While I’ve been shooting professionally for ten years, I’ve made a commitment to myself to always keep learning. I love finding new ways to expand my creativity, whether that’s through reading and exploring books, watching documentaries about places and things I’ve never really given much thought before, or investing in my education, to bolster my business and my own personal development.
Last year, I attended a workshop designed to improve one’s skills and style when it comes to shooting family sessions. The workshop I attended was hosted by Breanne Weston, a family photographer in Cache Valley, Utah, where I most often shoot since I live here. I love Breanne’s style and her workshop seemed like the perfect choice for me to learn how to better pose my families in a natural way, maybe find some great new locations to shoot at, and to connect with other local photographers.
The workshop was a full day of learning and hands-on experience with multiple sessions to shoot throughout the day. We learned straight from Breanne in her home and embarked on three different family shoots throughout Cache Valley.
The first family we shot was in their own home. I love doing in-home sessions, so I was really excited to ramp up my game in this department. The family had a little boy who actually wasn’t feeling all that well the day of the shoot, but we all still got some adorable shots! That’s the beauty of shooting with experienced professionals — even though the subject wasn’t feeling his best, I learned how to still capture some joyful moments and showcase the relationship between him and each of his parents, which is really handy to know how to do because it’s pretty frequent that I’m faced with a challenge like this when shooting for my actual clients. Knowing how to shoot fussy or uncomfortable kids is probably most of the battle in making sure my families end up with some great photos, even on rough days.
After the in-home session, we headed out to Tony Grove up Logan Canyon for the second two families to shoot. I love shooting at Tony Grove. It’s such a beautiful location with several stunning vignettes to choose from for a family shoot, allowing the clients to receive lots of unique poses and settings for our time spent in that one location.
I had so much fun at this workshop and would love to attend one of Breanne’s workshops again one day! She put together a quality day of education and hands-on experience that offers incredible value and benefit.
