Rockin' Rockstar Roadtrip

Yesterday, Brittany and I had the awesome privilege to attend The Rockstar Roadtrip-a photography workshop hosted by Corey McNabb and Amber Holritz.
Brittany came to our house late Thursday night, we slept about 4 hours, got up at 3:30 a.m. and drove to Chapel Hill, South Carolina. We enjoyed the workshop from 9:00 a.m. until around 6:00 p.m. and drove back to Cleveland, where we arrived at 2:00 a.m. Yes, you are right, that was a 23 hour day by the time we got unloaded and into bed. It was completely worth it.
I am still processing all of the information that I gained from this event and seriously doubt I will be able to clearly describe everything for you, but here I go.....

There were about 20 photographers in attendance. Corey and Amber were extremely hospitable and made us feel so welcome.
There were lots of prizes given away by the sponsors and Brittany and I lucked out!
Brittany won a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (how exciting is that?!!!) for traveling the longest distance. We were SUPER excited. Then, my name was drawn for 50% off of the next 5 Day Wedding Workshop by Corey (Amber also does a day about lifestyle photography!)!!! I am unbelievably excited, not really sure how I'm going to work that out with school, but hopefully everything will be okay. Still, very exciting!

Friday was Amber's birthday, so Corey surprised her with a cake.

Complete with trick candles and "34" on the cake even though she's not really 34 (much, much younger!).
I love their expressions in this shot.I snagged this picture off of Kimberly's blog. That's Brittany and I in the bottom corner.

For the first half of the day, Corey discussed wedding photography and important sales and marketing info. This was my first photography workshop to attend, and I feel like I have really benefited from the knowledge Corey shared with us.
After lunch, Amber talked with us about her lifestyle baby photography. This is truly where my heart lies. I love all kinds of photography and I really enjoy doing weddings, but there is nothing I love more than walking into a family's home and being able to photograph their life.
Amber shared so much important and useful information with us.
(I wanted to take a couple of shots for the blog of each of them speaking, but I never stopped taking notes!)
I am still processing it all--Wesley kept asking what I learned and I couldn't even put it into words. Finally, this morning I was able to tell Wesley a little bit about my favorite parts and things that I feel like I can implement in my business immediately.
Anyhow, I have always loved Amber's (and her husband, Nathan's) work and it was truly a joy and an honor to meet her.
Here are myself, Amber, and Brittany after the workshop was over.

After their talks and a question and answer portion, Amber and Corey broke out some Guitar Hero (how can you NOT on the ROCKSTAR Roadtrip?!).
Brittany and I had to hit the road and didn't get to play, but I did get a few shots of the action before we left.

One of Amber's tips was shooting from high and low and different angles.
We saw her in action during Guitar Hero.

Fun times.

The flower colors were so beautiful outside the hotel, I just had to capture it.

Brittany and I around 6 p.m.-keep in mind we had been up since 3:30 a.m.
When I went to take this picture, Brittany said, "We should have done this BEFORE everything started." I agree, but we didn't.....we were too excited.

And, as if this post wasn't enough, check out a few more pictures in the little show I put together.
I am still so excited about everything I learned and can't wait to put it into action. I also found a great new place to get albums and some new products for clients, so stay tuned.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.