Last week I had one of the most amazing experiences of my photography journey.  I had the opportunity to attend the Follow Your Heart Workshop in West Virginia.  Three days of instruction, encouragement, business guidance, inspiration and a ton of “kindred spirits” to visit with.  It was amazing!

The workshop was hosted by 4 extremely talented photographers.  Sarah Hill of Sarah Beth Photography, Sarah Cornish of My 4 Hens, Candice Zugich of The Blissful Maven and Spanki Mills of Spanki Mills Photography.  They all have their unique styles in their own right while having a common thread of shooting intentionally to display emotion and connection.

The first day we took some time to get to know each other, talked about logistics, methods and then got right to work!  Spanki had the most gorgeous Mom come to model for us with her 3 kiddos!

In the afternoon we talked about lots more but we also tried our hand at non traditional head shots.  Sarah Hill gave us a ton of pointers and I seriously love everything about these!

This is Heather (my travel mate) who runs Heartstrings Photography here in Huntsville. <3

It had been raining pretty much all day but the clouds gave us a VERY short intermission (about 20 minutes) for the Sarah H and Sarah C show us how they shoot family sessions.  We had a beautiful family on the gorgeous rolling farm that surrounded the house and were even gifted a rainbow before the clouds opened up and POURED on us!!!

Day 2 started with this adorable little tid bit. <3  It took her a little bit to warm up to all of us (23 of us to be exact) but once she did, oh goodness.  Did I mention how adorable she is???  Gary gets most of the credit in changing her outlook though.  There is something about a bright yellow baby goose that is foolproof when trying to get kids to be happy. ;-)

Candice, one of the teachers, volunteered that afternoon to let us practice on her.  These images are just so intimate and beautiful.  I can’t help but want to do some Mommy and Me sessions in the near future.  There is just something about the connection between a mother and her children that will always tug at my heart.

Our model family from day 1 agreed to come back for day 2! (we were all praying it wouldn’t rain on them. (AGAIN)  The sun even came out for a bit and with it came a little bit of magic if I do say so myself. <3

We all met up for breakfast the following morning, took a lot of selfies, gave a lot of hugs, traded a lot of social media info and promised to stay in touch.

It was the first time I had been away from my 4 kids for more than a night and even then I have always only been an hour or so away…  I couldn’t wait to get home and squeeze them, but I was genuinely sorry to leave.

One of the perks of being a photographer is a completely flexible schedule.  It is what makes it possible for me to be a stay at home mom, home school my kids, run a photography business and not be a complete mess (most of the time).  I can do the majority of my business through email, online or over the phone and schedule my shoots for the evenings and weekends when my husband is home.  It works beautifully and I love it!  However, it can get a bit lonely though…  Having the fellowship of like minded photographers in such a rich learning environment was so refreshing.

I am so excited for what the future holds and can’t wait to see what it looks like through my lens.