Finding Joy in Chaos Workshop with BreAnne Weston

This summer I attended my first in-person family photography workshop: BreAnne Westron’s Finding Joy in Chaos. It was such a great experience!! There is a lack of in-person family photography education and I fully believe that as a professional, growth is important to ensure every session I create with my clients is what we all dreamed it would be. To me, these kinds of workshops are 100% worth the investment because it results in better work and experience for my clients. Attending BreAnne’s workshop, I had two goals. First, I wanted to be inspired! The second was to experience how to make images more organic and true to a family’s narrative. 

My Trip to Utah 

I was so lucky to have a fellow DMV photographer, Sarah Thayer of Sarah Thayer Photography to join me. Sarah and I attended a workshop together in my first year of business, and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to go with. It felt like a full circle moment to get to attend the workshop together! Honestly, traveling to Utah was probably the biggest hurdle of the whole experience. With flight delays and waking up early to prevent getting stuck in DMV traffic, I was awake for almost 24 hours till we finally arrived in Logan, Utah. But arriving in such a beautiful place in the United States was priceless. 

Finding Joy in Chaos Workshop

During the first half of the workshop I met fellow family photographers ranging from photographers in Utah, Arizona, and even Florida. BreAnne is 100% passionate in educating her students. We went over the passion and why of family photography and reflected on our own why. There were various other topics and demonstrations such as session flow, posing, and editing.

After a pizza dinner and getting to learn about everyone, we went up the Logan Canyon to Tony Grove for two model calls. The two families had such precious little ones that explored and played in nature. The parents were given direction and prompts as kids were able to be kids. It was so inspirational. After almost two months of overcast cloudy photography sessions, the light came out and it was glorious. 

At the end of the model calls, we did a recap and could ask BreAnne any questions. It was a great chance to wrap up everything we’d worked on together in Utah. I’m so happy with the way the workshop was structured and feel like I’ve learned so much to start enhancing my sessions here in the DMV. During the trip, friends were made and it was a highlight of my summer! I’m so happy I had a chance to be with BreAnne and all of these other amazing family photographers!