light & life workshop :: september 2014 edition

Teaching others -- especially women and mothers -- how to use their cameras has become a surprisingly delightful part of my job as a photographer. It's a great feeling to be able to humbly lay whatever knowledge I have on the table in front of them with open hands, so that their families can be blessed by the gift of a beautiful family history. It's as simple as that to me. I don't aspire to teach aspiring professionals, nor to do in-depth workshops on advanced techniques. No, I just want to sit around a living room with a handful of women to demystify the DSLR, cultivate a way of seeing their lives, and empower them to use what they learn for their families. 

The September cohort was delightful. Sara, Sherrie, Michelle, and Diane felt like the perfect cocktail of personalities, skill sets, interests, and humor. We had such a lovely time. 

This time around I added an element to the workshop that we've never had before: I invited two sets of live "models" to come be photographed for a half hour, so that the workshop participants could put into practice the technical and philosophical skills they had been working so hard to absorb all day. It was a great addition to the workshop experience, I think! So I'm sure I'll include that aspect in future workshops, too. 

Here's just a few shots from the workshop! (I thought I had taken so many more than this, but it turns out that I don't multi-task teaching, serving meals, AND playing photojournalist all at the same time).

laughter between moments

listening to the teaching

sharing a meal

practice shoot on our "models"

I'm not sure exactly when I'll offer this workshop again, but if you'd like to be on a waiting list to be notified of the next date, you can email me at brooke@brookecollierphoto.com to tell me so. I'm thinking it will be in January or February, at which point I'll be great with child. :)

birth photography :: baby g

Ok, so I can't really blog this whole birth the way I often blog births, but I want to tell you that it happened, and that it was so great. 

And I'm mentioning it here without showing you any photos of this baby or family because I want you -- potential future birth photography client -- to know that if privacy is a concern for you, I absolutely WILL refrain (though it may pain me to do so!) from gleefully sharing images from your birth on this blog, my website, FB, or wherever else you don't feel comfortable having them shared. The images - the story -- are yours, and birth is very personal, as is your sense of privacy about birth. 

Still, I have to just mark the occasion: a sweet baby girl was born in the middle of September. I was there, and the images are beautiful. You'll just have to trust me on this one. :)

mini-sessions :: fall 2014 (Part 1)

This fall, I split mini-sessions into smaller clumps on a couple different dates. It seemed like it would open up more options so more people with different sorts of schedules could choose to participate. Honestly, it also seemed like it would be easier to reschedule a clump of THREE sessions in the event that I was called into a birth, than to reschedule SIX. 

May I be transparent with you for a moment? I'm sitting on the fence with Mini-sessions, guys. They don't seem to be as popular as they used to be, and I'm not sure I do them as well as I do other things. What I do best is the raw stuff, the unscripted, the natural. I don't excel at posing you and arranging you and trying to make your toddlers look up at my camera with genuine smiles dancing on their faces. There are many other photographers out there who do those things very well, so maybe I ought to send you to them instead? 

Or maybe it's time to creatively think about how to apply the raw, unscripted stuff I love so very much to the mini-session concept, since the lower price point and short, to-the-point sessions really do work well for many of you, and I do want to keep seeing you. I'm kicking around some ideas of what that could look like. But if you have more, leave me a comment, ok!? Let's put our heads together on this and see if we can come up with something stellar. 

Meantime, mini-sessions keep on truckin' and we are still getting lovely results! Here are just a few highlights from the first little chunk of mini-sessions in September...

So much thanks to the two families and the awesome 8th grader who came out to be photographed at Riverside Park. 

family photojournalism :: the griffis'

I'm not really sure how I got so lucky as to become the photographer who gets to return, camera in hand, to photograph this family year after year. But that's the truth of it. And though I have loved it every time, and have delighted in seeing Jude and Isaac grow and change from session to session, this year's session is really particularly special. 

See, Jordan and Lindsy have said "yes" to their Father's invitation into the adventure of adoption, that expression of the Father's heart that almost no other human endeavor can match. Somewhere in China, a little girl is waiting for this family, and this family is fighting for her, through mountains of paperwork, through communication mis-haps, through agencies and governmental red tape, through financial sacrifices... they are intent on bringing her home. 

This time around, we decided to do a family photojournalism session of a typical weekend morning, so that they can use these images of their family at home -- playing, creating, cuddling, living -- in a photo book that will one day soon get sent across oceans and land in the hands of their daughter, so that she will be able to close her eyes and imagine herself inserted into these scenes, with all the affection and security that that includes. So that, until she can be brought home into their arms, she can feel their love in her imagination, and see the space they are creating for her. 

Does. Not. Get. Better. 

Jude and Isaac, I can't wait to see you as big brothers to your small sister. Jordan and Lindsy, thanks for doing what you're doing, and for inviting me in on the tiniest bit of your journey. I am so eager for you to hold your daughter in your arms. 

PS: If you are someone who believes in and supports adoption and also happens to like my photography, stay tuned! Because I'm scheming with Lindsy to do an adoption fund-raiser for their family in the spring, and it will include you being photographed in exchange for your donation to their adoption! Hooray!

PPS: If you or someone you know is adopting and needs images similar to this for your/their dossier, please get in touch! I'd love to arrange something at a discounted rate for adopting families.

life with a newborn :: oakley

oh, you guys. i am sitting under the weight of no less than seven sets of photos to edit, upload, and blog. it's actually a pretty joyous feeling to know that at any time i have a wide array of photos to work on, since the culling and editing is normally pretty enjoyable to me. i sometimes daydream about stealing moments of time to get into the groove and work through a set. sadly, this doesn't happen as easily as i'd hope. i only have five hours of guaranteed "office time" each week, which really isn't enough. 

but that's a ramble. let me get to the real point, which is this handsome baby boy named oakley.

oakley's mama emily is dear to me. so dear. it was through the stockbridge boiler room that she came into my life and through which we became a part of the same family. there have been so many occasions for celebration: her wedding to james, buying their first home, their pregnancy announcement, her mother blessing ceremony, and then the saturday morning that i got a text message with his incredible little face in it, telling me he had been born. what joy. and to now be able to share the wonderful and challenging world of motherhood with her has me feeling pretty grateful. 

when oakley was just over a week old i headed over to their house one sunny september evening to do a Life With A Newborn session with them. they'll tell you they aren't very comfortable having their photos taken, but you'd never guess, would you? 

enjoy this little snippet of their new life as a family of three (four if you count the dog, gunner). 

pretty stinkin' adorable, aren't they? happiest sigh. 

mini-session :: my babies

i'm a storyteller and photojournalist. and i will always prefer the unposed, imperfect, gritty reality in photographs over the smiley, directed, or styled shoots.

but sometimes there's a field of wild flowers and lovely light and it just calls your name.  and sometimes you really want just a few shots where your kids are looking at the camera, and maybe they are dressed with a little more care and attention than usual, even if you didn't get the grimy hello kitty tattoos washed off your daughter's arms ahead of time and your son has untamed hair.

yup, there's a time and a place for smile sessions and mini-sessions. :) get in touch if you need one of them, too.