Elevate Workshop // A Dream Come True!

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Last week was a giant week for me! As you may have read in previous blog posts, I've been planning a little workshop called Elevate. I have been thinking about this for about 2 years and have literally put everything I have into planning this over the last few months. It was my mission to put on the best. workshop. ever. for the attendees - and that meant their entire experience, from start to finish. The location, to me, was one of the most important factors. I wanted to be in a fun, creative space that was removed from our every-day-lives and the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs was absolutely perfect. In fact, everything was perfect. Of course, there are always things we can improve upon in the future, but we literally had the perfect group of AMAZINGLY talented photographers, the most solid guest speakers and incredibly ambitious shooting challenges. We also indulged in some of the best food and along with that came some fantastic conversation. We literally laughed, cried, and ultimately grew from this experience and I must say - we had more fun than I could have hoped for.

When you put on a workshop, it's an entirely different learning experience. I found myself saying, " I hope..." a lot of the time. About midway through the workshop, I took a moment to look around and really listen to the conversations that were going on. My hopes for Elevate had become a reality and I felt humbled and incredibly grateful for having accomplished everything I had set out to achieve with this workshop. I also realize that I couldn't have made this SO amazing, if I didn't have such amazing friends!

A HUGE thank you to Jen Harthorn for putting together our amazing flower arrangements and helped style our photoshoots! Jen and her assistant worked around the clock, creating some amazing art...can you say a flower beach ball?!?! Yep, that happened! Also, to Matt Brue and the Capture Studios crew who also worked tirelessly during the week to create some inspiring video clips to share with you all! I also have to thank our amazing studio manager, Liz, and our great friend, Jeffrey, for helping me with all of the logistics!!

Last but not least, I have to thank Brian Greenberg of Richard Photo Lab and Isabella Sikaffy of FloraBella for coming out and speaking to us! These two really were the icing on the cake for Elevate! The conversations and the knowledge that they gave to us is truly invaluable and I am SO thankful that they believed in Elevate, and wanted to be a part of it!

Alright...now, I'll stop chatting...and share with you, some very pretty pictures...and yes...Jesus stopped by!

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We kicked off our first night with a fun shooting challenge with RJ Kern. RJ taught us all about a technique called 'painting with light'. We simply had a bunch of fun testing out this new bag-of-tricks we learned and here are the results:

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The second shooting challenge was underwater! I was absolutely blown away by the images that our attendees created! Each person had 5 minutes and 1 descriptive word that they had to convey...not an easy task! Here are the words...can you tell which word belongs to each photo?

Energize, Melancholy, Statuesque, Provocative,  Chic, Whimsical, Delightful, Bizarre, and Memorizing.

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Our last shooting challenge was a team challenge. Each team had to work together to create a triptych with a cohesive theme revolving around the word 'honeymoon'. Each person had to submit one image towards the triptych, yet they all had to be on the same page with an overall vision!

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Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my sponsors, guest speakers, models and most importantly, the wonderful attendees! Each and every one of you are incredible artists and people! I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know you more and help you grow! You all made Elevate everything I had dreamed it could be!

Cheers to Elevate!

LOVEe