Free To Be Me Workshop: Part One- Behind the Scenes

Last weekend I hosted my very first workshop. The Free to be Me Workshop was conceived after a moment of pure craziness and grew into this awesome day of community, good talks, and growing in our craft. I firmly believe that everyone who attended the workshop was supposed to be there, and I am so thankful for those who took a chance on the workshop and made it a success! Hosting a workshop is so entirely out of my comfort zone, and I am so excited to take what I’ve learned and push forward towards making the next one even better.

A HUGE thanks to Ellie, my guest speaker, friend, awesome person, for helping me pull everything together the weekend of the workshop. I could not have done it without her (and all the coffee that was consumed that weekend). She really did an amazing job at the workshop, and I learned so much from her as she spoke about owning who you are , failure, and reaching our dream clients. She rocked it. Seriously. 

  The workshop was based on the idea  of,

“So come on, let it go, Just let it be, Why don’t you be you, And I’ll be me?”

I think we’re all a little intimidated to put ourselves out there…To be fearlessly authentic and real is not easy! I believe That Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram can be either the biggest help to our community, or the greatest divider. And the reason for that is that it allows us to compare our clothes, our lifestyles, and our work with one another. That comparison game often makes us question various aspects of our photos. I think we often forget what Sylvia Plath said,  “The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt.” 

Self doubt and insecurities prevent us from making the art we were created to make. Instead, we just jump on the bandwagon with everyone else. This workshop is near and dear to me because the comparison game was the biggest hinderance in my business. Everyone else’s highlight reels meant that I wasn’t good enough. So what was I to do? Obviously follow the crowd.

The biggest moment for my business was right after I went to Ellie’s Long and Short of it Workshop. I’m not sure what happened, but it was a lightbulb moment for me. I had been trying so hard to “fit in” that I had lost what I loved about photography in the first place: The ability to tell a story through my eyes, and share that story with the world.

I really had to do a little bit of soul searching…It wasn’t something that changed over night. What it came down to was this: (An excerpt from a past blog post..) “Take away the gimmicks, strip me of my poorly executed replications, tear down the competitive mindset, dissolve the thoughts about the latest trends, destroy the excuses, demolish the ideas that I’m not good enough, and what do I have? Me. Me in my truest and most raw form. And that’s what I have to offer the world.”

And you know what? I’m free to be the person I was created to be: Me. And so are you! 

Stop trying to be like the guy beside you, because you have the abilities that nobody else will ever be able to use just like you. And you are a beautiful, creative genius that has extraordinary work that is unlike anyone else’s that is just waiting to be seen. You don’t have to try to compete with your neighbor and you don’t have to participate in the latest trends and the reason for that is because you are free to be you. Your creative spirit is dying to get a chance to shine!

I believe that creativity thrives when freedom prevails and why is that? 

When we stop seeing our community as competition, we allow ourselves to spur one another forward towards our goals. We open our minds to better business practices. We are able to ask questions, and answer questions. Our steady march to the beat of our own drum means we aren’t worried about beating the “competition”, but are solely focused on doing what we do best and doing it well.

SO. As you scroll through this first set of pictures from the workshop, I triple dog dare you to take a moment and imagine what your business could look like if you embraced that freedom and owned the creativity inside of you.

Venue: Gentlebrook Event Center

Dresses: The Dress Bridal Boutique

Flowers: Fair Rarity Flowers

Tux: The Black Tux

Hair & Makeup: Beauty Therapy

Furniture: Modern Vintage