We hosted our first workshop! We’ve hosted several small scale photographer’s shoot-out events over the last year and we knew we wanted to expand on them and offer an educational and intimate experience for the photographer’s in our community! This workshop was built to allow the attendees a space to create something new and dive into the intentionality behind their businesses as they move into the new year.
As we begun meeting with vendors and discussing the workshop in more depth a word popped into our Bekah’s head that had hung on her bulletin board throughout high school:
Meraki: [MAY:RAH:KEE] noun.
“Doing something with soul, creativity, or love; to put something of yourself into what you create.”
This word perfectly embodied what we wanted this workshop to be all about and how we wanted all of our vendors and photographers that participated in the workshop to feel as they created in the studio!
We had an amazing team of all-female (HECK FREAKIN YEAH) entrepreneurs and business owners that helped make this two day workshop possible! With the incredible talent and help of Wildly Collective, we were able to offer two different styling themes for the workshop that focused on current and upcoming trends. The Dream State sets were curated and designed by Wildly Collective and focused heavily on a soft, colorful and “dream-like” aesthetic that has us (quite literally) dreaming of Spring!
Our team at Lightbox curated the Modern Romance sets that used a more earthy tones and textures. We wanted these sets to focus more on editorial posing and integrate an edgy bridal session with a fun fast food twist!
We made sure to make the styled shoot portion of both days fall along the same overall theme but offer something new and exciting for each day so that the photographer’s attending could choose to come to day one, day two, or both days!
Day One
This 8 hour day was filled with 2 styled shoots, 1 styling vignette and 1 tablescape. The goal was for each photographer to take the time to try new posing techniques and bounce ideas off one another while shooting. After the photography portion of the day, we congregated in the Edison to download our images and start editing. One of the best parts of the day was hearing from speakers Wildly Collective and Tessa Cooper on “Creating More Meaningful Work” and “Pitching your Work to Publications.” We ended the evening with a catered meal from Cafe Cusco (a local fave) and conversations around the beautiful tablescape styled by Wildly Collective.
Day Two
This 4 hour day consisted of 2 styled shoots, headshot set-up, editing time, an introspective worksheet and learning about “Staying True to Your Brand Identity from the owner of the Ozark Mountain Flower Truck, Cassie Parker!
Cassie spoke on staying true to your brand identity, finding your “why” and how to scale your business! We LOVED having Cassie here because we so admire the brand she has cultivated at Ozark Mountain Flower Truck!
Our favorite part of any photography related events at the studio is ALWAYS the incredible images from all of the attendees! We continue to be blown away by the creativity and passion of the photography community in our area!
We are so incredibly thankful that this workshop was a success and ignited the creative spark in the community we love so much! We couldn’t have done it without the help of our incredible vendors:
Wildly Collective
Dream State concept & design
Day one speakers
Kyndra Jackson
Dream State day two wardrobe
@neverwakemeup
(Photo by Leigh Smith Photo)
Shea Brianne
Queen City Blooms
Dream State florals
Modern Romance head piece
@queencity.blooms
Sand and Stone Handmade
Stone ring boxes
Cassie Parker
Day two speaker
Lilac and Lord Baking
Baked goods
AVBS
Tessa Cooper
Kind words:
Written by Bekah Schooler & Hannah DeVries
