I am writing this Blog from Mesa, Arizona. I have been here since Friday attending the phenomenal ImagingUSA hosted by Professional Photographers of America. Last night, I got to hear the legendary baby photographer, Anne Geddes speak to us. She talked about her early days in photography and how one New Year's Eve in the early 80's after watching the fireworks in Sydney Harbor, Anne told her friends and husband that she was going to be a world famous photographer. She had very little experience as a photographer but Anne is a dreamer. I could relate to her early days, the struggles and the journey to growing a photography business, the risk and rewards. Anne told us a story about selling her baby calendars out of her trunk. She had self-printed thousands of calendars with no publisher to distribute them. Anne and her husband risked everything to sell these calendars. She drove around neighborhoods with her children and while she waited in the car, Anne's husband would knock on doors and they sold every single one of them.
What I took away from this evening with Anne is to stay true to yourself, and as a photographer take one day a month to photograph something you love, have fun and play. Anne did this in her early days, thinking outside the box when it came to photographing babies coming up with: new, innovative, creative and magical ways to photograph babies in: flowers, flowerpots, pea pods and pearls. The rest as they say, is history.
My time at ImagingUSA has been a growth opportunity for me with lots of incredible workshops, well known guest speakers to inspire me on my journey as a photographer.
My brother, Grant, lives in Mesa, Arizona and like me he too is a photographer. We both attended the conference together. This was an extra special time to share this experience with my big brother. These two photographs were taken last night at the Phoenix conference center, which is new and looks fabulous. One of the images has us both together (click on the images for a larger size).
My Evening with Anne Geddes
When I go shopping, I’m always on the lookout for potential props for a photo shoot. I discovered this soft eggshell blue blanket and fell in love with it. I had a feeling it would photograph well, and these photographs of Baby Isaac wrapped up in it are just perfection. Isaac’s Mother had these cute knit hats which of course we had to put on Isaac. He looks so sweet! When his Mother saw the photos from this shoot, she cried because Isaac looked so adorable, and she wanted to wake him up to kiss him. This is my second photo shoot with Isaac and his Mother, America. She is very much in love with her baby boy.
