Teresa gave me some homework, and I can’t wait to get started! I wonder if she realizes how much homework I gave myself during our session
You’ll definitely be seeing some creative branding of Little Moments in the works as well as many more things to make your experience with me much more personal. I certainly have a new vision of my business and cannot wait to look back in the next year. I would LOVE to have a studio location with in the next year.
I am so honored to have all of my clients! I love you guys dearly. I think that is my favorite thing about my job, is being apart of your life and capturing your little moments through my own creativity.
Thanks again to my new friend, Teresa! and thanks to Merrymint Designs for my new logo!
The BEST part of my three days in Savannah…were not all the shooting and all the photography stuff…it was actually making a new friend….and I feel really cheesy saying this, but really….she and I had a blast talking about the southern phrases, food (grits….yes I thought they were lard…but I am from Northern California so cut me some slack!)….she made be laugh from beginning to end and I will never forget my time in Savannah….Thank you Teresa…and I do hope that we remain buds for a long time!
(online mentoring)
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Teresa,
I wanted to just start out by thanking you for my whole experience in Savannah. I know it was hard for you to come up with some shoots during the week and I appreciate everything you did to get some for me. Out of all the shoots, Wormsloe was my favorite!! That road is breathtaking. I will cherish the photos forever that I gained during this trip. I appreciate all of your time you devoted to me. Our days seemed like they went by so fast, and I know its because I enjoyed every minute of them. I thoroughly enjoyed The Pirate House and the little cafe you took me too! The little gas station/deli was awesome too! You have completely got me hooked on Lightroom and I barely even want to touch Photoshop! Thanks for answering all my questions and putting my needs first! You truly went out of your way for me and I really appreciate it!
As I edited some of my photo sessions when I returned I really whipped through them thanks to you! Photoshop is now on my backstep!! Hello Lightroom!!!! Thanks so much!
I now have a blog because of you..thank you so much! It is something I have struggled with for some time now! I am honestly going to do everything I can to attend the October Wedding workshop! I am anxious to shoot this wedding in Sept and see what you think!
Thanks so much for being you and for allowing me to feel relaxed and comfortable! It was the best mentoring experience ever! I look forward to seeing you soon as well as Savannah!
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Teresa,
I cannot even begin to thank you for such an amazing weekend. I honestly cannot think of a thing I would change, from the little things like places we ate to all the big things like advice and knowledge you shared. I really enjoyed being able to watch you work at the wedding and not only take away images to use in my portfolio, but to be able to watch a true professional work was probably the most beneficial thing I could have taken away from the wedding. The images are a very close second. I really liked that you showed my the city while incorporating sessions. Even though I have done lots of baby sessions, I still learned new tricks from watching you and the advice you shared about fun stories to tell the older children will always be something I remember. The bridal portraits and engagement sessions were a huge help to me. Thank you for allowing me to have some control over those sessions so that I would be challenged to have ideas come to life and for stepping in when I need some creative help. The wedding was amazing, I will never be able to thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of it. I loved every minute, I feel like I have to shoot weddings. It’s too amazing to say ‘no, I don’t want to do that’. It was truly a remarkable experience.
And finally, I cannot put into words how thankful I am to have you as a mentor. You are such a warm, welcoming, amazing person. The whole weekend I felt like I was with a friend who just happened to be sharing a wealth of knowledge. Not once did I feel like I was the less experienced person and felt comfortable asking your advice and seeking answers to my questions.
With more thanks than I can express,
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Teresa,
This will be the first review I’ve ever written and I’m a little nervous!! I’ll start by saying “what a wonderful experience!!” Teresa I’ve seen your photography business grow over the last four years tremendously and I’ve always thought how awesome it would be to learn from you! How can I thank you enough for giving me that opportunity!
The weekend started with my family and I arriving to Springhill Suites friday night! Teresa had left a few goodies and my notebook for the the weekend! She had thought of everything! She even made sure there was a portable crib delivered to our room! Teresa, you are so thoughtful!!
My mentoring experience started with photographing the set up of the cake, flowers, etc… This is my favorite thing to do! However I felt the nerves take over just a bit, you were right there to help me refocus and open the creativity door!! That was so much fun, especially looking at the pictures in lightroom and playing around with them just a bit!! I learned so much about lightroom and its presets, also learning your post process was extremely helpful!!
The wedding was awesome!! What a great experience and how beautiful!! I really enjoyed taking my own pictures, but I also learned alot from just watching you in action. I liked watching your creativity flow! I was really nervous, I know you said you couldn’t tell, but my mind did freeze a bit and I couldn’t get that creativity flowing. My only regret is that I really wish I’d stayed to watch you work with lighting and flash during the reception! I could have learned alot I’m sure!! Another time, right??!!
The next day was a whirlwind and a turn that I think neither of us expected, but I agree with you, I was ready!!! I loved seeing the blog, logo, and my buisness just fall into place!!!! I learned so much and wish that here at home I had the time like we did that day to play around and learn! That meant so much to me that you put your heart and soul into helping and working with me on such a huge part of my life!! My new business “stellaraephotography.com”!!!!!!!! You really put your heart into teaching and helping people see they can do it!!
I am so appreciative that I could use the photos that I took at the wedding and at the engagement session we did for part of my portfolio and blog site! I look at my site now and am blown away! I did that!!!!! I took those pictures and they are beautiful!! So here’s that confidence that was deep down!! Thank you Teresa for showing me I can do this and I am good at it!! I think that with time and experience I will continue to build on what you started for me!
Most of all I want you to know how thankful I am for your honesty and candidness! I really enjoyed being around you, you made me feel comfortable and I sooooo enjoyed building a friendship with you! I think that’s part of why I was so sad about leaving, I felt like I was leaving a good friend!! I hope that’s not to mushy but I can’t express to you how much I view you as a good friend now!! Thank you for also taking into account that my family was with me and helping us find some time to spend together!
So in my eyes and heart this was a fantastic experience, so much was accomplished, and I feel good about it!! Thank you once again from the bottom of my heart Teresa!!!
P.S. : Thank you to my husband for his support and confidence in me!! And thank you to my daughter for being such a good girl for daddy over the weekend!!
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Teresa,
I got so much more out of the weekend than I thought I would (not that I doubted you, but I am just amazed at how much I feel like I learned). So you wanted a candid review…here’s what I think about the really {fun} workshops!!
*You are so fun to work with! In the way you present things, you never once made me feel like I had no idea what I was doing or that you were “so much better than me.” Obviously you are, you are the professional, but I never felt belittled by you at all…you were so encouraging…when I felt like I was unsure about something, you found a strength in what I was doing and that was HUGE in building my confidence.
*Having the flowers and fake cakes (and cupcakes) were awesome!! Oh ya – and my dress and shoes. It was so great to have some one-on-one practice with those things so we could talk them through. It really allowed me to see how you were doing things and gain a new perspective on them. I think that had we not done that little mini session at the studio first, I would have been very hesitant. I think that at the suites I would have just tried to copy what you did but I wouldn’t have had it in me to move the flowers around or put the ring in different places to try out – or I wouldn’t have even had an idea of HOW to move things around and see them from different perspectives…having the time to really feel it out with you before heading to the real thing was probably the best thing you did in terms of helping me be prepared.
*I loved how you went through everything from start to finish…including putting the dvds together.
*It was nice having it be all inclusive…in terms of dinners and what not…
*The only thing I can think of that I might have benefited from was something in indoor lighting for the ceremony and reception. I know that most people already have a good grasp on this, but for me personally this is something I want to learn a bit more about. I can bounce flash decently, but I was a little unsure in such a large place (church) and in such a dark place (reception). Had I thought about it earlier, I would have asked you about it before we headed over, I just didn’t think about it then…
(a note from teresa: I definitely should have walked you through this more. I get such tunnel vision at my weddings, that it was difficult for me to balance mentoring and my work. Next time a mentoring coincides with a wedding, I will definitely touch on things prior that I may not feel I have time to do at the wedding. Otherwise I think you did pretty darn good with that lighting!!)
*Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone and showing me that I *can* do it!! I almost always shoot in aperture priority mode…only in manual if I have a still subject and plenty of time. I never use full manual on the kiddos, they move too fast…but guess what I did at the strawberry patch…used full manual on them!!! And this was all due to your encouragement in it. Thank you for pushing me to do this…I see now that the image doesn’t have to be *perfect* out of the camera, and that if it is over or under exposed I can still make it look great in lightroom!!
I really enjoyed everything. Thank you so much. Of course in addition to the workshop, I really had a great time building a friendship with you!!!
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Having the opportunity to train with Teresa has been indescribable! She definitely knows her stuff, but unlike many professionals, she is more than willing to share her knowledge. She was able to explain (what seemed to me like) very complicated camera settings in a way that made sense to me. It*s apparent that she knows the technical side of the business, but she didn*t bog me down with unnecessary terms and details. Instead, she just showed me how to take great pictures!
In addition to helping me with photography skills, she offered advice and insight on customer service and building a relationship with brides. While I didn*t expect this type of discussion in our training, I see now how it is of utmost importance. Teresa*s brides love and respect her and I*m certain that this is one of the keys to her success!
She was always very patient and approached every situation with a great sense of humor. She*s naturally just one of those people that you enjoy being around so even when we were *working*, I was having a great time. I never once felt uncomfortable about asking questions*even when I knew that they were probably stupid ones. *
Having the opportunity to follow Teresa at a wedding was the best learning experience I could have asked for! I was able to see first hand how she puts her approach into action. She definitely gave 100% at the wedding, but she also took time to explain what she was doing and why. She allowed me the opportunity to take pictures that I can use in my own portfolio.
I could literally go on and on about how much I*ve learned from Teresa about photography and the *business* of wedding photography, but the best part about my mentoring experience has been the confidence that she*s helped me build. She was quick to tell me when I needed to do something differently, but she always helped me to see the potential in my own work. Without her encouragement and confidence, I may have given up before I really gave myself a chance.
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