LEARNFEST BLURB

Hello everyone. Yes, I am still alive. I'm so very sorry for the delay in posting this week. My family and I just got back into town last night after having been in Atlanta, Georgia for the past week. Well, actually we were in Braselton, GA which is about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta. I didn't mention my leaving ahead of time just for security reasons for my family. I apologize. I have gotten too numerous to count emails from those of you worried about my family & I while I was away. I never meant to make anyone worry. Thank you for your sincere concern though. It means the world to me. I did try to blog at one point - just a general blog - but the internet access was so bad there due to the remote area we were in that I just couldn't get decent service. I was actually in Georgia for the photography workshop called LEARNFEST. I've been looking forward to the LEARNFEST event for months. It was a huge deal for me and I couldn't be more pleased with all of the info I walked away with. I got the opportunity to spend 4 days with 4 of the most ROCKSTAR photographers in the industry. I'm still reeling from the excitement. I had breakfast and lunch most mornings and afternoons while rubbing elbows, side by side, with photographers (these 4 women), who are celebrities to me in the photography realm. I follow their work and admire everything about each of them and their successes. I respect every word they say because they've been doing this for 6-8 years now and have reached a level of success with photography that most of us can only dream of. I'll have more on each of the ladies come Monday when I post my actual Learnfest update here on the blog. However, these are photographers who shoot for President Obama on the campaign trail, who shoot Maya Angelou and Mrs. Obama, who shoot for pottery barn kids, Vogue, O Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, People magazine, Toys R' Us, the Disney Store. They also shoot and are sought after/in high demand for celebrity families such as Tiger Woods and his family. To say that myself and my fellow classmates were star struck would be an understatement. I even watched one gal ask one of the photographers for her autograph. Yes, that is how big of a deal this event was. Not only was the event exciting as all get out, but we also stayed at a fabulous chateau/winery in Georgia called the Chateau Elan. There are no words for how amazing this place was. It was in a remote area of town - out in the middle of no where really. Very gorgeous.

In fact, our rooms were so gorgeous that I almost stole - yes...stole...the bed out of our room. I loved it. It was incredible. I could have made good use of it in my own home back here in Indy. Ha ha! It was a very art deco style bed done up in a stunning blue leather. Beautimous! Just beautimous! So were the window treatments...

Overall, I spent the week with 59 other budding photographers who were just as impressed and overcome with excitement as I was when it came to the leaders of the workshop, their talents, and the local of where this event was held. I personally got to "hang" with 18 other women who were in my group for the duration of the week. They broke the total group of 60 photographers down into four smaller groups. Of course the RED group was the best group of them all. Yes, the RED group ROCKS! Just ask anyone who was in that group with me. Even the four instructors commented on how the RED group was the best group of the four. No joke! We loved every minute of it too. We knew our group was FAB but it was great to hear our celebrity photography instructors confirm that as well. Hee hee! :)

I learned so much from these women that I can barely contain my excitement. Although I've been to shooting workshops, this workshop was more business related. We did have model shoots but I mainly sat back and watched during those times. I watched the instructors work their magic on children they had never met and then soaked it all up. I truly believe that photography is 20% photography, and then 40% your personality and how you interact with your clients and then the last 40% is all business. I've heard over and over again from instructors how photography is so business driven and that those who make it in this field - make it because they are just as business driven as they are creative. All 4 of these photographers echoed the same sentiments. They told us for every 10 photographers that start out in this field, only 1 will make it successfully. They said there are tons of photographers saturating the market today but that only 1 out of 10 are making any money at this business - any money worth recognizing anyhow. I wrote down every word and tip that they uttered from their mouths. I began changing things on my website before I ever even left the conference. I then came home and got ahold of my graphics gal (web designer) and had her go to work on new marketing literature that I plan to saturate my town/city with immediately. Things are heading to the printer as we speak and I plan to tackle this passion of mine with a vengeance. I'm so psyched and so ready to follow my dream. One of our celebrity rock star photographers at the conference passed on a quote to us that read..."It's never too late to become who you might have been!" (~George Elliot) I loved that. You all know how much I love quotes anyway...let alone when they read like that one does. So...I'm moving mach 25 with my hair on fire right now - throwing myself completely into my photography business. I have so much to tell all of you, so many exciting new things, new plans, new changes for the better. However...all of that will be shared in due time.

In the meantime, I'm thanking my lucky stars that I had the opportunity to attend the very last learnfest they will ever offer. I'm thanking God for 64 new photography friends that I didn't have before last week. I'm thanking him for the new challenges, the excitement, the motivation, the goals, the dreams, and so forth. Also, I'm thanking him for my wonderful Mom who came to learnfest with us so that she could help out with Kenidi. Thank you Mom - even though you scared the bellman to death with your joking. Ha ha! I love you!

I'll post a few photos on Monday surrounding learnfest as well as some shots of those rock star photographers I mentioned. I can't wait to share them with you. The four of them are a force to be reckoned with. They are truly beautiful - inside and out - with incredible talents. Thank you Audrey, Tamara, Lena, and Laura. We all truly appreciate the time and energy you put into Learnfest and the true desire you have for all of us to succeed. We loved every second with you. Thanks for the knowledge as well as the laughs! Thanks for those awesome swag bags too. We loved every bit of the photography items/goodies that they were stuffed with. xoxo, Angie