Explore North Workshop 2017 | Two Bear Lake, Wisconsin

I wanted to take a minute this week and share a little bit of our Explore North Workshop that we did a couple weeks ago!! This was the second year April and I hosted a workshop for photographers and this year we had the wonderful Emily join us as well to teach!

First, I have to just give a huge THANK YOU to those ladies and to all of the attendees, models, and creatives that helped to make this workshop a reality. I can't fully express what an incredible experience it is to host a workshop to not only learn and grow your business, but to just get away to relax, be inspired, and meet new friends!! We all drove to the middle of nowhere in northern Wisconsin and had a super fun and cozy week in our modern cabin!!

This year we did a styled elopement and an in-home couples portrait session! I've included some highlights below, but the highlight of the week for me was just getting to see everyone get excited and be inspired by their new surroundings and opportunities to shoot. I truly am humbled by this whole experience and can't wait to see what the future holds for more teaching opportunities :)

Elopement Shoot: Hair & Makeup - Lady Vamp Artistry  |  Flowers - Blooms by Brandi  | Models - Hunter and Nicole  |  In-Home Session: Models -  Ben and Kelly 

How I Became A Photographer | A Personal Post

This week I'm working through my backlog of images that have been patiently waiting to be finished (having a computer go down did not help my productivity!) and I came across this image and for some reason it just made me think of how I got started in photography! And seeing as how I'm juuust a little behind on blogging, I thought I would take a second and just share my story for those of you that don't know.

Growing up I never had anything even close to a "fancy" camera. I always had cheap point-and-shoots, but every time I filled a roll of film I could NOT wait to get it developed. Fast forward to high school when I finally took a formal photography class through a local university that was just a creative film photography class held at night for beginners. Even having the most basic of assignments (photographing lines, stopping motion, etc) made me so happy and excited!

You would think I would've gone to college to study photography, but it wasn't until I was almost done with my accounting degree and I spent a semester abroad that I decided life was just too short to spend 40 hours a week doing something that I wasn't passionate about. It was then I decided to go after my dream career and did a 180 from the corporate world and headed off for a formal photography education in Massachusetts! I was spoiled learning on medium format film and digital camera systems and all of the professional lighting gear we could want. After I learned what an f-stop and shutter speed actually were, I headed to New York City for a couple internships before moving to Boston where I finally started to shoot weddings and fell in love with being a wedding photographer.

This black and white portrait kind of made me wish I had shot it on film, which started the whole thought process of where I started on film, but it kind of inspired me to get back to those roots and going out to shoot just for fun and to never forget the pure joy and excitement that I feel when I pick up a camera. I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately on where I want to go with my photography business, but I haven't been doing enough of remembering why I started in the first place. I'm glad I saw this image today and it reminded me of why I started this crazy journey to begin with :)

Explore North Workshop | Part Two | The Experience

Holy cow, where do I even begin?! Like April talked about in her recent blog post, we were sitting in a coffee shop back in December just talking, daydreaming, the usual, when we both agreed wouldn't it be awesome to host a workshop?! One thing led to another and our ideas quickly escalated into what became the Explore North Workshop. I have been so humbled and grateful by this whole experience and don't think I can say enough how incredible it was. Thankfully we had the amazing Shaunae Teske to help make one unforgettable weekend happen. Having 3 different photographers (haha with 3 different sizes of buns on our heads) made for such a unique workshop :)

Yesterday I shared a blog post all about the wedding styled shoot, here, and as much fun as that was to shoot (I mean, lets be real, what photographer wouldn't get all giddy for a shoot like that) I had even more fun just stepping back and watching everyone else work and experience this weekend. I cannot tell you how happy it made me feel to see other photographers so excited and invested in our workshop. Strong bonds and friendships were formed, gorgeous images were taken, but more importantly we all shared in this unique experience together. 

The last night of the workshop in particular was my favorite. After teaching all day we had free time for everyone to just hang out or do whatever they liked! I loved seeing everyone get together and head down to the beach for some fun (and revealing) portraits!! We could not have asked for a better group of photographers to spend the weekend with!! Then it was on to the massive campfire where of course an epic dance competition happened (huge shout out to Group 3 for killing it!!!) and then the cherry on top, getting to see and photograph northern lights. If anyone had walked up to see a group of photographers all laying on their stomaches in the pitch black with cameras propped up on a stick they probably would've thought we were nuts! But it was these moments that I loved and will always remember :)

I've included a bunch of behind-the-scenes images as well as a few from our fun styled engagement shoot! I can't say enough, thank you to EVERYONE involved with this workshop. I think the last thing I said Sunday to April was that I'm going to fall asleep with a smile on my face and that has lasted this whole week after as well!

Explore North Workshop | Part One | Wedding Styled Shoot

Where do I even begin?! Tomorrow I will be doing a more detailed blog post about the entire workshop and experience so I'll try to hold back the emotion, but this past weekend was truly and unforgettable one. A big part of that was the styled shoots!! The dynamic duo of Mint & Lovely put together such a unique concept for our attendees to photograph and it all came together better than I could have imagined!

I have included some highlights but I want to give a huge shout out and lots of love to all of the vendors (listed below) that contributed to the workshop!! Having such a creative and professional team to work with is invaluable and I am so grateful for all of their hard work. Enjoy these today and look for another blog post right away tomorrow :)

VENDORS: Event Stylists + Stationary: Mint & Lovely | Dress Designer: Leanne Marshall | Bridal Boutique: Flutter | Floral Designer: Saffron & Grey | Jewelry Designer: Alyssa and Anna | Hair + Makeup: Mollie Kae | Cake Designer: Cake and Cookie | Hand died linen: Aeva | Laser cut names: Everlaser | Prop Rentals: Event Essentials | Jewelry: Lizzibeth | Venue: Lake Superior Barn | Models: Brock and Katrina