Monday was our monthly meeting for our Central Illinois Professional Photographers group. I look forward to these meetings every month! But this month I was SUPER nervous. Sarah and I had talked at one point about the different ways we shoot sessions. Sarah is very pose intensive – she positions every portion of a persons body down to the last detail. Whereas, I tend to focus on on interactions, emotions, etc. I was excited to teach my first class but the closer we got to the day the more nervous I got! I had no idea how nerve-wracking having a group of photographers observe your every move can be! I don’t know why but with an audience present, I felt very self-conscious and it was like my brain locked up. Normally what comes so naturally and fluidly felt very stilted and over analyzed. Thankfully my amazing friend Andrea of AB Photography had volunteered before the meeting to jumped in and helped me instruct the class.

Needless to say – I feel like I learned a lot from teaching this class! I now know that I get more nervous about this stuff than I ever imagined! That just because other pro photographers are watching – shouldn’t change the way I work. I should shoot the way that is true to me because that’s what people are wanting to see. If I ever get asked to lead another group again, I have a feeling I’ll be much more relaxed next time now that I’ve gotten my first experience teaching pros under my belt.

I was super lucky to have my amazing cousin, Molly, and her handsome bunch of men be our model family for the evening. They put up with my nerves, a group of photographers watching and offering up suggestions, and of course, our crazy photographer silliness. So a huge thank you to Molly and her family for being so awesome and gorgeous! Here’s just a tiny peek at the meeting and some of the poses and portraits I demonstrated and took of the family!

(All photos without my logo are courtesy of Sarah of Sarah Jane Photography)

Natalie came prepared! Cool drink for the warm, muggy evening and Off! Spray to keep the bugs at bay!

Here’s my awesome friend, Andrea, doing her thing!

And of course, a little silliness ensued! 🙂

Well I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into this month’s meeting! See you on Friday!

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