and these vintage inspired necklaces from AP Collective. I’ll take them both, thank you.

Oh! And these adorable prints from Gingerber.

Jeremy spent a good deal of time going through his collection of images and giving us the stories behind them. Having previously seen a lot of his work, it was cool to hear a 'behind the scenes' of some of the photos I'd admired from afar.

We followed Jeremy around while he did a mock bank shoot with some models. He went through his thought process as he positioned each model.

We also watched him do some studio stuff.

We broke up into groups of 4-5. Each group had a model and off we went.

Who am I?

I don’t know.

I guess I have a lot of things to ponder.

Ok, ok. Enough with the Zoolander references. In all seriousness though, I did do kind of feel like that. Weeks later, I’m still working it all out. But I know that it’s time to put on my big girl panties and stop making excuses for myself (ie. I’m self taught, I’m not really that creative, I don’t have all my ducks in a row, etc ).

My time at the workshop inspired me to make my own path, not just try to copy the paths of others – because I’m not like any of the others. My path shouldn’t be either. And that’s ok. Because if two of us are identical, then one of us is irrelevant.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

In this digital day and age it’s SO easy to alter the white balance of a photo (especially if you shoot in RAW, but that’s a whole other post). And, just like in life, achieving perfect balance is ideal. But……

wait for it….

wait for it…

why not take some time (and a little artistic expression) and experiment with some UNbalance. Crazy, I know. And I’m not talking about post processing in your photo-changing-drug-of-choice. I’m talking about IN THE CAMERA kind of stuff. If for no other reason than because you can. You might be surprised how such rebellion might make you feel.

Here are a few shots I took the other day. Just messin around. You know. Doin what I do. All the images are straight out of the camera (with a little brightness and contrast bump). I had a lot of fun messing around and experimenting with the white balance. I think the changes in color add a change in the mood from one photo to the next. What do YOU think?

A nice wintery shot

A little warmer with more true-to-life colors

A little cooler. A little more mood perhaps???

**Disclaimer- This post is straight from my brain to your eyes. No proof reading has been done. I apologize for any grammatical errors, run on sentences, or misspelled words. I want you to hear my heart, as it is. Misspelled words and all.**

I’ve been reading a book lately about living in a spirit of gratitude. It seems like that, coupled with the amazing week I had last week at both a photography workshop and ImagingUSA (more on those later) has caused me to focus inward on myself: find out who I am, what makes me happy, what brings me the most joy. Who is Erin Alaine? Not who do I think I should be, or what I think other people think I should be, or even what kind of pictures I think people think I should take, but who am I really? Strip away all pretense, all social “dos” and “donts”, all “but so and so does it this way.”

My goal in doing this soul searching is to bring what I find into my images. I don’t want the pictures I take to be just pictures, I want them to be extensions of myself. I want them to convey all the love and emotion (and even fear) that I feel…that my subjects feel. “Well, how are you going to do that?” You ask. I don’t know. Not yet. But I’m on my way to finding out.

To help facilitate this, I’m going to be twittering every day for the next 10 days, little snippets of things that I’m picking up as I’m learning about myself and about who I am. Some of them may be enouragment to you, some of them may be something I’m just realizing about myself for the first time, but all of it will be things that have resonated with me and I am in the process of making my own and living it out.

If any of you are on the same path as I am, I challenge you to do the same. Make sure you @erinalaine me with your first twitter so I can follow your journey! I hope some of you do this because I’m excited for my journey, and hope to encourage you in yours!

Below is a project I worked on for a little bit this afternoon. I was so inspired by reading over my notes from the past week that I had to create something to express what I felt. It’s nothing super fancy. You may not like it. I like it because of what it says to me. I think I’d like to have it printed on a big canvas and hang it up in my husband’s studio as a daily reminder for myself. It’s also my first twitter in this twitter challenge. I’ll be twittering it soon. Go over and check it out!

Everyone involved was incredibly chill and laid back – a photographer’s dream! I can honestly say that this is the first wedding I’ve been a part of where I actually felt more relaxed and refreshed afterwards than I did before.

Thank you Paul and Kelley for allowing me to be a part of your special day. And mucho thanks to Ashleigh for letting me tag along and take pics {and for letting me eat all the chocolate off of the hotel room pillows.} =)

This is the year that I’m going to return shopping carts.

This is the year that I’m not going to let the laundry beat me.

This is the year that I’m going to simplify my life and get rid of all non-essentials.

This is the year that I’m going to strategically grow my business and – in turn – let my business grow me.

This is the year that I’m going to cherish every day, even if times are tough.

This is the year when I’m going to chose gratitude.

This is the year when I’m going to fully trust God for the future instead of worrying about what lies ahead.

This is the year.

Happy New Year everyone!