I attended a fantastic workshops last month in one of my favorite places, Los Angeles. The workshop was a Beloved workshop hosted by one of the most authentic and incredibly kind hearted people I’ve ever met, Jesh DeRox. This workshop changed lives. Literally. And it changed the way I think about running my business and how I interact with each person that I am encountered with, both personal and professional.. We talked little about photography, and more about how we can do something in our lives, more powerfully than we could ever imagine. That we could rid of our distractions and doubts, and follow our dreams-whatever it may be. And that we could love it, and make a living doing it. And even more important, we can add even more meaning to the work we do as photographers and provide a place of peace, and laughter, and real authentic moments that our clients and couples can experience, on any level, in turn making our jobs so much more valuable. Because instead of just taking a photo to have an image, and get a pay check… we can provide a space for our couples to absolutely break down their walls, and allow them an opportunity to express how much they really do love and care for each other as silly or as deep as they’d like. And I LOVED this workshop. We had so many phenomenal guests: from A Beloved inspiration herself, Tamara Gold.. one of the best of Hollywood makeup artists, to Rassoli, one of the most famous abstract painters of our day, to some of the Beloved team: Amina with Still Motion (a very amazing video/photo team, Samm Blake, and Jesse and Whitney with Our labor of Love.

Being surrounded, in a room, with a ton of people who share the same passions as you, with same outgoing personalities… people who love the world around them and truly care about making a difference in the world and genuinely caring about people… was almost overwhelming. I felt a connection like I hadn’t felt very often in my life. This might sound cliche to the Beloved debbie-downers, but it was so meaningful that it almost felt like that church camp experience (for those of you who know what I’m talking about). The only difference is, is that it wasn’t just a high we experienced, it was an every day thing. We are the new wave of photographers here to step up and change the way we do things. To rid of this 50% divorce rate, and to remind the people we interact with, of their true love. I have started incorporating Beloved into all of my couples shoots and even family shoots as well. The difference and the feeling is so powerful.

My whole initial point of this post, was because Samm Blake had inspired us to work on personal projects and challenges. One project she does, is every time she travels anywhere, she takes ten photos of the place she visited. Of things that look appealing, colors that stand out to her, images of something she experienced. Well I went into my trip to Los Angeles, knowing that I would be there an extra few days with my friends Julie and the whole gang. So I knew we’d be doing a lot. We visited a Jimmy Kimmel Live show, we saw Jay Leno’s stand up comedy in Hermosa Beach, I took a bike ride along the coast down to Redondo beach and saw the seals, and we spent some time in Hollywood after our really fun and nerve racking horse riding experience at the edge of the mountains. SO as you can see, I have soaked in way more than I had planned.. and also passed my ten photo limit for my personal project. Feel free to dive into my WHOLE experience, as I am a photographer at heart and couldn’t stop shooting. I also had lunch with my friend Daniel and we played a little with teaching him some phtoography. SO I in turn, got some photos of myself.

Experience California, how I saw it!

(Only I happened to be there on one of the gloomiest weeks LA has had this fall)