Here is my third and final post of a series on Me Ra Koh‘s Discovery Workshop. If you want to catch up, you can read Part One and Part Two.

Day One left me rather raw, but determined. Day Two saw me deflated. Day Three was a turning point.

We met again at scenic Cavallo Point, in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. At the beginning of the day, we broke up into smaller groups to work on individual topics of our choice. I chose the flash bounce session and the marketing and branding session. Brian Tausend showed me the handy little flash exposure compensation button on top of my camera. Hey, where has this thing been all my life?? No fighting with my fill-flash output anymore!! During the marketing and branding session, Me Ra critiqued and helped us with our websites. I learned how important it was to have a picture of myself in my About Me page! I finally put one up, too!

After this was all done, we went on to the meat of the day. Me Ra and Brian talked about photo coaching. Photo coaching is what Me Ra and Brian call the things that they do to help subjects relax and be comfortable in front of the camera. They explained their techniques and then gave us our own portrait assignments. It was our turn to use these techniques to shoot an engagement session and a family session.

The family session with Garrett Burdick’s family (plus 2 more other boys!) was chaotic. I think since the family had had a previous session with another group, the kids were already close to being “done.” I think I was more in my element, though, and captured some of the more spontaneous moments. The engagement session was with Mercedes and Eric. They were such a cute couple! Although I was still a bit nervous at these sessions, I was able to use the very practical techniques that Me Ra and Brian shared with us. I left these sessions knowing that I could improve, but also thinking, “I can do this!”

Here are some of my favorite images. I love these intimate moments.

We wrapped up the last day by writing letters to ourselves to help us transition from the intense, amazing experiences of the past three days back to our everyday lives. I wanted to hold on to my experiences. I was worried that I’d return to my everyday routine and be re-consumed and lost in getting meals prepared, cleaning clutter, getting my kids to school, and helping with their homework. I not only wanted to keep the buzzing energy alive, but also hold onto the times I felt terribly exposed and defeated. But, why? Wouldn’t I rather just run far away and forget about it?

There was something Me Ra said during her photo coaching instruction that struck a loud chord with me. She talked about how uncomfortable people can be when there’s a camera clicking away in front of them. Photo coaching helps them be themselves in front of the camera. Me Ra talked about a bride who had told Me Ra before their photo session, “I want to let you know that I’m not always cranky.” (Cranky, or some other negative adjective. I can’t remember exactly, but you get the picture). Me Ra remarked that she interpreted the bride’s words to mean, “Can you capture who I am, because I don’t always let that part of me out?”

Can you capture who I am?

If this workshop could be packaged up in a box and tied with a string, that statement would be the string. It explains why even though I was put in the position of revealing my insecurities, I felt welcomed and safe.

I could be seen.

It ties into Rick Chapman‘s teachings from Day Two on trying to find a person’s spirit in a portrait. It relates to working with children (or anyone, for that matter) while making their portraits. They don’t want to be placed into a contrived set and forced to say, “cheese.” They want to be seen—their interests, what makes them laugh, what excites them, how deep and intricate they are, how beautiful they are. We all want to be seen for who we really are, because we don’t always get a chance to let it out. We all want our beauty to be captured, because we don’t always see it or allow ourselves to acknowledge it. We all want to be seen, past all of life’s “stuff” that is so distracting and that gets in the way.

If there could be a take-home message of the Discovery Workshop, then it would be to always remember to try to see the person that I’m photographing. This person, although I may not know him very well, will be asking on the inside, “Can you see me?” I want to I remember this every time I click the shutter on my camera.