Creative Live & Sue Bryce Inspiration

Last year I watched my first CreativeLive workshop at a pivotal time in my photography career. It was Bambi Cantrell and she inspired me to take the step I have been wanting to take but was afraid to do, transition to photography full time. A year later I am happier with that decision than I could have expected yet I still have a way to go before I am truly comfortable in the role as business owner. I am one of two photographers that has been named company photographer for TheatreWorks in Menlo Park, 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle and We Players in San Francisco on top of the weddings, portraits, headshots and personal work that I do. CreativeLive has been there along the way and I have soaked it all up like a sponge but the biggest influences have been Tamara Lackey, Matthew Jordan Smith and Sue Bryce for their business savvy as well as their life lessons. I really wanted to submit a video to become one of Sue’s live students but was already committed to shooting for 5th Avenue and I have to go where the money takes me. So I pre-purchased the class and have been going through it bit by bit when the opportunity presents itself and have loved every second. 

You see, I really love shooting women and making them feel and look beautiful, it is just as simple as that. Weddings are fun but they can be a bit crazy, live production theatre and dance shooting is amazing but I have only one chance to get the shot, publicity studio shoots scare the heck out of me because of all the pressures. But give me one woman and an empty room and I am truly happy because I am a one on one kind of person. So above all the CreativeLive workshops I have watched, Sue has inspired me the most to work for what I want to shoot. I will continue with all the others because I am realistic and those gigs pay for all my great gear but I want to take normal women and show them how beautiful they are. This is a shot of my friend Lizzie who was over at our studio to model for Mark and I asked if I could borrow her for a couple of minutes to practice some natural light posing and this images is the result. Not perfect, the hands aren’t quite right and she wasn’t done up with hair and make-up, but it is a lovely shot of a beautiful soul.

Thank you CreativeLive and thank you to all the amazing presenters.