A Collaborative Afternoon

You may have read or heard me talk about how I love to collaborate.  It usually starts with me drinking coffee and then there is just no hope for me.  My energy buzz from connecting with other creatives and an opportunity to do growing and learning are crazy exciting for me.  But I'm not alone there...open to see.

I have seen others put together styled shoots.  They looked amazing.  I thought about signing up to attend but didn't know if I wanted to participate in someone else's shoot; after seeing images posted from these shoots, I would feel a pang of regret at not joining in.  I see a lot of wedding themed styled shoots and since my photography doesn't really focus on that genre, my interest waned.  But I absolutely loved True Moua's whimsical senior photo shoot at Click Away this year and so I started playing the 'what-if' game in my head.  Which led to me reaching out to fellow Clickin' Moms members here in Nebraska to see if they'd be interested.  There was interest.  Then hair and makeup, models, a location and a boutique for wardrobe.

The morning of the shoot, on my drive from Omaha to Lincoln, I reverted back to a high school student on her way to school, wracking my brain to make sure I'd completed every assignment that was due today.  Filled with nervous excitement, I showed up at the Sheldon Museum of Art near downtown Lincoln and hoisted all my goods for the shoot inside.  I was immediately met with faces, some familiar and some I'd only seen in small circular profile spaces.  Caffeine was a bad choice this morning, I thought.

The main reason for coordinating this shoot was to mirror the photography conference experience I had earlier this year - learn from and with fellow photographers and grow from there.  I have wanted to shoot at the Sheldon for so long and have just never made it there until now.  We decided to focus on harsh light since there is so much opportunity for light at this particular museum and what a wonderful day of sunshine for it!  We got to play with shooting from different perspectives as we quickly found out that the Sheldon Museum actually offers wonderfully, beautiful light inside their main hall.

More than half of the women present or involved in this workshop are people I'd never met in person before.  But this experience had a similar result to that of the shoots from Click Away - we were all able to offer community and feedback in a positive way.  We had so much fun even though most of us were almost complete strangers at the beginning of the afternoon.  As photographers, we often do not have the opportunity to be or have a soundboard with other creatives like we need - what settings did you use there?  Tell me if this image looks fuzzy.  What if she did this?  It is an invaluable experience.

I had so much fun planning this event and can't wait to do another later this year.  Planning a fairly stress-free practice situation for directing clients, coordinating all the session's details and having it turn out so incredible is addicting!  Pieces of this styled shoot and future styled shoots will begin to be implemented in my senior photography, as well as family and children's portraiture. 

Collaborating has allowed me some space to step out into some areas that are personal challenges - although but challenging.  I'm so thankful this group of talented and beautiful women were game for this experience - thanks so much for all you did!  It was a bit of a miracle that all who were present were able to be, due to the recent flooding; we did have one participant unable to get out to the shoot and we missed meeting her!  I'm so excited to work with her in the future as well and am thankful for the sun that will hopefully dry out our drenched state.  Until next time, blessings on your creating!