It felt like a swarm of butterflies had taken shelter in the pit of my stomach. Time slowed to almost a complete stand still as my vision blurred into a myopic tunnel. My heart was beating to a cadence in time with the drum beat of despair and I could feel the beads of apprehension and uncertainty pop up around my forehead. I take a deep breath, force myself to get out of my chair and turn to face the people that would surely begin their mocking as soon as my farcical discourse began…
During senior year of high school, my government class held a mock trial for the murder of Julius Caesar. I was chosen as one of the prosecuting attorneys and I let fear render me useless.
I woke up Wednesday morning and the same feelings of consternation filled my gut. I had somehow thought it to be a good plan for me to lead a group of at least 10 photographers in an hour discourse on branding. Flashes of my ineptitude flittered through my mind as I prepared. Before every shootout, I am nervous. After all, I am the hostess and so my desire is to have everyone enjoy themselves and make sure the little details are taken care of. This shootout had me leading and TEACHING groups of photographers about branding. I cannot remember when I have felt more incapable. But suffice to say, I think it all worked out.
As I am sure you know, the SoCal Photog Shootout is a group of friends that my friend, Matthew Saville and I began earlier this year. It quickly grew exponentially from 10 to 200 and we joined forces with the nationwide Photog Shootout. This was our first partnered event.
We dreamed big. We wanted some awesome speakers, but we wanted to keep our vision of a group where amateurs would feel welcome and professionals could learn along side each other. And after much planning, I am ecstatic at the fruits of our labor.We had five leaders who taught everything from lighting to posing to branding. And three phenomenal speakers. Michael and Anna Costa and my very favorite, Jasmine Star. (I crossed that off my bucket list!)
I felt like a proud parent as I stood in the back of Sarducci’s and thought back to our first shootout in January and how far we’ve come. I was still surrounded by friends – both amateur photographers and pros, models and makeup artists, but never ever did I think I would be surrounded by fifty plus people, including Jasmine!
If you are interested in joining our next shootout, make sure that you have joined the two Facebook groups mentioned above. We have them every other month and we’d love to see you there!
This day COULD NOT have happened without the help of the following people whom I give thanks from the bottom of my heart:
ShootDotEdit – who generously provided dinner for all fifty plus people!
Photog Shootout – and Rob Nicholson who supported us in this event and took us under their wings
Michael and Anna Costa – who gave us great wisdom and insight about the business and challenged us to set goals
Jasmine Star – I literally had to pinch myself almost every time I saw her (and I am going to be so embarassed if she ever reads this). You can see her post from the event HERE.
Kacee Geoffroy Makeup Designs – Kacee is an amazing make-up artist that made our already beautiful models even more amazing and she has the sweetest disposition.
All Made Up – my friend Vivian and her team of makeup artist and hair stylists saved us by sending a last minute hair stylist over when our other 2 backed out.
Avery J Productions – Shannon who is an amazing videographer and is working quickly to finish a fabulous video (which I will post here and if you attended you should post it on your blog too!)
Triple Scoop Music and Showit Sites (via Anna Costa) – for donating items for door prizes
My models: David, Troy and Aimee, Crystal, Rachel, Amber, and Brett (I didn’t get to work with them all…boo!)
If I forgot anyone, I’m sorry! Now, finally, onto the photos (this is really going to be THE longest blog post EVER!)
You’ve already met David and yes, all the ladies LOVE him. He gives me a bit of an inferiority complex – no one in my first group really listened to me, they were trying to push past me, clamoring for his picture…and can you blame them?!
I didn’t think you’d mind a few EXTRA pictures of David, but after the groups rotated, I made up for being ignored in my first group by talking non stop for my second group, which meant I took about 4 pictures of Troy and Aimee. Not only are they super cute and awesomely, unfairly photogenic, Troy is an amazing photographer whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
ShootDotEdit’s mascot, DotMan, popped up here and there throughout the day.
The second group warned everyone that I was a crazy non stop talker, so I ended up with only four people in my last group – a number I was WAY more comfortable with. Actually, come to think of it, word got out that the second rotation got David to take his shirt off, so I’m pretty sure all the ladies made their way to David’s third group. (David, if you read this, don’t kill me for embarassing you!) Anyway, it gave me a great balance of teaching and shooting Crystal, who was an AMAZING model who knew how to work the camera!
I love this entire series!
After dinner a group went out to do some incredible night photography. I stayed behind to play hostess and was BUMMED I missed some fabulously delicious shots with trains and gorgeousness, but I got these two.
I was so excited that Jasmine was there that I never thought to even take one picture of her! So, I had to steal this one taken by JD from her blog:
Thank you to ALL who attended the event. I am really blessed to get to hang out with incredible friends doing what we love to do!
