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Wendy Laurel is a hippy child at heart :) I love her for that. Wendy is a photographer based in Maui and when we posted our travel schedule saying we would be in Maui to shoot a wedding, Wendy reached out about doing a mentor session with us while we were on the island. We had an awesome day with Wendy! What an incredible person with endless potential.
Chris and I were so excited to dig into Wendy's business with her for an all day mentor session. When we asked Wendy what makes her stand out from other photographers she answered with "my photos are not timid." I am so in love with that answer. Wendy knows who she is and her photos are honest and interesting. So much of this business is not about knowing all the right "rules," (because the truth is that there aren't any), but rather about knowing yourself, trusting your vision and putting it into the world un-apoligetically.
During our time together we talked about marketing/branding, shooting for yourself, harnessing your vision, getting published, processing, workflow among a gamut of other things. It is so cool to see people get so excited about the new levels that they can take their shooting and business to. After our time together, we went to Wendy's site and blog only to discover she had applied many of the pieces of advice that Chris and I gave her during our critique. I would encourage you to read through Wendy's recent post on why she is a photographer... I found it to be a beautiful peek into her heart as a person and artist.
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Sarah is absolutely RADIANT! She is a big ball of energy, life, passion, drive, joy and motivation. Sarah smiles for no reason and laughs easily, which always makes me feel good. People like Sarah make un-funny people like me feel like comedians for the day ;) Usually I'm laughing at myself or my sweet husband and humoring me by laughing at my lame jokes.
Sarah made her voyage to us from the land of Idaho for her mentor session with us. Sarah is applying to art school in the fall so we gave her portfolio a look and came up with interesting ways that she could stand out with her work. We had an awesome day brainstorming ideas for ways that Sarah can push herself in ways that stretch herself as a photographer. We challenged Sarah to get her camera out and shoot something, anything, every day for two solid weeks. So many people are so concerned with "what" they are shooting that they forget that part of becoming a better photographer IS a discipline and it is more about just getting out and doing it. practice. practice, practice.
Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule in his book, Outliers, saying that the key to greatness is dedicating enormous amounts of time to perfecting our craft. Gladwell claims it takes about 10,0000 hours of dedicated time doing the task or craft to truly be an expert at it. We have quite the challenge put before us!
Sarah is a total light. This first photo of her describes her zest to a tee.
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Rich Park says:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 11:31 PM
Sometimes the simplest advice is all we need. Time to get out more and shoot, shoot, shoot!
sarah says:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 04:41 PM
shoot sarah! you did a great job! thanks for sayin' all those nice things about me :) you are pretty darn brilliant yourself. also, don't sell yourself short, you're a hecka funny!
Jenn Stark says:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 03:39 PM
She looks like so much fun! I have a feeling that she will do well :)
taren says:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 09:58 AM
shes radiant!
anda says:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 09:50 AM
i think i would like her :) that last photo is awesome!
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Matthew Lee is an excellent photographer coming from the lands of New York City to give us a visit for a half day mentor session here in Seattle a few weeks ago. Matthew has had years of schooling at some of the best photography schools out there, I could learn a lot from Matthew.
Matthew is a humble and gentle spirit. Chris and I had great talks over tea with him on inspiration, style and voice. Sometimes you just need a different perspective other than your own ;)
I'm a huge believer that you can take and learn things from anyone and everyone. I feel like I haven't had a lot of time to write and share some of the beautiful things I have been learning recently but I really hope to sit down soon and share a blog post or two. Life is an exciting place to be. Everyday I am so grateful.
Off to another busy and delightful day!
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Sean McLean says:
Friday, August 20, 2010, 08:07 AM
...I want Matthew's watch
cody says:
Thursday, August 19, 2010, 10:29 AM
love. theres nothing like getting to share time and thoughts with other artists! yall inspire me with your images and posts all of the time.
Mary says:
Thursday, August 19, 2010, 10:28 AM
Beautiful images and words as always! =) Have an amazing day!
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Carmen Farrell is a great photographer from Toronto who met us in Upstate New York while we were there a couple of weeks ago for a six hour mentor session with us. We were in a super small town in Speculator NY and found a little place to get some ice cream, talk, and dig into Carmen's business.
Chris and I were so excited about Carmen's family portrait focused business. We were immediately inspired by one of her recent lifestyle family shoots and this generated lots of creative ideas that I'm already seeing her run after. We brainstormed some different approaches to her business that will help her stand out in her market and chatted about the importance of paginating our work so that the edit reflects the type of things we want to shoot among a variety of other things ;) These are just a few snaps from our 15 minute mini session with Carmen.
We are heading to L.A. today for Darby & Reece's wedding and then I'm heading to Moab Utah for a girls trip with some of my photographer lady friends for a week! If you want to keep up with some of our adventures you can check out the blog: http://marfatrip.com/
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galaxie says:
Saturday, August 7, 2010, 12:22 AM
sarah! :))
moab is one of my favorite places to visit. make sure to check out castle valley. you can get bikes @ the 'poison spider rental' and ride around there. it's truly magical. have a blast! toodles.
Carmen Farrell says:
Friday, August 6, 2010, 02:01 PM
:) Sarah and Chris, you guys rocked my world! You showed me what was possible and how to go after it - it was a major turning point for me. Since our time together I've been busy busy reading, shooting, and dreaming very big. Hugs to you guys!
p.s. LOVE this last photo with ice cream.
kay* says:
Friday, August 6, 2010, 11:39 AM
So awesome (and yay for a fellow Torontonian!). Your work never fails to inspire me. Particularly love the last images. The colours are great.
These are fabulous images, just love them.
OMG absolutely love these, so warm, so summery .. next shoot for me at the beach, or in the sand!
your pictures are wonderful. love each and every single one of them. you are really a great inspiration and a wonderful source on new ideas and ways to improve my own photogprahy skills. thanks :)
viele gruesse, kristina
your photos always tell the story - I look at your images first (before reading your words) and I always feel that I know a lot about the person before reading.
You do such an such amazing job at capturing a persons true essence. Amazing.
At first I just looked at the photos but I just went back and read what you wrote. Wow. Wow. Wow. Thanks you guys.
you guys truly do an amazing job bringing out the personality of the people you mentor through photos! really awesome work!!
That first one rocks my world!!
Wendy is amazing :)
you are just absolutely amazing sarah. I always hate my photos but love these.
Mmmmmm, she is beautiful.
I really like your session ! so lightful !
I couldn't agree more, Wendy is such a beautiful person--inside & out.