Internships 2012

I've had a LOT of people come up recently and ask me about these "internship" things that I do. What in the world is it? About 5 years ago an AMAZING girl named Kristen Leigh wrote me about wanting to do an internship one summer.. I was pretty new to photography myself but figured hey! Why not?? She came for 6 weeks and we ended up having so much fun it could barely be considered work!! From then I had two more interns that year, Morgan Matters & Beth Laurren and I fell. in. love. with teaching! The next year I opened it up for 8 more interns and it kept growing until I had a full out program with workbooks, photoshoots, people coming from around the world to have these glorified sleepover workshops.

The thing I love about these "internships" is instead of going to a sterile workshop, it's coming into my life for 4 days and getting business immersion and how life is done along with it. As most business owners know you usually live & breathe your work constantly, but also how do you balance life with that!?

I don't do near as many of these crazy times as I used to, as my focus has turned to traveling more, but I still get so many requests that I try to open them up as much as possible. I'll probably do two this summer, each 4 days and revolving around a wedding as well as several mini internships around the country! I take two interns at a time so that we can have the most focused time possible but SOOO so much fun too! Work during the days and partayy at night! It's some of the best times! For more details and all that you can go to the website, I'd love to meet some of you this year! JUST released the first one for June so CHECK IT OUT!!

Seattle mini internship

I've done internships now for 4 years and love it sooo much still...I've started doing more accessable internships that are for shorter amounts of time rather than the original 2 weeks or 10 days type of thing...it's easier on me and the people as far as taking that much time off! This was my first time doing a 2 day internship and even better in a place I'm totally not familiar with! I've been dreaming of going to Seattle for the longest time so when I finally got the chance to I couldn't have been more excited! Beth and I had been talking for awhile about me coming out to Seattle to do this internship but the timing never lined up..so this was a long time in the making! I honestly think a little internship is THE best way to see a new city as well! I'm not usually into tons of tourist type things..I love just going to the local coffee shops & cafes and sit watching people of the city walk past. I think you get the very best feel of the city that way. The night before the internship started I asked my friend Ellie and her roommate Bekah where we should go while exploring the city, while we were hanging at King's Hardware(a vibey bar food type place owned by Linda... apparently a successful restaraunt founder of some of the best places around town)

...they gave us the very BEST list of Seattle and each place topped the one before that I decided to give you a little sample just incase you are ever there and need the best places to go...! We started off the first morning at Citizen a cute little coffee shop/cafe near the Space Needle in an area called Queen Anne. They have an upstairs balcony area that's more quiet and a great place to work. I ordered some incredible oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts.

After working at Citizen for a few hours we headed to a book/coffee shop called Bauhaus in Capital Hill. Probably my favorite place in town... there are some of THE coolest people coming and going out of it constantly and I would really like to photograph ALL of them. The place has the feel of a little library but then sells Koolaid/coffee/hohos/italian sodas/& donuts. AMAZING. We went there twice in one day.

Now don't hate at the fact that the 3rd place we went that day was yet again a coffee shop...but I COULDN'T go to Seattle with out going to Stumptown coffee..I first tried it while in NYC earlier this year and it has completly changed my life, coffee wise. I got regualar roast the first day and a toddy cold brew the second. Couldn't be more in heaven.

That evening we headed to Phinney's Market for an egg salad sandwhich and some of the best fries. Total splurge. but really amazing. The next morning we met up at Oddfellow's right off of Pine Street. WOW. Serving stumptown coffee and a open air feel I ordered the fruit french toast and I thought I could die right then with a smile on my face.

Afterwards we headed to Pike Place of course which is neccessary for going to Seattle...got to see the farmers market and the tossing of fish as well as the first Starbucks..then ate Smoked Salmon chowder at Iver's which I guess is known as the best seafood in town...it was prettty incredible!!

All this touring of the city was made complete by have my intern/tour guide Beth along side! She's amazing and has such an incredible heart. We got to talk awhile about life and her outlook and perspective on it is one of the best I've seen. She has an awesome eye for photography and such an eager mind to learn that I KNOW she is going to succeed in this so well and with the passion for life that she has it will push those around her to go sooo far as well! So excited to see her thrive!

The Northwest ::: Travel

Late July I was getting THE bug to travel...on my list of goals for this year I had written that I NEEDED to go to Seattle and Vancouver cause I for some reason out of everywhere I've traveled somehow managed to never get up that way! I wrote my friend and past intern Jamie Delaine who is from Vancouver to see when exactly I would see her next...she mentioned having a wedding up on Vancouver Island that I could come shoot with her at the end of September and I was like DO NOT TEMPT ME I will come!!! haha..well she tempted me enough that I went!

It was one of the best trips in awhile! Her and I...I don't know what it is...but whenever we get around each other it is INSANE. Unexplainable really..we talk about everything from changing the world to boys to singing at the top of our lungs to bad rap music & laughing so hard about the stupidest things hoping we'll make it to the bathroom in time. lol!

I LOVE her. Her drive and passion for life I don't think I can compare her to anyone...THE most disciplined person I've ever met it blows me away and has brought her so much success in so many areas of her life because of it. I'm so proud of her and inspired at the same time. During our time we explored Vancouver a bit then headed over to Tofino on Vancouver island, which took driving an hour, a 2 hour ferry ride and a 3 hour car ride up to the tip of the island.

It was one of THE most beautiful places I've ever laid eyes on. The drive up was unreal and once getting there it was just as I envisioned and more...fog everywhere, rainy most of the time and moss covering everything in the forest areas.

The town was a huge surf town filled with hippies which provided some of the best people watching and conversations.

The wedding was absolutely perfect which I'll post about in a few days. But the time around it was just perfect...reading, talking, taking pics and just relaxing at a little beach cottage that smelled like smoked salmon. I wanted to lick the cedar walls. hahah.

What I trip I can not WAIT to get back and experience more of British Columbia...one of my new favourite(like the way I spelled that?;) places.

Sarah Pence ::: Life

A couple weeks ago my past intern, friend AND future bride Sarah called asking for some new pics for her amazing new photography site! I'm sooo proud of her and her growth in her business! She's killing it! We literally met up for half an hour one morning and got a few quick shots which I ended up lovinggg!!! Check her out!

New internship dates!!

I was looking over this fall's schedule and decided to add a wedding internship in September in Chicago and one here in Nashville in October! These are only available for 2 girls each and fills up fast so if you are interested CLICK HERE and send in your application or if you have already applied send another quick email saying that this is the one you'd love to attend! Can't wait to meet the next future interns! It's always SUCH a blast!!! And if you have NO clue what I'm talking about check out THE interns website for all the details!!

THE interns ::: May 2011

A few weeks ago I hosted an internship in Chicago during Sarah & John's wedding. During the wedding internships I have just two interns only cause bringing more than that to a wedding would be pure insanity! ha! It's also fun being able to really focus then and get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time... plus the girls getting a wedding to ad to their portfolio! This time I already had incredible past intern Megs Colleen scheduled to shoot alongside me for this wedding and it was perfect to have her join in on some of the intern days around it...like a little reunion! The new intern Stephanie was incredible. She got the first day all to her self which always makes things nice and personal & we were able to work on her blog and brand and pinpointing really who she is. Always my favorite day of the internship! After shooting the wedding the next day we did a little engagement shoot for Hillary & Jorge... and the girls got to watch me under pressure at a shoot and a difficult location because of the weather. Quite the learning experience which wasn't part of the plan but worked out great! So happy how this time turned out and ended up with and awesome new friend and being able to reconnect with an old one! Love my job.
Stephanie Dougher:
LOVE HER. Steph blew me away in how she picked things up so quickly... during one part of the internships I literally thought I was going to have to ad more to the curriculum cause we were finishing things so quickly... and I usually cover that stuff in 6 days! Crazy! She jumped right into my family life right when she got in and we even had a crazy dance party one night with my sisters friends and she busted out her dance moves... which is a big time requirement of an intern. She had already "passed" the program in my eyes from that moment;) She has such a fun spirit and I love her sense of humor. We would just be in regular convo and then she would say something totally random and keep going with the conversation which then laughing would follow like a minute later. Always the best. She has such a servants heart as well helping wherever she could at the house and even in conversation is filled with such wisdom. All that and her photography is amazinggg too! So I know that this next season of biz is going to be soo great for her! Can't wait to see where she goes!!
Megs Colleen: So glad she was able to join in for the wedding and hop on the bio shoot too! She has SUCH a beautiful heart that is so sensitive to peoples needs. I love her so much and am so blessed to call her a friend and graduated intern;)

The interns ::: April 2010

Back in April I once again headed to Chicago...I know I know...pretty much every post here lately is heading to Chicago...but I still work a lot up there as well;) Plus it's nice to be able to spend time with my family while there as well!
I have been doing wedding internships which is the same internship that I have been teaching for the past several years but minimized into 4 days and based around shooting a wedding. So many of the past interns had come out again after the longer internships to shoot weddings with me so I figured why not combine it and make it more personal just having two girls at a time? It has worked so well that way! Even though it is a JAM packed couple of days it is so much fun and as always getting to know these girls on a much more personal level makes it that much more exciting! We shot Esther and Dave's wedding which I posted back a few posts ago then spent the rest of the time developing their brands, photography skills, and biz savvy. So great! Plus we had the internship at my family's house so of course my fam of 9 adopted these two as there own and didn't want them to leave!
Even when I went back last week my little sisters were asking about these girls! I love them!

Amanda Megan Miller
Amanda has such a passion to learn and grow that I loved to see. Originally having an art major and not really wanting to get into "this" type of photography as it was usually looked down upon in the art world she realized she had such a passion to capture people and real emotion rather than bare landscapes. I think she chose so well as she is so gifted with people already and has such a beautiful heart that drawing out people's real sides I'm sure will be no hard task! Plus she just released an incredible new brand and site so check it out at the link above!!

Sarah Pence
Ahh Sarah...I actually met her several months before the internship at her dad's chiropractors office. I had heard all about her through her dad and then to finally get to meet her and talk photography was a treat! She is so so precious and has one of the sweetest spirits I know. I love that really every little thing she has learned she has taken and run with it. Even once she got to the internship she had applied the few things we had talked about at our first meeting. I love it. She has quite the eye as well and surprised me at her skill especially justtt starting out! She is going to go far I know...and I can't wait to see how she thrives in this art!

Spring 2011 internships!!!

Okk... Well you all have been begging for some spring dates for the internships so I decided to release them sooner than I usually do! Next year I'll be switching things up a bit... there is only one normal 6 day internship so far on the books and the other two are just 4 days, but you'll get to shoot a wedding with me to add to your portfolio plus learning most of the things they work on in the full internship! I'll also be releasing a few 2 day mini-internships in different cities: NYC, Denver, Seattle, and a few others..if you'd like one in your city let me know too!
Sooo excited about this next year and all the beautiful people I get to meet!!
CLICK HERE to look into all the details!
I'll leave you with a music video we made for one of the internships....craziness ensues all the time.

THE interns ::: July 2010

I know it's been FOREVER since July but better late than never! The past internship we held at my family’s home in Chicago, at first I wasn’t quite sure how it would work out..but then I remembered that the first two years of internships were held there! ha! So it went great! We set up shop in the lower level of the house, each girl having their own work area and sleep area. It was a blast! We headed to downtown Chicago the first day to get to know each other better and work on the beginnings of their branding. The rest of the time was spent doing photoshoot after photoshoot and working until 1 in the morning on getting everything completed...it went by SO fast but was such a beautiful group of girls and I learned so much from them as well! Here is the lineup:

Charity:
Charity was just such a ball of joy! I LOVE her enthusiasm for life and her amazing stories of everything that God has done in her life...it got me so inspired! I want to live more like that everyday. She joined in last minute and was the perfect addition for the week! She has a very giving loving heart that shines through everything that she does! Plus she’s already been HARD at work in her business and I can’t wait to see it thrive all the more! Check out her blog **HERE!!**

Christina:
Christina is just so wonderful! She was the first to come and we got to really get to know each other really easily! I love when a person is just so down to earth and instantly your friend because you relate on so many levels! It’s beautiful...I think her gift with people and servants heart shine through in everything she does. I love it. She has a very natural eye for photography and I know she’s gonna take it far with her amazing way with others...just feeling comfortable and at home around her! Check out her blog **HERE**!!

Kristin:
Kristin looks like she walked right out of the 40s or 50s...I swear she was meant to live then...her overall style in photography and life just exudes class and Jackie O’ness.. hahha I LOVE seeing a person bring that through everything they do! Plus her having such a sweet spirit tops it all off I knowwww that with all her amazing life experiences and amazing eye for photography she is going to go SO far! I mean who wouldn’t want a Jackie replica, in every way, doing their photography?? I love it!! Check out her blog **HERE!!**

Natalie

Back during the last internship I was thinking through who I should have model for the test shoot... well having the internship in Chicago it made my decision super easy: my sister!! I think she gets prettier every minute...it's kinda stupid...hahah. Plus her being an amazing model in general made the shoot probably too easy for the new interns...haha..but we had perfect light and outfits that day so how could you pass it up?
Can't believe I still remember holding Natalie when she was justttt born...it feels like last week! I'm so glad we have become best friends now, she's one of the most amazing and wisdom filled people that I know.
Check out some of my favorites from the shoot.