I don’t even know where to start with this blog post. I just knew I had to get it down in “print” while it was still fresh.
For 28 Days Sue Bryce, via CreativeLIVE, has been schooling us photographers on everything from posing, to marketing, to natural light studios. I enjoyed absorbing every bit of information she willingly shared. Even my 4 year old has watched some of the online lessons. “Mama is doing photog-wafer school again” he would say. Personally, I think he was drawn in to her awesome accent like the rest of us. How could I not want to watch her for 28 Days when she sounds like that? But, I digress. Let’s fast forward to about 20 days into the course. I saw on my CreativeLive Twitter feed that they were taking applications to come to Seattle to be a part of the live broadcast of the last day of 28Days. What an amazing opportunity. I immediately thought “I have to do this”. Then, of course, the next thoughts were all negative: “They’ll never pick me”;”it is too short of notice”;”how will we juggle the kids schedule”? If Sue was there with me, I am pretty sure she would have told me to “clear those blocks”. So, I did. I sent in my application and decided to let the fates decide what will happen. 4 days later (which was 4 days before the show) I, along with the other photographers chosen, received a lovely little email inviting us to Seattle.
This is when all the fun and craziness started. The search began for airfare and hotels, and my husband began rearranging his work schedule. Within hours of receiving the email I had had sent an excessive amount of texts, messages and tweets. And my Facebook friends list grew as I started connecting with fellow photographers who would also be embarking on this adventure.
The travel involved in this adventure was crazy in and of itself. Delayed flights, missed connections and totally new itineraries made via twitter and American Airlines- but that is a whole other story! At 9:30 pm on Sunday night I walked into my hotel in Seattle. A group of photographers were congregated in the hotel lobby, and there we sat and chatted about all things photography, Sue and 28 Days.
I was up bright and early on Monday and ready to start my big day. I could barely believe I would finally meet Sue Bryce. The Sue Bryce. Being at the studio was surreal. Sitting in the front row, watching everything unfold was surreal. Seeing Kenna Klosterman and Susan Roderick sitting with their computers in front of me was surreal. I think you get the idea. It’s just such an odd thing to watch people on online and then actually get to meet them face to face (hence my overuse of the word surreal).
Then Sue came out and rocked my world. I sat there and nervously watched as she spoke about business and photography. About clearing blocks and different marketing techniques. I could go on and on about what 28 Days has to offer and the endless lessons that are given out willingly by Sue, but honestly, if you want all that info you should really take the course. I mean it is TWENTY EIGHT DAYS. That is a really long blog post I would be committing to 😉 . There is so much information to take in. And the one thing that every person has asked me about going, was “Was it worth it”. The simple answer? For me, YES. I am all about the life experience. I had the opportunity to meet a photographer I hold in high esteem and listen to her talk about what she does best. Heck yeah, it was worth it. Sue Bryce is the Queen of Glamour Photography. That is not what I do. I am a Lifestyle and Wedding Photographer- so why would I follow her so closely? Because she is inspiring. Because anyone who is that talented at what they do has something that I can learn. Her confidence and conviction in what she does is amazing. Everything she spoke about can be applied to my current business plan, and will make it run smoother. They say that if you want to grow as a person, or in business, that you should surround yourself with people that are better than you, so you can learn from them. Sue has given so many of us that opportunity. It was a life changing experience, simply because it made me really think about what I do, how I do it, and what I do to make it better.
One last thing I want to address. Remember in the previous paragraph how I stated that I am not a Glamour Photographer? I probably should have put an asterisk on that statement, or added a “yet”. I was so moved by Sue’s photography (you really need to check her work out!), that it made me want to try doing a glamour/transformation style as well. Do I plan on being exactly like Sue? No. But that is the beauty of what she taught me. She gave me the foundation to do this type of photography, but within my style and in my way. That is a pretty amazing lesson!
Big thanks to Sue Bryce and CreativeLIVE for letting me be a part of this and for giving me an experience I won’t soon forget. And another shout out to all the amazing photographers I met along this journey. I look forward to building our relationship and watching you grow as well.
I left my big ole camera home, kind of ironic for someone going to a photography workshop, right? Below are some of my iPhone images and screen grabs from my 72 hour adventure. Thank you for joining me here as I shared this very special experience.
Have a great day!
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