February 21st. The day had come. On February 21st I started my journey. I was off. Driving down to Seattle to meet up with the lovely Nicole Conner to fly down to Santa Barbara, California for a photography conference put on by Showit (my website company) called United 2013. I spent the night at Nicole’s mother-in-law’s house with her and her family as we had to wake up at 4:30 am to catch our flight. PS. She has the cutest son ever! Within 10 minutes of arriving, he had already snuggled up beside me while playing a game. Huge thanks to Nicole’s hubby for driving us!

… and we were off!

The conference was held at the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara. I am so glad we decided to stay there as well… completely submerging ourselves in a community full of love, hugs, and awesomeness. The best. Nicole and I decided to go a couple days before and after the conference to have time to explore, take photos and well, be spontaneous. The next day we decided to go exploring. Highway 101 here we come! We headed up north with the music cranked in our rental car, the sun shining, sunglasses on. Nothing but road and some California sunshine. PS. Nicole HATES country music. I tried my best though to discreetly find country stations. ;) It was kind of funny travelling together actually. I would freak out and get super excited at the GORGEOUS beaches along the highway, and Nicole got super pumped at all the dessert mountains and this random school we found in the middle of no where. We stopped to take pictures of course. ;)

It was funny to see our different styles come out. Nicole’s style is a bit more glamour/posed photography so I took some photos of her… in her style so she could use them for branding and head shots. Super fun. Isn’t she one hot momma??! ;)

The view was INCREIDBLE on the way back down the 101. I was “ooing” and “awwing” as the highway was along the ocean. Nicole kept asking if I wanted to stop, and I said no, it was ok. THEN. It happened. I saw a glimmer of this beach from the highway. I got crazy excited and we randomly made a split second decision to pull over and stop for a minute. I’m telling you. Spontaneity is where it is at. As you may know, I have been re-branding my business with my new blog coming soon. I am not big on being in front of the camera, but some new head shots on the beach were a definite must on this trip for me. It was phenomenal. We ended up spending over half an hour there. Nicole took some photos of me, and I grabbed some landscape and detail shots for my blog. I think a few with be seen on canvas’s in my office very soon!!

With branding my business, it has been neat to see how much I have learned about myself. The colors I am drawn to. The textures, clothing, jewelry, music and even locations. It has been a long but rewarding process. I was honestly stunned; completely in awe. This random beach along the highway was ME. My branding. My colors. Anyways, it definitely made my heart smile and I can guarantee you I will be making a trip back there in the future.

Sunday night was the kick off to United and cocktail party. Nicole had told me about a mini meeting with this girl Megan. It was a small, intimate class on blogging and finding your why. I signed up not really knowing what it was about. It ended up being a small group of girls- 6 of us in total if I remember correctly. We decided to go for Mexican food (the best Mexican restaurant ever! We went back!)… ended up staying until they closed… and then all went back to our room after to finish up. These ladies are incredible! Megan is phenomenal and it was so incredibly kind of her to share her experiences and love for writing to help us in our businesses. They are such an incredible group of ladies and I cannot wait to make a few trips to visit them in the future!

Monday was the first day of classes. They were full days, but absolutely incredible. On Monday evening we had a dinner event. AKA ”wedding reception” for us to actually sit down and enjoy, as well as learn a few lighting techniques.

Monday night I had a light painting with sparklers class at night with Matt+Carissa Kennedy. This class sold out instantly but I was able to switch night classes with Megan. Matt and Carissa are the kindest couple you will ever meet. Their passion to serve others is phenomenal. I definitely look up to them in the way they run their marriage, family and business. So blessed by their friendship and leadership in the photography community. This shoot was such a blast!

… I didn’t end up getting back to the hotel room until 12:45. Showered. Went straight to bed. Our alarm went off less than four hours later to jet off to a sunrise vineyard shoot. Hooray for early mornings with new friends… and the tea/coffee bar in the hotel lobby. ;)

We headed up to Sunstone Winery in the mountains for a sunrise vineyard shoot. Despite the gorgeous sunshine and warmth during the day, it was super foggy, cold, and frosty up there. It definitely gave the photos a magical feel. 

Tuesday was a busy day. After the winery shoot, we rushed back to make it in time for the first platform class of the day. After lunch and a few more classes we jetted off to the marina for the sunset yacht shoot. I’m sure it was an interesting sight: 30+photographers on one yacht all leaning over the side trying to direct and capture the models on the other sailboat… which kept turning and moving in the wind. Definitely a fun and interesting learning experience. All of a sudden when the sailboat would turn so it was back-lit, you would hear all of our shutters going wild. The sunset was GORGEOUS. 

Huge thank you to Stacy Childers and Josh Newton for putting together the styled yacht shoot! You did an amazing job!

The yacht shoot was an incredible experience. Definitely one of those moments when you take a step back to observe all that is going on around you and thing “wow, I am so incredibly blessed”. Life is beautiful. It was such a stunning evening as we anchored to watch and drink in the last bit of light. That day was probably one of the best days of my life. Enjoying life. The stillness. The peaceful, calming ripples in the water. Sitting with Shannon and watching the sunset from the yacht… city lights glittering along the coast and the silhouette from the other sailboat gracefully gliding across the horizon.

Tuesday evening after the yacht shoot we had a live concert and dance party… Staring our very own Showit band! Such a blast.

Wednesday. Wednesday was our last day of classes. Our final class was with Mary Marantz. It was such an incredible, motivating, inspirational class. As excited I was for the sunset castle shoot that night, my head was flowing with so many ideas, dreams, and a new-found purpose and perspective that I was totally content with reflecting, writing, and brainstorming so I wouldn’t forget.

Anyways, Mary’s class went late. Just over half of the group had already left in cars for the sunset castle shoot up in the mountains. The remaining six of us borrowed a six passenger van thanks to Kevin Sturm and made the trek up the super sketchy roads. It was an adventure for sure! I wish we could have videoed the ride up there. Crazy entertaining and an unexpected adventure. Eventually we made it after the race to get there while there was still sunlight. Huge thanks to Christianne Taylor – an incredible fashion and editorial photographer who put this shoot together. Such a gorgeous view!

Lots of the United attendees left during the day Wednesday… but Wednesday evening we had a final party at David Jay’s home. Isn’t his view incredible??

Thursday Nicole and I were exhausted. We slept in and spent the morning/early afternoon reflecting and writing down all our thoughts and ideas while enjoying the California sunshine by the pool (rough I know ;)).

Thursday afternoon we decided to head into town to check out the pier.

Thursday evening we walked down to the beach across the street for a fun, mini shoot of each other…. my style this time: a natural, candid walk/evening spent at the beach. Nicole and I had a blast goofing off with each other. I even ended up running through the water and crashing waves… in white pants. Cheers to a spontaneous “trash the pants” shoot. Such a blast. Nicole did an incredible job capturing me in my element. Thank you so much girl!

Friday we headed home. Thank you California. Forever in my heart and my new second home. :)

United was a life changing experience. It has shifted my perspective on my business, my goals, my purpose, and the meaning behind why I do what I do. I am so incredibly blessed to have met so many incredible new friends. Huge thank you to the Showit team, speakers, shoot organizers, fellow photographers, and Nicole… my lovely roommate for United and WPPI. Girl, I couldn’t have done it without you. I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for you. Thank you for your friendship.

Anyways, if you made it to the end… You definitely deserve a coffee. Or ice cream. ;) Long post here I know, but no amount of words could possibly begin to express United 2013. Thanks for sticking around! Can’t wait for United 2014. Enjoy!