pleased when Skylar said this: 

“You shared business tips and advice with us that I wouldn’t have been aware of until the situation was right in front of me. I feel so much more prepared and educated when it comes to the business side of things.”

After spending a few hours inside going over the technical and business aspects of starting a photography business, we ate dinner and packed up to head to our photography location where we had three models waiting for us. Lillian and Josh were so incredibly sweet in front of my camera, and I just loved Maddie! They volunteered their pretty faces and time in exchange for us to practice on them and give them some digitals. 

During the application portion of the workshop, the ladies had head shots taken with their cameras, of course! Then they watched as I interacted with and posed the models. Once I did this, then we started our rotations. The girls split into groups of 3 and rotated between three stations: one station with Maddie, one station with Josh and Lillian and the other station with either Jordan or me to ask questions 3 on 1. Unfortunately, it started sprinkling on us, so it cut this portion short, but we loved being able to answer questions and see lightbulbs clicking for these ladies. 

We let them rotate using our lenses so they could experience shooting at wide apertures and with a variety of focal lengths. Jordan let Skylar use our 50 mm, and this was her response: 

“The most helpful part of the practice session was getting to try out some different lenses. Honestly, when I put the 50mm lens on my camera my photography life was really changed. It’s one thing to see and talk about the 50, but when I actually got to try it out it really was mind blowing to see the difference. I can still feel how excited the 50mm made me.”

I have to say…I agree! It’s so helpful when you’re able to shoot with the dream gear you want. Since then, Skylar isn’t the only photographer who has gone home and purchased the “nifty fifty” as we call it. 

We made it back to the AFC lounge to begin the post-processing portion of the workshop where we discussed Lightroom from import to export. Jordan and I left feeling so tired yet so fulfilled. 

We love opening up our hearts, experiences and knowledge to those who are passionate about photography. We once started in those same shoes.

This workshop has turned into something so rewarding to us! We’ve had some interest in a Dallas workshop, so if you think this workshop may be for you, let us know, and we can put your name down on our list! 

We’re so proud of each of these ladies and excited to keep in touch via our LDP Workshop FB group! 

We’ll leave you with more pictures from the workshop. A special thanks again goes out to Leila who helped us behind the scenes!

Joys,

L&J