St. Louis Photographer » A Journal by Holly McCaig

Ahhh, home sweet home. It’s always nice to get off the plane, get your luggage and come home to wagging butts of my doggies. I was away for a week. I loved every minute of my trip this time. It’s never enough either. When I leave, Audra and I always say, it’s just not enough time! This time though, I really suffered from my allergies and the dust that was blowing around a lot in the Phoenix area. It’s actually nice to get back to the humidity and rain for a little relief.

One of the purposes of my trip was the MJ2Day workshop for photographers hosted by Melissa Jill. She’s one of the most sought after wedding photographers in her area and was a wealth of information that will be invaluable to me for years to come. I came away with so much inspiration. It will totally set me apart from what other photographers are doing and I cannot wait to implement the ideas and my own revelations.

Read Melissa’s post today!

The first day together, Melissa hosted a mock engagement session. Seeing how she interacts with her couples is amazing. It flows so well and I love this shot of the couple. I didn’t shoot much because I really wanted to watch what she was doing.

Here’s some of the photographers that attended, getting in on the action!

I can’t say enough about these people that attended. I know that I was rewarded with an amazing group of friends that I’ll have for a long time. People that had the same thoughts and concerns about business, as I did. People that want the same things I want in my business. It’s a gift. On the last day, we all went to Gilbert to get headshots from Melissa and to photograph each other. I didn’t have enough time to get to everyone. We were having so much fun! Here’s a few!

This is the talented, Amanda Pair! She’s adorable. Got to see her at the airport this morning as I was waiting at the skycab!

This is the sweet, Anna Swarin – from CT! Love this chick and how she wanted to twirl for me…like I have my seniors do!

Robin first had me play with “the ball” but then we had her splash the water towards us! SO CUTE huh? Love this! And, Robin Watson below!

Bruce came all the way from Canada and was the only dude. But, his adorable wife came and joined us for dinner one night. They are so cute! Go Bruce Clarke!

Dallas was full of good info and very photogenic!

Jessica is the most excellent cook that fixed our dinner the second night. And, talk about a FUNNY lady! I truly enjoyed her!

Lucy was one of the carpool buddies with my group. I had fun talking to her about our thoughts about the workshop on the drives.

What can I say about Kelly? SO cute! She got in the fountain for us! She’s in Atlanta, and I sure hope to get to see her again since I will be down that way in a few weeks.

I didn’t get any of Denise, Janna, Courtney – I could have spent hours with these guys! I can’t say enough about how important it is to continue to educate yourself. Budget for the really rewarding workshops – you owe it to your business!

Now, back to the grind of work tomorrow!

I’ve really been enjoying my time out here in Phoenix. Tomorrow, I start my workshop down in Gilbert. It’s about a 1 1/2 hour drive each way from where I’m staying (in traffic), but they are all day workshops. I’m excited to learn and get inspired by this area’s top wedding photographer, Melissa Jill. Today, we ate at my favorite restaurant in Cave Creek – El Encanto. Oh my gosh. They have the best pollo fundido on their menu. Seriously. THE. BEST. We don’t have this item on our menus in St. Louis. I asked the guy at one about it and he told me that I could let them know what it has and they would be happy to make it for me. Now, I have the ingredients. MMMMMM.

Today, I got a beautiful shot of a saguaro cactus. Lovely. I love the desert.

Okay, I quickly learned that I am not cut out to be a newborn photographer. This is the most exhausting and patience-testing subject to photograph, and I give TOTAL props to those of you that specialize in newborns. I’m out here in Phoenix, visiting Audra and her family. We wanted to get her baby, Reagan’s photos done on Friday and that we attempted. After about four hours, these are the four shots I’m proud to show. Yes, just four. But, they are cute. Reagan is such a sweet little girl. She just wanted to be in control on Friday and was only going to let us get a few shots in. Sigh. Love her.

Every shot but the last were taken with my 50mm f/1.4 in natural light. The last is using my 100mm f/2.8 macro.

On Wednesday, I head back out to Phoenix for a week. Gosh, how I love that city. I love the desert. I love that you can go a little ways north to Prescott and see such a change in terrain, and a little further up to Sedona then Flagstaff. How can one state have that amazing changes in weather and landscape? It’s breathtaking. There is nothing like it.

I’m lucky, I finally get to meet the newborn, Reagan. My friends, Audra and Jeff had her just a few weeks ago. I am beyond thrilled. When I was there last, I found out that Audra was pregnant. So exciting. Then, I’m also attending this:

Audra turned me on to Melissa’s blog last year and I started following it religiously. Her posts about the business and techniques has helped me a lot. When I saw that she was going to host her second workshop, I debated for days. I mean, that’s a lot of money. I finally just ripped off the bandaid, knowing I was going to learn something very valuable about the wedding industry and how Melissa runs her business. She’s so successful. I’ve heard of other top photographer workshops not being all they were cracked up to be. But, when you hear about Melissa’s, you know you’re getting what you pay for and so much more. Education is important, but expensive. I’m at the point in my career where I don’t need more fancy equipment. I need to grow my business and improve on what I’m already doing. It should be quite rewarding. Visit Melissa’s blog and learn a few things. (photo credit above to Melissa Jill).

This summer included so much travel, and I had purchased my workshops for this fall back then. I am having to turn away business or postpone those that aren’t urgent until I am back home again for some time. I’m certainly going to have to start opening up more shooting days and am happy to say I have a another assistant that I use now too. If you’re a local person that is very flexible with your time and schedule, and want to make a little extra money, contact me about being one of my assistants for shoots. I’d prefer people with a strong desire to learn the business and can be flexible with reschedules and earlier afternoon shoots during the winter. Preferably someone in school that is looking for an internship and doesn’t have a lot of other commitments that would hinder the need for flexibility. Email me if interested!

While I was allowing my A.D.H.D. get the best of me today, I created a quick, Photoshop tutorial that I thought you might appreciate.

When I’m busy, waiting on things to upload, print, download, etc., I get EASILY distracted. I started looking back at my travel photos again and came across some that I did get to salvage from the Route 66 Road Trip last year. It wasn’t part of the Route 66 portion, but from when Audra took us to Prescott, Arizona for the day.

Arizona simply amazes me. How just an hour north of Phoenix, you can get beautiful, cool weather and green trees. Go even a bit further to Flagstaff and it’s snowing. Simply breathtaking.

Anyway, I came across the original, RAW file of this image:

I was definitely exposing this image so as NOT to blow out the sky. It’s one thing I tend to do a lot more lately so I get the best possibly exposure on the subject. But, I didn’t on this building. It’s the court house in Prescott. I *think* I was trying to get some flare in the shot, and failed.

So, I played for a bit while waiting for something to download and got something similar to this:

Since I wasn’t using a flash for fill, I figured, I better fake it in Photoshop! And, I thought I would record a video tutorial of how to use Adjustment Layers in Photoshop to adjust levels for digital fill flashes. I show you a little bit on how to boost saturation too.

I didn’t show this in the tutorial, but, I added a fake lens flare, some contrast on some of the darker areas, and warmed it up a bit. But, you get the general idea.

So, here’s the video tutorial if you feel like watching. As always, there is more than one way to skin a cat, so maybe you do it differently.

Exposing Prescott from Holly McCaig Designs on Vimeo.