Wow.

So. It's 11:35 on Friday night, and I'm exhausted. The first day of my CreativeLIVE workshop with Bambi Cantrell here in Seattle has been so much more amazing than I dared to hope it would be... the sheer amount of information coming at us is incredible, and to be here to experience it in person - to try to put these lessons into practice myself instead of watching someone else from a comfortable spot at my desk - is proving to be simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. To know that there are thousands tens of thousands of internet viewers watching from all seven continents (I've got my eye on YOU, Antarctica!) looking over my shoulder, not to mention Bambi Cantrell herself, really turns up the heat... but in a good way! As I was saying to one of my fellow students, it's one thing to shoot a portrait session or a wedding: there, you're the professional, and your clients don't question your decisions about camera angle or composition, much less technical choices like aperture or shutter speed or focal length. To be shooting in front of nothing but other professionals is quite another matter, and really calls into question every single decision you make before, during, and after you pick up your camera. I certainly wasn't perfect today, but that wasn't why I came here: I came here because I know I'm NOT perfect, and I want, always, to get better.

(Forgive me: I'm not working on my computer, so all images in this weekend's posts will be un-retouched!)

Bambi - tiny though she is - is so much larger than life. For those of you watching, that incredible energy you're seeing on screen is only a fraction of what she's got: she kept joking and fielding questions through every break, lunch, and on into the evening over cocktails at a bistro down the street. The woman is a veritable font of knowledge, and watching her pose someone seemingly without thinking is humbling... you'd think it'd be easier to make someone look natural!

Of course, working with a model and a gorgeous bride and groom with phenomenal diffused window light certainly didn't hurt...

I could say more - a lot more, but this girl's gotta get her beauty rest... I'm used to being behind the camera, not in front of it! And although I get the feeling that I'm going to say this many more times before the weekend is over, I can't help but close with this: thank you, Bambi. What an extraordinary day!

xox,

annemie