{GLOW}

The first ever GLOW Photographers’ Workshop took place on May 4, 2014.  Although the day flew by, it was a great day.  Meeting new photographers and friends had to be the highlight, but the beautiful models, the generous catering by Firehouse Subs (did you know they give any tips to the actual firehouses in the area? Cool!), my wonderful hair and make-up artist, my friend at Chesterfield Learning Center  and permission to shoot on the grounds of the beautiful Sunday Park in Brandermill made this day beyond what I had hoped for.

Of course, this day wouldn’t have been anything without the kind hearts of 3 other fabulous photographers!  A little more about them in a bit.  It takes a village is so true, and a village I had. I can’t go without saying that the Village leader is my wonderful husband; I’m not me without him. I am so thankful!

The day started when Amanda drove in for the workshop from Fredericksburg. When I asked her how early she’d be in town, she figured I could use her help setting up, and she was there!  Thank you…that’s what friends are for!  All before she started listening and shooting,  we were steaming dresses, making bouquets, stuffing goodie bags- umm, buckets- and drinking Starbucks, don’t ‘cha know!

Somewhere between when the glue gun was ready and the coffee cold, it was suddenly time for the photographers to start arriving.  I could hardly contain my excitement..it was TIME!  I’d worked and planned long hours for this to happen, and happening it was, and now!

GLOW was created to encourage you as  not only photographers, but also-and just as importantly- as women.  By sharing a wider range of condensed snippets of information from 4 different photographers, each with their own specialty area and passions, we planned to help you in an array of areas as you build your business.  My heart was to do this in an affordable way, because like many of you I know how hard it is when getting going to try to build your equipment and your knowledge at the same time. I wanted to know that those who desired to be a part of GLOW, and who had the availability, would be able to afford it. That was important to me. (If you weren’t able to participate due to your calendar, hang tight…save the date announcement ahead!)

After teaching for almost 2 decades,  running not only my photography business here at Tamara Henion Photography but other successful business over the years and raising a family including taking care of my live in mother in law and homeschooling my now 10 and 20 year old sons, my heart bleeds for teaching younger women to keep the main thing, the main thing.  Bicycles were a prevailing theme of mine. I hope that message never leaves the hearts and ears that heard just a bit of my heart.

And, for many photographers across the board, we get LOST in the world of our computers. Lightroom, editing, organizing, jpgs, raw, uploading, storing, backing up: It’s all too much!  Unless you have the amazing and beautiful person in Erin Schrad on your side. She is ACG (A Computer Genius) though she may humbly deny that title, trust me-you’ve got questions, she has answers!  I’ll say this about each part of the day, we needed more time!  I know I learned from her and from the Q&A, so did each of the rest of our photographers.  You’ll be seeing more of her (and her computer), too!  That makes us ALL happy! Soon, after some more harassing she’ll have a www. site to share  Never mind, take a look HERE; her work clean, crisp and beautiful! Thanks, Erin!

The day I met Riette Kruger with Clearly Perceived Photography, I could see her kind, sincere, generous heart right behind her piercing blue eyes (and trust me, getting beyond her stunning eyes is REALLY hard).  The thing with Reiette is that it’s not easy to figure out if it’s her dreamy photography or her love of people that is most amazing, but once you sit and listen to her talk about loving her clients and all they mean to her (and how she shows them that they do), it’s not hard at all to figure out that her work is that beautiful because of and not aside from the way she loves.  We all LOVED having her and hearing from her; no doubt we won’t forget how important it is to hear someone’s story and then love them through it.  I appreciate you, Riette.

Behind the lens at Sarah Danburg Photography is another beautiful face: the vivacious Sarah!  I feel like I’ve known her for years because of a million little things-you know those people who your spirit says all is right with them? That’s her!  She jumped on board with GLOW and never looked back. In fact, we can’t wait to do it again!  Her love for FACES -little and not so little- as well as light and illumination–shows in the way her photography simply glows. I always know if it’s Sarah’s image, and I always love it!  We were blessed to have her with us sharing more of what she loves.  Oh, and the boots…it was all about the boots!   She’s a snake wrangler too, but that was our little secret while out there shooting.  Thank you, Sarah!

Saving the best for last? I might say that’s the truth.  Although she didn’t get the chance to share, in words, the how and why of professional hair and makeup making a difference in our photography, it was OBVIOUS.  Jennifer Haynes, *my*  😉  hair and makeup artist did an amazing job with one of our models and we appreciate her work so much!  You’re awesome, Jennifer.

A few photos from one little corner of our room…

And after a delicious lunch (Thank you Bernie and Firehouse Subs!), we hit the windy but beautiful grounds of Sunday Park. I was thankful for a gorgeous day in many answered prayers!

I was running around a lot and making sure both the models and the photographers could do what they were there to do, so I didn’t shoot as much as I thought I might but I got enough simple shots to tell the story.

I won’t lie, I was beat by the end of the evening, but it was a beautiful day filled with beautiful people. It’s only right that it ended with this view: Do what you love!

Thanks for coming everyone; I’m glad for each and everyone of you who came.

Being crowded out is a good thing (sort of), but we’re taking care of that for GLOW 2!

Save the date: September 13th!

It’s going to be even sweeter!