Exploring Niagara on the Lake

In late September, I travelled to beautiful Niagara on the Lake to teach at The Uncommon Creative photography conference. More and more, my career has veered towards mentoring and teaching—which is something I enjoy more than I would have guessed if you had told me this is where I’d be 10 years ago. Often when you teach at a conference or workshop, you are required to shoot a ‘mock session’ while students watch. This will never NOT be awkward. hahahahahahaha…true story. As someone who is concerned about what my students are(or are not) learning, I worry that they will be inevitably disappointed when they learn that mostly I am just a total spaz—whether people are watching or not(ha).

So, here is an example of a ‘fishbowl’ session where there were about a dozen people watching me as I got lost(true story) and then laid on the ground in the dirt so I could shoot through some weird portal thingy. All the while, they would take the most unflattering images of me (man, it is DECIDEDLY NOT pretty to watch me work), but these kids were AMAZING!! They handled it like pros.

These kids belong to one of the women who run the conference, Miss Stephanie Robin, an award winning newborn photographer from Ontario. We have met before a couple of other times at conferences where we were both teaching. It was super cool to meet her kids! Her and her partner, Tessa, did such an incredible job on the conference. It was their FIRST EVER event and it was so well run—I mean, I knew that Stephanie was organized, but WOW…she is crazy organized and it was so lovely to work with someone who was so prepared and dedicated to making it a wonderful experience for both the speakers and the attendees. I got to take classes taught by the amazing Lisa from The Milky Way (she really is as sweet as she seems online) and Ali Peck from Glow Maternity and the amazing Heidi Hope. Stephanie and Tessa tell me that they are planning on another conference in 2020 and I can’t wait to hear who they have in their line up!! Sooooo…on to the images:

Thanks,

~ Dana