Once a year I allow myself an opportunity to invest back into my formal training. Continuing education plays a huge roll in furthering my skills and I can’t ever deny myself that chance. Not just for the art of photography, but also for my clients. They trust me and I’m there to capture one of the most important days of their lives. So it’s extremely important to me to make sure I am always surrounding myself with people in this industry that I look up to, so I can soak up as much as possible.
When I think about my work and the direction I want to take my business I have a very clear vision of what that looks like. I have secret Pinterest boards of dream shoots I’d like to create (one is in the works right now, in fact). I want to push myself and create art that tells a story and conveys emotion. I want the raw aesthetic of film photography to speak through my images so you can’t even tell a photographer had a hand in it. More importantly, I want my clients to have an experience they’ll never forget and hold on to images that artistically showcases the beginning of their lives together.
I find myself being naturally drawn to grain, the way film can retain the detail inside of highlights that digital just can’t do, and the way colors shine in a bold yet soft way. Sometimes I’m able to edit an image to emulate the look of film but it’s never, ever the same. There are always slight and subtle differences when comparing images side-by-side. Not only that, but you can’t beat the sound of a roll of film winding onto the reel after you’ve shot the last frame. Film photography forces you to slow yourself down. Unlike digital, it makes you think about what you’re doing before you take a shot. (Essentially because shooting film will end up costing you about $2-3 per frame!)
For The Love of Film Workshop
My experiences attending this particular workshop has been unlike anything I’ve attended, to-date. By lunchtime on the first day everyone there interacted and laughed as if we were long-time friends hanging out for a couple days. You see, I’m a tried-and-true introvert to the core and I wanted nothing more than to hug the walls and just observe before I felt safe with interacting. However, I didn’t feel that way here. It’s really strange for me to admit that – but when you walk into a workshop about 30 minutes late, with your sick daughter in the back of your mind, it can be a little daunting. I felt as if the universe just didn’t want me to go and so many different things happened over the past three days (a terribly sick daughter, a speeding ticket, and my mother-in-law broke her arm at my house the day I left) and it seriously threw me off. My brain just wasn’t with me and the second I walked into the dining room Matoli and Kristen jumped to their feet and gave me the warmest, most genuine welcome complete with a big hug. That hug helped to melt away my protective wall and I felt like I was at home surrounded by close friends. They set the stage for me to feel comfortable with my surroundings so I could learn as much as I could while I was there and for that, I’m immensely thankful and – honestly – speechless.
As I sit here typing out this blog post I’m staring at a huge box of film that’s about to head out to the lab for processing. Who knows what’s in there. I mean, I have a general idea but this isn’t like digital photography where I can look at the back of my camera to see if my metering was correct. My curiosity is in hyper-drive and I forced myself to put away my digital camera, with the exception of snapping a very select few on the second day. (Image above.) This journey is an expensive one. It’s not for the faint-of-heart. And it’s not for the impatient. But I’m thrilled to be taking the steps into the direction my heart is pushing my business. And I can’t wait to see the magic that will be created with such a raw medium!!
So far, this has been worth every second and every penny I’ve invested.
I’m ready to see where this takes me. <3
