J&M Lighting Intensive

All I can say is WOW. My whole entire world was rocked yesterday at the J&M lighting intensive in Richmond. I learned so much and I absolutley cannot wait to get out and shoot with my new knowledge… and eventually new equipment!

J&M are so generous and real.  This was my first time meeting them after following their work for YEARS.  They poured out their hearts and knowledge and continually stressed that we would not leave that tiny little room until everyone felt comfortable with their lighting techniques.

They changed the way I will light my clients for the rest of my career and they changed the way I see light. The way I see it on TV, in real life, and in photographs and I’m so grateful for everything I learned yesterday. Here are a few of the shots I took during the intensive!

Justin: “ok so pretend this paper bag is a wedding dress” – talk about improvising!

We had two stunning models to work with for practice!

WEBSITE LAUNCH!

I’ve been working for MONTHS on a brand spankin’ new website and I’m absolutely thrilled to launch it this morning. Many thanks to the support team at ShowIt Sites for being at my beck and call even to answer the simplist of questions!

And without further adieu, I present you with… my new website!

http://sites.showitfast.com/pl/site.swf

Click here to view: http://www.melissa-manzione.com/

I also need to thank my amazing husband… who has been absolutely perfect over these past two years of business building. Hubs, thank you for the cleaning, laundry, dinner making, and support you’ve given me over the past two years; and for putting up with my “I’ll be up in 5 minutes”… which always seems to really take 35 minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you… you make this possible!

Living Life…

Usually I would apologize for not blogging in a couple of weeks… but I think we all understand that sometimes life gets in the way of our lovely blogs. Truth is, there’s a lot going on in our lives right now and we’re living and loving every minute.

While I’m over here living, I’ll give you a little sneak of whats to come!

Behind the scenes… J* Workshop

I know, I know… it’s been a few weeks, but I’ve finally found the time to sit down, look through my photos and read all of my notes from the workshop. Seriously, I wrote down every word that came out of J*’s mouth. When I was leaving beautiful Orange County, I had a million different things running through my head. All I wanted to do was sit down, and think. Just sit by myself and think about everything I had learned.

and finally, I found a little bit of time to do just that. think.

…I learned a lot about the big, bad wedding photography business, and I learned a lot about myself. I learned that God gave me this gift for a reason… and no matter how hard this business is and how stressful it can be, I need to take what has been given to me and use it to capture love. I learned countless things about myself that I never knew before through my interaction with 19 other fabulous photographers from all over the country. It was an absolutely amazing experience that I’ll never forget. Fellow photogs, if you ever get the opportunity to attend one of J*’s workshop, DO IT… you will not be disappointed.

More photos to come from the workshop, the workshop shoot-out and Lesley and Rob’s wedding!

J*, being ridiculously fabulous

…but for now, I’m just going to keep on living.

Anytime Sneaks

While in the OC last week, I met numerous amaaazing photographers. Their experience levels ran the gambit from just picking up the camera to aperture, shutterspeed and iso veterans.

The day before the Workshop, I met up with Laurie and Kristy in Laguna Beach for a day at the beach, and an anytime shoot. The warm California sun kissed the sky and made my camera do things I’ve never seen it do before. It was fabulous, and these beautiful ladies were SO wonderful to work with!

Here is a sneak of my two favorites from the shoot… more to come!

Kristy

Laurie

Happy Tuesday!