31 Gamechangers for Photographers Workshop

Earlier this month I had the a-mah-zing opportunity to attend a two day photography workshop lead by Trevor Dayley of Trevor Dayley Photography.

I have to confess that prior to attending his workshop, I had never heard of Trevor.  I'm relatively new to Phoenix and I don't photograph weddings so I had somehow managed to miss out on the awesomeness that is Trevor Dayley prior to a few weeks ago.  Now I'd have to say that I've been converted into one of his biggest fans!

I heard about his workshop when a fellow local photographer, Ryan Nicole Photography (who is also amazing btw), suggested I attend.  After checking out the workshop itinerary, I decided that it sounded right up my alley and signed up.

Words really cannot describe how wonderful the experience was to learn from Trevor.  For two straight days he poured himself into sharing every detail of his business philosophy and his shooting and editing strategies.  He answered all of our questions with the patience of a saint, and somehow managed to do it all without losing an ounce of his energy or enthusiasm.

The amount of material that Trevor shared with us (and continues to share) seems never ending, and here I am weeks later barely scratching the surface of the notes I took during the workshop.  I feel like I learned more in those 2 days with Trevor than in the past 2 years from all other sources combined.

All of that would be pretty freaking awesome all by itself, but the most incredible thing about the experience was that spending 16+ hours with Trevor Dayley quite literally has restored my faith in humanity.

I. am. so. not. kidding.

Trevor is an incredible photographer, but he is an even more incredible person.  He is one of those rare people who would go out of his way to help anyone in need. Kindness and compassion emanate from him, and it is impossible to be in his presence and not be impacted by it.  Not only did his workshop make me a better photographer, it has made me a better person.  Watching Trevor give so much of himself to us during the workshop, and continue to do so weeks later, has inspired me to try to do the same in my interactions with those around me.

OK.  I'll stop gushing now and share a few photos that I took of the models that posed for us during the workshop.

The stunning Kimberly....

And the gorgeous Tarah...

I am absolutely in love with how the flash shows off the fabulous colors in Tarah's hair...

I wish I had a photo of Trevor and the other wonderful people I met at the workshop, but sadly, I don't. Eight photographers, and not a single one of us thought to take a photo of the group!

If you are a photographer and ever have the chance to learn from Trevor, grab onto the opportunity with both hands and don't let go. Seriously, you absolutely will not regret it.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.

Self-Portrait | August 2012

While the trip down memory lane for June and July was fun, this month I was anxious to return to my goal of attempting to capture more emotion with my 2012 self-portraits.  I feel like I've gotten away from that the past few months and wanted to refocus my attention with my portrait for August.

In order to explain my motivation for this month’s image I have to share a bit of a confession…. I have never outgrown my obsession with teenage girly movies, and I have quite a collection of them. Not too long ago I was watching 17 Again, and there is a scene in it where they are cleaning up after a party. One of the characters is vacuuming off a rug, and when he finishes he says something like “All done,” and then as the camera moves out, he says, “with the rug,” and you see the entire rest of the apartment is completely trashed.  That’s the look I was going for with August’s self-portrait.

Kevin and I have spent the past several weeks searching for a new rental house, and packing up all of our stuff to move across The Valley.  Instead of renting a huge moving truck and moving everything all at once, we decided to move as many of our personal belongings as possible in our cars and save the furniture for a smaller moving truck.  Unfortunately our schedules are pure insanity and the belongings made it a few weeks before the furniture so we have been living out of boxes and sleeping on a (very small) futon mattress tossed on the floor.

Things are totally insane for us because along with this move, Kevin has been taking summer classes and studying to take one of the huge tests he has to pass before he is able to practice law.  As for me, I am starting work at a new office for my day job and also made the crazy decision to attend a 2 day photography workshop in the middle of moving (more on that soon!).  Needless to say, things feel a bit out of control at the moment and I really don't deal with that feeling very well!  So, here I am in the little oasis that I have managed to create for myself amongst the mass chaos that is my world right now.

As a side note, I totally love how dirty the bottoms of my feet are in this image.  It absolutely wasn't planned for the image, but I cannot tell you how black my feet are by the end of the day while cleaning and moving into this new rental house.  It's rather disgusting the state they are in, but such a HUGE memory of this move for me!

I have to admit that my exhaustion in this photo is real, since I set everything up for the photo and then realized that my remote battery was dead and I hadn't moved the spares from the old house yet.  So, I was literally pressing the timer on my camera and hurling myself over all that junk to get to the chair before the shutter went off.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.