I’ve got words. Which is surprising if you’ve ever seen one of my wedding posts (case in point). I usually try to keep it pithy and get straight to the pictures. When I was asked to come to a horse farm outside of San Francisco and speak to a group of beginning wedding photographers I was seriously scared I would have nothing to say. Then a few days before I was scheduled to speak it all came back to me. The stuff that keeps me going, keeps me working, and holds me to being persistent. Most of this stuff comes from books I’ve read… which I borrowed openly and liberally from in my presentation. I spoke for over an hour. I pulled from Lynda Barry graphic novels, Flannery O’Connor essays, the latest Jonah Leher book (which I have yet to finish), and the DVD commentary for Spy Kids (or maybe it was Shark Boy & Lava Girl – I forgot which). Words. Mostly from other artists. Words that have helped me to not give up, to forgive my mistakes, and to understand the process of clocking in as my own boss.

What I’ve come away with is friendship. When everybody left the two day workshop it felt like the end of summer camp. I gained so much from spending time with so many creative people coming from all kinds of different backgrounds. I truly became inspired by everybody there, especially Emily from Emily Takes Photos who’s idea it was to make this happen, Maddie from Hart & Sol West who pretty much cyber-bullied me into coming out to speak, and Meg from A Practical Wedding who’s keynote presentation was for me one of the highlights of the event.

I feel like I’m still sort of processing the whole experience. I got to spend a couple of days with the greatest group of people, getting to know each other while talking shop and art and everything in between. I’m so thankful to have been asked to be a part of this thing, and already, rumor has it there will be another CoLab to come.

If you’d like to be on the mailing list for future workshops you can sign up for the CoLab newsletter here.

Finally, I’m linking to this post Meg wrote on her blog. Not just because she mentions CoLab in it, but because as the madness of my wedding season is upon me, as my 9 to 5 threatens to become my 9 to 10, her post has inspired me to strike a new balance in my life, and to make space for health, and peace, and dare I say, sleep.

Okay, enough talk. Back to regularly scheduled programming of less words and more pictures.

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Interested in having us shoot your wedding, family, or engagement? You can email us here.

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Be sure to join our newsletter for stuff that inspires us, plus sales on weddings, portraits, and family sessions, as well as updates on mentoring and workshops for photographers.

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Photographer: Jonas Seaman

Last week I was scheduled to speak at a workshop just outside of San Francisco (more on that tomorrow). Part of my presentation was the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone and continuing to explore personal work outside of the wedding industry. Putting my money where my mouth was, I decided to book a one on one session with bay area polaroid and editorial photographer Chloe Aftel. I’ve been admiring Chloe’s work from afar for awhile now. Since I was going to be in the bay area anyway, I figured it was time to get my analogue learn on. Chloe walked me through her process, demonstrated different cameras and film stocks for me, and then had me photograph the incredibly beautiful and gracious Erin Wilson. These are a couple of the images I walked away with.

Model, Erin Wilson. Impossible Film. Oakland, CA.

If your interested in learning more about shooting with Polaroid cameras and Impossible Film you should definitely follow Chloe’s tumblr for updates on her next group workshop, or book a one on one session with her like I did! It was so fun!

Interested in having us shoot your wedding, family, or engagement? You can email us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Be sure to join our newsletter for stuff that inspires us, plus sales on weddings, portraits, and family sessions, as well as updates on mentoring and workshops for photographers.

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Photographer: Jonas Seaman