Realization...

I am humbled and extremely surprised at the love and thoughtfulness from what others give to me. And am truly inspired.

After being an avid blog reader of Me Ra Koh, I have been nominated not once, but twice for her Running On Empty Contest for a free ride (or half a free ride) to her Advanced Workshop in Sonoma.

As many of you probably know (or not) I was laid off the end of January and it has been a constant physical and mental struggle ever since. I had so many plans that I actually for once was planning to follow through on (I'm a HUGE procrastinator) and all those dreams were shattered when I received my layoff notice. Although I try not to get down about it, (I know people have it much worse than myself) sometimes I can't help but be saddened and overwhelmed with the huge burden of not being able to provide for my family as before and even worse putting a huge weight on my boyfriend, as he now is the only source of income.

I know many of you can relate to this feeling and I keep my faith in God that He will carry me through to the end. I know I am truly blessed to still have my family and to still be carrying through and I know that the right doors will open for me in the end due to the love and trust I have in Him.

I realize now all the love, trust and belief in me will take me nowhere than the top and I thank all of my family, friends...and YOU for standing by my side, reading my blog where my thoughts are put out for all. I know in due time, it will be my turn.

Cathy and Shannon,
I am more honored than anything to be thought of for this amazing gift. I appreciate your faith in me and even if I don't get chosen, your kindness and generosity will never be forgotten. You both are close to my heart.

Love,
Liza J.

Me Ra Koh Seattle Workshop 2008

In Fall 2006 I was researching everything that had to deal with Photography, especially Seattle photography. I was led by Google to the website of Me Ra Koh. Falling in love with her bio, I googled as much information I could on her. I landed on her blog and have been an avid reader ever since.

Me Ra Koh, around the same time I found her blog, was just beginning to blog and was giving out great tips for moms to capture their children through photography and to understand what they were doing with this difficult contraption called a Digital SLR. Soon enough she put all these useful tips together and started her first workshop as well as a Parents Guide to Photographing Your Kids DVD set.

I remember being so excited at the blog posting. $300? Who could beat that? Well, no one could and I couldn't afford it. As more workshop postings went up, the higher the price got and the more women being turned on to her blog, I felt I was never going to be able to attend one of these amazing workshops...

Until I received an email alert on my cell phone while waiting for Jessica to get off work from Bellevue Square. It was a regular evening. Marky and I were in the car waiting for Jessica while Jasmine moved from her car seat to the drivers seat and back again. As Jessica came down the stairs and got into the car, my phone went off.

I usually never look at my phone if an email alert goes off. I don't do enough business or communicate with that many people by email to make it a neccessity to check. But I did this evening. As I grabbed my phone while trying to reverse out of my parking spot, I stopped abruptly because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. An email. From Me Ra. About a workshop. This coming workshop. The Seattle workshop. I opened the email to read that I was going to the Seattle Workshop. I didn't know why. I didn't care. I didn't believe it. I threw the phone at Marky so that he could double check what I was seeing as I started to drive home. He confirmed it. My name was listed.

I ended up finding out it was a gift (which I can not yet disclose) and I was EXTREMELY happy...like bouncing off the walls, stars bouncing off of me kind of happy. Until it sunk in. I continued to tell myself all week that I was going, like for real going to Me Ra's workshop. I was perfectly fine until that day came.

I was super super super nervous. Not because of seeing Me Ra, I had met her previously and she is so freakin' superbly nice that it is absolutely impossible to be intimidated by her, but because I haven't been around a new group of people that have the same passion as I, like EVER. I didn't know how it was going to go. I just continued to whisper to God and thought of my dream. My one and only dream of becoming a Professional Photographer. To be along one of the greats...or at least know them. :)

Needless to say...this weekend was AWESOME. I learned so much, met so many wonderful, amazing people and built friendships. I am so grateful to Me Ra & Brian...THANK YOU BOTH SOOOO MUCH!

Day One we were taught so much and were able to apply what we learned to a Mom & Baby Photoshoot! It was amazing to see Me Ra in action as we all paid close attention at how she got things done.

All the babies were so adorable! Did I mention one of them was my nephew, Alfino? ;) It was absolutely hilarious to have Alfino be next to the other babies who were 6 months and 8 months. He was almost the same size if not bigger! For those of you who do not keep up with my blog, my wonderful nephew is only 3 months and is HUGE!

Here's Alfino:

Here's an example...


I feel as if I could possibly host a game show. 'There are three babies featured in this photo, one is 3 months, 6 months, and 8 months. Can you tell which is which?'

As we disbursed into our own groups, I was blessed to be with Naomi. An absolutely adorable chubby baby who is featured on the left in the above photo. She was a pleasure to work with and her mom was so in love with her! You could see it all over her face when she would look at her. A mother's love. :)

Here are some of the shots I was able to take during our time on the stairs:





Then we moved into the room:

I love the gentleness of the moms hand on her baby while she looks up in absolute adoration of her mom.


Every baby needs a foot shot!


My personal FAV:


On the bed:

I love taking pictures of photographers taking pictures. This one is of Bree.

Me Ra soon came in and told us to take our baby and our shooting in the bathroom. What are we to do in the bathroom? I thought. With the amazing minds of my group, this is what we ended up doing:

Isn't that amazing? I loved it! It turned out we were able to capture some great images!



Yes, she is eating the faucet. And No we are not crazy photographers that just let babies eat the faucet...her mother was watching the entire time. The faucet was clean also. :)

On to the bathtub!

And again...her mom was in the bathtub with her!!! :)

After the shoot with Naomi, a lot of the other teams were not finished yet which gave me some leeway to go and shoot other babies.

Here is one of the photographers shooting Alfino:

Afterwards, we were all summoned to go downstairs but I wanted to steal some shots with Fino since I was trying out one of Me Ra's Canon 'L' lenses. Everything was still a hustle and bustle so I took some quick shots of Fino in the bathtub.


My fav:

And of course some shots with Mom:



Afterwards we went downstairs where things were still a hustle and bustle. The moms and babies were not yet finished getting taken pictures of...so here we went again!

Ali:



Turns out Naomi and Ali were friends!


Sofie with Alfino:



I must say that this whole weekend was a great experience and I am truly excited to start this photography journey with all the beautiful amazing ladies I have met. I have so much adoration and appreciation for Me Ra & Brian for their amazing skill and talent to teach others. To all the ladies: Let's take what we've learned and apply ourselves! I can't wait to see where we all go! I hope to see everyone again in April! Yeah!!!!

This journey of ours is just beginning...Stay Tuned.

To get great tips on photographing your children, visit Me Ra's blog or just purchase her DVD's at this site: Refuse to Say Cheese