Do you remember the post about Sequoia?  Well, the whole reason I was out there was to attend a workshop.  I am a member of the Beloved Collective, which is a group of a few hundred photographers exploring this new genre of experiential photography focused on couples in love.  This workshop in L.A. was organized by the incredible Jesh de Rox who has spent the last four years of his life developing this genre.

This workshop was simply life changing.  We covered everything from how to meet with a couple and explain what it is that we do as Beloved photographers to digging deep and finding yourself as an artist to discovering what we're afraid of to using our technical knowledge to further our artistic vision.  It was simply amazing.  I was constantly laughing or crying and looking into the core of myself.  I cannot believe that it was already a whole month ago.

For those of you in our industry who have never worked with Jesh: you need to.  He is an amazing, open, genuine, and caring person... and he knows how to bring those things out in you and help you bring it out in other people.  Through this aspect alone, he will make you a better photographer and a better business person.

If I had to sum up everything I learned those few days in LA in one sentence, it would be: "At the bottom of everything, we are all the same and we are all beautiful."  Sure, we hide it and go through life radiating things other than beauty from time to time, but if given the right space to let love shine out, everyone can be beautiful.  At the end of the day, it's our job as photographers to create the space for that love to shine out and to use it to show people how beautiful they really are.

And because every post needs a picture... here is a shot from the little concert that Jesh gave one night.  You can find some of his music here.

Thanks also to the incredible folks who presented along with Jesh:

Amina Moreau of Stillmotion - Her talk on using technical knowledge to convey emotion and mood was mind blowing.

Samm Blake - She spoke about working through resistance and finding yourself as an artist.  She also gave us several challenges to help us work out what the heck it is we

Jesse and Whitney Chamberlain of Our Labor of Love - These super-creative folks talked about building your brand and building a community.

Freydon Rassouli - He was a guest speaker - a painter.  He talked about chaos and creativity and how to overcome the blocks that come to you.  And he looks like Super Mario.  Bonus!

Tamara Gold - She's a makeup artist and talked about finding yourself and following the opportunities that fall into your path.  Her passion was simply breathtaking.

So... I had to stop shooting for a couple days because I couldn't get the camera open after I finished a roll of film.  O_o

Everything is fine now (thankfully) and I'm excited to show you the first round of results.  It's interesting to see what came out of the camera because it's not what I was expecting.  Some shots in the same light are different colors and it seems that the plane of focus is different from what I see through the viewfinder.  This is very grainy film as well.  Makes for some crazy stuff, but I like it.  Maybe now that I know what I'm working with I'll be able to use it to my advantage :)

For the record, this film was a 400 ISO Sensia slide film and most of the shots were taken with a 50mm with a macro extender ring.  I have not modified these digitally at all - I had the film developed and scanned at a local lab.

Here's the scenario going in:

- me

- a nice old film camera (a la 1965)

- the camera does not have a functioning light meter

- the camera may have a light-leak problem

Here's the scenario as it now stands:

- me

- a nice old film camera (a la 1965)

- the camera does not have a functioning light meter

- the camera may have a light-leak problem

- the film in the camera that may be black and white OR color, i can't remember (ok, even more challenging than first anticipated because you shoot differntly because of the kind of film in the camera)

- the first roll is shot and taken to be developed.  turns out it's blank because it didn't catch right when I first loaded it into the camera (the camera tries to show me who's boss, clearly it is not me)

- the second roll is loaded properly, shot, and dropped off to be developed.  it's color, by the way.  hopefully there are actually exposures on it.

- the third roll is loaded (properly, I hope) and just started.  also color.

- i forgot to buy more film today while i was at the photo lab, so now i'm officially out of supplies

The more challenging challenge seems to be increasing in challenging-ness almost daily, but I'm going to fight through it and post some images in the end, damnit!  Watch out world!  And please be patient.

:)

Some of you may recall my 30-day challenge back in January when I posted a photo each day for 30 days.  It was a good exercise for me and I felt like some learning and growing happened in the process.  It has been decided that it is about darned time that I do another 30-day challenge.  This time, however, will be with film in a camera without a real, functioning light meter.  Hence the more challenging aspect of this challenge.  I have been meaning to get back into film for a while (it has been quite a long time... since before digital cameras were the norm...) so this seems like a good way to do it.  Of course, I will only be able to post after the film has been developed, so I'm guessing about once a week.

Today is day 1... wish me luck!

And because every post needs a photo... enjoy this one of the interior of a century plant/agave/maguey:

We all know that building a business is a hard thing.  My business is still fairly new, and I've just recently had my first couple of setbacks.  I know that they are the first of many and it comes with the territory, but no matter how strong you are, you always feel something when the setbacks come.  What makes them better is someone to support you, to believe in you.  For me, that is Bo.  He doesn't usually say much, he tends to have a quiet way when things are rough.  This time he told me that he knows I was born to do this and that I will succeed.  That was all he said, and it was all I needed.

So here's to my Bo.  Thanks for being my rock.