About a year ago I started on a photography journey that has completely changed my life. I took some classes from Amy & Jordan who are AMAZING teachers and even better people!! They believe in empowering, encouraging and loving on their clients, and their students. Part of taking these classes is having exclusive membership in their private Facebook groups where I get to connect with other photographers who are also taking their classes. They have created a safe community where you can ask questions, ask for advice, post photos for critique, share ideas and learn from each other. Their motto is Community over Competition and it’s one of the most amazing communities I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve met so many amazing photographer friends through their classes. We have a Chicago group who have all taken at least one of their classes {they have three} and we try to get together to practice and chat photos as often as possible.
A few months ago my friend Cara Parker, who live in Massachusetts asked if it would be ok if she came here for a style shoot that was planned in July. Uhm, of course….and you can stay with me! {it’s not weird to ask perfect strangers from your photo class to stay with you, right?} Once I knew she was coming, I thought it would be fun to put together a group of AJ Photographers in the area to practice shooting. I chatted with Kim Ritchie and we decided that we should do a “Model Call” and get some couples to let us take their photos that night. I was pleasantly surprised by the response we got and we were able to use FOUR couples to rotate with the NINE photographers for 3 hours of shooting. It was such a blast to work with each couple and to share ideas with the photographers.
I was a LITTLE stressed out because it has been raining all day on Friday and was supposed to rain all day Saturday, but we just prayed a lot, and decided to keep everything as scheduled. We brought our clear umbrellas and hoped for the best. It was sprinkling when we started, but it cleared up and was beautiful and perfect until just after we took our group shot! {PERFECT TIMING!!}
I have SO many fun photos from that night and I can’t share them all. We didn’t all get to work with each couple {something we’ll correct for next time} but we had such a great time and learned so much!!!
We took some fun headshots of each other and lots of couples shots. Here are a list of the photographers who came that night and a link to their sites.
Liberty Cameron Photography – That’s me! Website , Facebook, and Instagram
Kim Ritchie Photography – Facebook and Instagram
Cara Parker Photography (MA) – Website, Facebook and Instagram
Carrie White Photography – Website , Facebook and Instagram
Irene Osowski Photography – Facebook and Instagram
Selina Brown Photography – Facebook and Instagram
Stacy Ruiz Photography – Facebook and Instagram
Sofi Torri Photography – Facebook and Instagram
Ashley Wright {Just learning how to take AMAZING pictures of her family!!}
And here are some photos from that night, this is our group including McKenna and Clayton who were our models and members of the AJ classes!!
Photo taken by Carrie White with a tripod and timer!! 🙂
First up, Patti and Adam – I was so excited when Patti and Adam volunteered to dress up for our pictures. Adam even agreed to wear his Dress Blues! Thanks for your service and for being willing to be our guinea pigs tonight!! I always love working with you! {Patti is one of my biggest supporters and best cheerleaders!!}
Next is Lisa and Frank. Lisa is Krista’s sister who I’ve worked with several times in the past. They were SO cute and so much fun!! I can tell they are going to be the best parents to this lucky little guy who is due in September!! I can’t wait to take their extended family pictures this fall!!!
This is Clayton and McKenna. They are members of the AJ classes and plan to be wedding photographers when they grow up! 😉 Clayton is going to be a marriage counselor and McKenna is in school for photography!! They are going to be the dream team. They were SO fun to work with and were willing to do all of the “advanced” poses for us too!!! Thanks for making our night so fun and good luck with your future dreams!!
Michael and Heather just got engaged and we were so happy that we could take some fun engagement photos of them. They are the one couple that I didn’t get to work with and I’m so sad because they look like they were so much fun!! I love her outfit and I can’t believe how well our flowers match!! Good luck planning your wedding and if you happen to need a photographer, there are a few here who would LOVE to work with you!! 😉
Photo taken by Carrie White Photography
Photo taken by Carrie White Photography
Photos taken by Kim Ritchie Photography
Photos taken by Irene Osowski Photography
Photo taken by Kim Ritchie Photography
Photos taken by Kim Ritchie Photography
This is the beautiful Irene Osowski from Irene Osowski Photography
Photos of my by Irene Osowski Photography
This is my new internet friend Cara Parker from Cara Parker Photography – we had such a great time together!!
Photo of my by Ashley Wright
A couple more of Cara Parker!! LOVED this blue dress!!!
And a little behind the scene’s fun, Carrie was NOT going to miss that shot, even with her camera hooked onto her tripod!! Oh Photographers, we are SO FUN!!!!!!!!
Photo taken by Irene Osowski Photography
