The Workshop | Behind the Scenes Recap

Where do I even begin? On Monday, a dream that Krista and I have shared for a very long time became a reality when we welcomed an incredible group of young women to the Kent Manor Inn to learn, grow, and feel inspired in their photography businesses! We were so fortunate to have the incredible Caitlin Moran and Julie Eitner of Kruse and Vieira Events styling every aspect of the workshop – from the Laura Hooper Calligraphy Name Tags, the custom A Signature Welcome gift-bags, through the gorgeous dinner & rosemary cocktail that we all shared together at the end of the evening!

We wanted each and every one of the girls to know how excited we were to have them and, even more importantly, to feel comfortable in a space where they could learn together and set the foundation for a community that we hope to grow going forward!

Krista absolutely killed it with her Branding and SEO Presentation. She is such a talented photographer, but what many people don’t realize is that she is actually a Graphic and Web Designer by trade. She creates brands and identities for creatives from around the country and I have so much respect for her! And I may have even taken a few notes when she was detailing SEO Strategy… ah!

After seeing the behind the scenes shots of me teaching – I realized two things: 1) I love to talk with my hands.  2) I make crazy faces when speaking! Hah! But I really loved teaching about Social Media Marketing, Building a Following, Blogging, and the most intensive live-demo: Workflow! Having a chance to show the attendees how I cull, edit, and export RAW Images live was awesome!

I loved watching the lightbulbs go on and having a chance to show the “secrets” (that truly aren’t that secret!) of how I get my images to look exactly the way that I do! AND revealing what my work is like SOOC, the settings I’m using from image to image, were important to show the girls that it’s important to get it right in camera!

After we finished with presentations, all of the girls headed to the main house and garden of the Kent Manor Inn for our Styled Shoot! I can’t wait to share the shoot itself (seriously, incredible!) but I have to hold off until we get Krista’s film back from the lab and submit for publication! We split the girls into two groups and rotated between photographing the models and photographing the details!

The super sweet, Lauren Myers captured the two behind the scenes shots below of me posing! Thanks, girl!!

Lauren Myers Photography

One of my favorite parts of the setup was the “Detail Style Bar” where Attendees could gather a variety of different details and practice styling them like you would on a wedding day. From jewelry to bowties, invitations, ribbon and just about any little detail you could imagine – Krista walked everyone though how to frame detail photographs and Caitlin demonstrated styling. Simultaneously, I walked the girls through Three Different Ways to Capture a Bridal Veil and a variety of different posing techniques – while showing them how I work with a couple one on one to capture those genuine moments of laughter and romance!

And a few of the girls hopped in front of my lens for a quick portrait!
It was a steamy August day in the heat, but how gorgeous do they all look? Ah!

One of my favorite parts of the day, at the very end, was the dinner we all shared together! There is something extremely special about getting to settling in side by side over a meal. The conversations ranged from photography related to our philosophies, to travel goals, home-building, and just plain girl-talk! And did I mention that even the dinner table was down right gorgeous? (Thank you Caitlin, Julie, Katie, & KMI Staff!)

It was, by far, my favorite moment in the entire day! And we all just sat around that table until it literally got dark and we knew it was, sadly, time to go! And it wouldn’t be a Natalie Franke teaching experience without a few tears along the away… I really loved having an opportunity to open up the girls and share why this career means so much to me. And after dinner, hearing a few of their stories as well – really hit home! I wouldn’t trade anything for those genuinely candid moments… it just made me appreciate these girls even more!

I kept saying to Krista… Are you sure this table isn’t for the styled shoot? This is our dinner table? Ah! So pretty!

It truly takes a village to put on a Workshop of this magnitude and I want to first and foremost thank Krista, my amazing co-host and dearest friend! We couldn’t have done it without Caitlin Moran and Julie Eitner of Kruse and Vieira Events, Katie of Petal and Print, Up Do’s for I Do’s, XOXO Vintage, Sarah Seven, Annapolis Formal, Laura Hooper Calligraphy, A Signature Welcome, Ashley & Staff at the Historic Kent Manor Inn, Party Rental, Ltd., and our amazing models: Christine and Kevin (who will be tying the knot in September!).

Also, thank you to all of our awesome Sponsors:  Design Aglow, Backblaze, KISS Wedding Books, Two Bright Lights, BlogStomp, The Lawtog, and MileIQ!

I want to extend a VERY special thank you to the Editors of Baltimore Bride Magazine, Janelle and Staci, who also came to talk to the girls about getting published and the amazing things going on over at Baltimore Bride! And last, but certainly not least, Davey, Brooks, Maddie, and Anna who made our lives so much easier! We love you!

 Will there be another workshop? We have had a few photographers ask if we’ll be hosting The Workshop again… And… Well… YES! We have a second workshop in the works for late autumn! We’re hoping to make an official announcement in a week or two, but if you know that you are interested in attending – Email us to be notified first:  natalie@nataliefranke.com  + krista@kristaajones.com