Photosanity – The Five Triggers

Hi All!

As you probably know, I’m mentoring a group of San Diego photographers who have signed up for Photosanity, an online workshop that helps parents take better photos as well as get a handle on organizing, editing, and sharing them! The workshop just kicked off and this week’s lesson is all about what to look for to get the best photos. We talk about the five triggers of photography: emotion, significance, light, composition and environment.

Below is a photo of mine from a recent wedding that I love! All five of the triggers were at play in this photo! This is a photo of the groom awaiting the “first look” of his bride before the ceremony (emotion and significance). The light was perfect because we were in open shade, both the bride and the groom are placed on the vertical “thirds” lines of the photo (composition), and we know that this took place on the back lawn of the Nixon Library because we can see the building in the background (environment).

I’ll be blogging about future workshop lessons so make sure you “like” me on Facebook to get the latest updates! In the meantime, you can also check out the free Photosanity video lesson on the top 5 tips to take better photos of your kids!!

xoxo,
Lauren


Photosanity – Winter 2012

Do you remember my post about Photosanity a while back? Or catch my interview on the NestingNYC blog earlier this week?

Well, I’m really happy to let you know that I’ll be mentoring a local San Diego group of Photosanity participants with the Winter 2012 round of Photosanity! This time, the workshop is broken into a 4-week Intro to Photosanity course and an 8-week follow-up course called More Photosanity. The Intro class starts on January 31 and finishes up on February 21, so it’s a great way to kick-start your resolution to take more (and better!) photos in 2012! The More course will take place March 6 through April 24.

Photo by Photosanity Fall 2011 member Sarah Vos

With the Intro course, you will learn what to look for to get the best photos, get tips on how to get your children to cooperate, understand how to look for the best light for photos, know how to make the most of low light situations, and start a photo-a-day project! For more information on this course, click here: Intro to Photosanity.

Photo by Photosanity Fall 2011 member Natalie Silverstein

The More Photosanity course will help you learn all about ISO, aperture and shutter speed, give you easy photo editing tips, help you set up a photo organization system, help you create a beautiful portrait wall gallery using your photos, learn about photo prints and products to share your photos with family and friends, and continue your photo-a-day project. For more information on this course, click here: More Photosanity.

If you’re ready for the time of your life, go ahead and sign up for both the Intro to Photosanity AND the More Photosanity courses by clicking here: The Photosanity Bundle. By purchasing the bundle up front, you’ll save $90!

So where do I come in? I will be the mentor for the San Diego local group, which means I’ll be moderating and commenting on all photos posted to a specific Facebook group just for participating photographers in San Diego! (Ok, it’s not limited to those of us in the San Diego area, but most group members will be in or around here!) If you’re a follower of mine from afar, don’t fret! Photosanity will have also groups in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.  AND if you’re not in or near any of those cities, you can join any of the groups you wish! For more information on how the city groups will work, check out this page on the Photosanity website.

AND WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!

Sign up now and use my discount code “LNP20” to save 20% on the already-discounted price of the Photosanity Bundle! Act now–this code is only good through January 31!

I hope to see you there!

xoxo,
Lauren


Thank you, 2011!

Well, I wrapped up my busiest holiday season yet just in time to unplug and welcome in the New Year with my hubby! 2011 was filled with amazing families, couples, and friends who allowed me to photograph, hang out, and have fun! Now that the year is coming to an end, I just wanted to send out a great, big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported and encouraged me over the past several months. Here are just a handful of photos that have been taken in the past month or so.

I will be officially unplugged for the rest of 2011, starting NOW. I won’t have my phone on and I won’t be getting online until after January 1. If you try to get a hold of me between now and 2012, you’re going to have to leave a message at the beep, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

I hope everyone has an incredibly joyous holiday season! Until next year… *BEEP!*

xoxo,
Lauren


Texas in November

Since my husband recently got back from a deployment in Afghanistan, we decided that Thanksgiving would be an awesome time to head back to Texas to see our families. Even though he was born and finished high school out here in San Diego, most of his family lives in Texas, where both of his parents grew up. In fact, his mother’s parents live within walking distance of my parents’ house in San Antonio!

We headed home the day before Thanksgiving and stayed long enough to see everyone in and around San Antonio and make a trip down to Bay City (south of Houston) to see more of my husband’s family down there. It was a really awesome time, filled with tasty food, good times, and great fun.

Here’s a little of our Thanksgiving spread.

And, yes, we did get to celebrate Clay’s birthday several times! This cake came from the bakery where my mom had ordered cupcakes for our wedding. It was delicious!

The best part was being able to see practically all of our family! Below are my aunt, my mom’s parents, and my mom.

My little sister is always down for a mini photo session. :)

Meanwhile, there was a football game happening at the other end of the yard…

One day, I gave my dad my camera so he could take a photo of my siblings and I for my parents’ Christmas card. Mom made for a really good photo assistant! See that flash? It’s all her! ;) Don’t worry–this isn’t the photo they’ll actually be using! I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for those who are going to be on the receiving end of one of their cards! This is just one of the bloopers. :)

And I did a short 10-minute session with my brother and his gorgeous girlfriend!

That’s it for now! Have a great weekend!

xoxo,
Lauren


Are you in need of Photosanity?

Hey everyone!

I’m really excited to let you know about a new workshop I’m going to be helping with!

Do you love taking photos of your kids but are frustrated with the results? Do you have thousands of photos on your hard drive but don’t know what to do with them? Frustrated and overwhelmed with all your photos? Take the online Photosanity workshop for parents!

The Photosanity workshop is an amazing, online workshop for parents that will help you take better photos AND get a handle on organizing, editing and sharing them too! The next 12-week course will begin soon–on September 13!

The workshop is taught by NYC family photographer and mom Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick. And guess what? I have just been brought on board to be one of the mentors! I am really excited about helping parents get a grasp on using their camera to create priceless memories of their children, so I would love to have some of you join me! I will be helping you get the most out of the workshop by personally reviewing your images and giving suggestions on how you can make them better! If you’re not ready to start so soon, the next workshop will be starting late October–I’ll keep you posted!

For more information, please take a look at the Photosanity workshop website at http://photosanity.com/

**Use discount code LNP20 at checkout for a 20% discount on the fall workshop which starts on September 13th.**

You can also sign up for a FREE webinar recording (http://photosanity.com/free-webinar) on Alethea’s top 5 tips for taking better photos of your kids, and organizing and sharing your photos too! Whether or not you’re interested in signing up for the workshop, the free webinar is a great opportunity to pick up a few tips that can make a difference in your photography right away.

I hope to see you there!

xoxo,
Lauren